We have had a busy and productive stretch in the classroom! It is wonderful to see the growth and independence the students are showing as we wrap up several projects before the holiday break.

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Writing & Language Arts

• Small Moment Masterpieces: The students have officially finished their final personal narrative stories! These were completed entirely independently. On Monday, students will perform one final edit before they are officially "published." The progress they’ve made since the start of this unit is truly impressive.

• Looking Ahead: Our next unit will focus on Persuasive Writing. Based on our classroom discussions, I have a feeling we have some very natural debaters in this group!

• Author Spotlight: Last week, our read-alouds focused on Doreen Cronin. We read favorites like Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Diary of a Worm, and M.O.M. (Mom Of Marvels).

  Note for Moms: I highly recommend revisiting M.O.M. with your whole family—it was a big hit in class!

Science & Exploration

We are continuing our deep dive into Habitats with our guest, Luke.

• Field Notes: Students have chosen an animal local to our area and began taking notes on their

•  specific habitat needs.

• Notebooking: On Thursday, students spent time recording their observations and data in their science journals.

• What’s Next: We will wrap up this unit after the holiday break. For their final assessment, students will create posters showcasing the animals and habitats found right in our own schoolyard.

Assessment & Progress

Last week, students completed several formal Language Arts and Math assessments. Many of these are repeats of tests given in the fall, allowing us to measure growth.

• 1:1 Observations: Most of these are conducted one-on-one, which allows me to see the specific strategies and approaches each student uses.

• Report Cards: These results and insights will be reflected in the report cards sent home in January.

  
  STUDENT OF THE WEEK:  This week's Student of the Week is pictured here: This person is a 2nd grader and has an October 30th birthday. He has a younger sister and two cats. His favorite color red and his favorite food is chicken cutlets. When he is older, he would like to be a professional skier. His favorite place to visit is Block Island. He loves mountain biking too.  Congratulations to this week's Student of the Week. 

NOTES:

*We will have our Secret Pal celebration on Tuesday. If you would like to send something in, please sign up here. 

*I have a doctor's appointment at 8:00 on Tuesday morning. I tried to get it switched but to no avail. I should be at school by 9:00 that morning.

*Our winter Sports Program will start the week that the students arrive back from break. I would spend some time labeling all of your child's items over the break. 

That is all for now.  I do hope you all have time to connect and enjoy your family and friends during the holiday season. I wish you all a very Happy New Year too.

Peace,

Tommy

December 12, 2025

It's often said that December marks the beginning of winter's majesty. I feel the same way about your student's learning journey! The months from December through April truly represent the heart of their academic growth for the year, and we are so excited for the wonderful learning and progress they will demonstrate in this stretch.

This week's 1st grade math class focused on reviewing addition and subtractions concepts within 10. The students also focused on 10 and some more concepts as well has using doubles facts to solve doubles plus one & minus one facts. They also played cat and mouse game that had them using quick addition facts to graph their answers and then compare their total with their partners.  Next week they will take the end of Unit 3 assessment as well as the district required Stars Math Assessment.

This week's 2nd grade math students focused on the concept of equality and deciding if equations were balanced or not. Balancing equations, is a critical step in building strong mathematical thinking. The students are moving beyond simply finding an answer to the equal sign (3=3) and gaining an understanding that it means "is the same as" or "is equivalent to." . This focus on maintaining balance and solving for a missing number (e.g., 3+ 2 = ___+1) is their first, important step into algebraic thinking and is essential for success in future math concepts.

This week's science focus continued to ask the students to think about habitats with a specific focus on our school area.  Today Luke brought in the photos from our game cameras and the students were amazed by what they saw. Luke also shared some photos from around the valley. So yea, the camera did pick up a bear but it was not in the woods by our school. Please don't believe any bear wrestling stories that may come from this!

SECRET PALS: Over the years I have done several versions of Secret Pals in my classroom. This year, I am going to try a different approach. Eileen and I will be each kids secret pal (but it won't be a secret). Starting 12/19/25, the students will have three days of items from their Secret Pals. On the 1st day, each student will receive a card from Eileen and I. On 12/22, the students will receive a Secret Pal snack from us, and on 12/23 they will receive a little gift from us. I am very excited to do this and it will be a fun way to celebrate our "classroom team" and all they have done in the first 75 days of school. 

December 23rd also marks Sloane's last day until the spring. We will have a little celebration for our Secret Pal event as well as saying goodbye for now to Sloane. If you would like to contribute anything to that celebration, please sign up here (food, drinks, cups, plates).  

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:  This week's Student of the Week is pictured here. This student is a 1st grader and has an older sister in 7th grade. He also lives with his mom and dad. His birthday is November 27, and his favorite color is blue. He LOVES cotton candy. He loves building with Legos and likes to share his creations during share time. He likes to visit the ocean and see fish. 

READ-A-LOUDS: I continue to focus on books from our classroom library. Our classroom library is both leveled and divided up by authors and or topics/subjects/categories. This week I focused on award winning books. These were all fabulous reads and the students really seemed to enjoy them. Here are the books from this week.

Monday: The Stray Dog

Tuesday: King Bidgood's in the Bathtub

Wednesday: Olivia

Thursday: What Do You Do With an Idea?

Friday: What Do With A Tail Like This?

NOTES:

*We are wrapping up a lot of academic work as we near report card time. This is a time to stop and measure growth from the start of the year. I am really excited to see the results of everything.  

*PE classes our Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Kai continues to ask that kids have sneakers for her classes. 

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great weekend.  My youngest daughter comes home tonight for the semester break and my Varsity team has their 1st game. Needless to say I am excited for the weekend too.

Peace,

Mr. Young

December 7, 2025

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:

The Biggest Snowman

Sneezy the Snowman

The Giving Snowman

How to Catch a Snowman

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!

That is all for now.  Have a great week.

Peace,

Mr. Young