Nature Notes

I had three baby foxes  in my front yard.  They were playing with each other and had so much fun together.  They even played with the football, but I was unable to capture that on the phone.
Have you seen any animals in your yard or neighborhood?

Nature Notes: The eggs hatched!

The robin eggs on my porch hatched today!
We have three little baby birds in the nest.  Mama bird is very busy bringing ovbr food for her new little ones:)

Nature Notes

Periodically over the summer, I hope to share some observations from the outdoors.  Summer is such an amazing time in Vermont and my family and I try to spend as much time outside as possible.

Here are some pictures from my front porch.  A mother robin decided to build her nest inside a wreath that we have there.  There are three eggs in her nest.  I tried to capture the mother bird on her eggs too, but could not get too close.  Hopefully, you can see her.

Happy Summer!

Dear Families,

Our last week of school went by quickly with many extra special activities.

Our traditional end-of-the-year Harmony Idol was, once again,a huge hit.  The students really took risks, performing in front of the entire Harmony House.  Even some of the etachers sang songs and our principal Angela Filion participated as well.

We also had our traditional graduation ceremony in the gym.  This is a time when the entire school celebrates all grades.  This year, Principal Filion invited her dance group to perfom to us.  They were amazing!

Team Harmony also celebrated our graduating second graders on house.  The first graders had made special hand-print flowers, which we handed out.  We are so proud of our graduating second graders and wish them all the best in the future.  They are ready for third grade!

I hope you and your family will enjoy a restful summer together.  I hope you have lots of opportunities to play together and play outside.  I challenged the children to see how many times they play outside in the rain! In my mind, every day provides an opportunity to be outdoors.
I hope you and your child have many opportunities to enjoy books together as well.  A few days before school ended, the kids and I brain-stormed a list of reasons why it is important to read every day over the summer.  Here is what they came up with:

• so you don't lose the skills you already have in reading
• so you can learn new things
• so you can exercise your brain 😊
• so you can recognize words faster and more easily
• so you can build your confidence
• so you can have fun and choose the books you want to read!!!!!

I hope you have a summer filled with relaxation, books and outdoor time.  Thanks for an amazing year!

Maria

End-of-the-year information

Dear Families,

All children packed up their summer/end-of-the-year packets today.  

In their backpacks you will find:

• Account information to our school online reading program a-z.  Please keep this sheet because it has your child's username and password for summer reading online (if you wish to use it).  Team Harmony is behind this reading program this year as another option to spark interest and engagement in reading and prevent summer reading regression!
• First grade mathematicians have a math packet for summer math fun.  This is voluntary but we hope your child (even 2nd graders!) will find many opportunities to see math all around them. Don't forget about my online math games on the wiki, Bedtimemath.org  and mobymax(for first graders only)
• Some students have a summer Fundations packet and a copy of the school magazine, The Scribe (if your child was published, he/she received his/her own copy).  It is my understanding that Julie Rogers will publish an online version as well.
• Our summer book recommendations are now available/published on seesaw. If your child cannot find a good book this summer, go on seesaw and watch videos from their friends in class!

Report cards will go home tomorrow!

Have a great night!

Bookmobile

We had a visit from the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library's Book Mobile earlier this week.  The town librarians shared about their summer reading program.  The kids were so excited.

This year on Harmony, we are encouraging families to join this terrific reading program over the summer.  We hope that families will sign their children up and participate in as many activities and read (and listen to) as many books as possible this summer.

The link to sign up for this reading program is here

This is a free program.  Children can participate in the reading program, earn stamps towards their goals and qualify for the raffle prizes, even though they do not attend any of the special workshops.  If anyone needs help driving in to get the fun reading packets/stamps for their child, please let me know.  I am happy to pick it up for your child.

The program officially starts today.  Your child will bring home an informational packet about this in his/her Friday folder.  I will also send home a Reading Bingo that I hope your child will participate in.

Have fun reading this summer!

4 Winds

We had a wonderful 4 Winds class this afternoon, learning about the cardinal directions.  We had the opportunity to use compasses and find land-marks on maps.

Thank you parent volunteers for making this possible!

Summer Reading at the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library this summer

Dear Families,

We had a visit from the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library's Book Mobile today.  The town librarians shared about their summer reading program.  The kids were so excited.

This year on Harmony, we are encouraging families to join this terrific reading program over the summer.  We hope that families will sign their children up and participate in as many activities and read (and listen to) as many books as possible this summer.

The link to sign up for this reading program is here

This is a free program.  Children can participate in the reading program, earn stamps towards their goals and qualify for the raffle prizes, even though they do not attend any of the special workshops.  If anyone needs help driving in to get the fun reading packets/stamps for their child, please let me know.  I am happy to pick it up for your child.

The program officially starts today.  Your child will bring home an informational packet about this in his/her Friday folder.  I will also send home a Reading Bingo that I hope your child will participate in.

Have fun reading this summer!

Fun Day information

Dear Families,

We are scheduled for Fun Day this Friday between 9-11am.  This event takes place at WCS, on the fields behind the school.  If you would like to help us out, please respond to this email and let me know.  Thank you!

The children will participate in various outdoor activities and challenges.  We are split into two groups and travel around the field to already pre-determined stations, manned by older students from WCS.  Please help your child dress according to the weather.  Right now, it looks like Friday will be relatively warm and sunny, but it might be a little chilly in the morning.  Think layers!

If your child want a water bottle, he/she will be responsible for bringing that around the field.  We will have built-in water break so a bottle is not necessary.  If your child requires sunscreen, please apply this at home.

Fun Day ends with ice pops and we take the bus back to ABS for regularly scheduled  classes.