Playground....Under Construction

Yesterday classes at Floral Street School had the opportunity to help prepare our playground for reopening after April vacation week. Over the winter, the mulch gets packed down by the snow and ice. Before the playground can reopen in the spring, the mulch has to be turned over and raked smooth so that it becomes a softer surface to protect us if we fall. Classes were able to work out on the playground for 20-30 minutes each, turning over and raking the mulch. Everyone worked hard to get our section of the playground done. Working together as a school community on getting the playground ready to open teaches students the importance of taking care of their school environment. They were so proud and excited to be able to help!

Science Researchers at Work

Today we started a science research project on dangerous weather. Students were able to choose a type of potentially dangerous weather that interested them. This included tornados, hurricanes, blizzards, heat waves, droughts, floods, and thunder/lightning storms. Each student received a note-taking sheet and each group received a set of books on their topic. After a quick discussion about how we could use non-fiction text features to find information in our books, students set off to search for answers to the following questions:

Everyone worked hard in their groups or on their own to find the answers to these questions. There was a lot of reading and writing going on in the classroom as students enjoyed learning more about their storm of choice.

Later this week, we will be taking our notes and using them to create posters that teach others about the storms that we studied. Be on the lookout for the final projects!

Valentine's Day

I hope that everyone is enjoying their vacation week! I wanted to send along a few pictures from our Valentine's Day celebration so you can see what we were up to! (You've probably already seen the finished products come home!) Celebrating Valentine's Day in an elementary school is one of my favorite things to do! The kids get so excited about giving and receiving cards. They enjoy making little cards for one another. If you want to see friendship at its finest, head to an elementary school on Valentine's Day next year. I promise, you won't be disappointed! Friendship is everywhere!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

The 100th Day of School

Today was the 100th day of school in Shrewsbury! As a class, we read 100 books in 41 minutes! After we finished each book, we recorded the title, author, and genre on a slip of paper. The slips of paper were used to make the paper chain that you see in the picture above! Happy 100th day! 

Valentine's Day

We will be celebrating Valentine's Day from 10:30-11:30 on Friday, February 14th. We will be making a Valentine craft and handing out cards to our classmates. Bringing in Valentines for the class is an option. Students do not have to bring in cards if they choose not to. To make it easier for the students to hand out their cards, please do not put names in the "To" space. Students can just sign their names on the "From" space and bring in one card for everyone. There are 31 students in our class. Please do not send in Valentines that have any type of candy attached to them. Due to the district wellness policy, we will not be able to hand out any candy in class. Thank you for understanding!

Your student will also be bringing home a brown paper bag earlier that week. Like we did with Fall Festival and our winter celebration, students can use this bag to bring in a special snack to eat on the 14th.

Please click on the link below to sign up to help out with our Valentine's Day activities!

Click here to help out with Valentine's Day!

Thank you!

Upcoming Parent Meeting

A Message from the Floral Street School Council and PTO:

The Floral Street School Council and PTO invite parents, teachers, and neighbors to a community meeting to discuss pressing school and district issues including:

✦               Resource needs and challenges facing the school and district

✦               Fiscal Year 2015 budget development

✦               Ways to be involved and stay informed

School committee members, Jason Palitsch and Sandy Fryc will be special guests at the meeting.  Join us on January 27^th from 6:45-8:00pm in the Floral Street School Media Center.

Childcare will be provided for children ages 3 and older. Please click on the link below to RSVP, sign up for childcare, and/or submit questions for discussion.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1A-GpCYIJ8iQmbRwIqGqhms_2O_jVR-adur6eY6y-SBE/viewform

Thank you for your time, we hope to see you there.

One Word

Happy New Year!

This year, instead of writing New Year's resolutions, our class decided to choose just one word each. The "One Word" project is based on the book One Word that will Change your Life. Instead of writing a resolution for the new year, you choose one word that will be "your" word for 2014. This word is something that you always keep in mind and it will help you be the best you you can be. We had a great discussion about the character traits of leaders and successful students and then brainstormed a list of word ideas. Each student chose "their" word for the year, wrote it on a poster, and then illustrated their word to show its meaning. We had some great word choices, like stamina, independent, proactive, and leader! We are planning on hanging our One Word posters up in the classroom so we have a reminder of our word for the rest of the year. They should be up by Monday, so be sure to check them out when you come into our classroom! They will be hanging above the windows.