February 12, 2021

 Good Afternoon,

Today was one of those days where kids arrive full of excitement.  Most first and second graders, the act of handing out Valentines is a very rewarding and joyful time.  They are excited about their cards, love giving things to their friends and love getting cards in return.  Thank you all for following our COVID Valentine procedures.

Our district's leaders have thought more about the food policy during COVID and have come up with the following:  Your child can bring in something for their birthday, if they wish.  The item must be individually wrapped and handed out by teacher.  They will eat it during lunch time to avoid having to take their mask off one extra time during the day.  In a time when kids can't celebrate their special day with family, it is nice that they can still do it with their friends in school.  I would like to thank Kaiya for fighting for the kids on this one.  

This week the student's heard from my friend Genein Letford.  As I mentioned on Monday, she is an author, educator, and speaker.  She talked about the hurdles she has overcome and what it took as well as the concept that we all have diamond ideas in us.  Next week we will here form a basketball coach, a coach I roomed coached with when we toured the Ukraine.  He will talk to the kids about why he coaches, what he hopes to do for kids, and what basketball has done for him.  He lives in Central Maine.

Today was the 100th day of school.  We now only have 70 days of school left.  The first graders spent math class trying to crack the code on a 100th day escape room type activity.  Eventually they were able to crack the code and find the 100th day cake.  The kids each earned an individually, prepackaged cupcake.  Needless to say they were all quite excited

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

Peace, Tommy

February 8, 2021

 Good Evening,

   I hope you all were able to enjoy your weekend.  This week we will visit the state of Illinois.  I have set up a collection of books, in Epic, that focus on this state and some of the features, history and sports teams from that state.  This week's reading focus will have one group continuing to focus on decoding long vowel sounds (with the vce spelling).  Another group will be focusing on decoding two syllable open sound words, and the final group will focus on close reading of books about mammals.  

Today the 1st grade math students continued to work on using doubles facts to solve doubles +2 facts.  An example is if a child knew 6+6 =12 then 6+8 would be 14 because it is 6+6+2.  Last week we focused on doubles +1 facts.

Virtual Wednesday:  This week we will be having a guest speaker join us on Wednesday for our meeting. This week's speaker be a friend of mine from Los Angeles.  Her name is Genein Letford (https://geneinletford.com/) and she is a friend that I met 6 or 7 years ago while working on a project in Lawrence, MA.  The two of us were guest teachers for an acceleration academy and really hit it off. My goal is to invite a variety of guest speakers, whom are people of color, to talk to the class about their jobs and the talents and special gifts that they possess.  The kids will be documenting their interactions with each guest speaker through a "Learning Log."  You will also see a bright pink packet of paper in your child's homework bag.  This is the paper they should use for their weekly news this week.

A Reading Group From Monday

NOTES:

*Please have your child charge their Chromebook each evening.

*If your child wishes to bring in Valentine's , we will be handing those Friday.  To find the guidelines for this and the class list, please read the post from last Friday.  

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

Peace,

Mr. Young

February 5th, 2021

 Good Afternoon Friends, Families, and Citizens,

  This week we visited the great state of Louisiana.  The kids have learned about Jazz, food, state facts, and have had a variety of books read to them.  Today, during library, Mr. Mongeon read a book titled Home on the Bayou. "When you take an original, lasso-throwing, boot-stomping cowboy, pack all his belongs in the car and move him from the wide open spaces of the West to swamp country, you can expect run-ins with the local alligators, a snafu or two at home, and a western-style showdown with Big Head Ed, the school bully. A cowboy of uncommon bravery discovers that with the right ingredients, home can be anywhere."  

Valentine's Day:  Several people have asked how Valentine's Day usually works in the 1st and 2nd grade.  Typically we avoid holidays but Valentine's day and the concept of showing you enjoy people seems to be a safe and important thing to focus on (especially in today's world).  So your child is allowed to being in Valentine's.  Please nothing with candy (there is a district conversation going on about candy right now).  Below is the list of names.  If you are doing Valentine's please bring one for each child.  Anything with candy, will not be allowed to be distributed.

Brayden, Otto, Tobin, Elijah, Callum, Arlo, Quinn, Koji, Hunter, Kayden, Vera, Berkley, Ben, Micah, Sierra, Georgia, and Miles.

Have a great weekend.

Peace,

Tommy

February 1, 2020

 Good Evening,

  I am sorry I am just sitting down to write this now but basketball season tends to lead to longer hours on all fronts.  It is 9:30 and I am writing this wondering what tomorrow's weather will bring.  I am hoping it is an in person learning day but the forecast is making me doubt the possibility of that.  We will wait and see what the morning will bring.

Today I sent home a few things in your child's homework bag (the Ziploc bag).  There is a white folder that says Snow Day.  That has paper that your child will need for the meeting tomorrow.  Please make sure he/she keeps it in their bag until the meeting and packs it all back up after.  Everyone did a great job with returning work last week.  There is also a purple paper packet and a writing checklist.  This is for the Weekly News entry he/she will have to do on Wednesday.  

Tomorrow's Schedule (If we have a remote learning day) is listed below.  Please make sure that you explain to your child that if we don't have in person learning, it is not a snow day.  It is a remote learning day and counts toward the number of days of school we are required to attend this year.  When June arrives, the sun is out, and kids want to be outside and done with school, we will all appreciate the work that went into making a remote day happen on a cold day in February.  HOWEVER, I understand that remote days can cause headaches for your own work schedules.  If your child can't attend a meeting because of it, please don't sweat it.  I ask that you do the attendance question and then do the asynchronous work at a better time (for your family) tomorrow.

FIRST THING: Please do the daily attendance Question. 

8:45 Morning Meeting (use meeting link in Google Classroom)

9:45 Literacy Meeting (same link as above).

10:45 Special (Kaiya will announce in an email Tuesday)  You should also do the following at some point today. 

1 Zearn Lesson 

2. 30 Minutes of Lexia 

3. 20 minutes of Epic or Storyline Online (Your choice) If you have extra time, you can go to the math game site listed below. Play the Snowball Fight Game (up to 10 addition or subtraction), the Road Racer Game (using numbers 1-10 or 10-99), or the Shot Clock Game.

That is all for now.

Peace,

Tommy