June 2, 2015

June 2, 2015

Hi Parents,

Want some fabulous online Art activities that the kids have done with Ms. Beeken?   Go to our WCS webpage. Then go to Curriculum/Art/ find Ms. Beeken's Art Room on the left-hand sidebar/Ms. Beeken's Blog/ Then scroll down 'til you find Ms. Beeken's dog, Maddy. Just beneath Maddy is a list of great Art websites. They did the Sand Art one today. The kids LOVED it.


Reminders

- Tomorrow we are going over to WCS for the 3/4 concert.

We leave at 1:30. If you are planning on picking up your child tomorrow, you should pick up him or her in the office at WCS at 1:45. They will meet you in the office.

- Tomorrow is the step up day for Part 2. I have Audrey, Megan, Hanna, and Zoey  signed up for this. They'll stay there after the concert.

- Permission Slips for Maple Street Park:

Please make sure you send in your blue permission slips tomorrow if you haven't done so. We need to get the count of hot dogs so they can be purchased tomorrow. 

Let the countdown begin. We have 10 school days to go. Each day, a second grader will pop a balloon. Inside the balloon is a special activity for us all to do.


Where's Waldo? Got any classroom books under your beds? Please take a look around, and return  any last books you have from the classroom. Much appreciated! 

 (We are short a copy or two for each of these ones):

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

Mr. Bolger

May 31, 2015

May 31, 2015

Hi Parents! 

This Friday, June 5th: Maple Street Park. 

Please sign and return  ASAP those permission slips. Also, check off what kind of grillables you want so we can get them in plenty of time. 

Next Monday, June 8th: Fun Day:  Monday, June 8th 9:00-11:00 am. Please be sure to have your child wear sneakers (no flip-flops) and sunscreen.

Next Monday evening, June 8th: New Evening Step-up 

(2nd-to-3rd) meeting for parents and students at WCS

Last Day of School: want to sign up for a bag lunch? The last day of school is a half day on June 16th. There will be no hot lunch on that day. Instead, the cafeteria is offering students a choice of turkey or ham sandwiches. If you would like your child to get a sandwich, please email me and choose either ham or turkey ASAP.

Thanks! 

Mr. B.

May 27, 2015

 May 27,  2015

 

Dear Parents,

Reminder: tomorrow is our last Four Winds Science program. The topic is frogs. A good part of our day will be frog hunting. Please make sure your child wears long pants or high socks (ticks). We are hoping for great weather.

Step up day for second graders is on Monday morning. So look for your letters this weekend.

We celebrated Phin Johnson's birthday today. As we do for all the kids, we got everyone in a circle to sing a birthday song, and then they gave Phin compliments. Their compliments included:

"Phin, you are really friendly...kind...generous...patient...loving."
Happy 8th, Phin!

And finally, thank you, Denise, Phin's grandma, for bringing tadpoles in for us to see this morning. Very cool!  We can't wait for Four Winds tomorrow!

Take care, everyone.

Mr. Bolger

May 25, 2015

May 25, 2015

Dear Parents,

Happy Memorial Day!

Some things coming up:

- This Thursday: Wear rain boots and long pants for our Four Winds Lesson, "Hunting for Frogs."

- This Friday: placement letters go out by mail:  for my second graders-moving-on-to-being-3rd-graders.

- Weds. June 3rd:  Part 2 Step-Up Day/Open House for current Part 2 students and also potential      Part 2 -WCS 2015-2016 students. Here is a note from Alyx, the head of Part 2:

On June 3rd, WSD Part 2 is offering a Move Up Day for the incoming 3rd graders at Williston Central.   Current second graders can preview Part 2 at WCS, meet the staff and experience the new program first hand.   Participating students will check in at Part 2 in the Allen Brook cafeteria then take a bus to WCS Part 2 and will be picked up by their families at WCS.   WSD Part 2 Move Up Day is free to non-Part 2 students.   Families must fill out the form that I'm sending home and return to me by Friday May 29.   

- Weds. June 3rd:  the bookmobile is coming! My class will be touring it at 11:00 am.

- Friday, June 5th: end-of-year picnic at Maple Street Park in Essex Junction. 9:00 am to 1:30 pm.

