Highlights of Our Week 3-30-17

Hello families,

I've gotten to meet with some of you so far in parent/teacher conferences and I look forward to seeing the rest of you tomorrow. Our class is just amazing and I'm thrilled to share your child's hard work and accomplishments with you.

This week we sadly said goodbye to our friends in Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. The characters in this book taught us a lot about friendship, empathy, and the joy you can find in helping others. 

Our research into PLP topics has been going smoothly. Students are becoming more adept at summarizing information or rephrasing facts in their own words. We are always so excited to share the cool things we are reading so we make sure to take time at the end of each writer's workshop to share cool things we learned with our friends. Here are a few pictures of students working and sharing information this week.

Light and Shadow Exploration Stations

For a few weeks student groups will rotate through these four stations to explore different properties of light and matter. They will discover how light affects different materials, how light travels, and about the availability of light and how that affects sight. Here's a look at what this work looks like at our hands-on exploration stations!

At this station students explore the properties of shadows using cube creations they made.
They make and measure the longest and shortest shadows they can.
Students are prompted to think about how does how you use the flashlight change what happens?

In this exploration students use mirrors to reflect light. They observe what happens when the angle
of the light or mirror changes. Together they might try to find ways to make the path
of the light change directions or even turn a corner!

At this station students test different materials for reflective properties.

Students try to have "X-Ray Vision" and figure out what traits of materials make it so that
some or all light can pass through them while other materials let no light pass through them.

This week we had a ton of fun on the soggy, snowy playground. Many kids came in with soaking wet snowpants, mittens and coats. Until it dries out sending in an extra plastic bag for soggy gear and/or a spare set of clothes is a good idea! We also keep a stash of extra plastic shopping bags here in the room for anyone who needs them. If you have some at home you'd like to donate to the cause please send them in!

On Thursday we had a visit from a sixth grade frog expert. He shared with us all about how he learned about Australian tree frogs, what he does to take care of these frogs that live here at Rumney with Ms. Gretchen, and he showed us the actual frogs too! This is a great connection to our informative writing unit because we ourselves are becoming experts on topics so we can then teach others.

We also made time to visit the Rumney sugarbush and sugarhouse this afternoon. We collected some sap and visited Brian Prendergast in the sugarhouse who was setting up for the first boil of our sugaring season. Our school collected about 40 gallons of sap just this week! Here are a few more pictures from this adventure.

Wow. It's been a busy week! 

❤ Mrs. Fox

Dates to Remember
Friday March 31 - Parent/Teacher Conferences - No School for Kids
Thursday April 6 - Wizard of Oz dress rehearsal/in-school performance 1:30-3:15 pm
Whole week April 17 - 21 - Spring Break
Monday April 24 - School resumes
Friday May 19 - Our Class Plays, 2:00 seating, 2:15 showtime!! (I know this is a ways out but mark your calendars to attend our shows that afternoon!)

HOW 3-24-17

Hello everyone,

Our week together zoomed by. We've been busily reading about our PLP (personal learning project) topics and writing down new facts about them. We also brainstormed questions to help us think about what kind of information we wanted to learn on our topics. On Thursday we took a closer look at some nonfiction text features in a Scholastic News article. We've been talking a lot about how these special features help us as learners as we read nonfiction texts and organize the information we are reading in our brains.

We are nearly at the end of Charlotte's Web. It will be hard to say goodbye to these friendly, brilliant, sly, courageous characters. Charlotte just had her "hour of triumph" at the fair during our read aloud time on Friday. Ask your child what her triumph was--what had she accomplished?

The weather this week has been nuts. Thanks for continuing to send your kids in with all their winter gear. I had thought mud season was starting and then it turned to winter again! Eventually the mud will return and we will still need to wear our boots and snow pants to keep our clothes and school clean and dry. Please remember to keep sending this important outdoor gear in until the ground is dry!

I look forward to meeting with all of you next week to check in on your child's progress!

Fox Kits Corner News

• We started writing facts on our PLPs (Personal Learning Projects). We learned the facts by reading in nonfiction books.
• Upgraded our GoNoodle champ, Rad Chad, again!
• We are going to learn about light. Next week we’re going to use flashlights to learn about light, energy and shadows.
• We learned new and different things.
• We celebrated one birthday this week!
• We did our new jobs this week. We switch jobs every week in our classroom.
• Our principal, Mr. Schneider, is doing a good job!
• We had the BEST week ever!

Have a great weekend!

