Hello, Friends,
I hope you all have been enjoying our transition into the real fall weather and enjoying all that comes with it!
We have been doing so much in our room, I almost don't know where to start. We have begun to nominate one another for list of good deeds throughout the day by filling out nomination sheets. You may have seen some of them come home in your child's folder. It is enormously powerful to see kids noticing the great work they are doing, not by me, but by one another. We earn class and individual rewards for all of our wonderful work.
Our list of behavior/deeds to notice are:
Facing Their Fears
Working Hard
Taking Turns
Apologizing Without a Teacher Asking Them to
Taking Care of Nature
Helping a Friend
Being a Good Listener
Being Kind
Being Generous/Sharing
Also, we are starting a Food Drive here at school. Please feel free to send in non-expired non-perishable items to us here at school. Our goal is to collect 1,000 items by November 26th. If you are able, please consider helping out families in need in your own neighborhood.
The kids are working hard on their personal narratives and are thinking about times when they had an experience when they learned something about themselves. The variety of experiences they are writing about is so incredible! They are thinking about feelings, senses, and details about their experiences. We'll be stretching out the moment using as much detail as we can muster. I can't wait to see how they shape up.
As far as conferences go, I'll be sending out times soon. I understand that families will be getting a notice regarding a new sign-up system we are going to try and use. I may or may not use it because the slots available are only for 20 minutes and I like to allow for a 30 minute meeting. It seems like 30 minutes is the least I can offer you all! More details will be coming soon.
I think that's it for now. Please have a safe, fun time this Halloween!
Be in touch with any questions, concerns or celebrations any time.
~B
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Apple Sauce, 4 Winds, Reader's Workshop and more!
Hello Friends,
I hope this finds you well. The foliage is starting to wane and the temperature is fall. Autumn is fully here! We have been singing our hearts our during Primary Sing to celebrate the changing of the seasons.
Today we got the opportunity to use some of the apples from my house to make apple sauce! Thanks so much to Talitha for sharing her Instant Pot, food mill and time to help make this happen. The kids even got to have some at lunch, too! It is amazing to see how much sauce you can make from a 5 gallon barrel!
Adrienne Magida came in to do our first 4-Wind session on the sun and its position in the sky. I even got to do some acting in the puppet show. This month we will be look at erosion. I really appreciate the time all of our volunteers put in to help make our days a bit more enriching and I know the kids feel the same.
We have been working on our senses in our science journals and will be moving into solids, gasses and liquids in the coming weeks to come to some basic understandings on States of Matter. I look forward to making some oobleck, looking at ice melt and evaporate and other investigations.
We have begin our work in Reader's Workshop as well. The kids split for the beginning part of literacy by grade, second grade stays with me and first grade goes with Caitlin. We are following the Lucy Calkins continuum, which is a great guide to help kids get to know themselves as readers.
We will beginning some story writing next week as part of Writer's Workshop. The kids will be writing about a time when they learned something about themselves. We have been talking a lot about the author's message (moral) and we will be incorporating the use of transition words, descriptive language and compelling beginnings and endings to our stories.
As a heads-up, we do not have a celebration for Halloween like a parade or a party, no need to send in a costume or treats on the 31st. We try to keep things as sane as possible!
I think that's it for now. Please let me know if you have questions, concerns or celebrations anytime!
Have a wonderful weekend!
~B
I hope this finds you well. The foliage is starting to wane and the temperature is fall. Autumn is fully here! We have been singing our hearts our during Primary Sing to celebrate the changing of the seasons.
Today we got the opportunity to use some of the apples from my house to make apple sauce! Thanks so much to Talitha for sharing her Instant Pot, food mill and time to help make this happen. The kids even got to have some at lunch, too! It is amazing to see how much sauce you can make from a 5 gallon barrel!
Adrienne Magida came in to do our first 4-Wind session on the sun and its position in the sky. I even got to do some acting in the puppet show. This month we will be look at erosion. I really appreciate the time all of our volunteers put in to help make our days a bit more enriching and I know the kids feel the same.
We have been working on our senses in our science journals and will be moving into solids, gasses and liquids in the coming weeks to come to some basic understandings on States of Matter. I look forward to making some oobleck, looking at ice melt and evaporate and other investigations.
We have begin our work in Reader's Workshop as well. The kids split for the beginning part of literacy by grade, second grade stays with me and first grade goes with Caitlin. We are following the Lucy Calkins continuum, which is a great guide to help kids get to know themselves as readers.
We will beginning some story writing next week as part of Writer's Workshop. The kids will be writing about a time when they learned something about themselves. We have been talking a lot about the author's message (moral) and we will be incorporating the use of transition words, descriptive language and compelling beginnings and endings to our stories.
As a heads-up, we do not have a celebration for Halloween like a parade or a party, no need to send in a costume or treats on the 31st. We try to keep things as sane as possible!
I think that's it for now. Please let me know if you have questions, concerns or celebrations anytime!
Have a wonderful weekend!
~B
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Cider, Open House, All School Adventure
Hello families!
I hope you have all been able to enjoy these beautiful summer days! I know we have here in our room. We are building our class rules, exploring and cleaning up the outdoor classroom and settling into our routines.
In literacy, we are working on building our work stamina, making sure that it is a silent work time so everyone can do their best learning, and getting to know what "good fit" work looks like. They are working so hard on their reading and writing. Next week, after we have finished all of our assessments, we will begin our reading work in earnest.
We've read a number of books, the two the Read-Aloud books we read were Elmer and Down the Road.
We've been talking a lot about the author's message in the books I have been reading aloud and these are two of my favorites. The lessons from the books are critical in creating our classroom culture and helps us create expectations for ourselves and our friends in class.
We pressed some cider on Friday across our 1/2 team and the 6th grade got a crack at it, too. It's a good thing we picked so many apples! The kids all got to have a taste of their hard work at the end of the day and it is always a good reminder to celebrate our fall harvest. A special thanks and shout out to the Cotterill/Chabot family for letting us borrow the cider to press that allowed for this all to happen. The generosity of the families in Middlesex always come through!
Open House is this Wednesday, the 25th from 5:30 to 6:30. I look forward to you all coming in and learning about our class and seeing/meeting you all! The kids will be showing you routines, some of their work, and much more. You should also make sure to check in with their allied arts teachers as well to talk about their amazing work as well.
I think that's it for now. Be in touch with questions, concerns or celebrations any time!
Enjoy the last day of summer!
~B
I hope you have all been able to enjoy these beautiful summer days! I know we have here in our room. We are building our class rules, exploring and cleaning up the outdoor classroom and settling into our routines.
In literacy, we are working on building our work stamina, making sure that it is a silent work time so everyone can do their best learning, and getting to know what "good fit" work looks like. They are working so hard on their reading and writing. Next week, after we have finished all of our assessments, we will begin our reading work in earnest.
We've read a number of books, the two the Read-Aloud books we read were Elmer and Down the Road.
We've been talking a lot about the author's message in the books I have been reading aloud and these are two of my favorites. The lessons from the books are critical in creating our classroom culture and helps us create expectations for ourselves and our friends in class.
We pressed some cider on Friday across our 1/2 team and the 6th grade got a crack at it, too. It's a good thing we picked so many apples! The kids all got to have a taste of their hard work at the end of the day and it is always a good reminder to celebrate our fall harvest. A special thanks and shout out to the Cotterill/Chabot family for letting us borrow the cider to press that allowed for this all to happen. The generosity of the families in Middlesex always come through!
The All School Adventure is planned for this Friday, the 27th. We will be leaving in the morning to go to Hubbard Park in Montpelier and will have a day of exploring the many sites and trails in the park. Please be sure that if you plan on joining us that you have filled out your Level 1 chaperone paperwork in the front office. Be in touch with Mary or Christa in the front office if you need more information about this.
I think that's it for now. Be in touch with questions, concerns or celebrations any time!
Enjoy the last day of summer!
~B
Friday, September 6, 2019
First Two Weeks
Hello Families!
I hope your children have had a wonderful two first weeks of school! I know it has been wonderful working with them and getting to know them!
The kids designed our room set up, have helped put away materials and have arranged out book shelves. They are doing a wonderful job working together! Over the next few weeks we will be establishing class rules, norms and expectations. This is when we all really get to know the other people in the room and how we start thinking about how we can take care of ourselves, take care of each other and take care of our school. This will be the foundation of our work going forward this year.
Next week we'll being to dig our teeth into literacy time by practicing reading to self and doing some self-directed writing and handwriting practice. I'll also being doing our annual battery of beginning of the year assessments to help guide our work in word study, phonics, handwriting, reading and writing.
We have also had the pleasure of letting go of some monarch butterflies that we raised and hatched. It is always such a wonderful experience to share with children. We were talking about it today and we think that the children of Vermont are probably responsible for the huge number of butterflies we've seen this year!
