Post Holiday Update!

Hey Everyone,

I hope you all had a restful and healthy break. Even though the plague moved through our house, it was fast moving and largely predictable, which we all appreciated! The kids have all had a great week, despite the fact that it was a full one after vacation. There are some pretty wiped out kiddos but we have really made an effort to make sure we keep our expectations reasonable and our patience high. Our rules for the day (and every day) are to be kind, work hard and have fun. They are doing a wonderful job on these!

We have begun a class myth, which is shaping up really well. The kids are really engaged in the story that they are writing. We will then be writing some either as partners or individually. The kids are going to get the choice on how they will be crafting their stories. We will be putting them all together to make our own class book of myths, including the one that we all wrote together. Here is a preview:

Slowly, the ice and snow started to pile up and take form. It was no longer a pile! It was now a Snow Goddess! Her hair was flowing with ice and snow and she had a long flowing dress, made of snow. Her skin was icy cold.

"Who are you and what are you?" asked the Cloud God. 

We have begun our mid year reading assessments. The kids have all done a great job so far. I finished about half of the class this past Wednesday and will finish the rest next week. Be sure to be in touch if you'd like to ask any questions about them or if you need any clarifying information. I'll include their progress in their report cards, which will be sent home late January/early February. The reading assessments we do are one data point, but one that is largely standardized throughout our district. The data we get from this assessment are some of the most important we get, and I am always excited to see confirming information about my students' progress as well as new questions to be explored. We will also be doing our mid-year spelling assessments next week. The information we get back from these will also be included in your child's report card.

We have renewed our work on Rumney CARES as well as our tiered behavioral intervention system as well. We'll be getting new posters in our room that show the steps we go through to help students practice their best behavior and will be practicing them as the weeks go along.

We will be starting Winter Wellness next Friday afternoon. Please make sure that your child comes in with all of the necessary gear to participate. If you have questions about what this things are, be in touch with Lauren Caswell, our amazing PE teacher and organizer of this great opportunity for our kids, at lcaswell@u32.org or by calling the school to talk to her directly.

I think that's about it for now. Let me know if you have any further celebrations, question or concerns.

Think snow!

~B

STAR 360, Writing Assessments, Winter Wellness and Secret Snowflake

Hello Fantastic Families!

We have been having a great couple of weeks here in class. I was out two days this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) to do some special work in Montpelier with the Vermont Agency of Education. I was  chosen as one of the elementary teachers to represent our Supervisory Union (SU) in creating the Vermont Education Quality review process. Our SU and two others are participating in streamlining and adding to this process. It was great to see our education system at the macro level and I look forward to having folks from other schools observe the wonderful work that is happening in our, and all the other, schools in our SU. Although I appreciated the opportunity to do this work, it was hard to be away from school. This kind of work, interesting as it is, further reinforces my feelings about why I chose teaching as my profession; The classroom, thanks in no small part to your children, is where I feel most at home.

As far as the assessment schedule, we did a writing prompt and the first and second graders will be doing their second installment of the Easy CBM (math assessment) in the coming weeks. The kids are becoming more and more accustomed to being regularly asked to "show what you know". We've done lots of work around making sure that we try to keep the process of assessment as low-key as possible, especially for the younger kids. Because of the emphasis and focus we are putting on academics, we always have to be careful about the developing picture that kids have of themselves. We have to do our best to make sure that these assessments don't lead them to think poorly of their academic abilities and as a consequence, themselves. We use words like "growth mindset", I don't get it, yet" and "grit" to help with fending off these feelings.

In Writer's Workshop the kids will be finishing up their small moment stories and they will be bringing them home. They have been working hard on editing and making sure that their writing is the best that they can make it. I am so proud of the progress they continue to make. We will be doing some more letter writing in the coming weeks.

We are doing a Secret Snowflake activity in our class. As I am sensitive to the many responsibilities of families during this time of year, I choose not to go down the shopping route for this activity. Instead, the kids make things for one another daily and make sure they get their creations before the end of the day. It's a great way to celebrate our friends in class, especially as the emotions and excitement start to rise. We will be doing a Solstice Celebration (even though the actual solstice is a couple days prior) on the 23rd at 2:50. We do some candle lighting and then some snacking. I encourage you all to be there because the kids say some pretty amazing things. I'll need help with some healthy drinks and snacks to have afterwards.

I hope you all got a chance to sign up for Winter Wellness Fridays, starting after the holiday break. the kids always look forward to these days and they are a great way to enjoy our beautiful winters. Make sure you send in the green forms indicating your child's choice of activity. If you need a new slip, get in touch with the front office here at school. They can send home a new copy.

Stay warm this weekend, and be sure to be in touch with any question, comments or concerns.

Best,

~B

Post Conferences and Pre-Thanksgiving

Hey All,

It was wonderful meeting with all of you for conferences over the past few weeks. I really appreciated the time to sit and discuss your child's progress and goals for the rest of the year. If ever you'd like to talk more or if you have anything to discuss anytime, let me know. I am always happy to meet and talk about any questions, concerns or celebrations.

We had some great discussion about the election where we talked about how the process of picking a president works and how that led to Donald Trump became president. We gave them a helpful anecdote, which they immediately understood. We talked about having them imagine losing a game that they really wanted to win. It can feels disappointing, discouraging and frustrating. That said, your job as someone who loses is to congratulate your opponent and then ask yourself this question: what do I need to do to give myself the greatest chance at winning the next time (if that is, in fact, important to you)? Does it mean working harder? Yup. Does it mean practicing more? Yup. Does it mean that you will win next time for sure? Nope. It only means that you did everything you could do to make the outcome the one you want, and that you can always feel good about working hard and getting better at something. You'll always have that.

We have been working hard on some small moment writing stories, which will lead to a wring prompt and assessment in the weeks to come. The kids are working on applying their spelling skills as well as stretching out their story to add more and more details to make it fun to read for the reader. The kids are making great progress!

I am meeting with reading groups and I have loved seeing them continue to grow as readers. Make sure that your children are doing lots of reading at home. If you'd like strategy sheets that show the reading strategies we use in class or the sight word lists that help kids read more and more fluently. You can check out my class blog reading page to find out more. I have some of this posted there.

We will be starting our science unit on sound after Thanksgiving break. If you could, send in some toilet paper rolls when you get the chance. They will be used in our unit when we do some building. I really appreciated Emily and Hannah coming in and doing a great 4 Winds lesson on bugs and metamorphosis. The kids (and Chris and I) learned lots!

After Thanksgiving Break our "Lunch Bunch" will be changing. This new group will meet in a quiet space outside of the lunchroom to eat while practicing social skills. Your child may or may not be involved in this.

As the weather changes, the kids will need clothes at school that meet these new needs. Please be sure your kids are coming in with appropriate clothing (snow next week!). 

I think that's about it for the update. Let me know if you need anything else!

~B

Movie Night and Conference Sign-Ups

Hey All,

I hope you are all ready for the temperatures to start feeling mighty fall-like. As a reminder, please be sure to send in your children with the appropriate seasonal clothing. We sometimes still go to recess on the misty mountain! Also, our AMAZING PTO is hosting a movie night tonight. I encourage you all to stop in and watch the movie, Hotel Transylvania. It should be a great time. Give a thanks and show some support for this amazing group of committed Rumney parents!

Thanks to all of you who have signed up for conferences. I am looking forward to meeting with you all to look at some of their work, talk about your hopes and dreams for the year and hear some observations from the classroom. It should go without saying that if you'd ever like to meet and discuss anything, any time, to let me know. I can carve out time most mornings to sit and chat.

Here is the conference link:

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

In Writer's Workshop we are finishing up our ABC book drafts about themselves and we will be working on final products next week. We will then be working on some small moment writing which is essentially a personal narrative that will take readers through a special moment that our first and second grade writers will write about. It will have them use transition words as well as other writing conventions and show a beginning, problem/event and ending.

Today we read a book about kind words for friends, Jamaica and Brianna. The kids all did a great job talking about it and realizing that we might say something that we didn't mean as being unkind, but it sometimes just so We will be starting a longer read-aloud book next week, as per the request of the majority of kids in class. We have been reading a lot of short stories and practicing making movies in our minds while listening to them. We will now be working on that skill in a longer book.

We will also be starting our study of how things stay the same and how things change. An example that we look at is how animals stay the same and change from when they are babies to adults, for instance. They always have such a good time with this, as they are masters of same and different.

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

~B

Chili Cook-off and Our Great Week

Hello Folks,

We have had a great week in our class. I have all of our reading groups together and we all got to spend some time together this week. The kids are excited to be reading books with their peers and me in small groups instead of individually or on assessments. They all have individual skills they are working on, I hope you talk to your child about what they are reading with me and the skills they are working on. I look forward to chatting with you all about it at conferences.

Speaking of conferences... Here is the link to the conference sign up times:

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

I have a couple of mornings per week and then the scheduled conference day (November 11th). I can't do after school meetings as part of regular scheduling but I can make exceptions, if needed.

In first grade math we have done a ton of work on the use of dot cluster cards, how to organize the order of building number sentences with rods (5+0=5, 4+1=5, 3+2=5, 2+3=5, 1+4=5, 0+5=5, for instance. By organizing the way they build the rods it helps them organize these numbers and their relationships in their heads.

In Writer's Workshop the kids are working on their "All About Me" books and their handwriting books. They are enjoying working on both. I also just did a brief show what you know about their handwriting in a reading response about The Minpins, the read-aloud book we just finished.

Wednesday, October 19th is picture re-take day. Talk to the front office with any questions about it.

Be in touch with any questions, concerns or celebrations.

That's about it for now, I hope you all had a great weekend!

~B

Post Hike Week Update

Hello Wonderful Families!

I hope you all heard lots of great stories about the hike last week. I was sorry to miss it but I know the kids had a great time.

Sorry about the possibly perceived preachy/lecturey tone of what is going to follow, but recent events in class call for me to ask you for some assistance.

I talked about this some time ago is a previous blog post but many of you are new to my class so I'll reiterate a point I'd like to ask you to support. It is election season. The general public has some big feelings about the candidates one way or the other. I can't do anything about this. However, recently, kids have been coming in using some pretty hurtful language about candidates running for president, leading to some hurt feelings. It is my belief, and one that is emphasized at our school, that because we disagree doesn't make someone bad or good. It means we have something to learn from one another. This connects directly to our young ones, as they are always trying to see the world in black and white. They are too young and not ready to understand the immense amount of grey involved in the world, in this case presidential politics and policy. I ask you to please make sure that if you are choosing to discuss politics with your child that you make it clear that because you disagree with someone's views that it doesn't make them a bad person. People can disagree and still be friends.

On a another note, I have had kids coming in and asking about clowns at school. In case you haven't heard, there are people dressing as clowns and doing some pranks and scaring of people. It is one of those viral things that will pass with time. In the meantime, however, I would appreciate some filtering of this kind of information to kids. One student came in talking about his parent's Facebook messages about the clowns and it affected some kids in class. It scared them. Your help is appreciated in being the person discerning what information is appropriate for your child to know about.

Back to the other work at hand...

We have all been working hard in class and we have finished all of our reading assessments. The kids are going to be put in groups to start working on specific skills next week. Some groups will be primarily working on word-solving strategies, some working on reading fluency to build their reading rate, others will be working on comprehension. There is a lot to learn!

In Writer's Workshop we are working on books that are called "All  About Me" ABC books. It has been a real blast reading about how kids see and describe themselves. They are concentrating on their handwriting as well as thinking about the words that best describe them. They are going to be looking at ways that they are same and different to other things as well. We will be using Venn Diagrams as one of the tools to do this work.

We have continued to work on our weather chart and next week will be charting the shortening of the days. We will work on our observation skills as well at our observation table. We will also be having a station where we can carry out an investigation, next week we will be weighing.

We are reading the Minpins in read-aloud. Ask your child about the story, it is a Roald Dahl classic. We are working on making a movie in our minds when a book is read to us. We stop and ask the kids what they are seeing in their movies in their heads and it has been a great exercise for them all.

I am having such a blast this year, and your children are to thank for it. It is a most wonderful group, indeed!

Have a wonderful weekend,

~B

Post Hike Week Update

Hello Wonderful Families!

I hope you all heard lots of great stories about the hike last week. I was sorry to miss it but I know the kids had a great time.

Sorry about the possibly perceived preachy/lecturey tone of what is going to follow, but recent events in class call for me to ask you for some assistance.

I talked about this some time ago is a previous blog post but many of you are new to my class so I'll reiterate a point I'd like to ask you to support. It is election season. The general public has some big feelings about the candidates one way or the other. I can't do anything about this. However, recently, kids have been coming in using some pretty hurtful language about candidates running for president, leading to some hurt feelings. It is my belief, and one that is emphasized at our school, that because we disagree doesn't make someone bad or good. It means we have something to learn from one another. This connects directly to our young ones, as they are always trying to see the world in black and white. They are too young and not ready to understand the immense amount of grey involved in the world, in this case presidential politics and policy. I ask you to please make sure that if you are choosing to discuss politics with your child that you make it clear that because you disagree with someone's views that it doesn't make them a bad person. People can disagree and still be friends.

On a another note, I have had kids coming in and asking about clowns at school. In case you haven't heard, there are people dressing as clowns and doing some pranks and scaring of people. It is one of those viral things that will pass with time. In the meantime, however, I would appreciate some filtering of this kind of information to kids. One student came in talking about his parent's Facebook messages about the clowns and it affected some kids in class. It scared them. Your help is appreciated in being the person discerning what information is appropriate for your child to know about.

Back to the other work at hand...

We have all been working hard in class and we have finished all of our reading assessments. The kids are going to be put in groups to start working on specific skills next week. Some groups will be primarily working on word-solving strategies, some working on reading fluency to build their reading rate, others will be working on comprehension. There is a lot to learn!

In Writer's Workshop we are working on books that are called "All  About Me" ABC books. It has been a real blast reading about how kids see and describe themselves. They are concentrating on their handwriting as well as thinking about the words that best describe them. They are going to be looking at ways that they are same and different to other things as well. We will be using Venn Diagrams as one of the tools to do this work.

We have continued to work on our weather chart and next week will be charting the shortening of the days. We will work on our observation skills as well at our observation table. We will also be having a station where we can carry out an investigation, next week we will be weighing.

We are reading the Minpins in read-aloud. Ask your child about the story, it is a Roald Dahl classic. We are working on making a movie in our minds when a book is read to us. We stop and ask the kids what they are seeing in their movies in their heads and it has been a great exercise for them all.

I am having such a blast this year, and your children are to thank for it. It is a most wonderful group, indeed!

Have a wonderful weekend,

~B