January 30, 2026

 I hope you have all had a great week. There is a thought (in education) that momentum is an important factor when teaching kids. January's weather and holidays have certainly put that thought to the test. I am looking forward to moving on to February and hopefully what will lead to three solid weeks of learning before our winter break.

Step right up! Our classroom has officially transformed into a center of wonder as we begin our immersive unit on the circus. This curriculum, which I developed over the summer, serves as the foundation for our upcoming Artist in Residence program with Troy Wunderle. We kicked off the unit by exploring the historical and cultural significance of the circus "coming to town," using a blend of engaging read-alouds and informational media to build a shared knowledge base. To document their journey, students are maintaining "Circus Journals" to capture new facts and personal reflections. This week, we tapped into our artistic side by analyzing vintage circus posters and designing our own advertisements for our February performance. The energy in the room is electric—further amplified by having Mr. Hubbard’s class join us for these collaborative lessons—and we can’t wait to share the students' hard work with you during our open house on performance night! If you would like to learn more about Troy, check out his website here.

This week, our math classes focused on building a strong visual and conceptual understanding of number relationships. The first graders dove into the world of relative magnitude, using 0–100 number lines to visualize how numbers relate to one another; they practiced identifying that numbers to the right represent "more," while those to the left represent "fewer," helping them grasp the physical distance between values like 20 and 80. Simultaneously, they sharpened their skip-counting skills by 5s and 10s to navigate these larger scales with ease. Meanwhile, the second graders expanded their fractional thinking by exploring the concepts of halves and wholes. They moved beyond simple identification to analyze relative size, determining whether specific numbers were "more than" or "less than" half of a given total, which strengthens their foundational number sense for more complex operations ahead.

This week's read a loud's focused on the author Audrey Wood. We did get to the stories Piggies and the Napping House. Unfortunately we lost two of our read a loud times to weather and one to the time constraints with the winter program. If you would like to listen to the other books (that we didn't get to) please check out the list below and the links.  These books are also available in our classroom library. 

Quick As A Cricket

Silly Sally

Little Penguin's Tale

This week's writing focus led us to our 2nd lesson in our persuasive writing unit.  All of the January events (mentioned at the start) had caused us to miss a chunk of writing time. It was great to get back into it.  The kids picked up with their favorite toy discussion and chipped away at trying to convince me why. We will use these as anchor pieces as we elaborate and expand our learning and work.  

NOTES:

*Your child does have their Weekly News Journal in their homework bag. Please take a look at it and talk with your child about their entry. 

*We will have the winter sports program this Wednesday. Please make sure your child has all of their gear. This group has been exceptional at getting ready and helping each other. It might be my most efficient group ever!

*The kindergarten class is collecting paper towel and toilet paper tubes. Please send them in if you gather any over the next two weeks.  

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great weekend. Please stay warm and enjoy the snow.  

Peace, 

Mr. Young