Here is this week's video. Have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
January 31, 2014
January 28, 2014
January 29, 2014
Good Morning Friends,
I hope you are all having a wonderful week. It has been nice to see the sun and it certainly helps being able to get outside with the kids (during recess). This week, the students have been illustrating their narratives and finishing up a writing prompt about a time they were scared. A couple of kids informed me that they had never been scared in their whole life. So, they created fictional stories about a time they were scared. This is a prompt that our lower unit team came up with last year. We will have our classes respond to it, and then we will use this common piece to look at student work. Overall, I have been very pleased with the students' narratives.
Below is the Read to Feed video. The thought being that it can be shared with your family, friends, and anyone else that your child might ask to have sponsor their reading during the month of February. Remember, I will be sending home a packet (on Thursday) with the reading logs and sponsorship sheets. Any checks can be made out to the Waitsfield Elementary School. Once all of the money has been turned in (after February break), the school will write one check to Hiefer International.
The video is a little long (7:22) but I wanted to make sure that each student was able to share their poster. I have to say, they are really psyched about this. One of the best lines was, "Mr. Young, Will you let us do weekend reading?" My response: "Only if you really want to!"
The link to this video (in case you want to email it) is: http://youtu.be/q_OeWNlSerY
I have also made a shortened version of the video. I will be using this as part of my presentation, in DC, next week.
Notes:
*I will be leaving school early on Friday (after the kids go to art). I am headed to DC for the Master Teacher project that I am involved in. The people in charge of this project have been quite impressed with the students involved in my math class. They have used some of the classroom clips for presentations and the feedback has been complimentary. Nora, will dismiss the kids at the end of the day.
*I will be out of school next Thursday and Friday. I have been asked to present to this year's Pearson Global Fellow Group and to do a second presentation to the Board of Directors for the NEA Foundation (this is where I will show our video!). Katie Kenney will be the substitute. She is a certified classroom teacher and has been doing a fabulous job subbing in our building. We are very fortunate to have her as a substitute.
*I will also be out of school on Friday, February 14th. I found out, last week, that I was selected for the Sontag Prize in Urban Education. I will attend a Two day Professional Development workshop in February and then teach an acceleration academy during our April vacation. I will be teaching a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade math class in the Lawrence Public Schools in MA. I am excited about the opportunity. I currently have two former students attending Harvard, and am looking forward to catching up with them while I am down there. Katie Kenney will be the sub on this day as well.
*Last week, I also was interviewed on the Jeff Santos Radio Show. It is a syndicated show out of Boston. I was asked to speak about the Common Core Standards and the Master Teacher Project. If you want to hear my thoughts, check out this sight http://www.revolutionradionetwork.com/the-jeff-santos-show. You will have to find the 1/21/14 show.
That is all for now. I hope you have a great end of the week.
Peace,
Tommy
I hope you are all having a wonderful week. It has been nice to see the sun and it certainly helps being able to get outside with the kids (during recess). This week, the students have been illustrating their narratives and finishing up a writing prompt about a time they were scared. A couple of kids informed me that they had never been scared in their whole life. So, they created fictional stories about a time they were scared. This is a prompt that our lower unit team came up with last year. We will have our classes respond to it, and then we will use this common piece to look at student work. Overall, I have been very pleased with the students' narratives.
Below is the Read to Feed video. The thought being that it can be shared with your family, friends, and anyone else that your child might ask to have sponsor their reading during the month of February. Remember, I will be sending home a packet (on Thursday) with the reading logs and sponsorship sheets. Any checks can be made out to the Waitsfield Elementary School. Once all of the money has been turned in (after February break), the school will write one check to Hiefer International.
The video is a little long (7:22) but I wanted to make sure that each student was able to share their poster. I have to say, they are really psyched about this. One of the best lines was, "Mr. Young, Will you let us do weekend reading?" My response: "Only if you really want to!"
The link to this video (in case you want to email it) is: http://youtu.be/q_OeWNlSerY
I have also made a shortened version of the video. I will be using this as part of my presentation, in DC, next week.
Notes:
*I will be leaving school early on Friday (after the kids go to art). I am headed to DC for the Master Teacher project that I am involved in. The people in charge of this project have been quite impressed with the students involved in my math class. They have used some of the classroom clips for presentations and the feedback has been complimentary. Nora, will dismiss the kids at the end of the day.
*I will be out of school next Thursday and Friday. I have been asked to present to this year's Pearson Global Fellow Group and to do a second presentation to the Board of Directors for the NEA Foundation (this is where I will show our video!). Katie Kenney will be the substitute. She is a certified classroom teacher and has been doing a fabulous job subbing in our building. We are very fortunate to have her as a substitute.
*I will also be out of school on Friday, February 14th. I found out, last week, that I was selected for the Sontag Prize in Urban Education. I will attend a Two day Professional Development workshop in February and then teach an acceleration academy during our April vacation. I will be teaching a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade math class in the Lawrence Public Schools in MA. I am excited about the opportunity. I currently have two former students attending Harvard, and am looking forward to catching up with them while I am down there. Katie Kenney will be the sub on this day as well.
*Last week, I also was interviewed on the Jeff Santos Radio Show. It is a syndicated show out of Boston. I was asked to speak about the Common Core Standards and the Master Teacher Project. If you want to hear my thoughts, check out this sight http://www.revolutionradionetwork.com/the-jeff-santos-show. You will have to find the 1/21/14 show.
That is all for now. I hope you have a great end of the week.
Peace,
Tommy
January 27, 2014
January 27, 2014
Good Morning,
I hope you had a great weekend. It was nice to have temperatures where you felt like being outside. My family and I enjoyed a nice snowshoe through the woods yesterday. I have to admit the sun on my face was a welcome feeling.
I have finished the Read to Feed video and am embedding it into Wednesday's blog post. We watched it during Morning Meeting today. The packet for keeping track of the books read and the sponsorship form will come home Thursday.
*Book orders are due Tomorrow.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy
I hope you had a great weekend. It was nice to have temperatures where you felt like being outside. My family and I enjoyed a nice snowshoe through the woods yesterday. I have to admit the sun on my face was a welcome feeling.
I have finished the Read to Feed video and am embedding it into Wednesday's blog post. We watched it during Morning Meeting today. The packet for keeping track of the books read and the sponsorship form will come home Thursday.
*Book orders are due Tomorrow.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy
January 24, 2014
January 24, 2014
Good Morning,
There will be no weekly video this week. I have been recording a lot for the Heifer project movie and don't want to show those clips until he whole thing is complete. I am hoping to have that down by Monday (I need the weekend to play around with the software).
Today the students wrote in their Weekly News journals and finished some writing and editing assignments front he week. Today's specials were French, Health, and Art.
Yesterday, the school practiced its lock down drill. Yesterday morning, Kaiya led an assembly talking about this drill and why we do it. The actual drill happened during math time. I had the first graders go into our corner library (no windows in that area) and I read them a book. The drill lasted no more than 10 minutes. Please let me know if you have any questions about this.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
There will be no weekly video this week. I have been recording a lot for the Heifer project movie and don't want to show those clips until he whole thing is complete. I am hoping to have that down by Monday (I need the weekend to play around with the software).
Today the students wrote in their Weekly News journals and finished some writing and editing assignments front he week. Today's specials were French, Health, and Art.
Yesterday, the school practiced its lock down drill. Yesterday morning, Kaiya led an assembly talking about this drill and why we do it. The actual drill happened during math time. I had the first graders go into our corner library (no windows in that area) and I read them a book. The drill lasted no more than 10 minutes. Please let me know if you have any questions about this.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
January 22, 2014
January 22, 2013
Good Morning,
Yesterday I sent home new book order forms. I will be placing the order on Tuesday of next week. If you wish to order, please return it by then. We continue to work on our Read to Feed project and video. The students are getting really excited to start this. Below is an outline of the project.
What: Read to Feed is a reading incentive service-learning program that offers global education opportunities and will foster in children a love for reading, a passion to help others and a motivation to help create a better world.
Why: This was a student driven idea and it fit feel with our goal of making a difference in the world. The idea is that students will realize their actions can make a difference.
When: The students will keep track of the books or chapters they read during the month of February. On Thursday, January 30th, the students will bring home a folder that will allow them to keep track of their reading. This will take the place of the weekly reading logs (so you're not filling the same information out twice).
How: Next week I will have a video that I will post on the blog. Your child can ask relatives, friends, neighbors, etc. to sponsor them for the amount of reading they do during the month of February. The idea will be that they can email the video link to people. The video will be of the students explaining the project in their own words. We had a class discussion about this today. We will be collecting as a class and not keeping track of who raised the most. We want to make a difference as a group and work together as a team to do this. We also talked about students who are reading chapter books and the idea that it will take longer to read one. Students who are reading chapter books can ask to be sponsored for each chapter they read rather than book.
