November 21, 2017

Good Afternoon,
   A bit of a whirlwind two days.  Yesterday Ella Gannon, a sophomore at Harwood and one of my basketball players, visited our classroom.  Ella will be headed to Kenya in January with her family.  Her dad and uncle are doctors and will do some work in a clinic there.  Ella will be working with students in a prek-2 grade school.  Ella talked to the class about why she goes and what she hopes to accomplish.  She has asked for our help.  She would like to fill a backpack full of pencils (ones with fun designs), colored pencils, chalk and stickers.  Her goal is to distribute these items to the students during her visit.  After our break, the class will create a presentation and enlist the help of the entire Waitsfield School.  Stay tuned for more details.

  Today the students finished their Thanksgiving writes.  This is one of maybe two activities that I repeat each year.  I feel it is important to have the students reflect on how much they have in their lives and how fortunate they are.  Look for their Turkey themed writings today.

  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I am looking forward to a little down time and some needed time with family.  I know that I am truly thankful and fortunate to teach in such a great community and for that I am grateful.

Peace,
Tommy

November 17, 2017

Good Afternoon,

  I hope you all had a great week.  We spent Wednesday afternoon looking at maps.  The point of the exercise was to learn about some geography terms, identify our town, state, country, continent, and world, and to identify that their is water in many places.  We didn't have time to complete our all of the work and will continue the week after next.  This will lead us toward the science concept of erosion and how water has impacted the shape of many land forms.

  Yesterday morning, we had a visit form three members of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.  They were three string players that go by the name Fiddlesticks.  They took time to explain and demonstrate some of the instruments that they play.  They then treated the students to a variety of songs and got the crowd involved too.

  The students spent time today writing in their Weekly News journals.  Please take time to respond.  There are a couple of kids that need a few more minutes to finish their writing at home over the weekend.  Thank you in advance for your help with this.

NOTES:
*Please make sure all of your child's winter gear has their name written somewhere on or in it.  It makes it easier to get it back to them if they drop something in transit.

*There is reading homework over the weekend.  Everyone has something they should read a a few have some questions to answer too.

Have a great weekend.

Peace,


Tommy

November 13, 2017

Good Afternoon,
  I want to start by thanking everyone for the help with the ski and skate sale.  Once again the PTA was able to exceed their expectations.  I find the whole process to be both amazing and incredibly beneficial on so many levels. 

  Today we continued writing our letters to our pen-pals.  Most kids are on their final revisions.  We hope to get those in the mail this week.  We also started a new read a loud titled Stuart's Cape.  "Stuart's got problems. It's raining. He's bored. And worst of all, he's new in town, so he's got a lot to worry about. What does a kid like Stuart need in order to have an adventure? A cape, of course!" I can't wait to find out how Stuart tackles his boredom.

  That is all for now. I hope you have a great week.

Peace,
Tommy

November 10, 2017

Good Afternoon,
  I would like to start by wishing any and all of you who have served a Happy Veteran's Day and thank you for your service.  I have two brothers who are both Marines and truly appreciate what comes with being a member of our armed services. 

  This week we received our first letters from our pen-pals.  Once again, our pen-pals will be from Mr. Thurston's 1st & 2nd grade at Thatcher Brook Primary School.  We read through the letters and I asked the students to highlight any questions that were asked of them.  We then came up with other criteria that would need to be include in their responses.  We will try to meet up with our pen-pals at least twice this year as well as write a few letters to each other. 

  In science, we continued to focus on our fist unit of the changing Earth.  The 1st lesson had us focusing on maps and directional points.  We will expand on this notion next week as Mr. Mongeon and I work with them on terms such as town, state, country, continent, oceans, lakes, rivers & compass rose.  I am rewriting each science unit to meet my satisfaction and to maximize your child's learning and engagement.  I am also trying to weave in parts of the new social studies curriculum to be able to cover the topics that are being asked of us.  Our next unit  of study will be States of Matter and Local Traditions.  I am looking at developing a uni that focuses on the sugaring process.  More to come on this.

NOTES: 

*Ski and Skate Sale this weekend.

*Your child has reading homework this weekend.  Please take a small moment from your weekend to have them complete their tasks.

Have a great weekend.

Peace,
Tommy

November 6, 2017

Good Afternoon,
  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  As I had mentioned last week, the Ski and Skate sale will be this weekend.  Friday is a day where our school transforms into the biggest skid and board shop around.  Most of our day, on Friday will be normal and remain the same as always.  However, the end of our day will be a little different and we will not do Weekly News this week. 

  Another change, on Friday, is the need to eat in our classrooms and not use the cafeteria.  Today, I asked your child if they would want home or school lunch (a bagged lunch containing a sandwich).  Here is what your child signed up for.  If you would like something different, please let me know by tomorrow. 

Home Lunch:  Caroline, Kane, Carley

School Lunch:  Kai, Anna Mae, Lev, Liv, Steele, Donovan, Sam, Noah, Clara

I hope you have a great week.
Tommy

November 3, 2017

Good Afternoon,
  I want to thank all of you, that I have already met with, for taking part in the parent conference process.  I hope you found it informative and purposeful.  I truly enjoy involving the kids in the goal setting process and having their voice being such a powerful part of the conference.  This week the kids illustrated their new goals and will finish them next week.  I will hang them up for kids to refer to throughout the next few months.

  This past Wednesday marked the end of our inspiration hour projects.  The offerings were wonderful for this and the kids really seemed to enjoy them.  This afternoon each child wrote about their experience with inspiration hour in their Weekly News journal.  Please take a look at their thoughts and feelings.

  Thursday morning two members of the Waitsfield/Fayston Fire Department.  They talked to the kids about the importance of smoke detectors, what to do in case of an emergency, and other safety tips.  The students brought home a packet of information with them.  It is the time of year when each family should work on their own home evacuation plan. 

SKI and SKATE SALE:  The school''s annual ski and skate sale is this coming weekend.  This one event single handedly funds the PTA's budget each year.  It is nice that we can do all of our fundraising in one weekend and not feel like we are being asked to sell or buy something each month.  THERE IS STILL A NEED FOR VOLUNTEERS on Saturday (a few spots) and Sunday (a lot of spots).  If you can spare some time on either of those days, we would all appreciate it.  Go to this link to sign up.  This is a great way to volunteer for our students and to interact with our community as a whole.

NOTES:
*Please make sure your child has a coat/jacket that is appropriate for the weather for that specific day.  We do go outside most days.  Also, if you would like to have your child bring in a sweatshirt to leave at school, please label it with their name and send it in.  I usually open the windows to at least get cool fresh air in as the day starts.

*Winter Program forms are due to Kathy.  Please make sure to return them to school.  It is important that we have this information as we move forward with the program.

That is all for now. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Peace,
Tommy