Good Morning,
We have had a great week of science. The students started an experiment on plant needs. They have also studied the root, stem and will look at leaves this afternoon. They are learning how each is a part of a plant system and how it helps the plant survive. Yesterday they learned about the difference between a tap root and fibrous root. This afternoon they will learn about simple and compound leaves. Next week we will be having a guest speaker present about photosynthesis and another present about seeds.
I hope everyone saw the note/posting about the class presentation evening on June 11th. If you are not going to be able to attend, could you please let me know in advance?
Notes:
6/4/15 Our friends from Mr. Ibson's class (Harwood) will be visiting our classroom to see the final book projects.
6/8/15 Filed Days at Waitsfield. These will take place after lunch. Your kids may get wet so dress accordingly. Remember the sunscreen.
6/11/15 Pen Pal field trip. Bus will leave at 8:15. Please remember to pack appropriate clothing, hiking shoes, and a water bottle. All lunches must be NUT FREE!
Have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
May 29, 2015
May 26, 2015
May 26, 2015
Good Morning,
I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the beautiful weekend. Most of our weekend was centered around running. Abby participated in the Yam Scram on Saturday (part of the VCM weekend). On Sunday, Julianne, Angela, and I all ran different legs of the marathon. Julianne was on a team of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Needless to say, they finished well ahead of our team. All in all it was a great weekend.
Announcements:
*Our friends from Mr. Ibson's class will be visiting us on June 4th. We will spend part of the morning sharing our narrative books and allow the high schoolers to see the finished product.
*We will head to Waterbury on June 11th. This is our pen-pal field trip. We will eat snack at school (before we leave) and then head to Thatcher Brook to pick up our friends. We will then head to Stowe Pinnacle and hike up to the meadow. There we will eat lunch and enjoy our time with our pen pals. On our way home, we will stop at Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream.
The chaperones on the trip are Leslie Badger, Sheila Fiaschetti, and Natascha Brandenberg. If anyone else would like to join us, please let me know.I will ask that the chaperones drive themselves/carpool because we will fill the bus with the students and teachers. We will be leaving school by 8:15.
*Presentation Night: Our class will be having a presentation evening on Thursday, June 11th. It will start at 6:30 and be done by 7:30. I figured the 6:30 time would allow people to grab dinner before coming back to school. We will start promptly at 6:30. The students will share their published notebooks and their social studies projects. The evening will warp up with a quick class reflection piece.
I hope you all have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy
I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the beautiful weekend. Most of our weekend was centered around running. Abby participated in the Yam Scram on Saturday (part of the VCM weekend). On Sunday, Julianne, Angela, and I all ran different legs of the marathon. Julianne was on a team of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Needless to say, they finished well ahead of our team. All in all it was a great weekend.
Announcements:
*Our friends from Mr. Ibson's class will be visiting us on June 4th. We will spend part of the morning sharing our narrative books and allow the high schoolers to see the finished product.
*We will head to Waterbury on June 11th. This is our pen-pal field trip. We will eat snack at school (before we leave) and then head to Thatcher Brook to pick up our friends. We will then head to Stowe Pinnacle and hike up to the meadow. There we will eat lunch and enjoy our time with our pen pals. On our way home, we will stop at Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream.
The chaperones on the trip are Leslie Badger, Sheila Fiaschetti, and Natascha Brandenberg. If anyone else would like to join us, please let me know.I will ask that the chaperones drive themselves/carpool because we will fill the bus with the students and teachers. We will be leaving school by 8:15.
*Presentation Night: Our class will be having a presentation evening on Thursday, June 11th. It will start at 6:30 and be done by 7:30. I figured the 6:30 time would allow people to grab dinner before coming back to school. We will start promptly at 6:30. The students will share their published notebooks and their social studies projects. The evening will warp up with a quick class reflection piece.
I hope you all have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy
May 18, 2015
May 18, 2015
Good Morning,
We have quite a week ahead of us. We will have two concert rehearsals, the performance itself, and our school PBIS celebration on Friday. The students will continue working on their social studies and narrative projects. I am hoping to wrap up our light and sound unit this week and start our plant unit next week.
Concert:
1st Rehearsal: Will be on Tuesday at 8:15.
2nd Rehearsal: Will be on Thursday from 9:00-10:30
Performance: Will be on Thursday at 6:00. I will not be able to attend because my daughter has her own concert that evening.
Friday's PBIS Celebration:
We have quite a week ahead of us. We will have two concert rehearsals, the performance itself, and our school PBIS celebration on Friday. The students will continue working on their social studies and narrative projects. I am hoping to wrap up our light and sound unit this week and start our plant unit next week.
Concert:
1st Rehearsal: Will be on Tuesday at 8:15.
2nd Rehearsal: Will be on Thursday from 9:00-10:30
Performance: Will be on Thursday at 6:00. I will not be able to attend because my daughter has her own concert that evening.
Friday's PBIS Celebration:
11:10 Kick off assembly Kaiya & Katie will introduce the task and celebration, sharing the general schedule, expectations and some ideas for what will make a “good vessel”. Students will be called up to lunch in their multi-age groups.
GROUP TASK: Using the materials that are provided to you (you will be given a bucket of supplies), build a boat that is capable of traveling approximately 1 mile on the Mad River. Recognition will be given for categories such as most creative, fastest, best constructed (not losing any pieces!). Each boat should include a sail/flag. In addition to the bucket of materials they are provided with, each group will be able to select one item from the “Bonus Supplies”. Teams will be called on, during building, to select their bonus item.
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11:25 - 12:15 Working lunch Multi-age groups eat lunch together while discussing plans for building.
12:15 - 1:00 Group leaders and older students are asked to support the whole group in being involved in building the boat by helping to divide tasks (creating the flag/sail, working on different components of the boat). Part-way through building, each group will draw a number and, in order of the numbers, get to select an item from the bonus supplies. Groups that are working especially well together might find themselves rewarded with bonus supplies.
1- 1:15 Walk down to Bridge Street We will walk down, in our groups, to the parking area behind the Bridge Street shops.
1:15 - 1:45 Boat Launch/ Creemees A representative from each group will walk out onto the sandbar with the boat and, upon the signal, launch their boat. Groups will watch from the parking lot/grassy area. Students will see their boat start and be able to watch until it hits the covered bridge area. After the launch, groups will be given creemees (from the village grocery). Each group should identify a safe place to sit and eat their creemees (on the bank by the river, in the green by the library), keeping in mind that they are in a public area.
A few community volunteers, in kayaks/canoes, will accompany the boats down the river, helping them along the way, gathering video and still footage and pulling the boats out when they arrive back at school.
1:45 - 2 Walk back to school When groups are done eating, they will walk back to school. Once at school, we’ll go to recess/playground for free play.
2- 2:15 Recess/ Boats returned to the playground
2:15 - 2:25 Dismissal Students return to classrooms to pack up/ for dismissal
I hope you all have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy
May 15, 2015
May 15, 2015
Good Morning,
We have had a very productive week with our narratives. The students have been busy illustrating their books and are enjoying the project as a whole. We continued looking at the concept of light and explored the idea of items being transparent, translucent, opaque, and reflective. We will wrap up this unit next week.
Notes:
*Thank you all for getting your money in for Ben and Jerry's. Please remember to let me know if your child will need a bagged lunch. I have two chaperones for the trip. Please let me know if you would like to come along.
*The spring concert is next Thursday at 6:00. Please have your child meet our class in the gym. If your child will not be attending, could you please email Mr. Hill at jhill@wwsu.org.
Have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
We have had a very productive week with our narratives. The students have been busy illustrating their books and are enjoying the project as a whole. We continued looking at the concept of light and explored the idea of items being transparent, translucent, opaque, and reflective. We will wrap up this unit next week.
Notes:
*Thank you all for getting your money in for Ben and Jerry's. Please remember to let me know if your child will need a bagged lunch. I have two chaperones for the trip. Please let me know if you would like to come along.
*The spring concert is next Thursday at 6:00. Please have your child meet our class in the gym. If your child will not be attending, could you please email Mr. Hill at jhill@wwsu.org.
Have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
May 11, 2015
May 11, 2015
Good Morning,
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and all of the mothers were celebrated and honored. We will continue to use our Language Arts block to illustrate our narratives. This means that the students will have reading homework but it will be book of choice and not from their reading groups.
On Thursday, we will be celebrating the school's success with acts of kindness. We will be working in small teams to build small rafts and then floating them down the river. The launch will happen around the covered bridge area. The students will then walk back to the school and enjoy some ice cream and other fun activities. This will start around 11:00 on Thursday.
Notes:
*Please send in your child's money for Ben and Jerry's. This money is due by Friday. It is $4.50 per child. If you don;t wish to have your child participate in this, please let me know.
*If your child needs a bagged lunch (from the school) for the field trip, please let me know by Friday. REMEMBER, if you are bringing your own lunch, it must be peanut and tree nut free.
Have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and all of the mothers were celebrated and honored. We will continue to use our Language Arts block to illustrate our narratives. This means that the students will have reading homework but it will be book of choice and not from their reading groups.
On Thursday, we will be celebrating the school's success with acts of kindness. We will be working in small teams to build small rafts and then floating them down the river. The launch will happen around the covered bridge area. The students will then walk back to the school and enjoy some ice cream and other fun activities. This will start around 11:00 on Thursday.
Notes:
*Please send in your child's money for Ben and Jerry's. This money is due by Friday. It is $4.50 per child. If you don;t wish to have your child participate in this, please let me know.
*If your child needs a bagged lunch (from the school) for the field trip, please let me know by Friday. REMEMBER, if you are bringing your own lunch, it must be peanut and tree nut free.
Have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy
May 7, 2015
May 7, 2015
Good Morning,
I wanted to send out a quick post today since I will be out (memorial service) tomorrow. I wanted to remind you of the field trip notice that I posted on Monday. Please let me know if your child will need a bagged lunch (from school) and send in $4.50 if your child will be having ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. Please see Monday's (May 4th) post for further details.
The students have started illustrating their books this week. This is a lengthy and thoughtful process and it will take us a better part of a month to complete. We have been doing this during our language arts time in the afternoon. This is why there has only been "book of choice" selections for homework.
I hope you all have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
I wanted to send out a quick post today since I will be out (memorial service) tomorrow. I wanted to remind you of the field trip notice that I posted on Monday. Please let me know if your child will need a bagged lunch (from school) and send in $4.50 if your child will be having ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. Please see Monday's (May 4th) post for further details.
The students have started illustrating their books this week. This is a lengthy and thoughtful process and it will take us a better part of a month to complete. We have been doing this during our language arts time in the afternoon. This is why there has only been "book of choice" selections for homework.
I hope you all have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
May 4, 2015
May 4, 2015
Good Morning,
I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weekend. It was certainly nice to bask in the glow of the sun. May marks the start of a very busy month. We will be wrapping up several projects, conducting individual math and reading inventories, and preparing for our spring concert. To accommodate these items, parts of our schedule will look a little different from time to time. There will be some days where we are doubling up science classes, in order to get through the rest of our science curriculum.
Field Trip: We will meeting up with our Waterbury pen-pals on June 11th. This year we will meet them in Waterbury and then take the bus up to the trailhead for Stowe Pinnacle. We will hike up to the meadow, eat our lunch, play a little, and then return to the bus. On the way home, we will stop by Ben and Jerry's for an ice cream cone. Each child will need $4.50 for an ice cream cone. Please send in the money by Friday, May 22nd. Checks can be made out to Waitsfield Elementary School. There is a process in getting one check written and I won't be able to accept any other checks after this date. If you would like your child to have a school (bagged) lunch on this day, please let me know by the 22nd as well. I would love for a few chaperones to join us. Let me know if you would like to join.
***NOTE**** One of the students in our pen-pals' class has a severe nut allergy. Your child's lunch needs to be nut-free on this day. This includes both tree nut and peanuts. If your child chooses a school lunch, it will be nut-free and you won't have to worry about it.
Spring Concert: The spring concert is on Thursday, May 21st at 6:00 p.m. Please plan on arriving by 5:50 in the gymnasium. Our rehearsals will be on Tuesday morning and Thursday morning of that week.
Notes:
*I will be out of school on Friday. I have a wake to attend in St. Albans.
*Early release day on Wednesday. Students are dismissed at 11:50.
I hope you all have a great week.
Best,
Tommy
I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weekend. It was certainly nice to bask in the glow of the sun. May marks the start of a very busy month. We will be wrapping up several projects, conducting individual math and reading inventories, and preparing for our spring concert. To accommodate these items, parts of our schedule will look a little different from time to time. There will be some days where we are doubling up science classes, in order to get through the rest of our science curriculum.
Field Trip: We will meeting up with our Waterbury pen-pals on June 11th. This year we will meet them in Waterbury and then take the bus up to the trailhead for Stowe Pinnacle. We will hike up to the meadow, eat our lunch, play a little, and then return to the bus. On the way home, we will stop by Ben and Jerry's for an ice cream cone. Each child will need $4.50 for an ice cream cone. Please send in the money by Friday, May 22nd. Checks can be made out to Waitsfield Elementary School. There is a process in getting one check written and I won't be able to accept any other checks after this date. If you would like your child to have a school (bagged) lunch on this day, please let me know by the 22nd as well. I would love for a few chaperones to join us. Let me know if you would like to join.
***NOTE**** One of the students in our pen-pals' class has a severe nut allergy. Your child's lunch needs to be nut-free on this day. This includes both tree nut and peanuts. If your child chooses a school lunch, it will be nut-free and you won't have to worry about it.
Spring Concert: The spring concert is on Thursday, May 21st at 6:00 p.m. Please plan on arriving by 5:50 in the gymnasium. Our rehearsals will be on Tuesday morning and Thursday morning of that week.
Notes:
*I will be out of school on Friday. I have a wake to attend in St. Albans.
*Early release day on Wednesday. Students are dismissed at 11:50.
I hope you all have a great week.
Best,
Tommy
May 1, 2015
May 1, 2015
Good Morning,
I hope you had a great week. Today we started our light unit. The students worked on defining the words transparent, translucent, opaque, and reflective. They then toured the school, looking for items that fit this description.
Below is a video of our visit to Fayston:
I hope you all have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
I hope you had a great week. Today we started our light unit. The students worked on defining the words transparent, translucent, opaque, and reflective. They then toured the school, looking for items that fit this description.
Below is a video of our visit to Fayston:
I hope you all have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tommy
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