Dear Families,
What a wonderful week we've had! We talked about how to check for understanding while we read. We practiced this while reading a Scholastic News about Thanksgiving. We learned some new things about how the Pilgrims traveled and how they learned to grow food.
First grade mathematicians continue practicing addition strategies. Second grade mathematicians have been using their addition and subtraction facts with two and three digit equations using number lines to find the missing value. We've also been studying story problems to determine which part is missing: Start +/- Change = Result. We've also been doing a ton of place value practice and learning about equivalencies of ones, tens, and hundreds.
In writing students continue working on true small moment stories or are working on their own imaginative narratives--student choice! Both types of stories need the same elements: characters, setting (when and where), beginning, middle, and end. We've been using a planning sheet to begin thinking about fiction narratives so we have an idea of the whole story arc before we begin writing.
We did amazing science writing this week and are nearly done with our books. Many of you saw these books in progress at conferences. We'll be excited to share the final books with you too!
Now, some housekeeping. THANK YOU so much for sending your children in with indoor shoes! It helps keep our room clean. Since we sit on the floor a lot, it's nice to not have a wet rug to sit upon. The next great thing you can do for us is be sure to label snowpants, jackets, fleeces, gloves, hats, boots. It's amazing how many of these items get left behind each day. I do a "fashion show" at the end of most days for the unclaimed and unlabeled items, but it would be tremendously helpful if you labeled your child's items so they can be easily returned. Sometimes gloves get left on the bus and it's hard to get them back to the right person.
Thanks also for sending so many permission slips back already for Charlotte's Web. I'm just waiting to get 5 more slips back. Our chaperones are: Jane Erickson, Anita Bourgeois, Honi Bean Barrett, and Jocelyn Haley. Thanks for volunteering!
Next week we have two school days which will follow our normal routines. See you then!
Important Dates:
November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)
December 3: Charlotte's Web at the Flynn Theater
December 11: All School Meeting 2:30 pm
Friday, November 21, 2014
Friday, November 14, 2014
Highlights of the Week 11.14.14
Dear Families,
It was great to meet with so many of you this week for conferences. I'm glad we got to show off a lot of our projects and hard work to you also. We had a lot of change to our school schedule this week with the two half days and an all-school meeting. We also spent an afternoon with 4 amazing volunteers (thanks!) making listening tools. Everyone was excited and did a great job taking turns to make tools with their choice of fillings: beans, lentils, or rice. Thanks to the many families who sent in materials or came in to help us with the project. We couldn't have done it without you!
We continue to read Charlotte's Web any chance we get. Our trip to the Flynn to see this book as a play is coming up the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. Permission slips for this trip will be coming home next week. Please check for them and send them in promptly!
I was also impressed by home many students came to school prepared for a snowy recess today! The kids who had all their gear had the most fun! Please spend some time this weekend digging out the rest of the snow/winter gear. Please send students with gloves/mittens, hats, warm jackets, snowpants, and boots each day. Please also send indoor shoes. Our floor, carpet, and rug were wet and muddy after recess! Indoor shoes can go back/forth each day or a pair of indoor shoes can live in our classroom for the winter.
Speaking of shoes, we've all be learning or teaching others how to tie shoes this week. Many new tiers have made progress in learning this important skill. If your child is still working on tying shoes, please help them practice at home too!
Important Dates:
November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)
December 3: Charlotte's Web at the Flynn Theater
It was great to meet with so many of you this week for conferences. I'm glad we got to show off a lot of our projects and hard work to you also. We had a lot of change to our school schedule this week with the two half days and an all-school meeting. We also spent an afternoon with 4 amazing volunteers (thanks!) making listening tools. Everyone was excited and did a great job taking turns to make tools with their choice of fillings: beans, lentils, or rice. Thanks to the many families who sent in materials or came in to help us with the project. We couldn't have done it without you!
