Library & Computer

Contents

5/18/2020

Dear Families,

This week, let’s enjoy reading Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog! We’ll also look at Parts of a Book and think about the characters and setting.

I can’t believe this is the last week of classes… I miss you! I hope you have a wonderful summer! Stay safe and enjoy being outside!

Mrs. Larochelle

5/11/2020

This week, we will read Velma Gratch & the Way Cool Butterfly, a book about butterflies and a child getting used to the first grade. Then you can think about the things you wonder about, and do research in PebbleGo. Also, Mary Pope Osborne, author of the Magic Tree House series, has fun activities for you at her website here!

Read/Listen:

Velma Gratch & the Way Cool Butterfly, by Alan Madison and Kevin Hawkes…

Make/Create:

When Velma wants to learn more about butterflies, she has questions and reads to find the answers. Coming up with questions is an important part of learning. What questions do you have when you are outside walking or biking or riding a scooter?

Some questions our family came up with:

How tall can a giraffe be?

What makes the Rappahannock River so green and clear in the winter?

Research:

Search for your answers in PebbleGo (Username: engaged   Password: learning)! For example, if your question is about giraffes, type giraffe into the search box to explore the articles, books, and videos related to giraffes, or your topic!

Computer Game (Adobe Flash player required!)…

If it’s okay with your family, and if you have Adobe Flash player on your computer (or other electronic device), here is a game that allows you to put the stages of the butterfly life cycle in order: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/scienceforkids/life_cycle/butterfly_lifecycle.htm

You will have to click to “allow” Adobe Flash player. Note: this game won’t work on school iPads.

Have a wonderful week!

5/4/2020

Dear First Grade families,

I hope you have noticed more and more butterflies flying around you when you go outside! This week, we will listen to two books about butterflies, and research monarch butterflies in PebbleGo.

Read/Listen: 

Waiting for Wings, by Lois Ehlert

Pete the Cat and the Cool Caterpillar

Research:

Visit pebblego.com and enter the username and password (Username: engaged Password: learning). The article on monarch butterflies should load automatically, but if not, in the search box, write “monarch butterflies” to read the article about monarch butterflies. Feel free to follow the “read more” tab to find more articles and books about butterflies!

Typing Practice:

Dance Mat Typing… please continue practicing at a pace that is good for you:

Have a wonderful week!

4/27/2020

Dear First Grade families,

This week, we will read a book about the planets, research astronauts in PebbleGo, and practice your typing!

Read/Listen: Dogs in Space by Nancy Coffelt

Pete the Cat – Space theme!

Here is Pete the Cat: Out of This World being read aloud by the author… a space theme in a Pete the Cat book:

View this post on Instagram

James Dean reads a story about Pete and his adventures at space camp! ✨

A post shared by Pete the Cat (@petethecatofficial) on

Research:

Learn more about real astronauts.  Visit the database PebbleGo (Username: engaged   Password: learning) and search for an astronaut to learn more about.  Astronauts include:  Neil Armstrong, Kalpana Chawla, Mae Jamison, Katherine Johnson, James Lovell, Ellen Ochoa, John Olivas, Ellison Onizuka, and Sally Ride.

Free e-book: Zoey and Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows

Typing Practice:

I hope you can take the time to practice typing regularly, whenever it is okay with adults in your family.Here are good links to Dance Mat Typing… please choose a level that is good for you!

Hope you enjoy this week!

 

4/20/2020

Hi First Grade Families!

I hope you had a wonderful Spring Break!

Earth Day is April 22nd. This week, we will honor Earth Day by reading a book about a boy who changes the world around him by gardening; learning about humans and the earth; and going on a scavenger hunt in your backyard!

Read/Listen:  Please join me in reading The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. Maybe you will help your family in the garden some this week!

Research/Learn: Learn more about how to help our earth.  Visit the database PebbleGo (Username: engaged   Password: learning) and search for the article called “Reusing and Recycling”.  I hope when you read it, you find it to be interesting.  Databases like PebbleGo are very “reliable”.  That means that the information is double-checked to make sure that it is true.

Make/Create: Go on a backyard scavenger hunt! Here is a check list you can use as you search your garden for treasure: Backyard Scavenger Hunt. Thanks to Cori George and her blog, heyletsmakestuff.com, for this great idea!

Happy Earth Day!

 

4/5/2020

Hello FA Families!

This week, since Spring makes us notice so many more animals and plants, we will first read aloud 999 Frogs Wake Up.

Next, I hope you enjoy listening to Angela DiTerlizzi reading aloud her book, Some Bugs here! It was very kind of her to share her book with us!

My daughter, Hannah, has been very interested in exploring animal life lately. Here is a picture of her adding some water to her “Worm House” so that the worms in our front yard have extra water to keep their skin moist. She also gave them extra soil, which they love for their burrowing, and extra plants to give them plenty to eat. The plants she put out for the worms came from weeds that she helped pull from our yard.

I hope you enjoy exploring the outside world this week, maybe helping to garden, noticing new leaves on trees, and noticing the sounds of birds all around you!

Have a happy week!

Mrs. Larochelle

 

3/30/2020

Hello First Grade families!

Mrs. Atkins and I miss seeing you each week, but we hope you’re getting outside and enjoying this spring weather as much as possible!

This is the sound of Spring Peepers singing in a pond near my house! Don’t they sound amazing? I love hearing them in the evenings… I will have to check to see if I can also hear them singing in the morning since that is when the peeper sings in the book we are about to read.

Here is the book Possum and the PeeperI hope you enjoy this story while thinking about the beautiful flowers, blossoms, and new leaves that are growing outside. Happy beginning of Spring!

With the help of an adult, please explore the National Geographic web page about spring peepers so that you can see what they look like! Can you believe how small they are compared to a paper clip? Remember how the peeper puffs up in the story? If you scroll down on this web page, you can see a picture of a real spring peeper puffing up its neck!

Through BookFlix and Scholastic Learn at Home, we have access to these two books about ponds and animals that live in ponds. One is a video of the book being read aloud, and the other is an ebook that gives you the option to have the book read aloud to you. To turn the pages, simply click on the arrow on the right side of the book. Hope you enjoy the books and accompanying activities!

Have a happy week!

Fondly,

Mrs. Larochelle and Mrs. Atkins

 

March 22, 2020

Hello First Grade Families!

Here is astronaut Mark Kelly read aloud Mousestronaut from the International Space Station (through Storytime from Space). He wrote this book because he actually did fly to outer space with mice. Some details of the story are true, and some are from the imagination. Hope you enjoy hearing about this adventure of a brave little mouse, and learning a little bit about Mark Kelly’s time on the International Space Station!

Did anything surprise you about the story? What words would you use to describe Meteor, one of the mice in the story?

Best wishes from the library!

Mrs. Larochelle and Mrs. Atkins

March 19, 2020

Dear First Grade Families,
Mrs. Atkins and I have missed seeing you this week!
We hope you’re doing well, and that you’re enjoying getting outside during this warmer weather!
Since your class has been studying astronauts, and since it is Women’s History Month, below is a recording of a book about Margaret Hamilton, an early computer programmer who made it possible for Neil Armstrong to land on the moon back in 1964.
I hope you enjoy this book, and hope it makes you wonder about the moon, planets, coding, and women’s history!
Here is a picture of her next to her actual stack of code that helped astronauts make it to the moon:
image.png
 
Mrs. Larochelle
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