Happy Halloween! I will not be sending any homework home this evening. I know how hectic the evening can be for people. In return, I ask that you remember to please not send in any Halloween candy to school with your child.
I am hope you have a safe and joyous evening.
Peace,
Tom
October 31, 2012
October 29, 2012
October 30, 2012
Good Afternoon,
A few things for you to take note of:
*We will not be hiking on Wednesday. I can't guarantee the accessibility of the hike nor do I feel that it will be totally safe. So, we will reschedule for the spring.
*As of right now, school is still on for tomorrow. If there is a change the alert now system will be used.
Today, we continued to look at sentences and talked about upper case letters and ending punctuation. The students also had spelling and math. Today;s specials were gym and library.
I hope you have a safe evening.
Peace,
Tom
A few things for you to take note of:
*We will not be hiking on Wednesday. I can't guarantee the accessibility of the hike nor do I feel that it will be totally safe. So, we will reschedule for the spring.
*As of right now, school is still on for tomorrow. If there is a change the alert now system will be used.
Today, we continued to look at sentences and talked about upper case letters and ending punctuation. The students also had spelling and math. Today;s specials were gym and library.
I hope you have a safe evening.
Peace,
Tom
October 26, 2012
October 26, 2012
Good Afternoon,
We had a wonderful day today. The students wrote in their Weekly News journals. They are in your child's backpack, please respond to them over the weekend. We also read the story, What Do You Say, Dear. The students really enjoyed this book and the sound of laughter was quite loud. Afterwards, we started our own version of the book. The students used water colors to illustrate the book. We hope to finish it next Friday. I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
.JPG)
.JPG)
We had a wonderful day today. The students wrote in their Weekly News journals. They are in your child's backpack, please respond to them over the weekend. We also read the story, What Do You Say, Dear. The students really enjoyed this book and the sound of laughter was quite loud. Afterwards, we started our own version of the book. The students used water colors to illustrate the book. We hope to finish it next Friday. I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
.JPG)
.JPG)
October 24, 2012
October 24, 2012
Good Morning,
I am sorry I wasn't in school today. My daughter had a pretty nasty ear infection and was in a bit of pain.
Next Wednesday's Hike: I have a handful of parents that have offered to help chaperone the hike. They are Logan's mom and dad, Rachel's mom, Azailea's mom, and Amy's mom. If anyone else would like to go, please let me know. The plan has changed a little bit. We will hike Stowe Pinnacle and leave school around 8:30. We will start at the upper parking lot and allow groups to hike at their own pace. We will eat lunch while we are there. Each kid should have a back pack to carry his/her lunch and a water bottle. Hats, gloves, maybe even hand-warmers, are strongly suggested. I will keep a close eye on the weather and make a decision during the school day on Tuesday. I am curious about the path of the hurricane that has formed near Jamaica and the threat it poses to hitting the East Coast.
Why are we hiking? It has become a tradition that the students of the Waitsfield School take part int he Hike For Hunger Campaign. Each Fall, I ask the students to bring in food donations for the Food Shelf. Wednesday seemed like a good choice with the anticipated energy and excitement of Halloween. If we need to postpone the hike, I will reschedule it for the Spring. Below is a quick clip about the Hike For Hunger campaign.
Have a great day.
Peace,
Tom
I am sorry I wasn't in school today. My daughter had a pretty nasty ear infection and was in a bit of pain.
Next Wednesday's Hike: I have a handful of parents that have offered to help chaperone the hike. They are Logan's mom and dad, Rachel's mom, Azailea's mom, and Amy's mom. If anyone else would like to go, please let me know. The plan has changed a little bit. We will hike Stowe Pinnacle and leave school around 8:30. We will start at the upper parking lot and allow groups to hike at their own pace. We will eat lunch while we are there. Each kid should have a back pack to carry his/her lunch and a water bottle. Hats, gloves, maybe even hand-warmers, are strongly suggested. I will keep a close eye on the weather and make a decision during the school day on Tuesday. I am curious about the path of the hurricane that has formed near Jamaica and the threat it poses to hitting the East Coast.
Why are we hiking? It has become a tradition that the students of the Waitsfield School take part int he Hike For Hunger Campaign. Each Fall, I ask the students to bring in food donations for the Food Shelf. Wednesday seemed like a good choice with the anticipated energy and excitement of Halloween. If we need to postpone the hike, I will reschedule it for the Spring. Below is a quick clip about the Hike For Hunger campaign.
Peace,
Tom
October 22, 2012
November 22, 2012
Good Afternoon,
It is 3;30 and I realized I forgot to write a blog post today. I apologize for not getting it out sooner today. Today the students finished their persuasive writing pieces, had Writer's Workshop, and had math. Today's specials were gym and library. We will be headed to the Fire Station tomorrow morning for a Fire Safety Presentation.
