February 6, 2014

Feb 6, 2014

Dear Parents,

We celebrated the 100th day of school today. It was a ton of fun; about half the students created 100th-Day projects and they shared them: "100 places I've been," "100 books I've read," "Here's a bridge I made out of 100 marshmallows," etc.  I really noticed how when you invite/allow a child  to show artistically something they know about, each kid's display is entirely different from the next kid's, and each kid is often into something enirely different from his or her classmates.

Yesterday, we went to see the 3rd-4th-grade chorus perform at WCS.  It was exciting to see so many former Horizon students; they were singing their hearts out.  Our kids were thrilled when one of the songs the 3rd and 4th graders did was Amani Utupe  which we sing in the kiva all the time. Ask your child to sing a couple of bars for you.

Dental Cleaning: There will be a dental cleaning clinic at ABS in the coming days. Please check the School Bell for info, or call the main office to schedule a cleaning for your child.

Feb. 5, 2014

Feb. 5, 2014

Dear Parents, 

Wow! What a busy couple of weeks.  Here's a quick overview of what we've been doing:

In Reading and Writing, 

- we have been finishing our Opinion pieces. I asked students to think of the best place in Vermont and then to try to convince others to go there.  Our list of "best places in Vermont" include Cochran's Ski Area,  Derby Line, and Olive Garden.  We've focused on organization and voice in these pieces.  Look for them soon on our KidBlog. 

- Elsewhere in Literacy, it's I Love to Read and Write Month, so every classroom at ABS is doing 10-minute "Stop, Drop, and Read" periods throughout the day tomorrow.  Another interesting project is that a rolling writing easel is making its way from room to room. Every classroom adds two lines to an ongoing  story. Ask you child to tell you what this exciting fiction story has, thus far, been about! 

- For Read-Aloud, we are reading Matilda. We just can't get enough of Roald Dahl. 

- Please keep those reading logs coming in. We've got a lot of good loot from the holidays hidden in our treasure chest!  Let me know if your child is having trouble finding good books to read. I went to the bookstore recently, and I have lots of suggestions. 

Comings and goings:

- We were sad to say, "Good-bye" to our classmate, Halle Christian. She and her mom, Jessica,  moved to Colchester, but she will continue to have a spot on our Kidblog. It will be fun to see her comments pop up on our blog posts! You can still reach Halle by the telephone number written on the Bolger-class Friendship List we sent home (or see it below.)

-Danielle Hertz, a Junior from Champlain College, is our new Tuesday/Thursday teaching intern. She's from Los Angeles, and she brings us lots of energy.  Welcome also to Alyssa Jeffer from UVM. She will be with us every Thursday. 

Science Experiments:

- As you know,  we have been growing lettuce and carrots in our indoor, classroom garden, and we harvested and ate a huge salad of it yesterday. Yum! We also got the idea to do an experiment to figure out if saying nice things to a plant will make it grow taller that a plant to which we say lots of mean things. We designed an experiment on Monday after lots of discussion as to what would prove it one way or the other.  Now,  we will be saying lots of sweet and sour things this week  as we measure and record our data. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, our sharing theme for this week is "Do  you think your feelings (and expressing those feelings) can affect how tall a plant grows?" 

Upcoming Events:

- Weds: The 3rd-4th-grade music concert:  we will bus over at about 1:15 pm. tomorrow.  We will be back at ABS in time to take board buses from ABS to go home. 

- Thursday: We celebrate the 100th Day of School! Our optional assignments: make something that has 100 in it. Also, we are inviting students to look in their cupboard and see if they can WASH THEIR HANDS, and then count out 100 of something that we can add to our class's 100th-Day Gorp. We will have 100th-day  activities throughout the day.

Thank you, kids, and Karen Allen, for my magnificent 100th-day t-shirt complete with 100 buttons! I opened it up today, but I promise I won't wear it until Thursday. 

- Next 2 Weeks: Parent-Teacher Conference/or ands: don't forget to sign up! There are slots still available between next Monday and the Friday the 21st. 

- Next Friday: Valentine's Day Celebration: will take place, of course, on Friday, February 14th. Because many students leave to ski on Friday afternoons, we have decided that we'll exchange valentines and have a little celebration in the morning. Then, we'll  have Valentines cupcakes in the afternoon, and  for the skiers, we'll wrap the cupcakes up in little bags for them to take home with them.

- Thursday, April 17th: keep the date for our Horizon Reading Restaurant.

A couple of last things:

- Thank you, Karen Allen, for bringing  in your harp last Wednesday and playing for us. It was  just beautiful. We sang This Land is  Your Land, Loch Lomond, and You are My Sunshine with new  words. 

- Looking for 1-pint or 1/2-pint mason jars. We would like to grow sprouts in our indoor garden to eat during snack time. 

Well, that's all, Folks!   Have a wonderfully-snowy-but-safe end to your week. 

Mr. Bolger