Last Blog of 2015

I want to thank everyone who was able to come see you child's schoolwork today.  I was glad to see that so many of you were able to make it.  The class was so excited to share what they've been working on in writing and science as well as their portfolio's so far this year.  Thank-you also to those who expressed how much you appreciated being able to come in and see what your child has been working on in school.  There's always something special about a parent coming to school:)I

Next week we are in school on Monday and Tuesday only.  We will be doing hour of code again on Monday as the students really loved this and it will give them some extra practice with coding.  Our "Voice Contest" will continue for the second time.  The class really enjoyed being able to show off their fluent reading.  We will have a special treat at the end of the day on Tues.  We are still in need of juice boxes.  If you are able to send these in, please let me know.

 I hope that everyone has a wonderful and restful break.  Beginning in January we will be full force starting new units in Reading, Writing and Science.  In math we will continue with our measurement unit.

Enjoy,
Nancy

A few pictures from the sharing time:

Week of December 7th

This week in reading we are working on our fluency.  We are working on scooping words into longer phrases.  We are talking like characters while making our voices match the mood and reading at a "just right" pace.  To help us with this we have been playing a game that we call, "The Voice".  Students take turns sharing a passage of their reading out loud and then the class picks the person they think is most fluent.  We have 6 winners who are moving on to the semi-final and then we will have a final round.  The class is really enjoying this and they are becoming very fluent readers with their book.  Ask them about it:)

In writing we are writing book reviews that we will share with our families next Friday.  We are stating our opinion about a part of the book and sharing examples to support our opinion.  We are excited to share this piece of writing along with our informational text writing and some other things we have done this year.  We will be doing this at 8 am next Friday.  Invitations are in our Friday folders.

In math we finished up Unit 3.  This week we made graphs with data about M&M's and analyzed this data.  Next week in Unit 4 we will focus on standardized units of measurement.

In Science we continue to look at unique features of animals and how they help them survive.  We explored with camouflage this week as well as doing experiments to see why certain beaks are used to eat certain foods and also at the differences of various bird feathers.  Next week we will be wrapping this unit up. 

This week we participated in the Hour of Code.  The site we used can be accessed from the Library Links on the School's webpage.  Students wrote lines of codes moving Star Wars' characters around.  They really enjoyed this time.  For more information about Hour of Code or to allow your child to work some more with it, you can go to the Library links page and click on the link.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of November 30th

I hope everyone got a chance to have a restful Thanksgiving break!

This week in math we are wrapping up our problem solving activities. Next week we are going to be working with data and graphs.  In number corner we have been taking surveys and talking about the data.  We took a survey looking at 4 colors and deciding on our favorite of those four.  We also took a survey of our favorite Red Clover book that we have read.  Blue was our favorite color from red, blue, green and purple.  It got 7 votes.  "Blizzard" is our favorite Red Clover book so far with 14 votes. 

In reading we are working on fluency.  We are practicing rereading different passages and thinking about how the character would sound and how that character feels to determine the voice we would use to read it.  We also talked about looking out for punctuation and how it tells us that we need to have a natural pause as we read.  Our theme for this unit is Fairy Tales and Folktales.  The week before break, we will also be doing some reader's theater. 

In Writer's Workshop we are continuing with Opinion pieces and writing about books.  We are writing our opinions about characters in the book, favorite parts, pictures, the title or the cover.  We are working on Introducing the book we are writing about, giving our opinion, giving reasons for that opinion, using evidence to support that opinion and thinking about the audience.  We will be sharing a piece that we publish over the next couple of weeks with families on Dec. 18th at 8 am in the classroom.  Invitations will go home next week.

In Science we are continuing to look at unique features of animals. This week we read several books with information about different animal features.  Next week we will think about these features and how we can use them to create other things that will help solve problems. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Hands on Nature and Reading Celebration

This week we had Hands on Nature.  We learned about the different types of rocks.  We has and a puppet show and we learned that igneous rocks are formed from magma and lava and an example is granite.  We learned that sedimentary rocks are formed sediments like sand and shells and an example is sandstone.  We learned the metamorphic rocks are made from heat and pressure and an example is gneiss.  After the puppet show we had 2 stations.  In one station they looked at rocks closely to see how they looked and felt.  They used this information to identify sandstone, slate, gneiss, marble, pumice and obsidian.  In the second station they made their own fossils.  They did this by making a ball with some dough and choosing a shell or rock and pushing it into the dough.  Lastly they went on a scavenger hunt in the classroom to find items that were made from rock.  Some examples they found were computers, pencils, glasses, and windows.

On Thursday we celebrated the end of our Non-fiction unit in Reader's Workshop.  Over the last few days, students became experts on a topic by growing their knowledge from multiple texts.  They used the information that they learned about and shared it with the rest of their classmates in a tour around the classroom.  Ask your child what they learned from the other experts in the class.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

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Week of November 2nd

I apologize for not posting to this blog the past couple of weeks.  I will try to get back to regular weekly posts.  

