October 10, 2024

I hope you all enjoyed the Open House and enjoyed the tour by your child. As you can see, they are all really excited about what they are doing in the classroom.  Thank you all for taking the time to share the evening with your child.

This week we started a project called the Global Read A Loud. The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world. From its humble beginnings, the GRA has grown to make a truly global connection with millions of students having participated.  The thought is global collaboration is necessary to show students that they are part of something bigger than them. That the world needs to be protected and that we need to care for all people. 

We kicked off this year's event by reading Let Me Finish, by Minh Li. This book is about how the simple act of finding a quiet place to finish a book can unexpectedly turn into a daunting quest. Desperate for solitude, the boy in this story is continually interrupted by characters who just can't resist sharing their love for the same book he's reading. After reading the book, the kids each made a pair of special reading glasses (hence the pip cleaner creations) to use in their special reading spot (at home). The kids each created their own illustration of them in this spot.  They used three different means to create these small posters and they will be completed and hung up next week. If you would like to have the story read to you and your child, click here.  Eric and I will continue with the Global Read A Loud over the next few weeks.  Each week will present a new book and a project to reinforce the message from the story.

We also started our final coding project on Wednesday. The students are demonstrating mastery of the concepts by creating a task that incorporates the skills they were taught.  They each have a checklist that Willa also be used to give them a score for the report card.  We should have these done by next week.  Our next science unit will focus on the Sun, Moon, and Stars. 

NOTES:

*As a reminder, we will not have school tomorrow or Monday. 

*As the weather changes kids will start wearing coats, hats, mittens, etc., please save yourself some money and frustration and put your child's name in everything. I do check the cubbies each day (to make sure they are empty) but kids leave things in all areas of the school.

*I hope everyone (that could attend) had a great time with the Fairy House building. I have included some pictures below from the event.

*If you haven't signed up to help with the ski and skate sale, please use this link to do so. I am hoping my classroom has the highest percentage of volunteers. 

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

Peace,

Mr. Young

October 4, 2024

Happy Friday Folks! I hope you have all had a great week. We have had a great week and the kids have very busy with a multitude of projects. This month in first grade math, the students will focus on story problems with in ten.  They will work on solving some given ones and also creating their own from a number bond (what use to be a fact family). We are working on quickly seeing an arrangement of beads and then using the structure of a ten frame to figure out the total.  The kids only get to see the beads for three seconds. We will also start focusing on complements of 10 and working towards fluency with those. Those who already have it will move onto complements of 20. 

This week's read-a-louds focused on Handling decisions when you are frustrated or you have impulses. Two of the books were What Were You Thinking by Bryan Smith and The Boy with Big, Big Feelings by Jacob Souva. Click the links to check out what happened in these books.

In writing we continued to focus on writing a paragraph response to a writing prompt.  Next week we will do three more prompts and then start our unit focusing on personal narratives. Kids that are demonstrating proficient handwriting have now moved on to keyboarding.  There are some kids that are still working on handwriting and that will continue. If a kid that has moved on doesn't continue to demonstrate neat handwriting in their work will be asked to go back to practice those skills. This is how I hold each kid accountable to do their best.  

Science has us working on creating a short story using the coding program Scratch. The kids filled out a story map to identify the beginning, middle, and end.  They then used their story map to create the story in Scratch. 

We ended today by walking our with our 5th & 6th graders to the park across from the VG. This was part of a school wide reward (earned through tickets) and they all got an ice cream or a popsicle.  It was a great way to end the week.

NOTES:

*The Fairy House building will be this Wednesday from 2:30-4:00. There is no fee, it is something that many in the class asked to do and I am happy to provide the opportunity. As of Friday morning, the following students are signed up:

Wiley McCoy

Ava Andrews

Luke Jordan

Sloane Fleckenstein

Hewitt Riegler

Nora Goodman

River Foxx

Emma Oppenheimer

If your child would like to do this, please click this link to do so.  I will provide an after school snack for them.

*Next Tuesday is Open House and it will go from 5:30-6:30. Open House is a very exciting time for your child because there is so much they want to show you about their classroom and their school. They will create a checklist of things they want to show you and they will be your tour guide. After visiting the room, make sure you find their specials teachers and stop in and say hello. 

I just completed a video training (that the state mandates) about confidentiality and the dos and don'ts of public conversations. Apparently I can get fired for speaking about your child in front of others. I like my job and don't want that to happen. So I will love to chat with each of you but can't respond to specific academic questions. We will use parent conference time for that or schedule a 1:1 meeting if needed. 

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Peace,

Mr. Young

September 28, 2024

Good Saturday Morning to each of you. This morning I find myself on the North Shore (Beverly area) for my daughter's parents' weekend. She has a busy day schedule for us, so I figured I better get this post done this morning. I am sure you all are engaged with a variety of events and activities that a fall Saturday morning brings to parents of young kids.  All I can say is enjoy the moments because it certainly does fly by quickly. 

This week had us finishing up a spelling assessment that I give three times a year.  This assessment helps me determine where I start with phonetic instruction for each of your kids. Next week will be the official start of all academic components of our daily schedule. Parent volunteers will be starting a week from Monday (10/7). If you haven't done the background check (that I explained in a previous post) please do so Monday. I will check the list on Tuesday to see who is cleared to start on the week of 10/7.  

Three Tuesdays a month, Mrs. Smith's 5/6 grade will be joining us to help out with our language arts rotations. They will join us from 1:50-2:15 to work with the kids that aren't working with me (their reading group) during this time.  Her classroom is our Buddy Classroom this year and we will connect with them in a variety of ways throughout the year.  

We continued our study of traditions and celebrations by discussing the fall foliage and all of the traditions that come with it.  I read several different picture books about the changing leaves, why they change, and what colors go with what type of tree.  The kids completed a writing prompt about why they like the fall colors and also did a multi-step art project that allowed them to paint and color their own fall tree picture. They are being displayed on a bulletin board on the hallway and also on our cabinet doors in the classroom.

In science, the kids learned how to use magnifying glasses to make observations and record "zoomed in" notes and pictures in their science notebooks. The  students also continued their work with coding. They learned how to program a character to do an action using a multi-step tool and also learned how to add voice to their characters. Mr. Mongeon has been leading these lessons and the kids have loved working on the tasks that he has created. 

I will use on of our vacant French times to do mindfulness activities with the students.  This will include how to using breathing to calm their bodies and going for walks in town.  It is great that the town has such nice sidewalks and it allows us to safely get out and enjoy some movement and fresh air. This week we walked to the covered bridge and back.  I also introduced/reviewed the use of the 5 finger breathing technique. This is a way that kids can calm their bodies by regulating their breathing. It is amazing how well this works. Here is a link that goes over the basic routine (it is a little different than ours but explains the concept). 

NOTES:

*I REALLY need everyone to set a goal of having their children at school by 7:40. The doors open at 7:25 so anytime between that and 7:40 is fantastic. I know mornings can be tricky as I have experienced them with my own two daughters. However, in some cases, you will need to adjust your morning routine by 10 minutes to make this happen. Kids who arrive later miss the opportunity for morning connections with their peers and then have to jump into Morning Meeting with our having time for snack. Please work on a family plan to make this happen. I truly appreciate this happening and the effort it takes but it is all for the best for your child's start to their school day. 

*All of the book orders have come in and they were sent home with your child on Friday. 

*I will be out of the classroom on Thursday. Now that I have turned 50, my doctor keeps letting me know about all of these "old man" things that I get to do. Thursday allows me to experience one of those procedures. I will be back on Friday.

*Many of the kids have been building fairy houses at recess.  They really want to create a bigger version and asked if I could do an after school time with them.  I will do this on Wednesday, October 9, 2024. We will go from 2:30-4:00. If you would like your child to attend, you must register them using this link. I will provide an after school snack for them. All I ask is that you arrive by 3:55 for a 4:00 pick up.  We will do this in the Gazeebo (if the weather is good) or my classroom if not. 

*This week we will have an all school assembly on Tuesday and at some point we will celebrate (as a school) our first reward for earning over 1,000 tickets as a school. 

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

Peace,

Mr. Young

September 23, 2024

 I hope you all had a great weekend. I am just getting to the blog today as I travel back to Vermont. On Friday, I flew to Pittsburgh, PA to visit my some of my siblings and to watch there athletic events over the weekend. My oldest daughter, Julianne, drove down from Rochester, NY too. On Sunday she and I were able to go to a Steelers' game (I am a huge fan!). I am flying back to Vermont tonight.

Last week we had a school pictures, a field trip, a hike, and the kids started a biking unit in PE. It was a busy week for sure. I am attaching a bunch of photos from the week.  This way you can see all of the great events from the week.

I hope you all have a great week.

Peace,

Mr. Young