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