This week we are wrapping up our non-fiction writing unit.  We celebrated our hard work and shared our stories on Thursday with our classmates.  Next week we will begin a unit on Opinion pieces.  Check out the pictures from our share.  In December we will invite parents in for our Opinion piece celebration.  Stay tuned for details.

In math we began a new unit this week.  Our New Unit is "Addition & Subtraction Within One Hundered".  This unit focuses on strategies for multi-digit addition and subtraction within the range of 0 to 100.  The first module emphasizes the number line model and encourages students to develop the strategy of using "skip-jumps" based on multiples of 5 and 10.  The second module continues to use the number line as a computational tool through which students add and subtract 2 digit numbers.  the third module focuses on addition and subtraction, but uses the base ten structure (collecting ones and tens).  The fourth module requires students to determine the frequency with which various colored objects appear in a bag and to graph the data.

In readers workshop we continue to work with non-fiction books but our focus is on comparing texts on the same topic.  We have talked about how experts grow knowledge across books by noticing parts that go together and adding to what we already know.

This week we wrapped up our Physical geography unit working on a map journal and talking about the compass rose and the directions; north, south, east and west.  Next week we will begin our first science unit.  We will be looking at various animals and noticing their unique characteristics and how humans have adapted those characteristics to help solve problems that we have.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

October Hands on Nature

It was great seeing everyone at conferences this week!!

This week we had Hands on Nature.  We learned about erosion and the agents that contribute to it; water, wind, gravity and glaciers.  We had a puppet show that taught us this information.  We did several experiments to see how  like shaking a container to mimic a rolling river see what happens to rocks compared to a still stream. We tested what kinds of water will have the biggest impact breaking soil down.  We did this using a dropper, baby bottle and sprayer and testing it to see what breaks down a pile of flour the most.  We did the same kind of experiment with wind.  Ask your child about what they learned.  I'd like to thank Janet and Amy for coming in to teach the class!!!

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

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Mentors Needed!

EVERYBODY WINS MENTORING PROGRAM NEEDS MENTORS!

The Everybody Wins mentoring program pairs adults with students grades 1st - 5th. As a mentor you will spend one hour a week reading and playing games with a student. You provide the inspiration to help a child develop a love of reading that will last a lifetime, Everybody Wins provides the books and support to all mentors!

At SCS our pairs meet on Wednesday's during a student's lunch/recess time. We currently have more students than mentors and I hope to have all students who want to participate in this program matched up as soon as possible.

Interested in finding out more? Check out the EW website: http://www.everybodywinsvermont.org/index.html

And/or contact the Site Coordinator for the school, Randy Sweeney (shelburne@everybodywinsvermont.org)

Thanks for considering being a part of this rewarding program!

Week of October 12th

I hope everyone had a nice long break last weekend! 

This week in math we have worked on measuring with unifix.  Our measuring theme was based on the book, "Jack and the Beanstalk" so we measured giant size beans (receipt tapes cut to different sizes).  We also talked about what perimeter is and measure the perimeter of different size garden beds cut out of paper.  Next week we will work on using a number line to help us add together 2 digit numbers.

In Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop, we are now talking about informational text (non-fiction books).  In Reader's workshop we have looked at informational text and talked about how we grow knowledge when we read these types of books.  We he book practiced looking through a book and thinking about what would teach us about.  In Writer's Workshop, we are now writing books that teach the reader about something.  We have some books being written about how to take care of pets, how to ride a bike, how to play minecraft, and books on different types of animals. 

In Social studies, most of us got on to google maps and looked at where our houses are located on a map.  Some of the students had some difficulty getting signed in and will check this out next week.  On Friday we were fortunate to have our Technology Integrationist come in and show us how to use Google Earth on the ipads. 

I look foward to seeing everyone next week for conferences.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Writing Celebration and Dav Pilkey Visit!

Oops, just realized that I never posted this last week.

Today was a very busy day.  Students have worked hard this week preparing a piece of writing to share with their classmates.  I mixed tables up some today so that students could share with a different group than they did with our first share.  Each child had the chance to read the story they wrote and revised.  They also had a snack to eat as they listened.  I would like to thank Sara Hughes for sending in our extra snack.  The students really enjoyed it as well as listening to their friends stories.  Some students came dressed as a favorite character in a book that they have read.  As one student said, "We are all dressed as a character because we all wrote about ourselves in our books."  So in actuality, we were all dressed as characters:) Photos from our event will be posted soon to this blog.  Next week we will start our new unit of writing informational books.

Today we also had a special guest visit the school.  We had the opportunity to go down to the cafeteria and listen to Dav Pilkey, author of the "Captain Underpants" books.  He spoke about his difficulties in school growing up and this lead to what he does today.  Each student also received a special cape and wore it during the assembly to show their support for what Dav does.  The class was really excited to see him!  Photos from this event will be uploaded soon as well:)

I hope everyone is able to enjoy our long weekend!