We continue to read Charlotte's Web any chance we get. Our trip to the Flynn to see this book as a play is coming up the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. Permission slips for this trip will be coming home next week. Please check for them and send them in promptly!
I was also impressed by home many students came to school prepared for a snowy recess today! The kids who had all their gear had the most fun! Please spend some time this weekend digging out the rest of the snow/winter gear. Please send students with gloves/mittens, hats, warm jackets, snowpants, and boots each day. Please also send indoor shoes. Our floor, carpet, and rug were wet and muddy after recess! Indoor shoes can go back/forth each day or a pair of indoor shoes can live in our classroom for the winter.
Speaking of shoes, we've all be learning or teaching others how to tie shoes this week. Many new tiers have made progress in learning this important skill. If your child is still working on tying shoes, please help them practice at home too!
Important Dates:
November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)
December 3: Charlotte's Web at the Flynn Theater
Friday, November 7, 2014
Highlights of the Week 11.7.14
Dear families,
This week has been great! We've been working together and taking care of ourselves well. Many of us do have colds though, so extra water and sleep please to keep us all healthy!
We were also super excited to see snow on Friday but many of us were COLD at and after recess. Please start to send kids in with all their cold weather clothes (boots, warm coat, gloves/mittens, hat). If your child wears boots to school it's also good to send in indoor shoes so our floors aren't slippery and wet. Indoor shoes can stay in our room or make the trip home/school every day!
We practiced a few more reading strategies this week: break the word into smaller parts, flex the sound, and connect to the story. We have also been thoroughly engaged in Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. It's amazing how much we have learned about spiders through this novel. We've also read a few articles and books about spiders to supplement our knowledge of spiders and webs.
Students have done amazing science writing this week, taking their notes about the similar and different traits of their animals and creating sentences describing it all. Our study of traits and heredity is coming along nicely and all the students are excited to share their books with you!
We also did a fantastic writing activity called 2 Stars and a Wish. In this activity students reflected on the things they are happy about doing at school, things they are proud that they have done at school, and things they want to get better at in school. I'll send these home today so your child can share with you their stars and wishes. You'll also notice in your child's progress report I used the same language to reflect his/her progress so far. Please take a look at my notes and we can discuss them at conferences next week!
One last thing: next Wednesday we'll be making some listening tools to keep in the classroom. I have one parent helper already but if you're also free to help Wednesday 2:20-3:00 please let me know!
Important Dates:
November 10: Half-day for students; Parent/Teacher conferences
November 11: Half-day for students; Parent/Teacher conferences
November 13: All School Meeting 2:45pm
November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)
This week has been great! We've been working together and taking care of ourselves well. Many of us do have colds though, so extra water and sleep please to keep us all healthy!
We were also super excited to see snow on Friday but many of us were COLD at and after recess. Please start to send kids in with all their cold weather clothes (boots, warm coat, gloves/mittens, hat). If your child wears boots to school it's also good to send in indoor shoes so our floors aren't slippery and wet. Indoor shoes can stay in our room or make the trip home/school every day!
We practiced a few more reading strategies this week: break the word into smaller parts, flex the sound, and connect to the story. We have also been thoroughly engaged in Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. It's amazing how much we have learned about spiders through this novel. We've also read a few articles and books about spiders to supplement our knowledge of spiders and webs.
Students have done amazing science writing this week, taking their notes about the similar and different traits of their animals and creating sentences describing it all. Our study of traits and heredity is coming along nicely and all the students are excited to share their books with you!
We also did a fantastic writing activity called 2 Stars and a Wish. In this activity students reflected on the things they are happy about doing at school, things they are proud that they have done at school, and things they want to get better at in school. I'll send these home today so your child can share with you their stars and wishes. You'll also notice in your child's progress report I used the same language to reflect his/her progress so far. Please take a look at my notes and we can discuss them at conferences next week!
One last thing: next Wednesday we'll be making some listening tools to keep in the classroom. I have one parent helper already but if you're also free to help Wednesday 2:20-3:00 please let me know!
Important Dates:
November 10: Half-day for students; Parent/Teacher conferences
November 11: Half-day for students; Parent/Teacher conferences
November 13: All School Meeting 2:45pm
November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)
Friday, October 31, 2014
Highlights of the Week 10.31.14
Dear Families,
This week we made some changes to our snack & literacy routines. We're eating snack earlier--before literacy--so that we can enjoy each others company more and have some extra social time. We've also made our literacy blocks shorter. This gives me the opportunity to meet with more groups of kids and meet with groups more frequently. It also gives students a chance to have more choice over their literacy time--allowing them to practice reading in multiple ways while also practicing word work and independent writing.
We've been busy bookmakers in science and writing. In science we built our Traits science books and have begun to put in our science sketches and notes to show what we've learned about traits in adult versus young plants and animals. In writing we've been illustrating typed copies of our books. By the end of the week nearly everyone had a typed story to put create a published piece!
On Wednesday I was out attending a math class on number concept, number sense, and additive reasoning. These are integral to the math curriculum that Ben and I use to teach first and second grade math. In second grade math we continue to focus on addition/subtraction facts, money, place value, and story problems.
We had a few special events this week: a visit to the Smoke House for fire prevention education and a visit from Planting Hope (teaching us how they support education in some Nicaraguan schools and sharing some song and dance with us).
Even with the mounting excitement for Halloween we had a full week of fun and learning!
Important Dates:
November 10: Half-day for students; Parent/Teacher conferences
November 11: Half-day for students; Parent/Teacher conferences
November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)
***************************************************************************************************************
Here is the information again, in case you still need to sign up for a conference:
This year the superintendent set aside two half-days for Parent/Teacher conferences, November 10 & 11. School will run 8:45-12:30 and then conferences will take place after the students have left.
Conferences run for 20 minutes. Please be on time because conferences are scheduled back-to-back.
Monday conference times with me are between 12:40 and 7:00 pm.
Tuesday conference times with me are between 12:40 and 2:00 pm.
Please sign up for one conference time at this link: http://www.rumney.org/conference
**If you don't have internet access, please send me a note about your time preference and I'll plug you into an available slot.
This week we made some changes to our snack & literacy routines. We're eating snack earlier--before literacy--so that we can enjoy each others company more and have some extra social time. We've also made our literacy blocks shorter. This gives me the opportunity to meet with more groups of kids and meet with groups more frequently. It also gives students a chance to have more choice over their literacy time--allowing them to practice reading in multiple ways while also practicing word work and independent writing.
We've been busy bookmakers in science and writing. In science we built our Traits science books and have begun to put in our science sketches and notes to show what we've learned about traits in adult versus young plants and animals. In writing we've been illustrating typed copies of our books. By the end of the week nearly everyone had a typed story to put create a published piece!
On Wednesday I was out attending a math class on number concept, number sense, and additive reasoning. These are integral to the math curriculum that Ben and I use to teach first and second grade math. In second grade math we continue to focus on addition/subtraction facts, money, place value, and story problems.
We had a few special events this week: a visit to the Smoke House for fire prevention education and a visit from Planting Hope (teaching us how they support education in some Nicaraguan schools and sharing some song and dance with us).
Even with the mounting excitement for Halloween we had a full week of fun and learning!
Important Dates:
November 10: Half-day for students; Parent/Teacher conferences
November 11: Half-day for students; Parent/Teacher conferences
November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)
***************************************************************************************************************
Here is the information again, in case you still need to sign up for a conference:
This year the superintendent set aside two half-days for Parent/Teacher conferences, November 10 & 11. School will run 8:45-12:30 and then conferences will take place after the students have left.
Conferences run for 20 minutes. Please be on time because conferences are scheduled back-to-back.
Monday conference times with me are between 12:40 and 7:00 pm.
Tuesday conference times with me are between 12:40 and 2:00 pm.
Please sign up for one conference time at this link: http://www.rumney.org/conference
**If you don't have internet access, please send me a note about your time preference and I'll plug you into an available slot.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Highlights of the Week 10.24.14
Dear Families,
This week we began more independent science work. Students had a choice of animals to study: Humpback Whales, Grizzly Bears, Grey Wolves, or Rhode Island Red Chickens. Students studied pictures of these baby and adult animals to notice their traits-- what they had in common and what was different about them. We also worked in groups to study our baby and adult Jade plants that live in our classroom. We were amazed that there was a leaf on the adult plant that was longer than the height of the baby plant! Everyone has been working diligently to record their science findings in words and pictures.
We've continued reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White and have enjoyed finding many juicy words. These are interesting and uncommon words. We talk about the meaning of these words to help us understand better what is happening. We've also been using the skill of visualizing what is happening. Since there are very few pictures in this chapter book, taking the time to visualize what is happening gives students time to digest what they heard and have better comprehension.
First and second graders have been doing a lot of place value work in math. In first grade they've continued discussing what happens to all the ones when it becomes a ten. In second grade we're building and taking apart numbers to see how many hundreds, tens, and ones make that number. We've also been practicing writing numbers in 3 ways: digits, words, and expanded notation.
Writing has been an exciting time this week. Almost everyone has finished editing their stories and is ready for publication. On Friday our buddies helped us type up our stories! Next week we'll all be ready to illustrate our first published book!
**Next week we're going to try to re-do our class picture since a few students weren't there when our class photo was taken. I don't know which day it'll be because I want to make sure we're all here this time! The LifeTouch photographer is being super flexible and will come whichever day works for us (after kids are here so we know all will be in the picture).
Earlier this week I sent out a note or email to you about parent-teacher conferences. Here is the information again, in case you still need to sign up:
This year the superintendent set aside two half-days for Parent/Teacher conferences, November 10 & 11. School will run 8:45-12:30 and then conferences will take place after the students have left.
Conferences run for 20 minutes. Please be on time because conferences are scheduled back-to-back.
Monday conference times with me are between 12:40 and 7:00 pm.
Tuesday conference times with me are between 12:40 and 2:00 pm.
Please sign up for one conference time at this link: http://www.rumney.org/conference
**If you don't have internet access, please send me a note about your time preference and I'll plug you into an available slot.
This week we began more independent science work. Students had a choice of animals to study: Humpback Whales, Grizzly Bears, Grey Wolves, or Rhode Island Red Chickens. Students studied pictures of these baby and adult animals to notice their traits-- what they had in common and what was different about them. We also worked in groups to study our baby and adult Jade plants that live in our classroom. We were amazed that there was a leaf on the adult plant that was longer than the height of the baby plant! Everyone has been working diligently to record their science findings in words and pictures.
We've continued reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White and have enjoyed finding many juicy words. These are interesting and uncommon words. We talk about the meaning of these words to help us understand better what is happening. We've also been using the skill of visualizing what is happening. Since there are very few pictures in this chapter book, taking the time to visualize what is happening gives students time to digest what they heard and have better comprehension.
First and second graders have been doing a lot of place value work in math. In first grade they've continued discussing what happens to all the ones when it becomes a ten. In second grade we're building and taking apart numbers to see how many hundreds, tens, and ones make that number. We've also been practicing writing numbers in 3 ways: digits, words, and expanded notation.
Writing has been an exciting time this week. Almost everyone has finished editing their stories and is ready for publication. On Friday our buddies helped us type up our stories! Next week we'll all be ready to illustrate our first published book!
**Next week we're going to try to re-do our class picture since a few students weren't there when our class photo was taken. I don't know which day it'll be because I want to make sure we're all here this time! The LifeTouch photographer is being super flexible and will come whichever day works for us (after kids are here so we know all will be in the picture).
