Good Evening! I hope you all had a great weekend. It was my first full week of the basketball season and made for a very fast week. I did get to spend all day Saturday in Island Pond (Brighton). Island Pond is a very special place and I have spent a lot of time there over the years. Saturday's visit reminded me of the beauty of the Northeast Kingdom. I hope you also found a way to enjoy Vermont and its natural beauty.
This past week, Katie Martin, a para educator in Mr. Hubbard's room (and a fan favorite of our class) brought her new baby for a visit. The kids were excited to see both Katie and the new member of her family.
Last week's read a louds were focused on snow building snowmen/women. This past week's Read A Loud were:
I explained to the students the power of snow books. The beginning of the week had us with a lack of snow. Then we had a snow day on Tuesday (after reading the 1st book). On Wednesday we read a book about cold temperatures and wind and sure enough Thursday brought the weather it did. Some of the students may have even become believers!
In Math the 1st graders worked on seeing combinations of numbers through a tower and dice game. They also played a game that required them to subitize complements of 10 using a Rekenrek rack. The goal is to continue to build strategies so that the students become fluent with their complements of 10.
The 2nd graders the students identified, described, and extended the counting by-2s pattern by using a class created chart. The activities provided the students with opportunities to consider odd and even numbers in context and also provided early exposure to the concepts of early multiplication and repeated addition.
Luke Foley came to our class on Wednesday as we kicked off the 1st day of our animal and plant unit. Luke and I talked about the word habitat and developed a "working meaning" of the term. We then spent our time out in the Woods and field to the north of our school identifying tracks, learning how animals move, and looking for evidence of winter homes (for the animals). We were so fortunate to have such a beautiful day to be outside. The students spend Thursday and Friday working in their science journals and learning more from Luke about how to identify different tracks. Some game camera have been set up to try and capture footage for the animals living near our school. Luke will be visiting every Wednesday and Friday through the 1st of the year. The schedule will change a little during the winter program dates.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK: This week's Student of the week is pictured here. This young man is a bright and kind young first grader. His birthday is in September (the 18th) and his favorite color is blue. His favorite place to visit is the ocean and his favorite food is dumplings. He has 5 people in his family, including two other siblings. He wants to be a magician when he grows up. Congratulations to this week's Student of the Week.
NOTES:
*Please remember that we will be going outside every Wednesday for science class. Please dress accordingly.
*The kids have been doing a FANTASTIC job remembering their homework bags. Keep up the great work!
Peace,
Mr. Young