Nancy

Here are the photos:)

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Unified Arts Curriculum Night

Please join the Art, Music, Physical Ed., and World Language teachers for our Unified Arts Night. It will be on Tuesday, October 20th, from 6:30-7:30 pm.  Please meet in the cafeteria at 6:30 pm for a brief introduction. Students are encouraged to attend this event with you, and share some of the great things they are learning in their UA classes.

Week of Sept. 28th

Hello Everyone,

We had a very productive week!

We had a visit from our new Technology Integration Specialist, Jeff Badillo, and he taught us how to log on to the computers and how to access our new google accounts.  We will be using these accounts to access my maps as part of our geography unit. 

In Writer's Workshop we are getting close to wrapping up our small moment stories.  On Friday we picked a piece that we will publish and share with our classmates next week.  Notes went home in the Friday folders with details about this Celebration. 

In Reader's workshop we continue to talk about characters and how we can use characters to help us retell stories.  Next week we will focus on Author's intentions.  After the long weekend, we will be moving on to informational texts.

In math we are focusing on numbers and how we use place value to identify those numbers and compare them.  We have used unifix cubes to help us visualize this concept by looking at groups of tens and individual unifix cubes for the ones.  We will use this learning and apply it to add bigger numbers together. 

This week and the beginning will be our wrap up of our community project.  On Friday we finished up our collages of what makes up a community.  We did these on the ipad using a collage app.  On Tuesday we will share out all of our hard work we have done during our Community Unit.

Gift wrap orders are due.  If you have orders, please send them in on Monday. 
 
Next Thursday is our Author Visit from Dave Pilkey!  The students are very excited.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of September 21st

I can't believe that September is almost over!  What a fast month it has been. 

In math we have finished up Unit 1.  Next week we will start Unit 2 which focuses on place value and adding 2 & 3 digit numbers together. 

In writing we continue to write small moment stories.  We are focused on stretching out our small moments.  To do this we have practiced acting out with our partners what we want to write about and this helps us know what words we want to write in our story.  We also use our partners to talk through what we want to write.  Next week we will focus on adding precise language and editing our work.  We will also pick one piece to publish.

In Reader's Workshop we have been focusing on character development in stories.  We have read several picture books as a class and talked about who the characters are and how the author has developed them through the story. 

In word study, we continue to work on separate lists in groups dependent on what we need.  We have practiced our words with partner sorts, sort and write, and word hunts.  Please ask your child what they do for each of these.

In Social Studies we have continued talking about Community.  This week we talked about different members of our community and their jobs.  Then the class created a sheet on an ipad app that showed what they want to be when they are older and why.  How that person will contribute to the community and how they contribute to our community now.  I'll share these at conferences.  Next week we will finish up our community unit and will begin our Physical Geography unit. 

We are still looking for Hands on Nature Volunteers.  If you are available, please let me know. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of Sept. 14th

This week we started the week with a writing celebration.  We had a special snack and shared our published stories with our tables.  Students did a really nice job with their first piece of writing that they took through the publishing stages of editing and making it better.  I have these pieces and will share them with you at our October conferences.  Students brought home their other pieces of writing at the beginning of the week.

On Wednesday we had Fire Prevention Day.  Some Volunteer Firemen came to our team (One of our parents who is a Volunteer Fireman made a guest appearance as well.) and talk to us about what to do in case of fire like throwing a pillow out the window in case they are stuck in their room and yelling for help, having a plan of escape that their family has practiced so they know what to do, checking the door with the back of our hand to see if it is hot before we go out of our bedrooms, etc. We then went outside and practiced Stop, Drop and Roll and crawling through a smokehouse with fake smoke.  We then got a tour of a fire truck.  The class had a great time!

In math we continue to work on mental strategies to add more efficiently.  We also worked on solving story problems that involved adding to, putting together, taking apart and comparing with unknowns in all positions.

In writing we are working on Small Moment stories.  Students are learning to generate ideas, act them out and then write down into a story.  We talked about what a story needs to be a story.  Next week we will pick a piece to edit and make better.

Next week is Picture Day.  Our pictures will be taken on Tuesday.  Picture packages will go home on Friday.  The forms to order pictures are in your child's Friday folder today.

We will have a guest author visiting the school on Thursday, October 8th.  Dave Pilkey, author of "Captain Underpants" books will come in to talk to students in Grades 1-4.about being an author.  Order forms went home in today's Friday folder if you are interested in ordering one of his books from the Flying Pig.  Orders must be back next Friday, Sept. 25th.  They will not except any late orders.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of Sept. 7th

I hope everyone has gotten off to a great start of the year.  It's wonderful to have your children back in my class again this year and to Welcome our two new students.  This blog is where I let families know what is happening during the week in our classroom.  I try and update it weekly on Fridays.  I hope in the future to have an additional way of communicating what your children are doing using a program called SeeSaw where I can post pictures of what your children are doing that only you will be able to access.  I often post pictures to this blog as well of things we are doing.  I will begin to do that after I have double checked permissions of who is allowed to have their picture and who is not. 