To go along with the theme of autumn, I was wondering if any of you know someone with an apple grinder and press that we can use here for our 1/2 team to make some cider. If you know of anyone who'd be willing to let us use one, it would be greatly appreciated.
We were able to get out to the outdoor classroom today (Friday) and the kids did a great job talking about our second week and also about how we are going to use the space and spend as much time outside as we can. We'll be making science journals next week as well.
Information:
I hope your children have had a wonderful two first weeks of school! I know it has been wonderful working with them and getting to know them!
The kids designed our room set up, have helped put away materials and have arranged out book shelves. They are doing a wonderful job working together! Over the next few weeks we will be establishing class rules, norms and expectations. This is when we all really get to know the other people in the room and how we start thinking about how we can take care of ourselves, take care of each other and take care of our school. This will be the foundation of our work going forward this year.
 |
| Holy dominoes, Batman! |
We have also had the pleasure of letting go of some monarch butterflies that we raised and hatched. It is always such a wonderful experience to share with children. We were talking about it today and we think that the children of Vermont are probably responsible for the huge number of butterflies we've seen this year!
To go along with the theme of autumn, I was wondering if any of you know someone with an apple grinder and press that we can use here for our 1/2 team to make some cider. If you know of anyone who'd be willing to let us use one, it would be greatly appreciated.
We were able to get out to the outdoor classroom today (Friday) and the kids did a great job talking about our second week and also about how we are going to use the space and spend as much time outside as we can. We'll be making science journals next week as well.
Information:
- September Dates
- September 9 - Picture Day!
- September 18 - Instrument Rental Night, 5:00-6:15pm in Rumney Gym (Also Board Meeting at Doty, 6:30pm)
- September 24 - All School Meeting 9:05-9:35
- September 25 - Open House, 5:30-6:30pm
- September 26 - Kindergarten Screening Day
- September 27 - All-School Outing
I think that's about it, please be in touch with any questions, thoughts or concerns any time.
Enjoy the weekend!
~B
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Welcome!
Dear First and Second Grade Families,
Welcome back! I hope you had a fun, refreshing and relaxing summer! I am so excited for the school year to start. I have had a busy couple of weeks getting ready and getting to know our new principal- Mr. Provost! It is going to be a great school year. Here is some information about me and some information about the first few days of school. I will see you soon!
Getting to Know Ben!
This is my 10th year teaching at our fantastic school! I grew up a few short miles from Rumney and am deeply connected and committed to this community. I remember playing little league on the ball fields! I believe in a classroom that is full of kindness, hard work and learning. I hope you get a chance to check out my blog (https://weissrumneyclass.blogspot.com/), which talks about this and many aspects of our days. Continue to check in as we go through the year for newsletter updates, curriculum resources and more. I am an avid outdoors person and am looking to finding lots of ways to get out and use nature as a resource for learning. I am looking forward to a great year working with your wonderful children!
Here are a few logistical reminders as we think about heading back to school:
- Look for your child’s home to school folder with lots of paperwork on the first day. After that, folders will continue to come home each day. Please try and check them and send any important information our way!
- Try your best to make sure your child knows their snack and lunch plan for the day. Also, feel free to shoot us an email with your weekly plans.
- Please send your child with a water bottle to keep at school! We will send them home on Fridays.
- We have PE on Monday and Friday, so be sure to have your child prepared with sneakers on those days.
- This Wednesday August 28, will be a regular 3:30 dismissal. Starting Wednesday, September 4 we will begin our early dismissal procedure with a 3:00 dismissal.
- Despite how excited your kids are, our school days can feel long to young learners. Please do your best to help your child rest up and get a good nights’ sleep before the first day.
- Please remember, snack should not have any nuts due to school wide allergies and policies. If your child brings a lunch with nuts, they will have to sit at the nut table in the cafeteria.
- If you feel like your child needs a change of clothes at school, please let us know and send them in. We will keep them in a safe, private place. In case of emergencies, the nurse has some available.
- Arrival and Dismissal: Arrival time in the morning is at 8:45 AM. If you arrive with your child before 8:45 AM, please wait in the lobby with your child until the start of our day. At this point, children may enter the classroom. Our day starts at 9:00 AM and this is when we take attendance. Dismissal will be at 3:30 PM. Please wait outside the primary wing for your child to be dismissed. If your child goes on the bus, please make sure you are there to meet them. The bus driver will not let children off the bus if no one is there to meet them.
