Sept. 24, 2010

Sept. 24, 2010

Dear Parents,

Good bye, Summer, and Welcome, Fall! The highlight of this week was our trip to Shelburne Farms. We learned how to make bread, we learned how to make cheese (while we chanted about Little Miss Muffet). We learned how to prepare sauce and toppings from the plants of the garden. Then, we rolled out the dough, spread the ingredients, popped our pizzas in the oven, and Yum Yum!

If any of you haven’t been to Shelburne Farms yet, you have to go. It’s an amazing place with cheerful, smart, kind staff people. They helped us pick up chickens, feed pigs, and milk a cow. They taught us about Reduce – Reuse – Recycle (and were very impressed that we already compost our cafeteria food waste at school). We sang songs and played lots of games. What a day! Your children wrote about their day at Shelburne farms, and a copy of their writing pieces are in the Friday Folder today.

In Math, the 1st and 2nd graders are both working with patterns. We think we have figured out the September pattern on our bulletin boards. We’ll know for sure in a couple of days.

In Reading, we finished our Read-aloud book, Sable, by Vermont author, Karen Hesse. What excellent writing! It’s a story about a Vermont girl who is dying to get a dog of her own when a stray appears on her doorstep. We won’t tell you what happens. You’ll have to read it yourself – but we loved it. Also in reading, we are just about finished with our beginning-of-the-year reading assessments. We will begin book groups as soon as we’ve had a chance to get a good, solid look at the data.

Yesterday and Today -- dried apples: we used a crank apple peeler today to peel, core, and slice apples. Then we put the apples in a dehydrator to make dried apple snacks.

Thank you, those of you who were able to make the open house – and thanks for your nice notes to your kids. We read them today. It was great to meet the parents behind these kids. If you weren’t able to make it, stop in and introduce yourself, and see the work your child has done --- the Hopes and Dreams dolls, the self-portraits, the Horizon flags, and the Math Art. If you weren’t able to make it, I have included in this Friday Folder a Horizon Parent Handbook, and your child’s “desk letter” to you. Please write something on the right hand side, and send it back for us to display. The kids stuffed their own Friday Folders today as a way of practicing listening skills. If you are missing any of the above pieces of paper, email me, and I'll look under the desks.

Overall, this group is settling in nicely. Lots of smiles! The kids have learned the schedule, the routines the expectations, and all the names of the many grown-ups who comprise our Horizon House. They now have a solid foundation as we begin to pick up the speed with the academics.

Other notes:

We collected and sorted insects in our Four Winds class today. We found a HUGE spider, but it wasn't poisonous.

Don’t forget our field trip the week after next to the Flynn Theater. Send in permission slips if you haven’t already.

We learned how to use an apple corer and we dried apples for a healthy snack today!
It’s a great time for apple picking – and a bag of apples is fun to sort – in a bunch of ways.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mr. Bolger

Sept. 17, 2010

Sept. 17, 2010
Dear Parents,

We have had a great week! We finished our class rules, we wrote our hopes and dreams for the year, we decided on class jobs, we met our class pets, and we wrote about our first 12 days of school. We opened our class library, we talked about how to choose books that are just right for us, and we sang some great songs. Lastly, the students were so excited and proud to put up their “locker notes” from you telling them what you love about them! Thank you.

We began our fall Social Studies unit called Long Ago and Today. First and Second graders will be classifying things from the past and the present, and studying how some things change over time while other things remain the same.

Class volunteers: thank you, everyone, for sending in your "volunteer forms" telling us to what degree in in what capacity you could help out in our class this year. I love to have parents in the class, and as soon as we get our assessments done and our regular lessons up and running, I'll contact you to connect on how you would most like to participate.


Upcoming events:

Class Pictures (This Weds. 8:00 a.m. before our field trip): The individual pictures will be taken on “Retake” day – TBA. Note: This year the photo company has informed us that there will be an extra charge for picture orders that arrive after the pictures have been taken.

Shelburne Farms (Weds. 8:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m). Please bring a bag lunch from home.

Curriculum Night and Dessert Social (Weds. 6:30-8:00 p.m.): see the orange colored paper in the Friday Folder. We hope you can make it. Sorry, we can’t invite students to this event.


