December 16, 2022

Well it's our first snow day of this school year.  I know the kids were excited with the possibility of a lot of snow. I hope you all saw that I sent home the stuff for your child to make their secret pal card.  They also have an envelope that has the schedule for the week and who their secret pal is. Please make sure your child has their item for each day.  

This week the students continued working on their final narrative writing piece.  The students will spend 3-5 writing times creating a story and demonstrating all of the skills they have learned within their writing itself. I am so impressed with what I have seen so far and I know the kids are happy with their work too. I will send home copies of their work in January with the report cards.

On Wednesday, the students continued working on their gifts for you.  They are excited to be creating a gift for you and it will truly represent their artistic abilities.  We will finish them and wrap them next Wednesday.  

The Final Week: 

This coming week we will look at the celebrations and traditions of Hanukkah and Christmas.  These are the two holidays that the members of our classroom celebrate.  On Tuesday, Zip and Olive will help us talk about Hanukkah and share some of the traditions they have around the celebration. On Wednesday, everyone will share their family's traditions around Christmas. 

Speaking of Hanukkah, Zip's family had this to share.  It sounds like a great way to learn about the holiday. all are welcome and that there is no Hannukah experience required. There will be traditional food which is fried-potato-fritter-kind-of-things (latkes), and donuts. It is important that people RSVP though so that there is enough of the above-mentioned yummy food. Please see the information on the picture below.

NOTES:

*I will not be sending the homework bags home after Tuesday evening.

*Snow is here.  Please make sure your child has everything they need for recess time. 

This will be the last post until after the New Year.  I hope you all have a wonderful and joyous Christmas, Hannukah, and/or New Year. May your hearts be filled with the joy of family and your minds full of positive reflections form the year gone by.

Peace,
Mr. Young

December 9, 2022

Good Afternoon,

Well colds, flu and all other illnesses are amongst us.  The students are being real troopers as we deal with our symptoms.  I know I have a head cold and sleeping has not been ideal.  I both appreciate your efforts to keep kids home when they are sick and push them to come when they can. I used a small block of time this morning to catch kids up on work they missed.

This week's 1st grade math class had a variety of things going on. We have been working on telling time and writing digital notation.  We started this in November and kids are doing a great job with half hour and hour times. We have also been focusing on solving subtraction word problems where they are asked to compare one quantity to another and then find the difference. The main lessons this week focused on students comparing equations and determining if they were equal or not. The 2nd graders have been working on geometry and shapes of pattern blocks. They then estimated how high of towers they could build with those shapes and tested their estimations.  The students then used their data to determine why some shapes worked better than others.

This week's science lesson had us focusing on the stars again. They learned how they can use the North Star to find directional points.  We practiced using directional points as we found items in the classroom. The kids then learned how to use the Big Dipper to find the North Star. I have been encouraging them to get out and check out the moon phases as well as finding stars in the sky.

This was our final week of our narrative unit (writing).  Next week the kids will start to write their final piece that will challenge them to demonstrate all of the skills and techniques they learned during the unit.  I will use this piece of writing to determine most of the report card grade for this unit.  Each kid sat with an adult this week and looked at their current writing goals, edited a new piece of writing, and then were given two new goals to focus on.

Secret Pal:  This particular group is really excited for their traditions and celebrations that come with this time of year.  Everyone in the class has talked about what they celebrate during some of our Morning Meetings.  The kids have seen us, as a staff, doing Secret Pals these past few weeks.  They have asked if we can do it too.  Here is how it will work.  If you want your child to participate, they must be signed up here by 12/15.  I will assign them a Secret Pal on Friday and send home a note with the information and schedule.

To Participate Your Child Will Need To Bring the Following on Each Day

*12/19  They will make a Happy New Year's Card for their Secret Pal.  I will send home the paper they can use on 12/16

*12/20 They will need to bring a healthy snack for their Secret Pal. A simple item or two, no drinks are necessary.  We have mill and water.

*12/21  They will bring in a gift for their Secret Pal with a value of less than $5 (This can be bought or handmade).  If this is a difficulty for anyone, please let me know and I will gladly cover that expense. 

