November 23, 2025

I can hardly believe that we have already reached the end of November! As this time of year encourages us to pause, reflect, and give thanks, I wanted to share my sincere gratitude. I am truly fortunate to come to school each day doing exactly what I love to do, and that is entirely thanks to this wonderful bunch of young learners. Our classroom is certainly a fun, engaging, and inspiring place to be, and I want to thank you for raising such amazing children. We got a quick class photo before we left for the day on Friday. We were missing one student and have yet to capture a photo with every student (in our current class).

This week, we focused on the important concepts of gratitude and thankfulness. After hearing a wonderful story that inspired reflection, the students took the time to self-reflect and write individual letters expressing what they are most grateful for. These special letters were sent home on Friday in a large envelope. Please encourage your child to read their heartfelt message aloud during your Thanksgiving celebration—it is a beautiful reminder of all the blessings we share!We had a very successful conclusion to our Financial Literacy unit this week, with students completing their final assessment and celebrating their learning with our fun classroom Movie Night! It was wonderful to see so many of you express your excitement for the event. Furthermore, I sincerely appreciate all the notes and feedback many of you shared about what your child was discussing at home regarding this unit—it is always rewarding to hear about that real-world connection!

Looking ahead, we are excited to dive into our next unit, which will focus on Life Science: The Needs of Plants and Animals. We are delighted that Luke Foley from Friends of the Mad River will be joining us to enrich our lessons! The final assessment for this unit will involve students creating a detailed habitat poster of the woods and river area right behind our school. Since we will be taking our learning outside for many of these engaging lessons, please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather each day.

This past week, we finished our super-fun journey with books by Oge Mora, and we wrapped up the Global Read Aloud! Mr. Mongeon read us a great story called More or Less about a child whose house had too much stuff, and how giving things away made everyone feel happy! It sparked an idea: What could we give away? The students thought of an item they could donate to a big community swap. They used cool collage techniques, just like Oge Mora uses in her pictures, to create their own artwork! If you want to see all the great work we did over the last six weeks, please stop by our classroom library! Everything is on display for you to enjoy until the end of February.

This week, the 1st grade students significantly strengthened their mental math toolkit by working on the use of the "Near Doubles" strategy. This technique uses their existing knowledge of doubles facts (like 5 + 5 = 10) to quickly solve doubles plus one or doubles minus one facts (like 5 + 6 or 6 + 5). For example, to solve 6 + 7, they can use the doubles plus one strategy: double the smaller number (6 + 6 = 12) and add one, resulting in 13. They put their new skills to the test on Friday with an exciting speed game called "Boom Blocks," and it was fantastic to see how quickly their fact fluency is growing!

The 2nd graders played SKUNK. Mr. Hubbard has a day before vacation tradition of playing this game. This popular probability dice game is played over five rounds, and challenges students to practice quick addition and strategic risk assessment. Players roll two dice to add to their score, but must decide when to "sit" and lock in their points. A roll of a single 1 will cancel the score for that round, and rolling double ones means losing all points accumulated throughout the game—making it an exciting, high-stakes way to practice number sense! Congratulations to Emma as she won the whole thing on Friday! I hope she and her parents cherish the blue cereal bowl that Mr. Hubbard sent home as a trophy (winner's cup). 

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:  This week's Student of the Week is this smiley young kid. She is a 1st grader and celebrates her birthday on the 11th of April. When she can, she loves eating her favorite food CANDY! She lives with her mom and dad and has a pet or two as well (I can't tell the exact amount from the picture, one might be a stuffy). She likes to travel on airplanes and her favorite color is purple. Congratulations to this week's Student of the Week.

NOTES:

*As a reminder, I do need every student to have a change of shoes each day (meaning they can;t wear their boots all day). Even with a lack of snow, the mud that comes in on their boots can create quite a mess not he carpets. Students are welcomed to leave a pair for shoes at school.

*Our PE days are Wednesday and Thursday. Kai would like to remind all of you that the students do need sneakers these days.

*We will have a very quick stretch in December and the 3 weeks will have a lot of finalities (with curriculum and assessments) as we get ready for report cards in January. I asked that you do your best to make sure your child is in school as much as possible during this stretch. I thank you in advance for your help with this.

