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.