Benefit: Students are helping people in need. They are making a difference on a global stage, and they are excited to read! I have already had students asking if they can read more at night or do weekend reading. I told them that if they "twisted my arm", that I would allow them to read more.
Information: Here is the link for the project: http://www.heifer.org/readtofeed/index.html?msource=FERFG120001&utm_source=Education&utm_medium=Friendly_URL&utm_campaign=Read_to_Feed . I ask that all checks be made out to Waitsfield Elementary School. I will then have the school write one check to the organization. We will not be using the online collection process.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Peace,
Tommy
Yesterday I sent home new book order forms. I will be placing the order on Tuesday of next week. If you wish to order, please return it by then. We continue to work on our Read to Feed project and video. The students are getting really excited to start this. Below is an outline of the project.
What: Read to Feed is a reading incentive service-learning program that offers global education opportunities and will foster in children a love for reading, a passion to help others and a motivation to help create a better world.
Why: This was a student driven idea and it fit feel with our goal of making a difference in the world. The idea is that students will realize their actions can make a difference.
When: The students will keep track of the books or chapters they read during the month of February. On Thursday, January 30th, the students will bring home a folder that will allow them to keep track of their reading. This will take the place of the weekly reading logs (so you're not filling the same information out twice).
How: Next week I will have a video that I will post on the blog. Your child can ask relatives, friends, neighbors, etc. to sponsor them for the amount of reading they do during the month of February. The idea will be that they can email the video link to people. The video will be of the students explaining the project in their own words. We had a class discussion about this today. We will be collecting as a class and not keeping track of who raised the most. We want to make a difference as a group and work together as a team to do this. We also talked about students who are reading chapter books and the idea that it will take longer to read one. Students who are reading chapter books can ask to be sponsored for each chapter they read rather than book.
Benefit: Students are helping people in need. They are making a difference on a global stage, and they are excited to read! I have already had students asking if they can read more at night or do weekend reading. I told them that if they "twisted my arm", that I would allow them to read more.
Information: Here is the link for the project: http://www.heifer.org/readtofeed/index.html?msource=FERFG120001&utm_source=Education&utm_medium=Friendly_URL&utm_campaign=Read_to_Feed . I ask that all checks be made out to Waitsfield Elementary School. I will then have the school write one check to the organization. We will not be using the online collection process.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Peace,
Tommy
January 17, 2014
January 17, 2014
Good Morning,
I hope everyone enjoyed the performance last night. I had the students use the concert as their focus in their Weekly News. Please read and response to your child's response.
Here is this weeks video:
I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
I hope everyone enjoyed the performance last night. I had the students use the concert as their focus in their Weekly News. Please read and response to your child's response.
Here is this weeks video:
I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
January 16, 2014
January 16, 2014
Good Morning,
In the midst of the Winter Sports Frenzy, I forgot to write a post yesterday. I apologize for that. Today, we have our rehearsal for tonight's concert. The rehearsal took place during our Reader's Workshop time. There will be no homework tonight. I don't like to add that to the burden of getting home from work, getting your family fed, and then getting back to school. So, enjoy the night off!
When you arrive tonight, you should go right to the gym. The students should find their class (in there) and sit with them. If you arrive early, could you please remind your children about appropriate behavior and the expectations of a performance audience. It is always challenging for some to arrive in the gym and resist running around like it is PE class. I appreciate your help in guiding them and helping set the appropriate presentation tone.
I hope you have a great day.
Peace,
Tommy
In the midst of the Winter Sports Frenzy, I forgot to write a post yesterday. I apologize for that. Today, we have our rehearsal for tonight's concert. The rehearsal took place during our Reader's Workshop time. There will be no homework tonight. I don't like to add that to the burden of getting home from work, getting your family fed, and then getting back to school. So, enjoy the night off!
When you arrive tonight, you should go right to the gym. The students should find their class (in there) and sit with them. If you arrive early, could you please remind your children about appropriate behavior and the expectations of a performance audience. It is always challenging for some to arrive in the gym and resist running around like it is PE class. I appreciate your help in guiding them and helping set the appropriate presentation tone.
I hope you have a great day.
Peace,
Tommy
January 12, 2014
Good Morning,
I hope people found something fun to do on what might as well be described as a miserable weather weekend.
The video above is part of a project that we will be doing for our People Making A Difference Unit. We are in the process of making a video that will describe what we are doing. I wanted you to just have a heads up about it. More information will be forthcoming. This project was inspired by one of the class members and I found a way to integrate it into our unit of study.
Today, the students continued writing their outlines for the or Fictional Narratives. We will spend the next week or two writing our stories.
Notes:
* We have PE on Mondays and Wednesdays. Please make sure your child has appropriate shoes for PE class.
* First graders should continue to play the math game they have. The survey will be sent home a week from today.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy
January 10, 2014
January 10, 2014
Good Morning,
Here is our Week in Review in less than 1 minute. have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
Here is our Week in Review in less than 1 minute. have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
January 8, 2014
January 8, 2014
Good Morning,
Although many were bummed about the cancellation of the Winter Sports Program, it provided us extra time to work on our narrative unit. This week we are writing a whole class fictional narrative. Yesterday, we used a graphic organizer to make sure we had all of the components of a narrative in place. Today, we used the organizer to write our story. Tomorrow we will revise and Friday we will edit. Next week the students will begin writing their own story.
NOTES:
Although many were bummed about the cancellation of the Winter Sports Program, it provided us extra time to work on our narrative unit. This week we are writing a whole class fictional narrative. Yesterday, we used a graphic organizer to make sure we had all of the components of a narrative in place. Today, we used the organizer to write our story. Tomorrow we will revise and Friday we will edit. Next week the students will begin writing their own story.
NOTES:
- Students need to have sneakers or shoes to change into once they arrive at school. I don't want them wearing their boots all day and they also need appropriate footwear for PE class.
- Could you please check to see if you have a pair of Black Columbia snow pants with Miels name inside them.
I hope you have a great day.
Peace,m
Tommy
January 7, 2014
January 6, 2013
(I had typed this for Monday)
Good Morning,
This week marks the start of our Winter Sports Program. I want to give an overview of how it will work. We are leaving school earlier than in years past to allow students to catch the 2:30 bus. If your child has a snowboard or skis, they should be dropped off by the flag pole entrance. You will see that all of the equipment should be lined up against the brick wall. PLEASE make sure that everything is labels with your child's name.
I suggest that each child bring a separate bag for their clothing, boots, hats, gloves, helmet, etc. These bags should be lined up outside our classroom on Wednesday morning. Their regular school bags should be hung up in the classroom like normal. Again, PLEASE label each item that your child brings.
When it is time to get ready, I will have the students pack up their school bags and place them in the library. They will then get ready for skiing.
It will be a huge help if your child knows if they are riding the bus back to school or staying at the mountain. I would appreciate if you could talk to them about this on Wednesday morning.
We are back into our regular routine. There is reading homework tonight and the 1st graders will get their new math game math on Tuesday.
I hope you have a wonderful week.
Peace,
Tommy
Good Morning,
This week marks the start of our Winter Sports Program. I want to give an overview of how it will work. We are leaving school earlier than in years past to allow students to catch the 2:30 bus. If your child has a snowboard or skis, they should be dropped off by the flag pole entrance. You will see that all of the equipment should be lined up against the brick wall. PLEASE make sure that everything is labels with your child's name.
I suggest that each child bring a separate bag for their clothing, boots, hats, gloves, helmet, etc. These bags should be lined up outside our classroom on Wednesday morning. Their regular school bags should be hung up in the classroom like normal. Again, PLEASE label each item that your child brings.
When it is time to get ready, I will have the students pack up their school bags and place them in the library. They will then get ready for skiing.
It will be a huge help if your child knows if they are riding the bus back to school or staying at the mountain. I would appreciate if you could talk to them about this on Wednesday morning.
We are back into our regular routine. There is reading homework tonight and the 1st graders will get their new math game math on Tuesday.
I hope you have a wonderful week.
Peace,
Tommy
January 3, 2014
January 3, 2014
Good Afternoon,
I hope everyone had a wonderful vacation, and I want to wish you all a Happy New Year. I spent the last two days, assessing students' number and operations skills. I will use this information to design specific instruction for each student. It also allows me to assess how well the work during the 1st 3rd of the year went.
Homework will start up again next week.
Below is a video from the last week of school (before vacation).
Have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
I hope everyone had a wonderful vacation, and I want to wish you all a Happy New Year. I spent the last two days, assessing students' number and operations skills. I will use this information to design specific instruction for each student. It also allows me to assess how well the work during the 1st 3rd of the year went.
Homework will start up again next week.
Below is a video from the last week of school (before vacation).
Have a great week.
Peace,
Tom
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