That is all for now.  I do hope you all have a heartwarming Thanksgiving with those you gather with and those who you think of in celebration.  

Peace,

Tommy

November 16, 2025

I am sorry to just be getting to this now (10:00 pm on Sunday night) but it was a very busy week and weekend and I used today to get our house ready for winter, watching football, and relaxing. I am the chair of the Harwood Hall of Fame Committee and we had our annual induction ceremony, at the Round Barn, on Saturday evening. 

I want to start by thanking all of you who were able to volunteer (in some way) for the Ski & Skate Sale. The event was a huge success and was very efficient and well run. I would like to give a special shout out to these people: Aliison Wertgen, Becca Newhall, Eben Goodman, Susie Goodman, Eileen Turner, Elissa Meier, Lynn Noble, Kelly Schavone, Sophie Tretiak, Luke Foley, Stephanie Hartnett, & Sarah Lusso. They all went above and beyond and their hard work and generous donation of time, allowed for the event to run as smoothly as it did and be successful as it was. If you see any of them, please give them a "shout-out."  

Each morning we have our Morning Meeting. I find this time to be an amazing way to start the day and it allows everyone to connect, to greet each other, share and participate in an activity. It's a great way to build a classroom community, discuss things that come up, and build relationships. This week's greetings were: Color Greeting, High FIve, Knuckle Bump, and Handshake. Our activities were The Tuesday Song, Koseeki, 4 Corners, and Silent Dodgeball (a favorite and tradition). Ask your child to share their thoughts on our Morning Meetings.  

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: This week's Student of the Week is pictured here. This super start is in 1st grade and is 6 years old. Her favorite food is cotton candy and her favorite color is turquoise.  She loves to color and visit the ocean. She has 5 people in her family and two of them are her siblings (I have taught all of them).  Last week she was recognized at our all School assembly for beating acknowledges for being so respectful (part of our Waitsfield expectations). Congratulations to this week's Student of the Week.

This past week we finished our Financial Literacy Unit and the students took the assessment on Thursday and Friday. As a reminder, our "Movie Night" is on Wednesday of this week. It looks like everyone will earn the $17 needed for a ticket. I have a meeting at Harwood right after the event. Please pick your child up between 4:45-5:00 so that I can scoot over to Harwood and not be late.  On Friday, the students choose the movie for the event, unfortunately the title expired on Prime (over the weekend) so we will re-vote on Monday.  The students did a great job with this unit and I think they had a lot of fun with it too.  

NOTES: 

*As a reminder, your child does need boots, snow pants, coats, a hat, and gloves/mittens for recess time.

*The book order due date is 11/22/25. In order to order, use this information: Shop our class page: https://orders.scholastic.com/K3277 Class code: K3277. This will be the last order until May. 

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great week and that we don't have a delay or snow day tomorrow!

Peace,

Mr. Young

November 7, 2025

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." These words have been finding space in my thoughts and my work with your children. Every student has their own hurdles as they navigate their own journeys. Some of these hurdles are in plain sight and some of them are not as obvious. Your child may have talked to you about hurdles they see their peers working to jump over. Sometimes it takes a team to help a person clear these obstacles. This week the whole class helped a peer clear a hurdle and  the team worked together to allow for this success.  The kindness, empathy, and genuine care that has been present is absolutely amazing and a huge reason for success that happened this week. Give your child an extra hug and congratulate them on working as a team and supporting a friend. In celebration of this success the class has requested a little celebration. We will do this on Tuesday afternoon after art class.  

Global Read-A-Loud:

We entered our 5th Week of the Global Read-A-Loud and Mr. Mongeon came in and read us the book Everybody in the Red Brick Building. Everybody in the Red Brick Building is a cumulative picture book by Anne Wynter and Oge Mora about a chain reaction of nighttime noises in an apartment building that ultimately leads everyone back to sleep. It begins with a crying baby, which wakes a parrot, then flashlight-tagging kids, a cat, and a car alarm, creating a cacophony before calming down to the sounds of the city and familiar lullabies, like a mother's heartbeat. 

After the reading, the students created their own reactions to a loud awakening as they drew what would happen in each building window and then wrote about the events. The students will finish these on Tuesday.

This week's writing focus has been on how to end a small moment story. I talked with the students about going into detail about the very next thing that happened in their story. I am pushing them away from endings like, "then we went home." We also focused on nouns and adjectives and have challenged them to include this in their writing (especially the 2nd graders). For 1st graders, this was the first time we talked about this and it will take many more opportunities to gain a sound understanding of this.  

In math the 1st graders played a variety of games that focused on counting on and counting back in addition and subtraction situations. The counting on strategy was review of a taught concept. 
First graders should learn to count back in subtraction because it builds number sense, helps them understand subtraction as a process of taking away or finding the distance between numbers, provides a foundational strategy for solving problems, encourages flexible thinking, and prepares them for more advanced math concepts by developing crucial cognitive skills like memory and concentration.

Key Benefits of Counting Back:

• Deepens Understanding of Subtraction: It visually and mentally represents "taking away" a quantity, linking it to the concept of a smaller number remaining from a larger one.
• Develops Number Sense: Students see the relationship between numbers and the sequence of counting, which is a foundational math skill.
• Builds Mental Math Skills: It's an efficient strategy for smaller subtractions, reducing reliance on objects and fostering quick fact recall.
• Connects to Addition: It helps students understand subtraction as the inverse of addition, recognizing that if you count back from 8 to 3, the number of "steps" is 5, which is the answer to 8 - 3.

The 2nd graders worked on measuring with different sized non standard units of measure. 
Second graders learn to measure with different sized non-standard units to build foundational measurement concepts, understand the need for consistency, develop estimation skills, and prepare for standard measurement by recognizing that different-sized units yield different results for the same object. This hands-on approach makes math engaging, boosts confidence, and highlights the importance of universal measurement systems.

Here's Why It's Important:

• Focus on the Concept of Unit: Using everyday items like blocks or paper clips helps students focus on the process of measuring (comparing a unit to an object) without the distraction of complex standard units.
• Develop Estimation Skills: Non-standard units allow for creative exploration and estimation of length, width, and height.
• Build Confidence: Fun, hands-on activities with familiar objects increase engagement and build confidence in measurement skills.
• Prepare for Standard Units: The experience provides a clear rationale for standard units (like inches and centimeters), making their introduction more meaningful and less abstract.
• Non-standard units provide a concrete, relatable first step for children to grasp the core principles of measurement before moving on to the more abstract concept of standard units like rulers and tape measures.

We are quickly wrapping up our Financial Literacy Unit. Several students have already saved up enough money to purchase their movie ticket. Many more will hit the $17 target next week. Some kids have now started spending their extra money on other options. I did make a mistake with the date of the event (the movie ticket has the wrong date). We will have this event right after school on Wednesday, November 19th. The students will just stay after school and will need to be picked up at 5:00. I will set up the classroom like a theater. If a kid doesn't save enough or spends their money on other things, they will not be able to attend the movie.  This is part of the teaching concept for this unit of study.  

Student of the Week: 

This week's Student of the Week is a first grader and is 6 years old. She is part of a family of 4 and really loves her mom and dad! She wants to be an artist when she grows up.  her favorite place to go is the ocean and she loves to ride her bike.  Her favorite food is Ramen and her favorite color is turquoise.  Congratulations to this Week's Student of the Week!

This Week's Read-A-Louds:

This week's books focused on the belief in one's self and more strategies to self regulate ourselves. There was also a book about respecting one's space and body. Click the links to hear each book.

My Breath Loves Me

I Am Enough!

I walk With Vanessa

Don't Hug the Quakka

There's Only One You

NOTES:

*I am really pushing kids to find time to read a book, be read to, or read a book together each night. It would be great to set up some kind of consistent routine with your child. They do bring home a book every Monday-Thursday.

*Students need a coat for recess time and should start bringing in boots to wear at recess time (if it is muddy or snowy). It really helps keep the dirt out for the classroom and to also keep the carpet dry. Kids can leave a pair of boots or sneakers in the room.  I did have everyone bring home their cubbie items today as Austin is going to clean our carpet and cubbie area over the break. 

*I have set up another book order that will allow the books to arrive before the December break. The book flyers will go home on Monday. Here is the information:

Order due date: 11/22/25

Shop our class page: https://orders.scholastic.com/K3277

Class code: K3277

I hope you all have a great weekend. Go STEELERS!

Peace,
Tommy

November 2, 2025

Good evening. I want to apologize for only getting the blog post out this evening. This past week was a bit funky because of some special events that came up during the week that changed our schedule a bit and because we had our first round of sickness with the class.  This led me to have to play catch up with kids all week to make up instruction and get everyone in the same place heading into this week. I had to use some of my prep time for meetings and this led to me having less time to get a post done before now. This post will be a bit shorter then usual but I thank you for your understanding in advance.

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:  This week's Student of the Week is pictured here.  This fine young boy is a 1st grader and has three other people in his family.  He is 6 years old and has an April birthday. His favorite food is Sushi and he likes to go out to dinner with his family. When he grows up he wants to be a scuba diver. His favorite color is green and his favorite activity is soccer. He also likes to travel with his family.

PUMPKIN CARVING: This past Wednesday, Mrs. Smith's 5th & 6th grade classroom (our buddy class) joined us for some pumpkin carving. These were the pumpkins that were displayed on the Loop Road during Halloween. Each kid partnered up with an older student and created a carving of their own. Mrs. Smith even roasted the seeds for the kids (they enjoyed them on Friday).  We will do several activities with our buddy classroom throughout the year.  

AUTHOR VISIT: This past week Brian Wray visited our classroom.  He is a children's book author and also owner of our local children's bookstore. He read his book Traveling Rose to the class and then introduced the group to the main character (via a puppet). Brian then led the class in a project that taught them how to illustrate characters from book. The kids really enjoyed the visit and meeting a real author. 

NOTES:

*Thank you all for volunteering for the Ski and Skate Sale. There was a great uptick in sign ups this past week. I appreciate all of those who could give time to the event.

*Parent Conferences are fast approaching (November 12th & 13th). So far I have 12 of the 16 families signed up. Please use this link to sign up for a conference time. 

That is all for now. I hope you all had a great weekend and survived the Halloween events.

Peace,

Mr. Young 

October 24, 2025

 “One friend, one person who is truly understanding, who takes the trouble to listen to us as we consider a problem, can change our whole outlook on the world.” – E. H. Mayoli

While this quote might seem a little deep for our 1st and 2nd graders, it perfectly captures the incredible spirit I've witnessed over the past few weeks.

For the last two weeks, our read-aloud selections have focused on important social and emotional learning topics. These books have opened up wonderful discussions about the hurdles kids face, the feelings they have, and the behaviors they display.

But the true power lies in the actions the students are choosing on their own.

Every classroom is filled with children dealing with their own challenges, and to watch the way our students are helping each other through these is truly inspiring. Just this week, I saw a student walk over, bend down, and quietly whisper in a classmate's ear, which instantly helped that child "reset." It simply made me smile.

I am so impressed with how well our class is taking care of each other and demonstrating such wonderful empathy and support.

This week's read-a-loud titles were as follows:

Stay Cool at School: The main learning goal of this book is to teach children self-management skills, specifically focusing on identifying, expressing, and coping with big emotions in a healthy way. The book uses a story format with characters Jumpy and Sunny to help students learn to:

• Recognize and name a variety of feelings they experience throughout the school day (e.g., worried, angry, excited).
• Practice self-soothing techniques and coping skills to manage their emotions.
• Become mindful of their emotional state to promote a calmer learning environment.

In essence, it aims to empower children with the tools they need for emotional regulation and self-control.

I Have Ants in My Pants (no link available): This is a story about a young boy named Louis who struggles constantly with an uncontrollable urge to wiggle, fidget, and move. He is a good kid, but he just can't sit still—he wiggles in his seat at the movie theater, can't stand still in line, and accidentally bumps or kicks others during quiet activities like story time. Because of his constant restlessness, people around him frequently tell him he "has ants in his pants. "With a little practice, Louis learns that he can successfully calm his body and sit still when needed, making both him and the people around him much happier. The book normalizes restlessness and provides children with actionable strategies for self-control and impulse management.

What Were You Thinking: The story focuses on Braden, a humorous third-grader who loves being the center of attention. Braden frequently runs into trouble because he acts on his first impulse: he cracks ill-timed jokes in class, shouts out answers, or reacts impulsively during games, often resulting in hurt feelings or consequences. When his teachers and parents repeatedly ask, "What were you thinking?", they realize the answer is often, "He wasn't thinking at all!"