I will post final details about the hike on Wednesday's blog.
Peace,
Tom
It is 3;30 and I realized I forgot to write a blog post today. I apologize for not getting it out sooner today. Today the students finished their persuasive writing pieces, had Writer's Workshop, and had math. Today's specials were gym and library. We will be headed to the Fire Station tomorrow morning for a Fire Safety Presentation.
I will post final details about the hike on Wednesday's blog.
Peace,
Tom
October 19, 2012
October 19, 2012
Good Afternoon,
Today we spent the morning writing. We wrote in our Weekly News journals, finished our pen-pal letters, and learned how to write a persuasive piece. We are writing persuasive letters to the parents of the Waitsfield School; explaining why they should volunteer for the Ski and Skate Sale. I thought it was a great opportunity to introduce this type of writing.
I have 4 parents signed up to help chaperone the hike. If anyone else is interested, please let me know. There may be a change of hiking venue but the date will stay the same.
Have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
Today we spent the morning writing. We wrote in our Weekly News journals, finished our pen-pal letters, and learned how to write a persuasive piece. We are writing persuasive letters to the parents of the Waitsfield School; explaining why they should volunteer for the Ski and Skate Sale. I thought it was a great opportunity to introduce this type of writing.
I have 4 parents signed up to help chaperone the hike. If anyone else is interested, please let me know. There may be a change of hiking venue but the date will stay the same.
Have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
October 17, 2012
October 17, 2012
Good Morning,
Over the past two days, we have been working on a science experiment with magnets. The challenge was to use two magnets to drag three ball magnets through a race course. Below are a few videos of the attempts. Each team needed to record the time it took on their data sheets, and we will be discussing our observations and findings during our science block this afternoon.
Hike for Hunger. I would like to take the kids for a hike On Wednesday, October 31st. I anticipate this being a very high energy day and think it would be a perfect time to participate in the Hike For Hunger program. I thought we would hike Mt. Abe this year and eat our lunch at the top. We would leave school around 9:30 and return by the end of the day. I would need driver s and people willing to hike. Please let me now if you can attend.
Peace,
Tom
Over the past two days, we have been working on a science experiment with magnets. The challenge was to use two magnets to drag three ball magnets through a race course. Below are a few videos of the attempts. Each team needed to record the time it took on their data sheets, and we will be discussing our observations and findings during our science block this afternoon.
Hike for Hunger. I would like to take the kids for a hike On Wednesday, October 31st. I anticipate this being a very high energy day and think it would be a perfect time to participate in the Hike For Hunger program. I thought we would hike Mt. Abe this year and eat our lunch at the top. We would leave school around 9:30 and return by the end of the day. I would need driver s and people willing to hike. Please let me now if you can attend.
Peace,
Tom
October 15, 2012
October 15, 2012
Good morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I found myself enjoying a couple of 5th & 6th grade soccer games and preparing our home for Winter.
Today we had reading groups and wrote in our writing folders. We also read the book Welcome to the Ice House, by Jane Yolen. This book offered beautiful examples of an author using powerful words
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
Today we had reading groups and wrote in our writing folders. We also read the book Welcome to the Ice House, by Jane Yolen. This book offered beautiful examples of an author using powerful words
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
October 12, 2012
October 12, 2012
Good Morning,
Today the students wrote in their weekly news and continued writing their pen-pal letters. We also conducted two more magnet experiments. The focus continued to be making a prediction and drawing a conclusion from the data collected.
I am sorry there are no pictures today. My computer crashed yesterday and Kay is working on fixing it.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
PS: I strongly urge your child to have a "school" sweater or sweatshirt that he/she can leave at school. I tend to keep my room a bit cool. Please make sure his/her name is in it.
Today the students wrote in their weekly news and continued writing their pen-pal letters. We also conducted two more magnet experiments. The focus continued to be making a prediction and drawing a conclusion from the data collected.
I am sorry there are no pictures today. My computer crashed yesterday and Kay is working on fixing it.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
PS: I strongly urge your child to have a "school" sweater or sweatshirt that he/she can leave at school. I tend to keep my room a bit cool. Please make sure his/her name is in it.
October 10, 2012
October 10, 2012
Good Morning Families,
Yesterday was quite a busy and productive day. During our Writer's Workshop, I introduced the kids to the term "Spicy Cheez-It" words. This is the term that I am using to teach the students about descriptive words that enhance author's work. I had the students sample regular Cheez-Its and the spicy ones. We then talked about the difference, and agreed that although they are both snack crackers there is a big difference between the two. I then brought it back to the idea that writing with "Spicy" words makes the story much more interesting to the reader. We will spend the next few weeks reading picture books that demonstrate an author's use of these Spicy Cheez-It words.
Yesterday afternoon, the whole school gathered in the gym for a kickoff to this year's reading challenge. The students then broke up into groups of mixed grades and read picture books for 20 minutes. It was great to see all of our students reading together and a very positive experience.
Notes:
*A new 1st grade math homework game will be sent home today. The survey will be due a week from Friday.
*Please have your child put their name on any homework sheet.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
Yesterday was quite a busy and productive day. During our Writer's Workshop, I introduced the kids to the term "Spicy Cheez-It" words. This is the term that I am using to teach the students about descriptive words that enhance author's work. I had the students sample regular Cheez-Its and the spicy ones. We then talked about the difference, and agreed that although they are both snack crackers there is a big difference between the two. I then brought it back to the idea that writing with "Spicy" words makes the story much more interesting to the reader. We will spend the next few weeks reading picture books that demonstrate an author's use of these Spicy Cheez-It words.
 |
| Leaf Peeping Walk last Friday |
Yesterday afternoon, the whole school gathered in the gym for a kickoff to this year's reading challenge. The students then broke up into groups of mixed grades and read picture books for 20 minutes. It was great to see all of our students reading together and a very positive experience.
Notes:
*A new 1st grade math homework game will be sent home today. The survey will be due a week from Friday.
*Please have your child put their name on any homework sheet.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
October 5, 2012
October 5, 2012
Good Afternoon and Happy Friday! Today we wrote in our Weekly News Journals. Please look in your child's bag for his or hers. Please take time to read it and write back to your child. We will read the comments on Tuesday.
We started to talk about the traditions around "Leaf Peeping" and took a walk as a class to look for leaves that looked beautiful to us. When we got back, I read Read Leaf, Yellow Leaf and Why Do the Leaves Change to the children. We then created our own Fall leaves (video above) using food coloring. The leaves will hang over our classroom library and look absolutely stunning blowing in the breeze.
Please remember that their is no school on Monday. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Peace,
Tom
October 3, 2012
October 3, 2012
Good Morning,
We started our day with some dancing and songs in the gym. Wrenn Compere led us in the activities, and it proved to be a great start up activity. Yesterday, we reread a book called Grandpa Never Lies. We read the book last week, and looked at the author's use of repetitive lines. This time we looked at the way the author used his words to travel through time. The students have know learned about 4 different styles of author's craft that they can use to write stories (letter books, number books, all about books, and through time books).
In science, we continue to investigate magnets and today we will conduct a magnet investigation this afternoon. I feel the students are enjoying the hands on approach to this unit, and have seen a lot of great writing in their science notebooks.
1ST GRADE MATH GAME SURVEY IS DUE ON FRIDAY!
Peace,
Tom
We started our day with some dancing and songs in the gym. Wrenn Compere led us in the activities, and it proved to be a great start up activity. Yesterday, we reread a book called Grandpa Never Lies. We read the book last week, and looked at the author's use of repetitive lines. This time we looked at the way the author used his words to travel through time. The students have know learned about 4 different styles of author's craft that they can use to write stories (letter books, number books, all about books, and through time books).
In science, we continue to investigate magnets and today we will conduct a magnet investigation this afternoon. I feel the students are enjoying the hands on approach to this unit, and have seen a lot of great writing in their science notebooks.
1ST GRADE MATH GAME SURVEY IS DUE ON FRIDAY!
Peace,
Tom
October 1, 2012
October 1, 2012
I hope you had a great weekend. It looks like Friday went pretty smoothly. I had a nice time in North Carolina and was psyched to see my brother before he deployed. I have to say, the three flights to get home seemed a bit much, but I was glad to be back on time.
Parent volunteers start this week. Below is the schedule:
__________________________________________________________________________
Day of the Week The 1st, 3rd, & 5th The 2nd & 4th Time
week of the month week of the month
Monday Hillary Susan Hans 9:45-11:20
Tuesday Eva Michelle 10:00-11:20
Wednesday Harmony Harmony 9:45-11:20
Thursday Chris Michelle 9:45-11:20
________________________________________________________________________
We started our spelling this week. I will use the week to model and practice the different tasks that will happen during spelling time. Today, each child set up their first 5 sight word flash cards.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
Parent volunteers start this week. Below is the schedule:
__________________________________________________________________________
Day of the Week The 1st, 3rd, & 5th The 2nd & 4th Time
week of the month week of the month
Monday Hillary Susan Hans 9:45-11:20
Tuesday Eva Michelle 10:00-11:20
Wednesday Harmony Harmony 9:45-11:20
Thursday Chris Michelle 9:45-11:20
________________________________________________________________________
We started our spelling this week. I will use the week to model and practice the different tasks that will happen during spelling time. Today, each child set up their first 5 sight word flash cards.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)