Weekly Update

Dear Families,
I hope you have a chance to scroll down on this blog so see pictures from our trip to Shelburne Farms this week.  We learned so much about pond life and had the opportunity to do scientific hands-on activities together.  We collected tadpoles, frogs and fish in the pond at the farm.  We also discovered leaches and water bugs, along with dragonfly nymphs.  In the forest, we explored habitats.  We looked under logs and leaves where we discovered worms, salamanders and spiders.  Once again, thank you parent volunteers for coming along and supporting our learning!

It is getting very hot and humid outside.  Your child has outdoor recess every day and gets very thirsty during the day.  Please send in a water bottle to keep at your child's desk so he/she can keep hydrated throughout the day.  We have water fountains at school and in our classroom, but sometimes it is more convenient to have a bottle at the desk all day.  Thank you.

Your child is coming home with many different projects and writing pieces now.  We slowly started cleaning out our desks and folders so we won't forget something before the end of the year.  Your child's "official" scrapbook will not come home until the last week of school.  Keep checking those backpacks!

Next week, 2nd graders will visit their new 3rd grade teachers at WCS.  They are scheduled to visit WCS on Tuesday June 4th in the morning.  Our new, incoming Kindergarten friends will join our class on Wednesday, June 5th.  We cannot wait for these two very exciting days. 

Have a great rest of the week.

Maria

Shelburne Farms

We had a terrific day at Shelburne Farms today, learning about frogs, pollywogs and other pond creatures.  We also explored the woods, where we learned about animal habitats and camouflage.  Thank you parent (and grandparent) volunteers for making this day so successful!

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
It is certainly getting hot and humid out there.  Our classroom feels really warm now so please send in a water bottle for your child if he/she wants one.  Some students have their own bottles at their desks so they can hydrate throughout the day.  We have water fountains, of course, but some students prefer their own bottles.

We started to take down our classroom decorations and projects this week.  Some projects are from our reading restaurant and some are from workshops and other learning activities.  Please look for them in your child's backpack.  I help the students pack up their precious projects so I hope they come home in one piece!  Enjoy!

As the school year is winding down, we also have to think about returning our library books.  Please make sure your child looks for "old" books that are over-due.  Thank you!  All library books are due back at the ABS library on June 10th.

Our field-trip to Shelburne Farms will be on Wednesday, may 29th.  We are going with Mrs. Thyng's class.  Our two classes will study pond life.  Please pack a peanut-free lunch and snack for your child on that day as we will spend the whole day there.  We should be back at ABS around 1:30pm.

Have a great rest of the week.
Maria

Williston Public Works visiting

Today, Williston Public Works visited our school.  We learned about their many important jobs and had a chance to see their trucks and equipment.  Here are some pictures.  Enjoy!

Pictures from Reading Restaurant

Dear Families,
Thank you so much for coming last night.  We had a wonderful night celebrating our students' incredible work this year.  Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Preparing for Reading Restaurant

The students have worked hard on preparing the classroom for Reading Restaurant.  Here are some pictures for you.  Enjoy.

Swarm Party

Today, the students at our school celebrated because we filled our buzzy jar in the main office.  We learned how to dance and move along with Ms. Ludwar, who is an instructor at Jazzercise.  We had so much fun dancing together and listening to some great music!

Ms. Dani visiting

Ms. Dani visited our classroom.  If you recall, Ms. Dani was our teacher intern from St. Michael's College in the fall.  She came back for our classroom celebration when we filled our buzzy jar.

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
We are so excited about Reading Restaurant tonight.  We look forward to seeing you all and share our written stories and projects with you.  Please do not forget to leave compliments or comments for our authors when you are here.  Each table has a "Tip Jar" for your convenience.  Our students have worked on decorating our classroom to reflect our "Pond Life" theme this year and they did an amazing job.  We really hope you will like it and notice all the little pond critters the children created. 
Today, team Synergy and team Horizon visited our classroom so the students had a chance to practice for tonight.  While they were a little nervous before our friends arrived, the quickly relaxed when they realized what a wonderful celebration this is.  I am so proud of their hard work and I hope you will all see their progress tonight.

Next week, we have our last 4 Winds class with Ms. Benoit's class.  It is scheduled for May 22.  We will go outside to study dandelions.  This means that the students will walk around in the tall grasses, where ticks like to live.  Please make sure your child is wearing long pants/jeans on Wednesday to make sure ticks cannot bite (no flipflops or sandals).  Also, please make sure your child wears sneakers and socks so we can tuck the pants inside the socks.  If your child does not want to wear sneakers all day, you can pack them and we will put them on before our class.  Thank you.

We look forward to seeing you all tonight.

Maria

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
We had a terrific week together and it was great to hear about all the fun everyone did over Spring vacation. It almost feels like summer arrived as the temperatures went soaring last week.  As you know, the students have outdoor recess every day, so please send in a water bottle, if your child wants one.  We keep them at our desks.  It is so important to stay hydrated.....

Our trip to the Flynn was great.  The students seemed to enjoy the show, "The true story of the three little pigs."  We read the book before going and it was interesting to discuss the differences and similarities between the two.

We have another fieldtrip scheduled soon.  On May 29th, our class is going to Shelburne Farms with Terry Thyng's class (the other two classrooms on our team are going on another day).  We wiill study pond life at Shelburne Farms.  We would like parent chaperones for this trip.  If you are interested in joining us, please let me know as soon as possible.  Thank you so much for consideing joining us. We will leave ABS in the morning and return later in the afternoon.  Since we will spend most of the day at Shelburne Farms, your child will need a packed peanut-free lunch and snack to bring along.  Your child will also spend the day outside, so please make sure your child is dressed according to the weather that day.

On Thursday, May 9th, we will visit Williston Central School to see the show "Annie".  The show will start around noon, so we will dismiss from WCS on that day. Children who attend Live Yers will ride bus A back to ABS with me; otherwise the students will board their regular busses.  If you plan to pick up your child on that day, please come to WCS. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you.

I sent home information about our Reading Restaurant last week.  I hope you all received the information.  If you did not, please let me know and I will send it home again with your child.  Thank you for sending in your seating confirmation so quickly.  It really helps as the students want to choose "jobs" in our restaurant as soon as possible.  We look forward to seeing all of you and sharing our writing.  We have not yet decided on a name for our restaurant, but we started the process last week and have narrowed down our choices.  We hope to vote early next week.

Have a great weekend.

Maria