Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
Thank you for coming to our Harmony Family Breakfast yesterday morning. It was great to see so many of you there.  I hope you had a chance to connect with other parents and eat some yummy treats.
Here are some pictures:

The students had a busy week at school.  We finished our "sound" portion of our science unit on "Light and Sound".  The students were partnered up completed an engineering challenge together.  They had to apply their knowledge of sound and how sound travels by creating a string telephone using different materials provided.  They did an amazing job. Ask them to explain how we used string, fishing line and styrofoam cups to create our phones.

When we return from our Thanksgiving break, we will start learning more about light.  We are excited.

The students brought home some books and a reading log for next week. This reading log is not due until the end of the first week back at school again (Friday 12/1) but if your child wishes to complete it over the break only, please ask your child to bring it in on Monday 11/27 for another one.

I hope you you have a safe and restful Thanksgiving week.

Regards,
Maria

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
What a week!  I hope everyone survived the wind storm without too much damage to your properties.  The students shared stories of downed trees, loss of electricity and trampolines in trees!  With all the challenges that the storm brought for us as adults, it could not have happened at a better time for us in class because we just started a new writing unit on small moment stories and most kids chose to write about the wind storm and the day off from school! How about that!

Technology:
The students continue to build their skills using our chromebooks.  We use google classroom as our "hub," from which the students access links to other sites as a way to integrate literacy, math and science into our learning digitally.  Since the students access this learning online, they need head-phones to be able to listen clearly to books we read online.  Please send in a pair of head-phones for your child, if you did not already.  Thank you!

Writing:
We celebrated our first unit on personal narratives with our Kindergarten buddies.  The students read their published stories to their friends.  It was a great celebration of their hard work!

Science:
We continued our unit on Light and Sound.  This week, the students participated in a series of explorations about sounds and how sound comes from vibrations.  We looked at these vibrations using a drum, rubber bands and rulers, among other things.  Ask your child to explain.  perhaps your child will even show you at home what we did.  Here is a picture to help your child remember what we did with the rulers.

GUM:
We will start our units on grammar and hand-writing next week.  When we learn grammar and penmanship, we follow a process that we call "GUM".  It stands for Grammar, Usage and Mechanics.
When you are in first and second grade, it is extra exciting to be able to chew gum at this time so I am asking for your permission to give your child sugar-free gum for the times we do this.  There is no need to contact me if you approve.  Please just let me know if you do not want your child to chew gum during this class time. Thank you!

Upcoming Events & Reminders:

• Harmony House is hosting a family breakfast on 11/17 from 7:30-8:15am.  We hope you can join us for some special breakfast treats and connect with other families and friends from our team.  I forwarded an email from Sara Dunphy with a link to SignUpGenius earlier this week if you and your family wish to contribute.  Thank you so much for your generosity.
• I will have a sub on Wednesday when I, along with many other teachers at our school, will participate in professional development on math.
• We will have our Thanksgiving Break from school between 11/20-11/24.

Have a great rest of the day!
Maria