Our first kiva share of the new school year

Every Friday, team harmony meets in the kiva to share something special about the learning that week.  Usually two students from each class share.  Here is a picture.  Enjoy.

Favorite Singing and Dancing Links

We love to sing and dance in our classroom.  Many of the children asked if I could share the links so they can access these songs from home.  I have them linked on my classroom wiki (which is on my school web-site), but here is the direct link.

To songs

To dances

Have fun!

Weekly Update

Dear Families and Students,
We had a fantastic week together in our class. We have a great groups of kids.  They are friendly and eager to learn together.  We are off to a great start. I hope your child came hope and shared some of the activities we did together.  During the first few weeks of school, we spend a lot of time on building a solid classroom community, characterized by empathy, kindness and a willingness to take risks in our learning through perseverance and a "can do" attitude.  Through guided discovery, we started to establish a new routine together and we also learned how to use the materials in our classroom.  For example, the children started to decorate their writing folders and they started to fill their scrapbooks with their very first writing piece.  We also learned what reader's workshop looks like and sound like in our classroom and the children began selecting books for their book boxes.  Next week, we will started guided reading groups (which we refer to as Book Clubs) even though I am not scheduled to do my reading assessments until later this month.  I will not send home homework next week, but your child will come home with two books from our library, as we have library on Mondays!

Upcoming Events:
 We are scheduled to go to Shelburne Farms on September 9th.  This is a whole day field-trip and we are still looking for chaperones.  If you are interested in joining us, please let me know as soon as possible.  You can ride the bus with us (which is always fun!), or you can meet up with us there.  I will send exact times as soon as I have that information.  Permission slips for second graders came home in our Friday folders today.  We also included permission slips for any first grader who has not handed in this yet.  Please fill them out and return as soon as possible.  Thanks!

Our ABS Curriculum Night is scheduled for September 16th at 6:30pm.  Please join us to learn more about our curriculum and themes this year.

ABS Picture Day is scheduled for September 15th.  More information will follow shortly

Please remember to fill out the blue emergency form for our school nurse and hand it into the office as soon as possible.  We want to make sure we are up-to-date on your child's health, allergies, and/or any medications that might be necessary to administer.

Don't forget to check the blog often as I post many pictures thoughout the week.

A Favorite Read Aloud this week:

We read many books on friendship and community this week.  A favorite is "Marsupial Sue".  It is written by John Lithgow, who also sings the song that goes along with the book.  We listened to it in the classroom and followed along in the text.  Perhaps you can listen to it at home.  Have a great weekend.

Maria 

Class picture

Here is a picture of our awesome class.  Enjoy.

More pictures from today

Here are some more pictures from today.  We did some writing about our first day, enjoyed some extra recess, danced to noodle, and had a visit from our District Principal Mr. Marino.

First day

We are off to a great start in school.  We had a great morning with team building activities and morning meeting.  Here are some pictures from our morning together.

Classroom

I am getting the classroom ready for tomorrow.  Here is a sneak peek.  I am excited to see you all tomorrow.

Welcome Back

Dear Families and Students!

Summer is almost over and school starts again on Wednesday next week.  I am so excited to see all the kids again.  I hope everybody had a nice, relaxing summer vacation.  I can't wait to hear all about it.  I had a great summer with my family.  We went to Cape Cod for a week to meet up with our extended family.  We do that every year and it is nice to catch up with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles who live all over the east coast.  We had a fantastic week with sun, ice cream, bumper boats and beach fun.  Most of the summer, we just stayed home.  I did a lot of gardening and landscaping.  Emilie studied Chinese at UVM for a week, Aidan did an archery camp and Connor played some soccer.  Ryan spent time at home with us but also enjoyed some time with his friends at day-care.

I met with new students and their families last week.  Thank you for taking the time to stop by our classroom to chat and give your child the opportunity to ask questions before the first day of school.  We have a great groups of kids.

Information on our weekly schedule for the new school year:

Our first day of school is a PE day.  We have PE on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Please remember that your child needs sneakers to PE.  In fact, it is preferable if your child wears sneakers to school on those days because it takes a while for our little learners to get their sneakers on and their snack will be short if they have to change shoes before PE class.  I have posted our updated weekly schedule on the web-site for your convenience and will also send it home the first week of school.

We have library on Fridays this year.  Please remind your child to pack his/her library books so he/she has new books for the weekend.  Thank you.

We go to the Computer Lab on Fridays as well.  Please send in ear-buds, or head-phones for your child.  It is best if they are placed inside a zip-lock bag with his/her name on it.  Thank you.

We have snack every day.  I am waiting to hear back from our school nurse regarding nut products inside our classroom and I will let you know as soon as I hear back.  For now, please assume that we are nut free inside our classroom.  This means that our snacks must be nut free. Our school, however, is not nut free.  It is nut safe.  This means that your child can bring nuts to the cafeteria for lunch because they have a nut free table there.  I do not have that inside my classroom and since we share kids on our team, I think it is best to err on the side of caution in case there is an allergy on our team.  I will get back to you soon on this issue.  Thank for understanding and showing consideration of others.

Classroom Logistics:
In the first week of school, I will not send home homework and book bags, but when they do go home, you can expect them inside your child's backpack on Mondays.  They can stay home the entire week.  They are due on Fridays.

This year I am sending home Friday Folders.  (These folders replace the Thursday Folders of last year) Inside the Friday Folders you will find school notices, permission slips and your child's work).  Empty Friday Folders are due back on Mondays.  Thank you for reminding your child to check these folders and packing them for Mondays.

I post weekly newsletters on the classroom blogs.  Please expect a weekly update on Friday afternoons.  If nothing is posted, I encountered technology problems.  I tend not to send out email reminders.  The primary reason is because our email domain has a tendency to randomly eliminate email addresses from large groups and there is no way for me to know who did not receive my email. I sometimes post pictures and videos several times a week.  Please check it often and include your child so he/she can tell you about our learning at school.  Let me know if you have any problems accessing our blog.  It is linked on the school web-site, under Teams/Harmony/McCormack.  Thanks for taking an active role in our learning.

If you are interested in volunteering in our classroom, let me know.  I already talked to new, incoming families about this, but if you are a returning parent, please let me know.  I usually start volunteers in early October.  Thanks!

Upcoming Events:
We are scheduled to go to Shelburne Farms on September 9th.  This is a whole day field-trip and we are looking for chaperones.  If you are interested in joining us, please let me know as soon as possible.  You can ride the bus with us (which is always fun!), or you can meet up with us there.  I will send exact times as soon as I have that information.  Permission slips for second graders will come home in Friday folders the first week of school.  Please fill them out and return as soon as possible.  Thanks!

Our ABS CUrriculum Night is scheduled for September 16th at 6:30pm.  Please join us to learn more about our curriculum and themes this year.

ABS Picture Day is scheduled for September 15th.  More information will follow shortly.

I hope I did not overwhelm you all with this lengthy post.  I hope you feel ready to come back to school!
See you all soon.  Enjoy your last few days of summer.
Thanks for reading.

Maria