Our Harvest Party

Thank you all for bringing in wonderful treats for our Harvest Party! Here are some pictures for you. Please check the kidblog too for a "Harvest Party Math Question." If your child wants, he/she can comment on the post I made to answer the math question I posed.

Another Guest Reader: Ms. Nat

It was wonderful to see Ms. Nat again. She visited our classroom today and read two books to the class. Ask your child to explain how we played "20 Questions" trying to figure out who it was before she arrived.

 

Weekly Update

Dear Families,

Another week has passed already. Although we had an unusually warm week, the days will get colder and shorter soon as the winter darkness sets in. This is a wonderful time to explore the rapid changes occurring outside in nature with your child. What do you notice and observe? How can we explain these changes? Why do the leaves change and eventually fall off? These types of conversations encourage your child to justify his/her own thinking while exploring the outdoors!

Report cards will be mailed out on November 12th and conferences are scheduled the following week. I have an online sign-up wiki, which I have linked on the classroom blog, on the right sidebar. Many of you have already signed up. Thank you. If you have not signed up yet, please do so soon as the slots fill up quickly. I am looking forward to seeing all of you again and discuss the work we have been working on in our classroom.

The students will start using their own individual blogs this week. Their blogs are on a web-site called kidblog.org. This site is also used by some other teachers within our school system. The blogs are private and require log-in names and passwords. Only the students in my class can view other students’ blog entries. I will moderate comments as well. The students will blog throughout the school week, but my over-arching goal is to encourage the use of technology as a communications tool between school and the outside world. I encourage the students to access their own blogs from home and write about their lives outside of school. It is important, however, that the students write themselves-not the parents! For example, if you go on a special trip and wish to share a narrative or pictures, please post these. If you have something exciting happening in your life now and you want to share it, please post about that as well. Perhaps your child is getting a pet, a new book or a new tooth. Perhaps your child wants to write about a special book or author. Be creative-encourage your child to share about his/her life outside of school. Eventually I will add blog writing responses related to books we read in school. I will also ask the students questions to which they respond. The possibilities are endless and we are very excited about starting this new venture together.
Your child might need assistance navigating the kidblog site in the beginning as these skills are new, but he/she should be able to do this independently shortly. It is also important to remember that this blog is “public” to all in our class and other teachers I might invite to view (it is private to the outside world). That means that this blog is also public to all the parents as you will have access to these accounts as well.
I have linked the kidblog page to our classroom blog, where I post updates on our week, newsletters and pictures. I have linked it in the sidebar-below the parent-teacher conference sign-up. Your child’s log-in name is his/her first name (I used the shortened name for those with long names. For students with the same names, I used the shorter first name, space and the first letter of the last name).



Reminders:
• Please sign up for parent-teacher conferences if you have not already done so. Link is on classroom blog. If you need help accessing, please let me know.
• School picture re-takes will happen on November 3rd. Please contact the main office if you need to re-schedule your child’s pictures.
• I will be out two days next week (November 4th and 5th). As I will attend and present at a technology conference. The students will have a substitute teacher for the two days and their schedules will remain.
• Some students have not returned their Timeline Homework. I have placed new ones inside the Thursday folders. Please fill out and return on Monday as we will start our project then. Thank you.


Ask your child about:
• Our Guest Reader this week: Ms Nat.
• Our re-organized classroom with new table-buddies.
• Podcasting this week and read alouds on the computer. Click here to hear the latest if you do not RSS feed.
• Reading Stamina and Character Traits in books.

Have a great rest of the week.
Regards,

Maria McCormack

Our fieldtrip to Catamount

 

Please visit our digital portfolio for a publication of our very own "The Allen Brook Magic School Bus goes to Catamount". Read about our field-trip in the students' own words. Click here to access our on-line book.

Weekly Update

Dear Families,


We had a great, short week in school.

Our field-trip to Catamount was wonderful, but it was cut short because of the weather. It was very cold and it started snowing, so we decided to return to the school to continue our specials inside. Before we left, however, we had a chance to learn more about the Catamount property. We even got a chance to see the inside entry and the stair-case, where a horse was once led upstairs!! Please ask your child to explain. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time to join us on this special day. We could not have done it without you!

Our MP3 players have arrived and they are now in use in our classroom. Please check out our various podcasting sites as we will publish many more stories and poems! It would be very helpful if your child could bring in his/her own ear-buds for these players. If you are able, please bring in a set of small ear-buds placed inside a small ziplock bag with your child’s name on it. That way, the students do not have to share ear-buds, but can use his/her own. If needed, I can provide ear-buds in school. Thank you for your support and understanding.

Your child has started hand-writing practice in school this week. You will see these hand-writing sheets come home periodically. Please talk to your child about the importance of hand-writing as neatness helps us better understand each other’s writing. The students are practicing the proper uses of upper and lower case letters. They have learned not to mix them inside words. Upper case letters are saved for the beginning of sentences and names. They are also practicing finger-spacing between words. Thanks for reinforcing these skills at home.

Reminders:
• Book Bags are due in the classroom every Friday. The books inside these Book Bags belong to our school library so please make sure your child returns them all every week, so other students at our school can enjoy them as well. Every Monday, we will send home new books inside these Book Bags. These books stay home to be read until that Friday. Since we do not have school this Friday, please bring your child’s Book Bag in on Monday. Thank you.
• Please encourage your child to do his/her own hand-writing on the Reading Logs and for math homework. Everyday practice encourages confidence in writing and thinking. Thank you.
• We are running low on pencils in our classroom amd your child might need some more inside his/her desk. Please discuss if this pertains to your child. Thank you.

I hope you will have a wonderful break and enjoy spending time together in the next few days. I will miss the students very much.

Regards,
Maria McCormack

We have published our Reading Strategies book on-line

Please click here to access our Reading Strategies book, called "I am a Good Reader". It is available on-line at storyjumper and can even be printed in hardcover!
The students will take home their own smaller, printed version of this book shortly. In the meantime, please read our newest publication on-line.

Using many different methods to show our thinking

Below is a collage illustrating the many methods the students are using to show their thinking and understanding in our class. Please ask your child to explain why some methods work better for some tasks but not for other tasks.

 

Kiva Sharing today

 

 

 

 

Warm Fuzzies

Our class has Warm Fuzzies now. We use them for special morning meeting greeting.
Every student has his/her own warm fuzzy and as we greet each other, we say something nice to our friends and exchange yarn from our Warm Fuzzies. As the school year progresses, these pom-poms will change into scarves, warming us with kindness.

 

Guest Reader

Here is a picture of Ms. Kristen reading to our class as our Guest Reader for this week. We always enjoy having other people visit and reading with us. Thank you Ms. Kristen.

 

Alexis visits Kindergarten to read

Alexis visited Ms. Davison's Kindergarten class today and read a story to the class. She did an amazing job. Thank you Alexis for sharing your love of books!

Weekly Update

Dear Families,

Writer’s Workshop began in full swing this week with our new narrative unit on personal small moment stories. The students explored small moment stories through literature as they searched for text features for such writing. We discovered that small moment stories only focus upon very specific events. The writer “zooms” in on a particularly interesting event, which is stretched out over several pages using a vivid language and details. The students also learned that the small moment stories we write in class are of personal nature. They are personal narratives about everyday occurrences, such as a specific trip to a friend’s house, the loss of a first tooth, a bike ride, or even about the surprise fire drill we had today. As mentioned before, stories are everywhere-waiting to be discovered. The students did an amazing job adding details to their stories this week. They learned that writers can add interesting details to their narratives by using descriptive language and thinking about where and when the story took place. Writers also include who was part of the story and perhaps even why something specific happened. We cannot wait to share our stories with you when they are ready to be published!

First grade mathematicians published their first number story book online this week. It has been linked on the blog, and it is also linked on the digital portfolio inside the “Best Practice in Math” page (the address for the digital portfolio is www.digitalportfolio2010.pbworks.com). First grade mathematicians are also taking home their first set of completed work from Work Places this week. Please look through their materials and ask them to explain what the games and objectives are at each station. Thank you.

This week the students started interviewing teachers and staff for our “All Around the School” podcasting venture. Two interviews have already been posted on the podbean site. Please access www.mccormack.podbean.com to listen. You can sign up for RSS at that site. We are now podcasting on iTunes! Wow, the students are doing an amazing job speaking with a clear voice, taking turns and listening actively to each other. The podcasting site is already linked directly on the school web-site under my name.

Team Harmony has decided, due to the poor weather conditions forecasted for Friday this week that the Field Trip to Catamount is cancelled. In other words, we are not going to Catamount this Friday. We are trying to re-schedule for Monday next week and will inform you as soon as we have more information. We apologize for the inconvenience this might cause you and your family, but trust that you all understand. We hope you can join us, if we go on Monday. I will send out an email as soon as I receive information. Thank you.

