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.