Field Day!!!!

Hooray! Wednesday is Field Day at Airport Park! Just a few reminders...

• Sunscreen: Make sure your child is wearing sunscreen when he/she comes to school. It is supposed to be hot and  sunny!
• Drinks: Children are busy at Field Day and will need extra water/juice/etc. Please pack enough fluids to last the day.
• Snack: We will have a quick (5-10 minute) snack/water break sometime around 10:00, so please pack your child a snack. If he/she is returning to UMS, we will also have a snack time in the afternoon. There will be NO milk/juice from the cafeteria for snack drinks on this day. Sorry!
• Lunch: Our class' assigned lunch time is 11:30 a.m. Even if you can't come for the rest of the events, please join us for lunch if you wish! Your child must have a packed lunch if you did not sign him/her up for the BBQ (a pink form was sent home several weeks ago for this). 

• T-shirts: Your child should wear his/her B.E.A.R. t-shirt to Field Day. Those who sent them back--I have them at school for your child to change into before we leave for Airport Park.
• Time: Field Day is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or so. If you have not already done so, please send back the note that tells me if your child will return to school or leave Airport Park with you. THANKS!

Thank you for a GREAT bike trip!

Thank you, EVERYONE, for helping make the 2011 first grade bike trip a great success! Without everyone's efforts, this could not have happened! It was chilly, but not raining, thank goodness! Thank you, parents, for transporting your child's bike/helmet and sending plenty of food and drinks today! And a BIG thank you to those who were able to join us on our ride today. This is more than just your average field trip chaperoning gig--you have to be "on" at all times, making sure everyone is accounted for and safe in an outdoor environment. As was noted in the original field trip notice--we could not have done this without plenty of volunteer support. I think most first graders would tell you all our efforts were well worth it. When I asked students back at school today to share their thoughts on the day, they were all very enthusiastic...well, as enthusiastic as their tired bodies would allow! :-) 

Here are some photos from today. Mrs. Hughes and I wished we could have taken more photos, but we both realized after we got back to UMS that taking photos was really hard to do on a field trip like this one! I used the camera on my phone, since that's easy to hold as I ride, and I took photos whenever I could. Our main focus was making sure all the first graders were safe, which meant photo-taking took the backseat. :-) So, if anyone out there has photos to share, please send them! For now, here are the pics I managed to take today...

Bike Ride Preview/Tips Video

This video is meant for UMS 1st graders, but anyone's welcome to watch it...

I took some video clips while riding my bike today. I was thinking of things that students should know about bike path etiquette before our trip. I notice when I run/ride on the bike path that a lot of people don't always know what to do when passing, pulling over for a break, etc. So, I was inspired to take some quick videos to show what to do in these situations. It's not perfectly polished, but I think it will help make our trip go more smoothly. It's only fun if everyone's safe! Note (for those who watch the video): If you're wondering what I mean about cars on the bike path in flooded areas, let me clarify: on the south side of the bike path bridge between Colchester and Burlington, there is an area with significant flooding. This does not affect the path itself, but some homeowners have had to park their cars on the side of the path. Not many, but there are a few. I just want students to be aware to go around the cars and know that they are parked and not driving.

The filming is quite shaky in the video--beware! I was riding my bike, after all. You may get a bit motion sick! ;-) And there's a little mistake in the credits at the end. Oops! :-)

Bike trip photo preview

I made this slideshow to show students a little bit about what the our path will look like on our field trip this week. I took a ride with my son, Will, today and took photos along the way. It was a great day for our bike ride, and so far Thursday's forecast looks good too!

Goodbye, baby chicks!

We had lots of fun with the chicks while they were at school! Today was the last day they were in our classroom, and it was a good thing since they were outgrowing the tank! :-) It was time for them to go to their new home at the UVM farm. They will have room to roam and will be with lots of other chicken friends. And our room will smell a lot better! ;-)

Here are some pictures of the times we had the chicks out to hold...

First graders in action...

"Take my picture!" Here are a few moments that some students wanted you to see. :-)

Team work and a cool pattern block design!

Inspired by our chicks. 

More creativity inspired by the newly hatched chicks...who are watching from in the tank! :-)

Reading around the chick tank was a popular thing last week! 

A great cause...

This is the first time that I have used my blog as a way to get the word out about a great cause, but I think it's worth a try! The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life will take place on June 24th-25th this year at the Champlain Valley's Fairgrounds. Tricia McMahon, Austin's mom, will be taking part in this very important event to honor the memory of her mother who passed away in March. For more information on Tricia's relay team, please visit:  http://main.acsevents.org/goto/TriciaMcMahon

Trish has also sent in containers to collect donations to fund the effort to help find a cure for cancer. There is a bucket in the staff room in the front of the building, and there is also a can in our classroom. If you'd like to donate, please send the money with your child in his/her green folder. Just be sure to note that it's for the Relay for Life.

Thank you!

Watch a chick hatch!

I was able to capture a video of one of our chicks hatching today. You can hear how excited students were about this! I had to keep the incubator in a protected location, so that it wouldn't get bumped and jostled during incubation. It's sitting at our writing station near the main classroom door. It was safe there, but it made for some strict rules about crowd control around the incubator. It was hard, but children did a good job of waiting to be invited up to the incubator, even when they knew big things were happening inside. Fortunately, we had a lot of hatching action today, so everyone got a glimpse. 

This video shows one chick hatching...you will hear just how excited everyone got (and me doing crowd control)! I love what Alexis says at the end. Listen for it. :-)

Our newborns :-)

We had lots of birthdays to celebrate in our classroom today--eight to be exact, at least as of the time I left school this afternoon. We incubated 13 chicken eggs, and so far, eight have hatched! We know that there are more likely to hatch this evening and overnight, as several more eggs were "pipped," meaning they have the first hole/crack in the shell which means a chick is working its way out. There are two eggs I am not sure about, but if we have 11/13 hatch, that is considered excellent in the world of chicken embryology. In fact, a hatch rate of 50% is considered normal. 

The students in our class were excellent scientists and took great care when turning the eggs. Maybe this helped our hatch rate?! In any case, we are all extremely excited about the new babies in our room. They hatched on Day 20 of incubation, which is on the early side, as 21 days is the average incubation period. But, as I explained to students, human babies have a due date, but the actual birth does not often happen on that predicted date! With chicks, it's a bit more exact, but it helped everyone understand that we did keep the correct count of days and that's just nature for you! :-)

Two of the first three chicks that hatched overnight.

It's neat to watch the chicks gather together and huddle near eggs to "cheer on" the chicks  still trying to hatch.

This one had JUST emerged. So exciting! You can see its ear!

The big brothers and sisters attended the birth of their new sibling. :-) 

Tomorrow I will move the chicks from the incubator to a tank with food, water, and a heat lamp. They need to stay in the incubator until they are fully dry. The chick on the left must've been one of the first-born. It's already bigger and is nearly dry.

Chick watch

Boys and girls took turns watching the incubator today. There was A LOT going on in there...never a dull moment! Everyone was able to see the chicks in some stage of hatching, and some were lucky enough to watch the chick emerge from their eggs. Fortunately, we had great egg watchers and I was able to catch one of the hatches on video for everyone to see.