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Thursday, April 18, 2013
Social Studies Final Projects for Our Role in Culture Over Time Unit
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Week of April 15th
The end of my two solo weeks is already here! The class has done so much in these last two weeks, but they have truly seemed to fly by.
This week, we had lots of excitement surrounding the concert orchestrated by Diana Burritt! In addition to the normal unified arts time for music, the students also attended a dress rehearsal with the rest of the SCS first and second graders on Tuesday afternoon. Other grades (K, 3-5) were their test audience. All of the class seemed to really enjoy the concert and were proud of the hard work that they had put in during music time.
In math, we had a fun activity for the students that required them to make estimates about frequency and record, graph, and analyze data called Candy Colors. With their math partners, the students had to predict and then actually figure out how many of each color of Skittles were found in a bag. The following day, the students created bar graphs to show their results. To complete the project on the third day, the class created a SUPER graph that combined all of our results.
In writing, we are continuing Popping Poetry with a focus on haikus this week. The students are working on completing four seasonal poems with the 5-7-5 syllable structure. This has been a great way for the students to review syllables and think about poetry as a puzzle where they have the power to create the pieces.
Our cultural geography social studies unit came to a close as the students continued working on and then, shared their final projects. With a Firefly first grader, each student in our class created a skit, poster, or report comparing and contrasting a celebration or tradition from their collective cultures and a celebration of tradition from one of the other cultures we have learned about in this unit. As per usual with activities of this nature, it was a wonderful opportunity to see the creativity that our students possess.
With all of these exciting activities and culminating units, this week has been the perfect way to end my weeks of solo teaching. The week after vacation will be my last week in the classroom. Although it may be a little premature, thank you all for welcoming me into the SCS community and into your children's classroom!
Enjoy the spring break!
Taylor
This week, we had lots of excitement surrounding the concert orchestrated by Diana Burritt! In addition to the normal unified arts time for music, the students also attended a dress rehearsal with the rest of the SCS first and second graders on Tuesday afternoon. Other grades (K, 3-5) were their test audience. All of the class seemed to really enjoy the concert and were proud of the hard work that they had put in during music time.
In math, we had a fun activity for the students that required them to make estimates about frequency and record, graph, and analyze data called Candy Colors. With their math partners, the students had to predict and then actually figure out how many of each color of Skittles were found in a bag. The following day, the students created bar graphs to show their results. To complete the project on the third day, the class created a SUPER graph that combined all of our results.
In writing, we are continuing Popping Poetry with a focus on haikus this week. The students are working on completing four seasonal poems with the 5-7-5 syllable structure. This has been a great way for the students to review syllables and think about poetry as a puzzle where they have the power to create the pieces.
Our cultural geography social studies unit came to a close as the students continued working on and then, shared their final projects. With a Firefly first grader, each student in our class created a skit, poster, or report comparing and contrasting a celebration or tradition from their collective cultures and a celebration of tradition from one of the other cultures we have learned about in this unit. As per usual with activities of this nature, it was a wonderful opportunity to see the creativity that our students possess.
With all of these exciting activities and culminating units, this week has been the perfect way to end my weeks of solo teaching. The week after vacation will be my last week in the classroom. Although it may be a little premature, thank you all for welcoming me into the SCS community and into your children's classroom!
Enjoy the spring break!
Taylor
Friday, April 12, 2013
PTO April News
PTO NOTES & NEWS FOR APRIL 2013
There was much discussion about the TRAFFIC ISSUE
IN THE CIRCLE. One issue being that
nobody is allowed to stop in the fire lane the other is how to effectively and
safely manage traffic in the circle during drop-off and pick-up. Lots of ideas were discussed and the
principals will be considering them and looking for a viable solution.
The DYNAMIC DATES fundraiser made $1494! Thanks to everyone who participated and
congratulations to the winners of the fabulous dates!
The HANNAFORD HELPS SCHOOLS program brought in
$666.
The FLOWER POWER FUNDRAISER is happening now. You should have received a brochure from your
youngest child. If not and would like
one please contact Randy Sweeney (sweeneyrs@gmail.com). Orders are due by April 15.
