Pictures from school

 

Science: Melting candy to learn about solids and liquids

We love Snail!

Drawing and making crafts together

Science: Learning about bones and light

Fundations

Family Newsletter

 Dear Families,

Here is our week in review:

Social-Emotional Learning:

• This week, we learned about how to help ourselves and others during work times in class.  It can be challenging to be an active and engaged student.  With the help of Snail from our Second Step curriculum, we practiced different strategies.  The students reviewed asking the teacher or a buddy for help, looking around the room to see what other friends are doing and taking a mindful moment to collect our thoughts and feelings.  Lastly, the students learned about “Self Talk”.  Self talk is an efficient strategy to use to help us as students stay on track.  The students helped Snail get back on track when he got sidetracked.  Self Talk is using a whisper voice, or thought, to basically remind yourself of the task at hand.

• The students filled the classroom buzzy jar again this week for being safe, kind and responsible.  This week, the students wanted to listen to songs from my Online Resource Website and do arts and crafts together.  They did a great job sharing materials and creating projects.

Reading:

• The students continued to navigate their reading times between partner reading, independent reading and guided reading groups this week.  They are improving their reading stamina every day.  Thank you for reading with your child at home daily.

• We continued our unit on Mo Willems this week.  We deepened our understanding of character traits too.  The students participated in a variety of whole class read alouds followed by “turn and talks” to describe the characters in the books we read.  One of our favorite books this week was “Bug Girl” by Sophia Spencer, a true story about a girl whose love of bugs helps her realize the importance of being true to who you are.

Writing:

• First grade authors added adjectives and senses to their personal narratives this week.  They learned to add these details in their pictures and in their words.

• They did an amazing job working on their stories this week. When we were out of time one day, they asked for an additional five minutes to write!  What a class!  They are all authors.  We look forward to publishing these stories and sharing them with you at home.  Stay tuned for more details.

• First grade writers are encouraged to try their best when they spell their words.  The words do not have to be perfectly spelled.  In fact, it is more important for first grade authors to get their ideas down on paper to tell their stories.  We encourage our young learners to “tap out the sounds” they hear and represent each sound with a letter/s.  These skills will evolve as the first grade writers master more knowledge of spelling patterns and can recognize words automatically in print.

First Grade Math:

• First grade mathematicians continued exploring numbers based upon our “Days in School” chart.  They are showing these numbers in different ways, in different groups and equations.  We are almost at the 50th day of school already!

• We also continued working on partners to ten.  We hope that first grade mathematicians will automatically recognize these relationships and know what strategies to use when solving math problems.  This week, for example, first graders created a story-book for partners to ten on a playground.  I hope you will have a chance to read these at home.  The students were so proud creating them and they worked hard.

Science:

• This week, we learned more about how heating and cooling can change solids and liquids.  As your child to explain how we used jellybeans and chocolate chips to show this.

News and Reminders:

• Ms. Emily will start her first solo week on Monday, 11/1/21.  I will be in the classroom, but in a supporting role.  Ms. Emily will be the lead teacher.  Nothing will change in terms of dismissal/email/phone communication.  Thank you.

• ABS Picture retakes will be on 11/1/21. Here is a note from the photographer:   Please let families know they must have their student return their complete original package to receive a retake. Those students who are having their pictures taken for the first time can just show up.

• I will host parent-teacher conferences next week.  I look forward to the opportunity to share your child’s day at school with you.  Please remember not to enter the google meet code until your conference starts as we all share the same link.  I will do my best to be the time keeper.  If we need more time, we will need to reschedule and find additional time at another date. Thank you for understanding. I also want to let you know that some teachers have experienced technical problems with these google meet links.  If your time is affected by technical difficulties, we will reschedule.  Fingers crossed! 

• We have noticed an increase in toys and trading cards on Harmony and in our class.  Please talk to your child about the importance of not bringing toys and trading cards to school.  They are not allowed and can easily be lost.  Thank you for reinforcing this message at home too.

• Please check your child’s HomeFolders on Fridays.  We send home lots of work from school.  This can stay home.  We hope you will celebrate your child’s work at home.  They work hard at school.  Please return your child’s Home Folder empty on Mondays so it is ready to be filled again for the following week.  Thank you.

• Changes in dismissal plans: If you ever have changes to the dismissal plans you shared with the school, please email absinformation@cvsdvt.org and me at mmccormack@cvsdvt.org.

