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.

Highlights of the Week 9-25-15

Hello families,

This week I continued doing reading check-ins with students--assessing how they decode words, how well they comprehend what they read, and how many common sight words they can read as quickly as they can read their own names. We also did some word work check-ins to see what spelling and word patterns students already know and what they need to work on this year. The purpose of these check-ins is to get a sense of what each child really needs so I can provide "good fit" instruction for all!

We finished binding our Hopes and Dreams books, got our independent writing journals (a moment of highly anticipated joy by many in the class), and wrote about the All School Hike. We also began to learn about writing Small Moment stories. This will be our first focus in Writer's Workshop. This week we brainstormed moments in our lives where we felt a strong emotion (happiness, shock, sadness, excitement, etc). We will use these small moments to write and illustrate our first books of the year. So far we've zoomed in on the emotion in our moments and began to do quick sketches for the 5 parts of the story. Some of us also practiced retelling our stories using the digits on one hand to count out the story events in order (first, next, later then, finally). 

Second grade mathematicians continue working with 2-D and 3-D geometry as well as counting money and number patterns. First grade mathematicians continue to work on the number line, using cuisenaire rods to help with addition fact strategies, and use cluster cards to practice subitizing. 

On Friday in Buddies first and second graders were paired up with a 6th grader who will be their buddy for the first semester this year. Today they took a survey to find common interests and learn a bit about one another.

Four Winds
Have you heard of our awesome parent-volunteer led science program, Four Winds? The students always love our extra science lessons from 4 Winds. This is a monthly commitment (one Tuesday a month from 2:00-3:15 in the classroom). Honi Bean Barrett has volunteered to coordinate for us so please email her if you are interested in helping or need more information before making this commitement! ( honibean@hotmail.com )


Dates to Remember:
Thursday October 1: Open House K-2nd 6:00-7:00, Open House 3rd-6th 6:30-7:30
Thursday October 8: Picture Re-Takes
Monday October 12: Columbus Day --  NO SCHOOL
Tuesday October 13: Teacher Inservice -- NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

Highlights of the Week 9-18-15

Hello families,

What a wonderful week we've had! We excitedly began our Literacy Block in the mornings, allowing children to choose how they practice reading and working with words. So far we've learned what it looks, sounds, and feels like to: Read to Self, Partner Read, Listen to Read (audiobooks), and do Word Work (practice reading and spelling commonly used words). On Tuesday I introduced our Literacy sign-up chart and we are learning how to use this.

We finished writing our Hopes and Dreams books and designed our covers, too. Next week we'll put them all together. We can't wait to share them with you at our Open House on October 1st!

We began sharing this week and it has been great. We're working on being an active listening audience during sharing time and asking questions for more information. We are learning the difference between questions (asking) and comments (telling).

This week I've begun to do some reading check-ins with students in this class. This will continue next week.

Today is our hike. Gorgeous weather so I can't wait to get outside with everyone! Thanks to our plentiful parent volunteers who make this day so special for our small groups of hikers!

Important Dates:

Thursday October 1: K-2 Open House 6-7pm, 3-6 Open House 6:30-7:30pm

Talking About Our School Days

Hi parents,

If your child is anything like mine it may be hard to get details about our days together at school. Here is an abbreviated list of interesting questions you can ask to get the conversation started (I got this list from an article I read of the weekend--you can read it, too at this link if you'd like:  http://parent.co/30-questions-to-ask-your-kid-instead-of-how-was-your-day/).


Questions a kid will answer at the end of a long school day:

1. What did you eat for lunch?
2. Did you catch anyone picking their nose?
3. What games did you play at recess?
4. What was the funniest thing that happened today?
5. Did anyone do anything super nice for you?
6. What was the nicest thing you did for someone else?
7. Who made you smile today?
8. What new fact did you learn today?
9. What challenged you today?
10. If school were a ride at the fair, which ride would it be? Why?
11. What would you rate your day on a scale of 1 to 10? Why?
12. If one of your classmates could be the teacher for the day who would you want it to be? Why?
13. If you had the chance to be the teacher tomorrow, what would you teach the class?
14. Did anyone push your buttons today?
15. Who do you want to make friends with but haven’t yet? Why not?
16. What is your teacher’s most important rule?
17. What is the most popular thing to do at recess?
18. Does your teacher remind you of anyone else you know? How?
19. Tell me something you learned about a friend today.
20. What is one thing you did today that was helpful?
21. When did you feel most proud of yourself today?
22. What rule was the hardest to follow today?
23. What is one thing you hope to learn before the school year is over?
24. Which person in your class is your exact opposite?
25. Which area of your school is the most fun?
26. Which playground skill do you plan to master this year?

HOW September 11, 2015

Dear Families,

What a whirlwind week! We have been busy learners in our 4 days together. We wrote and illustrated academic and social goals for ourselves. Next week we’ll write personal goals, too!

On Tuesday we made Listening Tools and had to use a lot of Cooperation to get the job done. Everyone is doing a great job practicing how to use these tools appropriately (keep in hands only, cannot be distracting to themselves or others—the goal is to use them to help them listen more attentively).

Many students have also begun to use gum to help them focus and that has been going really well too! We can’t have gum outside our classroom (lunch/recess) or during P.E. and Music but many of our Allied Arts teachers are testing it out to see if it works in their classes too. Typically they get a piece of gum after snack so it’s not wasted when they have to throw it away to eat. They get another piece after lunch for the afternoon. So far, so good! It’s up to each student to monitor their gum consumption and we did have to talk a few times about having only one piece of gum at a time. If you gave your child permission to chew gum, check in with your child to ask if it’s working well for him/her!


