February 16, 20145

Good Morning,
  Today the students used their knowledge of magnets and attraction of poles to fix a problem.  We watched a video of a kid using a pogo stick.  I explained that I was trying to do the same tricks with my pogo stick and the spring inside broke.  I asked the students to use a spindle and magnets to create a new spring for it.  The students worked in teams of two and came up with great solutions and backed up their thinking with scientific evidence.

  The students also started writing their own narratives today.  I am hoping to have most of the rough drafts done by the end of the week.

  On Wednesday, we will have our school wide PBIS celebration.  This is a reward that the students had earned because of their behavior.  Recently we have been focused on being responsible.  Our class has really done a fabulous job of focusing on their own responsibility around the school itself.  We will be outside all afternoon on Wednesday to celebrate their success.  They will all take part in a winter celebration.  Please make sure to dress them accordingly.

Have a great week.

Peace,
Tommy

 

February 13, 2015

Good Morning,
  I hope you have had a great week.  I was out all day Wednesday and half a day on Thursday.  I was at a meeting on Wednesday and took half of a personal day on Thursday (to do my taxes).

  Next week the school will be having their PBIS celebration.  The school will gather and take part in a variety of winter fun.  The event will be outdoors, so dress accordingly.  This will start around 12:45 on Wednesday.

  Notes:

*There will be no Weekly News this week.  We used the time to pass out Valentines.

*I will be testing the kids reading and spelling abilities next week. Although I won't be out of the classroom to do this, our schedule will look a little different.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Peace,
Tommy

February 6, 2014

Good Morning,

  I realized that I never posted last Friday.  Sorry about that.  This week the students finished writing a narrative piece about the picture book that their group chose.  They will present their stories next week. Yesterday, we continued looking at the Statue of Liberty.  This is a continuation of our monument unit. The students have been using a variety of sources to find the information they need to research each monument.  The final project will have them using their research/notes to create a presentation about their learning.  This week the first graders have been working with non-standard measuring and the concept of telling time to the hour and half hour.  We have also looked at the concept of fraction notation (1/2s).  The second graders have been working with the concept of patterns within numbers and completed a unit on subtraction with regrouping.

Valentine's Day:  The students will be allowed to make Valentines for their classmates.  Next Friday (after lunch), we will have a time where the kids can pass out their valentines.  Below is a list of the students who would like to participate:

Isaac, Jaedyn, Chip, Parker, Noa, Lydia, Juno, Jack, Riley, Soren, Logan, Lucy, Julia, Matthew, Emma

If students would like to bring in a treat for the afternoon, they are welcome to do so.  We will do this from 12:45-1:30.  We will not be doing Weekly News next week (to accommodate the time for this).


Notes:

*Your child has their Weekly News in their homework bag.

*There is weekend reading homework.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Peace,
Tommy