School Fall Hike Reflection
Our entire school went on a fall hike today, and the weather was absolutely spectacular. The children did a fantastic job completing their hikes and were thrilled with their accomplishments. Turning back and looking down the hill as the kids climbed up against such an incredible backdrop certainly reminded me how lucky we are to live and learn in such a wonderful place.
In 1st grade math, students completed Unit 1, Module 3 (Sessions 1, 2, and 3) of the Bridges curriculum. Our work focused on part-part-whole relationships, combinations of 10, and solving missing-addend problems using number racks, ten-frames, and coin-spinning games. These concepts are foundational for early math learning because understanding how numbers decompose and relate to one another builds mental math flexibility, moving children away from simple counting by ones toward addition and subtraction fluency.
Our 2nd graders focused on developing fluency with complements of 10 as well as doubles and near-doubles addition facts. Students used visual arrays and mental strategies to quickly recognize pairs that make 10 and leveraged known doubles (such as 6 + 6 = 12) to efficiently solve near-doubles problems (such as 6 + 7 = 13). Mastering complements of 10 and doubles provides crucial mental benchmarks, allowing students to decompose and reconstruct multi-digit numbers flexibly in higher-level mathematics.
Classroom Community: Responsive Classroom Logical Consequences
This week, we introduced the three core logical consequences from the Responsive Classroom framework: You Break It, You Fix It, Loss of Privilege, and Take A Break. We discussed how and why these consequences are used in our classroom. These are not punishments, but are supportive boundaries that help us repair mistakes and regain self-control. We also emphasized that our classroom rules apply to everyone, including Mr. Young. We discussed how it is never positive or fair when someone believes the rules do not apply to them, and how shared accountability keeps our community safe and respectful.
Civics: Defining Community & Human Rights
In civics, our unit focused on defining what a community is and identifying the various communities we belong to both in and out of school. Using a book published by UNICEF, we explored the fundamental human rights that all children share. The class had rich discussions about what it means to respect the rights of others and how honored rights help every community member thrive.
Read-Aloud Spotlight
Our read-aloud time featured four engaging, thought-provoking stories:
We Don't Eat Our Classmates: Penelope Rex is excited to start school, but she discovers it is hard to make friends when your classmates are delicious human children. After a funny role-reversal lesson from the class goldfish, Penelope learns empathy and how to treat her peers with care.
Leonardo, the Terrible Monster: Leonardo tries his best to be scary, but he just cannot seem to frighten anyone no matter how hard he tries. When he meets Sam, Leonardo realizes that being a wonderful, supportive friend is much better than being a terrible monster.
Creepy Carrots!: Jasper Rabbit loves eating carrots from Crackenhopper Field until he starts noticing spooky carrots following him everywhere he goes. In a clever twist, Jasper builds a fence around the field to keep the carrots in, while the carrots celebrate keeping Jasper out.
The Capybaras: When a family of capybaras seeks safety on a farm, the chickens enforce strict rules and keep their distance from the wild newcomers. Over time, mutual kindness and shared experiences break down prejudices, showing how opening our hearts enriches the entire community.
Puppets In Education:
This past Wednesday, our students had a wonderful time watching a special presentation from Puppets in Education! Through interactive storytelling, songs, and movement, puppet characters like Hermie the Hermit Crab helped our class explore important social emotional skills like building resilience, managing anxiety, and handling big life changes—just like Hermie learning to adapt when outgrowing his shell. It was a fantastic experience that gave our kids fun, relatable tools for navigating new challenges, growing their emotional confidence, and showing empathy to one another.
To build on what we learned, I also read the class the story The Magical Yet, which explores how we can overcome challenges through a growth mindset. Afterward, the kids created their very own paper hermit crabs and wrote down a personal goal inside their crab's shell to represent something they are working hard to achieve!
NOTES:
*Parent Volunteers Schedule will start October 5th. Below is the schedule and slots that are still available. Please let me know if you want to sign up for a spot.
*Parent Volunteers Schedule will start October 5th. Below is the schedule and slots that are still available. Please let me know if you want to sign up for a spot.
*Your child has their Weekly News Journal in their homework bag. Please read their entry and initial it.
*FLAT STANLEY: In your child’s homework bag, you will find a sheet about our FLat Stanley project that starts next Wednesday. If you could please read it, fill it out, and send it back Monday, that would be great.
That is all for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am headed to the North Shore of Boston for a Family Weekend at Abby’s college. I am thinking it might be a little wet and windy!
Peace,
Mr. Young
