Happy Saturday Evening everyone! I hope you all have had a great week. We started our first social studies unit this week. I try and alternate science and social studies units during the school year. This way the students get both curriculum. We kicked off our Financial Literacy unit with a group of Harwood seniors coming in to teach a lesson on financial literacy. These students are in a Financial Literacy course with Tara Kelly and they used the book A Chair for My Mama as the anchor for the lesson. Thursday afternoon, I taught our first lesson that focused on needs, choices, goods, services and wants. The lesson focused on building an understanding of these vocabulary words. I used the book, Spend It by Cinders McLeod. In this book, "Sonny (a bunny) gets three whole carrots a week for his allowance and wants to buy everything! But he quickly discovers his money won't go that far, and he has to make some choices. That doesn't sound like much fun to Sonny, especially when he learns that the bouncy castle he's been eyeing goes for ONE HUNDRED carrots. Ridiculous! But eventually, after a little math and a little more thinking, he has a blast discovering what's really important to him and worth spending his carrots on." We will finish up our work with this book next Thursday. You may have heard your child talking about getting paid for their job, on Friday afternoon. As part of this unit, I want the students to earn money and figure out if they want to save to buy a few little items or save all of their money to buy a larger item. Their job; It's to bring back their homework bag and book each day. If they do, they are paid a dollar for completing their job. If they forget, they don't get paid that day. We talked about this and how jobs work so the kids should be good with the directions. Please let me know if this is causing any kind of worry for your child. I picked a simple task in hopes that the kids would all feel they could handle it. They all seem excited about the project. If you would like to listen to the book Spend It! please check it out below.
Everyday I do a read-a-loud between our last special of the day and the start of our Reading Group and Word Work time. Our school has a goal of reading a variety of Social Emotional Learning books. We have already read 35 books in this genre. This week I took a break from that and started reading other books from our classroom library. I focused on collections (Dr. Seuss, Clifford Books, and If I had series books) of books by authors. The goal is for students to truly explore our classroom library and to choose a variety of different books, as reading homework each night.
National Pumpkin Day
Wednesday afternoon was used for a literature project. Libby (Zip's mom) read the book Perfect Square to the class. This is a story where a "Perfect Square is about a square that gets cut up, torn up, shredded and shattered. Each time something is done to the square, it figures out a way to turn the situation in a useful, positive outcome." The students then chose a perfect square of colored and designed paper and had their friends tear them up. Each student then had to use the torn square pieces to create a new picture. These pictures are hung up in the hallway by the exit door (near our room). If I was a good teacher, I would have remembered to take a picture of them!
First grade math focused on wrapping up a month long focus on story problems and creating equations with the given information in a problem. We also wrapped up Unit 1 and assessed the students on number sequencing, more story problems, and complements of 10. The 2nd graders have been working with pattern blocks and composing and decomposing shapes and designs.
This week's writing focus zoomed in on endings and staying focused in on the small moment when ending their stories. We worked on the ending being the exact next thing that happened in their story. For example, if a story was about swimming in the ocean. The ending wouldn't be, "we got out of the water and drove home." Rather the student would end it with what they did as soon as they got out of the water (most likely dried off or laid on the beach).
NOTES:
*Your child does have their homework bag and a book this weekend. Please make sure it is sent in on Monday. THEY NEED TO EARN THEIR DOLLAR!
*Reminder that no Halloween costumes should be sent on Tuesday. We will do some Halloween activities but they will be academic based.
*Please make sure your child has boots for wet, muddy, and snowy days. They should also have a pair of sneakers/shoes. We sit on the floor a lot and it's not fun when someone only has boots and gets the rug all wet.
That is all for now. I hope you have a great Sunday. If you can find a moment or two to root for the Steelers, I would greatly appreciate it. I understand if the Pecks choose not to!
Peace,
Tommy
October 22, 2023
Good Evening! I hope this post finds you all well and rested. It's hard to believe but we are already entering our 8th week of school. Here is a review of the week gone by.
We wrapped up our science unit on erosion this week. We used Wednesday to review the different concepts and learning we covered during the unit. Then the students completed a unit vocabulary task and also created their own map with illustrations and writing of how to protect the river and houses and businesses on it. A copy of the maps will be hung in our room. The assessment results will be shared during conferences. I want to thank Lucas, of Friends of the Mad River, for all his work with our class during the last two months. It was so great to get the kids to the river for our first science unit.
A few weeks back, I wrote about a Kindness book that the class had written. They each identified a way that they are kind and then illustrated a picture of the specific kind "action." Their original book is now in our classroom library for kids to enjoy. Eric Mongeon, our world famous (or at least Waitsfield famous) librarian, helped us create a digital version of the book. Please click below and listen and see the amazing illustrations. A big thanks to Libby for designing the cover.
Now that we have had a few weeks of writing instruction, I used a few days last week to look at each students work and then design two writing goals for each student to focus on. These goals will be reinforced and individual instruction will be given as students work with me and the parent volunteers. Again, I will share these goals during our parent conferences.
Halloween: Our school takes the approach that we don;t celebrate Halloween at school. This in terms of wearing costumes all day and having huge sugar filled parties. With this in mind, we will read a Halloween book during read a loud that day, students can share what they will dress up as (during morning meeting) and I will give them a Halloween and little treat during the day. However, our days focus will be academic and the day will be treated as a normal school day. The kids will also write about Halloween and their teacher that day. Thank you in advance for leaving all the costume stuff at home.
NOTES:
*I think the book orders will be delivered this week. I will send them home when they arrive.
*School photos will be sent home tomorrow. Please look for them in your child's homework bag.
*Please make sure your child has a coat and/or sweatshirt for recess time. Putting a sweatshirt in your child's bag is a good idea. With all of the sicknesses, I will be leaving the windows opened as much as I can.
*I will be offering conferences on 11/7. 11/8/ and 11/9. The times and days listed are the only times available. Please find a time and day that works for you. The sign up link will be shared with you via Kaiya or Susan. If you don;t plan on scheduling a conference, please email me this week.
That is all for now. I hope you all have a great week.
Good Thursday evening to all of you. I am writing this blog post tonight because I will be out of school tomorrow. I am headed to my daughter's parents' weekend in Rochester, NY. It was certainly nice to have a full class again this week. I have a feeling we will be battling a variety of illnesses throughout the winter. Please do your best to limit time out of school (when kids are healthy) to minimize the total amount of school missed. I appreciate your support with this.
This week wrapped up the outdoor learning portion of our erosion unit. This week we looked at the types of root systems that help protect river banks during high river levels with faster currents. Lucas talked to the kids about root systems of a tree compared to that of knotweed. The students spent today writing in their science notebooks and illustrating their learning and writing about their observations.
In writing, we focused a lot on how to spell words. I introduced the word wall (most commonly used words in the English language), we talked about stretching (tapping) words out to write the sounds we hear, and how to look for small words in bigger words. The students continue to work on small moment stories, editing those stories, and learning to add more detail to their them.
I am curious if the blog is useful and does it provide good information? Is there something more you would like added to the posts. My concern is viewership has dwindled. Last week only 5 people looked at it. That is down from an average of about 30 views a week. Please let me know your thoughts.
NOTES:
*All of the book orders have been submitted. I will send them home with your child when they arrive.
*Please make sure your child brings a water bottle to school each day.
That is all for now. I hope you enjoy the weekend. This weeks pictures include some recess shots. I had recess duty on Wednesday an it was fun to see how they were "playing." The video below cracked me up!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was certainly fun to watch the foliage start to leave us as the weather turns to the cooler side. I loved sitting on my deck and just watching the leaves floating through the air. Last week had pretty much everyone fighting at least a cough. I didn't have a full class all week, therefore the audio book was not recorded. I will try again this week. I am just posting a bunch of pictures from last week. Please ask your child about them.
Happy Saturday Evening everyone! I hope you all have had a great week. We started our first social studies unit this week. I try and alternate science and social studies units during the school year. This way the students get both curriculum. We kicked off our Financial Literacy unit with a group of Harwood seniors coming in to teach a lesson on financial literacy. These students are in a Financial Literacy course with Tara Kelly and they used the book A Chair for My Mama as the anchor for the lesson. Thursday afternoon, I taught our first lesson that focused on needs, choices, goods, services and wants. The lesson focused on building an understanding of these vocabulary words. I used the book, Spend It by Cinders McLeod. In this book, "Sonny (a bunny) gets three whole carrots a week for his allowance and wants to buy everything! But he quickly discovers his money won't go that far, and he has to make some choices. That doesn't sound like much fun to Sonny, especially when he learns that the bouncy castle he's been eyeing goes for ONE HUNDRED carrots. Ridiculous! But eventually, after a little math and a little more thinking, he has a blast discovering what's really important to him and worth spending his carrots on." We will finish up our work with this book next Thursday. You may have heard your child talking about getting paid for their job, on Friday afternoon. As part of this unit, I want the students to earn money and figure out if they want to save to buy a few little items or save all of their money to buy a larger item. Their job; It's to bring back their homework bag and book each day. If they do, they are paid a dollar for completing their job. If they forget, they don't get paid that day. We talked about this and how jobs work so the kids should be good with the directions. Please let me know if this is causing any kind of worry for your child. I picked a simple task in hopes that the kids would all feel they could handle it. They all seem excited about the project. If you would like to listen to the book Spend It! please check it out below.
