March 28, 2021

A student wins big in the money game.

 Good Evening,

  I want to thank everyone for taking the time to meet about your child and attending the parent conferences.  It is always great to be able to take some time to talk about your child's growth, goals, and about what I see on a daily basis.  If you have any follow up questions, please feel free to reach out.

This week we will have our typical remote day on Wednesday and another one on Thursday.  I wanted to give you the schedules for the two days now, so that you can prepare for your week.

Wednesday:

8:00  Attendance Question

8:45  Class Meeting

11:00  Online Specials

Asynchronous Work

*Lexia/Core 5 (30 minutes)

*Zearn Math (1 lesson)

Thursday:

8:00  Attendance Question

8:45-9:15  Class Meeting

9:45- 10:30  Literacy Project

10:45  Online French

Asynchronous Work

*Lexia/Core 5 (30 minutes)

*Zearn Math (1 lesson)

Need A Babysitter or Summer Help?

Hi! My name is Abby, and as you know I have been working with your kids in my dad class all year. I have enjoyed getting to know them all very much and am hoping to start babysitting again this spring and into the summer. I would love for any of you to reach out if you would be interested in me babysitting your children. I know with COVID it can be scary welcoming strangers into your home, but I get tested every week and would be happy to follow any rules you feel need to be put in place. My rate as of right now would be $18.00 an hour, and for each additional kid it is another $1.00. I will be 16 in May and wont have my license until mid-June. My parents are very willing to drive one way and contribute to getting me to your house, but would most likely need a ride from you as well. I like to bring fun activities to the household I babysit that require minimum electronics if any. I love being outside and would be willing to do some light house work as well. If you are interested, the best way to contact me is to call or text to 802-382-7345.

That is all for now.  Have a great week.

Peace,

Mr. Young

 March 24, 2021

Good Morning,
Here is today's schedule
8:00  Attendance Question
8:45  Morning Meeting:  We will start Weekly News during this.

Asynchronous Work
*Finish Weekly News
*Core 5/Lexia (30 minutes)
*Zearn (1 full lesson)
*Attend Online Specials

The parent conferences are scheduled for Thursday March 25th and Friday March 26th.  To join your conference, please use this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9886582893.  The schedule is below:

Thursday:                         Friday:

2:30  Miles                        8:00  Brayden

2:55  Vera                          8:25  Koji (with Dad)

3:20  Berkley                    8:50  Ben

3:45  Tobin                        9:15  Quinn

4:10  Arlo                          9:40  Break

5:00  Callum                     10:05  Hunter

5:25  Sierra                       10:30  Otto

5:50  Micah                      10:55  Koji (with Mom)

6:15  Elijah                       11:20  Georgia

6:40  Kayden

I ask that kids don't attend the conferences.  I don't find Zoom conferences to be great for them.  

March 16, 2021

 Good Evening,

We enjoyed last week's sunshine with a class walk. 

 
I hope this finds you all well.  I just sent you an email with tomorrow's work load.  I need to ask that you ask your child to fill out their Weekly News entry on the blue packet provided.  There is a edit checklist that you can do with them or I will do on Thursday and Friday.  If you do it with them, just red each item, one at a time, and have your child check their work to see if they met the criteria or not.  The checklist is on the last page of the blue packet. 

The parent conferences are scheduled for Thursday March 25th and Friday March 26th.  To join your conference, please use this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9886582893.  The schedule is below:

Thursday:                         Friday:

2:30  Miles                        8:00  Brayden

2:55  Vera                          8:25  Koji (with Dad)

3:20  Berkley                    8:50  Ben

3:45  Tobin                        9:15  Quinn

4:10  Arlo                          9:40  Break

5:00  Callum                     10:05  Hunter

5:25  Sierra                       10:30  Otto

5:50  Micah                      10:55  Koji (with Mom)

6:15  Elijah                       11:20  Georgia

6:40  Kayden

I ask that kids don't attend the conferences.  I don't find Zoom conferences to be great for them.  If the weather is nice and we can be outside, I am glad to meet in person.  Just let me know by the day before your conference.  Again, this is very much weather dependent.

Today we started our tour of New Mexico.  A friend of mine out together a pretty intensive presentation of her state that she loves and we will be spending two weeks with this state.  The writing rubric for this project was changed to reflect expectations for this point in the year.  I want to also spend time with the kids helping them understand the more rigorous expectations.  

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

Peace,

Mr. Young

March 12, 2020

  Good Morning,

  I hope everyone is doing well and feeling healthy.  This weather certainly helps pump some energy into all of us and the feel of spring is quite refreshing.  I wanted to take some time to clean up a few things.  We are in the final stretch of the school year and I want to be as efficient and productive with in person and remote learning.

Homework Bags and Books:

This group is having a rather difficult time remembering to bring back their book each day.  I actually didn't send any home yesterday because so many had forgotten.  As i have mentioned, I let kids take a book each day, then next day they bring it back and then can get a new one.  This way I don't have to write each book down and it saves time so I can focus more on instruction.  If kids forget (yesterday 8 did) the system start to break down and I loose books.  So, we will start again on Monday but could I ask that you have your child check their room/house for any of my books and bring them back on Monday.

Wednesday Meetings:

I am going to ask that kids not lay in their beds during meeting.  Sibling are welcome to join meetings as long as they are sitting with their brother or sister.  Let's be honest, Zoom was not invented with the idea of teaching 6 and 7 year olds.  So, we have to set them up for as much success as we can to allow the experience to be the best that it can be.  I thank you in advance for this help and support.

This week we got back into our travels around the United States.  This week we visited the tropical paradise of Hawaii.  The talk of surfing, warm water, and coconuts certainly got me in the mood for traveling.  

Notes:

*I will not be in school on Monday.  I have to have my car serviced in Burlington and need to be there for 7:00 am.  Drea, from after school, will be the substitute and my daughter Abby will also be here.

That is all for now. Have a great weekend.

Tommy

February 12, 2021

 Good Afternoon,

Today was one of those days where kids arrive full of excitement.  Most first and second graders, the act of handing out Valentines is a very rewarding and joyful time.  They are excited about their cards, love giving things to their friends and love getting cards in return.  Thank you all for following our COVID Valentine procedures.

Our district's leaders have thought more about the food policy during COVID and have come up with the following:  Your child can bring in something for their birthday, if they wish.  The item must be individually wrapped and handed out by teacher.  They will eat it during lunch time to avoid having to take their mask off one extra time during the day.  In a time when kids can't celebrate their special day with family, it is nice that they can still do it with their friends in school.  I would like to thank Kaiya for fighting for the kids on this one.  

This week the student's heard from my friend Genein Letford.  As I mentioned on Monday, she is an author, educator, and speaker.  She talked about the hurdles she has overcome and what it took as well as the concept that we all have diamond ideas in us.  Next week we will here form a basketball coach, a coach I roomed coached with when we toured the Ukraine.  He will talk to the kids about why he coaches, what he hopes to do for kids, and what basketball has done for him.  He lives in Central Maine.

Today was the 100th day of school.  We now only have 70 days of school left.  The first graders spent math class trying to crack the code on a 100th day escape room type activity.  Eventually they were able to crack the code and find the 100th day cake.  The kids each earned an individually, prepackaged cupcake.  Needless to say they were all quite excited

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

Peace, Tommy

February 8, 2021

 Good Evening,

   I hope you all were able to enjoy your weekend.  This week we will visit the state of Illinois.  I have set up a collection of books, in Epic, that focus on this state and some of the features, history and sports teams from that state.  This week's reading focus will have one group continuing to focus on decoding long vowel sounds (with the vce spelling).  Another group will be focusing on decoding two syllable open sound words, and the final group will focus on close reading of books about mammals.  

Today the 1st grade math students continued to work on using doubles facts to solve doubles +2 facts.  An example is if a child knew 6+6 =12 then 6+8 would be 14 because it is 6+6+2.  Last week we focused on doubles +1 facts.

Virtual Wednesday:  This week we will be having a guest speaker join us on Wednesday for our meeting. This week's speaker be a friend of mine from Los Angeles.  Her name is Genein Letford (https://geneinletford.com/) and she is a friend that I met 6 or 7 years ago while working on a project in Lawrence, MA.  The two of us were guest teachers for an acceleration academy and really hit it off. My goal is to invite a variety of guest speakers, whom are people of color, to talk to the class about their jobs and the talents and special gifts that they possess.  The kids will be documenting their interactions with each guest speaker through a "Learning Log."  You will also see a bright pink packet of paper in your child's homework bag.  This is the paper they should use for their weekly news this week.

A Reading Group From Monday

NOTES:

*Please have your child charge their Chromebook each evening.

*If your child wishes to bring in Valentine's , we will be handing those Friday.  To find the guidelines for this and the class list, please read the post from last Friday.  

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

Peace,

Mr. Young

February 5th, 2021

 Good Afternoon Friends, Families, and Citizens,

  This week we visited the great state of Louisiana.  The kids have learned about Jazz, food, state facts, and have had a variety of books read to them.  Today, during library, Mr. Mongeon read a book titled Home on the Bayou. "When you take an original, lasso-throwing, boot-stomping cowboy, pack all his belongs in the car and move him from the wide open spaces of the West to swamp country, you can expect run-ins with the local alligators, a snafu or two at home, and a western-style showdown with Big Head Ed, the school bully. A cowboy of uncommon bravery discovers that with the right ingredients, home can be anywhere."  

Valentine's Day:  Several people have asked how Valentine's Day usually works in the 1st and 2nd grade.  Typically we avoid holidays but Valentine's day and the concept of showing you enjoy people seems to be a safe and important thing to focus on (especially in today's world).  So your child is allowed to being in Valentine's.  Please nothing with candy (there is a district conversation going on about candy right now).  Below is the list of names.  If you are doing Valentine's please bring one for each child.  Anything with candy, will not be allowed to be distributed.

Brayden, Otto, Tobin, Elijah, Callum, Arlo, Quinn, Koji, Hunter, Kayden, Vera, Berkley, Ben, Micah, Sierra, Georgia, and Miles.

Have a great weekend.

Peace,

Tommy