Oct. 22, 2013

October 22, 2013

Dear Parents,

We've had a couple of  great days so far this week. The students are excited to be typing up their "Personal Narratives." Stay tuned; we'll have our Kidblogs fully functional by next Monday, and you'll be able to see all of your child's writing there. 

Some upcoming dates and events to be aware of: 

1. Our School-Wide Harvest Festival-in-the-Garden (next Tuesday):  send a bowl, a spoon, and a cup of chopped veggies (no meat).  Want to help?

Next Tuesday, we will celebrate our ABS-wide Harvest Celebration in the ABS Garden. We'll be making stone soup. I hope you received our Stone-Soup Flyer in last week's Friday Folder. Milk, apples and bread will be provided by the cafeteria. We are asking every child to bring in (by this Thursday or Friday) a cupful of  fresh, cut veggies (ex: lentils, beans, celery, potatoes, onions, carrots, brussel sprouts, peas, squash, apples.).  We will be careful to return your tupperware if you would kindly mark it. Note, if you cannot send in veggies, don't worry. There will be plenty for sharing. 

On Tuesday, please send your child in with a cup and a spoon for eating stone soup!  If your child does not wish to eat the soup, please send in an alternate lunch. We won't be serving "hot lunch" in the cafeteria that day.

Also needed: volunteers who can come and help serve soup from 10:30 to 1:30 --  or any time between -- in our garden.   Several friends are joining me to play a bunch of fiddle and guitar tunes during the celebration. Join us if you can!

2.  Next Wednesday will be our Four Winds program. Yeah! 

Please remember to have your child dress warmly and with good shoes for clomping around outside on  Wednesday.

3. Next Thursday, we will celebrate our Horizon Harvest Party 

(in place of what we used to call our Halloween party). It'll be at 1:45 pm.  Karen Allen (our room mom) and I will be contacting you soon via email to ask about folks donating a few baked goods or coming in to help with a craft. 

That's it for now. Have a great week, everyone!

Mr. Bolger

October 7, 2013

Dear Parents,

A couple of quick notes on the day:

We had a very exciting time this morning at Morning Meeting. We  were practicing saying the continents ("Asia, Africa..." ---ask your child to tell you the chant). I asked the kids if they knew that  at one time, the continents were  connected as one land mass...Well, you'd think I'd told them we were going to have an extra half hour of recess.  Xander leaped up. "It was called Pangea!"  Jasper cried out, "And they're still moving!" Someone else said, "Look! Right where Europe and Asia meet, there are plates colliding RIGHT NOW."  "And look! The continent of  Asia and the continent of Africa meet right THERE!"
You could practically see the steam coming off these kids' heads. Over the coming months, I will be inviting the students to pick topics that interest them and do research and write a report. I think this particular class will jump on that.

"It was called Pangea!"

In Reading, we talked about using sticky-notes to mark where the author is really describing the main character. While PJ, Nina's dad, led a book group, I was able to walk around and conference with kids on what character traits they were finding in their books.

Also in Reading, as I said, we began reading groups this week. In addition to doing a class-wide reading lesson each day, and conferencing with students as they try out in their "independent", "just-right" books the reading strategies they are learning, I will now be meeting with your child and his or her reading group two to four times per week.

Book Bags: For the younger kids, this means taking home the book they've read that day to reread it (with greater fluency ---hopefully out-loud to you or to a sibling). It will go home in  their "book bag" (a blue folder) to be sent back the next day in the same "book bag" (blue folder)

In Read-Aloud, we thought it would be a good idea to celebrate October by reading kind-of-spooky mysteries. We started with The Curse of the Squirrel. by Lawrence Yep. We noticed that just like in our own writing, the author first told us about who was in the story, and then, as Charlie noted, "Just when it seemed to be getting kind-of boring, the author wrote, 'SUDDENLY..'." at the most exciting moment, and we knew we were now into the second part, the SUDDENLY part of the story.

We ended our day with our Team Time. Ask your child what he or she is working on this week during Team Time  (aka WIN time).

And enjoy this beautiful, warm weather. I'm psyched to think that I could be snowboarding in about six weeks, but these last few warm days are just gorgeous.

Take care, everyone.

Mr. Bolger

October 4, 2013 

Hello, Everyone!

Well, we filled the school Buzzy Jar today (in the front office), due to so many kids being kind, safe, and responsible this week.   I did not tell the kids yet because I got the email after they left. So on Tuesday, it will be crazy hair day as a celebration. Please tell your child so you can help them think about what they want to do to have crazy hair (!)

Reading and helping your child make connections:

When you are reading a story to your child or they are reading to you, always talk about any connections you or your child has. For example, if you are reading a story about a child who lost a tooth and your child has lost a tooth.....that would be a connection because your child would know how that child felt. 

