Highlights of the Week 10-30-15

Greetings families!

We've had a wonderful week together. On Monday I read the class 3 versions of my small moment story, "Logan's Loose Tooth." We discussed how the same story can be written differently by adding more details, transitional words, and juicy or strong words. By editing and adding these story elements our stories get more interesting and create a better picture/movie in our head as we read. This week everyone began writing another small moment story trying to add more detail to this story than their first stories. They read their stories (so far) to a partner and helped brainstorm details to add by asking questions to one another. They also helped Sarah elaborate her small moment birthday story by asking clarifying questions. Our writers are on a roll!

We've continued reading aloud books about matter and the water cycle. We've discussed and experimented a lot with water this week because it's so easy to see how matter changes states by observing water. We read Water Dance by Thomas Locker, The Falling Raindrop by Neil Johnson and Joel Chin, and excerpts from I Wonder Why: Soap Makes Bubbles and Other Questions About Science by Barbara Taylor.

Throughout the week we did experiments with water: creating a cold cup surface with solid water (ice) to see condensation form (attracting water vapor from the air to the cold surface and change into water droplets); we watched solid water (ice) melt and turn back into a liquid; we made a "mini water cycle" in a cup by the window to see if we had enough sunlight to recreate the cycle; we left a cup of water out uncovered to see how much would evaporate; and we combined a solid (baking powder) with liquid water to see if we could create a gas (fizzy air bubbles). We also continued brainstorming examples of the 3 states of matter that we can find here at Rumney. We were also overjoyed to have a double rainbow over Hunger Mountain right outside our window on Thursday!

During literacy time many of our students continue to favor free writing. I love to hear the imaginative stories they are coming up with! We still can't use our Listen to Read station since we'd have to share headphones. Until we get the "all clear" message about lice from Ms. Israel we will unfortunately not have access to our audiobooks. Instead students continue practicing reading to themselves and reading fluently and expressively aloud to a partner. In teacher led book buddy groups we continue to practice word decoding strategies, word and vowel patterns, fluent re-reading, and comprehension strategies to monitor our understanding.

Second grade mathematicians continue to practice subtraction fact fluency using the fact families from our N+1, Make 10, N+10 and N+9 addition families. We are also composing and decomposing 3 digit numbers by place value, and practicing reading and writing numbers to 1,000.

On Friday we made some Halloween decorations for our room (and to take home), read a funny Halloween book, T-Rex Trick-or-Treats by Lois G. Grambling, and did Halloween word searches and drawings with our buddies.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday weekend!
-Theresa & Sarah

Dates to Remember:
Wednesday November 4 -- Parent/Teacher Conferences after school
Friday November 6 -- NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS; Parent/Teacher Conferences all day
Tuesday November 10 -- 4 Winds 2:30-3:20 p.m.
Wed-Fri Nov. 25 - 27 -- Thanksgiving Break

HOW 10-22-15

Hello families,

This week we discovered how shape has a lot to do with the properties of the three states of matter. Students remembered that solids keep their shape, liquids move and change shape, and gases flow and have no shape. I'm hoping to do some experiments about how matter interacts and changes in the next 3 weeks. Can anyone send in: 1 box of stove-top jello, or 5 antacid tablets?  We also began reading books about matter and examples of solids, liquids, and gases. This week we read: Matter is Everything by Becky Gold, Wind by Honor Head, and A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder by Walter Wick.

During literacy block many students are finding the joy of partner writing. They are planning stories together, writing, and monitoring each other to make sure what they wrote makes sense. Another favorite literacy time activity is playing Oh no! or Yikes! -- these are games that practice sight word reading and spelling. Our literacy block groups are running smoothly too. Everyone in the class reads in a group with me. Some groups meet more frequently than others depending on the skills each child is developing. Some groups also began meeting with Sarah (our student teacher).

In writing students assessed their own writing using the Calkins guidelines for narrative writing. Then they took their typed stories and began to put them into their published books. Children were responsible for cutting and gluing their page chunks in the correct order to build their book. Then the job of illustrating began! Many careful illustrations were made this week to match the words they had already written.

Second grade mathematicians worked more with fractions this week as well as with fact families. We are still looking at the connection of fact families in addition and subtraction. First grade mathematicians are making 5 and making 10 as well as looking at how numbers are put composed (tens and ones).

We had 2 birthdays, our first popcorn day, and an All School Meeting this week--it was quite exciting! Next week I'm sure we'll have lots of excitement about Halloween which is rapidly approaching. We will not be having a Halloween activity at school though, so please have your children save their costumes for home and trick or treating next weekend.

Don't forget to sign up for a parent/teacher conference at this link if you haven't done so yet. Or, if you don't have internet at home send me a note giving a time range when you'd like to come in Friday November 6th. As of this morning there are conferences still available between 9:20 and 2:40.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Highlights of the Week 10-16-15

Hello families,

We had a wonderfully productive short week together. I am so happy to be healthy and back again. With the seasonal weather changing many people are getting colds or flu-like viruses. Make sure to keep sending a water bottle in with your child so we can all stay hydrated and healthy! Please also make sure to send your child with appropriate outerwear and footwear each day. We go outside for recess unless it's pouring rain or below 0 degrees.

This week we looked at our finished drafts of our small. We edited them to make sure our sentences made sense, to have capitals at the beginnings of all sentences and punctuation at the ends. We also did a little bit of work fixing spelling of commonly used words (from our word wall) and also tried out a few puzzling words. When we write spelling is not our main focus--the point of writing is to communicate our thoughts, ideas, and stories. If we don't spell everything right, that's okay! First and second graders are not expected to use "dictionary spelling" for all of their words; rather they write the sounds they hear and the word chunks they know. On Friday our buddies helped to type our stories so we can begin the publication process next week!

Second grade mathematicians have been working on fractions of a whole (halves, thirds, fourths/quarters). They are also practicing addition strategies and using those fact families to gain fluency in addition and subtraction facts to 20. Currently we're reviewing and practicing Number+1, Make 10, Number+10, and Number+9 fact families. First grade mathematicians are also working on addition strategies to gain fluency for addition facts. They are learning about place value in numbers to 100.

On Thursday we got to help our school again by scrubbing and chopping the potatoes we harvested from the garden. Our class did all this work with guidance from staff and garden parent, Talitha. The kids were so excited to use special crinkle cut knives that are designed to help children (ages 2+) practice knife skills (they are from Montessori School Tools). These crinkle cutters can't cut skin but were perfect for potatoes. Our class loved using them and they were so proud of how much they were able to do. On Friday Deb cooked them up in the kitchen for a school-wide garden snack!

 

 


On Friday we welcomed another new family to Rumney and gained another first grader in our wonderful classroom community. This week we also welcomed a new student teacher from UVM to our class. Her name is Sarah MacDonald. See the following blog post for a brief message from Sarah.

Reading Scholastic News articles with Sarah.

Parent/Teacher conferences are coming up, Wednesday afternoon Nov.4 and school hours Friday Nov. 6. Remember, there is no school for students on Friday Nov. 6! Please follow this link to sign up for your 20 minute conference slot. Please record when your conference is. Conferences are back to back so prompt beginning and ending times are crucial!

Enjoy this autumn weekend!


Dates to Remember
Thursday October 22: All School Meeting 2:00-2:45
Wednesday November 4: Parent/Teacher Conferences scheduled 3:15-5:00
Friday November 6: Parent/Teacher Conferences scheduled 8:15-3:20

A Message from Sarah, our Student Teacher

Hello!


My name is Sarah and I am a so excited to be joining Mrs. Fox’s classroom and working with all of your wonderful children. They have been so welcoming and had so many great questions already! I’m sure they will be able to tell you all of the most important things about me, like how old I am and whether or not I am a kid, so I’ll just give a brief introduction of myself. I am senior at the University of Vermont and will be graduating in the spring with a degree in Early Childhood Education and Psychology. I am also minoring in dance at UVM. I have been dancing since I was 7 years old and hope to continue dancing for as long as I can. I am a teacher of many things, including dance, yoga, and young children. I am from Maine, a state that I am absurdly fond of and will talk about often and always.


I look forward to meeting all of you!


Sarah

Highlights of the Week 10-2-15

Dear families,

It was so wonderful seeing so many of you at Open House last night. Thanks for joining us to see what your child has been up to so far. I hope that you learned a lot about your child's school routines and projects they have been doing. If you were not able to attend the school directory, Hopes and Dreams, our First Week Flip Book, and a "Just Right" Book bookmark will be coming home in today's mail.

This week some Literacy groups began. I meet with small groups of children during our Literacy Block. In these groups we work on reading strategies about decoding words, comprehending our reading, and responding to reading orally and in writing. Groups of children working together sometimes read the same books but not always. However each group is working on similar goals.

We continued stretching out our small moment stories this week, retelling the 5 parts using pictures and the 5 digits of one hand. Then we added some keywords to help us retell the important parts and finally we began writing and illustrating each part on a page in our writing packet. We always write rough drafts first. Next week we'll begin to look at how to improve our writing by editing.

We were excited to begin our first science unit this week: Matter and its Interactions. We talked about what we already knew about matter and questions we had. We learned that matter is everywhere! Matter is anything that takes up space. Groups began to brainstorm examples of the 3 states of matter: solid, liquid, gas. In the coming weeks I'd like to do some experiments with the class to show how matter interacts and changes. Do you have any of these supplies at home you could send in for experiments: 1 box of stove-top jello, or 5 antacid tablets?

I continue to be impressed by this community of learners. On Monday we welcomed a new first grader to our class and a new second grader to Ben's class (and the 2nd grade math class). Our Rumney kids are so friendly and kind in helping our new students feel welcome and comfortable while they learn so many new names and routines.

I am still looking for parent volunteers to help Honi with our 4 Winds program one Tuesday afternoon a month (2:00-3:15). Honi Bean Barrett has volunteered to coordinate for us so please send me a note/email or email her if you are interested in helping or need more information before making this commitement! ( honibean@hotmail.com )


Dates to Remember:
Thursday October 8: Picture Re-Takes
Monday October 12: Columbus Day --  NO SCHOOL
Tuesday October 13: Teacher Inservice -- NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS


In other news...
Harvest Dinner

Please help us FILL the donation boxes in the lobby for the Middlesex Food Shelf! Our goal is to bring in 600 items. That’s only 3items per student/staff member.

We have a list of most helpful items from Dave Carkeet, the director of the food shelf. We’ve broken down the wish list by classroom to keep from getting 600 cans of tuna. This is just a general guideline. Please note that every and all donations are appreciated! 

PreK/K – Breakfast cereal, both hot and cold. Nut butters, jams, jellies. 

1^st/2^nd grades – Pasta, beans, canned soups.

3^rd/4th grades – Tuna, canned meats (such as beef stew, sausage, ravioli), canned veggies.

5^th/6^th grades – Convenience food (mac and cheese, other boxed foods), condiments (mayo, spices, salad dressings).

Rumney staff – Toiletries, soaps, paper products such as toilet paper.