September 12, 2025

I hope you have all had a great week. It was quite a busy week, so I will jump right in. This week in math, the 1st graders learned how our math stations will run (each day). The students focused on writing numerals and eliminating reversals, comparing numbers and continued lessons in Zearn. Yesterday, each student completed the Stars Math Assessment (a district required assessment). Ms. Beattie also screened each student's current abilities with rote counting (within 50), writing and identifying 2 digit numbers, and identifying groups of dots within a ten frame structure. All of this information will be used to guide my math instruction during the month of September and into October. The 2nd grader math students have been working on attributes of shapes and learning how to sort and graph them.

This week I read a book to the students called A Beautiful Oops, by Barney Saltsburg. "This book is an interactive children's book that encourages a growth mindset by showing how mistakes like tears, spills, and smudges can be transformed into something beautiful and creative with imagination. The book uses pop-ups, lift-the-flaps, and unique art to demonstrate that accidents are not failures, but rather opportunities for new ideas and artistic discoveries." After we read the book, the students each created their own "mistake" on their paper and turned it into a "beautiful oops." This work can be seen on the bulletin board at the end of the hall (near our classroom). 

Our Hopes and Dreams are completed! This week each student illustrated their first Hope and Dream (goal) for the year.  Each student identified something that they want to get better at or learn to do in our classroom.  This afternoon, the students used these illustrations to come up with possible rules we would need in our room to allow for success (toward the goals).  We will refine this list next week.

My hope and dream this year is for the class to work together as a team and to think about others in their actions and words. The idea of thinking about others can be challenging and not always modeled in the best of ways. This concept will also be a sort of theme for our class this year. I have talked about simple things like holding the door for the next person to examples of cleaning up our space so others can use it. I challenge all of you to take this theme on with them. It would be great to connect this across their everyday lives. The students will be encouraged to share how they are doing this during our Morning Meetings and other times of the day.

Over the next 16 blog posts, I will introduce a student from our class. I am going alphabetically according to their last names.  I am starting with Z and working my way toward A. I will post a picture but will not post their name. Please ask you child who each kid is. Here is this week's Student of the Week.

This person is playing soccer this year and is very excited about joining a soccer team. His favorite food is spaghetti and meatballs. He is in 2nd grade and celebrates his birthday in March. His favorite color is blue and he loves to swim at night in the water. He wants to travel to the beach. 

This Week's Read-A-Louds Were (They are linked so you can listen with your child):

*Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet

*Guess Again

*You're Going to Love This Book

*17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore!

Thank you to all of those who are able to volunteer this year. Here is the most recent version of the schedule. There are still two spots open, if anyone wants them, just let me know. There is also a link on the right side of this blog page that allows you to view this schedule whenever needed.  

We also finished our All About Me posters this week. As you can see from the posters, quite a bit of detail and work goes into them. It allowed me to have the kids work on a meaningful project while introducing tools that we use and getting them use to pushing themselves  with their work. They are hanging up in our classroom library. 

NOTES:

*The Scholastic book orders are due by September 19th.  

*Photo day is this Wednesday.

*Great job with the homework bags and getting all of the books returned today. This is such a huge help for me and makes things so easy.  I appreciate your efforts.

*Your child is bringing home a form for the Everyone Wins program.  Please look for it in your child's bag and help them fill it out (if they are interested in applying). If your child did it last year, they don;t have to apply again. You can find more information about it here.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Peace,

Mr. Young

September 5, 2025

What a great 2nd week of school! The class has been enjoying some funny read-a-louds, sharing at Morning Meeting, and interacting through games and conversations. The overall theme continues to be getting to know our routines, our expectations, and how we function as a community of learners. 

The kids have been working diligently on posters that go into quite a bit of detail about themselves. These posters allow me to work on following multi-step directions and pushing the students to do their best with their work. It's great to see the students taking time to look at their own work but also that of their classmates. These posters will be displayed in the hallway right outside our classroom door.