HIKE IT!
BIKE IT! - Walk to School
Wednesdays will be happening during the month of May. Meet at the town green at 7:30a to walk to
school. A new biking effort is
encouraging students to bike to school from home on Thursdays and Fridays with
friends or family.
PTO sponsored, visiting Artist JON GAILMOR is here
this week working with many K-4 classes and all 5th grade classes songwriting
and learning about music and performing.
The 5th graders will be performing their original songs on Thursday, April
11 at 6p.This month the school conducted another SCHOOL WIDE INTRUDER DRILL that confirmed that staff and students have a clear picture of how to respond appropriately to such an emergency.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
- Thurs. April 11
- Jon Gailmor/5th grade performance
- Fri. April 12 -
Holden "Neon" Middle School Activity Night
- Tues. April 16 -
1st/2nd Grade Chorus Concert
- April 22 - April
26 - School Vacation
- Tues. May 7 -
Staff Appreciation Luncheon
- Friday, May 10 @
7:30p - Night of Comedy to benefit Shelburne and Charlotte PTO's (adult
only!) At the Old Lantern in
Charlotte
- Thursday, May 23
- Jog-A-Thon (rain date, May 22)
- PTO Co-Chair -
Interested in finding out more?
Contact Randy Sweeney
- 1 Gift Wrap
Co-Chair - We have 1 already signed up but need another. These 2 co-chairs will
"shadow" the current co-chairs during the 2013-2014 school year
then take over for the 2014 - 2015 school year.
- Staff
Appreciation Luncheon - Servers, bakers, etc. Contact Valerie Richardson (Valerie
@estimated.com)
- Jog-A-Thon
Volunteers - Contact Alice Brown or Randy Sweeney
- Help working in
flower gardens - C: Lisa Williams
(lisawvt@hotmail.com)
- Teresa Shuptrine
and Rita Daley for the flowery bulletin board
- Kim Schmitt for
organizing the Dynamic Dates fundraiser
- Everyone who
attended the spring grant meeting
A Note from Diana Burritt
Our concert is finally here! (Tuesday, April 16th) Please have your son/daughter arrive in the cafeteria at 6:00PM. (Please, no earlier)
Please have your child dressed appropriately. (No shorts or loose fitting shoes please)
Thanks!
Diana
Please have your child dressed appropriately. (No shorts or loose fitting shoes please)
Thanks!
Diana
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Week of April 8th
To begin the first of my two weeks of solo teaching, we had many exciting things going on in our classroom this week!
As a continuation of our Mexico unit, the students completed 3 days of groupwork rotations on Mexican culture. These activities gave students a chance to put the groupwork roles that we have learned (facilitator, recorder, reporter, and materials manager) into practice. As the students rotated to a different activity each day, the roles within the group also rotated. The students had some very creative products from the three different activities:
1) a puppet show on a Mexican tradition or celebration- to show what we have learned about celebrations and traditions
2) making a menu for their very own Mexican restaurant- to show what we have learned about the traditional foods of Mexico and pesos, Mexican money
3) a map or a model of Mexico- to show what we have learned about the environment and places of Mexico
As that unit wraps up, we started a new unit in writing: poetry! To get the students as excited about poetry as I am, we have started "Popping Poetry." I have created a tri-fold display with numbered balloons on it. Each day we are learning about a new type of poem, the class with pop one of the balloons to reveal the sheet of paper inside with the type of poem we will study that day. After introducing the unit this week, we started with shape poems. Next week, we will be looking at haikus.
Another exciting activity in our classroom this week was Hands On Nature! The students learned about different defenses among plants and animals and how they help them to survive. The students watched a puppet show on predators, prey, and defenses and completed puzzles to match animals and plants with the same methods of defense. Then, with the others at their tables, the students received a secret material that was one of the defenses that had been discussed (ex: seashells, porcupine quills). With 3 of their classmates, the students came up with clues, which they then created a poem out of (which fit perfectly with our poetry unit!). They presented these poems to the class to have them guess the defense! All of the class seemed to thoroughly enjoy the activity.
Pictures from both the Mexican groupwork rotations and Hands On Nature can be seen on the slideshow from this week.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Taylor
As a continuation of our Mexico unit, the students completed 3 days of groupwork rotations on Mexican culture. These activities gave students a chance to put the groupwork roles that we have learned (facilitator, recorder, reporter, and materials manager) into practice. As the students rotated to a different activity each day, the roles within the group also rotated. The students had some very creative products from the three different activities:
1) a puppet show on a Mexican tradition or celebration- to show what we have learned about celebrations and traditions
2) making a menu for their very own Mexican restaurant- to show what we have learned about the traditional foods of Mexico and pesos, Mexican money
3) a map or a model of Mexico- to show what we have learned about the environment and places of Mexico
As that unit wraps up, we started a new unit in writing: poetry! To get the students as excited about poetry as I am, we have started "Popping Poetry." I have created a tri-fold display with numbered balloons on it. Each day we are learning about a new type of poem, the class with pop one of the balloons to reveal the sheet of paper inside with the type of poem we will study that day. After introducing the unit this week, we started with shape poems. Next week, we will be looking at haikus.
Another exciting activity in our classroom this week was Hands On Nature! The students learned about different defenses among plants and animals and how they help them to survive. The students watched a puppet show on predators, prey, and defenses and completed puzzles to match animals and plants with the same methods of defense. Then, with the others at their tables, the students received a secret material that was one of the defenses that had been discussed (ex: seashells, porcupine quills). With 3 of their classmates, the students came up with clues, which they then created a poem out of (which fit perfectly with our poetry unit!). They presented these poems to the class to have them guess the defense! All of the class seemed to thoroughly enjoy the activity.
Pictures from both the Mexican groupwork rotations and Hands On Nature can be seen on the slideshow from this week.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Taylor
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
1/2 Music Concert
April
5, 2013
Dear Parents:
Just
a reminder: The 1st and 2nd grade students will perform their program on Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Please
join us in the SCS large gymnasium at 6:30PM
as we perform a variety of songs. Students should arrive in the cafeteria
at 6PM. (Only 5th grade assistants should arrive earlier)
Our
program will shown live, on channel 16, as well as over the Internet, through a
password-protected site! Special thanks to RETN for their media support. Since this program will also be
available for viewing afterwards, you may wish to come and enjoy the program,
and let our amazing camera crew take care of the videotaping!
Please
share the following link with those who cannot be at our program!
The
live stream channel on UStream.com is called "SCS Concerts."
There will be three steps to joining the concert
stream:
1.
Because it is a private stream, people will need to enter the following URL
directly into their browsers:
http://ustre.am/HigO
2.
From there you will be asked to enter the password on the "Password Protected Show" screen:
the
password is "burritt" (all
lower case)
Then
click on the "Let me in"
button
3.
Then on the SCS Concerts channel
player screen click on the gray field and enter the password again under "Password Protected Channel"
same
password - "burritt"
Then
click on the "Send" button
From
there you will see the stream.
Hope
that's not too complicated, but that's how we can protect the stream with a
password.
Thank
you.
Sincerely,
Diana
Burritt
Weeks of March 28th & April 1st
Happy April! Due to the short week last week, this week's blog will include information from last week and this week. We covered a lot of ground! Here are some of the highlights:
Last week, I, Miss Rapke, introduced a new mini-unit to practice working on groupwork. On our first day of the unit, the students learned about different roles that they may be assigned in a group so that everyone has a special purpose. The roles included facilitator, harmonizer, recorder, reporter, and materials manager. Some of the class was familiar with these roles as last year's student teacher did some similar groupwork activities. The students were given a chance to use these roles in an activity on Tuesday as they worked in groups to decide what 4 out of 8 possible items they would choose to take with them on a trip to the moon. The students also practiced working in groups with an activity called broken circles. Each group of four students was given four envelopes, each containing different pieces of circles. The students had to share their pieces with members of their group in order to complete four full circles. The final groupwork activity was called Master Designer. In this activity, one student made a design out of pattern blocks and had to use words only to describe how to make the pattern to the rest of his/her group. Each of these activities was begun with a new groupwork norm, such as "No one of us is as smart as all of us together," that the class would be focusing on that day. These norms and roles will be helpful next week as we do a series of groupwork rotations.
In social studies, we have been continuing our cultural geography unit. Last week, the classes read about celebrations in other cultures around the world and used a Venn diagram to compare the traditions of those cultures to their own. This week, the students used Hyperstudio in the computer labs to create a slide of a tradition that is followed in the culture of their families.
As a spin-off to this unit, the class has also begun a unit on the culture of Mexico this week. On Monday, we had an online scavenger hunt that we completed as a class to introduce some traditions and information about Mexico. On Tuesday, we worked on mapping out culturally significant places in Mexico using information from the read aloud, Let's Go Traveling in Mexico! In guided reading groups, the students have also started a new story on Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). We also had a math lesson on converting dollars to pesos and a lesson on Cinco de Mayo! Students will use their new knowledge of Mexican culture in the groupwork rotations next week.
In writing last week and this week, we have been working on fairy tales. Students are working on finishing their first fairy tales and beginning new ones. They are practicing revising their work using a checklist, like we did with opinion writing.
On Wednesday, we had some tasty fun courtesy of the FEED program! In the cafeteria, the students were given a chance to taste test several different spices on pears and apples. The students grated fresh ginger and nutmeg, peeled cardamom seeds, and ground cinnamon sticks. The products from their work will be combined by the kitchen to create pear compote for every student to enjoy!
Enjoy the springy (hopefully warm!) weather this weekend!
Taylor & Nancy
Last week, I, Miss Rapke, introduced a new mini-unit to practice working on groupwork. On our first day of the unit, the students learned about different roles that they may be assigned in a group so that everyone has a special purpose. The roles included facilitator, harmonizer, recorder, reporter, and materials manager. Some of the class was familiar with these roles as last year's student teacher did some similar groupwork activities. The students were given a chance to use these roles in an activity on Tuesday as they worked in groups to decide what 4 out of 8 possible items they would choose to take with them on a trip to the moon. The students also practiced working in groups with an activity called broken circles. Each group of four students was given four envelopes, each containing different pieces of circles. The students had to share their pieces with members of their group in order to complete four full circles. The final groupwork activity was called Master Designer. In this activity, one student made a design out of pattern blocks and had to use words only to describe how to make the pattern to the rest of his/her group. Each of these activities was begun with a new groupwork norm, such as "No one of us is as smart as all of us together," that the class would be focusing on that day. These norms and roles will be helpful next week as we do a series of groupwork rotations.
In social studies, we have been continuing our cultural geography unit. Last week, the classes read about celebrations in other cultures around the world and used a Venn diagram to compare the traditions of those cultures to their own. This week, the students used Hyperstudio in the computer labs to create a slide of a tradition that is followed in the culture of their families.
As a spin-off to this unit, the class has also begun a unit on the culture of Mexico this week. On Monday, we had an online scavenger hunt that we completed as a class to introduce some traditions and information about Mexico. On Tuesday, we worked on mapping out culturally significant places in Mexico using information from the read aloud, Let's Go Traveling in Mexico! In guided reading groups, the students have also started a new story on Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). We also had a math lesson on converting dollars to pesos and a lesson on Cinco de Mayo! Students will use their new knowledge of Mexican culture in the groupwork rotations next week.
In writing last week and this week, we have been working on fairy tales. Students are working on finishing their first fairy tales and beginning new ones. They are practicing revising their work using a checklist, like we did with opinion writing.
On Wednesday, we had some tasty fun courtesy of the FEED program! In the cafeteria, the students were given a chance to taste test several different spices on pears and apples. The students grated fresh ginger and nutmeg, peeled cardamom seeds, and ground cinnamon sticks. The products from their work will be combined by the kitchen to create pear compote for every student to enjoy!
Enjoy the springy (hopefully warm!) weather this weekend!
Taylor & Nancy
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