I have created an online sign-up wiki for parent-teacher conferences in November. If you did not receive an email called “Teacher Collaboration” from pbworks, please let me know so I can invite you to access this web-site. Some parents have already signed up and their names have been added. Please sign up electronically.
Access the wiki by clicking on the link inside the email from pbworks, choose your own password.
You need to click on "edit" inside the wiki in order to add your name..
Please do not delete and remove names that have already been entered.
If you need assistance, please contact me and I will be happy to help you!

Ask your child about:
• Earning 51 Respect stickers! (At 100 we are going to have a special celebration)
• Warm Fuzzies
• The Money Song
• Garden Club
• Our Guest Reader, Ms. Kristen. She read the book “The seven silly eaters” by Marla Frazee. Ask your child to retell the story and why Ms. Kristen chose this particular book.
• Our classroom Mail-box

Have a great rest of the week!
Regards,

Maria McCormack

Happy Swedish Name Day Jared!

We celebrated our first swedish Name Day today with home-made muffins! Thank you, Jared, for making this such a special celebration in our classroom.

1st Grade Math Number Story Publication

1st grade mathematicians have worked hard on creating math story picture problems. The students created pictures which represented addition and subtraction problems. Some of them even included multiplication!
Please click here to access our on-line book, representing some of these problems. Please encourage your child to solve these problems as well. Thank you and Happy Math Problem Solving!

We have a new podcast

We created a new podcast today in response to a book we read together. The book is called "I'm going to like me: Letting off a little self-esteem" and the author is Jamie Lee Curtis.
The students recorded their own personal responses why they like themselves. Please visit our podbean podcasting site, if you have not signed up for our RSS feeds yet.
Click here to access. Thank you and Happy Listening!

Kiva Sharing today

We had four friends doing their Kiva Sharing today. Now everybody in class has had a chance to share in front of all four classrooms!
We have talked a lot about what it means to speak in front of a large audience and how important it is to trust yourself when you stand in front of a large crowd. The students did a great job sharing their learning this week. Please ask your child to explain our "Health Food" and "Non-Health Food" sort in response to the "Food Play" earlier this week.

Food Play

Below are some pictures from our "Food Play" today, presented by Hannafords at the Allen Brook School. The show was wonderfully funny. The students also learned many valuable things about healthy and non-healthy foods. They also learned to check the labels of each food package. The actors said "Read it before you eat it!"

 

 

 

 

Swedish Name Day

Swedish Name Day

The students celebrated Swedish Name Day this week. Each child received a postcard with “their” Swedish Name Day. I hope you received it. If not, please let me know and I will send the date home again.

Swedish Name Day is a tradition that celebrates first names. Each day has a first name associated with it. This cultural tradition goes back hundreds of years. For example, my first name is Maria, and Maria is celebrated on February 28th each year.

Your Name Day is celebrated like a mini-birthday. It is a time to get together with friends and family, eat good food and celebrate togetherness. Some families also give small presents.

We will celebrate the students’ Name Days in class. We will write “Happy Name Day” cards to each other and celebrate together.

Thank you. I hope you will celebrate your child’s Name Day too!

Maria McCormack

Great Math Sites

I wanted to share some incredible math sites for telling time and money. These games are linked on our wiki page in our math section, but I have linked them here for your convenience. I hope you get a chance to play these games at home. Let me know how it goes! Thank you and Happy math!

Telling Time

Money Values

Counting Money

Weekly Update

Dear Families,

The students have settled in beautifully to school and know their schedule well. Thank you for sending in their sneakers for PE and library books on Tuesdays. As the weather gets cooler, please remind your child about the importance of dressing warmly. Sweaters and fleece jackets are great outer-wear this time of a year.

Next week, Team Harmony has a field-trip scheduled for Catamount. The field-trip is scheduled for October 15th. The bus will be leaving Allen Brook at 9am and return to our school around 1-1:30pm. Please remember to send your child to school with warm clothing, a packed peanut-free lunch and liquids. We will spend the entire day outside, so please dress accordingly. Thank you all for volunteering your time to chaperone this special trip. We could not do this without your help and assistance!