Today we added each kid's name to our word wall. The word wall has 100 of the most common spelled sight words and adding student names will help when they are writing stories that involve their friends. It also helps achieve the goal of kids getting to know each kids name. This week the kids finished a "stained glass"  project. This project allowed me to teach the kids about detail, using different art tools and following multi step directions. You can see these on the bulletin board outside our classroom door or check out the picture.

Yesterday we talked about why they come to school. The kids identified reason like "to learn," "to see our friends," and other reasons along the same lines. The one that made me laugh was when a child said, "to get us out of the house." Today we used that conversation to identify students strengths in school and each child told us about something that they did well last year. I then turned the focus to asking them to think of something they wanted to get better at or learn to do in our classroom this year. I wanted them to think of a goal that each of them would want to accomplish. These goals will be known as their Hopes and Dreams as we start the academic year. We will revisit these goals periodically and students will create new ones as needed. Next week, the students will use these goals to create classroom rules that they feel are needed to allow them to focus and accomplish their Hopes and Dreams.

You may hear  child talk about "shopping for books" and the term read to self. This week I introduced the students to the concepts of finding good fit books for times when they need to read books to themselves. There are three ways that kids can read books:

• Read the Words: This is where kids who are already reading can go page by page and read the words in the stories they have chosen.
• Read the Pictures: This is where the kids can use the pictures and "read them" to gain an understanding of what is going on in the story.
• Retell from Memory: This is where kids can look at the pages and tell you the story from hearing it so many times.

The kids use the grocery bags that you sent in to collect 7 books each week for this activity. Thank you for those who were able to send in a bag. I had a few extra so everyone is now set.

NOTES:
*Parent volunteers will start in October. If you would like to volunteer this year, please use this link to sign up for a slot. You don't have to sign up if you wish to visit the classroom. That can happen anytime (after October). This is more for people who can commit to a weekly or bi-weekly time slot. If you sign up for the math time, that is for 1st grade math. Any 1st or 2nd grade parent can sign up but it will be for my 1st grade math class. To sign up, just type your name into the spot you wish to do (you can do as many as you want).

*I will do three book orders this year. A September one, a December one, and one in May. The September order forms and information will be sent home on Monday. The deadline for orders will be September 20th. All orders will be done online. If that doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will work something else out. I use Scholastic because it allows students to access interesting books at a fairly cheap price and it also allows me to use reward points to get free books for the classroom.

Here’s how it works: I’ll send home flyers like these throughout the year. If you decide to place an order, you can do that through our class ordering page. Your books will arrive at school about 10 days after I submit our classroom order.

Order due date: 09/19/25
Shop our class page: https://orders.scholastic.com/K3277
Class code: K3277

*Homework bags will start coming home next week. These are a gallon Ziploc bag that will have your child's name on it. I explained these in my introduction letter too. Any forms, notes, or information that you need to see, will be in this bag. Please look for it each night, take care of the items and then send the bag back. Eventually kids will be able to take home a book (each night) from our classroom library. The books must stay in this bag when it is not being read. Please take the time to work with your child on this routine and how to take care of the books they bring home. Books will start coming home at the start of next week. These books are ones that the kid should like read to them and/or can read themselves. It is optional each night. 

HOWEVER, I need the books to be returned (in the plastic Ziploc bag) each day.  Even if you don't get to finish a book or have a chance to read it, I need them sent back daily.  Homework bags won't come home on Fridays. 

That is all for now. I hope you all have a great weekend. My wife celebrates the anniversary of her 29th birthday this weekend. Along with that, I hope to get out and enjoy some time kayaking. I can't wait for week three and all that it has in store.

Peace,

Mr. Young

August 29, 2025

I hope your child has had a great 1st week. Although some things will seem like review (for the 2nd graders) I explained to them that we need to make sure everyone is on the same page with things to both have a smooth running classroom and being able to have common expectations. Week one of the First Six Weeks of School focused on establishing a welcoming, safe, and predictable classroom environment through activities that built community and taught basic routines. The focus included helping students get to know each other, learn classmates' names and interests, and practice fundamental procedures like lining up, all while fostering a sense of belonging and establishing high expectations for learning and behavior. We will continue this work into next week as well.

