September 27, 2019

Good Afternoon,

  We have had a wonderful 5th week of school.  The field trip to the apple orchard was a success and we all enjoyed a few fresh healthy apples throughout the day.  The students were awesome on the trip and took great notes that they have been using to write about the correct way to pick an apple.  I am using this as an introduction into procedural writing for the 1st graders and a review for the 2nd graders.  We will do a formal procedural writing unit later in the year.  I want to thank the chaperones that were able to attend.  It is always a big help having a few extra hands when we are out of the building.

First grade math continued working on measuring items in the classroom.  We have used popsicle sticks, cubes, and our own feet to measure different items.  The discussion has been around why it takes different amounts of each item to measure the same object. We have been using the words most, least, greater than, less than, and equal to describe the weekly coin counts that we collected during the month of September.

I am finishing up assessments and and will start formal reading and spelling groups on October 8th.  I will be looking for parent volunteers that are interested in coming in during the day.  Look for a sign up sheet next week. 

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

Peace,
Tommy

September 24, 2019

Good Afternoon,
  Tomorrow is our field trip to Adam's Apple Orchard in Williston Vermont.  We will be leaving between 7:45-8:00.  If you are chaperoning, you can meet us up there or meet in the classroom and then carpool up with others.  Prepping for the trip tonight.  Your child should empty out their backpacks with the exception of their homework bag and a lunch and/or snack for tomorrow (for those who didn't order a school one).  Each child will be getting a small bag of apples and I will have them put the bag in their backpacks so that they don't go rolling all over the bus.  Please have your child dress accordingly (weather). 

  Over the last two days we have been working on illustrating our classroom rules.  The students are identifying ways in which they can follow the rules that the class developed as a group.  They will be sharing their work during out morning meeting on Thursday and then bringing them home to share with you.  Our new classroom rules are:  Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be Focused, and Be Kind.  I love how broad they are yet very effective in the day to day situations that occur in our room and the school. 

First grade math students have been working on measuring with popsicle sticks and finding missing addends in equations with missing parts.  They have been number detectives, while using clues they have been given to find the missing addend on a number rack. 

NOTES:
*I received a few requests and will put out an October book order.  It appears that a few missed the deadline but would like to order.

*The books your child ordered for this months offering have been sent home in your child's bag.  Please look for them.

That is all for now.  Have a great week.
Peace,
Mr. Young

September 21, 2019

Good Evening,
  I am sorry I am just getting around to writing this post on Saturday.  It was certainly an amazing day today.  I was with my family as our oldest daughter ran in the Manchester Invitational.  It was certainly nice to see so many of you at the open house the other night.  It is always rewarding for me to see how excited the kids are to show you their classroom.  I hope you found the evening informative and shared in some of their enthusiasm.

This Wednesday, Mr. Hubbard's and our class will be headed to the apple orchard in Williston.  We will be leaving as close to 8:00 as possible.  If you are chaperoning the trip, please come right to the classroom when you drop your child off in the morning.  IMPORTANT:  If your child would like a bagged lunch and a snack provided for Wednesday, could you please email me at tyoung@huusd and let me know.  I will ask those who sign up what kind of sandwich they would like on Monday morning.  I am sorry to have to ask you to email me over the weekend but I forgot to send the forms home on Friday.

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

Peace,
Tommy

September 16, 2019

Good Afternoon,

Students hiking MRG just because they can.

  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  My oldest daughter turned 18 over the weekend and I found myself in and out of reflection about her 18 years with us and amazed by how fast it all went by.  I am sorry I did not post on Friday.  I had to be away from school on Friday to take care of a family thing and was bummed to miss the hike. 

 Today the students presented their hopes and dreams to the whole group.  We used these goals to establish an initial list of rules each student might need to allow them to accomplish these goals.  We will continue to work on this list and develop norms for our class as the week progresses.  Before starting this conversation, I led the glass through a discussion about positive language and stating what behaviors we want rather than the behaviors we don't want.  The use of positive language will be a focus for the class as we progress throughout the year. 

  First grade math continues to investigate games that work with developing an understanding of complements of 10.  We are also looking at why the numbers 11-19 are written with a one in the front.  I am using a lot of visuals to guide them in this concept. 

