Mrs. McCormack's Class Blog: Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

We had our two wonderful interns visit us this week. Mr. Matt will join us once a week and he is currently a student at St. Michael’s College. Ms. Bassett will be with us twice a week and she is currently a student at UVM. Please take the time to read their brief letters of introduction below. We are so grateful and happy to have them join our classroom this semester. Welcome both!

Hi! My name is Matt KillKelley. I grew up in Shelburne, Vermont and graduated with an undergraduate degree in English and Film from NYU in 2019. Since then, I have worked as a literacy interventionist for an online school and have done substitute teaching, both in a K-4 setting. I found both to be extremely rewarding and have discovered a newfound love of teaching. I am now pursuing an MAT for Elementary Ed at St. Michael's College. In my free time I love to hike with my dog, swim, and read books/watch movies. I am very excited to be interning/student teaching with Maria McCormack and I'm sure I'll learn a lot. I am also excited to be working with the kids at Allen Brook School!

Hi. My name is Sarah Bassett. I am from Newton, MA (10 minutes outside of Boston) and I am a big Red Sox fan! I have been working with kids since I was 13, I started babysitting and assistant teaching at my dance studio and worked my way up from there. I have been teaching preschoolers since 2018 and I am currently a 2-3-year-old teacher at the Burlington Y. I was a camp counselor for four summers at an all-girls overnight camp working with 2nd-4th graders and I loved it, so I am thrilled to be back with this age group this semester. Outside of class, I am on a dance company at UVM and I am a co-president of an organization that fundraises for the Children's Hospital.

Here is our week in review:

Social-Emotional Learning:

This week we continued our work on creating a community based on friendship and a sense of belonging. The students participated in a variety of read alouds and learning activities to practice ways in which we can strengthen our friendships and learning community. We also practiced collaboration and sharing by participating in yet another engineering task. This time, the students used pool noodle pieces and shaving cream to build tall and sturdy towers. They had terrific problem solving skills and worked very well together with new partners. Enjoy these pictures:

We are also learning about how we can work together to take care of our classroom space and materials. We are focusing on what the word “stewardship” means and how we can work together to care for our space. After all, our classroom is like another “home”, a space that should reflect calmness, peace, care and belonging. This year, for example, every student has a job in our classroom. These jobs rotate every week so each person eventually gets a chance to try out many different tasks/chores around our learning space. This year, we have a “sound engineer”, a “line leader”, a “directions director,”paper passer and a “substitute”, just to name a few. Ask your child to explain more about these jobs.
We also practice mindfulness every day. The students are encouraged to find different ways in which they can calm themselves to be ready for learning. The students are encouraged to use a variety of tools and strategies throughout the day; not just in our daily mindfulness blocks when we, as a class, participate in read alouds and/or calming activities.
The teachers on Harmony rotated between the different classrooms this week to build a wider learning community of learners as well. It was wonderful for everyone to meet new students and friends for some games and songs, which we performed together in our kiva space.

Reading:

This week, we started browsing our classroom shelves for new and interesting books. The students were encouraged to try a variety of books and places to read in our classroom. I also started reading the Mercy Watson series out loud to the class. While I will not read the whole series to the class, you will notice that I will introduce the students to a variety of chapter books/series in the next few weeks to encourage risk-taking when it comes to selecting books.
I hope you had a chance to read your child’s library books this week. We have library exchange on Tuesdays. Please help your child pack these books for next Tuesday so new books can come home. Thank you.

Writing:

We started working on our collective classroom contract this week. We will continue to add to our classroom norms and expectations in the next few days until we all agree on our class norms together. The students have so many great ideas for how we can work together to create a positive learning environment.
To go along with our classroom norms, the students also wrote about their own “super powers” and, specifically, how they used them this summer. We learned that we all have special super powers that we can use every day. Some students have “kindness super powers” and they helped family members or friends this summer, while others have the super powers of being brave, which they used when they learned to swim.
The students on Harmony also participated in some beginning of the year spelling assessments, which will eventually guide our Fundations classes. Stay tuned for more information in the next few weeks.

Second Grade Math:

Second grade math classes started this week. While the second grade curriculum is different from the first grade curriculum, many structures will remain the same. For example, we will have a Number Corner component, focus upon building basic number sense, participate in math story problem solving and rotate through work stations, games and small groups.
I will teach our home room class of second graders in math. Ms. Crowley will teach another second grade math class, while Ms. Fisher will teach a class of first graders in math.
This week in math, we worked on building a community of hard-working, efficient, and focused mathematicians who readily embrace risk-taking and show a growth mindset. All students are mathematicians. All students can all show a growth mindset and persevere. This week, they did just that! What a fabulous, enthusiastic group of mathematicians I have in class!
Second grade mathematicians learned about odd and even numbers this week. Ask your child to explain how we show our understanding and what we know already about these numbers.
Second grade mathematicians also reviewed their math facts and partners to 10 and 20, using both addition and subtraction. They used number writing, equations and rekenreks to show their thinking.

Science:

This week, the students participated in an engineering task after listening to the book “How to make a friend” by Stephen Martin. While we normally spend time with peers and include others to play to make friends, this book encouraged the students to make/build a friend out of materials. We used legos. The students were encouraged to think about what special characteristics their friend should have and how they would play together. They did a great job. Enjoy these pictures: