Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
The students filled the classroom buzzy jar again for being safe, kind and responsible! They are truly amazing. This time we celebrated with a classroom balloon party. What was extra fun was that we stopped what we were doing as soon as we filled the buzzy jar to have our balloon party! Here are some pictures:
Reading:
This week in reader’s workshop, the students practiced using the new reading log. The students have many different choices during their independent reading times (a time when they do not meet in guided reading groups with a teacher). The choices are intended to increase engagement and active reading, while exposing the students to a variety of literacy activities. The students practice their trick words, read short songs and poems for fluency or write and draw about the books they read in class. This week, the students practiced “Roll A Die, “ the new reading log. They rolled a six-sided die to quickly choose the reading response. They did an amazing job showing their understanding in different ways. Have fun reading and writing at home too!
We finished reading our classroom read aloud book about Knut this week. The students loved to learn more about this adorable polar bear cub and how we can all do little things to help save the polar regions and environments for these Arctic animals.
Writing:
We started our new writing unit this week. Our new unit will focus on poetry reading and writing. Throughout this unit, the students will learn about alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyming and similes/metaphors. They will write a variety of poems, reflecting these styles. We will write many poems together as a class through collaborative writing.
We started this unit by playing a “Vocabulary Battle”. The students were partnered up and worked together to come up with as many synonyms for the word “good” as they could. We created a class list together and then we took turns reading these words out loud to the beat of drums and music. We had so much fun discovering the power and rhythm of words. The students were also encouraged to create their own made-up words for “good”. Some ideas were: doog, rufferrific and legotastic.
Our vocabulary focus continued this week with an online review with Ms. Patti for our weekly “Word of the Week” learning activities. The students started brainstorming their favorite words from this year. We created leaves for our vocabulary tree with the suggestions. Eventually, the students will pick one word, which will be illustrated and shared through a Flipgrid project online. Stay tuned for this end-of-the-year celebration.
We read the book “Big Words for Little People” by Jamie LeCurtis and Laura Cornell in our online meeting on Wednesday. We discovered that we have already used many of these words this year, but some were new to us too. We learned that some of the most powerful words are short and simple words, like family, community, love and respect.
First Grade Math:
First grade mathematicians returned to the classroom ready to work hard and share their mathematical thinking. We continued our work on Number Bonds in our Number Corner components of math class.
The students continued practicing their understanding of place value by adding decuples and ones to any given number while playing board games in partnerships.
Ms. Schaw, our fabulous ABS Math Interventionist, also joined our class this week. She and I will co-teach math together for the remainder of the school year. We are so thrilled and grateful for her assistance and time.
Friday Workshops:
We learned about trees, soil and seeds together with our second grade friends this week. We planted grass seeds in small cups, which we will carefully water and nurture in the weeks to come. Each child has his/her own cup to care for. This is part of a larger unit on nature/Spring and part of our school celebration of Arbor Day. More information will follow.
News and Reminders:
Here is a letter from Ms. Porter:
Dear Families -
You received an order form to order a book that your child has a part in publishing in Physical Education. There is no pressure to order the book. I do however need ALL order forms back Monday morning. At the very bottom of the order form, there is a place to mark No I am not interested and then you would sign the form and place the signed form in the accompanying envelope. Please return the order form either way by Monday morning. I need to submit all the forms with the book to be published.
Thank you so much
Lyn Porter Lporter@cvsdvt.org
Here's a link to this week's Bell
Have a great weekend,
Maria
Here are some of our "kindness hearts" from our school-wide project on Kindness:
Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
The students filled the classroom buzzy jar again for being safe, kind and responsible. This time we celebrated together with extra recess. We had a great time playing together outside in the warm, sunny weather.
We are participating in a school-wide project on kindness and how we can make the world better by showing kindness every day, in many different ways. We are creating a “Kindness Tree”. Instead of leaves, this “Kindness Tree” will display paper hearts as its leaves. Each leaf will show different acts of kindness in words or pictures. We will share pictures of this when it is done. We are very excited to be part of this school project.
In our remote google meet on Wednesday, we brainstormed ideas for different activities we can do during our April Break from school next week. Here are some of the ideas the students suggested:
Road hockey, soccer, basketball or any other sport
Read every day
Play board games with family members
Go outside to play or go for a hike
Garden together
Bake or cook together
Draw a picture
Sleep in and watch a TV show together
Reading:
The students had no new reading logs this week. We will start again after April Break.
After April Break, the students will receive new Home Folders too. Please keep the old ones at home if you didn’t send them in this week..
The students continued practicing reading strategies in our guided reading groups this week. Thank you Mr. Alex for reading with us this week. Many of the students received multiple new books for their book boxes. They are encouraged to re-read familiar books as well to practice fluency and comprehension.
The students also continued working with different books and texts for developing a greater understanding of intonation and phrasing. This week, we used the books by Mo Willems, among others, to help us read with expression. His books allow us to read with expression since the plot is straight-forward and driven by dialogue.
We read the book “A New Green Day” by Antoinette Portis and learned about signs of Spring through poetry, beautiful pictures and a guessing game. The students used watercolors and markers to make their own pictures of Spring, which we will later place into our brand new Scrapbooks.
Writing:
This week, the students completed their nonfiction text features booklets. They chose one (or more) of the features from this collection to integrate into their animal reports. Some students added headings, while others chose to add glossaries and labels. They did a great job and they were all motivated by having choices. We look forward to sharing these books with you. Stay tuned for more information about how we will do that.
First Grade Math:
First grade mathematicians are continuing to deepen their understanding of place value with numbers to 120. This week, we worked with unifix cubes and rekenreks to add/subtract 10 to any given number. We also wrote the corresponding numbers on our whiteboards. Mathematicians also added/subtracted 1 to any given number as a way to also practice place value.
First grade mathematicians practiced using “bridging to 10, finding the next decuple” as a strategy this week. Rather than using your fingers or counting on to solve equations and math problems, first graders were encouraged to find the next 10 first. In other words, to solve the following equation 8+4=12, the students were encouraged to see that 4 is composed of 2+2 which can be used to bridge to 10 first (ie 8+2=10) and then add 2 to get to 12. This is a powerful strategy for getting ready for second grade when math equations will represent larger, less friendly numbers. This week, we practiced this too with equations like 49+8 and 53+9.
News and Reminders:
There is no school next week due to our April Break. School resumes again on Monday, April 26th.
Your child will receive brand new Home Folders after vacation. Please keep the old ones at home.
As the weather gets warmer, many children come to school wearing open-toe shoes/sandals/flip flops (even though it is snowing today!). These shoes are allowed but they sometimes make it difficult for your child to navigate the outdoor playground and fields, especially in the early morning hours when the grass is damp or after a rain-storm. Sneakers are best! Please send in some extra socks and pants after vacation too in case of accidents and slips outside. Thank you.
We still need cardboard boxes or shoe boxes for our science project. If you have any extra shoe-boxes/cardboard boxes at home, please consider sending them in with your child. The size of the box should be about the size of a shoe box. The students will create the Arctic habitat with these boxes when we return from vacation. Thank you.
It was Mr. Alex’s last day with us on Thursday this week. We celebrated with a special project. We started to put together our scrapbooks, containing projects and writing from the entire year. We will miss Mr. Alex very much and feel so fortunate to have had him in our classroom. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours. Thank you Mr. Alex!
Here is a note from our school librarian Cara Clopton:
Drop by the Library's vestibule starting on Friday, April 16 to receive a kit to enter our Peeps literary-themed diorama contest, while supplies last. Open to kids and teens. Contest entries must be submitted by Sunday, April 25 at 11:59pm to programs@damlvt.org. Guest judges are Cara Clopton, Allen Brook School Librarian and Ellen Arapakos, Williston Central School Librarian. Each kit contains one package of 10 Peeps in a random color/flavor and instructions for submission. Participants are responsible for providing all other supplies. One prize awarded in each age category: Ages 0-7, Ages 8-11 and Ages 12-17. Winners receive a $25 Phoenix Books gift card.
Here's a link to this week's Bell.
Have a great weekend and week off,
Maria
Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
This week, we learned that our emotions can quickly change due to changing circumstances. We learned that we all react in different ways to things that happen around us. We learned that some people show slow changes in their emotions, while others show quick changes. We also learned that our feelings are different to the same situation.
We celebrated with another school-wide buzzy celebration. This time, the students got a chance to hand out buzzies to other students for being safe, kind and responsible. We loved this idea so much in our class that we decided to continue this practice of nominating each other for being positive role models.
Reading:
Our Iditarod Reading Challenge ended today. The students did a great job reading and writing every day. Mrs. Benoit and I appreciate all the family support and continued efforts at home. Writing a little bit every day about the books read helps build confidence, stamina and a deeper understanding of the books read. Thank you. The students’ certificates will come home next week in their Home Folders but their Iditarod Reading Folders and maps are coming home today.
We started a new mini-unit on reading fluency this week. The students are learning to whisper read to themselves with expression. They are learning to pay close attention to the text, the words and the ending punctuation in order to make their reading sound like spoken language with proper phrasing and intonation. The students received “Personal Readers”, a collection of short poems and songs to help them practice these skills.
Mr. Alex and I continued meeting with the students in our guided reading groups this week. The students are practicing their reading skills and strategies with “just right” books daily. They also practice these skills in our independent reading when we also focus on building our stamina as readers; ie, reading actively for longer periods of time before getting tired.
Writing:
First grade authors are currently assembling their animal books for publication. We started to create the cover, complete with a title, the author’s full name and a picture. The students also started to add nonfiction text features inside their book covers such as photographs, maps and bolded text.
First grade authors also participated in guided editing and revision, With the teacher’s help, we carefully reread sections of the books to ensure proper grammar and relevant information. We also added new information together; information that we noticed was lacking from our chapters. Writing collaboratively as a class allows us to learn together.
First Grade Math:
First grade mathematicians are focusing upon Number Bonds again in our Number Corner activities for the month of April. Number Bonds provide a visual representation to help students understand parts of a whole number, while also recognizing the relationships between addition and subtraction. The students use their whiteboards to actively engage with this whole class learning and quick warm-up on a daily basis.
First grade mathematicians continued working in partnerships. This week, we practiced place value concepts in various games, We also added three digit numbers together in a challenging memory/matching game. The students were encouraged to bridge the numbers to 10 first to simplify the addition problems. They did great.
Lastly, we also learned a new game called “Lunch Time”, a place value game with numbers to 120, which has a fun twist because you earn points by finding the number before what you rolled!
News and Reminders:
We have yet another Essential Arts rotation starting next week. Our class will have Art on Mondays and Tuesdays and Music on Thursdays and Fridays.
Here is some information about Ticks and Tick Prevention from our school nurse again.
Please read the following information from the front office at ABS - Reminder for Safe Drop Off & Pick Up:
We are sending this out again, as we have been getting parent feedback indicating that this routine can at times be a safety concern. Please be sure to do your part during our arrival/dismissal procedures so we can ensure a safe environment.
Please drop off and pick up your child at their team’s designated location ensuring that you leave space for the other team locations. Parents must remain in vehicles for drop-off . Please arrive between 7:50 and 8:10 Please drive attentively, slowly, and safely, following directions of school staff or safety, all students must exit the passenger side of the vehicle
Temperature taking will happen once your child enters the school. Your child must have their mask on when entering the school
Please refer to this map for the correct location to drop off/pick up your student:
Arrival /Dismissal Map / Diagram
Here is this week’s School Bell: https://www.smore.com/f4wq3
Have a great weekend,
Maria
Learning math together:
