Imagination Playground, Discovery Table and Science Project Share

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Week of November 18th

This week we finished up our Science unit on "The Sky changes over time". The students finished up their projects to show their learning and each had an opportunity to share it with the team. Pictures of them sharing with the team are in the slide show.

We had our first Discovery Table this week.  A second grader shared about tennis and had a great presentation.  Anyone on the team can sign up for a week to share about a topic of their choice.  The sign-up is located on our team page on the SCS website. 

On Wednesday we went to the 6/8 Chorus concert rehearsal.  We got to hear two different groups rehearse for their concert that evening.  Students were excited to hear them sing and are looking forward to being involved when they get to that age. 

I reassessed students on their math facts this week and I can't tell you how much improvement I saw with all of the students.  These scores are recorded on their report cards which will go home on Dec. 6th.  I am so proud of the growth they made.  The addition mean of the class went from 10 correct to 16 correct out of 22.  The subtraction mean of the class went from 4 correct to 13 correct.  You should be very proud of your children's hard work!!!

We will be welcoming another student to our classroom after Thanksgiving break.  Everyone is very excited to welcome her to our classroom. 

I hope that everyone has a wonderful and restful break.  I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Nancy

Hands on Nature, Imagination Playground and Science Projects

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PTO Notes for November

PTO NOTES & NEWS FOR NOVEMBER

SUPPORT THE PTO WHEN YOU SHOP ON AMAZON!  Click on the link on the PTO page of the SCS website each time you shop at Amazon and the PTO will receive up to 15% of your purchase!

The PTO wants your input!  Please take our  SURVEY by clicking on the link on the PTO page of the SCS website or click on the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5TSTHSL
The SCHOOL DIRECTORY is finished and has been distributed.  Extra copies can be purchased for $5 from Esther or at the Holiday Fair.  We raised over $1500 in business listings.  Please solicit these LOCAL BUSINESSES that have supported the PTO.

HANNAFORD HELPS SCHOOLS program ends on December 1.  Please remember to bring all of your "schools" receipts to the office or put in the kiosk at Hannaford.

The PTO decided to replace the Flower Power fundraiser with a new local plant fundraiser through Hinesburg company, RED WAGON PLANTS.  More info. on this in the spring.

The PTO FALL GRANT COMMITTEE met and distributed $5000 in grants to teachers and staff!  Some of the great things we've funded are:  New instruments for K-8 music programs, books to support the Common Core, an on-line book subscription, playground equipment for EEE/Kindergarten, and math tools.

The WINTER GEAR DRIVE is still happening.  The need is as great as ever for winter gear for all age children and adults.  Box in front of office.

IMAGINATION PLAYGROUND is at SCS again!  This interactive mobile exhibit on loan from the Green Mountain Children's Museum will be shared by all of our primary classrooms through November.

The CVU ROBOTICS TEAM treated middle school students to demonstrations of various robotics and a 3-D printer!

The 2 Vermont based stars of the documentary WRETCHES & JABBERERS visited with 6th graders culminating their lesson of a Skills4Life Bullying & Harassment unit.

7th graders enjoyed STEPAFRIKA at the Flynn as a powerful conclusion to their world music culture unit.

David Southworth's 7th graders had the opportunity to take control of a CAMERA ON BOARD THE INT'L SPACE STATION and took some great pictures!

Officer Thomas Nash is giving presentations to all middle school students on INTERNET SAFETY.   We will also be sponsoring a parent education night with him on January 29.

Teachers and staff have attended PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT on the topics of suicide prevention and youth stress and anxiety.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
HOLIDAY FAIR:  Sat. 12/7, 9:30a - 1:30p.  Adult and child made crafts and goodies. and games! Great place to do your holiday shopping - fun for the whole family!

HELP WANTED:

• Setting up and decorating for the Holiday Fair:  Friday, 12/6 from 3p - whenever.
• Clean-up and breakdown after Holiday Fair:  Saturday, 12/7

C:  Leslie Borrok (leslie@borrok.com)

 THANK YOU TO:

• Amy Knight for coordinating the Newberry Cup Bake Sale.
• Everyone who donated baked goods or helped at the Newberry Cup.
• Everyone who supported and helped distribute Genevieve Gift Wrap.
• Leslie Borrok and Lisa Merrill for coordinating the directory and Kim Schmitt, Valerie Richardson, Corinne Levinthal and Elaine brand for their tremendous amount of work on the directory.

NEXT PTO MEETING:   TUES. DEC. 10 @ 6P.  Pizza and babysitting provided and we will have a cookie swap - bring 3 dozen of your favorite cookies!

Week of November 11th

I apologize for this late posting.  Last week was a hectic week and I didn't get a chance to post on Friday.  

Last week we added a new student to our classroom.  All of the students were very excited to welcome her.  Some students even came to school with some nice welcome messages.  They were all very sweet.

Last week we had "Hands on Nature".  Our parent volunteers, Lynn and Trish, taught us about cones that are found on evergreen trees.  We learned that these cones come in various sizes, and shapes.  We learned that they carry the seeds for the tree.  We also learned that the pines found on the different evergreens can be very different.  Some pines are small and hard.  Some pines are grouped together in bunches.  We also learned that some of the evergreen trees that cones are found on spruces, pines, firs, and hemlocks.  The children also found out that when the cones get wet they close up to keep the seeds inside.  As always there was a great puppet show filled with information that the class loves to hear!  Pictures will be posted on Monday for you to check out.

In math we continued to look at ways to make tens and then started looking at numbers up to twenty.  We then talked about subtraction number stories and how when we compare two numbers we can use subtraction to find out how many more or how many fewer.  Next week we will continue to focus on numbers greater than 10 and place value and the meanings of the numbers found in these 2-digit numbers.  

This week in Science, we started our final project.  Each student was partnered up with a 2nd grader or two and created a project to show how the sky changes over time.  They had the choice of making a poster, diorama or writing a report.  Next week we will share out our projects with the team.  On Monday you can see students working on these projects in the slide show.  When we come back after the Thanksgiving break we will begin a Social Studies unit on physical geography.  

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  Enjoy your week,

Nancy

Week of November 4th

In math this week we continue to add, subtract, count and compare. In number corner we have begun looking at fractions. Students are already able to break cookies into halves and fourths. Our calendar reflects these fractions with different objects starting with a cookie and then moving on to the sandwich. It makes reference to the number of animals and the amount they each get. We started with a whole cookie and a bear ate the whole cookie. Next we moved onto a cookie split in halves and two dogs each got a half. We are recording observations onto a chart and writing sentences to explain what is happening on our calendar. An example is; 2 dogs each got a half of the cookie. We are also looking at a clock and collecting hours for each day we are in school. Next week we will talk about the clock and how it can represent a half.

 In writing this week we talked about how we can use words we know to make our stories more readable. We also talked about the expectation that the words on our word wall should be spelled correctly and the concepts we are learning in Fundations should be reflected in our writing. The word wall has the trick words from Unit 3 on there as of now and new ones will be added each time we finish a Fundations unit. We will wrap up Unit 4 next week and then those trick words will be added to our Word Wall.

 In Reader's Workshop we are talking about characters and what characters do in stories. We are using this information to help us retell the story. I have also been introducing characters from books at students' levels to get them excited about reading. Some examples are Frog & Toad as well as Biscuit. in Science we will be wrapping up our "Changes in the Sky unit" before Thanksgiving break. We will be working on a final project to show our learning of the unit. Stay tuned to see what your child does.

 Have a wonderful weekend, Nancy

Imagination Playground is Back!!!

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to go and play with the imagination playground.  We have some very creative and inventive students in this class.  They worked together to build various structures and items.  There were cars, houses, forts, beds, balancing structures, etc.  The students had a wonderful time and were very tolerant of one another and worked well together.  Check out some of our amazing items that we made.

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Week of October 28th

The energy in the classroom has been high this week with the kids excited about Halloween.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween!  We had a nice celebration on Thursday afternoon with yummy treats.  I'd like to thank the parents who sent in our grapes, clementines, juice boxes, cookies, plates and napkins.  The class really enjoyed them!!

We finished up Unit 2 this week with 2 games that were aimed at understanding the value and relationship between a penny, nickel and dime and determining the value of a collection of pennies.  On Thursday we made some fun Halloween Glyphs of vampires based on our answers to some math problems (Check out the picture below.).  On Friday we started Unit 3 and played a game where we made sums of 7 based on the color of 2 sided beans.  Ask your child to explain how it worked. 

The imagination playground is making an appearance again this year.  We will have the opportunity to use it once a week.  This is a great resource for learning to work cooperatively with one another.  Stay tuned for pictures of our great building using the imagination playground. 

Next week in Reader's Workshop we are going to begin talking about characters in our story.  We will continue to work on using our reading strategies but will target characters among our stories. 

In Science we continue to talk about changes in the sky.  We are learning about the phases of the moon and how to describe them as well as the sun and the stars.  We talked about some of the constellations that we have seen in the sky.  A homework option this week is to try and see the moon 4 times this week and record it onto a worksheet.  If you have a chance, please try and help your child locate the moon in the evening (weather permitting). 

Just a reminder to please make sure your child comes to school dressed appropriately for the weather.  We are moving into cooler days and our playground if often very windy and it makes it even colder out there.  I am asking all of the children to make sure that they have a coat on each day when they go out to recess.  I'd like to thank-you in advance for your help in this matter.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy