Conferences, etc.

Hey Friends,

We have had a great couple of weeks of school. We had our hike day, been enjoying the last of our school garden for the year, and working really hard in class.

First, conferences. I have set up dates and times for parent conferences. Please follow the link to sign up for a time that works for you. If you can't find one, please let me know. We can always find a time and place to make it work. I look forward to seeing you all!

 http://grades.wcsuonline.org/rumney/conference

It's ambitious and we'll see how it goes, but I would really like to try to get your child to run their conference. The goal will be for them to be presenting their work and talking about their year thus far. This is a first try and I'm sure we'll adjust and modify as needed for our Spring conferences. I am trying to help support and encourage their investment in their work.

The kids did a great job presenting at All School Meeting. The kids split into 4 groups and presented about our favorite board game, literacy choices, read-aloud books and a super brave reader read her own "small moment" writing piece. It was all a great showcase of the amazing work these kids are doing in our room.

The Rumney garden is closing up so keep your ears open for any dates that we may need to help shut the garden down for the season (mulch spreading, garlic planting, final weeding, etc.). Thanks to all of you who make it possible for kids to access this amazing school resource.

We are continuing our Small Moment writing and are now in the phase of adding detail and descriptive language. Some kids are also playing with using dialogue as well. I have really loved getting to know these second graders as developing writers!

In Read-Aloud we have started a book about Jackie Robinson and the value of courage. It is really something to hear from kids about times when they have needed to have courage. Courage can mean a lot of different things to a 7 or 8 year old!

In literacy I have continued to meet with reading groups, conference with kids about their independent writing and to work with kids on their sight word reading and spelling. They are all working so hard on their independent work habits and making plans for themselves.

That's it for now. Let me know if you have any questions, concerns or celebrations.

Best,

~B

Literacy, Open House, the Rumney Garden, Infinite Campus and 4-Winds!

Hello Friends,

I hope you all have been finding creative ways to enjoy our wet weather! I have a feeling that we are in for some amazing colors this weekend. I hope you all get a chance to get out and enjoy them!

We have been working really hard on developing and working on our reading workshop menus. The kids went through their first week using them and to help guide their decision making. The choices they make include responding to text, reading on their own, reading with a reading group partner, free writing, and sight word practice, to name a few. Now that we are done our battery of reading assessments, I can place the kids in reading groups, which we are starting next week. As a group we have been talking a lot about non-fiction texts and the features of the text (glossary, labels, etc.) as well as making the connection from what they are reading to the skills we are working on in group.

In writing we have talked a lot about complete sentences and capital letters. The kids have done a couple "show what you know" exercises around this skill. We have talked about how periods mark the end of a complete thought and the capital letters are used at the beginnings of sentences as well as when writing the names of specific places or people (I know there's more, but they're only in second grade!). We started to talk about our first formal writing piece, which will be a "Small Moment" writing piece. The kids are going to work from an event that they have experienced and making a connection to the lesson they learned. We talked about lessons such as: never giving up, be a good friend, don't listen to people who may be asking you to make a bad choice, etc.

Open House is next Wednesday, October 10th from 5-6. I can't wait to have you all come in a see all of the wonderful work the kids are doing and the big plans we have for our year! It is such a wonderful time and I look forward to touching base with all of you!

The Rumney Garden has been closing up for the year. As always, this is such an amazing part of our school. That said, it is a REALLY big job! We need to spread out mulch, turn over the soil and put away materials and we will be looking for volunteers in the coming weeks. It would be great for folks to put some time into this great resource. We will also be looking for help in the spring and through the summer to make sure our plants are well cared for. The kids benefit greatly from seeing the food they raise. One child, last week, when eating beets said, "What were the red things? They were delicious!" I replied, "Beets!" They yelled, "But I'm not supposed to like beets!" It's experiences like this that make it all worth it and if you have any time, please consider pitching in to help when help is needed.

I had a chat today with the kids about Infinite Campus (IC) and why I am scoring some of their work. I talked about how the numbers are a way for me to communicate to them and families about how they are progressing on their many skills. That said, if you choose at your child's IC account and see scores entered, just know that these scores reflect a snapshot of time. The kids will be getting many opportunities to "show what they know" in many different areas and ways. It is important for you to know that the numbers reflect their progress toward end of year expectations. Therefore, it is typical for kids to be earning a score of 2, as a 2 reflects progress toward meeting the end of year expectation. Again, and I can't stress this enough, if you talk to your children about their work, you really only need to ask 1 question: Was it your best work? If yes, that's great! They are on their way. In class we are encouraging hard work and effort being before results. You may hear athletes talking about this all of the time. They put in the practice and preparation and when competition happens, the results are what they are. What is most important is that they prepared as best as possible. I'll try to have more information handy at Open House to help with other questions you may have.

We had a great week of 4-Winds, talking about plant-eaters. The kids saw a puppet show and looked at different leaves to see what critters may have been munching on them. We also got to think about some food webs so that kids could see what consumes what. Our next 4-Winds class is in a couple of weeks and we can't wait! Thanks so much to our awesome volunteers!

Phew! That was a lot! If you have questions, celebrations or concerns, as always, please be in touch.

Enjoy those leaves this weekend!

Warmly,

Ben


Also a very important message from Honi Bean Barrett:

For the month of October we are hosting a Food Drive. Please help us FILL the donation boxes for the Middlesex Food Shelf! Our goal is to bring in 1000 items.

We have a list of most helpful items from the food shelf. This is just a general guideline. 

Please note that every and all donations are appreciated!

PreK/K – Breakfast cereal, both hot and cold. Snack items such as granola bars.

1^st/2^nd grades – Pasta, sauces, beans, canned veggies & fruits.

3^rd/4th grades – Tuna, canned meats (such as beef stew, sausage, ravioli), canned soup, convenience food (mac and cheese, other boxed foods).

5^th/6^th grades – Nut butters, jams, jellies. Baking ingredients.

Rumney staff – Toiletries, soaps, toothpaste, paper products such as toilet paper.

Items can be brought in from NOW until the Harvest Dinner on October 26^th.
Thank you in advance for your generosity! 

Questions? Want to help with the food drive or the Harvest Dinner? 

Contact Honi Bean Barrett hbarrett@U32.org