January 29, 2023

 Good Morning,

  I am sorry I am only getting to this now.  Friday flew by and yesterday I just enjoyed the beautiful day.  It is hard to believe that we are already at the end of January.  The January through February time is such a fun teaching block and it's amazing how much we can get done during this block. With that said, let's get to the week in review.

The students were able to celebrate the success of collecting over 1,000 We Rock tickets (as a whole school). This earned them a chance to participate in a mini winter carnival celebration on Tuesday morning. It is always great to see the kids gathering as one and enjoying time with each other.

The kids continued their persuasive writing pieces this week.  The focus was on using pictures (from the text) to help describe a favorite part of a book.  Our discussion focused on how sometimes the pictures tell parts that the words might not mention.

This week's science focus was on sound waves and how light helps us see things.  On Thursday, the students learned about sound waves and vibrations.  We read a book about the topic and discussed how sound is a form of energy. We conducted an investigation where we put a tray of salt in front of a speaker and then blasted the base. The kids then wrote about what happened. Their observations were great but their reactions to the sound waves were even better.  Friday's investigation had the kids looking at items in a cereal box with a small hole in it.  They were trying to answer the question; How does light help us see things?" They then put a flashlight in each box and looked at the times.  This allowed them to better explain their thoughts about the guiding question.

NOTES:

*Thank you to all who sent in the cereal boxes for science.  We are now done with that investigation and don't need anymore boxes.

*We will ski and board this Wednesday. Remember there will not be homework bags sent home on this day. I also didn't send them on Friday.  I thought the kids could use the weekend to enjoy the snow and the outdoors.

*I have been working on some social dynamics with the class.  It's typical things that come up but I wanted to address it.  This past week I met with all of the 2nd grade girls and we ate lunch together and talked about recess and lunch issues that have come up.  If you have any questions, just let me know.

*As a reminder, look at last week's post if you want to sign your child up for baseball/softball.  All of the information is there.

I hope you all have a great Sunday.

Peace,

Mr. Young

January 19, 2022

 Good Evening,

I hope you all have had a great week. Hopefully everyone had a chance to look at their child's report card. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. 

This week we continued our persuasive writing unit.  The students have been writing letters to the class about their favorite book character and/or their favorite part of a story. The students are being asked to write a form of a hook to get the reader interested, then state their opinion, support with at least three supportive facts, and then restate their ending to close it out. The students are really getting into these writing pieces.

We spent [art of last week and this week (due to snow day last Friday) reading and learning about Martin Luther King Jr. We talked about why we honor his birthday, who he was, and what he did.  I started with the story Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport. If you have never read this book, I encourage you to listen to this reading of the story.  The students broke into groups and each group read a book about M.L.K. Jr.. The groups then wrote down 4 facts they learned about him and words to describe him.  We then gathered as a class and shared our findings.  This information was recorded on chart paper and the kids could use the information to draw pictures and write about him. Their work is displayed on the bulletin board near the hallway exit door (by our room).  

In math, the 1st graders have been working on skip counting by 10s. 5s. and 1s. They have also been working with dimes, nickels and pennies. The students have been playing a trading game and trying to get to a dollar.  If they did, they got their picture with a BIG $1 bill.  I didn't get a chance to check in with Mr. Hubbard this week but I can assure you they did do math!

Little League is a very popular springtime opportunity that many of our students choose to be involved with. Please check out the information below and sign up today!

NOTES:

*We will be skiing and boarding this week.  Please make sure your child has a bag that can hold everything.  When you pick them up all the stuff, they don't need, will all be neatly in that big bag in the library. PLEASE LABEL ALL OF YOUR CHILD'S ITEMS.

*Just a reminder, of you want to have your child present about a family tradition or celebration, please sign up here. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CumLcFj2HOcgOKKo437YaVyBG-FgjuqC7WxeNkwyg7c/edit?usp=sharing

*I didn't send home the homework bags on Friday.  I figured many if not all would be finally enjoying the winter season that so many know and love. As a reminder, I also don;t send them home on ski days.

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great Sunday. Also, I am writing this as I watch football tonight. Please be kind of there is an error or two with editing. 

Peace, 

Mr. Young

January 6, 2022

 Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great holiday break.  It is report card season.  Prior to break and this week, I have been conducting a variety of tests with each kid in each subject.  The nature of 1st and 2nd grade tests tend to be a lot of 1:1 interviews. So that has been our primary focus this week. We will return to our regular schedule next week.  

As you know we have been doing celebrations and traditions this year. The goal is to learn about them, see how some may celebrate and some may not, and to learn how celebrations and traditions can look different from family to family.  With this in mind, I want to offer a chance for students and families to talk about a family specific celebration and/or tradition.  This could look like a presentation from your child, a video you all or your child makes at home (I have a tool that could be used for recording), or any other mean in which your child wants to deliver the information.  If you are interested, please use this Google Sheet to sign up for a date. For those who want to present in person, if you sign up for a Wednesday time, it will be at 1:15.  If you sign up for a Thursday or Friday slot, it will be at 10:15.  

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

Peace,

Tommy