The adults in Braden's life step in and teach him a practical, four-step strategy to control his impulses and make better choices:

• Stop: Take a breath and pause.
• Think: Consider the different choices you could make.
• Decide: Choose the best option.
• Choose the Right Behavior: Act on the plan.

Through practicing these steps, Braden learns that a brief moment of thought can prevent larger problems and help him achieve his goal of being funny and well-liked without causing disruption or hurting others. The book empowers children to take control of their reactions and focus on positive long-term outcomes.

My Tiny Temper: This story helps children understand their anger by externalizing it as a "Tiny Temper" monster that grows bigger every time they feel frustrated or hear the word "No." The key lesson is that while it's normal to feel angry, children need tools to keep their temper from becoming overwhelming. The book teaches a simple strategy: to stop, take a deep breath, and have a "tiny chat" with their feelings to keep their temper small and manageable. We encourage you to reinforce this stopping and breathing technique at home to help your child manage big emotions.

The Boy With Big, Big Feelings: This story introduces a boy whose emotions—from intense joy to deep sadness—are so powerful they feel visible. When he notices his feelings making him different, he tries to hide and stuff them down, fearing he'll be judged. The powerful message of the book is that he realizes, through connecting with a friend who feels just as deeply, that his big feelings are a strength and a gift, not a flaw. It teaches all children that it's okay to experience and express the full range of their emotions, and that sharing them is the key to genuine connection and friendship.

Student of the Week:  This week's Student of the Week is pictured here. She is a 2nd grader in our classroom and has an older brother at our school too. Her favorite food is Watermelon. Her favorite color is yellow. She loves to do gymnastics and she wants to be a gymnast when she grows up. The thing she loves best about school is recess! Congratulations to this week's Student of the week. 

Global Read A Loud:  On Monday, I read the story I'm From. This is the third title for this year's Global Read A Loud. This book follows a young Black boy through the small, defining moments of an ordinary day, from waking up to bedtime. Using the phrase "I come from," the lyrical text explores his identity not just through a geographical place, but through the rich details of his daily life: family, food, community, school bus rides, games, and cultural pride. It also addresses the isolating experience of facing racial microaggressions, such as being asked, "Where are you from?" The book ultimately becomes a powerful and affirming celebration of self-awareness, belonging, and the sense of home found in family and heritage. After we discussed the book, the students made their own "I'm From" posters using construction paper and special construction paper crayons. It was great to see how each kid identified what was important to them and what defined who they are. 

The Rest of the Week's Academics: 

• In writing, the students continued writing personal narratives. I continued to focus on keeping the story about a specific moment and exploding that moment with their writing. I also led a mini-lesson on spelling and reminding kids how to stretch out the word and wrote the sounds they hear. 
• Our financial literacy learning had the class finishing up their work with the book Spend It! The class completed an activity that had them think of two items they would like to buy but then realized they only had enough for one of the items. They then were forced to solve the problem with the idea that they would have to make a decision. 
• Math class had first graders focusing on dominoes and having the ability to identify the fact family for each domino. A domino fact family is where students use the dots on a domino to create a set of related addition and subtraction equations (or multiplication and division equations). For example, a domino with 2 dots on one side and 4 on the other creates the fact family 2+4=6, 4+2=6, 6-2=4, & 6-4=2. The 2nd graders finished up their work with Unit 1 and spent the latter part of the week counting and organizing larger groups of items. 

NOTES:

*Please make sure your child has sneakers on gym days (Wednesdays & Thursdays). Kai really appreciates your help with this.

*Some of the kids have asked about another book order. I will send one out in November with the goal of having them delivered prior to the December break. More information will be shared when the order forms are sent home. 

*We had a new student join our class on Tuesday. This child (seen here) is a wonderful young lady and has immediately jumped right in to our routines and has already connected with some of her classmates. She has a twin in Mr. Hubbard's classroom and an older sibling in 4th grade. I want to welcome her to our school and community. 

*We will have a bus evacuation drill on 

. This is required (by our bus company) and the kids will learn what to do if the bus ever broke down or a situation arrived where they had to get off the bus). I have seen many classes do this over the years and it is always handled with ease by the students. 

*Picture retakes will be on Wednesday.  We will also be carving pumpkins with Mrs. Smith's class at the end of the day (On Wednesday). 

That is all for now. I hope you all have a great weekend. I am currently in Rochester, NY visiting my daughter. I have to laugh because she is already asleep and her "old man" is still up at 12:00 am getting this post done. It is good to know that I can still outlast a 24 year old!

We have a glasses club in our room!

Peace,

Mr. Young

October 17, 2025

This past Wednesday, I had a wonderful time introducing the class to essential life skills using the brilliant picture book: Spend It! (A Money Bunny Book) by Cinders McLeod. This charming story was a perfect way to continue our classroom discussion on financial literacy!

We met Sonny the Money Bunny, who received a weekly allowance of a modest three carrots. Like many of us, he wanted everything! His wish list included a cool toy rocket, a bouncy pogo stick, and a massive bouncy castle!

Sonny quickly learned a valuable lesson: three carrots didn't go very far, especially when that bouncy castle cost a whopping one hundred carrots! With a little help from his mom, Sonny discovered he had to make some tough choices about what to spend his allowance on.

He paused, thought things through (and did some bunny-math!), and ultimately decided on the pogo stick. He realized that being a smart spender meant figuring out what was truly valuable to him.

We used Sonny's story as a fun, effective lesson in money management. Here's what we focused on:

1. Wants vs. Needs & Prioritizing
The main concept we discussed was that you can't buy everything! Sonny's journey perfectly illustrated the difference between wants and the need for prioritizing purchases. We talked about having a limited budget.

2. Impulse Control 
The book gently addressed the natural urge for impulse buying and encouraged a more rational approach to spending. We asked students what they might have bought immediately and what they might have chosen after thinking about it.

3. Early Math and Value 
Using "carrots" as currency helped keep the concepts simple. The varying prices of the items naturally introduced ideas of value and basic math, showing that bigger items cost more.

During our lesson, we used Sonny's adventures as a springboard for discussions: "What would you have bought with three carrots?" and "Which items were your biggest priorities?" It was a great start to talking about saving, spending, and sharing! Ask your child what they remember about Sonny and his carrots! 

Global Read-A-Loud

This Week's Global Read-A-Loud book was Saturday by Oge Mora. This is a heartwarming picture book about a mother and daughter whose carefully planned special day together goes completely wrong, ultimately revealing the true source of their joy. Ava and her mother eagerly look forward to Saturdays, as it is the only day her mother doesn't work. They have a splendid routine planned: story time at the library, a new hairdo at the salon, and a special, one-night-only puppet show. However, this particular Saturday is one mishap after another:

• They arrive at the library only to find story time is canceled.
• On their way to the salon, a passing car splashes a puddle and ruins their freshly done hair.
• Their planned picnic in the park is spoiled by loud, noisy crowds.
• Finally, after rushing to catch the bus to the puppet show, they discover Mom forgot the tickets at home.  

Mom is distraught, feeling she has "ruined Saturday." But Ava, who has been resilient through all the setbacks, reminds her mother of the simple truth: "Saturdays are wonderful... because I spend them with you." Inspired by Ava's perspective, they head home and, instead of letting the disappointment win, they kick off their shoes and create their own special puppet show together, turning their ruined plans into a new, cherished memory.

The story highlights the themes of resilience, flexible thinking, and the priceless value of spending quality time with loved ones over perfect plans.

Math

This week the 1st grade math students were all about the dominoes. Using dominoes to teach the counting on addition strategy is highly effective because they are a concrete, tactile, and visually partitioned manipulative that reinforces core mathematical principles.

1. Visual Partitioning Reinforces the Strategy

The physical design of a domino directly supports the "counting on" concept:

Clear Distinction: The line in the center of the domino naturally separates the two addends, or parts of the whole. This allows the child to easily identify which side is the "starting number" (the larger group) and which side contains the dots they will "count on" (the smaller group).

Encourages Efficiency: The child is visually prompted to start with the group that has more dots, and then simply use the dots on the second, smaller side for the remaining count. This avoids the time-consuming and often confusing process of counting all the dots from one.

2. Supports Core Number Sense
Dominoes help bridge the gap between concrete objects and abstract numbers:

Subitizing: The patterned arrangement of dots (pips) on a domino helps children practice subitizing—instantly recognizing the quantity of a small group without having to count. When they see a side with 5 dots, they immediately know it's "5," which speeds up the counting on process (say "5," then count the rest).
The Commutative Property: When a domino is flipped (e.g., from a 2∣5 to a 5∣2), the total remains the same (7). This provides a concrete, self-correcting way to teach the Commutative Property of Addition (a+b=b+a). This principle is fundamental to the counting on strategy, as it assures the child that it’s always easier and correct to start with the larger number.

3. Tactile and Engaging Learning
Dominoes turn math practice into an enjoyable, hands-on experience:

Manipulative: The chunky, tactile nature of dominoes allows children to physically touch the dots as they count, which utilizes kinesthetic learning and strengthens memory retention.

Game-Based Learning: Dominoes are widely recognized as a game, which makes the activity fun and reduces the anxiety associated with formal math instruction. This increases engagement and the willingness to practice the "counting on" strategy repeatedly.This week's narrative unit focused on the crucial writing habit of revision and elaboration. The primary teaching point is to shift the students' mindset from simply completing a task to actively improving their work. The main goal of this lesson is to teach students that writers don't stop after the first draft. They must look back at their writing to see where they can add more detail to make their stories clearer and more compelling for the reader.

The second graders completed their Unit 1 assessment. The majority of their focus was on finding complements of 20. Knowing the complements of 20 (pairs of numbers that add up to 20, like $12+8$ or $15+5$) is crucial for young math students because it significantly boosts their number sense and arithmetic fluency.

Key Benefits for Math Students

• Builds Mental Math Fluency: It allows students to perform addition and subtraction problems within 20 faster and without relying on counting (e.g., they know $20 - 7 = 13$ because $7$ and $13$ are complements). This skill serves as a foundation for solving larger problems.
• Strengthens Number Sense: The number 20 acts as an important benchmark, often visualized using a double ten-frame , which reinforces the organization of numbers and begins to establish early place value concepts (the '2' in 20).
• Supports Subtraction: Students learn to view subtraction as finding the missing part of 20, cementing the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction (fact families).
• Extends Key Strategies: It's a natural progression from the vital "make a ten" strategy, allowing students to efficiently use grouping to solve more complex calculations.

Writing

The main goal of this week's instruction was to teach students that writers don't stop after the first draft.They must look back at their writing to see where they can add more detail to make their stories clearer and more compelling for the reader. 
The focus equips students with a concrete revision strategy: to re-read their work and ask questions about the events in their pictures and text. This week's lessons were vital for establishing the expectation of elaboration—stretching out a single small moment across multiple pages rather than simply listing many large events.

STUDENT OF THE WEEK

This week's Student of the week is pictured here. This person is a 2nd grader and loves being a leader in the classroom. His favorite food is sushi and his favorite color red. He wants to be a heavy metal singer when he gets older. His favorite thing to do is to sing as well and he also likes to play with his friends. His favorite part of school is "being with Mr. Young." Congratultions to this week's Student of the Week. 

This week's Read-A-Louds were (they are once again linked):

*What Does It Mean to Be Present?

*I am Peace, A Book of Mindfulness

*My Magic Breath

*Belly Breathing

This week's books focused on how to calm yourself using a variety of techniques. It is important to teach the students how to self regulate and let them know that we all have moments that requires us to use a technique to help calm our bodies and minds. 

NOTES:

*As the weather turns please make sure your child has appropriate clothing and boots for mud and snow. Your child is welcomed to leave a pair of shoes at school if they wish to. Just let them know and have them tell me. 

*I will be out of school on Tuesday and Friday of next week. I have a longer eye appointment on Tuesday and I am taking a personal day on Friday. My wife and I are going to go visit my oldest daughter. She chose to live 6 hours away so we like to spend a full day there and have two half days of driving. Once basketball season starts, I can't get out to see her, so this is a great time for me to go.  

*Your child has their homework bag with a book and their Weekly News Journal in it. Please take time to read it with them and initial it after reading.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Peace,

Tommy