- Monday June 8th: Fun Day

- Tuesday, June 16th: last day of school (half-day) 
   Note: I first incorrectly posted this date as Monday, June 15th.

-  Target is giving away $$ to schools at 6:30 pm when parents write thank you notes.  Seems    like an easy way to get some extra funds. Ms. Schwartz forwarded it to me. I haven't had a        chance to look at it. 

                        https://corporate.target.com/article/2015/05/thanks-a-billion

-  The 2nd -3rd grade Step up Night has been changed to June 8th, 6:30 pm at WCS.

- Check out this "Horizon Rock Star" video on YouTube: Deacon Bowen and Miranda Stewart recently won       the "Rock Star for a Day" silent auction item that Mrs. Powers and I had put together. You will also see my           daughter, Sadie, our session guitarist.
                     

                                                          http://youtu.be/8cxZJStSk6A

- Beware of a Friend Request that is circulating: see this note from our CSSU Tech administrator,      Mike Kanfer. 

Hi Everyone,

Many students and adults are receiving e-mail messages appearing to be from either students or adults within CSSU requesting that they accept a friend.  The friend is often someone they know with a school address.

This likely is happening because someone clicked on a link initially and the contacts within that person's account were harvested.  We have blocked the e-mail address from which they come- info@mysocialservice.net- on Tuesday evening at about 9:00 pm.  No messages from that address should have been received after that time.

There is an "unsubscribe" link in the message- which rather than unsubscribing the e-mail address seems to collect contacts from the account.  Needless to say don't click unsubscribe!

Students are discovering the message in their inbox and are wondering about it.  All of the students I have communicated with received the message before Tuesday evening so they are just discovering the issue now and it has been resolved.

Please share this information with them.

Thanks,

Mike

- Adam Curtis won (in the Lucky U silent auction) a visit from our Williston-Schools mascot, Einstein! 

- We'll be finishing our read-aloud, My Side of the Mountain this week. Shhhhh! It's a secret!  I got      some beef jerky and some salmon jerky I want to give the kids to eat as we read the last chapter. 

Have a great week, everyone! 

Mr. Bolger

May 20, 2015

May 20, 2015

Dear Parents,

First, thank you very much for your kindness and generosity over this last Teacher Appreciation Week. 

I felt overwhelmed. The notes, the hugs, the gift cards, the Teachers' Breakfast, on and on... I am a lucky man to have found my way into teaching, and  I am doubly lucky to work in this fabulous community. 

Check out the photos on the sidebar! I will be adding more soon.  

There are lots of things going on over the next couple of weeks: 

- Satisfaction Surveys. Please fill this out if you have a minute. You have a unique and valuable perspective, and your ideas help us improve!  2014-2015 Parent Satisfaction Survey

- May 23rd (this Friday): a field trip to the Public Works Department 10:30-11:30 am. 

- May 28th: Frog Hunting with 4-Winds. Please be sure to have your child dress with long pants in case we run into any ticks.

- May 29th: Students moving from 2nd grade to 3rd grade will find out who their next-year's teacher will be. 

- June 1st (8:15-9:40): Step-Up for students moving on to grade three. 

-  Got venison? We are near the end of our Read-Aloud book, My Side of the Mountain, and  I am looking for venison jerky that I can share with the students. If you have any ideas on where to find some, please get in touch. 

Thank you again! 

Mr. Bolger

May 11, 2015

May 11, 2015

Hello Parents!

First, Happy Belated Mother's Day! I hope all you moms and grandmas were treated right.

Well, we worked hard last week to finish up our fiction stories. We got them typed up, and I submitted a piece of writing from every child to the Scribe.  Now, we'll just have to wait and see who is fortunate enough to get featured. As I recall, it takes several weeks for the magazine to get put together and printed. It will be online for everyone to see, while kids whose writing is picked will receive a hardcopy.  I am proud of the writing all of these kids have done.

In Reading, I met with one of my  first-grade groups, and those kids brought books home to read tonight (hopefully) and return tomorrow.

In Writing, we got back to writing in our Home-School Journals. Now, with the Reading Restaurant and the Scribe behind us, we can return to our more every-day literary pursuits like writing back and forth with our moms and dads.

In Read-Aloud, Sam Gribley (My Side of the Mountain)  receives a visitor on Christmas Day. Ask your child who it is, and what news he brings Sam.

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

Mr. B.

Ps:  Here is one of our recent fiction stories. It is by Miranda Stewart. Thanks, Miranda!

Stella the Star

by Miranda Stewart

Grade 1

Once there was a star named Stella. It was a really beautiful night, and all the stars were twinkling so bright, including Stella. 

Suddenly, Stella's light in her star went out. She was so, so, so sad, and  she suddenly burst into tears. Tomorrow night was the very, very, special Starlight, Star-bright show, and they were performing for a really famous star. He was so famous because he was the best actor in Starlight, Star-bright Village. Stella really wanted to perform. She hoped her light would be  back on by then.

The next day, all the stars woke up at sunrise. They all woke up early. They were excited because they had practice – including Stella. Then, just before the show, Stella's light came back on. She was so excited, and she performed! The really, really famous star loved it.  “Actually,” he told Stella, “it was outstanding and perfect.”

                                                                         The End

 

May 6, 2015

May 6, 2015

Hello Parents!

Today, we got caught up on "picking from the treasure chest".  We had many exotic items to choose from, and every student got a chance to pick  something to celebrate our reading over the last couple of months. Hooray!

In My Side of the Mountain, we read about how winter has come, and Sam suddenly realizes that he forgot to gather his firewood!.

We all forget to do things now and then (or more often!) and we learn over time to be more mindful about the things we need to do.  Talk to your child about Sam Gribley and what it would be like if you were living in a tree, and you got your first snowstorm of the year. What if it buried all the sticks you could use to make a fire and you had  forgotten to get your wood in before the snow? What would you do?  When you are out in nature, you HAVE to be mindful. You have to remember important things like that. Your life could depend on it. Ask your child if he or she thinks it's hard to remember things.  What does he or she do to help to remember (write a note to oneself?, make a chart? draw a picture? ) 

We are acting tomorrow! The Flynn theater is again sending their teacher-actress. Susanna Olson, to teach us how to have greater success with understanding our reading by acting it out! We had a blast last week. Tomorrow is going to be fun. If you are interested in coming in to participate, let me know.
We'd love to have you.

Mr. Bolger

March 24th

March 24, 2015

Notes from the Classroom.

Hello, Parents! 

1) Congratulations to our wonderful Odyssey of the Mind Team (including current and former Horizon students Lauren Davis, Jasper Wood, Boden Moreau, Nina Zimakas, and Wiley Tharp). They came in first place in their division at the recent meet for  Problem #4, "Losing Your Marbles."  See the photo below. We are so proud of you. Special thanks to Katrina Moreau and Deborah Miuccio, OM coaches. 

2) Tomorrow (Wednesday), we will be searching for animal tracks on our ABS nature path from about 1:00 pm. to 2:00 pm.  If you are interested in joining us, we'd love to have you :) Be sure to take your winter boots to school! 

3) Jumprope for Heart is this Friday, March 27th, for those who are participating.  

4) Horizon Reading Restaurant, an evening event celebrating our writing from this year, will take place on Tuesday, April 14th. There will be two shifts: 6:30-7:10 and  7:15-8:00 pm.  Our classroom will be outfitted in a woodland/pond-habitat scene.  The  kids will be invited to dress up (resourcefully, not expensively) as an animal of their choice. Your child will be in the first or the second shift. We will be choosing the shifts in the next couple of days. 

5)  We began "Typing Club" today during our Tech Lab time. The kids are beginning to learn their  home row: jfjfjfjfjjjjjfffff...

6) Last week, we did a fun experiment with pennies, tinfoil, and buckets of water. Ask your child about that. 

7) This week in writing, we are working hard to finish up or first full drafts of our Research papers. Stay tuned.

8) Conferences: if you haven't signed up  for one yet, please do by clicking on the first link below (class blog) and scrolling down to the conference schedule. See which times are free, and send me an email to lay claim to one of them. 

9) Reading Logs:  you should have a reading log (sent home in the Friday Folder on Friday) at home. Let me know if you don't have one. Many new toys in our treasure chest for this  week!  Read, read, read! 

10) Welcome back, Elsie! Our old classmate, Elsie is coming back from North Carolina to visit her friends at ABS!  Elsie and her mom, Leigh, are on the road right now, and they will be joining us on Friday morning to sing in the front hallway. Then, they will come down to the classroom. We can't wait. We have really missed Elsie!  

That's it for now! 

Mr. B.

March 16, 2015

Hello, Parents. Below you  will see a message about a new, student/teacher-focused, school-wide fundraiser raffle that is happening this week.

 I have a free raffle ticket for each of my students. Wednesday, during our library time they will get to  put their ticket in an envelope of their choice --- an envelope that corresponds to a one-on-one or small-group invitation/opportunity  being offered by an ABS teacher.

Please click on the blue(here)link below, and introduce your  child to the raffle choices.  That will help them be prepared for Wednesday. 

If your child wishes to buy tickets additional tickets (@ $0.25 apiece) you can send in the cash  or coinage, and they will be allowed to visit the library before Morning Meeting to purchase raffle tickets.

I'm sorry for all the fundraising during this season, but I think this is quite creative, it actually involves the children, it invites them to make a decision,   and it asks them what they LIKE out of all the choices available (giving you parents and giving us teachers an interesting  insight into what makes this  kid or that kid tick!).

Any amount is appreciated. If you could send in something like $2.00, that would buy your child eight tickets to choose many interests or maybe they'll just stuff one raffle box! 

Thanks, and good luck. 

____________________________________________________________

Hello Families,

FAP is excited that this week begins our first ever Lucky U activities raffle.  

In case you didn't have a chance to read up on it yet, here are a couple key details:

- Every student receives 1 free ticket

- Additional tickets are for sale all week at 25 cents each, with a suggested limit of $5

- Students will choose which activities they want to enter for a chance to win

We have been very fortunate that so many of the Williston Schools faculty and staff have volunteered their time, resources and creativity to come up with a wide range of choices for students to enter to win, some happening during the day at school and others taking place outside of school hours.  In order for you to be informed, and help your child make great choices you can view the options HERE.

Please let your teacher or FAP rep know if you have any questions.

March 15, 2015

Hello Parents! 

Wow! We have been busy. 

Can you help at home with your child's research?  We are hard at work on our animal-research papers. There is a section in your child's classroom research packet that says, "Come up with three cool facts about your animal." By that, I mean, "think about your animal, and think beyond what it eats and where it lives and what it looks like. Think instead about three interesting questions you have about your animal, and write down what you find. For example, if you are studying chimpanzees, you might wonder, "Can chimpanzees learn sign language the way gorillas can? Or you might ask about the dragonfly you are studying, "Are there dragonflies anywhere in the world that are poisonous? Or, do people eat dragonflies anywhere in the world?" Since kids usually need guidance to think out of the box on topics like this,parents, you can really help them -- both with coming up with the interesting questions and with safely navigating the internet to find the answers.  So, please help your child this week on this task.  Then, send in via  email or hardcopy what you have discovered!  I hope we'll have most of our research writing done by Friday. 

The Horizon Band plays to sell-out crowd!   The WSD variety show, Friday, was a blast. The Horizon Band, including Erik Urch and Harry Bowen on guitars, played "I've Just Seen a Face" by  the Beatles, and "The Letter" by the Boxtops. I'll send the link in a follow-up email.  Also, congratulations to Adam Curtis for his violin performance and to many Horizon alumni who performed. Mrs. Powers and I felt so proud. 

The Big Basket Raffle: we need donations!   Because I was busy with the Variety Show, I guess, I fell a little behind on promoting our Big Basket Raffle. I will forward a flyer and an explanation to you right after I send this email.   Please consider donating. We don't have much time left.  Thanks, guys. Every little bit helps. 

Choose Your Own Adventure (last Friday).  I am sure you already heard all about your child's "Choose your own adventure"  adventure  on Friday. It was great fun for the teachers, too. I played snow soccer with the kids, and it was wonderful to interact with them in a whole new way. 

Conferences: see the schedule on our class blog, and email me your preferences for meeting times. 

Have an awesome  week, everyone. Looks like we have a lot of 41 degree days ahead of us. Hooray!  We have a "pool" going in the classroom. Every student has picked a day when they think the snow will entirely leave the  hill from  behind  our classroom. 

Ask your child which day he or she picked (and why). 

Mr. B.

