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Thursday, January 31, 2013
Week of January 28th
Wow! I can't believe it is February today. January seemed to go by fast!
This week we continued to learn about different types of bridges and where the forces are acting on the structures. They built and tested how much weight different types of bridges held and recorded what parts of the bridges moved as the weight was added. They built a beam bridge, a deep beam bridge and an arch bridge. You can see them working on their arch bridges in the pictures and see some examples of their findings.
In math we are wrapping up the geometry portion of Unit 4. On Thursday we brainstormed geometrical terms used to describe 2 dimensional shapes and then created riddles to guess there shape. Examples of their riddles are in the slideshow. Next week we will be working on multiples of 3s. The week after we will move into our measurement unit with balls and ramps that talks about force and goes along with our science unit.
In writing we have now written 4 opinion pieces. We are now going back to our pieces and making them better using a checklist of what should be included in our writing. They are doing a great job of revising and making their writing better.
I have finally finished all of my assessment for this month. We will begin new reading groups next week.
Looking ahead:
Next week on Tuesday we will be attending the Kindergarten Dress Rehearsal for their concert. We will also be attending the Voyager play on Thursday. These should be a lot of fun to watch.
We will be going to the Flynn on Monday, February 11th. We will be seeing "Medicine Bear" which is a Native American tale. This is a follow-up to our unit on Long Ago and Today: Native Americans. February 11th is also our 100th day of school. That same week we will have our Valentine's Day celebration. We still need some help on snacks. If you would like to send something in, please visit the 2nd grade celebrations link on the team webpage or give me a call.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy
This week we continued to learn about different types of bridges and where the forces are acting on the structures. They built and tested how much weight different types of bridges held and recorded what parts of the bridges moved as the weight was added. They built a beam bridge, a deep beam bridge and an arch bridge. You can see them working on their arch bridges in the pictures and see some examples of their findings.
In math we are wrapping up the geometry portion of Unit 4. On Thursday we brainstormed geometrical terms used to describe 2 dimensional shapes and then created riddles to guess there shape. Examples of their riddles are in the slideshow. Next week we will be working on multiples of 3s. The week after we will move into our measurement unit with balls and ramps that talks about force and goes along with our science unit.
In writing we have now written 4 opinion pieces. We are now going back to our pieces and making them better using a checklist of what should be included in our writing. They are doing a great job of revising and making their writing better.
I have finally finished all of my assessment for this month. We will begin new reading groups next week.
Looking ahead:
Next week on Tuesday we will be attending the Kindergarten Dress Rehearsal for their concert. We will also be attending the Voyager play on Thursday. These should be a lot of fun to watch.
We will be going to the Flynn on Monday, February 11th. We will be seeing "Medicine Bear" which is a Native American tale. This is a follow-up to our unit on Long Ago and Today: Native Americans. February 11th is also our 100th day of school. That same week we will have our Valentine's Day celebration. We still need some help on snacks. If you would like to send something in, please visit the 2nd grade celebrations link on the team webpage or give me a call.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Week of January 21st
I hope everyone got to enjoy the long weekend last week. We had a nice short week. We are continuing to learn about symmetry and area in math which is part of our geometry unit. We will be finishing this unit up next week.
In science last week we began our force and balance unit about bridges. In addition to our learning about forces, balance and gravity, we are learning about different types of bridges. We learned that a beam bridge is made of a flat piece or beam, laid across two or more supports or piers. We learned that an arch bridge is made from one or more arches and abutments. We also learned that a suspension bridge has cables hanging between two towers that support the bridge. This week we have talked more about pushes and pulls, and learned about one-story structures and towers. We tested the various structures to see how strong they were and then came up with ways to make them stronger.
In writing, we continue to work on our Opinion pieces. This week we read the story, "Otto for President". The students were then asked if they would want to be President. They then wrote a piece stating their opinion and why they felt that way. Next week we will be focusing more on improving our pieces and how we can make sure that they have strong introductions, good supporting details and a conclusion with a restated focus and connection.
Next week I hope to wrap up the reading assessments and start back up with our reading groups. These will most likely be a little different from what they were at the beginning of the year. Your children are really taking off in their reading. We will be focusing the latter part of the year on comprehension and becoming more fluent readers.
In Fundations we will continue to learn about "r controlled" syllables and looking at this syllable type in multisyllabic words.