This week in writing we are working on editing one story from the ones we have written this year.  We are making the stories better by adding details, punctuation, capital letters when appropropriate and making sure we have an introduction and a wrap up.  We will have a mini celebration among ourselves on Monday to celebrate their great work!

In math we are practicing using mental math strategies so that we can solve math facts more efficiently.  Some of the strategies we are using are doubles, halves, and doubles plus or minus one.  We have also practiced decomposing numbers to make multiple facts that represent a number such as 5+6=11 and 7+4=11 and 8+3=11, etc.

In Reader's Workshop we are reviewing our reading strategies so that we know what to do to figure out unknown words while we are reading independently.  We have also spent a lot of time talking about picking Just Right Books and I am checking in with each student to make sure they are reading those Just Right books to help them become better readers. 

On Tuesday, we had Hands on Nature.  We talked about the sun and how the earth revolves around the sun.  To show this we traced our shadows on the sidewalk with chalk.  We out about 40 min. later and traced our shadows again and discovered that the shadows had moved.  We also went out and experimented with ice in the sun and shade to see which area was cooler.  Our hypothesis was that it was cooler in the shade and the ice would melt slower.  After leaving it outside for 40 min. or so, we went back out and discovered that our hypothesis was correct.  It was cooler in the shade so the ice melted less.  Thank-you to Janet Franz for coming in and leading this on her own.  We are still looking for Volunteers to help her out.  It is not a requirement to attend the training to help out with Hands on Nature.  Hands on Nature is always on a Tuesday afternoon.  It is the Tuesday after the 1st Thursday of the month.  If you can help out, please let me know and I will get you in touch with Janet. 

Next week is Fire Prevention.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

I can't believe that next week is the last full week of school. This year has gone by fast. I am happy though that I get to have your children in my class again next year:)

 In Reader's Workshop this week we talked about how good reader's understand their stories as they read and make predictions about what they think will happen next in the story. We wrote our predictions and the clues we used to help us make that prediction. We also drew pictures of what we thought was going to happen next in the story.

 In Writer's Workshop we wrote Haiku's this week. A Haiku is a Japanese poem about nature that is 3 lines long. The first line contains 3 syllables, the second line contains 7 syllables and the third line contains 5 syllables. Those of us who wanted to, shared our poems with the class on Friday.

 In math we are beginning to look at how we have changed since we were babies. We figured out our length as babies using unifix cubes, our length now using unifix cubes and how our lengths compare to other students in the class.

 This week a student shared her butterflies that hatched out of their cocoons. One even hatched while at school. On Wednesday we let them go over at Davis park. They were Painted Lady butterflies. We'd like to thank her for sharing this experience with us.

 Next week is Spirit week.
 Here is the schedule:
 Monday, June 9th – Sport’s Day
 Tuesday, June 10th – Board Game Day (Bring your favorite board game to school to play.) Wednesday, June 11th – Beach Day
Thursday, June 12th – Pajama Day
Friday, June 13th – Hat and Shades Day (Field Day)

 For Field Day, please have your child wear a yellow t-shirt if possible.

 Our last day of school will be Monday, June 15th. Dismissal will be at 11:30 am. Report cards will go home on that day. If your child is not in school on Monday, I will mail his/her report card home. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of May 25th

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On Tuesday we had a busy day.  We had our annual Jog-a-thon.  Students ran/walked for 40 minutes in the afternoon.  We had a DJ for lunch and spent most of the afternoon outside.  We ended the day with Mix-it-up with a 5th grade class, who came in and read picture books for us.  It was a fun day for all although they were definitely worn out by the end of the day.  I want to thank the families who helped out with jog-a-thon as well as though families who came to cheer their child on while they ran:)

In writing we are working on poetry.  Last week we wrote a poem with rhyming words about any color they wanted to pick.  This week we worked on biography poems.  Next week we will write Haiku poems and the week after, we will write acrostic poems.

In math we made gliders out of paper.  Today we had our first trial tests and recorded the results. We also compared our three trials to each other.  Next week we will analyze the class data from our first trials and then will have 2nd trials and record and analyze that data.

I want to thank our 3 parents who have volunteered to help out with Field Day on June 12th.  We would love extra help if you are interested.  Just let me know.