NOTES:

*The weather looks like it will turn more toward a wintry mix next week.  Please make sure your child has boots, a hat, gloves/mittens, and a coat. Also, label everything and make sure they have inside shoes too.  I appreciate your help with this. 

*Please let me know if you are not going to be here during the last week of school this month.  I want to plan for your child accordingly and not have stuff lingering when we come back from break.

Peace,

Mr. Young

December 2, 2022

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and a chance to enjoy some family time. It seemed like the break came at the right time for the students.  This week we continued to look at the moon and stars (in science). Yesterday the students learned about why we see the stars at night and not during the day (with the exception of the sun). We also talked a little bit about constellations and the class each made their own pattern of the big dipper.  They used a flashlight to project the constellation onto a sheet of paper. The challenge for them is to go out in the evening and find that constellation.  

During Wednesday's Literature Project time, I read the story Don't Turn the Page by Rachell Burke. This is a story about a parent and their child's bedtime. "Like most children, Sami puts off going to bed for as long as possible. But reading a story about Little Bear's bedtime ritual inspires Sami" to follow the same routine. After we read the story, the students each made their own 'bedtime buddy" using a variety of craft supplies. The kids brought these creatures home on Monday.

This week's writing focus was on the young writers using powerful moves in their writing.  We looked at some examples and then practiced writing elaborate beginnings that get the reader's interest, comparisons that the reader can relate to, and using onomatopoeias. The students are really getting into using these crafts in writing.

Mr. Hubbard's math class has been using pattern blocks and creating and predicting patterns with them. My first grade math class has been working on solving story problems, learning their doubles +1/-1 facts, and telling time to the hours and half hours.  

NOTES:

*Please make sure your child has a hat, boots, and mittens/gloves each day for recess.  If their is snow, they also need their snow pants.  

*I will not be sending homework bags home on Fridays, during the month of December.  I know how busy this time of year gets and that is one last thing to worry about over the weekend.

I hope you all have a great week.

Peace,

Mr. Young

November 18, 2022

 Good afternoon families of incredible students!  I hope this finds all of you healthy and looking forward to Thanksgiving and all that comes with it for each family.  I will be headed to Pittsburgh, after school on Tuesday, to spend time with all of my siblings and parents. 

Well winter weather is finally here.  With this weather a ton of clothing and accessories come and go with your child everyday. If you have a mud room, you know a family of four can fill a space rather quickly with all of their winter attire. Picture a mudroom for 18.  It is important to me that your family doesn't have to purchase replacement pieces (glove, hat, a boot, etc.) during the winter.  As you can see by the picture, the kids can keep their stuff pretty organized.  However, many people can have the same set of black gloves.  It is with this in mind that I ask that you write your child's name on everything. This will save you stress and frustration, I promise! Remember, for recess a child needs a hat, gloves/mittens, boots, a coat, and snow pants. Your child also needs something else to wear on their feet besides their boots. Feel free to have your child leave a pair of shoes at school to save the back and forth each day. 

The kids enjoyed the first snow fall while in PE class and at recess. There is always excitement when vacation nears but adding the "energy" of the first snow really puts it over the top for kids. For those of you who have seen Elf with Will Farrell, just watch any scene that he is in with sugar in his hand. 

Our science focus has turned to the study of the moon, sun, and light. The students explored all of the different shapes of the Moon that can appear on different nights. They created a My Moon Book, while they observed photos of the Moon taken over the course of four weeks and drew pictures of the Moon's phases in their book. They used these observations to discover patterns in how the Moon’s shape changes and predict when the next full moon will appear.

Next week we will spend some time talking about the celebration of Thanksgiving and look at some of the traditions that are associated with the holiday.  This will take place during our writing and reading times next week (Monday and Tuesday). I would love to include some of the traditions that the students do with their families.  If you would, please click on this link and add your family's name and a tradition that you do.  Try to think of one that is really specific to your family. 

NOTES:

*I will not be sending homework bags home until we get back from the break.  Just to save you searching the house for it on Sunday evening/Monday morning.

*Please make sure your child has recess attire for winter.  If you need anything regarding this, please let me know.

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

Peace,

Mr. Young

November 11, 2022

 Good Evening,

I just spent the day of in-service training thinking and learning about students dealing with trauma, ideas regarding mindfulness and even some therapeutic drumming. I always like walking away thinking about some new things and insights. The therapeutic drumming was run by a gentleman named Trevor.  I will be looking to bring more of this into our school and classroom.  I will let you know if this is something that will happen this school year.  If you would like to check it out, please click on this link. 

This week we also finished our learning and work with Veteran's Day. Each child brought home an informational book that he/she made and you can find it in their bag. We sent a bunch of the cards to relatives of the students, my retired USMC brothers, gave some to Clayton Wetzel (Navy) and I also included some on Facebook and Twitter.  We already have had the cards shared more than 30 times.  

Chris Wadel visited our school.  Chris is a former middle school and college classmate of Mr. Hubbard. "
He is an American Paralympic sit-skier and wheelchair track athlete. He was a promising non-disabled skier while attending Middlebury College in Vermont, before a skiing accident left him paralysed from the waist down. As a sit-skier, Waddell won medals in Winter Paralympics. As a wheelchair track racer, he has also represented the US at the Summer Paralympics. Chris also became the first paraplegic to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Currently, Wadell has a foundation called "One Revolution" that is dedicated to seeing the world positively, by the use of "Nametags" that define oneself."  Here is the link to Chris' website, if you would like to find out more about him. 

It was great to see all of you during parent conferences.  I hope you found them valuable and that it gives you a better insight on how your child is doing. If you have any questions, please reach out.

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

Peace,

Mr.Young

November 4, 2022

 Well, I hoped you all survived the Halloween week as well as the countless viruses and colds that are circulating amongst our community.  As promised, Monday had us looking at the celebration of Halloween.  The students all wrote about some of the traditions they all participate in around the day itself. I did show the students the video I made of all of their costumes (see below)

Next Friday will be Veterans' Day. This week we started talking about this day and why we celebrate it. The students are all making an informational booklet to share with you at home.  We finished that up today and it will be sent home next Friday. Next week the students will each make a card for a Veteran and we will send them out to Veterans to thank them for their service.  If you have a Veteran that you would like a card sent to, please send me their name and address and we will mail it.  We will have 18 cards to send out.  I am also going to teach the kids how to use social media to send the card out to Veterans around the country. It should be fun to track.

This week's writing class focused on using capital letters, ending punctuation and commas. Students continue to edit, complete and write new small moment stories. I will show you some of their work during our parent conference times.

Math class had the 1st graders focused on fact fluency, doubles facts, and complements of 10 and 20.  Through the use of dominoes, dice, and 10 and 20 sticks, the kid shad a variety of ways to practice their fact fluency.  The 2nd graders focused on expanded notation, place value and a couple of games involing place value trades.

A quick word from Ms. Belknap's guidance class focus: "I am just finishing a unit on Emotions Matter. Students enjoyed learning more about how bodily sensations match their feelings. Next, we will learn more about Community, Safety, and Climate. Finally, we will revisit the classroom charters and discuss how our emotions impact the group. Try to incorporate the Meta-Moment or Mood Meter at least 1x per week.

NOTES:

*Parent Conferences are next week.  Please make sure you are on time for your conference.  Mine are stacked back to back so their isn't much flexibility to add or make up time.

*I was talking to the kids today about the boys Harwood Soccer team and the fact that they are in the state championship game tomorrow.  If you are free around 10:00 am, head up to South Burlington High School as the team takes on Montpelier. 

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

Peace,

Mr. Young

October 28, 2022

 Good Afternoon,

I hope this finds all of you happy, healthy, and feeling rested up as you get ready to take on one of the biggest challenges in parenting.  HALLOWEEN MONDAY! I want to wish you all the best with the week to come.   My advice would be to hydrate this weekend.  As a reminder, we will be talking about the traditions and the celebration of Halloween on Monday.  I apologize for those who had difficulties uploading a picture of your child in their costume.  I had the wrong setting but that has been fixed.  If you can take a look and see if your child's photo is in there.  If so great, if not please add it in before Sunday morning.  I will be making a video of their pictures on Sunday and won't be able to add any other pictures in (once I publish it).  The link to the Drive Folder is here. 

This past Wednesday, Mrs. Smith's class and our class joined up to carve pumpkins together. I started the day reading a book about pumpkins and all of the things we can do with them. That afternoon we headed outside to carve the pumpkins. This was part of the school wide reward for earning so many tickets over the past few weeks. This also started our conversation regarding the traditions of Halloween. We will continue the discussion on Monday afternoon.  The kids will again write about their learning and understanding of the traditions and celebrations of Halloween.

The Fire Department also visited our school this week. Each year they come to talk to the kids about fire safety.  The students got to see a fireman (a former 1st grade student of mine) all geared up and also got to hear what their voice sounds like with their mask on. The goal was to let them know what it would sound and look like in the case of a real fire. One of the key ideas is that every family tests their smoke detectors once a month and that every family has an escape plan and a meeting spot for their own homes. As a father who had one of his own daughter's have to crawl out of a house fire, I am very grateful that this is done with the kids. You never know when it will be needed. The students 

This week the 1st graders have been focusing on math facts and complements of 10 and/or 20.  We are working ob fluency with each of these skills.The students played a variety of games, worked with Ms. Figdor, and also parent volunteers, as they honed their skills with these concepts.  The 2nd graders worked on adding two digit numbers as well as adding numbers beyond 125.  Their primary focus was numbers within the 200-299.

In science, the students completed a third experiment.  This one involved putting milk on paper plate and then puddles of food coloring on top of that. Then the kids used a Q-tip and dipped it into dish soap. They then touched the food coloring with the soap and watched the colors dance. The students continued working on making a prediction, recording their findings (through diagrams and words), noting two "I notice" statements, and then reporting out, on their predictions. 

NOTES:

*Please no costumes at school on Monday. I have a variety of plans for Monday afternoon (to celebrate the tradition). We also have cider being sent in and I will be making Halloween Cookies.

*Please make sure your child has at least a sweatshirt and/or a coat for recess time.

*I will not be sending homework bags home on Monday.  Something tells me that you will be busy enough and it will not be top priority for the kids that evening.

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

Peace,

Mr. Young

October 21, 2022

Good Morning to all of you.  I hope you are having a lovely Friday.  I know the students are excited for the fall celebration this afternoon. I arrived in DC earlier this morning and as I write this, I find myself inside a building wearing a mask (required).  I am realizing and remembering how happy that the everyday wearing of the masks is past us. Wearing a mask and trying to wear glasses is a tough one! More fog on my lenses than RT. 100 on an early fall day.  

This week I received several emails about kids being nervous or even a little scared about the biking unit that Ms. Ally has been doing in DC. I really appreciated the heads up and used the concerns to drive a project we did on Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday, I read the story The I'm Not Scared Book by Todd Parr, to the class. "With his signature blend of playfulness and sensitivity, the author explores the subject of all things scary and assures readers that all of us are afraid sometimes." After reading the story, the students identified a time when they were scared and what they did or could do to make it less scary.  Their writing and illustrations of this, will be sent home next week. 

Yesterday, the students started a 2nd science experiment.  The experiment involved putting a gummy bear in a cup of water and one in a cup of vinegar. Again the focus was on making predictions, setting up the experiment, creating diagrams of what they saw and writing "I noticed" statements about their observations. Today the students were going to record what happened over night and then check to see if their predictions were correct or not. I've been really impressed with the detail in their observations, recordings, and their science writing.

In math, 1st graders have been working on building fluency with their complements of 10 and also with domino math facts.  They have been playing a game where they each add their fact and then compare each other's quantity by using the greater than or less than symbols. Second grade math has been working on adding and subtracting 10s from a given number.

NOTES:

*Please remember to add a photo of your child in their Halloween costume (if they wish to) and I will add it to the presentation on the 31st.  Please add any photos into this drive folder. If anyone wishes to donate 2 gallons of cider for that day, please let me know.  I will provide the class treat.

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

Peace,

Tommy