❤ Mrs. Fox

Dates to Remember
Wednesday March 29 - Parent/Teacher Conferences after school
Thursday March 30 - 4 Winds 1:35-2:35
Friday March 31 - Parent/Teacher Conferences - No School for Kids
Thursday April 6 - Wizard of Oz dress rehearsal/in-school performance 1:30-3:15 pm
Whole week April 17 - 21 - Spring Break
Monday April 24 - School resumes

Highlights from a Wacky Week

Hello families,

What a wacky week! It's hard to believe that Spring officially starts on Monday when we just got this fresh batch of snow! Luckily the kids are still pretty excited for it and it does make the playground more fun than the sheet of ice it was before!

This week students chose their PLP (personalized learning plan)/report topics for our big informative writing project. We wrote down facts we already know on the topics and brainstormed the questions we want to answer to help us learn about our individual topics.

We are still reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White but we took a break on Friday to read a funny book to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace.

We wrapped up our social studies unit on feelings. Of course this work will continue in our daily interactions with each other but we will switch to a new science topic at the end of next week--relating what we learned previously about sound waves to light waves and the way that light travels.

Second grade mathematicians continue working with coins and counting money. They sorted coins to find the total in each counting bin (upwards of $5.00 each). They also used two 20-sided dice to play Collect $5.00. This week we also began a transitional addition strategy called partial sum addition. This uses expanded form to break numbers in a vertical equation apart to add by place value. You'll see what this looks like next week in the math homework!

Fox Kits Corner News

• We are doing PLPs (Personal Learning Projects). We are picking out books, picking our final topic, writing what we know and writing what we want to know. We are glad to be done with our planning.
• We upgraded our champ, Rad Chad.
• We got new tables in the lunch room.
• It was St.Patrick's Day today! Lots of people wore green to celebrate. They want to find the leprechaun's gold.
• We learned about doing Jumprope for Heart in P.E.
• We had 2 really awesome snow days!!! We could hardly believe it!
•  Last week we got to meet the prinicipal, Mr. Schneider, who will finish the year with us.
• In P.E. we did Thunder Road! There is a race track outside the basketball court and you run around it 5 times. There are 2 detours, a gas station, and a pitstop. You go through them until time is up. Ms. Caswell plays really good music too, Kids Bop!

Have a great weekend!

❤ Mrs. Fox

Dates to Remember
Monday March 20 - All School Meeting (rescheduled) 9:15-10:00
Wednesday March 29 - Parent/Teacher Conferences after school
Thursday March 30 - 4 Winds 1:35-2:35
Friday March 31 - Parent/Teacher Conferences - No School for Kids

HOW 3-10-17

This week we began to think of research topics for informative writing. We began collecting books on our topics on Friday.

We are still reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. We also read Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson. This was another empowering story of leadership and peaceful change.

Today our class came up with a HUGE list of ways we can calm down when we notice clues in our bodies that we are having a big feeling (i.e. mad, worried, scared, sad, jealous). Here are our ideas!

• -         Hold hands with mom.
• -         Talking to someone.
• -         Think about your family.
• -         Think about a happy memory.
• -         Take deep breaths.
• -         Go outside and play.
• -         Think about happy things that could happen.
• -         Tensing and relaxing muscles.
• -         Go to my room to be away from people.
• -         Think of something happy.
• -         Drink some water.
• -         Take some space away from people.
• -         Take a walk inside or outside.
• -         Spend time with a pet.
• -         Snuggle with a stuffie.
• -         Give a hug. Get a hug.
• -         Count down from 10.
• -         Run around outside in the fresh air.
• -         Do some 5 finger breathing.
• -         Squeeze a stuffie very hard to get anger out.
• -         Get fresh air.
• -         Yoga/Brain Gym, like melting.
• -         Listen to calm music.
• -         Coloring to calm down.
• -         Writing in a journal.
• -         Snuggle with mom or dad.
• -         Read a book.
• -         Get your mind off your feelings.
• -         Rest your body, maybe take a nap.
• -         Stand somewhere and do nothing.
• -         Chew gum.
• -         Sit on your bed and take deep breaths.
• -         Go to your quiet space.
• -         Sit in a chair and watch someone cook.

We hope that you have a great weekend!

Our Last Week Before Winter Break!

Hello everyone!

We were busy worker bees this week--it was incredible!

We did one more big opinion piece to show all we have learned about this genre of writing. This week students had a choice of 2 topics: 1) What is your favorite season? or 2) How would you improve the playground at Rumney?  Students chose which topic they had a strong feeling about and did their best work without teacher direction and reminders about adding details or doing the final editing for punctuation and grammar. These are coming home today too so take a look at your child's great work!

We are loving our read aloud book, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. We've been spending extra time talking about figurative language and the incredible vocabulary used in this book. We've been making lots of connections to the characters and events, too. On Friday we also read a new picture book to our classroom, If Kids Ran the World by Leo & Diane Dillon. This is a wonderful book with a message of love, kindness, caring, and peace.

In social studies we talked about how naming your feeling (when you have a big feeling) can help you know what to do next/how to solve your problem. To help us practice this we thought of times when we had various big feelings (i.e. exhausted, furious, panicked, happy, disgusted, etc.). Then we shared ideas about what to do when these big feelings occur. Here is a link to some techniques that are great for kids of all ages to do to help calm-down after having a big feeling. I've also put together a packet of information about this unit that is going home in folders today (Friday).

On Wednesday I sent home information (by letter in your child's folder or electronically) about signing up for parent/teacher conferences at the end of next month. I wanted to give you plenty of advance notice since I know scheduling can be tight! Here's the sign-up link again in case you need it.

This Friday was our last Winter Wellness. Thanks for supporting this great program at our school. Thanks also to our P.E. teacher, Mrs. Caswell, for organizing it. If you see her please let her know you appreciate it too!

Have a wonderful, long winter break!!

❤ Mrs. Fox

Dates to Remember
Monday Feb. 27 - Tuesday Mar. 7 - Winter Break
Wednesday March 8 - 1st Day Back from Vacation
Wednesday March 29 - Parent/Teacher Conferences after school
Thursday March 30 - 4 Winds 1:35-2:35
Friday March 31 - Parent/Teacher Conferences - No School for Kids

Highlights 2-17-17

Dear Families,

Another week has flown by. The snow we got this week has made the playground much more fun! Thanks for helping your child come prepared each day with all the outerwear they need to have fun in the snow at recess. We try our best to get all the gear home at the end of the day. If it doesn't come home it may end up in the over-flowing lost and found in the lobby. If you are missing anything and are at school please check there! Kids are also free to check lost and found for any missing items--just let us know wha to look for!

This week many students finished writing their opinion pieces about "How to Make the World a Better Place." These are hanging up on the boards outside our room. I also sent home the finished "I Wish I Had 100..." opinion pieces that we wrote to celebrate the 100th day of school earlier this month. With these pieces are: the student "check sheets" to help them edit their work for all the parts of opinion writing that are expected for a first or second grader (it is quite different); the graphic organizer that helped to plan out their ideas; and the teacher rubric we use that has a sliding scale so you can see the writing skills your child demonstrated in this piece and where it falls on the continuum of writing progression (below, at, and above grade level). If you have any questions about these please let me know!

This week we did more work about how to solve small problems by talking about how it makes you feel. Students had written down small problems that they thought could be solved by using an "I-Statement." Using these ideas we practiced a few together. Then pairs acted out the problem and solution for the class. The problems our kids had brainstormed ranged from "someone is talking when it's my turn" to "when someone isn't watching where they are going and bumps into you" to "I just want to play with my friend but he keeps running away from me." Being able to practice solving small problems like this in a safe, controlled classroom setting is a great way for kids to gain the skills and be able to transfer them to more independent use. They are making wonderful progress with this!

We also did some more work talking about feelings (sad, frustrated, energized, excited, etc) and identifying when we have those feelings. This can be a difficult thing to do (for kids and adults) but it is crucial for self-regulation. Knowing yourself and how you are feeling helps you know what you need to feel good and to be more successful.

We continue reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. We even had a special guest reader, Mr. Rosen, who read a chapter to us on Thursday and helped us think deeply about some of the interesting words and phrases used in the chapter.

We also read  a new book to our classroom, The Berenstein Bears: Kindness Counts. On Thursday we went to the Flynn Center in Burlington and saw a great play, "A Year with Frog and Toad" based on the books by Arnold Lobel. Everyone in our class has been reading this series independently or listening to one of the books at our Listen to Reading station. This show was a hit!

We have one more week before our winter break. Stay healthy, get some rest, and have fun this weekend!

❤ Mrs. Fox

Dates to Remember
Winter Wellness/Fitness Fridays - 12:30-3:30 on Jan. 13, 20, 27; Feb. 17, 24 (make-up date since we didn't go on 2/10)
Monday Feb. 27 - Tuesday Mar. 7 - Winter Break
Wednesday March 8 - 1st Day Back from Vacation

Valentine's Day Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

The whole day was full of love and kindness. We were excited because a Valentine's Phantom came to Rumney during the night and left us a trail of hearts on the snowbanks!! They were exciting to see as we came into school today. We also had a great celebration and had fun seeing all the mail from our friends. Thanks to all of you for supporting our Valentine's Day celebration!