Homework has finished for the year.  Their only homework is to go outside and enjoy the weather.  Please keep sending in the Friday folders as I will be continuing to send in notes as they come to me.  A reminder that our last day is Monday, June 15th and is a half day.  Report cards will go home on this day.  If your child will not be here on that day, please try and let me know in advance so I can send home their report card on their last day.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of May 11th

We started the week off by attending a wonderful show at the Flynn.  It was called, "Cirque Mechanic: Pedal Punks".  The class absolutely loved it.  There was some trick bike riding, and some acrobatic stunts along with humor mixed in:)  When we got back, I had the students write their opinion of the show, stating whether they liked it or not and the reasons why.  Here are some of the reasons why the students liked the show:

• "They did amazing things that I could never do."
• "I liked the music and the trampoline acts."
• "I liked it because it was really active and there were a lot of bikes and I like bikes too."
• "They did lots of flips on the trampoline.  It was cool."
• "I like the yo yos"

Those are just a few of the reasons.  There were lots more:)

We also had our last Hands on Nature this week.  We got to learn about streams and answered these questions:  What kinds of animals live in streams? What is their habitat? Does a stream have more than one kind of habitat? 

Our volunteers began with a puppet show.  Then the class headed down behind Heritage Lane to an actual stream and looked to see what they could find living in it.  We found various insects and one student even found a crayfish.  We also tested to see how fast the stream was moving.  After visiting the stream, we came back and recorded what we found in our Hands on Nature journals.  The class had a lot of fun!!  Again I would like to thank Janet, Marcela and Kate for volunteering this year to lead Hands on Nature.  The class looked forward to it each month!!  We hope you will be back again next year:)

Have a wonderful weekend,

Nancy

A note from Diana Burritt

May 6, 2015

Dear Parents:

It is great to be back after my recent medical leave. My wrist is slowly healing, but has left me with no use of my right hand until a future surgery. (Hopefully, this summer)

After much consideration, I realize I am not physically up to our mixed grade level concert this year. Please know how this saddens me, as this is the first time in 35 years I have had to cancel a concert. I understand your disappointment, as well as your son/daughter’s.

Instead, I will be posting projects (Video and audio files) classes have been working on. I will update these throughout the end of the year.

http://scsk3music.blogspot.com/

Please accept my sincerest apologies as I heal. I look forward to another productive year for 2015-2016.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions/concerns.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Diana Burritt

K-5 Music Educator

dburritt@cssu.org

383-1271

May 4th

In your child's Friday folder this week you are receiving a lot of information from various notes being sent home. One note is from Diana Burritt explaining why there will not be a first and second grade concert this year. If you have any questions you can let her know. Another note went home with details about our upcoming Jog-a-thon.  This will be held on Tuesday, May 26th with a raindate on Wednesday, May 27th.  They are in need of lots of volunteers.  If you are interested please get in touch with Colleen Wemple who is a parent in our school.  There was also a note that went home about the Annual 1st and 2nd grade Field Day.  This will be held on Friday, June 12th.  This is another event where we rely on parent volunteers.  If you are interested in helping out, please let me know.

There was also a couple of notes pertaining to our classroom.  On Monday we will be going to the Flynn Theater.  Students will need to bring a lunch on that day as we will be eating in the classroom before we leave.  We will leave at 11:15 am which is before our scheduled lunch time.  We will return to school around 1:45 pm.  This week we will be having our last Hands on Nature.  It will be on Tuesday and students will need to bring boots, extra socks and/or pants in case they get wet.

Just a note about homework.  The students have homework in their Friday folders this week and they will have it next week but that will be the last homework sent home for this year.  Some of the students were bummed to hear this so I said if they really wanted some I would give it to them.  If you see any homework in their Friday folders after the 15th, it will be because they asked for it:)

If you have any questions about any of the information that went home today, please let me know and I will be happy to answer them.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day,
Nancy

Flynn Workshop Pictures

A little later than Monday but here they are!  The class had a fantastic time.  We are excited to see the production on Monday:)

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Week of April 27th

This week we had the to explore owl pellets to see the different animals they had eaten.  Most of the students found bones that were from rodents.  A few found bones from shrews and birds.

In Reader's workshop we are working on retelling stories and thinking about the beginning, middle and end.  In writer's workshop we will be wrapping up our opinion pieces next week.  The class is doing a nice job of writing about their favorite parts of the collections and what their least favorite is.

On Friday we will be having a special visitor from the Flynn Theater.  It is a workshop that goes along with the performance we will be seeing in May.  Stay tuned for an update on Monday, May 4th with details from this visit and more from this past week.

Have a great weekend,
Nancy

Week of April 13th

This week, on Tuesday, the class shared their recycle projects with Miss Colleen.  Student groups decided who would take the project home on Thursday and that person brought it home.

On Thursday we had a special visitor from the Audubon Society.  He came in and talked about owls and shared 3 live owls.  I'd like to thank Liz Rider and Shelly Henson from the Pre-K program for arranging this for us.  They decided to ask him to come in to go along with our Hands on Nature theme which was on Forest Birds.   We learned that the owls at the Audubon Society are birds that were injured and can not be let back into the wild because of a handicap they have.  The owls we saw today had wings that were not working properly and one of the owls had lost an eye.  The students had great questions to ask about owls in general and about the owls we saw.  We saw a Bard owl and two Eastern Screech owls.  Check out the photos below:

Just a note that there will be no homework sent home on Friday because of the vacation.  The next packet of homework will be sent home on May 1st.

Next week is our Spring Vacation.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful and restful break.

Nancy:)

Hello Firefly Families,

This week has been full of recycling fun! We have learned from The Lorax and Michael Recycling how we can help keep our Earth clean. Our classroom began collecting data on two water samples. We are all curious to see what changes will be observed over the next week.

I wanted to thank you again for providing me with such a fun loving group of students to have for my student teaching opportunity! This week flew by. I am excited for my second week of solo teaching, but will be so sad to say goodbye to my 18 little friends!

Hope your children are having as much fun as me!
Have a wonder weekend :)

Colleen Riddle

Week of March 16th & 23rd

     I apologize for not posting last week. I am taking a Science class on the new NGSS standards so I had to leave directly after-school last Thursday and then I went to Texas for a long weekend so I did not get a chance to post.
      Last week we did a mini unit on Solids and Liquids to go along with what they have been doing in Mrs. KillKelley's science group. We talked about what happens to a popsicle when you leave it alone for awhile. The class discovered that it melted and we talked about what made it melt. On Thursday we looked at the ingredients for making ice cream and talked about which were solids and which were liquids and what each of those meant. We then made ice cream and got to eat it. Some students even turned our solid ice cream back into a liquid by stirring it over and over with a spoon and generating some heat.
      Last week we also did a Science Inquiry task where we investigated some rocks and sorted them into groups. We then labeled the groups based on their attributes. Finally they wrote a letter to ECHO about how they sorted their rocks and what the exhibit should be called. This week it was wonderful to meet with all of you and discuss your wonderful children. I am so excited to have them again for 2nd grade!
      They have begun a new unit on Recycling with Miss Colleen. She will continue this unit over the next 2 weeks while she is soloing.
      We worked hard this week finishing up our informational chapter books. The students were so excited to be able to share these today. Thank-you to those parents who were able to come to school today and listen to the children share their books. They did a really nice job on these. Those students whose parent(s) were unable to attend, I sent home their books in their Friday folders so they could share it with you. I have asked them to bring them back to school on Monday.
      Over the next two weeks, I will be at school but not in the classroom. Miss Colleen will be teaching the class. If you need to reach me, just send me an e-mail and I will get in touch with you.

 Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of March 9th

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On Tuesday we had Hands on Nature.  The focus for this month was:  White-tailed deer are big animals and require a lot of food to survive, so they can have a profound effect on the forests in which they live, and on the many other inhabitants as well. As plant-eaters, seed-planters and sometimes food for large predators, deer are connected in countless ways to the other living things in their woodland homes.  We saw a puppet show which taught us about some ways that deer and other inhabitants of the forest depend on each other.  We weighted some twigs to get an idea of how much a deer has to eat each day to survive the winter.  We got to see a real skull and lower jaw of a deer.  We saw what twigs look like after a deer eats from them.  We saw real antlers, a pelt from a deer and a thin leg and pointy hoof.  We ended the session with a slide show to learn how deer visit different parts of their home ranges as their needs change over the year.  The favorite slide was the one where it is difficult for the deer to be seen among the woods.  I'd like to thank Janet and Marcella for coming in and helping us to learn about deer!

In writing we learned about writing better introductions and conclusions.  We also learned how to fix our writing by being readers.  Our plan is to share our final products with our families in a little over a week.  Invitations went home today.

In math we continue to learn about addition and subtraction strategies while solving problems about penguins.

In science we wrapped up our second rotation of engineering units.  Next week we will be doing an inquiry based task for science and on March 24th we will start our final rotation for our engineering groups.

This is a note from Diana Burritt:

The April 7th Mixed Grade Level Concert with Mrs. Burritt will be postponed to a later date. Thank you.


Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of March 2nd

On Wednesday we had our Read Across America Day.  We attended an assembly with all of the pre-K to 5th grade classes.  At the assembly we said the Reader's Oath as a big group.  We listened to all of the teachers reading "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss with the pages projected on a big screen.  We watched a great video called, "Read All Day".  The assembly was a lot of fun!!  Throughout the day we had 3 Guest Readers visit our class.  Mrs. Spagnolo, Shannon Baird and Mrs. Hertz were our Guest Readers.  The class enjoyed listening to the stories they read.  Check out the photos below.

On Thursday, we had a visit from Skyler's Mom.  She came in to talk about Hungary.  This is where her grandparent's are originally from.  She prepared a wonderful chicken dish that we got to taste with bread.  It was a big hit!!!  Stay tuned for the recipe which I will post when she sends it to me.  There were a lot of requests for the recipe:)

In Reader's workshop we focused on retelling stories.  Our mini-lessons were practicing retelling stories as a whole group and retelling in partnerships.  Retelling focuses on what happened in the story and the order it happened.  Next week we are going to begin thinking beyond the text and what we can infer from what has been read in the story.

Have a great week,
Nancy

Week of Feb. 16th

This week we finished Unit 5 in math on Geometry.   After vacation we will begin our next unit which will be looking at problem solving with penguins. It will wrap with us learning about 2 other penguins. As a precursor to learning more about penguins, we watched "March of the Penguins" this week.

In Fundations, we wrapped up Unit 9 on closed syllables. When we get back from vacation we will start Unit 10 which focuses on blended 5 sounds in closed syllables.

In Writer's workshop, we continue to work on Informational text chapter books. We have created table of contents and talked about other types of writing we can add to our books like lists, and how to pages.

Today we said good-bye to Carole Chamberlain who has worked in our classroom all year in the afternoons.  She has decided to retire.  She shared this news with the class today.  We wish her all the best!

I hope everyone has a wonderful break and if you're traveling to somewhere warm, please bring back some warmth:)

Have a wonderful vacation,
Nancy

Week of February 9th

What a busy week it has been.  I apologize for not posting last week.  I ran out of time on Friday and the weekend was hectic.

We ended last week with a visit from a parent who came to talk to us about England.  She talked about the English language in Great Britain versus the English language we use here.  She highlighted some of the differences between our countries and the favorite part was getting to taste a biscuit (Really a cookie in England).

On Monday we started off the week with a visit from a parent who is originally from Mexico.  She shared a wonderful slide show presentation and talked about different customs from Mexico and related some of them to things we now have here such as a pinata and some of the foods.  She also shared some Mexican cookies with us that were delicious.  Then we got to attend the dress rehearsal of the Kindergarten concert.  It's always nice to see the Kindergarteners working hard with their singing and dancing.  Students got to see some of their friends and neighbors perform.

On Tuesday we had Hands on Nature and learned about how animals stay warm in the winter.  We saw a puppet show that taught us how animals find food and stay warm during winter.  Our Hands on Nature Moms talked about the animals that hibernate, migrate and those who are dormant from VT.  (woodchuck, monarch butterfly, & raccoon respectively) They also talked about what the active animals here do to stay warm such as the deer grow extra warm fur, the chickadee grows downy feathers, the raccoon eats nuts to put on fat and the mice take shelter in tunnels and eat food for energy and warmth.  Then we did a heat experiment to see what insulators work better to keep things warm.  Surprisingly the paper was the best insulator and lost the least amount of heat.  Check out our photos to see our results:)

On Wednesday it was our 100th Day of School.  We did some fun activities throughout the day focused on the number 100.  We even had a classmate who brought in a 100 cookies and we got to count them out and then ate some of them.  We shared the rest with our team:)  The highlight of the day though was our visit from "Zero the Hero".  He swooped in and talked to us about numbers.  He also shared a toy with us (a double pendulum).  He also answered questions we had about numbers.  It was fun to have him with us!

On Thursday we had another visit from a parent.  This parent was from Columbia.  She shared with us lots of information about Columbia such as the fact that they have 45,000 different plants and flowers.  The creator of Zumba and the singer, Shakira are both from Columbia.  The fact that Columbia is sunny most of the time, they don't have seasons.  She showed us where it was located on a map and the globe.  She also prepared fried plantains for us to try with salsa and avocado.  Most of the students thought they were delicious and asked for more:)  She ended her segment with some Music from Columbia and a dancing game.

On Friday we celebrated Valentine's Day.  We made cards for our families.  We had a special treat.  I'd like to thank all of the families who contributed to the special treat!!  We had lots of yummy things to eat.  We then got to look through our Valentine's bags and thank our friends for the cards and extras.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

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Week of Janaury 26th

This week we started a new unit in math on Geometry.  We learned about 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional shapes.  We learned that we can combine 2 dimensional shapes to make other 2-D shapes.  We also learned how to identify 3 dimensional shapes.  We will continue to learn about these shapes over the next couple of weeks.

In writing we are continuing to write teaching books.  We have learned how to go back and make them better by using our word wall to help us spell better, adding capital letters and punctuation.  We also learned how to make sure that we introduce what our writing is at the beginning of our books and wrap it up at the end.

In reading we continue to learn about how we can learn from reading informational text.  We are practicing reading and then writing about what we learned.  Students are really enjoying reading informational text.  They love to learn from these books!

On Friday afternoon we had our 3rd Mix-it-up day with the same 5th grade class.  Today we made Valentine's for Veterans which will be sent to them.  They had a great time making these with their 5th grade partner.  Check out the photos below:)

This week in Social Studies we talked about the 7 continents and where they are located on a map and globe.  We also looked at the United States.  We then learned about where England is and some of the things we have adopted in our country that originated there like the pencil, soccer and Christmas greeting cards.  Next week we have a couple of parents coming in to share about their Cultures with the class.  We can't wait!

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

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Week of January 19th

This week we learned all about Martin Luther King Jr.  We read some books and a Scholastic News with information about him.  We then wrote about what we wish we could do in the world to make it a better place.  Check out some of the photos below that show some examples of our work.  They are also on a bulletin board in the hallway that you can check out if you are in school.

We also had a visit this week from a parent who came in to tell us about some items in our everyday life that originated or happen in France.  We got to taste a baguette with olive oil which is a type of bread from France.  She also showed us pictures of some Farmer's Markets that she visited when she was in France that were similar to the one we have right here in Shelburne.  The children enjoyed the baguette and the special oil she brought in to dip the bread in:)

In math we have started a new unit on Geometry.  This week we learned about some two dimensional shapes, the rectangle, triangle and hexagon.  We learned that their are different attributes that define a shape and some that do not define a shape such as sizes and colors.  We will continue with geometry over the next couple of weeks.

In Writing we continue to work on our Teaching books.  Next week we will look at editing some of those books.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Hands on Nature

We had Hands on Nature on Tuesday of this week.  We learned about the squirrels that can be found in Vermont.  They are the grey squirrel, red squirrel and the Northern/Southern flying squirrel.  We learned that the red squirrel likes to eat mushrooms and pine nuts.  They like to burrow and tunnel through the snow.  They stock pile their food into what are called a "midden".  The grey squirrel eats acorns, beech nuts, grubs and eggs.  They like to hide their food in lots of different places.  The flying squirrel is active at night (nocturnal).  They store their food in the trees that they live in.  We got to see a puppet show. We did a sort where we looked for patterns of similarities and differences in the characteristics and behaviors of three squirrel species.  We got to explore squirrel pelts, squirrel bones and explored tracks.  We saw a video showing how the flying squirrel glides from tree to tree.  It was a lot of fun learning about squirrels.  We would like to thank our Hand's on Nature Moms, Marcela and Janet for coming in and helping us learn about squirrels!

In math we learned about 2 types of penguins.  We learned about Rockhopper penguins and King penguins.  We measured a string to show how long each of these penguins is and compared it to ourselves to see if they were bigger or smaller than us.  We talked about how important it is to be precise when we measure and to always start at 0.  Next week we will be starting a unit on geometry.

In Writer's workshop we continue to learn about how to write teaching books and are getting lots of practice writing our own.  We have talked about how we need to think about who our audience is when we write and what questions they might have about our topics.  We also learned that we can teach with our pictures by adding arrows, words and zooming in.  Today we learned about ways that we can spell words.

I hope everyone has a nice long weekend!  I'll see your children on Tuesday:)
Nancy

Introducing Miss Colleen

Hello!
My name is Colleen Riddle and I am VERY excited to be starting full time student
teaching in your child’s classroom! This semester is going to be full of fun and lot of
learning to support me in my last step before graduating from Champlain College. Since
I am going to be in your child’s classroom for the next couple months I thought I would
introduce myself.

 I was born and raised in Monmouth County, New Jersey. I grew up with two
brothers and four dogs. At a very young age I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I chose to
attend Champlain College for the many internship opportunities it provides for early
education majors. After almost four quick (too quick) years, I will be graduating in May.
I am so happy to be part of Mrs. Nakhleh’s first grade!

Please feel free to contact me  with any questions. I look forward to meeting you!

Miss Colleen
colleen.riddle@mymail.champlain.edu

Week of January 5th

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I hope that everyone had a wonderful break!!!  It's nice to be back in school with your children.

This week we welcomed back Colleen Riddle who will be with us full time until  April 10th.  She is a student teacher from Champlain College.  She was with us the first half of the year one day a week so the students know her.  She will be observing, helping students and teaching lessons through out her time here.  During her last 2 weeks she will teach the class on her own each day.  She is excited to be with us and to have the opportunity to work with your children.

This week we have begun a Unit on informational text.  We will be learning about informational text in both Writer's Workshop and Reader's workshop. Students learned about some non-fiction text features and have begun writing informational books on topics that they know. In writing we are referring to our books as teaching books.  We learned  that like teachers, writers need to plan out their writing.  They need to first think of an idea, then they need to say it across their fingers and sketch it across the pages.  Finally they write out the words.

In Literacy this week we also had our first grade share of the pieces we shared with you before break.  We broke students into groups across the 1st grade classrooms and each first grader read their story to a group.  They were very excited and enjoyed sharing their pieces once again.  Check out some of the 1st graders who shared in our classroom.

In math we are wrapping up the 1st part of Unit 4 working with number lines and adding and subtracting.  Next week we will be spending a week learning about some types of penguins and measurement.  It will be a lot of fun.

Have a wonderful weekend!!
Nancy