March 31, 2023

Good Afternoon,

Hard to believe it's already the last day of March.  However, I am not going to lie, I am psyched that April Fool's Day is on a weekend. This week Marc Thomas has joined our staff and in particular will be working in my classroom.  Marc is also my neighbor and I have known him for quite some time. He is a retired Vermont Sate Trooper and was looking to do some meaningful work with kids.  I can tell you the class is very excited to have him in our room. 

Many of the kids are working on elaboration in their writing.  This week we have primarily focused on this skill.  I use the term twin sentences.  When a student writes a sentence (of evidence) to support their opinion, they try to write two more sentences (twin sentences) to elaborate on their first sentence.  The students have done a wonderful job with this concept and I was extremely pleased with their work this week. 

During Morning Meeting, on Monday, I pointed out how good my handwriting was (with writing the morning meeting).  I told them it was so good that I was going to take a selfie of it.  The kids found this very funny and laughed about it.  Then I told them that they can also do the same thing.  If they have a piece of work with great handwriting, they can their picture with their writing too. This had them captured and also refocused on doing their best with their handwriting. 

As part of our look at traditions and celebrations, we spend the latter part of this week looking at the celebration of Ramadan and and specifically Eid Al-Fitr. We watched an informational video, ready a story and created a flip book about the celebration.  We then talked about mosques and looked at the Blue Mosque in Turkey. The students used oil pastels, markers, and glitter crayons to create a picture of the mosque.  We will continue our learning and writing with this next week.

NOTES:

*Please keep sending your child's boots in until the mud goes away.  I also make your children wear their coats if it is under 40 degrees.  They don;t always like me for this but I feel it is needed.  Over 40 degrees, I allow them to wear sweatshirts or a fleece.

*Many of the kids are looking for more food during the day.  I have some stuff here (provided by the PTA) but could use an extra snack thrown in your child's bag (for them) each day. 

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great weekend.  I am headed off to Endicott College for my daughters accepted student day.  

Peace,

Mr. Young

March 9, 2023

Good Afternoon,

I hope everyone found a way to enjoy the snow, the break or even both during out time away from school. I want to thank all of those who were able to come to some of our basketball games at the end of the season. It was so great to get two games in our gym and have such a huge audience. 

Here is a quick review of our three day week.  On Wednesday, we had a new student arrive in our classroom. Her name is Amelia and she is in 2nd grade.  She came to us from Florida and was born in Russia. She has quickly jumped into our routine and the students seem to enjoy engaging with her.

Our specials this week were PE, and French.  In PE class, the kids have been playing a version of capture the flag. There is lots of communicating and running going on in this activity. In French, the students are practicing using french words that deal with feelings. 

The students also finished up their President's Day writing that we started before the break. The students read a book about, took notes on and shared out their findings on President Washington and President Lincoln. They then wrote about their learning.

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

Peace,

Mr. Young