Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

The weather is getting cooler out there.  Fall has definitely arrived!  Remember, we have outdoor recess everyday so please make sure your child comes to school with a long-sleeved sweater or hoodie for the cooler temperatures.  Thank you.

Speaking of fall; our wonderful UVM Intern Ms. Cristina, led a lesson earlier this week.  She read the book "Johnny Appleseed" by Steven Kellogg and discussed the different story elements in this book as well as how this book is an example of a tall tale.  Next week, the students will complete a writing activity to show their understanding of these concepts.  We look forward to another lesson, Ms. Cristina!

We had another guest reader read a book in our classroom last week.  Ms. Filion joined our room.  She read the book "The Energy Bus" by Jon Bordon.

The students listened intently to the book and learned about the importance of having positive thoughts and positive energy in your life.  As a follow-up activity, the students created their own "license plates" and added pictures of things that bring happiness to their own lives.  We placed our license plates inside our scrapbooks, so we can refer to them any time if we need to remind ourselves of positive, kind energy.  Thank you Ms. Filion for taking the time to read to us.

Writing:

The students continued practicing writer's workshop expectations and adding details to their words in writing.  This week, the learned how to add interesting details by focusing on who was present when the story was taking place, where it happened, what happened and when it happened.  We have a poster as a public record to remind ourselves of these possible ways to add more details to our stories as we continue to build writing stamina and independence.

Science:

We continued practicing scientific inquiry skills by interacting with Mystery Doug on Mystery Science.  We practiced turning and talking with our partners and focusing our observations on real evidence and fact instead of subjective observations.

We also had our first 4 Winds class.  We learned about insects and bugs. We learned that there are many similarities but also some very important differences between the two groups.  Ask your child to explain.  Thank you parents for providing these learning opportunities for our budding scientists!

Toys and Distractions:

We have noticed on Harmony that many children come to school with toys.  They have their toys in their backpacks but cannot help but taking them out at various times during the day to share, trade or give away.  Please help us help your child stay focused on learning here at school by making sure these toys do not even enter your child's backpack.  Perhaps a daily check is required as many children find times to put them in there without their parents knowledge  (I know from my own experience with my own 4 children...their creativity in this regard was outstanding!).  Toys are easily lost and it is tremendously disappointing to a young child when that happens.  It is also quite upsetting if toys have to be taken away because they interfere with math, writing or reading.  Please discuss this with your child at home and refrain from packing any toys at all. We discussed this on house and many children stated they only play with the toys on the bus. The teachers on Harmony are hoping books will be a better entertainment solution for the bus drive.

Technology:

The students successfully logged onto our classroom digital portfolio SeeSaw last week.  This week, we will post our "Hopes & Dreams" for this school year and share the access to this online portfolio with you all.  More information regarding SeeSaw will follow so please stay tuned and updated on our weekly posts!

We primarily use chromebooks when we access technology here at school.  Any additional practice your child can have at home with using a keyboard, a track pad and learning how to spell his/her full first and last name helps in this regard.  Thank you!

Lastly, thank you to those who already signed up for parent teacher conferences.  They are coming up soon.  Time flies!  Let me know if the times provided do not work for you and your family.  We will find another slot for you:)

Enjoy this beautiful fall day!!

Best,

Maria

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
The school week went by fast with lots of special events and beautiful weather!

Shelburne Farms:
We had a wonderful day at Shelburne Farms, learning about how different foods grow and eventually make it into our kitchens.  The students participated in different workshops and learned about berries, vegetables and herbs while making a pizza together.  Thank you parent chaperones for coming along.  Here are some pictures:

Technology:
For the past two weeks, the students have learned about what it means to be safe, kind and responsible online.  As you might recall, we had our wonderful Digital Learning Leader Ms. Wilson join our classroom to  discuss these ideas.  At Curriculum Night, some parents asked if we could please share this contract for home use.  Ms. Wilson happily shared her contract so it was placed inside your child's Friday Folder.  This contract is yours to use, or not.  It does not have to come back to school as we already have one signed and safely stored inside our scrapbooks.  We understand it is a challenge to balance technology with other demands at home so perhaps this contract can help eliminate some of those struggles.

Science:
We started our inquiry-based science last week.  We invited Ms. Fisher's class to join us for a mystery science investigation into the largest apple in the world.  We followed up by tasting three different kinds of apples and graphing our results.

Math:
Our first grade mathematicians worked hard all week and earned a math celebration for filling our class jar.  On Friday, we introduced ipads as a rotating station.  At this station, the students practiced their subitizing skills.  Subitizing is the skill to quickly recognize a set of numbers and patterns in a group without counting.  For example, understanding dice patters help us group numbers quickly and efficiently for accurate calculations.

Reading:
We started guided reading groups.  The students participate in daily small groups and receive targeted  instruction in reading.  We call these groups "Book Clubs" as we also share our understanding and wonderings as we read.  My intern, Ms. Cece, conducted her first lesson.  The students learned about different story elements.  They learned about characters, setting, problem and solutions.  We will continue these discussions in the weeks to come.  The students are encouraged to identify these story elements in the stories they read; both in book clubs, but also in books they read independently.  Perhaps you can also engage in these types of conversations at home with your child?

Forest Friday:
We ended the week by going outside for another Forest Friday workshop.  The weather was sunny and cool; perfect for outdoor explorations and creative play.

Have a great day. 
Best,
Maria

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
We continue to establish routines and norms in our classroom and at our school.  Last week, the students practiced what it looks like and sounds like to be responsible on the bus and in our gym.  We talked about the importance of using an inside voice, having a calm body and following the group plan.  All students practiced safety on the bus even though they normally do not ride the bus to, and from, school because we will all ride the bus together on field-trips.  The students continue to earn buzzies for being safe, kind and responsible.  When we fill the classroom buzzy jar, we have a special celebration in our classroom.  When we fill the school buzzy jar, we have a school-wide celebration.  Every Friday, students on harmony have the opportunity to be nominated for a special "BeeKeeper Certificate".  The teachers and staff members on Harmony nominate two students every week.  These students are recognized in our kiva assembly on Friday afternoons.  We are so proud of all of our students!

Reading:
Last week, I was assessing students in beginning of the year reading skills.  At ABS, we administer the Fountas & Pinnell reading assessment.  We do this formally three times a year (September, January and June).  We assess reading accuracy, reading fluency and reading comprehension.  I will share your child's reading proficiency in October at our conferences.  They all did an outstanding job.  They were so happy and eager to read with me and talk about the books we read together.

Your child brought home his/her first reading log on Friday.  We encourage students to read every night at home.  This reading time should be relaxing, enjoyable and engaging.  It should not be a power-struggle between you and your child, and this time should not be viewed as a "homework time".  Rather, we hope you and your child will enjoy some good books together.  Take turns reading.  Encourage your child to read books he/she can read independently.  Take turns reading sentence by sentence.  Don't forget to talk about the books too.  What happened?  Who are the characters?  Why do you think they acted the way they did?  Does this remind you of anything?
Please jot down the books read and return the reading log the following Friday.

I have linked the reading log (and many other examples/reading games on my wiki in the section "Reading Logs" and also here for your convenience.

As discussed on Curriculum Night, we do not typically send home books unless your child wishes to take books home from our classroom.  We noticed that many of our books never returned, which resulted in fewer books for instructional purposes. If you want your child to take books home from the classroom to help with the reading log, please let me know.  I will provide your student with a book bag and we will pack books for next week.  Thank you.

Writing:
The students worked on "All About Me" posters and a special project called "Hopes & Dreams".  We will hang our Hopes and Dreams above the lockers along with Ms. Fisher's class and we hope to share our posters with you at our conferences in October.
If your child did not return "The Time capsule" assignment/interview, please return it to the class as soon as possible.  The students are eager to start playing our games.  Thank you.

We started our spelling groups last week as well.  Students are divided into smaller groups according to grade level.  This way, all students can receive the instruction they need and our groups are smaller.  I teach 2nd grade.  We use Fundations as our curriculum.  We do not send spelling homework, but I have linked 2nd grade spelling words on my wiki for parents to print, if desired.  The lists online do not exactly correspond to the instructional pace at school as our schedules often change due to specials.  The spelling lists are linked under Word Study and here for your convenience.

Math:
First grade mathematicians continued building a community of learners with new routines and norms this week.  They also practiced their number writing.  They also continued to deepen their understanding of part of a number, such as 10.  We explored how numbers can be broken down into smaller parts, or groups.  We used rekenreks (number racks), unifix cubes and dice.  Next week, first graders will take home some work station recording sheets for you to see some of the amazing work they have done at school!

Upcoming Events & Reminders:

• We have a field-trip to Shelburne Farms on Wednesday, September 18th.  The bus leaves ABS at 8:45.  We will return around 2pm for regular dismissal.  Please make sure your child is dressed for outdoor explorations.  Layers are best.  Your child must wear sneakers or boots.  No open toe shoes please.  Your child needs a packed lunch and snack.  They must be peanut and Tree Nut free as we have allergies on house.  If your child needs a bagged lunch from school, please let me know before the end of the school day Monday as our kitchen staff must get these bagged lunches ready.  Thank you.  For those of you who will be joining us, please let me know if you will be riding the bus with us or meet us there.  Thank you.
• The ABS Picture Day is Tuesday, September 17th.  Please remember the photo forms if you are ordering extra pictures of your child.
• The FAP Ice Cream Social is on Wednesday, September 18th between 5-6pm.  Come and join us for some fun and ice cream.  I will only be able to stay for the first 15-20 minutes because I have to drive to Underhill, where I live, to pick up my youngest son Ryan from after school care and my other son Aidan from MMU Football practice.  I hope you understand and I look forward to seeing you briefly:)

Enjoy the beautiful weather today!

Maria

Forest Friday

We had Friday workshops on Harmony last week.  I took my group outside for some creative nature exploration, called Forest Friday.  I plan on doing this for the next few weeks and encourage kids to spend time outside in the woods as much as possible.  There is so much to explore and discover.

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

The students are settling in nicely to their new routines.  I am so proud of them.  We continued discussing what it means to be a kind and compassionate member of our learning community and the students are applying these skills every day together.  We created our classroom contract.  We framed it around our school motto: Be Safe, Be Kind and Be Responsible.  The students came up with our specific rules and then we created bees with our names to go around it.  Here is a picture of the contract:

Reading:
We had our first reading buddies meeting.  Every Wednesday afternoon, we meet with our new friends in Ms. Davison's Kindergarten classroom.  We enjoy books together and learn to read out loud with proper fluency and phrasing.  Sometimes, we even do science together!  We take turns visiting each others' classrooms.  They came to us this time and we were so happy to show them our new reading nooks and books.

Writing:
All students on Harmony participated in beginning-of-the-year spelling assessments last week.  The results will inform our spelling groups in Fundations.  The students are automatically divided by grade level.  In other words, all first grade students will participate in level 1 Fundations and all second grade students will participate in level 2 Fundations classes.  However, within each grade level, we create fluid groups to better differentiate instruction so all students receive appropriate and responsive instruction.  We will start Fundations classes tomorrow, on Monday 9/6.
The students in my class received their Writing Folders and had the opportunity to personalize them by adding designs and drawings.  Lastly, they started their first writing piece.  We wrote about our summer adventures.  We look forward to sharing these in October during our parent-teacher conferences.

Math:We started math on Harmony!  All first grade students in my home-room will receive math instruction from me, and we are joined by some first grade friends from Mrs. Benoit and Ms. Crowley's classes,  Second grade students will either receive math instruction from Mrs. Benoit or Ms. Crowley, as they teach second grade math.  Ms. Fisher teaches first grade math as well, and just like last year, she and I will create many collaborative math tasks for our two math classes to do together.
Last week, we focused on getting to know each other and creating a safe and kind learning community of mathematicians.  We also learned where our math materials are stored and how we rotate between math stations and small groups.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

• The FAP Ice Cream Social is scheduled for 9/18 between 5-6pm.  Please join us for an early evening of fun and ice cream!
• The ABS Curriculum Night is on 9/12 between 6-7pm.  Please join us on Harmony to learn more about our curricular objectives and classes.
• Our field-trip to Shelburne Farms is on 9/18.  Please consider joining us for a full day of outdoor learning and fun.  Please let me know asap if you can chaperone.  Thank you.  Also, please do not forget to let me know if your child needs a bagged lunch from school that day.  I forwarded an email from Ally Roberts last week for you to sign up.  Thank you.
• ABS Picture Day is coming up!  It is scheduled for 9/17.  Your child brought home ordering packet information in his/her Friday folders last week.  Please fill out and return as soon as possible if you wish for your child to have additional pictures.  Thank you!

Best,

Maria