Annnnnnd breathe!

     Wow! What a week! The Firsties and I have officially survived our first big holiday together! Hooray! I need to thank all of you wonderful parents for helping us out this week, between buying pumpkins for our science experiment (we didn't make it to the decorating part), sticking to the many guidelines for the costumes, volunteering to help us change the kiddos into their costumes, and donating everything for the carnival, I offer you my deepest gratitude!  I also owe a big thank you to the three families who carved, cleaned, and counted seeds in our three pumpkins for our Math estimation project, as well as the fabulous family that roasted the delicious pumpkin seeds for our class!  We are truly blessed here at St. Jude School with so many generous and talented families! Thank you, thank you, thank you!  What would I do without you? Wait, I can answer that- I'd probably go a little crazy! 

     So besides Halloween hoopla, what has your Firsty been up to?  Well, we had our second Meet the Masters lesson on Friday, which will be continued on Monday.  We are learning about the female artist Bonheur.  You can catch a quick glimpse into her life at this wikipedia site: Rosa Bonheur   


    Our Halloween Pumpkin Estimation project was a success!  The class was read a cute story first, seen here:

Then the class was shown three pumpkins, seen below: 

They then had to predict which pumpkin they believed had the most seeds.  You'd be fairly surprised to know that not all of them went with the Big pumpkin.  They remembered that the story informed them that darker pumpkins have been on the vine longer, and therefore have a longer time to grow more seeds.  They also learned that pumpkins usually have a row of seeds inside the pumpkin for every line visible on the outside of the pumpkin.  Using that knowledge they estimated which pumpkin they thought would have the most seeds.  The winner actually did end up being the biggest pumpkin, but the kids still had fun counting the seeds themselves with their group! 

 

After that excitement was over, the kids then had fun with their afternoon centers.  In case you haven't heard of something called the Tower of Power, well here's your glimpse into that fun game!  The Tower of Power is an addition fact game that involves building a tower with small plastic cups.  What's the catch?  The plastic cups have addition problems written on them.  The students must answer the addition problem correctly to add that plastic cup to their Tower of Power!  Then, the best part involves blowing the tower over once they have built it!  They aren't allowed to physically knock it over- they have to blow it down, much like the Big Bad Wolf!  

 
 The Firsties also enjoy some quiet reading time in the library during centers.  We even have special, cuddly reading buddies that just love being read to!  My personal favorite is our little class "owl" = )

Now you're pretty caught up with the fun stuff going on in First Grade!  Next week will be pretty neat, too!  Don't forget to get out there and vote!  We've been talking about government and laws in our Social Studies lessons, and this Tuesday the Firsties will be voting, too!  No, they won't be voting for Mr. Romney or Mr. Obama... they will be voting on two surprise candidates!  They can't wait to find out who the candidates will be... We will even have our own little voting booths set up, so they can experience something close to the real thing!  Parents, don't disappoint your little Firsty- please remember to vote!  

Here are a few items to think about this week:

• Monday is Mrs. Schulte's birthday! (I didn't tell you!)
• Please keep the East Coast in your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time.
• The school is having its bi-annual clothing drive now through November 19th for our parish Loaves and Fishes program.  All gently used clothing, including Halloween costumes, will be collected in the large black bins posted outside of First Grade and 7th Grade. Shoes, too!
• The following week, November 13th through the 16th, not this week, is Parent Teacher Conference Week! Mrs. Charlotte has informed me of all of our scheduled times.  I'm looking forward to meeting with all of you!  Please take the time to think about any questions or concerns you may have regarding your child's First Grade education, and please try to be on time... more info on that later this week! 

Thank you again for all of your help this week!  We're looking forward to a little bit of "calm" before the next big storm holiday!  

Have a fabulous weekend! 
Take care! 
~Ms. Hudson