Earlier this week I sent out a note or email to you about parent-teacher conferences. Here is the information again, in case you still need to sign up:
This year the superintendent set aside two half-days for Parent/Teacher conferences, November 10 & 11. School will run 8:45-12:30 and then conferences will take place after the students have left.
Conferences run for 20 minutes. Please be on time because conferences are scheduled back-to-back.
Monday conference times with me are between 12:40 and 7:00 pm.
Tuesday conference times with me are between 12:40 and 2:00 pm.
Please sign up for one conference time at this link: http://www.rumney.org/conference
**If you don't have internet access, please send me a note about your time preference and I'll plug you into an available slot.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Highlights of the Week 10.17.14
Dear Families,
We had another great week together. We were excited to begin a new chapter book together, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. We'll be reading this together for the next weeks in preparation for seeing this book come to life in a play at the Flynn in December.
Many students finished editing one of their small moment stories and they are ready for publication! The next step is typing. Is anyone available 9:30-10:30 Monday-Wednesday or 12:50-1:20 Monday/Friday next week to type up stories? Please email me or send me a note if you can come help type stories!
In science we looked at the traits of a mature pumpkin plant. Then we compared the traits of the seedling to the mature plant. We same some things that were the same and some things that were different. We'll continue to learn about traits in plants next week.
This week we also had our first class in a special 10 week residency--Yoga for the Classroom. Our old friend Becky Crandell is coming in to help classes learn about the calming, energizing, and focusing effects of yoga when used in the classroom. We'll be learning some activities and yoga moves we can do right in our seats--no mats required!
Dates to Remember:
Wednesday October 22 -- Make-up Picture Day
We had another great week together. We were excited to begin a new chapter book together, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. We'll be reading this together for the next weeks in preparation for seeing this book come to life in a play at the Flynn in December.
Many students finished editing one of their small moment stories and they are ready for publication! The next step is typing. Is anyone available 9:30-10:30 Monday-Wednesday or 12:50-1:20 Monday/Friday next week to type up stories? Please email me or send me a note if you can come help type stories!
In science we looked at the traits of a mature pumpkin plant. Then we compared the traits of the seedling to the mature plant. We same some things that were the same and some things that were different. We'll continue to learn about traits in plants next week.
This week we also had our first class in a special 10 week residency--Yoga for the Classroom. Our old friend Becky Crandell is coming in to help classes learn about the calming, energizing, and focusing effects of yoga when used in the classroom. We'll be learning some activities and yoga moves we can do right in our seats--no mats required!
Dates to Remember:
Wednesday October 22 -- Make-up Picture Day
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Highlights of the Week 10.9.14
We fit a lot of fun and learning into our shorter week. During literacy many students have been focusing on sight word acquisition to help them to become stronger readers. Other students are using their comprehension strategies to help them read more closely and respond to their reading in writing. We learned about some sight word spelling games that we can play during Word Work too!
In writing we learned how to self-assess our small moment narratives to see if they are done. Students then worked to make those things they needed to work on better. Some students began the editing process. We hope to begin typing some of our small moment stories soon!
First grade mathematicians have been practicing their N+1 and N+10 addition facts. They've been building number sentences using Cuisenaire rods too. Second grade mathematicians have been practicing their N+10 and N+9 addition and subtraction facts. We've been adding two and three digit numbers by place value--adding the tens, adding the ones. We've also been counting a lot of money this week. This is a fun thing to do at home too!
We did some science sketching of the pumpkin seedlings we grew this year. We also did science sketching of mature pumpkin plants from pictures. We talked about our experiences with real mature pumpkin plants, too.
Our class had a special job at the All School Meeting. Mr. Rosen had noticed how much we've worked on showing Rumney CARES in the hallways. He asked us to teach the school how we do it and why it's important!
Important Dates:
Friday October 10-- NO SCHOOL for students (Teacher Inservice)
Monday October 13--NO SCHOOL (Columbus Day)
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