Flynn Theater Field Trip (Monday, October 4th. 8:45-11:15): ”Laura Ingalls Wilder.” See the blue permission slip in the Friday Folder.

Happy Birthday, Olivia Roberts!

Have a great weekend, Everyone.

Sincerely,

David

Sept. 3, 2010

September 3^rd, 2 010

Dear Parents,

            Happy Friday!  Ok. I’ll give your children back.  For a couple of days.     I’d like to take this opportunity to, again, welcome you and your child to my class.  I’m looking forward to a happy, successful year.  We’ve had a great time at school this week getting to know each other.  The students have learned some of the procedures for using a variety of materials in the classroom. They’ve also helped to develop our classroom rules, and above all, we are learning that when we are kind and helpful, together we can do anything.

            This letter will encompass a variety of information to help the year go smoothly.  First, homework (which will be commencing  soon):   once reading groups are up and running, your child will be bringing home a book bag.  S/he should read on a daily basis for at least 15 minutes.  There will be a reading log to fill out on a weekly basis as well.

At the 1^st and 2^nd grade level, besides the 15 minutes of reading each night,  you can expect, 1-2 times per week, math homework that is part of the Bridges program.  This will come home in a math homework folder.  It will always be an extension of what we have done in class. It won’t be something that you are having to teach your child. Students  at this age should not be spending more than 30 minutes per night working on homework (reading + math).  If the time spent on homework consistently exceeds this, or if  you see that you child is struggling, please let me know and I will make some adjustments.  

            If your child would like to bring in a closeable water bottle to keep at his/her desk and fill up throughout the day,  I welcome that.  In addition, we will be having a short snack time each morning.  I am encouraging kids to bring (and trying , myself,  to bring, ) a healthy snack.  Some snack ideas are: fruit, vegetables, cheese and crackers, string cheese, yogurt, granola bars, hard boiled eggs, apple sauce, or pretzels.  One of our students in this class is allergic to tree nuts (if he eats them) --  but not allergic to peanuts , so peanuts are a great snack choice. 

Please also send in a change of clothes in a plastic bag that your child can keep on the top shelf in his/her locker in the event that he or she needs to change. 

**** There has been a change in policy this year, and the school nurse can no longer provide  extra clothing. 

Important Dates:

September 6^th- No School (Labor Day)

Sept. 22^nd  - Field Trip to Shelburne Farms

Sept. 22nd - Class picture taken at 8:00 a.m. sharp

Sept. 22^nd – Curriculum Night
Sept. 24th - Our first Four Winds  Lesson

Sept. 28^th – Early Dismissal

Reminder: If your child is leaving school at dismissal time in a way other than their typical daily transportation (bus, walk, or pick-up) please be sure to send a note to school.  You may email  your note, but please do so the day before, since I often do not have a chance to check my email during the day.

Please feel free to contact me at anytime.  We’re off to a great start, and  I look forward to getting to know you all better across the  coming  months.

Onward!

Mr. Bolger

Sept. 1, 2010

Dear Parents and Friends,

What a great first day of school. We began with Morning Meeting  Greetings and sang "This Little Light of Mine."  We also read a book called, "My First Day of First Grade."

In Math, we found seats for our 22 second-grade math students and we did a categorizing activity (ex: Everyone who is wearing white stand over here. Everyone who is not wearing white, stand over there..." )  We practiced "Circling Up" outside with Mrs. Powers' class, and we can now circle up  it in 10 seconds! Someone had the smart idea of everyone holding hands and then taking a step backwards.  We drew self-portraits to hang in our classroom, and we practiced secret hand signals for asking to get a drink or going to the bathroom. We learned other important routines like closing our lockers quietly, "signing out" to go to the bathroom, and pushing our chairs in and picking up our areas.

Later in the day, we composed our list of good classroom rules, and we ended with Afternoon Meeting and Compliments.  I think these kids are going to sleep well tonight. It's hard work creating a civilization :)

We are encouraging students to bring in water bottles and leave them here. Also, if your child brings something for snack or lunch that requires being ripped open, I'd like to suggest that he or she keep a small round-tipped scissors in their lunch box to be able to cut the item open.

Shhhh: Mr. Bolger is bringing in some class pets, but everyone is going to have to wait 'til tomorrow to see what they are.

Sleep well, everyone, and celebrate your successful first day back at school!

Mr. Bolger