Good Afternoon,
I hope everyone had a wonderful break. It was surely a treat to end it with yesterday's weather. There was a lot of chatter (amongst the children) about their vacations. We talked a lot about Vermont being a vacation destination and that many people choose to stay here and enjoy its beauty and offerings.
Today we continued our talk about narratives. We discussed the idea that authors tend to write about things they are passionate about, and then develop a problem for that interest. I used the example of bears and creating a story about a bear not wanting to wake up from its hibernation. Each student identified something he/she were passionate about and how he/she could turn it into a narrative story.
Although the weather is starting to creep toward summer conditions, we still have a healthy chunk of our school year left. I look forward toward this time and the final push before summer break.
Have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
April 29, 2013
April 19, 2013
April 19, 2013
Good Afternoon,
We started our day with a musical performance/play. The cast included a handful of kids from our classroom. They were very excited and we were happy for them. The whole cast did a wonderful job.
We also wrote in our Weekly News Journals. The kids all wrote about the changes in the tadpoles.
The second graders also worked on their reports and the first graders wrote more stories.
I hope you have a wonderful vacation and safe travels to those who are leaving the Valley.
Peace,
Tom
We started our day with a musical performance/play. The cast included a handful of kids from our classroom. They were very excited and we were happy for them. The whole cast did a wonderful job.
We also wrote in our Weekly News Journals. The kids all wrote about the changes in the tadpoles.
The second graders also worked on their reports and the first graders wrote more stories.
I hope you have a wonderful vacation and safe travels to those who are leaving the Valley.
Peace,
Tom
April 17, 2013
April 17, 2013
Good Morning Friends,
Today the students shared the stories that they wrote about Carl. While each team presented, the rest of us listened for the essential elements of a narrative and raised our hand each time we heard one being included. Mrs. Lea also led Morning Meeting and the science lesson for the day.
Yesterday, the 1st graders met with Kay and continued working on their projects. I worked with the 2nd graders on their reports. Their focus was to come up with two questions they had about their topic and then use their resources to write notes about each question. The students will use these questions to develop the foci of their reports.
Here is the video from the assembly the other day. Kay added a bit at the end to shoe the performance piece.
I hope you have a great day.
Peace,
Tom
Today the students shared the stories that they wrote about Carl. While each team presented, the rest of us listened for the essential elements of a narrative and raised our hand each time we heard one being included. Mrs. Lea also led Morning Meeting and the science lesson for the day.
Yesterday, the 1st graders met with Kay and continued working on their projects. I worked with the 2nd graders on their reports. Their focus was to come up with two questions they had about their topic and then use their resources to write notes about each question. The students will use these questions to develop the foci of their reports.
Here is the video from the assembly the other day. Kay added a bit at the end to shoe the performance piece.
I hope you have a great day.
Peace,
Tom
April 15, 2013
April 15, 2013
Good Morning,
We started the morning with an assembly on bus safety and went outside to practice safe bus evacuations. This was very similar to the exercise that we did during the Fall. During Writer's Workshop, the students paired up and worked with the picture book Good Dog Carl. We also used this book last week. Today, the students had to come up with their own words for the book. Their goal was to make sure their words included the 5 basic elements of a narrative. Today's specials were PE and Library.
Notes:
*Please have your children continue to bring boots for recess time.
*There is a new 1st grade math game in your child's bag.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
We started the morning with an assembly on bus safety and went outside to practice safe bus evacuations. This was very similar to the exercise that we did during the Fall. During Writer's Workshop, the students paired up and worked with the picture book Good Dog Carl. We also used this book last week. Today, the students had to come up with their own words for the book. Their goal was to make sure their words included the 5 basic elements of a narrative. Today's specials were PE and Library.
Notes:
*Please have your children continue to bring boots for recess time.
*There is a new 1st grade math game in your child's bag.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
April 12, 2013
April 12, 2013
Good Morning,
I was very proud of the students participation in the assembly this morning. Although there was definitely some nerves, the students really seemed to enjoy their part in the presentation and were excited with the outcome.
On Wednesday, the company (a Waitsfield company) that distributes the Choose Your Own Adventure books. They are looking for students' thoughts about the books and have asked each kid to write a quote about the book(s) he/she read. These quotes will appear in the front of each book. Today I am sending home a permission slip and a copy of your child's quote. The published quotes will have each child's name attached to it. If you would like your child's quote to appear in a book, please fill out the permission slip and send it back to school next week. I will only submit the quotes that I have permission forms for.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Peace,
Tom
April 10, 2013
April 10, 2013
Good Morning,
Yesterday, I reread the book Swimmy
(by Leo Lionni) to the students. We focused on the beginning, middle, and
end of the book and what the author did in each part of the book. I drew
attention to how the author incorporated the elements of main character,
setting, problem, and solution into the book. Today, I will read the
story McDuff and the Baby by Rosemary Wells. I will have the
students focus on these elements again as well as making connections and
inferences. This is all part of our focus on narratives as a "craft."