Don't forget if your child would like to do a special project for the Discovery Table there are still lots of open weeks left in the year. February is totally open. We have learned a lot of great information from those students who have chosen to do it this year.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy
In science last week we began our force and balance unit about bridges. In addition to our learning about forces, balance and gravity, we are learning about different types of bridges. We learned that a beam bridge is made of a flat piece or beam, laid across two or more supports or piers. We learned that an arch bridge is made from one or more arches and abutments. We also learned that a suspension bridge has cables hanging between two towers that support the bridge. This week we have talked more about pushes and pulls, and learned about one-story structures and towers. We tested the various structures to see how strong they were and then came up with ways to make them stronger.
In writing, we continue to work on our Opinion pieces. This week we read the story, "Otto for President". The students were then asked if they would want to be President. They then wrote a piece stating their opinion and why they felt that way. Next week we will be focusing more on improving our pieces and how we can make sure that they have strong introductions, good supporting details and a conclusion with a restated focus and connection.
Next week I hope to wrap up the reading assessments and start back up with our reading groups. These will most likely be a little different from what they were at the beginning of the year. Your children are really taking off in their reading. We will be focusing the latter part of the year on comprehension and becoming more fluent readers.
In Fundations we will continue to learn about "r controlled" syllables and looking at this syllable type in multisyllabic words.
Don't forget if your child would like to do a special project for the Discovery Table there are still lots of open weeks left in the year. February is totally open. We have learned a lot of great information from those students who have chosen to do it this year.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy
Friday, January 18, 2013
Week of January 14th
Today was Nathan's last day with our class. He will be moving to Michigan. We had a little celebration for him to let him know how much we would miss him. Every child in the class contributed to a book we made for him letting him know what we would remember about him. I was so impressed with each of your children's responses. They wrote such thoughtful notes to him. You could tell that each of them really put a lot of thought into what they wanted to say. Each page also had beautiful illustrations. The consensus from the book was that we would all really miss his beautiful smile that greeted everyone each and every morning. We also watched a photo-story of pictures from the last year and a half of being together as a class. Nathan will be able to take it with him to remember all of us.
This week we also talked about Martin Luther King Jr. and why we celebrate his birthday each year. We watched a video called, "Martin's Big Words" and read a kid friendly biography. We also got to read about him in our Scholastic News. Students came up with their own dream to make our world a better place. These will be made into a class book. We have some kids in our class that are going to most likely make a difference in our world one day!! They had some inspiring dreams. Check out a few of them below.
Also we wanted to let you know that I now have the link up for Spring Conferences. They will be held on Monday, March 18th and Tuesday, March 19th. Report cards will be going home on Friday, March 15th. When you get a chance, please go to the link and sign-up. If you have any problems, let us know and we can help get you signed up.
Have a Wonderful Long Weekend,
Nancy and Taylor
Thursday, January 17, 2013
PTO Minutes
I'd like to thank Dave Connery and Jen Machanic for this info:
Convened at 6:05PM
Mark your Calendars!
Help Wanted:
Coat Drive:
Thank Yous:
Next meeting:
Convened at 6:05PM
Reviewed minutes.
Principal's Report by Pati Beaumont
-13
SCS students scored a 7/7 and advanced to the school-wide finals of the
Geo Bee. The winner in the finals was Tomas Georgsson, with Zach Loiter
as the runner up and Sarah Clauss as our 2nd runner up
-Visiting Thai scholar, Chalinee Samutphong, is here at SCS from December through January visiting classes
-SCS
Selected as one of three nominees for a US Green Ribbon School. This
is a very competitive nomination that evaluates carbon footprint,
environmentally friendly learning spaces, student health+wellness, and
sustainability in the curriculum.
-CVU visits are beginning for 8th graders. Band visits on 17 January, and 8th Grade student evening on Jan 30 for Q+A
-Gretchen
Garvey received a grant from from SCHIP to defer costs for her
mindfulness training that she is sharing with colleagues and students
this year.
-Much more in the written report...
Fundraising:
-3 local coupon books left. Contact Randy Sweeney if you are interested
-Red Barn Fundraiser is underway. Flyers went home on 4-Jan. Orders due back on 18 January, with delivery on 7 Feb from 2:30-6
Fundspending
-John Gailmor will be the
artist in residence again this year! The program will be April 8-11.
Hopefully many classes will be able to interact and learn. Week
culminates in a 5th grade performance.
-We received a full grant for the Flynn Theater Arts program that
will be coming to the school in the spring. Thank you to Sally Stevens
for your hard work on this grant.
Mark your Calendars!
-International Pot Luck Dinner on 18 January 6-7:30p
-"Perfectionism,
Procrastination, and Petulance: normal adolescent behavior or something
more" a presentation by SCS Parent, Elena Ramirez, PhD on 15 January at
6PM in the Alpha Space.