THE FIRST 20 MINUTES of the DAY

I wanted to review the 1st 20 minutes of each day.  As I said during conferences, it is a chance for kids to come in, connect with me, have breakfast/snack, and connect with their friends.  The doors of the school open at 7:25 and the time goes until our meeting at 7:50.  Students must be in the room by 7:40.  If your child arrives after 7:40 it makes it challenging for them to access this important time. Please do everything you can to have them in school by 7:40.  

Each day we do a Morning Meeting at 7:55.  Morning Meetings are powerful because they afford students time to socialize with their peers and give me time to engage students in daily affirmations and social and emotional learning (SEL) activities. Morning Meeting's four components are a greeting, sharing from students, a group activity, and a morning message.  Once we hit October, parents are welcomed to join a morning meeting anytime they wish.  They are always done by 8:15.  You don't have to let me know if you are joining, just come on in.

I read a bunch of books, to the class, during our read a loud times. This week's titles are as follows (I have linked recorded readings of these in case you would like to listen to them with your child).

The Day You Begin

First Day Jitters

Our Class is Our Family

This School Year Will Be the Best

The Wonky Donkey

Cats Don't Like That

A Letter From Your Teacher

The 1st week is always unique and can offer a variety of feelings. Kids have to get out of their summer routines and most have to get up much earlier in the morning. There's the nervousness of joining a new class and/or even being a new student to the school. There is also the excitement of starting new, seeing old friends and being back into the school routine. As I enter year 28, I have some of the same feelings too. However, what stands out the most to me is the sense of happiness. Our school is an amazing place. It's a team, it's a family, and in many ways it can feel like "home." The entire staff cares about and wants the best for each of your children. It's a place that functions so well because of the core belief that we are a team. We are teachers, custodians, para-educators and families that work together to create an incredible experience for your child. It is with this in mind that most excites me about kicking off another school year. I hope it also allows you to feel the same. Please reach out anytime with questions, concerns or thoughts.

NOTES:

*Please check out the right hand side of the blog page.  It has links for schedules and lots of other information.

*Please have your child wear sneakers on gym days. If you want your child to leave a pair in their cubby send them in and let me know. I will help them with that.

*We try to go out for recess no matter what (unless it is below zero or pouring rain). Please make sure your child dresses for the weather. The cooler weather often has kids looking for a sweatshirt or fleece.

*I am going to ask for understanding when it comes to the blog. I usually try to get this done during my only prep period on Fridays. I am typing and composing it at a rather fast pace. If I have a typo or a misspelling (because I have fat fingers) please correct it in your mind and continue on. I firmly believe editing is important but getting the information out in a timely manner trumps that (in this case). Thank you for your understanding.

That is all for now. I hope you all have a great weekend. It has been a fantastic week and I am looking forward to the year to come.

Peace,

Mr. Young

August 27, 2025

 And . . . We're Off!  What a great first day of school. It was so much fun getting to know the new 1st graders and seeing how much the 2nd graders have grown. We had our first Morning Meeting (as a class). This is something that we will do everyday and is the backbone to developing and inclusive, communicative, and empathetic classroom. The activity during today's meeting was the singing of Aiken Drum. The silly sing-a-long is a Scottish folk song, also known as a nursery rhyme, about a man whose body and clothing are made of different foods, and who plays a ladle. The song, with its simple, repetitive structure, is excellent for children and can be adapted by singers to invent new food-based versions of the character.

We also introduced two tools that we will use a lot this year; crayons and pencils. The students practiced their pencil grip, modeled how to take care of the tools and created a piece about their favorite activity from this summer. Between the camping, swimming, traveling, and sprouting events, the class surely seemed to have a very exciting summer break.

Today's special was PE. The students worked with Ms. Zaino about what PE class is and set some expectations as a group. They then had a chance to move their bodies and get some energy out. Please remember to have kids wear sneakers on PE days.

We had an unexpected fire drill (accidentally pulled in another classroom) this afternoon.  The kids did a great job of handling the practice and we were even able to count this as our August practice. 

This blog is how I will communicate all year. I will post on Fridays (sometimes it ends up being Saturday/Sunday).  You can subscribe to the blog too.  This will send you an email with the post (it doesn't include videos) in it. If you are unsure on how to do this, please watch the video below.

That is all for now.  I hope you are Abel to connect with your child about today and you also have a great evening.

Peace,

Mr. Young

June 18, 2025

Well this concludes another fun and exciting year.  It is hard to believe this is the end of my 28th year but at the same time it seems like it has flown by. I hope your children had as much fun as I did this year. 

Today your child will come home with a few things.

1.  They will have their non-fiction book that they created independently. This involved, researching an animal, taking notes, and then turning it into chapters and finally a book. They were quite proud of their work with this.

2.  During the past week, the students have been working on a 1st or 2nd grade memory book. This was a fun way to finish off they year while still practicing writing and reflecting on the year gone by.

3.  Each student will have some tools for them to keep to write, draw, and color over the summer. It would be great to ask your child to write a paragraph after each summer week (about the fun they are having).  If they want to mail me their writings to me, my address is 103 Fox Hollow, Duxbury, VT 05676.

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great summer. It has been a pleasure working with your children this year. It is the absolute best to watch them grow and learn. Thank you all for everything.

Peace,

Mr. Young

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. It was definitely nice to get some sunshine on a weekend! I am sorry I didn't get this post out on Friday, it just slipped my mind. This week's post will have some bulleted bits of information and pictures. 

• Thank you to those who volunteered to bring in items for our last day of school breakfast. The list filled up very quickly. We are all set on items and truly do appreciate the generosity.  

• All of the book orders have been delivered and your child should have brought them home last week.

• Parent volunteers will end on Friday of this week. Keely, we will not need a volunteer on Friday afternoon. I want to thank all of you for donating your time this year. It is a huge help and I appreciate your dedication to helping kids achieve success. 

• On Tuesday, June 17th, Anna Church will be coming in to talk about the summer programming at the Joslin Memorial Library.
• Anna does a wonderful job with this and it is a great resource to keep up summer reading. 

This past week we visited the 3rd & 4th grade classroom to explore their arcade games that they created. This was inspired by a child named Caine and the arcade he built at his father's parts shop in California. If you would like, check out this video that gives context to the project that the students took on. 

In first grade math, the students finished up their glider plane project and spent Friday measuring lengths of flights. We will spend this week looking at graphing and interpreting data. 

The students have been working on their animal books and are doing an amazing job with them. They will all edit their books this week. Their final version will go home on the last day of school. 

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great week.

Peace,

Tommy

May 30, 2025

. . . And that's May! We are officially done with all of the required end of the year assessments. The students are still working on their research (of a Vermont animal) and writing of a non-fiction book. This has been a fun unit and the kids are really excited about the project. This week in math, the first graders took the end of year Bridge's assessment. They also worked on counting money and solving story problems. We will finish the last two weeks of math with measuring and data collection activities. 

We continue to explore all of the new books that we received.  This week we read the following titles:

• The Book That Almost Rhymed
• Oh No the Aunts are Here
• Two Dogs

As I have stated many times, my goal this year was to help the students develop a love for reading. Although I don't think 100% of the students are there an encouraging sign happened on Wednesday. At the end of the day I said, "We won't send the reading bags home tonight," there was a collective moan from the group. They were disappointed and ask that we could. When kids are asking for extra reading on a sunny day, that is a good thing. The reading bags (for those who continue to bring them back) will continue to be sent home through June 12th.

Each year, I do a Last Day of School Breakfast. I like doing this instead of a huge sugar party to end the year. It is always fun to celebrate the year gone by and the work that we have done as a group. I will make pancakes for the class but could use some other items for the party. If you can contribute, please click on this link and sign up for an item.

NOTES:

*Friday, June 13th will be field days (in the afternoon).  This is always a fun and exciting event for all of the kids. There is a very good chance that the kids will get wet. There is a smaller chance that it will be very sunny. Please make sure that your kids dress accordingly.  They can change into something before the start of the event if needed.  

*The Scholastic book orders should be in next week. If you would like me to not send the books home with your child, please let me know by Monday. 

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great weekend.

Peace,

Mr. Young