Students engaging with Katie during guidance

  Wednesday marks the date of this year's Open House at the Waitsfield Elementary School.  The start time will be at 5:30 and run until 6:30.  Please be mindful of the starting and stopping times and take that into consideration as you plan our evening of exploration.  The kids will be your tour guides and show you the things that are important to them.  They will have a checklist for my classroom and please make sure you ask them to explain some of the items to you.  I look forward to seeing all of you at the open house. 

NOTES:
*On Tuesday, September 17, your child will bring home a lunch and snack form for our field trip on September 25th.  If your child needs a snack and/or lunch please fill this out and send it back on Wednesday, September 18th. 

Greeting each other with fist bumps

*On Thursday, I will be at a meeting at the Agency of Education for the duration of the day.  I serve on a board, for the governor and agency of education, that meets once a month.  Thursday is our September meeting date.

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

Peace,
Mr.

September 9, 2019

Good Afternoon,

A student leads the class in reading the morning message.

  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I found myself at a soccer game, x-country race, a wedding, and a date night with my wife.  It is always nice to fill the weekend with such self fulfilling events.  We started today with our Morning Meeting. The primary goal of my morning meetings is to give students a safe environment that provides a sense of trust, allows all students to feel important, and encourages respectful learning.  It also acts as a tool for fostering a positive classroom environment.  As a reminder, meeting starts right at 7:40.  Please have your child in the classroom by this time.  If you find you are consistently 5 minutes late, you may want to adjust the routine to allow your child to be part of this important part of their day and learning.  If your child is on time, keep up the great work and a huge thank you from me.

Our Number Corner Routine and Display

  In math, the 1st graders continue to build the foundations for learning complements of 10.  They used their number racks to build numbers that were flashed to them (using dot cards).  Becoming fluent with the complements of 10 is one of the first big milestones in becoming fluent with additive reasoning.  The first graders also worked on making the numeral 7 the correct way and continued with number corner routines (calendar).  You can see the number corner display in the picture on the right of the screen.  Second grade math update can be found on Mr, Hubbard's blog.

  This afternoon Judy, our classroom helper, came in and read Bear Came Along, by Richard. T. Morris.  This book is "a cheerful and action-packed adventure about the importance of friendship and community. Once there was a river flowing through a forest. The river didn't know it was capable of adventures until a big bear came along. ."  The students really enjoyed the book and their time with Judy.

Judy reading a book to our class

  Today's specials were Music and PE/Health.  Make sure to check in with your child about these two specials and all the wonderful things they did with Mr. Hill and Ms. Bataille.

NOTES
*Book orders are due by Friday. 

*Tonight your child has a white form in their homework bag. This form is to sign up for a bagged lunch for for Friday's all school hike.  THIS FORM IS DUE TOMORROW.  We will be leaving around 9:00 am and hiking at Mad River.  Please make sure your child dresses appropriately. 

That is all for now.  Have a great week.

Peace,
Tommy

September 6, 2019

Good Evening,
  Well we have a second week in the books and I hope the students are having as much fun as I am.  This week, we have been brainstorming ideas of why we come to school.  The students used this discussion to develop their first goal for the year.  These goals are called their Hopes and Dreams.  The students have each illustrated their Hope and Dream and they are displayed in the classroom.  Next week we will use these to help develop simple classroom expectations/rules. 

  The first graders have been working on skip counting in math, numeral writing, reviewing combinations of 5 and been given an introduction to complements of 10.  We have been using a number rack (20 beads in two sets of ten) to create visuals of out thinking.  Every math class ends with a 25 minute calendar routine that we call number corner.  This segment focuses on the calendar, data collecting, and computational fluency.  To find out updates on 2nd grade math, remember to check out Mr. Hubbard's blog by clicking here. 

Today was picture day.  It was nice to have everyone present so that they all could be part of the class picture.  We also heard from Papa Steve.  He wrote to the students about leaving on his trip and his anticipation of seeing all of the leaves exposing their bright fall colors.  The students also have been working on reviewing or learning the correct way to write upper and lower case letters.  Students who show they have mastered this will move onto using a key skills program that Mr. Mongeon asks us to use.

NOTES:
*Please send in a reusable (cloth) grocery bag with your child.  This was a request that was included int he summer email that you all received.  The students will use these all year long.  If you need one provided, just let me know.

*We will be headed to Adam's Apple Orchard in Williston, VT on September 25th.  We have been using apples to learn how to write like a scientist in our science notebooks.  I thought it would be a great connection to take part in a great fall Vermont activity like apple picking.  If you would like to chaperone on the trip, please let me know via email (tyoung@huusd.org), so far we have three parents attending the trip with us.  I will ask that the parents all carpool together and follow us up to the Orchard.  We will leave a little bit before 8:00 am and arrive back to Waitsfield by 1:00 pm.  Your child will need a snack and a lunch for the trip.  If you would like the school to provide one, please fill out the form that will be in your child's backpack on Tuesday.  The school will be covering the cost of the trip, so please don't send in any money.

*Please make sure that your child's plastic Ziploc bag comes back each day.  Next week, I will start letting kids bring home a book of choice.

*Book Order:  Please remember that the deadline for Scholastic book orders is September 13th.

That is all for now. Have a great weekend.

Peace,
Mr. Young

 

September 3, 2019

Students Chatting with Papa Steve via Face Time

Good evening to all. I hope you all enjoyed the weekend and found time for something that allows you to relax and enjoy a moment or two. I find a lot of pleasure in watching my daughters compete in their respective sports and the fall weekends offer plenty of opportunities for this to happen.

INTRODUCING PAPA STEVE! Steve Osgood is my father in law and I will be using him to help the students learn about the towns and cities in the State of Vermont. Steve is an avid Motorcyclist and I am creating a scenario where Steve will send post cards from around the state. These interactions will allow us to incorporate map skills, geography, and vocabulary into my teaching. I will play this up to keep their interest and we will map his journey. I have collected some post cards from around the state but feel free to pick up some if you are traveling around the state. I am going to have Steve surprise the kids at the end of the year. Please don't cue them in on the fact that his trip if fictional. This project will cover the following vocabulary from our SS curriculum:

Essential Vocabulary: Geography, Symbols, Legend/Key, Cardinal Directions, north/south/east/west, Urban, Rural, Suburban

It will also cover the following curriculum requirements:

Students using tally marks to represent numbers

• Integrative Thinking
• Analyze a variety of media and visual representations (including maps, globes, photographs and other media)
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of how maps help us identify different places

1ST GRADE MATH
The past two math classes have been focused on counting by 5s and the use of tally marks. The students used popsicle sticks to represent quantities of tally marks and learned to record tallies with a numerical representation. We have also been working on writing the digits 0-9 correctly.

JUDY

Using a magnifying glass to add details to our science notebooks

Last year, Judy D'Estes started volunteering in our classroom. The kids truly enjoyed her company, her caring personality, and the read-a-louds she did with the kids. This year she will be in our room 3 days a week (a few hours each day). Today Judy read the class The Kissing Hand and helped with a few projects with the students. I am grateful she is able to volunteer some of her time with our class.

NOTES
*Friday is PHOTO DAY! We will be taking our phots right at 8:00 am. We will also be doing the class picture this day. Please do your best to have your child be present for this.

*We will be headed to Adam's Apple Orchard in Williston, VT on September 25th. We have been using apples to learn how to write like a scientist in our science notebooks. I thought it would be a great connection to take part in a great fall Vermont activity like apple picking. If you would like to chaperone on the trip, please let me know via email (tyoung@huusd.org). I will ask that the parents all carpool together and follow us up to the Orchard. We will leave a little bit before 8:00 am and arrive back to Waitsfield by 1:00 pm. Your child will need a snack and a lunch for the trip. If you would like the school to provide one, please fill out the form that will be in your child's backpack on Tuesday. The school will be covering the cost of the trip, so please don't send in any money.


*Please make sure that your child's plastic Ziploc bag comes back each day. Next week, I will start letting kids bring home a book of choice.

*Book Order: Please remember that the deadline for Scholastic book orders is September 13th.

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

Peace,
Mr. Young