-Margo Austin: "Effective Parenting Strategies for the middle
school years", a 7:30am presentation at the SCS Cafeteria on Thursday, 7
Feb. This is a change to a morning presentation to help get info to
folks who don't want to come to an evening presentation. Kids can have
breakfast at school during this...
Help Wanted:
International Potluck Dinner (contact Alice)
Coffee and breakfast treats for Margo Austin talk (contact Alice)
Red Barn distribution on 7 Feb from 1-3 (contact Alice)
Get out the vote calls (contact Randy)
Girls on the Run looking for afterschool volunteers (contact Sarah Dunn)
Coat Drive:
The
coat drive is a little behind schedule from earlier years! If you have
any kids-middle schooler outerwear that you don't use, consider
bringing it to the office to share with those in need. Gloves, boots,
jackets, snowpants all accepted.
Thank Yous:
Rita Daley and Teresa Shuptrine for the International Themed bulletin board
Jan Thabault for organizing the holiday food baskets
Kate Danforth for coordinating the coat drive.
Next meeting:
12 Feb at 6PM.
Free babysitting and Pizza!!!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Week of January 7th
This week we finished our Unit on Long Ago and Today- Native Americans. The team created a project for their final project. They had a choice to make a poster, a model or a report. They all chose a poster or model. They were asked to decide whether they would have liked to live long ago with the Native Americans or to continue to live today and then to show why on their project. They did an amazing job on their projects showing why they preferred the time period that they did. Check out the photos on the Smilebox. They shared their projects today in small groups.
In math we are continuing with our geometry unit. We talked a lot this week about how we can use triangles to create other shapes such as trapezoids, rhombuses, or hexagons. We also solved spatial problems where students had to try and make larger shapes with these pattern blocks but use the least amount of pattern blocks possible. They did a great job!!
Taylor Rapke is a student from UVM who has begun her student teaching in our classroom. You have a letter from her in the Friday folder. She will be with us until the first week of May. We are very excited to have her with us!
In writing we have started a unit on Opinion writing. We did an on-demand piece Monday to see what we would need to work on. We will be using Mentor texts to write pieces about our opinions over the next couple of weeks. Then we will use prompts to write opinions.
On Thursday we had Hands on Nature. I'd like to Thank Cecelia, Lynn and Caitlin for coming in and teaching our class about skulls and teeth of prey and predators. They talked about the different kinds of teeth and how to decide if an animal is a carnivore, herbivore or an insectivore. The students got to see 7 different skulls and tried to guess the animal and also what type of eater it was. As always there was a puppet show and the students loved it!
Have a great weekend,
Nancy and Taylor
In math we are continuing with our geometry unit. We talked a lot this week about how we can use triangles to create other shapes such as trapezoids, rhombuses, or hexagons. We also solved spatial problems where students had to try and make larger shapes with these pattern blocks but use the least amount of pattern blocks possible. They did a great job!!
Taylor Rapke is a student from UVM who has begun her student teaching in our classroom. You have a letter from her in the Friday folder. She will be with us until the first week of May. We are very excited to have her with us!
In writing we have started a unit on Opinion writing. We did an on-demand piece Monday to see what we would need to work on. We will be using Mentor texts to write pieces about our opinions over the next couple of weeks. Then we will use prompts to write opinions.
On Thursday we had Hands on Nature. I'd like to Thank Cecelia, Lynn and Caitlin for coming in and teaching our class about skulls and teeth of prey and predators. They talked about the different kinds of teeth and how to decide if an animal is a carnivore, herbivore or an insectivore. The students got to see 7 different skulls and tried to guess the animal and also what type of eater it was. As always there was a puppet show and the students loved it!
Have a great weekend,
Nancy and Taylor
Friday, January 4, 2013
Week of January 3rd
Happy New Year everyone! It's very nice to be back with your children again. It was a wonderful and restful break. I hope you all got the chance to spend some quality time with your families. I'd also like to take this opportunity and say thank-you to the families who made a donation to the Sandy Hook school in honor of our Firefly Team. What an amazing gesture! I have to say it made me a little emotional before break but I was truly touched by your genorosity. Our class also made snowflakes before the break that will be sent to their new school. I did not give them all of the information as to why we were making them. I just let them know that it was for a school in need of some extra help.
We started 2013 back into our regular routine. We started a new unit in math. It is a unit on geometry. In writing we will be starting a unit on Opinion writing. This is also a big month where I will be doing some assessment in reading.
Have a great weekend,
Nancy
We started 2013 back into our regular routine. We started a new unit in math. It is a unit on geometry. In writing we will be starting a unit on Opinion writing. This is also a big month where I will be doing some assessment in reading.
Have a great weekend,
Nancy
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