Summer Letter, We Did It!

June 18, 2020

 

Dear First and Second Grade Families,

This school year (and year in general) has been different than any other; it is certainly one that we will never forget. First and foremost, we want to thank you all and let you know how much we appreciate your openness, flexibility and hard work during this remote learning time. We also appreciate all of your support from the beginning of the year when we were in the building as a community! It seems hard to remember the beginning of the year, but we did have a great school year together in the building too! Some memories include: Primary Sing, the All School Outing at Hubbard Park, writing narrative stories in the fall, Winter Wellness, Global Day of Play and our day to day fun together!

Ending this school year and transitioning to summer also feels different this year. We worked to celebrate and have closure on this school year. That being said, please feel free to contact us over the summer. Don’t hesitate to reach out- just send an email. Please understand that it will take us longer than during the school year to reply to emails.

You also may be able to access some of our apps this summer- such as SeeSaw, Epic  and iReady (through August 8th). Your child should feel welcome to use SeeSaw as another way to connect with us and share summer activities- academic or not, although we won’t be posting new assignments! Feel free to send us letters in the mail! (Our addresses are below). We can also be available to connect over the phone, Zoom, etc. if you feel like this would benefit your child! 

This year has been stressful for many of us and this summer should look however you would like and need for your family to help you recharge and relax. That said, if you are interested in continuing some school type activities for your child here are some ideas. We will also be sending home some summer packets if you are interested. These are totally optional! We just want you to have resources if you are interested!!

• Read, read read!

• A guide to leveled texts: https://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/guided-reading-levels.html

• Please get in touch with us if you’d like your child’s reading level to ensure the books you get them from Scholastic (see below) or the library are a “Good Fit”

• Ben’s Scholastic Class Book Code: MNQC2

• Other Online Resources

• Scholastic Summer Read-A-Palooza https://www.scholastic.com/site/summer/home.html

• TD Bank is offering a $10 incentive for reading over the summer.  It's an easy form to download and fill out. https://www.tdbank.com/summerreading/index.html

•  Just Right Reader - Serves PK-2nd Grades.  A box of books comes each month with activities for parents to follow to enhance engagement.  There is a cost involved, but they are offering one month free. https://www.justrightreader.com/how-it-works 
• Summer Reading Lists by Grade Range - Association for Library Service for Children

  http://www.ala.org/alsc/publications-resources/book-lists/2020-summer-reading-list
• Camp Wonderoplois - is a free online summer learning destination for that's full of fun and interactive STEM and literacy building topics. http://camp.wonderopolis.org/ 
•  NEA Read Across America - this site has all kinds of links to summer reading and activities
  https://www.readacrossamerica.org/kids-summer-reading-list/

• Have interactive books read to you online. Go to: Tumblebooks  and use the username: rumney and password: books. 

• Keep a journal about what you do this summer—write and draw pictures!

• Go outside, observe what you see. Ask questions!

• Count anything you can find!

• Look for words and numbers around you in the world. 

• Talk about money and practice counting pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters.

• Look around your family and/or neighborhood and see how you could help others.

• Draw, create art in nature, listen to music, dance, move your body, use Spanish words, be mindful! 

• Take time to relax and enjoy yourself—it’s summer!

• Run, play, laugh.

We also acknowledge that the end of this year and this summer brings more uncertainty than usual. This is something that staff and families are feeling alike! We are waiting to make decisions about placement and grade configurations for next year until we have the most recent information on both health practices and student numbers at different grade levels. Therefore, you can expect to hear more in August on what the upcoming school year will bring. We know that waiting  can be challenging and we appreciate your patience. We are trying to let time help us make the best decisions to support kids both academically and social/emotionally. 

Thank you again for all you have done and are doing. It has been a pleasure working with you all this year.  Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions. Take care and have a great summer!

Sincerely,

The ½ Team 

Christine Babcock, Caitlin Morgan and Ben Weiss

Mailing Addresses for letter writing: 

Christine Babcock

213 Bartlett Rd. 

Berlin, VT 05602

Ben Weiss 187 Worcester Village Road Worcester, VT 05682 Caitlin Morgan 12 Spring St. Montpelier, VT 05602

The Latest...

Hey Folks,

I hope this finds you well. My apologies for the barrage of information, emails and everything else. I am doing my best to make sure this time is productive and as smooth as we can make it. If I am totally overwhelming you, let me know. I recognize it is a lot.

Just so you know, I am available throughout the day electronically via email. Please let me know ahead of time if you'll be calling me (223-3677), if possible, so I can make sure I can prep my little one that I will be off limits. Who would have guessed that working from home could be so confusing for a 4-year old!?

I hope you all have had a chance to sign up for a phone/video conference time next week. I am really looking forward to touching base with you all!

I have added an additional list of resources on a page here on the blog. I encourage you to check them out and give any feedback. I pulled this list from an even larger one that I slashed and I tried my best to vet them...

I am sure there will be more to come but I think this is enough for now.

Be well, everyone!

~B

Vacation, The Flynn, Workshops Part II

Hello Families,

I hope you all had a restful break and enjoyed the sun this weekend! The kids have come back to school ready to go! I always appreciate the gradual easing back into our school schedule. This week we re-arranged the room, made new table groups and practiced our literacy routine. I hope you are all making sure to get lots of rest to counter-balance the time change!

We will be going to the Flynn to see the Peking Acrobats on Wednesday, the 18th. We will be sending home permission slips as well as other information regarding the field trip such as chaperoning, lunches, etc. this week. We are looking forward to it!

After some discussions with the 1/2 team, we have decided to open up workshop time to all kids in the 1/2 and have offered board games, wood/cardboard working, and crafts. We will be doing this every morning from arrival to 9:15 in our classrooms. As soon as the kids have checked in and done their morning jobs, they can head to their workshop rooms (ours, Ms. Caitlin's and Ms. Babcock's). They will be able to switch up choices every 2-4 weeks. This is going to be a great experience for our kiddos!

Next week we will also be continuing our work on our fiction story writing. The kids are doing a great job editing, adding details and thinking through their ideas. They did an amazing job talking about their story maps before break at the All School Meeting and these tools have been really helpful in them planning their stories and keeping their ideas organized.

We went to the sugarbush this morning and they did such a great collecting. When we came back, we estimated that the kids collected 12 full buckets worth (24 half buckets) which translates to about a gallon and a half of syrup. Not bad!

Last, I've sent home Scholastic packets the past couple of weeks. If you could, please remember to shop under our class code so that we can get bonus points to buy classroom books! Thanks for the help! Class code: MNQC2

Anyway, that's it for now. Please be in touch with any questions, thoughts or concerns anytime!

Best,

Ben

February is (Almost) Here!

Hello, Friends!

It has been a great few weeks in class! We have started Winter Wellness, we are writing stories, and I got the chance to do lots of great reading with your kiddos!

We are sending home report cards over the weekend. Your kids are all working so hard and I am super proud of the progress they have all made. I also got to do our mid-year check-in on their reading and it was such a treat to get 1:1 reading time with them.

Our story maps are coming along really well and some kids have started to work on starting their stories. We have been working hard on thinking about beginnings, the main problem, events through the story with juicy details and then a satisfying ending. We will continue to work on these ideas as we continue writing. We have been working hard on thinking about beginnings, the main problem, events through the story and then the ending.

Thank you all for your support of the Winter Wellness program! The kids are doing great and having lots of fun. It is always so amazing to see the kids make progress in the areas that they choose. As for me, as a person who goes skating, this is especially true. It is amazing to see kids falling down and getting up over and over again. These are the experiences that kids take for a lifetime.

Monday is the 100th day of school. If you want, send in a brown paper bag (if you have one) full of 100 (reasonable, non-edible) objects. We'll be sending home information about this. If you have extra bags, please consider sending them in for other kids to use who might not have any.

Also on Monday, Ms. Lanpher has arranged for members of the VSO to come in and share some music at 2:30. Please be sure to thank her for helping provide this experience for our kids!

Next Wednesday we will be celebrating Global School Play Day. The kids will be signing up for a classroom to go to (we are offering different options). Please leave personal toys at home. We'll have plenty to do here! Check out the link to the TED Talk regarding the power of play.

https://www.globalschoolplayday.com/

TED Talk

We used a ton of our accumulated Scholastic points to buy a bunch of books. Ask your kiddos about them! I am sending home order sheets for ordering books. Please use our class code to get points for our class! I will not be accepting checks to do the ordering. Any ordering needs to be done online.

Class Code: MNQC2

Last, our class will be presenting at the February All School Meeting. We have not decided what we will be presenting, but it would be great for you to show up and support your kiddos if you can!

I think that's it for now, please let me know if you have other questions, concerns or celebrations!

Goodbye, January! See you next year!

~B

Woodshop, Winter Wellness, Writing and More

Hello Families,

I hope you are all off to a great new year! In class we have been getting back into routines and getting started on some new work.

I am going to be sending home permission slips for your children to participate in our "Woodshop" in the room. Kids will be able to design, model and build creations of their own. We go through an extensive training period where the kids are practicing on cardboard before moving into wood. For the wood part of our project, we'll be needing scrap 2x4s, brace and bit drills, egg beater drills, hand saws, vices and miters. We have some to use in the room but probably not for everyone to use.

Winter Wellness will be starting on January 24th. We'll be letting the kids know what they are signed up for soon. Our class was one of two to get their slips in on time!

In writing, we have started our work on fictional narrative writing. I always stress that to be able to write a story, you need to be able to tell a story. We have talked about how stories can be in written and spoken words, pictures, and video. Two short video stories that I have used are from Coldplay and Of Monsters and Men. The links are below. The main idea is that in fictional stories there are almost always a problem and solution with some bumps in between. I encourage you to talk about it with your kids.

Coldplay Video

Of Monsters and Men Video

We will be getting through the Winter battery of reading assessments over the next couple of weeks. This is when we get to get a more formal look at your child's reading progress. I will try to get that information into the report cards though this will be challenging due to my days I have scheduled to read with the kids not aligning completely with the report card window. In any case just reach out if you have any questions about your child's progress.

The kids have earned their second bonus recess for all of their hard work, kindness and flexibility. They are close to earning a Read-All-Day day. I'll be sure to keep you updated with their progress!

I think that's about it for now. I hope everyone is well and be in touch if you have any questions, concerns or celebrations!

~B