On Tuesday, we also continued our 1st and
2nd grade projects. The 2nd graders continued working with me on setting
up their research projects, and the 1st graders went to the lab to work with
Kay on their SPECIAL project.
I hope you have a wonderful day.
Peace,
Tom
April 8, 2013
April 8, 2013
Good Afternoon,
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I was glad to be back in the classroom doing what I truly love to do, teaching kids. Today, we started a two week unit on narratives. I wanted to revisit the concept (we looked at them in November). We will spend the next two weeks looking at the elements of a narrative and how authors use these elements to write a good story.
During reading, Mrs. Lea's groups were working on two different things. One group has finished their book and is working on a book project that will focus on comprehension and writing about their reading. The other group is finishing up their chapter book and working on summarizing each chapter. This group will use their summaries to complete the same book project as the other group. My three groups are working on story elements and using them to effectively retell a story. They are also working on written responses about their reading.
This afternoon, I started a two week unit on math facts with the 1st graders. This unit will encourage the automatizing of the basic facts by focusing on relationships and the use of strategies such as doubles and near doubles. The emphasis will be moving away from counting by ones. This is a fun unit and the children were amazed how fast math moved along today.
I hope you have a wonderful week.
Peace,
Tom
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I was glad to be back in the classroom doing what I truly love to do, teaching kids. Today, we started a two week unit on narratives. I wanted to revisit the concept (we looked at them in November). We will spend the next two weeks looking at the elements of a narrative and how authors use these elements to write a good story.
During reading, Mrs. Lea's groups were working on two different things. One group has finished their book and is working on a book project that will focus on comprehension and writing about their reading. The other group is finishing up their chapter book and working on summarizing each chapter. This group will use their summaries to complete the same book project as the other group. My three groups are working on story elements and using them to effectively retell a story. They are also working on written responses about their reading.
This afternoon, I started a two week unit on math facts with the 1st graders. This unit will encourage the automatizing of the basic facts by focusing on relationships and the use of strategies such as doubles and near doubles. The emphasis will be moving away from counting by ones. This is a fun unit and the children were amazed how fast math moved along today.
I hope you have a wonderful week.
Peace,
Tom
April 5, 2013
April 5, 2013
Happy Friday!
Over the past few days we
have been very busy in science. Students
have been watching for beans to sprout and tadpoles to grow.
While learning about the life
cycles of plants we read The Tiny Seed
by Eric Carl. His beautiful
illustrations show the life of a plant from seed to flower. We used this information to make a class
poster describing the life cycle of a plant.
This morning we worked on our
projects.
Second graders worked with
Mr. Young in the classroom and started to look at the elements of a report. The
research and writing portion will be done at school with Mr. Young.
First graders started in the
computer lab with Kay and myself. These
projects are a special surprise for the second graders, so we are trying to
keep the details a secret. If you have
any questions please feel free to contact us.
The past two weeks of solo
time have been wonderful. Thank you for
your support. Mr. Young is looking
forward to seeing everyone Monday morning.
I hope you all have a good
weekend!
Best,
April 3, 2013
April 3, 2013
Hello everyone,
Today we read two additional Red Clover books: in Grandpa
Green, by Lane Smith, a boy uses plants to tell readers about his
great-grandfather's life. We also read Joyce Sidman's Swirl by
Swirl, a book that explores swirls found in nature.
Over the past two days in science we have been studying the life
cycles of plants. Today we planted beans in bags that will hang from our
windows, where we will be able to observe the sprouts and roots as they begin
to grow.
I hope you all have a wonderful evening!
Best,
Britta
April 1, 2013
April 1st, 2013
Happy Monday,
Today we continued our study on
punctuation and learned about the exclamation point! Over the next few
days we are going to read Red Clover books and see how punctuation is used in
each story.
Each student has one or two lines
they have been asked to memorize from the book Our Children Can Soar.
Please help them practice at home so they are ready for our assembly on
April 12th.
Unless we have a change in the
weather, the students no longer have to dress in snow pants for recess.
However, we have plenty of mud, so please continue to send boots to
school.
I hope you all have a good evening.
Best,
Britta
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