Weekly Update

Dear Families,
This week, the students on Team Hamony had another 4 Winds class.  This month, the students learned about snowflakes.  We started in the kiva with a puppet show and then rotated through a variety of hands-on workshops, all about snowflakes.  The students learned about the different types of snowflakes and their respective labels and names.  For example, ask your child to explain what a fern dendrite looks like and how it is different from a plate snowflake.  The students also created their own snowflakes using coffee filters and matched up pictures of real snowflakes with vocabulary words.  Thank you parent volunteers for providing your time to these terrific learning opportunities.

This week, the students in my class also began a scientific inquiry task.  In science, we are emphasizing asking precise questions before we begin a "test" or inquiry.  We learn to think and act like scientists.  We use our senses and take careful notes as we observe our tests and collect our data. This week, however, we focused more upon the importance of only changing one variable at a time in order to have a valid test.  Ask your child to explain why scientists only change one variable at a time. The challenge presented was to figure out a way to get both salt water and fresh water to evaporate as quickly as possible.  The students were given only a few objects, such as two cups (one for each type of water), the use of a sharpie, mirrors, masking tape, fresh water and salt water.  Together the students had to agree on how to plan for the experiment, where to put the cups, how to measure evaporation, and what variable to change, if change was indeed needed.  The worked so well together and documented all their steps inside their science journals.  Some students decided to place both cups in the window.  The reason given was because the sun provides heat so that would speed evaporation.  Others decided to place the cups near the radiator.  The reason was because the heat from the radiator is more constant than the sun (here in Vermont in the winder!) and also much warmer than the sun.  All students agreed we needed to mark the initial water level so we can see change, if any.  We are still in the midst of these experiments and look forward to changes on Monday!

Lastly, the weather finally warmed up a little this week, so today during workshops, some kids on Harmony went outside to play in the snow.  Here are some pictures.

Stay warm this weekend.
Regards,
Maria

Weekly Update

Dear Families,

Another week just finished!  Time flies.  It is exciting to see that the days are finally getting a little longer.  Has anyone else noticed that it gets darker a little later every day now?
Report cards are inside your child's backpacks today.  Children who went skiing this afternoon also have their report cards packed inside their backpacks.  Please look at these together with your child and celebrate his/her hard work in school together.  Let me know if you have any questions about our new grading system.  As mentioned many times before, our report cards are now aligned with the common core standards so our reporting scales have changed to reflect this change.  Each report card envelope has an informational flier to explain this grading system to parents.  The School Bell also has additional information if you are interested in digging deeper into this new system of reporting.  Otherwise, just let me know and we can chat about it.  Thank you!

This week, the students wrapped up their studies of the ocean.  Our ream-wide science workshops ended and my class went to the computer lab for one last culminating activity.  The students got the opportunity to show their understanding and learning of the oceans throughout this entire unit by drawing a picture, using one of the many computer painting programs we have used this year.  Some children chose to represent their learning in Microsoft Paint, while others used the online web-tools on crayola and abc ya.  Her are some pictures.

This week, we also had the amazing opportunity to work together with an already published author.  His name is David Martin and he has written and illustrated many children's books.  He sent us an already illustrated story that he made more the holidays for his grandchild.  The story is called "Skelley's apple" and he asked us to write the words.  This week, the students worked together in partnerships and small groups to add words to this story.  I will type them up so we can send this to Mr. Martin and see what he thinks.  It was great to learn and create together in a collaborative writing setting.  Thank you Mr. Martin for including us in the writing process.

Next week, we will continue our non-fiction focus in literacy.  Guided reading groups will emphasize aspects of this genre and the students will continue to deepen their understanding of note-taking and finding evidence in texts.  The students will also continue writing their "All About" books, a writing form that allows them to apply what they learn in reading to writing.  In a sense, we will be reading as writers and writing as readers!

Have a great wekekend.  Regards,
Maria

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
Welcome back to school and Happy New Year!  It is great to back again.  The kids appeared ready to come back and see each other again.  We had a great week together and they had many wonderful stories to share about their holiday vacation activities.
This week, team Harmony started a new science unit.  We finished our study of the Solar System before our holiday break.  This week, we began our study of the oceans.  Once again, the students will participate in a series of workshops, rotating between the classrooms on our team.  I am teaching the layers of the ocean, Ms. Benoit is providing workshops on animal adaptations and Ms. Crowley is teaching our students about the ocean food webs.  When our science rotations have concluded, the students will get ready to write their ocean animal reports, our next writing unit.  In this unit, the students will learn how to write a piece containing non-fiction writing elements.  Up until this point, we have primarily written personal narratives, or small moments as we call them in first and second grade.  These are stories about things that has already happened to us.  If you recall, the students learn many different writing techniques for making these stories more interesting to the reader, such as using adjectives, dialogue, setting and effective transition words.  In our non-fiction writing unit, the students will shift focus and write informational pieces.  If you are a second grade parent, you will notice that we will, once again, begin this unit by writing "All About" pieces.  "All about" writing allows the students to slowly transition into non-fiction writing as we focus upon things that the children already know a lot about.  For example, a student who knows a lot about dogs might wish to write about dogs.  This piece would perhaps contain chapters on how to care for a dog, what food they eat, equipment you need for a dog, and games dogs like.  A student who does not know a lot about dogs would not write about this, of course, but would choose a topic that pertains to his/her interests and expertise.  During this transition writing phase, students do not conduct research.  They only write about things they already know.  This allows us to focus upon structure and other non-fiction writing elements.  When the students have finished their all about writing pieces, we will begin our research-based ocean animal writing unit.  This is always a favorite writing unit for our young learners.  I hope your child will share all about "All About" writing at home:)
Report cards come home with our students on January 23rd.  Our report cards have been changed from previous years to reflect our curricular emphasis on the common core standards.  The Bell has published numerous articles on these new report cards to help parents navigate the new reporting format.  They can be accessed by clicking on the School Bell on our web-site if you missed them.  Thank you. If you have any questions after you receive your child's report card, please contact me.
Lastly, I wanted to share some pictures from our week in school before our holiday break.  I never had a chance to post them on the last day of school, and most of vacation I was without internet and phone at my house (Yes, I am one of the lucky FairPoint customers!).  It is finally back so here we go.  I think you will enjoy these pictures.  Thank you all for providing goodies for our holiday party in the classroom and thank you parents who volunteered your time to help us out.  We are lucky to have such a great community.

Before break, we participated in a world-wide technology celebration called "Hour of Code," an opportunity to teach students about coding of computers and expanding their understanding, and hopefully, their interest in computing.  We went to our computer lab and learned how to program in order to move a character around a maze.  Ms. Davison's reading buddies joined us for part of this and we learned so much.  In fact, the kids loved it so much, I linked it on our wiki, under the technology tab.  If your child enjoys logic and puzzles, there is also a great app for the ipad called "Daisy the Dinosaur."

Before vacation, my daughter Emilie, who is 15, was able to join us for a day.  She helped us with various holiday crafts and we all had lunch in the classroom together.

Before holiday break, team Harmony also went outside one afternoon to sled and build snow-forts.  We had so much fun together.  Ms. Benoit even rolled down the hill in the snow!

Lastly, here are some pictures from our pajama day and movie day.  Thanks again for your generosity, providing both time and goodies to our holiday party.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  Stay warm!

Maria