August 28, 2017

Please Read This Entire Post, There Is Important Information

Good Evening,

  Well . . .We are off and running.  We had a great 1st day of school.  The morning started off with a whole school assembly.  Our featured singer was Sarah Reid.  She was a 2nd grader in my 1st ever class at the Waitsfield School.  It was great to have her kick off our start with some music.

  Once we got into the classroom, we quickly established the use of a rainstick as a means to get the whole class' attention.  You should ask your child what it means when Mr. Young says direction time. They are very fast learners and I think they like the sound of the rainstick.

  We read two different stories today.  The first book we read was You're Finally Here by Naomi Watt.  This book had a very impatient rabbit complaining that it had been waiting for us for quite a while.  After reading the book we talked about the rabbit's feelings and then turned the discussion toward our own feelings about the 1st day of school.  Each child created a self image that illustrated the feelings they had about the 1st day.  You can find this work on the bulletin board outside our classroom door.

The 2nd book we read was First Day Jitters by Julia Danneberg.  The story describes the feelings of a person's first day of school but has a surprise ending.  This book led to a discussion of a time we were nervous or scared and ways in which we overcame those feelings. You can hear the whole story below.



POTLUCK THIS THURSDAY!
I am looking forward to the potluck on Thursday.  So far I have 8 families that have signed up.  All of the information was sent to you in the mail last week.  Here is the link to access the sign up sheet.  I hope to have every family in attendance.  Remember the 1st half hour will be a meeting for the parents (child care provided) and then we will converse and eat as a whole class.

I will make videos or attach photos of your child's week on this blog.  I will also post any important information.  Please check this every Monday and Friday.  Below is this week's video.

**For those who sent your child in with a reusable grocery/canvas bag, I appreciate it.  For those who didn't could you please do so by Wednesday.

That is all for now.  I hope you have a great week and look forward to getting to know and work with all of you throughout the year.


Peace,
Tommy

June 15, 2017

Good Evening,
  I want to thank all of you who were able to come to the celebration this morning.  I hope you all
have a great summer and thank you for a great year.

Peace,
Tommy

June 2, 2017

Good Afternoon,
  There is a lot of information in this post. Please red through it carefully.

Monday, June 5:  We will have an all school rehearsal after lunch on Monday.  This will allow the group to finalize their preparations for Monday night's concert.  The concert will be at 6:00 on Monday evening.  I ask that the kids arrive in the gym at 5:50 and join their class on the floor.  If you arrive before 6:50 please have your kids hang out with you.  This way we don;t have kids running through out the gym and school.

Tuesday, June 6:  We will be headed to Harwood around 10:30.  The kids that needed a cold lunch provided have already signed up.  Everyone else must provide their own lunch that day.  We will meet with Mr. Ibson's Freshman Global Studies class.  My class will be presenting some of their writing work form the semester.  Kasara, Barb, and I will be driving that day.  If anyone else would like to dome/drive, just let me know.  Please send in your child's booster seat on Tuesday.

Wednesday, June 7:  Our school is scheduled to go on an all school hike in the afternoon.  We will leave the school at 12:00ish and hike up and around Mad River.  Please make sure your child has appropriate hiking shoes and a water bottle.

Friday, June 9:  We will be leaving around 8:15 to visit our pen-pals in Waterbury.  We will travel to TBPS and pick them up and then head to Little River State Park and hike and eat lunch.  We will then head back to TBPS and have some ice cream with our friends and then finally head back to Waitsfield.  If your child would like a snack and lunch provided for this trip, please let them know.  I will be collecting lunch numbers on Monday (during meeting).

Monday, June 12:  We will have field days from 12:00 on.  Please make sure your child wears clothing that they can run in and also get a little wet.  Sunscreen is advised.

Thursday, June 15th:  I was looking to have an evening gathering but schedules seem to be too full with kids baseball, Waitsfield graduation, and my own children's schedules.  So, I would like to invite everyone in on Thursday morning.  We will start right at 7:50 and the kids will present their writing work from the semester.  You will also take part in voting on who created the best new Pokemon card.  The whole thing should take about an hour.  Please let me know if you can't attend.

Friday, June 16th:  The last day of school.  Please remember that it is a half day.

Today will be the last day we write in our Weekly News journals.  The kids wrote about a special topic today.  Please take a minute to read their last entry.  The journals should not be returned and are yours to keep.

As you can see our schedule will change a bit over the next two weeks.  There will not be assigned reading for homework but rather books of choice during this time.

Peace,
Tommy

May 30, 2017

Good Afternoon,
  I hope you all had a pleasant long weekend.  I spent half of my time in Portsmouth, NH watching a few soccer games and the latter half of the weekend working around the house. I love doing lawn work and find it very fulfilling.

I have received payment for our field trip for 8 of the 14 students.  Please send in the $1.50 this week. It looks like we have enough driver's on the 6th of June.  We will be leaving around 10:15 and arriving back by 1:30.  Tomorrow, I will be asking kids who needs a school lunch for that day.  If your child will need one provided, please let them know.

End of year testing.  I was in the class all day today but was testing kids 1:1 in math and will do the same tomorrow for reading.  Sally Utter is also in the room with me to help the kids through the day.

Have a great week.
Peace,
Tommy

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Good Afternoon,
  Your child will be a bit excited about their homework.  They will each have a pair of paper binoculars and their science log.  They are being asked to observe the moon once over the next week. They should then draw what they saw and explain their observations. Some have asked if they can observe more than once.  I am fine with that but want you to control the number of times because they may need to stay up later than usual to do this observation (hence the ability to do it over the weekend).  I ask that you send the science journal and binoculars back by next Wednesday.

Field Trip Update:

We will be headed to TBPS on the 9th and then up to Little River State Park.  I NEED $1.50 from each kid.  It costs us $0.50 to get into the park and then I am using the other $14 to buy ice cream for the class afterwards.  Unfortunately, due to costs, the TBPS kids could not do Ben & Jerry's, so this will be a happy compromise.  Please send in the money by 6/2/17.  Checks can be made to Waitsfield Elementary School.

We will head to Harwood on June 6th.  I am still looking for 1 more driver.  Barb, Kasara, and I will drive.  Students can order a bagged lunch from our school or bring their own that day.

Have a great Wednesday afternoon.

Peace,
Tommy

Monday, May 15

Good Afternoon,

  Today we started our final opinion pieces.  The students are working on the writing portion of their Pokemon cards.  We will have an evening, in June, where all of you will be invited to explores some of your child's writing from this semester as well as vote on your favorite new Pokemon card.  More details to come on this in the coming weeks.

  This afternoon, the tooth tutor cam in to talk to our class about good practices and how to best clean your teeth.  She has been visiting all of the classrooms.

  The next few days will be quite sunny and you may want to start thinking about applying sun screen to your child in the morning.  We will be outside at various times over the last few weeks of school.

FIELD TRIPS:

*We will be headed to Harwood Union on the morning/afternoon of June 6th.  We will be working with a freshman english class as we share our writings and get editing suggestions.  I am looking for drivers to help get kids to and from on this day.

*We will be going to meet our pen pals in Waterbury on Friday, June 9th.  We will pick them up at TBPS and then head to Little River State park to hike.  We will eat lunch at the park and then head to Sunflower to get creemes.  Your child will need $1.50 for this trip.  I am looking for any and all volunteers for this.  So far I have Brynley's mom signed up to go.

Tommy

May 9, 2017

Good Afternoon,
I am sorry I didn't get a post out yesterday.  Over the last two days, the students teamed up and worked on editing their writings about the school's hat rule.  They were asked to use an anchor chart (about persuasive writing) that allowed them to check for all of the elements within their writing.  Most groups found that they were missing introductions in their pieces.  Ask your child about our "Hamburger" format in writing.

Field Trip Update:  I am working with our pen-pal teacher as we set up our final pen-pal celebration.  We are looking at June 9th.  We will go to Little River State Park and hike.  Tom and I are working out the final details.  I will get back to you with more information and cost.  Any and all chaperones would be welcomed.  Please let me know if you want to come along for the fun in the (hopefully) sun.

Yesterday we set a new record on our power walk.  The kids powered through the "snowy conditions" and were proud of their achievement.  We stopped by the VG on the way back and celebrated with a cup of hot chocolate for each kid.

I hope you have a great week.

Peace,
Tommy