Some kids say, "Well, they had a red shirt and I have a red shirt!" We call that a shallow connection because it doesn't help you understand the story better. 

We will continue to work on text-to-self connections next week. They will be doing an activity with this on Tuesday, and our sharing theme for next week will be kids sharing a book that they really like -- and they can talk about a connection they have with a character in the book or a theme in the book, or the setting. If over the weekend you read a book that prompts a connection for your child, you might suggest that he or she bring that book in for sharing.

The kids are building stamina, and being more productive and accountable as the days progress. We are working on not being afraid to say, "I don't understand..." The smartest thing a person can do, we decided,  is to be ok with not being perfect, take on that thing we're not yet great at, and then work very, very hard (and get lots of help) to get stronger at that thing. 

That's it for now. Have a great weekend!

Mr. Bolger

Sign-Up for Conferences

                                                          Oct. 2, 2013

Dear Parents,

It’s time for Fall Conferences. Please look at the current openings below for  conferences. Then, email me with your first, second, and third choice. I will add names daily to this schedule on a first-come-first-served basis.

 Note: conferences are for 25 minutes each. if you can bring your child,  that’s great. I like to talk with parents first, and then have your child join us for the last five minutes.

Wednesday, Oct 9, 2013

2:45-3:10 Karen and Bruce Allen

3:10-3:35 Deborah Miuccio and Matt Wood

3:35-4:00 Miki Olszewski

Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013

2:45-3:10 Denise Giroux and Corey Nulty

3:10-3:35 Kate and Matthew Moreau

Friday, Oct. 11, 2013

2:45-3:10  Nilgun and PJ Zimakas

3:10-3:35  

3:35-4:00   Jamie Wilson

4:00-4:25  Jennifer and Whit Fellows

Tuesday, October 15, 2013
7:10-7:35 Jessica Christian
7:40-8:00 a.m. Troy Rivard

Weds. Oct. 16, 2013

3:00-3:25 Kristiina Brown

3:35-4:00 Rebecca and GabeTharp

   

Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013

7:30-7:55 Janine Beaudry and Luc Reid

8:00-8:25 Ed Olszewski

8:30-8:55 Brennan Brown & Jennifer Reardon

9:00-9:25 Sam Johnson

9:30-9:55 Amy and Max Skapof

10:00-10:25

10:30-10:55

11:00-11:25

11:30-11:55

12:00-12:25

12:30-12:55

1:00-1:25

1:30-1:55

2:00-2:25

2:30-2:55

3:00-3:25 Adam Beaudry

3:30-3:35 Kathy and Daniel Cotter

4:00-4:25 Fran and Glenn Steinman

Note: If you simply can’t make any of these times, give me a call and we’ll arrange an alternate time (in the morning before school or during one of my planning periods.)

Thank you. I’m looking forward to seeing you!

Mr. Bolger

October 1, 2013

Do you see the original seed?

Dear Parents, 

It has been a very busy couple of weeks as we near the six-week mark. We planted Lima Beans using compost soil made by our class worms; we learned about painting plants with Ms. Beeken in Art; we have also finished our reading assessments (phew!), and we are getting settled into book groups. 

In Reading, we began our Read-at-Home reading log (the sheet with the balloons on it). The kids seem excited about it, and when they bring their reading logs in on Friday morning, we'll do a fun activity ("Boys and girls, look at this reading log someone brought in.  Let's see. Can you guess who read A-Z Mysteries  for 65 minutes straight on Wednesday?...") I will also keep track of their reading minutes, and when a student reads (or is read to) for  enough total minutes, he or she gets to pick from the treasure chest. 

Painting in Art 

In Writing, we are deep into Writer's Workshop. Students are writing personal narratives with a beginning, middle ("Suddenly...!)  and an end.  

Home-School Journals will go home tomorrow (instead of today).

First and second grade math homework is due Thursday. 

Our Horizon Team launched, this week, a unit called "WIN" or "What I Need."  For a half hour per day, four days per week, from  2:00-2:30, students get to work in a focused way, on a subject or a skill area in which they have an interest or a need for deeper instruction. Ask your child about his or her WIN class. (We also call it Team Time). Ask who their teacher is and what they are learning. 

Look what Wylie made.
He was resourceful!

Parent-Teacher Conferences: Over the next couple of days, I will post by email a sign-up schedule for conferences.  Your children have done so much in just a month, and it's been very, very interesting to get to know a brand new set of students as the old and the new students mesh, and the character of the class evolves, yet again, into something new.  I am looking forward to having a chance to get together with you.

   

That's it for now. Have a great rest of the week, everyone. 

Mr. Bolger