Hello Friends,
I hope that you all had a great break and that you are enjoying the start to snow-free ground! Things in our room are certainly picking up!
We have 2 field trips coming up! One is next week, May 7th, and we are going to the Flynn to see our make-up play from our canceled trip this past winter. We will be seeing "Me, Jane" and we are looking forward to it.
Find a link to the book here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN0FwIKjlOk
Find a link to the play here: https://www.flynncenter.org/education/student-matinees/details.html?perf_no=15790&prefix=SMM19J
Field trip permission slips are being sent home today. Please get these back as soon as possible. If you have further questions, please be in touch. Parents must drive themselves and if you want to join us, you will need to buy your own ticket. We simply do not have enough tickets for staff and parents. We have encouraged kids to consider dressing up to go along with the theater experience. It's always a blast to see them all gussied up!
Our second field trip will be to the Montshire museum on May 31st. We will be sending home information in the coming weeks.
We had a great 4-Winds on Tuesday on deer. Despite the weather, we got some good fresh-air time in the morning and got some time to run around. We got to examine a pelt, look at antlers, look at how high (8ft!) and how long (25ft!) they can jump, and lots of other information. It is such a wonderful opportunity for kids to learn about the natural world around them. Thanks to Katy and Rachel for volunteering their time and working with us!
Our PLPs have started with great enthusiasm! When we read off the topics last week so that the kids could hear what others were doing, the list was staggering in its diversity. The kids are working hard on reading some tough stuff and are doing a great job helping one another. We are working on the skills of making sure that the questions we are asking regarding our topic are broad enough, note taking, and organization. It's always such a fun time of year!
Please be in touch if you have any questions, celebrations or concerns.
~B
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Sugaring, The Big 4, Conferences
Hello Families,
I hope you have been enjoying the wonderful spring weather! We have been working hard on a number of skills here at school.
We will be making trips to the sugar house a regular part of our upcoming weeks. We will be collecting and boiling. I'm not sure who is more excited, me or the kids!
We will wrap up our persuasive writing this week and be transitioning into our works on our Personal Learning Projects (PLPs) for the rest of the year. We will be tying in our information writing to our projects. The projects will be made up of a formal writing piece, a poster and a model of some kind. We will be working on these for the remainder of the year.
Our literacy times have been filled with some great book shares by kids, kids doing their independent reading, meeting with individuals and small groups on reading and working on their own personal writing. Their volume and complexity of work is growing. An important note: This week on one of our morning messages the kids were asked by a classmate to write down what they read over the weekend. Many of the kids stated that they didn’t read anything. It’s always worth the reminder that it is important that kids are doing some reading everyday. I can’t stress the importance enough both in them learning a life skill as well as making sure they are getting opportunities to practice what we are working on in class. If you need any books, please let me know. We have a classroom library that the kids are welcome to sign out books from any time.
We’ve been talking a lot about our Big 4 at school. This is a time of the year when there is some cabin fever going on and the options for play have been relying heavily on imaginary play. While this is age appropriate and perfectly typical, we have run up against some physical rough housing that has crossed the line on what is acceptable and tolerable here at school (using objects, like sticks, for instance as well as unsafe bodies). I encourage you to talk further about this with your child as it makes sense.
We have had a few class meetings where We revisited our Big 4, especially “Make Safe Choices”. These talks with the kids are always so reassuring because there were a number of kids who knew that things might be getting crazy and knew they should have let an adult know, but didn’t. They felt responsible and was a perfect segue into discussions about being “upstanders”. I always wish we had cameras in these moments because they are powerful and I believe we as adults have a lot to learn from them in terms of honesty, integrity and forthrightness.
We also have parent conferences coming up! I always look forward to touching base about the great growth your child is making. Here is the link to sign up:
Again, my most sincere thanks to our amazing 4 Winds volunteers. Their efforts bring as needed element of science into our class and I can’t thank them enough for enriching our day. There was lots of tracking going on for days afterwards....
I think that’s about it. Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns or celebrations any time.
Enjoy the sugaring!
~B
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
All School Meeting, Winter Wellness, etc.
Hello, families!
I hope this finds you all well. What a late start to the day today! It's a good thing that we were able to get out and enjoy it together!
We have an All-School Meeting tomorrow, I hope you can all make it. The kids will be presenting some of the things that are going on in our classroom. Also, Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Please, no snacks or treats. However, if kids want to being in cards, they may. The only rule is that they need to go out to everyone.
Speaking along the lines of kindness, we talked as a class about being sure to be sensitive about talking about birthdays, play dates and sleepovers at school. I know that this is a tricky topic to handle, but supporting the message that the tone of sharing plans is important. your support is appreciated.
We are working on a persuasive writing piece to Ms. Toth regarding getting a climbing wall at our school. They will be starting their own writing pieces next week using a graphic organizer and then diving into the convincing. I can't wait to see how they try to convince you all with their various ideas.
Please be in touch with any questions, comments and celebrations!
Best,
Ben
Class list for Valentines:
Ayden, Stella, Anthony, Rowan, Kora, Landon, Wolfie, Eli, Eli (yes, there are two Eli's!), Anna, Wrenn Anneliese, Emma, Lorelei, Yael, Lucian, Gage, Harper, Sena, Connor.
I hope this finds you all well. What a late start to the day today! It's a good thing that we were able to get out and enjoy it together!
We have an All-School Meeting tomorrow, I hope you can all make it. The kids will be presenting some of the things that are going on in our classroom. Also, Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Please, no snacks or treats. However, if kids want to being in cards, they may. The only rule is that they need to go out to everyone.
Speaking along the lines of kindness, we talked as a class about being sure to be sensitive about talking about birthdays, play dates and sleepovers at school. I know that this is a tricky topic to handle, but supporting the message that the tone of sharing plans is important. your support is appreciated.
We are working on a persuasive writing piece to Ms. Toth regarding getting a climbing wall at our school. They will be starting their own writing pieces next week using a graphic organizer and then diving into the convincing. I can't wait to see how they try to convince you all with their various ideas.
Please be in touch with any questions, comments and celebrations!
Best,
Ben
Class list for Valentines:
Ayden, Stella, Anthony, Rowan, Kora, Landon, Wolfie, Eli, Eli (yes, there are two Eli's!), Anna, Wrenn Anneliese, Emma, Lorelei, Yael, Lucian, Gage, Harper, Sena, Connor.
Monday, January 14, 2019
Winter Wellness, Construction and Kindness
Hello Friends!
I hope this finds you all well. We are continuing to thaw out and survive the indoor recesses... That said, I hope you have all gotten to experience this magical winter weather.
We will be starting Winter Wellness next Friday. Your child should come home with the paperwork yesterday. My apologies for not getting it out on Friday, I was not able to do it as I was doing reading assessments with students throughout Friday afternoon. We will be starting Next Friday afternoon, the 25th and going every Friday until February break. Be get in touch with Ms. Toth if you have questions about joining us, should you want to.
We have opened our Construction Zone an the kids have been trained on using various handsaws while cutting cardboard. We have received our first work order from two classrooms for 25 1'x1' cardboard squares. We have a number of really helpful friends. I will be teaching the kids more about measuring in the coming weeks. This will be building to the work or wood construction at some point later on. I am so proud of how hard and seriously they are working.
We were bummed to not go to the Flynn last week due to the road conditions. That said, we made it a great day and I hope they felt the same. We are looking at possible programs at the Flynn that we could check out later in the Spring. We'll keep you updated as we go forward.
We have started our School Kindness unit again where we focus on being kind and recognizing kindness from others. The kids have been writing some really sweet letters to other kids, many of whom are not in their grade cluster.
In writing, we have finished our stories and will be moving into some non-fiction writing. Prepare to be persuaded! We have also been super productive in literacy. Kids are reading, writing and even starting a newspaper. We are beginning to do some audio books as well to add some new flavor to the mix.
All in all, a great start to the new year!
~B
I hope this finds you all well. We are continuing to thaw out and survive the indoor recesses... That said, I hope you have all gotten to experience this magical winter weather.
We will be starting Winter Wellness next Friday. Your child should come home with the paperwork yesterday. My apologies for not getting it out on Friday, I was not able to do it as I was doing reading assessments with students throughout Friday afternoon. We will be starting Next Friday afternoon, the 25th and going every Friday until February break. Be get in touch with Ms. Toth if you have questions about joining us, should you want to.
We have opened our Construction Zone an the kids have been trained on using various handsaws while cutting cardboard. We have received our first work order from two classrooms for 25 1'x1' cardboard squares. We have a number of really helpful friends. I will be teaching the kids more about measuring in the coming weeks. This will be building to the work or wood construction at some point later on. I am so proud of how hard and seriously they are working.
We were bummed to not go to the Flynn last week due to the road conditions. That said, we made it a great day and I hope they felt the same. We are looking at possible programs at the Flynn that we could check out later in the Spring. We'll keep you updated as we go forward.
We have started our School Kindness unit again where we focus on being kind and recognizing kindness from others. The kids have been writing some really sweet letters to other kids, many of whom are not in their grade cluster.
In writing, we have finished our stories and will be moving into some non-fiction writing. Prepare to be persuaded! We have also been super productive in literacy. Kids are reading, writing and even starting a newspaper. We are beginning to do some audio books as well to add some new flavor to the mix.
All in all, a great start to the new year!
~B
Friday, November 30, 2018
Fictional Writing, Artist in Residence and Parent Conferences
Hello, friends!
It was wonderful to touch base for conferences. It is always such a great pleasure to discuss your children and their progress in the many skills they are developing. If you still need to schedule a conference, let me know. I can schedule times after school and before school most days.
We have been starting our work on story writing. The kids are developing characters for their stories and they are really something. They are working on three main characters to build their story off of. The idea is that the details about their characters will lead them to the main idea of their stories. An example is a character that one student developed that is a dragon that has a hole in its wing. This detail alone is intriguing and one that may lend itself to developing the plot and backstory that led to it. Ask your child about the characters they are thinking of!
In literacy I have continued to work with kid on their reading in small groups and individually. We have talked a lot about thinking about the story as they are reading and asking themselves if they understand what is happening. If they don't, that is the cue to go back and read what happened again. I am also encouraging the kids to try different genres as well (fiction vs. non fiction, for example). They are all working so hard and making lots of great progress.
We are so lucky to have Marv Klassen-Landis as this years Artist and Residence at our school. He will be working on story-telling with our kiddos and the kids will be having him for 5 sessions during the two weeks before the holiday break. If there is a time when the kids will be presenting their work, I'll be sure to send it your way.
Speaking of getting close to the holiday break, we will be doing our annual Solstice party on the afternoon of the 21st. We will be doing our celebration from 12:30-1:45. More details will be coming in the coming days. We will be centering our work for the solstice around kindness and giving.
Last, here a link to a great site for some online reading resources. They have a huge online library of books that kids really enjoy. They are having a great sale right now that might be a great gift for the holidays!
https://www.getepic.com/
As always, be in touch with any questions, concerns or celebrations.
Best,
Ben
It was wonderful to touch base for conferences. It is always such a great pleasure to discuss your children and their progress in the many skills they are developing. If you still need to schedule a conference, let me know. I can schedule times after school and before school most days.
We have been starting our work on story writing. The kids are developing characters for their stories and they are really something. They are working on three main characters to build their story off of. The idea is that the details about their characters will lead them to the main idea of their stories. An example is a character that one student developed that is a dragon that has a hole in its wing. This detail alone is intriguing and one that may lend itself to developing the plot and backstory that led to it. Ask your child about the characters they are thinking of!
In literacy I have continued to work with kid on their reading in small groups and individually. We have talked a lot about thinking about the story as they are reading and asking themselves if they understand what is happening. If they don't, that is the cue to go back and read what happened again. I am also encouraging the kids to try different genres as well (fiction vs. non fiction, for example). They are all working so hard and making lots of great progress.
We are so lucky to have Marv Klassen-Landis as this years Artist and Residence at our school. He will be working on story-telling with our kiddos and the kids will be having him for 5 sessions during the two weeks before the holiday break. If there is a time when the kids will be presenting their work, I'll be sure to send it your way.
Speaking of getting close to the holiday break, we will be doing our annual Solstice party on the afternoon of the 21st. We will be doing our celebration from 12:30-1:45. More details will be coming in the coming days. We will be centering our work for the solstice around kindness and giving.
Last, here a link to a great site for some online reading resources. They have a huge online library of books that kids really enjoy. They are having a great sale right now that might be a great gift for the holidays!
https://www.getepic.com/
As always, be in touch with any questions, concerns or celebrations.
Best,
Ben
Monday, October 29, 2018
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/r
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
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/r
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
Thursday, October 4, 2018
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:
Please note that every and all donations are appreciated!
Questions? Want to help with the food drive or the Harvest Dinner?
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.
1st/2nd grades – Pasta, sauces,
beans, canned veggies & fruits.
3rd/4th grades – Tuna,
canned meats (such as beef stew, sausage, ravioli), canned soup, convenience
food (mac and cheese, other boxed foods).
5th/6th 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 26th.
Thank you in advance for your generosity!
Thank you in advance for your generosity!
Questions? Want to help with the food drive or the Harvest Dinner?
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