Weekly Update

Dear Families,
We have had a fantastic week with many interesting and learning-filled activities.

On Tuesday afternoon, a real musher from Peace Pus came to visit our team to teach us more about dog sledding.  We learned about the equpment used for dog sleddding, the harnesses and how to take care of the dogs.  We also learned what is required for the lead dog to successfully lead the team to the finish line.  We also had the opportunity to pet the dogs.  They were so adorable and well-behaved.  Here are some pictures.

A couple of weeks ago, we had another visit from another musher.  Her name is Morgan and she is currently studying at the University of Vermont.  Morgan has spent a lot of time in Alaska and she came to Harmony to share her expertise in dog sledding and mushing.  Although she did not bring any dogs, she brought in gear that the dogs use in the Iditarod, such as booties to keep their paws warm, belly blankets and various harnesses.  Morgan has trained dogs for many of the mushers in the Iditarod this year and years past.  For example, she has worked with Dallas Seevey and his dad. Thank you Morgan for sharing your knowledge with us.  Here are some pictures from her visit.

Although the real Iditarod race has ended, we will continue with our Iditarod reading logs for another couple of weeks.  I will let you know when team Harmony officially ends the reading race, but I am still waiting to hear back from the other teachers.  I am thrilled to see the writing every week.  We have such a terrific groups of readers and writers in our class!  Keep it up everyone!

We had another great 4 Winds class today.  We learned about the Water Cycle and had the opportunity to participate in different experiments in our classroom.  The students learned about water's surface tension while using droppers to place small water droplets on pennies.  They used magnifying glasses to act as scientists as they carefully observed the water droplet's quality and shape.  The students also witnessed condensation through an experiment using hot water (which our parent volunteer carried out) and practiced evaporation using fans.  It was a great class.  Once again, thank you parents for making this possible every time.  We love science!

Lastly, I wanted to inform everyone that my intern, Amy Winter, will do her solo week next week.  That means that she will be teaching all of the lessons in our class.  While I am still at school, I am not officially teaching the classes.  I will still check my email and be available to you if you need me, of course.  If you have any dismissal changes, doctor's appoinments or other daily changes, please let me know just like before.  If you wish, you can also copy Amy on that email.  her email is awinter@cssu.org
After Amy's solo week, Amy only has another 2 weeks with us.  Her last day is April18th.  We will miss her very much but wish her all the best in her future endeavors.  She has already accepted a job as a teacher in Connecticut, in a town very close to where her parents live and where she grew up.  Congratulations Amy!  We are so proud of you!

Have a great rest of the week,
Maria
Have great rest of the week everyone!

Winter Olympics

We wanted to share some pictures from our classroom murals about the Winter Olympics, which support our learning and writing in class.  We hope you have read our blog posts and know that we are busy writing reports (which we research in real books, on web-sites and with audio files).  We look forward to sharing these reports later this trimester.

Learning about the weather

Ms. Winter is currently doing a series of classes on the weather in our classroom.  We are learning so much!  On Tuesday, the students learned about the water cycle and made their own "clouds" inside ziplock bags to see evaporation and condensation!  They could hang the bags anywhere inside the classroom and were challenged to think about how heat and the sun affect the water cycle.

Multi-Cultural Festival and Chinese New Year

Dear Families and Friends,
I wanted to write a quick note and share some pictures of a special project that two of our students worked on for Williston Central School's end of the year Multi-Cultural Festival.
While all students learned about the Chinese New Year and did some extended learning activities around this holiday, these students integrated language and other cultural aspects into their learning with our ELL teacher Miss Melita.
Here are some pictures of their amazing project.  The tri-fold is on display in our classroom now and will be moved to WCS in time for the festival.

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
It is great to be back in school again.  The students were so happy to see each other and share all the wonderful things they did over vacation.    The students also seemed happy to get back into the routine of school.  They are so excited about our new reading logs and our Iditarod unit.
Thank you all for helping our children succeed with the new reading logs.  Many children are so eager to read a little extra, which, of course, is wonderful.  Please keep in mind, however, that the writing piece that goes along with the reading should be done neatly, with full sentences and justifications.  Thank you.  As always, let me know if you have any additional questions.  I hope the email and blog post I sent out earlier this week helped you understand the logs and expectations.

In writing, the children continued learning about research.  This week, we primarily focused on how to take good and relevant notes.  We also learned how to read for information, pause to think about what we just learned and then re-voice those words into our very own before we write them down.  The children are doing an amazing job applying their new skills and their reports are coming along nicely.    Throughout this writing unit, the children will also learn to read with a specific goal in mind.  As they search for information pertaining to their topic, they will experience that readers read with different purposes.  Sometimes we read for enjoyment, but sometimes we read to gather information.

First grade mathematicians continued their work on number sense and fluency in our Number Corner activities and Work Places.  They explored these concepts through the uses of number lines, various manipulatives as well as from a short unit on penguins.

Reminders:

• We have outdoor recess every day (weather permitting) so please make sure your child comes to school with hats, gloves, boots and snow-pants.  Hopefully, Spring will arrive soon!
• Information about Jump Rope for Hearts was in the School Bell if your child wishes to participate
• Information about the Basket Raffle was sent home in Thursday foledrs this week.  Thank you for considering participating!
• Report cards will be sent home next Friday, March 14th

Iditarod News for our Class

Dear Families,
It is that time of the year again!  The Iditarod Race has begun in Alaska and the children on Team Harmony follow the race through reading and writing.  Each student chose a musher to follow before our Winter break and we will visit various web-sites in school to check where these mushers are in the race.
The Iditarod Race also brings some changes to our weekly reading and writing homework.
First, each child will receive a brand new homework folder when we return to school.  Luckily, it is still red and it will still have math homework.  The reading logs, however, have changed.  The children are still expected to read on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, but the writing logs look different from before.  Each night has one whole page of writing that goes along with the reading.  The children are encouraged to give a brief summary of what they read and then choose their favorite part OR the most important part of what they read.  In the latter section, it is particularly important that the children "back up their thinking" and justify why it was their favorite part (or the most important part).
The children will write "a contract" in school with me and Ms. Winter.  They will reflect on their own reading and writing needs and choose how much, or how long, they will read every night.  Most children choose to read for about 15-20 minutes, then write in their logs.  It is also important that each log reflects a "just right" book for your child.
For each reading log your child brings into school, he/she will be able to move forward on the real Iditarod race.  We have a map of the race and there are several check-points along the way. We also give different prizes along the way to encourage the children to keep reading and writing.  The children do not race against each other; rather they race against the real mushers and dogs in the Iditarod race.  It is very exciting to see their enthusiasm as they try to stay ahead of, or catch up to, "their own" musher!
Your child's new homework folder already have many Iditarod reading logs.  If your child wishes to complete more, please use the ones already attached inside your folder, or simply print extra ones from our wiki.  I have linked the file for your convenience (in case your child wishes to write more and the folder is in school!).
Here is the link.  I have linked informational letters explaining this race as well.
All reading logs are linked in the Printable Section of the wiki.

I have also created a web-site on the wiki in case your child wishes to learn more about this exciting event.  It is linked here (but always stays as a separate site on the wiki)

I think that is all for now.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Happy reading and writing!

Maria

PS.  Since we do not have classes on Monday, homework folders will go home on Tuesday and they are due back on Thursday.