We began to learn important Literacy Block routines this week. We talked about “Good Fit” books and how to use the 5 finger rule to check if a book is too easy, too hard, or just right. We know our brains are like rubber bands and we want to stretch them to grow stronger (not too much so that they break or too little so they don’t grow). We did lots of book shopping in our classroom library to fill our book boxes with Good Fit books.

We learned what it looks, sounds, and feels like to Read to Self and made some impressive growth this week—increasing our stamina from 2 minutes to 15 minutes of reading quietly to ourselves!

We also learned what it looks, sounds, and feels like to Partner Read. We are working on how to invite others to read with us, how to share the reading, and what the right volume is for reading to someone. Partner reading is a fun way to practice reading fluency! We increased our stamina from 5 minutes to 10 minutes of quiet, focused partner reading!


2nd grade mathematicians have been using their knowledge of geometric shapes (triangles, rhombuses, hexagons, trapezoids, squares, circles) to fill in a large shape outline with many combinations of pattern blocks. They are noticing patterns of how to combine smaller shapes to fill the same space as a larger shape (i.e. 3 triangles make a trapezoid, 3 rhombuses make a hexagon). They are also learning how to identify coins and tell them apart (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters). We are counting money too—try it together at home!


We read a few picture books, Boundless Grace and The Reading Race, but we also began our first chapter book—Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

We had our first Primary Sing, when we get together with Ben’s class and Mrs. Beidenstein and I lead the classes in song (new and familiar). Mrs. B even accompanies us on her ukulele! We had a fantastic week indeed.



Important Dates:

Monday September 14: Sharing will begin this week

Monday September 14: Hike Permission Slips are due!

Thursday September 17: All School Meeting 10:30 a.m.

Friday September 18: All School Hike

Thursday October 1: K-2 Open House 6-7pm, 3-6 Open House 6:30-7:30pm

Highlights of the Week 9-4-15

Happy Friday!

We've had another wonderful week together. We have been enjoying many books from our classroom library together. We finished reading Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia and spoke about how it's always okay to make mistakes. In our class we learn a lot from making mistakes and accept that everyone makes mistakes and that is okay! We read Big Al  to talk about making friends and Officer Buckle and Gloria helped us get our ideas ready when brainstorming class rules. We read Pebble, a story about a sense of belonging--an important concept as we are building our classroom learning community.

We talked about what Rumney CARES means for us and looked at our class poster. 

We also came up with rules we want to have for our class this year.

1. Try your best!
2. It's okay to make mistakes.
3. Nice words and friendly play.
4. Have your own personal space.
5. Include all people and ideas.
6. Try to make good choices.
7. Do Rumney CARES.

Finally we read Amazing Grace about a girl who has big dreams for herself and proves that if she works hard that she can make her dreams come true. We began talking about what our Hopes and Dreams are for ourselves during this school year. We know that if we persevere we too can make our Hopes and Dreams come true.  Next week we'll begin writing our individual goals--academic, personal, and social. Over the weekend, please ask your child what he or she hopes to learn or accomplish this year.

Today I sent home a permission slip about gum chewing in class. Research has shown that chewing gum increases oxygen flow to parts of the brain and can help focus and memory also. If you allow your child to chew gum in my classroom please sign and return the bottom portion of the permission slip. Please note that you must provide sugar-free and low odor gum for your child. Children are not allowed to share gum! Below is a link to a short article or listen to Scientific American's 60 Seconds Science podcast about gum chewing.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/gum-chewing-may-improve-concentrati-13-03-26/

We also talked about how some people can focus better when their bodies are active and engaged also. Next Tuesday we will all make rice, lentil, or bean filled listening tools that children may use to help them focus during group times in the classroom. If you are free on Tuesday between 10-10:30 and want to help make them please join us!

On Thursday I modeled what sharing looks and sounds like by sharing with the class some photos from my wedding. Students were able to practice asking questions for more information. Next week I'll model sharing a special thing to me, too. The week after Labor Day students will begin sharing--there is a bi-weekly sharing rotation on the letter I sent or emailed home to you on Thursday! I want to reiterate a few guidelines we have for things we share during this time: stories about things we do with our families (i.e. went to the fair, visiting grandparents, trip to Boston), special items (i.e. treasure box, musical instrument), photographs (current or family favorites), things we made (i.e. a drawing, a game, jewelry), or cool things from nature (i.e. a found snake skin, fossils, shells from the beach). We do not share about toys, electronics, or play dates/birthday parties.

After our closing circle on Friday we met for the first time with our 6th Grade Buddies. We did some activities all together to get to know each other a little bit.

Mr. Rosen also told us about a fun event next Friday, Dress Like a Construction Worker Day! Wear your best construction worker attire, helmets, tool belts, but please keep your edged tools at home. At 3:00 PM that day we will assemble outside for an ALL SCHOOL PHOTO to help us remember the day. Rumney Parents will be invited to join us in costume and pick up their children. Photographer Jeb Wallace Brodeur will be invited to take a picture and maybe we will make the paper!

It was a hot week but we stuck it out and did some fantastic learning and team work! Enjoy your long weekend!

Important Dates:
Monday September 7: Labor Day -- NO SCHOOL
Tuesday September 8: 1-2 Fox Makes listening tools! 10-10:30 a.m.
Friday September 11: Scholastic Book Orders are Due
Friday September 11: Dress Like a Construction Worker Day! 
Monday September 14: Sharing will begin this week
Thursday September 17: All School Meeting 10:30 a.m.
Friday September 18: All School Hike (more info and permission slips coming home later)

Potato Harvesting!

Hello families,

Last spring my class of 1st and 2nd graders planted potatoes for our school community garden. Today our class harvested about 300 potatoes from this raised garden bed! Thanks to Talitha and Honi for joining us on this adventure. Everyone was excited to get elbows deep in the soil on this "treasure hunt!"