The Week of November 20th

Upcoming Events

Early Release Day 11:30 Teacher In-Service
December 5, 2017

First Trimester Report Cards 

December 8, 2017

Students will have a yellow manila envelope that contains their first trimester report card. Please read over your child's report card together with your child. If you have any questions or comments regarding your child's report card, please contact me here at school. The report card is yours to keep. Please sign and return the first trimester comment form and envelope to school. 

Winter Concert 

December  20, 2017 @ 6:00

Students are invited to come down to the classroom at 5:30 to hang up their coats and play until the concert begins.  We will walk down to the gymnasium together at 6:00.

Waterville and Belvidere Long ago and Today

On Monday, Mrs. Baker came to talk with our students! She shared Dr. Roger Mann's doctor's bag, his tools and much more with our students. She also shared many stories of growing up in Waterville.  Our students gained valuable information about Dr. Mann, his hospital and how he helped many of people! 

Here is the pram which Mrs. Baker
was placed in soon after she was
born at Mann's Hospital in Jeffersonville! 

Mrs. Baker sharing all of her wonderful artifacts with our students! 

Sue Wisehart from the Waterville Historical society also visited our school. She shared a collection of knives made at the Mann Knife Shop, a model of the As you Like it Inn, and some really interesting artifacts from Waterville in the 1800s! 

 Carlos Martin shared his knowledge of blacksmithing and his tools with our class.  Our students loved the hands of experience of trying to work with the hammers! 
A BIG thank you goes out to all of the people who helped to make this project amazing for our students! 


  


Pictured here is the model of the As you Like it Inn, and the collection of knives owned by the Waterville Historical Society.

Our old fashioned village was a HUGE success! The first, second and third graders were knowledgeable, helpful and focused during our museum tours. Our visitors learned a lot about Waterville and Belvidere.  Here are some of the photos from the students' exhibits.  Next week, I will work on gathering more photos... I will send a collection of photos home for you to see! Thank you to all the families and community members who came to visit our village.

The week of November 13th

Upcoming Events

Happy Thanksgiving
Our turkeys came out beautifully! We've had fun singing some fun Thanksgiving songs. This week we sang Over the River and Though the Woods.

Waterville and Belvidere Long Ago and Today Workshop Days

November 20 9:00-1:00 Final Finish up Day and Village set up

November 21 Old Fashioned Village Tours 9:00-11:00

Please come and tour our old fashioned village museum! We have worked to research, plan, create and share our knowledge. We will also have some amazing artifacts on display from the Waterville Historical Society.  We will have knives made at the Mann Knife shop, a replica of the As You Like it Inn, and oars from the Locke Brothers Oar Shop.

Thanksgiving Break/No School

November 22-24

Early Release Day 11:30 Teacher In-Service
December 5, 2017

First Trimester Report Cards 
December 8, 2017

Classroom News

The weather has definitely been cold, but the kiddos are really loving the snow on the playground. It was hard for everyone to get their gear on and put away after recess. We are working on our new routine as we get into the snowy weather. I encourage students to keep their mittens and hats in their sleeves when they arrive, and to dry them on our heater after recess. This is always a hard transition for students! Hang in there! Thank you to all the families who packed warm weather gear. It is really fun to play in the snow. We can't wait to unveil our Old Fashioned Museum on Tuesday! Please come and see the amazing village we have created. I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving Break. I am so grateful to get to be your child's teacher!  

Homework

There will be no spelling homework this week because of the two day school week! Please continue to read at home and fill up those reading logs! I love to see the pride students have as they complete them! 

Habits of Mind

In the first trimester of school we have reviewed and practiced many Habits of Mind. We have focused on thinking flexibly, managing our impulsivity and being persistent. Mrs. Miller did such a great job introducing the Habits to her students.  We needed a short review on what each habit looked like, but we have mainly worked on identifying the habits in our day to day activities. In November, we focused on working interdependently, thinking flexibly, and creating, innovating and imagining. We have worked hard during our Old Fashioned Village project to learn how to work in small groups and the process of imagining and creating models. This week, we also pulled these habits out of A House for Hermit Crab. Students identified the Habits of Mind as they shared the way Hermit Crab solved his problems. 

Big Buddies

This week we met with our Big Buddies on Friday. We did a scavenger hunt activity that helped us to come up with things we are grateful for.  We used our scavenger hunt to help us create a beautiful leave which was added to our  Gratefulness Tree which is displayed in the hallway between our classrooms.  

 

Math Workshop 

Math has been a busy but fun time of our day! We are finishing up our second unit of study on addition and subtraction strategies. The first graders love our new stations and are very engaged as they play the fun math games we have. We are working hard to develop strategies that can help us when adding and subtracting. This week we worked more with fact families. Students used their flip books to quickly think of the parts and whole. We acted out and told our own math stories to go with our favorite fact from our fact family. We identified important vocabulary that goes with addition stories- how many in all, all together, the total. We also worked with subtraction stories and identified vocabulary that goes along with those stories- how many are left, what is the difference. Students are also working hard at using their flip books to  help them solve missing number equations.  Our number corner has been fun this month! Students have done a great job working with digital and analog clocks. We have also loved creating stories to go along with our calendar pattern which contains whole, half and fourths this month. 

