February! Can you believe it?

Hey Folks,

I can't believe we are already here in February! I hope you all got a good chance to look over your child's report card. Should you want to talk more about it, let me know. I'm always happy to get together and chat about their progress and how we can best support them in their day here at school.

The kids continue to do a great job working on their goals for the week in literacy. I would encourage you all to ask them what they are working on in their reading groups or what they are writing about. The topics are as varied as they are!

In read aloud we are currently reading a children's biography about Abe Lincoln which helps adds context for the kids and will lead into our reading about Harriet Tubman and other people of color to celebrate Black History Month. There is so much great literature out there to here help us and, as always, I look forward to working with Lynn Woodard (our amazing librarian) on providing some great reading for our kids.

In helping our kids get a more broad view of diversity, we read a couple of books that deal with economic diversity. The subject was about home. Carson Ellis, one of my current favorite authors, wrote a beautiful book about homes called "Home". After reading it, I realized that while her fantastical views of different kinds of homes were fun to read about, it also provides a helpful place to explore when talking about people who have no homes. Eve Bunting's book "Fly Away Home" gets to this in a beautiful way. I encourage you all to check both of these books out to open this rich and important discussion.

In Writer's Workshop we are going to be working on our hooks and for our writing pieces. They have done some great writing about convincing their readers. Good luck with your cats, dogs and vacations to Guatemala! We are also using this time to talk about what scientists do. This discussion will lead into the scientific process.

We have also had a great new start with our class house (aka The Chateau). The kids have stripped it down and we have begun the renovation. I am helping some friends build a periscope for it. I am looking forward to seeing where it all goes. I have been thinking a lot about how the house has been a metaphor for our year thus far; create, use, play, share, work through conflict, and reset. 

Winter Wellness continues to be a big hit. I can say that seeing the kids improve weekly is so inspiring. Kids who couldn't stand on skates a couple of weeks ago are zooming all around! It just goes to show you how hard work and dedication can pay off, even in a relatively small amount of time.

Reminders

• If you send in Valentine's with your child (not something we make a big deal of in our room, so no worries if you don't) make sure everyone gets one. If you need a class list, let me know.
• There is also an All School meeting on the 19th, feel free to stop in and check it out. The last Winter Wellness is this coming Friday (the 16th)

As always, let me know of any questions, comments or celebrations.

Best,

Ben and Tammy

These Short Weeks...

Hey Friends,

A short one this time. We have report cards going home next week and that has been a deep time sink, as it usually is. I hope that you have all taken advantage of getting in touch with Aimee regarding the shift in our report card. If you haven't, no big deal. You can wait until you get them and then let us know if you have any questions.

I have finished our mid-year reading assessments which has been a big relief. The kids all worked super hard and did a great job. If you'd like an update on your child's assessed reading level, it will be on the report card. This information helps when looking for books that have the same guided reading level (a-z).

Next week we will begin our work on exploring the scientific process with the kids. We will be doing a number of investigations as a class where then afterwards they will be able to try one on their own. This kind of thinking will be important as we move toward our next investigations of erosion and the water cycle.

In Writer's Workshop we have started out new "Convince Me" writing pieces. The kids are continuing their focus on organizing their thoughts as well as working on applying their writing skills (punctuation, upper case/lower case, using the lines on the page, etc.). We shared some today (Friday) and had some great discussions about writer's craft and writing mechanics.

In Read-Aloud we have done some great reading about Jackie Robinson, Johnny Appleseed and now Helen Keller. The kids have been interested in stories about historical figures and their questions always show care and insight. I value their thoughts so much.

Next week will be the first Friday of Winter Wellness. If you don't know what activity your child is doing, please get in touch with Lauren Caswell (lcaswell@u32.org), the PE teacher, who is organizing this great opportunity. Also, next Friday morning we have an All School Assembly, should you be interested.

I think that's it for now. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Best,

~B

Taiko Drumming, Science, Writing, Snow Clothes, Kindness, Solstice Celebration...

I hope you all have had a great past couple of weeks, everyone! There's a lot here, folks, so please bear with me.

First off, have you seen a more psyched group of castle builders? These friends worked during the better part of their free time over the past few days to build this latest creation. We've been talking a lot about kindness and what it looks/sounds/feels like. The kids had an interesting take on the difference between kindness. They said:

"Being nice is when someone needs help and they ask for it and you help them. Kindness is when you notice someone needs help and you help them without them asking."

It was profound in its simplicity and its directness. They have been watching videos regarding the topic of kindness and the idea of sending out kindness boomerangs: When you put out kindness, it helps other people be kind too. Sometimes the kindness comes back to you quickly, other times when you least expect it or most need it. There's no telling. What is true, however, is that being kind makes the world a better place. That fact never changes. We will be doing a kindness mailbox system this week and we will be making sure all children get a piece of mail. We'll be doing some name-drawing in our class to ensure that it happens.

In science, we have been continuing our exploration of the senses and have wrapped them all up except for touch, which we will be looking at this week. The kids especially liked our exploration of taste, as I used some sweet water, salty water, plain water and apple cider vinegar. The kids blind taste tested them all and had to determine if they were sweet, salty, plain or sour. We didn't do bitter on this trial. Some are more straight forward than others. I challenge you all to try it out yourself. We will be moving into our study of states of matter (solid, liquid, gas)  next. We had another great visit by our 4 Winds friends and did a great lesson on predators and prey. We've been referencing the lesson as we've been talking about our senses (how did predators and prey use their senses to help them?). It has been a great connection to keep drawing from.

In writing we have finished our "Show What You Know" writing pieces. The kids were asked to write a shorter version of their personal narrative stories without the help of a teacher. They were able to use all of the same graphic organizers as well as their work books to help them. We will be using the writing rubrics from my writing page on the blog to score them. I'll send home a copy when we are all finished. Should you be interested in finding out more about your child's work, please let me know when they come home. I'll say it again, but it is important to remember that these writing pieces are a one-day snapshot of their learning. It is important to recognize it as such. On a more regular basis, their daily literacy writing is a much more accurate guide to how their writing is progressing independently, and one I reference much more regularly when thinking about their progress.

Jen Campbell, our amazing Art teacher (among many other jobs!) here at school has once again scheduled an amazing Artist in Residence. We are lucky to have Stuart Paton, founder of the Burlington Taiko drummers, here to teach us about the culture of Taiko drumming as well as some sweet drumming moves. The culminating performance will be Friday, December 22nd, at 2:00 in the gym. Check out more information at: http://www.burlingtontaiko.org/index.php

Working from that, we will be having our solstice celebration that Friday before our performance. We will be celebrating from 1:00-2:00. We do a candle lighting ceremony where the kids make some wishes for the coming year. We'll have some small snacks afterwards as well as some time to get some excitement out before we go to the gym for our performance. Therefore, we will not be sugar loading beforehand, so please refrain from sending in sugar snacks should you be asked/volunteer to bring something in.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE: We will be starting our  new winter clothes guidelines starting on Monday. There was a note in the school newsletter but I want to make sure you all see it here. The kids need to have a dry pair of indoor shoes, boots, snow pants, jackets, gloves/mittens and hats every day. We are trying to make sure kids are prepared to be in the weather every day. This time of year can be tricky to dress for and we want to make sure the kids all have what they need. If there is any article that a student forgets, we will have a small collection of clothes in the room to borrow from. That said, there aren't enough pieces of clothing for everyone.

Phew... I think that's it. If I missed anything, I apologize. This time of the year is busy, busy.

I hope you all enjoyed the snow over the weekend. I am looking forward to lots more!

Best,

Ben

Post Thanksgiving Update

Hello Friendly Families!

We've been busy in class over the past couple of weeks. We've finished up our Small Moment stories (coming home soon), we've kicked off our study of the senses and continued our hard work on our day to day tasks. I really appreciated the time I got to meet with all of you about your child's progress thus far this year. I really value the relationships we are beginning to/continuing to form. I am always here as a listening ear, someone who you can brain-pick or anything else you may need or be wondering about. Don't hesitate to get in touch.

A special thanks to our School Garden group, who allowed us to enjoy the garlic and squash grown in our amazing small collection of raised beds. This has been the year with the most adventurous "I'll try a bite" all the way to "Can I have thirds?" I think I can speak for us all when I say Thank You!

 We have finished our Small Moment stories and will be taking those home soon. We will soon be doing a "show what you know" writing prompt to see how they do with an unassisted one draft shot at the same kind of prompt. The purpose of this is to see what skills the kids have picked up and which they need more practice with.

In literacy we have continued our hard work on our sight words, reading and independent writing. The kids are doing such a great job on all of this. At home, check in with your kiddos to see how these different areas are going.


In science, we will be exploring taste, smell and touch later this week. The kids did a great job working in their science journals when thinking about sight and sound. As scientists, these senses (and a wondering mind!) are the building blocks we need to always have engaged when engaged in an investigation (no, I am not going to get into observer's effect for those of you who may be wondering...).


We continue to work hard on maintaining a kind, caring, and helpful culture in our room.
With the addition of a new friend in our class this week, I always get to see our hard work in these areas put to the test. Tammy and I have been so pleased with how inviting and friendly our group has been. This group has been exceptional in this area all year long. Along this theme, I was happy to hear that some of you got to see the movie "Wonder". In the primary unit, we will be using literature to really stress kindness in our everyday interactions with friends, families, and new faces.

Other Notes

• Please remember to support the Food Drive our school is doing and feel free to send in non-perishable goods to school with your child to add to our collection. 
• We will not be doing a Secret Snowflake or something like it. We do a candle lighting ceremony in class on the last day before break (the 22nd). I'll be asking someone to put together some refreshments for after our candle lighting.

I think that's about it. Please be in touch with questions, concerns or celebrations!

Best,

Ben and Tammy

First Week of November and the Post Halloween Doldrums...

Hey Folks,

We have been hard at work in our class over the past couple of weeks! I hope you have been getting lots of great updates. The kids did a great job on their Halloween recovery, I am sure I have you all to thank as well. Can you believe that we are only a couple of weeks out from Thanksgiving????

We will be starting science next week, exploring all of our senses. We will start with exploring sight and moving into sound. If we have time we'll move into some of the others. We'll be using our beautiful science journals to explore theses ideas.

Next Friday is parent conference day. I've set up times outside of this day for you all to do as well. Check out the link below to see what is available.

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

In literacy I've been working with small groups on reading and it has been amazing to see their growth. They are becoming more and more confident with their skills as we go along. We are practicing skills like looking at common sounds in words, looking for word families in words and using context to help word solve unfamiliar words. check out the reading section of my blog to look more into what we do.

We've done a great job on our small moment writing pieces. I can't wait for you all to see them at your conferences. They have been working so hard on them and have done a great job. We will be doing a writing assessment in the next couple of weeks. For the assessment, the kids are given the same tools we used to write our story and we see what they can produce without the guidance of a teacher.

In first grade math we are working on number patterns as well as making 10 as many ways as we can by rolling 1 dice. The kids make the combinations to make ten in as many ways as they can. We are working so hard on learning out sight facts to 10 (all the ways to make 5,6,7,8,9 and 10) and are making great progress.

I'll be adding pictures to the blog later but the batteries on my ipad in the room are dead at the moment. Ahhh, technology...

I hope you are all well and have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Ben and Tammy

Literacy Reflections, Parent Conferences, All School Meeting, Book Orders, Science, is that it???????

Happy Weekend, Folks!

We have a lot to talk about...

This week we had a great discussion about our house creation and we came to some great new expectations about our cardboard house. It came about by some students experimenting around the space available in the house and the ability to squeeze in as many bodies as they could. As you can imagine, this led to the need for some creative problems solving, which is a skill this group has shown a great ability to do.

Talking About The House At Morning Meeting

Their solution was that on your sharing day you could use your morning playtime to either play in or build onto the house. At any other break time during the day, anyone could work on building/repairing the house. Everyone seemed happy with the outcome and I was so pleased with the thoughtful solution they came up with and I am looking forward to seeing them put it into practice. If only kids were in charge of the world...

A Literacy Reflection From This Week

In literacy this week the kids had a new task. I asked them to make some goals around the words they were learning as well as some independent writing skills that they were going to focus on in their own writing. The kids got to reflect on their progress over the week and give themselves a score. I will be looking at these over the weekend and then sending them home on Monday with a note to them. Please take a look at it and use it as a discussion tool when talking to them about their work.

We have also continued our hard work on our Small Moment stories. The kids are doing a wonderful job thinking about their stories and adding details to help stretch them out. We've talked about transition words (after, next, then, etc.) as well as adding more juicy words to help add to their amazing work. We should be wrapping them up this week in time for us to use them as talking pieces at our parent conferences.

We had a lovely All School Meeting and the kids in the 1/2 did some great singing! We sang the songs "Raking the Leaves", "Crimson and Red" (in a 3 part round!), and "Keep on the Sunny Side". It was especially great to see all of the older students sing along with the songs that they remembered singing when they were in our classes.

Parent Conferences are coming up and there is a sign-up link to share with you:

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

Sign up for a time and if you don't see one that works, let me know. I am always happy to accommodate your busy lives.

We will be starting Science in the next couple of weeks, mostly on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays. Monday and Tuesday afternoons are full of specials. Our opening unit will be on matter and states of matter, which will be full of a lot of fun and learning. Christine and I are hard at work building our unit of study and mapping out our timeline.

Reminders:

Food Drive - Feel Free to send in any non-perishable items for the Middlesex Food Shelf. It is a great resource for the community and any little bit helps our neighbors in need.

Book Orders - Please check out the book orders that are coming home. Feel free to put in an order and return them to school. They will be due on Friday, November 17th.

Link to School Newsletter - https://www.wcsu32.org/domain/175

Harvest Dinner - Consider coming or making a donation to this great school fundraiser on November 4th! See the school newsletter for more details.

We hope you all are having a great weekend, enjoying all of the sunshine!

~Ben and Tammy

Open House and Other Happenings

Hey Everyone,

I hope everyone got to catch up on some rest over the long weekend before we begin our next long stretch before Thanksgiving break. I got to press some apples and share some with the kiddos, always a treat!

Open House is always such a great evening and it was great to see you all. The kids are always great tour guides. If you have any questions/comments about what you saw and want to talk more, let me know. Also, if you couldn't make it but would like the opportunity to come in and check things out, let me know. We can always set up a visit during the day or before school.

A drawing from one page of a storyboard

A "Small Moment" planning sheet

In Writer's Workshop we are working on our Small Moment narratives (stories). We are starting with non-fiction and then moving to fictional narratives next. The kids are focusing on a small moment that they have had related to our Big 4 and thinking about the moral (lesson) they learned. My choice to do non-fiction first is because it is a type of writing that they are more familiar with and one that they are personally connected to. The structure of this kind of writing is different than fictional stories. To meet this challenge, we had kids draw a story that was at least 5 pages long. This is an effective way to help them stretch out the details in their their stories. They will be adding more words next week and we will be looking at the different parts of their writing that we will be looking for. For a look at the writing rubrics we use to score their writing pieces, take a look at the writing section of the blog page.

In literacy I got to start all of my reading groups. In our groups we do word study, reading books, learning about reading strategies, and practice our sight words. Each group meets for 20 minutes and I go through about 4 groups per day, meaning an 80 minute literacy time. The kids are really doing a great job building their stamina. We have also begun to have kids plan their literacy time over the past 2 weeks. Each day they plan what they will be doing in each of the 4 blocks of time during literacy. Next week we will be starting to goal set around writing skills to practice as well as the number of words they want to try and learn each week and then reflecting on their effort and progress at the end of the week. They will be attaching a piece of their writing from the week to show evidence of their progress toward meeting their goal. I'll look at these over the weekend and then return them to bring home on Monday.

A literacy plan from this week

We will be starting word study (spelling) groups in the next couple of weeks. The kids took a spelling assessment early in the year and we grouped the kids between my and Christine's (Ms. Babcock) class according to which spelling rules they are familiar with (long/short vowels, beginning/ending sounds, magic-e words, etc.). It is our hope that we will be able to split the kids up into 5 different groups, but this is depending on which adults are available during our Word Study time.

We'll begin our science work in earnest at the end of the month. In the meantime, we'll be doing some class investigations and doing some modeling of the scientific process in class. I'd like to give a shout-out to our 4-Wind volunteers who will be coming into our class to do some additional science work as well. It is a great program that the kids really enjoy and learn a lot from.

Last, here is a new math link for interested parties:

https://media.pearsoncmg.com/curriculum/math/Investigations3/gamecenter/english/index.html#/Grade:1/

I will add this link to my math page on the blog. I haven't fully explored the page (yet) but what I saw looked like there may be some good stuff.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Ben and Tammy


Other News:

BOOK ORDERS - Please send in any you might want on Monday. We didn't get any this first round. Be on the look-out for the next ones in the coming weeks if you didn't get in on this order.

This November 4th Rumney Memorial School will be hosting the 11^th annual Harvest Dinner to  raise money for two worthy causes—the local foods program at Rumney and the Middlesex Food Shelf.

In the next month leading up to the Harvest Dinner our school community will work together to collect items for the Middlesex Food Shelf. We will have donation boxes in each classroom, staff room, and in our school lobby. We have a goal of collecting 1,000 items, non-perishables and toiletries, before November 4^th.

Please consider bringing in items that you’d stock in your own pantry.  All donations are accepted and appreciated!

If you have any questions or would like to help plan this year’s Harvest Dinner please contact Honi Bean Barrett at hbarrett@u32.org