Thank you!

Dear Ben,
We are so happy that you got us a camera. We have already used the camera today! We used it with our blogging buddies in Ms. Davison's class. We used it during our class share this morning. We also used it in math! We like it and we hope to use it often.

If you want to see the pictures from today, please come back to the blog later this afternoon.
Love,
Mrs. McCormack's Class

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
It has been so great to meet with all of you this week and share the exciting learning happening in our classroom. Thank you for your continued interest and involvement in your child's education. During our conversations, some areas emerged and were discussed that I wish to areas that I wish to clarify to all parents. First, your child is only responsible for the weekly reading log and math homework. We do not send home additional homework (in the traditional sense that needs to come back to the classroom and be checked by the teacher), but provide many additional resources on the school web-site for parents to access. All of these sites are hyper-linked in our classroom blog sidebar. Thank you. Second, your child might have brought home additional thinking queries and comprehension tasks specifically related to our author studies or reading response tasks. These are voluntary. Some children love the added challenge of these tasks. They do not need to return to the classroom. Thank you. Lastly, I am delighted to hear that the students love to write in their reading logs. I have definately noticed an amazing amount of writing! I am so happy to hear that your child loves this assignment every week. In an effort to provide additional resources and choices for parents and students, I have created additional reading logs on the wiki. You and your child can choose from a variety of reading logs. You do not have to use the one inside the reading log if you do not want to. Browse the choices on the wiki (Click here to access directly), or create your own. Some children like the challenge of simply writing on any lined paper. Other children prefer to write on other days. I understand that you and your child have commitments outside of school. If Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesdays do not work for you, encourage your child to connect his/her writing and reading on 3 other nights. The wiki will have these logs as well, if your child wishes to see it in writing. Thank you all again for being so incredibly supportive and encouraging. Next week, I will also send home a list of suggested writing topics for your child. I wish to have this discussion in class and have the students themselves generate these choices. They are such terrific thinkers!
This week, the students accessed a program called wordle online. The url is www.wordle.net The kids love this site. If you have any time at home, please encourage your child to access this incredibly creative program at home. Your child will show you how it works! Amazing.
Being on Team Harmony means so many things....but one of the most rewarding aspects of our incredible team is our unity and process of team-building. Every day, your child has the opportunity to play, interact and learn with children from all of our classrooms. Many times, the children play in our Kiva together. They explore math, draw, write and read together. Sometimes they spell and share writing pieces together. Sometimes they use our blocks and build structures together. Here is a wonderful exxample of this. This structure is wonderful in so many ways. What do you see? What do you think it is? Do you think mathematically and look for shapes and patterns, or do you think creatively and see farms or gardens? Please respons, if you'd like.

Once again, thank you for all of your incredible support. I am very fortunate to have your child in my class.
Regards,
Maria

 

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
It feels like this week went by very fast. Perhaps it has something to do with the changing of the clocks? As the days are getting shorter and darker, we also have to remember that the weather will get colder as well. As we have outdoor recess every day, it is important that your child comes to school with appropriate outdoor gear. Warmer jackets or coats are preferred. Some students also use mittens and hats already and that is great as it can sometimes be a little windy outside. Thank you for making sure your child is dressed according to the weather every day.
In Reader's Workshop this week, the students continued working in their guided reading groups on new books and peoms. You should have seen Reader's Theater scripts come home for practice this week. I hope your child read the script to you with fluency and phrasing. Perhaps, you even had the chance to participate as well, assuming one of the roles. The students also learned about what a narrator is and we discussed the meaning of main characters. This week, we will continue working on fluency, but the students will also resume reading books, which primarily deal with aspects of characters, setting, problems and solutions.
In Writer's Workshop, the students learned how to write letters. They learned about the letter writing format (addressing a person properly, date and appropriate endings) as well as the importance of the purpose of letters. When we write letters we think about the person we are writing to and why we are writing the letter. We have to decide what we are going to share and also perhaps ask a question to encourage a response. All students wrote letters to each other and to you. I hope you all received a letter from your child this week. We will write you emails soon so please look for those.
In math, the students continued working on counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s in math, showing their understanding in many artistic ways. Please visit our math blog for math-related projects. Click here for a direct link.
Today's visit to the Williston Central School for the show "Alice" was terrific. The show was amazing and so were the props and the acting. We had a great time.

 

 

Have a great rest of the week and weekend,
Maria

ABS Swarm Party

We had another Swarm Party at Allen Brook last week, celebrating our filled Buzzy Jar. The students, once again, did an amazing job working together and showing kindness, respect and responsibility towards each other. Mr. Terko visited all the classrooms, dressed as a bee and handing out "smarties" because the students are so smart following the school expectations every day!

 

Every Little PEACE Counts

Here is a picture of our mural, which hangs in our Kiva space. The students and I work on a year-long project on what we can do as individuals to show kindness to each other. We talk about how every little action matters when it comes to making others feel good and welcome. In other words, every little act of kindness (or peaceful action) matters. Small acts make a difference and many small acts work together to make an even bigger difference. Ask your child to share some of these ideas and how we can all help someone in need.

 

Pictures from our Harvest Party

Here are some pictures from our Harvest Party. Thank you so much for sending in healthy treats and goodies for us to enjoy. We could not have had this wonderful celebration without your generosity.

 

 

 

 

Blogging Buddies

We had another meeting with our Kindergarten Blogging Buddies on Friday. We have all made posts on "All about me." This is a post that we will revisit and edit throughout the year as we hope to use our KidBlog as a digital portfolio of our learning this year. Some students have already inserted pictures, photographs and MP3 recordings as a way to enahance their presentations.
Next week, we will learn to write "formal" letters and ask questions of our Blogging Buddies as our online communication grows.

Please remember that you and your child can access this Blog from home as well. I sent the password information in an earlier email, but will happily send it again.

 

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
The students had a great day with Ms. Nat yesterday and I am so proud of their hard work. The students who recorded videos for my presentation at the VT-Fest Technology Conference did great too! Everyone loved hearing from the students themselves. I also shared other recordings and podcasts as I showed how we use podcasting to practice fluency and enhance learning for all students on our Team.
Parent-teacher conferences are filling up fast. Thank you to all of you who are signing up and contacting me. I am happy to help you use the wiki so you can sign up. I am also happy to find another time, if needed. I look forward to meeting with you and talk about your child's progress. Report cards, however, will not go out until early December as our first marking period ends on the 22nd of November. Our conference will discuss your child's academic progress so when you get the report card, will will understand the contents, etc.
Monday's trip to the Flynn Theater was fantastic. The children really enjoyed seeing the show "Henry & Mudge". We followed up on the show in many different ways in our classroom this week. Among other things, the students wrote about their experience about going to see this show, what they liked about it and we also voted on our favorite Henry & Mudge book. The winner in our classroom was "Henry & Mudge and the Careful Cousin"!!!
We had another Swarm Party at the school this week too! Mr. Terko came by dressed as a bee, handing out smarties to all the students for being so smart showing safe, kind, and responsible behaviors every day.
Our Harvest Party was a success as well! Thank you for sending in healthy snacks for all to share. We truly appreciate your generosity. Pictures will follow soon.
Lastly, we had another article published in the school newspaper "The Blue & Gold". Click here to learn about our study of Henry & Mudge and our trip to the Flynn. Thank you!

Have a great weekend,
Maria

Our students sharing about podcasting

Tomorrow, I am going to present at the VT-Fest technology Conference for teachers in Killington, VT. My presentation this year is on podcasting. I will share about the benefits of podcasting in the classroom and how it can be used to address academic goals as well as personal/emotional goals as we share our learning with each other and the rest of the world. Podcasting truly motivates students and engages everyone. When I told the kids that I was going down for this conference, they asked if they could come along. Since that was not possible, they still wanted to participate so we decided to create movies for everyone. Here is a sample of these movies-movies that discuss both the benefits of podcasting, and movies that explain how to use them in the words of our terrific 1st and 2nd grade students. Enjoy!