Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
It is hard to believe, but we're in the home stretch already! The last day of school for students is on June 15th, which will be a half day with dismissal at 11:30.  Placement letters for next year will go out this weekend, so if you are a second grade parent, you and your child should know about your child's teacher/team assignment by Tuesday or Wednesday next week.  All first graders will return to my class next year.  We will have new incoming first graders, however. 

Step Up Day:
This is such an exciting time of the year, but it can also be a little stressful for our young learners as they anticipate a big change with having a new teacher, new class and new school. Please keep this in mind and support your child at home if needed.  Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Step Up Day is scheduled for next Friday. June 1st.  2nd graders from ABS will go over to WCS to meet their new teachers/ classmates between 8:40-9:45am.  First graders will stay at ABS to do a special project as a gift for our graduating 2nd graders.  Ms. Gravelin and I will stay with the first graders, while Ms. Crowley and Mrs. Benoit will join our second graders.

Incoming first graders will join our class on Tuesday, June 5th for a short morning activity.  We are so excited to meet our new Kindergarten friends.

Public Works Day:
The Public Works Department had some representatives at ABS this week.  They shared about their important duties around town, such as plowing our roads and cleaning ditches and sewers.  The children also had a chance to see some of the heavy-duty equipment used for these tasks.  It is always a huge success when they come!

Celebrating our Differences:
Our school offered a special event for students and teachers at ABS this week.  We participated in a series of workshops and stations learning about people's differences and how important it is to be kind and respectful to all.  Some differences we can see with our eyes, but other differences we cannot; but it is always important to be kind, forgiving and respectful.  The children learned about autism, fine motor challenges, sensory challenges and empathy in these stations.

Upcoming Events & Reminders:

• We have no school on Monday due to Memorial Day.  Students return on Tuesday.
• The last day of school is June 15th for students with dismissal at 11:30.  If you wish for your child to have a lunch from the cafeteria that day, please let me know as soon as possible.  They will offer a ham or turkey sandwich, and it will be bagged to take home/after school.
• Fun Day is scheduled for June 8th.  This is a traditional sporting/field day that students from ABS participate in at WCS.  Provided that the weather cooperates, we are scheduled to go to WCS in the morning hours of June 8th.  More information will follow.
• We are scheduled to go to the WCS Chorus Concert on Wednesday, June 6th.  This is an afternoon concert so dismissal will be from WCS.  As in the past; if you need to pick up your child, please pick up in the office at WCS.  All other children will board their regular buses and Part 2 students will ride a bus back to ABS with me.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Regards,

Maria

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
What an amazing turn-out for our annual Reading Restaurant.  Harmony House was packed!  Thank you, thank you for coming.  The students were so excited.  They loved sharing their stories with all of you.  They did an outstanding job helping each other in our restaurant.  What an amazing group of kids! Here are some pictures:

We also "played" Reading Restaurant with Horizon and Synergy students.  This is yet another opportunity for the children to experience the actual event, but also share their writing.  At this age, it is particularly important that children understand that there is an audience for their thoughts, ideas and opinions.  Their ideas, in other words, matter and, in this case, the guests at our Reading Restaurant, was that audience.

We had a visit from the Vermont author and illustrator David Martin today. Mr. Martin has written many picture books for young children, but also many books targeting the actual instruction of young readers as they are in the process of learning how to read.  In fact, our school has many of them as they are part of our "Brand New readers' series, which is part of our reader's and writer's workshop models.  We had so much fun with Mr. Martin today!  He brought his guitar so we sang songs together and we had a chance to learn first hand what it is like to have an idea and eventually turn it into a published book that children all across the country can read. The students also showed him all the work that went into our writing at school.  We discovered that we are authors too!!

Today was also Crazy hair day!!  The wonderful children of ABS filled the buzzy jar again being safe, kind, and responsible.  Here are some pictures:

WOW-Crazy hair Day just gets better and better!!  We had some very funny explanations as David Martin was wondering what was going on at our school!

Have a great weekend, and once again, thank you for coming to our Reading Restaurant.

Maria

Shelburne Farms

We had a great together at Shelburne Farms today learning about habitats in the pond and the forest.  Thank you parents for chaperoning.  Enjoy the pictures.