 

Readers' and Writers' Workshop

This week in readers' workshop we worked more on fiction story elements. We read the book A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. We identified the characters, setting, problem and solution in the book .  It was amazing to see and hear the students engage in character analysis as we discussed the text. They identified multiple problems and solutions in this complex text. Students created beautiful character/setting art projects in Eric Carle's style. We cut different scraps of paper to create hermit crab, his friends and the ocean. Later in the week, we created a story map. Students again, identified important fiction story elements and wrote about them. We continue to love our new read aloud The Adventures of Jack and Laura by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We are really working on visualizing the setting of the story. We hear lots of describing words that help us to imagine what life in the big woods was like... what it looked and felt like! Students continue to work in small groups throughout the week and are learning some reading strategies that can help them as they come across words in their books that they  don't know. Students have a bookmark which they will keep in their reading bag. It has some fun pictures and gives helpful hints for students. Please feel free to use this at home while you are reading with your child.

Here are the final setting and character paper projects completed by your creative students!

 In Writers' Workshop we are almost done with our publishing project! It has been really hard work and we have had to use lots of our Habits of Mind. Students have had to be really persistent. We have also worked on striving for accuracy in our handwriting, spelling and illustrations! The kids are really enjoying creating some beautiful illustrations to add detail to their books. Over vacation, I will work on laminating and binding their books. Next week, we will work on our dedication and About the Author page. 

The week of November 6th

Upcoming Events

Tuesday is our Library day with Ms. Bryce! Please remember to pack your child's library book!!

Waterville and Belvidere Long Ago and Today Workshop Days

November 15-16 9:00-10:00

November 17 10:00-11:00

November 20 9:00-11:00 Final Finish up Day and Village set up

November 21 Old Fashioned Village Tours 9:00-11:00

Thanksgiving Luncheon 

November 16th 11:00-12:00

Please contact Debbie in the office to reserve your seat! 

Thanksgiving Break/No School

November 22-24

Classroom News

What a great week! The cold weather has finally arrived, and I love the cold mornings! The sun shines brightly into our classroom and we all enjoy the view! Please make sure your child is prepared for outdoor recess. You are welcome to pack snow pants, warm jackets, hats, mittens and snow boots. Please try and label your child's clothing- things often get dropped in the hallway or outside, and I know how expensive these things are!  We are really enjoying our special share days this month. It is great getting to know each other and each other's special interests!  I know children love to bring toys to school, but it is now becoming a distraction during our school day. Please only allow your child to bring items to school on their special share days. 

Morning Meeting Share Time!!  

We welcomed Ms. Marie into our classroom. She will be our classroom para-educator. She will work with small groups of students as well as with students one on one. Ms. Kylee is now working in a few other rooms. We miss her greatly, but know how helpful and kind she is... it makes us happy to know that she will be able to help others in our school. 

Reading and Spelling Homework 

Thank you to all of the families who made our first week of spelling and reading homework a huge SUCCESS! Most of the feedback I got from students was positive and they really liked it. This week we will continue with reading and spelling homework. I will be working with students on selecting some more "just right books" to take home in their reading bags. All spelling homework should be returned on Friday this week. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Waterville and Belvidere Long Ago and Today
This was another exciting week for students! Ms. Caswell's class came to our room for a gallery walk of village choices. Students walked around the room looking at a variety of photographs and village ideas. Children selected their top three choices and wrote them down. After school on Wednesday, Ms. Caswell and I grouped students based on their interests. This week we will begin working in our small groups to research our part of the village and construction will begin! We are still looking for parent volunteers, if you are available, please let me know! 

Students looked closely at their choices and couldn't wait to sign up! 

Readers' and Writers' Workshop

Students are doing a great job with our character study unit. Students developed their partnership skills as they worked on retelling their series books. We used our character traits anchor chart to recognize external and internal character traits. Students worked in their small reading groups to practice decoding strategies, sight word recognition and application of our comprehension work ( connections and fiction story elements). Students have also begun writing in their reader response journals. Last week, we finished up our chapter book Mouse and Mole and noticed how the characters changed over time. This week, we will begin a new read aloud Little House in the Big Woods by Lauren Ingalls Wilder.  When students aren't working with me in small groups, they are working at different literacy stations and LOVE their BINGO boards! I introduced some new word work stations for kids to practice their spelling skills. Students continue to love Raz-Kids here at school.  We learned how to spend our reading stars on Raz rockets. 

In writing we learned about picture prompts! We have some really fun pictures to look at, and students love to  create stories to go along with them! This is a fun and creative part of our writers' workshop as we continue the hard work of editing and revising our small moments stories! 

Students trying out Raz Rockets on Raz-Kids! 

Fundations/Spelling

Last week we began a new part of word study and spelling. Each week we have a mentor sentence which we examine, work with, and make better. Our focus has been on recognizing nouns and proper nouns, as well as adjectives. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday we spend time working with our spelling words and our mentor sentence. 

Math/Number Corner 

In math, we have begun working on an addition and subtraction strategies unit. Students are working on developing efficient  solving strategies. We are playing a lot of domino games and have worked hard at identifying the parts and whole amount. Students have continued to work with the greater than, less than and equal symbol to compare sums. We have worked with special flip books that have helped us to write fact families for different amounts. This week we will write math stories to go along with our fact families.  In Number Corner we are working with the fractions half and fourth. We are also working with analog and digital clocks this month. We are working on counting forwards and backwards from 0-50 by ones and forwards and backwards by tens. We love playing Hot Potato for fun counting practice! 

Here's the Potato Gallery! 

Veteran's Day Project

On Thursday we spent time learning about Veteran's Day and making thank you cards for our local veterans! Students spent so much time, added great detail and really had heart felt feelings for our veterans! Our poem and cards will be sent to the National Guard in Jericho VT. 

                                     

The Week of October 27th

                                       

                               



On Tuesday, we did a fun spider web greeting during morning meeting! 






Classroom News
I hope everyone has begun the clean up process and has had their power restored! I apologize for the delay in this update... my family was without power until mid week, and I was sick on top of it all! There are HUGE trees down on my road with  power lines still down.  It looks like Waterville and Belvidere didn't get hit as hard as other places, and I'm thankful for that!

Reading and Spelling Homework

I am so happy to see how hard students are working on their reading homework each night! They are proud to share their work each day. Just a quick note on reading logs- if you choose to read more than one book per night, please write multiple books  in only one row. Each row is meant to record a night's reading, not single book titles. Everyone is doing such a great job remembering their book bags each day!  Thank you all for your help at home!  

Look for your Child's Spelling Homework on Monday!

Spelling homework will begin November  6th.  Each week, I will send a packet home on Monday in your child’s home-folder. It will include a brief outline of our learning targets and background information for you to help at home. Your child will have a word sort, and a trick word ( sight word) practice activity. Packets should  be completed at home or at homework club, and should be returned on Friday. Next week students will return their packets on Thursday because of the short week.

Waterville and Belivdere Long Ago and Today 

We are moving right along in  our study of the past and how it was the same or different from today! We finally got to try on all of the old fashioned clothing and compare it to the things we wear today! It was so much fun.  We also spent time playing old fashioned games. We learned how to play marbles, pick-up-sticks and The Game of Graces (which we played at the Shelburne Museum). Students really enjoyed playing these games and all commented how fun it was to play with each other! Next week we will begin our final student choice project. We will be creating our own mock village with Ms. Caswell's class! Students will work in small, mixed level groups to research, plan, create and share their part of the village. We are looking for parent volunteers and donations of supplies for this project. You will have an informational letter coming home on Friday. 

  

                                       

Pick up sticks!

Old fashioned marbles was so much fun! 

PAWS Celebration

On Friday, we celebrated filling up our PAWS jar! Children earn PAWS by showing Habits of Mind through our WES school rules. Teachers notice children begin persistent, being respectful, working together to solve problems and being safe at all times. We collect our PAWS in a special jar and when it is filled up, I choose one from the jar. One lucky student selects a way to celebrate our great work.  As we were reviewing our rules at the start of school, we brainstormed a list of celebrations together. On Friday, we enjoyed EXTRA RECESS and even saw a bald eagle soaring in the sky! 

                                                          

Math Workshop

In math we are finishing up our first unit of study! On Wednesday we used our shape pictographs to count up the total amount of shapes we collected through the month of October. Students collected shapes each day. We used a pictograph to keep track of our weekly collections. Students picked their favorite weekly collections from our graphs which identified shape type and quantity. Students created a composite shape from their favorite collection. We will be moving on to our next unit which will be focused on math fact strategies. Your child will be bringing home all of their work from this unit on Friday! Please ask them all about it! 

Readers' and Writers' Workshops

Students are doing a GREAT job during our readers' and writers' workshops. Our focus has been on activating our prior knowledge (our schema), and using that schema to help us connect with a character, feeling or part of the book. This week, we started a character study! We learned about external and internal traits, and students wrote about traits they notice in themselves.  Mrs. Bryce helped us to find "just right" books in a series that have strong and interesting characters. We unpacked our new books and began a read aloud called Mole and Mouse. We will work on identifying character traits and practiced retelling our books using the beginning, middle and end. Students will also focus on setting and problem/solution in the coming weeks.

In writing, students have selected a FAVORITE small moments story from their folders. We are working in small groups and in partnerships to revise and edit our pieces so that they can be PUBLISHED!! YAY! On Wednesday, students used a checklist to review the important parts of  a "small moment" story. We identified the things they are doing well, and things they may need to work more on!