• Please remember to help your child pack his/her library books on Monday nights.  We have Library Exchange on Tuesdays.  Thank you!

Have a great weekend,

Maria

Pictures from school last week: Playing together during explore time and Stuffy Day!

 

Pictures from school this week

 Spelling together using magnet tiles:

Morning choice time:

Family Newsletter

 Dear Families,

Here is our week in review:

Social-Emotional Learning:

• The students filled the classroom buzzy jar again this week!  This time, we played a game called “Fisherman”.  It is a version of freeze dance but safe for Covid.  We had so much fun!

• The students filled the ABS BeeHive as well!  WOW!  They are being safe, kind and responsible all the time!  We celebrated with our stuffed animals which the students brought into school for the day.

• This week, the students also learned about more focused mindfulness techniques.  We learned about the “weekly six”,  Every week, we will try to find moments of calmness, gratitude, good will and kindness. We will also try to carve out calm mindful moments when we need them individually, not just as a whole class.  Lastly, we integrated calm breathing into our morning meetings as a way to start the day with peace and positive thoughts.  

• We read the book “Not your typical dragon” by Dan Bar-el and learned about how we are all unique and different.  Differences are good and interesting.  We celebrate them.

Reading:

• The students added another word study activity to their independent reading repertoire.  They received trick word booklets containing the first 100 words from the Frye list.  First graders are encouraged to practice reading and writing these words so they can recognize them automatically in print as a way to improve their writing skills.  The words are divided into groups of 10.  After successfully mastering one list, the student moves on to the next list.  They were very motivated this week and seemed to love this literacy activity.

• We continued guided reading groups this week as well.  The students worked hard, managing their time between group and independent reading.  This week's main focus was on building our reading stamina while having a growth mindset when the words on the page look challenging and you might want to give up.  The students learned a new strategy which encourages them to re-read the sentence and ask themselves what makes sense.  We call this strategy “Trying Lion”.  We also listened to a song about having a growth mindset, linked here if you wish to listen/sing with your child at home.

• We continued our character trait discussions and read alouds this week too.  We read books by Mo Willems and we also started reading books about a character called Olivia (created by Ian Falconer) and we read books about Frog and Toad (created by Arnold Lobel)

 

Writing:

• First grade authors started writing their personal narratives this week.  They learned about different ways to start their first sentence.  We also learned about the importance of stretching your words and story over many pages.  We will continue working on building our stamina as writers and practice quiet writing.

First Grade Math:

• First grade mathematicians continued working on strategies to improve their understanding of decomposing and composing numbers to ten this week.  They participated in a variety of games and learning activities involving finding the missing parts/groups and justifying their thinking with evidence.  They were encouraged to use rekenreks and ten frames to back up their thinking.  First grade mathematicians are working on knowing the partners to ten with automaticity and fluency.

• First grade mathematicians also deepened their math story problem solving skills and strategies.  This week these story problems related to fall leaves and apples!

Science:

• We continued exploring solids and liquids this week.  Ask your child to explain how we used chocolate chips and chocolate syrup to learn about these attributes.

Technology:

• This week, our school district celebrated Digital Safety Online.  We learned about the importance of making safe, kind and responsible choices when we are online and when we use online platforms.  We also learned about different strategies to use when we come across something that makes us feel uncertain or uncomfortable online.  The students showed their understanding by completing an online activity on SeeSaw.  We used a stop light as a visual model to know what to do.  Here is one of the songs from this week..

News and Reminders:

• If you have not signed up for a time-slot for our upcoming parent-teacher conferences, please do so.  Here is the link again.

• ABS Picture retakes will be on 11/1/21.  Your child’s school pictures were packed inside his/her Home Folder today.  Please let me know if your child needs their pictures retaken. Thank you.

• Here is the link to the Harmony Curriculum Slide Show in case you missed it.

• If you have not signed up for a time-slot for our upcoming parent-teacher conferences, please do so.  Here is the link again.

• Changes in dismissal plans: If you ever have changes to the dismissal plans you shared with the school, please email absinformation@cvsdvt.org and me at mmccormack@cvsdvt.org.

• Please remember to help your child pack his/her library books on Monday nights.  We have Library Exchange on Tuesdays.  Thank you!

Have a great weekend,

Maria

Pictures from school this week

 Scientists' Meeting: Observing and asking questions about ice and water.

Authors sharing story ideas for their personal narratives using a Heart Map:

Learning about character traits using books written and illustrated by Mo Willems: