Highlights Before Spring Break

Hello families,
We've had a wonderful week together. A few rainy days full of excited play at indoor recess and a few sunny warm days to finally be free of coats outside!

During readers workshop we've been making mind movies of what's happening in our books and really noticing dialogue to help us understand what is going on. When you are reading at home, ask your child what they are picturing in their mind movie.

We wrapped up our opinion writing genre this week, writing on the topic of: If kids ruled the world! What rule would you make to make the world a better place? You probably saw this writing piece come home on Thursday. Ask your child to read it to you! We read a few books on this topic: If Kids Ran the World and Wangari's Trees of Peace. Many students were inspired by our first read aloud on the topic to make rules about cleaning up trash to keep our oceans and waterways safe for animals and those ecosystems. We also watched a youtube video to get more information about why this is important, to get more reasons that would help us convince our readers of our opinion. On Thursday we read a funny opinion book and did some writing about Not a Box!

We began a new math unit circling back around to the math learning about story problems. We already know about addition, subtraction and combination story problems. Over the next month we will be learning about missing addend, 2 step, and 3 addend story problems as well. This week we used lots of visuals, videos and storytelling to really think about what is happening in the story to understand which kind of story it was (addition, subtraction, or combination) so we knew how to solve it. We also looked for clue words to help us figure out which kind it was. Ask your child about what words help them know if it's addition, subtraction or a combination problem!

We've been working hard in our learning and showing so much heart. On Thursday we filled out HEART jar again! To celebrate we watched a movie and did some coloring on Friday afternoon.

Dates to Remember:

• Monday 4/22 - Friday 4/26 - Spring Break - No School
• Tuesday 5/7 -Capital Project Bond Vote (voting open early now!)
• Tuesday 5/7 - Words Come Alive! - Flynn Workshop in our Classroom 9:45-10:45 am
• Wednesday 5/8 - early dismissal with activities at 12:15 pm
• Wednesday 5/22 - CLiF Family Literacy Night 5-7 pm
• Friday 5/24 - early dismissal at 12:15 pm
• Monday 5/27 - No School - Memorial Day
• Tuesday 6/4 - 1st Grade Big Blue Trunk
• Tuesday 6/18 - All School Celebration
• Wednesday 6/19 - Last Day of School

Have a great spring break!
❤ Mrs. Fox

Highlights of the Week - April 12

Hello families,

This week the Fox Kits reviewed and practiced how to show HEART in the classroom. Since I was gone for a while it was good to review our expectations so all can do their best work.

We read a few more opinion themed read alouds: I Want a Cat, Some Pets, Boss for a Day, and Boss for a Week. We also read a book, The Interrupting Chicken, just for fun!

We also wrote about my collection of fox toys. Students wrote about which was their favorite and why, using superlatives to compare (i.e. I like the floppy fox because it's cuter than the sitting fox). They had fun giving out "blue ribbons" to the best foxes, "red ribbons" to the second best foxes, and "yellow ribbons" to the third best foxes. It was fun to share our opinions with each other.

We worked hard practicing telling time on analog and digital clocks to whole and half hours. Many students were ready to go ahead and tell time in 5 minute increments! We had an assessment on Wednesday to wrap up this mini-unit.

On Thursday and Friday Ms. Kate and I got to meet with most of you to discuss your child's progress and what we're seeing in school. Thanks so much for making the time to come talk to us. This is a team effort and teachers do our best when we have good communication and support from families!

Dates to Remember:

• Monday 4/22 - Friday 4/26 - Spring Break - No School
• Tuesday 5/7 -Capital Project Bond Vote
• Wednesday 5/8 - early dismissal with activities at 12:15
• Wednesday 5/22 - CLiF Family Literacy Night 5-7pm
• Friday 5/24 - early dismissal at 12:15
• Monday 5/27 - No School - Memorial Day
• Tuesday, 6/4 - 1st Grade Big Blue Trunk

Have a great weekend!
❤ Mrs. Fox

Hello again familes!

Hello Fox Kit Community!

This week I rejoined the class at JFK. We said goodbye to Ms. Kate on Tuesday and will miss seeing her every day. I am thankful that Ms. Kate was here with them in my absence. They did a lot of great learning together! I was so touched by the beautiful welcome back banner the students made for me, as well as warm greetings from all of you. It's been great reconnecting with the Fox Kits this week. One thing that has changed now that I am back is that I need to be away from class during breakfast/morning meeting and snack/mindfulness in order to "make baby milk." The Fox Kits have been very flexible about this change. Luckily Ms. Rafeef (their usual lunch teacher) will be with the class each day during these times which is great for stability as she is a familiar teacher. 

Students wrapped up their math unit on place value and demonstrated their new understanding on an assessment. We'll look at these next week with you at family conferences. Next up is a short unit on telling time to the hour and half-hour on analog and digital clocks. This will be a short unit, wrapping up on Wednesday before conferences next week!

We continued reading and writing in the opinion genre. Books we read: Red Is Best, Duck! Rabbit!, and I Want a Dog. Many students continued writing their opinions about why first graders should get to use the "big playground." Once finished students thought of self-directed topics on which they had opinions.

This week I sent home a yellow paper with your time slot for family conferences next Thursday or Friday. If you haven't yet please return the bottom portion so I know if you can make it or need to reschedule.

There is also exciting news from our Superintendent. The School Board chose Design Concept #2 as recommended by the WSD Capital Project Committee and adopted a bond amount of up to $57.8 million. The vote will be Tuesday, May 7th.  Please check out our Capital Project website and promotional video:

• Website: https://cp.winooski.org/
• Video: https://youtu.be/nBOFWCUr81Y

Also, the following opportunities to learn more about the project are available: 


Community Breakfast: Saturday, 4/13, 9:00am


Tour: Thursday, 4/18, 5:30pm


Dinner: Wednesday, 5/1, 5:30pm


Informational Meeting: Monday, 5/6, 6:30pm

Please check out the capital project information and vote on this important project. Our school and community needs your vote!


Dates to Remember:

• Book Fair - Monday 4/8 - Friday 4/12 8:30 am - 2:30 pm (8:30 am - 7:30 pm Thursday)
• Thursday 4/11 - 11:00 Dismissal for Family Conferences (12:00 - 8:00 pm)
• Friday 4/12 - 11:00 Dismissal for Family Conferences (12:00 - 3:00 pm)
• Monday 4/22 - Friday 4/26 - Spring Break - No School
• Tuesday 5/7 -Capital Project Bond Vote

Have a great weekend!
❤ Mrs. Fox