Conference Sign-Up. Updated Sunday, March March 22nd

Hello Horizon Parents!  Here is the updated schedule for Parent-Teacher conferences.  Please email me if you wish to sign up for a slot or if you have any questions.

Looking forward to our conference!      (Updated: March 22nd)

Mr. Bolger

Friday, March, 13th

4:00 p.m. ____________________

4:30 p.m. ____________________

Tuesday, March 17th

4:30 p.m. Jamie Wilson (Megan)

5:00 p.m. Tammy and Kate Sevene (Kylee)

Wednesday, March 18th

4:00 p.m. The Urches (Isabella)

4:30 p.m. The Browns (Audrey)

Thursday, March 19th

3:00 p.m.

4:00 p.m. The Ackerlys (Will)

Friday, March 20th

3:00

3:30 The DeLucas (Nate)

4:00  The Mathises (Audrey)

Mon. March 23rd

7:00 The Curtises (Adam)

7:30 The Stewarts (Miranda)

8:00 ____________________

8:30 The Woods  (Jasper)

9:30 The Johnsons (Phin)  

10:00 The Wolnys (Hanna)  

10:30  ____________________

11:00   ____________________

11:30   ____________________

12:00 The Moreaus (Boden)

12:30 The Lamoreys (Greta)

1:00  _____________________

1:30  _____________________

3:00 _____________________

3:30 _____________________

4:00 _____________________

4:30 _____________________

Tues. March 24th

2:45 The Sheas (Quinlan)

4:00 ____________________
4:30  Jamie Wilson (Megan)

Wednesday, March 25th

3:00 Nikia Drown (Neaveh)

3:30 The Bowens (Deacon)

4:00 The Skapofs (Zoey)

Thursday, March 26th

3:00 Stephanie Martin (Blake) 

3:30 The Burnett-LeGrands. (Taeshaan)

4:00 ____________________

4:30 ____________________

Happy Valentine's Day!

February 13, 2015

 

Dear Parents,

We had a fun and productive Valentine's Day. Thank you for the donated goodies! For Morning Meeting, we turned to someone next to us, and we thanked them for something we notice they have brought to our  classroom. It was a nice way to begin the day.  After Music, we read more from Mr. Popper's Penguins. Ask your child if he or she thinks you should do to your house what Mr. Popper did to his.

In Writing, we worked on our All-About books, and they are nearly done.  Next week, we will be publishing these books and sharing them. They will be featured in our Reading Restaurant

We are also going to begin a new science unit on plants and animals from different habitats on Monday.

Want to sing with us in the Variety Show?
We are bringing together a Horizon Band for the upcoming Variety Show (March 13th). Harry Bowen, Deacon's dad, is going to join us. EriK Urch, Isabella's dad, is going to be part of it too. Ms. Trasciatti-Holmberg and Ms. Reina will also be singing with us. But we need you!  It's a lot of fun. We sing rock 'n Roll standards. We'll probably be singing "The Letter" by the Boxtops (and also sung by Joe Cocker). Check it out and give us a call!

Have a  great weekend, everyone.

Mr. Bolger

February 11, 2014

Celebrating our 100th Day of  School  by Counting to One Million!

Hello Parents.

As part of our 100th-day celebration, in Second-Grade Math, we challenged ourselves to count to one million. We did it in 40 minutes! (of course we counted by 100s). Each of us wrote the number "100" in every space on a "hundreds" grid (meaning that each of us "counted" to 10,000 for each grid done!)  Then, we worked 'til together we'd made 100 of those "ten-thousand" grids. Finally, 100 ten-thousands  (or ten thousand 100s) brought us to one million. AJ Beverly glued on our  final grid, and we cheered to have counted, finally, to 1,000,000.

We also watched an amazing video called "The powers of 10" Check it out with your child this weekend!

Take care, everyone.

Mr. Bolger

January 27, 2014

Jan 27, 2014

Hello Parents!

In honor, today,  of the snowstorm -- and the great 4-winds lesson this week -- we began our day making and sharing snowflakes. We shared them before gluing them into our Home-School journals;  

Students observed:

• "some are round and some are square,
• they are easy to do an ok job on but hard to do a great job on,
• it takes lots of tries to be able to know as you're cutting them --where THAT cut will show up when you open them,
• it would be fun to explore with different folds and see what you would come up with.
• you don't have to be a great drawer to make a very-beautiful snowflake."

Most journals went home today.

Some students did not finish their writing, so I decided to give them another day to do it well. You will see it tomorrow.

We worked on our "All-About..." pieces in writing.  They are coming along nicely, We are focusing on the table of contents. For example,  if your piece is about Florida, then, in addition to a "chapter" on the beaches, the hotels, Disney World, and the horses, you need to write a chapter on where Florida is. 

We celebrated Hanna's birthday -- Happy Birthday, Hanna!

And finally, we continued our Sharing theme for the week:

"If you could be endowed, suddenly, with the ability to speak to the animal of your choice,
- what animal would you choose,
- why would you choose that animal,
- what would you want to say to it,
- what do you think it would want to say to you?
Two animals chosen so far have been a whale and a silverback gorilla. 
Ask your child which animal he or she would like to speak to!

Take care, everyone.

Mr. Bolger

January 21, 2015

January 21, 2015

Hello Parents!

Today, as part of our "All-About" writing pieces, we read an array of writing pieces from last year and the year before. We focused on writing catchy titles and on the benefit of using good voice, even in non-fiction writing,

We also went to the library. Now that we are nearly at the halfway point (!) of the school year -- and I have retested your children and have seen their growth -- I am trying to make specific suggestions to each child based on his or her ability and particular interest. Do you have any requests or suggestions for me? Please email me if you do. Time to stretch these kids beyond Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Star Wars. :)

Send Art  smocks, please:  Ms. Beeken does not have art smocks to share this year, so we must rely on your sending in an old  t-shirt. Please send one by Monday so that we can keep your kids' clothing clean and their little art-hearts free from worry.

Send sneakers for gym if you can. It's hard on our gym teachers to have to wait for kids to go into the gym closet and find and put on a pair that fits.Do you need help buying sneakers? I'd like to help. Email me your child's shoe size. I may have a sneaker connection :)

Send an extra pair of dry clothes, too, if that is a possibility, for your  child to keep in his or her locker.

Do you extra gloves or mittens hanging around your house? Would you like to donate them to the classroom so I can have a couple of extra pairs on hand to share?

Thanks, everyone. Have a  great end to your week (already?!)  Report cards will be coming out on Friday.

Mr. B.

January 12, 2015

Hello Parents!

Happy Second Week Back!

1) A quick note to let you know that tomorrow is "Mismatched Tuesday" -- a celebration of our school having filled up our ABS buzzy jar. Kids are invited to come to school dressed in any kind of mismatch they can think of (so long as it won't be TOO distracting. :)

Examples: plaid and polka-dots, one sneaker and one shoe, a long-john shirt with shorts (just for inside of  course). Maybe wear a beach towel for a scarf?

2) Strep throat: we have had several cases at ABS of strep throat. Please remind your child to wash early and often -- even after using the water fountain or a dry-erase marker.

3) Want to help out with our class?   a number of you have offered to help in one way or another in the classroom or with outside projects. Here is a list of some things I'd love help on:

• leading a reading group once or twice per week for about 1/2 hour. Training available!

• helping out during math class one or two days per week (for 45 mins to one hour). You could work one-on-one with a child, lead a small group, or help out with the main lesson. 

• creating and putting up bulletin-boards/posters for the classroom. You could do  most of this at home with my sending you the layout/words. Of course, you would get and use materials we have on hand here.

• help keep our classblog and our Kidblog up to date. I would love to have someone work from home to upload finished pieces to our Kidblog. I could send  you the many great pictures I  have waiting on my phone --and also the ones I receive from all of you --  and you would upload them to one or both of our blogs. 
 

• do YOU have an idea for something you'd like to do that would make this classroom  -- and your child's experience in it -- better? Let me know.

4) Would you like to have your child get his or her teeth cleaned? We  are setting up very-reasonably-priced appointments with a visiting dental  practice. Let me know if you are interested.

5)  Ask your child what WIN group he or she is in for this new rotation.Mrs. Powers, Ms. Rodliff, Ms. Schwartz, and I want the kids to know that we  will do everything in our power to get kids into their preferred WIN class in upcoming rotations if it hasn't happened already.

Ok. That's it for now. Please email me with any questions. Have a nice week.

Mr. B.