- Please leave toys at home. If your child is someone who may benefit from a fidget of some sorts, we have many options of those for children to use and try out to see how they best learn.
- Picture day is Monday, September 9! Be sure to send your form in with your child.
Feel free to reach out to us with any questions or concerns! We look forward to a great school year with you and your kiddos!
Warmly,
Ben
223-5429 (s)
223-3677 (h)
bweiss@u32.org
223-5429 (s)
223-3677 (h)
bweiss@u32.org
Monday, June 24, 2019
SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello Friends,
First, I'd like to say thank you for a wonderful year. Your children were such a gift to have in class and I thank you for sharing them and supporting our class and school.
Please be in touch if you need anything over the summer such as resources, books, or anything else. In the meantime, remember:
First, I'd like to say thank you for a wonderful year. Your children were such a gift to have in class and I thank you for sharing them and supporting our class and school.
Please be in touch if you need anything over the summer such as resources, books, or anything else. In the meantime, remember:
Read Good Books!
Go Outside and Play with Friends and Family!
Repeat!
Also, if you need a place to get started for apps, please check out:
Epic Books
Razkids
Summer Reading in a Box
For book resources and summer reading challenges, please go your own Kellogg Hubbard Library. They have a huge library of books for kids, knowledgeable staff and great programs running all summer.
Hope to see you around!
~B
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Montshire, PLPs and Plays
Hey Families,
What an amazing weekend of beautiful weather! I hope you have been able to be productive and enjoy the outdoors despite our roller coaster weather! Luckily, we have had really good luck being able to get out for recess!
The All School Spring Concert is Wednesday, June 5th at 6:00pm. Have the kids get here a bit early. There will be an intermission after K-2 go. At that time, we will be releasing kids to their families and you can head on home or stay. It's up to you!
As a reminder, we are going to the Montshire Museum this Friday, the 31st of May. We'll be leaving in the morning and coming back before buses. If you need information about the trip or another permission slip, please let me know and I'll send one home.
Our first and second graders will be going to U-32 on June 12th to get books that 7th graders have made for them. It is a great tradition that goes back some 25 years. The kids always have such a great experience and we are glad to be participating.
Our PLPs (Personal Learning Projects) are going great! Kids are working on building their books, which they have done a ton of research and work on. There are many kids who are going to be moving on to their posters before long. We'll have a presentation before the end of school, date to be determined.
We are working hard on our plays, too. Some kids are in a number of plays, some fewer. They will all be working on backgrounds and props. They should not be spending money on costumes. They can bring things from home to use in their plays (within reason). Our play presentation will be Tuesday, June 11th at 10:30 and 2:00. Feel free to come and see either (or both!).
We got to plant our squash for the garden here at school, which is super exciting! I can't wait to see what the summer months bring! Thanks to Talitha and the rest of the garden crew for continuing this great tradition.
I think that's about it for now!
Best,
Ben
What an amazing weekend of beautiful weather! I hope you have been able to be productive and enjoy the outdoors despite our roller coaster weather! Luckily, we have had really good luck being able to get out for recess!
The All School Spring Concert is Wednesday, June 5th at 6:00pm. Have the kids get here a bit early. There will be an intermission after K-2 go. At that time, we will be releasing kids to their families and you can head on home or stay. It's up to you!
As a reminder, we are going to the Montshire Museum this Friday, the 31st of May. We'll be leaving in the morning and coming back before buses. If you need information about the trip or another permission slip, please let me know and I'll send one home.
Our first and second graders will be going to U-32 on June 12th to get books that 7th graders have made for them. It is a great tradition that goes back some 25 years. The kids always have such a great experience and we are glad to be participating.
Our PLPs (Personal Learning Projects) are going great! Kids are working on building their books, which they have done a ton of research and work on. There are many kids who are going to be moving on to their posters before long. We'll have a presentation before the end of school, date to be determined.
We are working hard on our plays, too. Some kids are in a number of plays, some fewer. They will all be working on backgrounds and props. They should not be spending money on costumes. They can bring things from home to use in their plays (within reason). Our play presentation will be Tuesday, June 11th at 10:30 and 2:00. Feel free to come and see either (or both!).
We got to plant our squash for the garden here at school, which is super exciting! I can't wait to see what the summer months bring! Thanks to Talitha and the rest of the garden crew for continuing this great tradition.
I think that's about it for now!
Best,
Ben
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