This week was very busy inside our classroom and I hope you had a chance to visit our classroom blog as we have posted many new pictures and updates. As part of our current unit on Community, fire fighters from the Williston Fire Department visited our team. We learned about fire safety and the importance of having two escape routes in case of a fire. We also had the opportunity to see their fire gear and hear the sound that their masks sometimes make. If you did not see the pictures from this special visit, simply scroll down on the blog to view “older posts.’ Please note that you can always access older posts and pictures for repeated reading in case you forgot or missed a post. If you feel comfortable using technology, or if you feel eager to learn how you can utilize more technology in your own life, please click on the little red “Posts (Atom)” link at the very bottom of our classroom blog to subscribe directly into you email. This way, you will get automatic reminders every time I post. These feeds can go into you preferred RSS feeders, such as Google Reader, Pageflakes or Live Bookmarks.

Please note that this is my last paper-based weekly news-letter. All weekly newsletters will only be posted on the blog from now on, unless otherwise indicated on the attached form. Please return this form to the classroom only if you and your family still desire a paper-based weekly update. I greatly appreciate your embrace of technology and enthusiasm. Thank you!

I have updated our wiki site this week. I do this periodically so please make sure you and your child browse often. I have added a new site, which links songs that we sing during our Kiva Singing time. The songs are posted as documents for you to print out at home. Please click here to access directly. I have also added information about spelling and Fundations activities in our “Word Study” folder. Click here to access directly. All of these sites are in our Link Library.

Our classroom digital portfolio has also been updated, representing the incredible mathematical learning our students show every day. The digital portfolio can be accessed through my school web-site but also by the url www.digitalportfolio2010.pbworks.com What a terrific groups of mathematicians we have in our classroom! The students are learning to justify their thinking every day and they are very comfortable sharing their challenges and using old mistakes as a first step in our evolving discussions. They trust each other and value each other’s opinion. The students are also learning to represent their mathematical thinking in many different ways, using many different tools, such as unifix cubes, tally marks, ten-frames and number sentences. I am so proud of them! Please ask them how many stars they earned this week. Please also ask them to explain how we use this star-chart to count by 10s. The students are recognizing that numbers can be represented into larger groups, which makes our mathematical thinking more efficient. They are already discovering the basis for multiplication! WOW! Among other things, first graders will learn about money and telling time this month. Please visit the wiki for many educational games targeting these two strands of math.

Reading groups started this week. The students will meet in small groups with me several times a week to read books on their individual instructional level. The students have filled their book boxes with these books and we read them together throughout the week. Starting on Monday, the students will take home a new Book Bag. This book bag contains leveled books that we read in class. Your child should be able to read these book easily as we have already read them together. Please praise your child as he/she reads and discusses these books at home. Please read these books many, many times together. Talk about the words, how the pictures help and how sounding out can help us tackle more challenging words. The book bags stay home until Friday, when it is returned to the classroom. Your child will fill the book bag again, with books read inside the classroom that week. Hence, your child will always bring home books that are familiar to him/her. Our team hopes this strategy will build reading confidence and reading enthusiasm.

Have a great rest of the week!
Regards,

Maria McCormack

Update on our Day

We had an eventful day today in our classroom.
This morning, a large hot-air balloon passed our school. It was very close and the students got a close view.
We also had a visit from the Williston Fire Department. The showed us their gear, told us about the importance of getting out of a house if there is a fire and "Stop, Drop, and Roll".

Science and Graphing in our classroom

Today, the students practiced "being a scientist," using their senses and justifying their thinking while examining the differences between home-grown and store-bought grapes. They all agreed that home-grown grapes taste different from grapes bought in the store. They are also different in terms of size, color, texture and the presence of seeds. Please look at our graphic display of our results. Thank you.

Guest Reader

Ms. Gail was a Guest Reader in our classroom on Friday. She shared a very special book with the class and they all listened very respectfully. Please ask your child how he/she was a good listener during this read-aloud.
We hope to have another Guest Reader soon.

Kiva Sharing

Today we had Kiva Sharing on Team Harmony. Our podcasts of this special event has already been published at our podcasting site, if you wish to access them directly through RSS or simply by clicking on a link. Click here to get to our podcasting site.

Another visit to the computer lab

The students went to the computer lab again today. They learned how to log on, and use, a program called "Type to Learn". This program teaches basic keyboarding skills, which are crucial for computer efficiency.
As part of our Writer's Workshop emphasis upon "Writing for many purposes", the students also accessed their own e-mails and sent a message to a family member. Perhaps you got one? Please check your e-mail.
The students learned that e-mails are simply another form of letters. In other words, it is important to start the letter by addressing the person it is for. It is also important to end it appropriately and use complete sentences. If you are interested in providing your child with additional practice in keyboarding skills, please click here to download at home. Thank you.

Our first 4 Winds Class