This Week in Mr. Bolger's Class

Hello, Parents!

This is an odd week because we will have a field trip tomorrow and Ms. Schwartz and Mrs. Rodliff will be field-tripping on Thursday. Also,  I will be out of the classroom on Friday (we'll have sub). So, I thought I'd send home a quick note each day rather than wait 'til Friday to report on the week:

Field Trip tomorrow to Shelburne Farms: check the weather and dress appropriately. We leave at 8:50 a.m. and we return at 2:00 p.m. Chaperones, you  may join us on the bus if you'd like.

Home-School Journals went home today. Due back on Thursday. We read a picture book about Plymouth Plantation, and they wrote to you in their journals about something that stood out for them. For your response, it might be nice if you thought about the pilgrims and wrote down something you, yourself, really wonder --- like, "I wonder how long it took them to come across the ocean?" or, "I wonder what they did if they got a bad cut and needed stitches?" or "Since there weren't any telephones or international mail, I wonder if they ever saw their friends (back in England) again?" or "I wonder, if they knew there would be people there already (Native Americans)? and were they afraid the Native Americans might be mean to them?"

No homework this week for Bolger Second-Grade Math (we are covering the material in class).

First graders do have math homework this week. It's due on Thursday.

Bolger Fundations: we just finished a unit last week, so we won't start a new one until after Thanksgiving. We will, instead, focus -- this week and next -- on handwriting.

Math today in 2nd grade: we are practicing counting easily by tens -- starting with something like 33 and going all the way up to 133.  Kids put up three fingers, then they "flashed" ten fingers and said, "thirteen". Then flashed ten more and said "twenty-three," ... all the way up to 133. Try it with your child. Today, lots of kids jumped from 73 to 93. Kids often have trouble going back and forth across 100. Practice at home!

We also read a great picture book called, "Edward and the Pirates" The kids loved it. Ask your child.
Ask your child, too, about the Splinter Cat in the Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.  He is a cat-in-the-hat kind of figure. A little fun and a little not-trustworthy. He has tricked Lindy into going to his place, and he has lulled her to  sleep.  What we don't know yet is that because she is so smart, he is trying to trick her to keep her and her brothers from reaching the Whangdoodle -- the mystical king of Whangdoodle Land. It's a little-bit Wizard-of -Ozish.

If your child read in a reading group today, he or she may have a book to read in his/her backpack. Please send it back tomorrow.

Look at the cool designs on Ananya's hands.

It's called "henna."

Have a nice night, Everyone.

Mr. Bolger and Class

Nov. 11, 20012

Nov. 11, 2012

Dear Parents,  

The Election
It was an exciting week as we watched and the presidential election. Students voted on Monday, and they had many questions and earnest thoughts about it. We posted all of this on our Kidblog which can be accessed from our class webpage. Thank you, parents, for commenting on our posts!

Upcoming Field Trip:
Our field trip to Shelburne Farms is on Wednesday, November 14^th. Please sign and hand in your permission slip (if you haven't already) by Tuesday. We will be leaving at about 8:45 a.m. and returning to school at 2:15 p.m. If you offered to chaperone, I will be in touch with you in the next couple of days. 

Children should be dressed for the weather. Every child will also need a lunch from home and a drink to take with them. The trip is about farm life long ago and today. Shelburne Farms does a fantastic job with their field trips. We’re looking forward to it!

Our First Snow: we went for a walk outside Monday morning to marvel in the snow squall. PJ Zimakas (Nina's dad) happened to be in the classroom, so he joined us. And students decided that the sharing for the week should be "What we like to do in the snow."

Sharing for This Week and Next Week (combined): "What I am thankful for."

Snack: I think these kids are growing! Many kids, recently, have come to me at snack time to say that they finished their snack and they are still hungry. Please chat with your child to see if  he or she needs a little extra as the cold days arrive.

Fundations and Math Homework:
A few students got out the door on Friday without having handed in their Math or Fundations work (due Thursday). Please take a quick look in your child's backpack to see if their homework is still there. Also, check in the Friday Folder to see if there is any make-up work or Monday.

Thanks Everyone.

Mr. Bolger

November 4, 2012

Nov. 4, 2012

Nina's Dad, PJ, talked to us
about the human body.

            

Dear Parents,

Julia's mom, Jessica, talks seeds
in our  4 Winds lesson

Thanksgiving came early this past week. We are so fortunate to have dodged that storm. The day we returned to school from Hurricane Sandy, we looked at Weather Channel videos to see the damage in New York and New Jersey. I also showed the kids my slide show from my experience in Moretown with Irene last year. We talked about how people get through all sorts of calamities when we help each other out.

Science: we finished up our science unit on The Body's Senses this last week. You can carry the, learning forward by talking to your child about seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting, when the opportunity arises. Now we are moving on to a study of economics – “Wants and Needs” – a good topic for the holiday season, don't you think? We have contacted COTS, and we'll be collaborating with them over the coming eight weeks (see their letter below).

Four Winds: we had a GREAT Four-Winds class on Friday as the kids learned about the different ways that seeds get carried (wind, animals, water, etc.) so they can land in new soil and grow. We realized that even a pencil comes from a seed – mostly. Thank you to all the Four-Winds volunteers!

The Election this Week: student will be voting for president on Monday. I've encouraged them to ask you to help t hem understand the difference between the two candidates.

Reading: we have changed our book-exchange day in the library to Thursday. Please make a note of that. We won't be exchanging books on Mondays, now.

Conferences: I have had a chance to meet with about half of you so far. Thank you for taking the time to come in. I have very-much enjoyed sitting down with you.. Please sign up on the schedule on our class blog if you haven't already done so.

Food Drive: can you donate a food item this week?

We are doing a one-week food drive beginning tomorrow (Monday) to collect food items for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf and the Winooski Teen Center. All the houses at ABS are doing it, and we're holding a fun competition to see which house can come up with the highest total number of food items. This competition is meant to be all-in-fun and not to stress out our families. If you could donate one item this week, that would be great. Here is the letter from the folks at UVM who are sponsoring the food drive:

We are University of Vermont students involved in the Campus Kitchen Project here in Burlington. The CKP is a non-profit organization, which aims to bring the greater Burlington and UVM communities together for one common cause: ending hunger! Ending hunger is a pretty daunting goal, so Campus Kitchens works in the area to turn donated food items from organizations all over Vermont into delicious meals to serve at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf and the Winooski Teen Center.

You may be wondering, what we want from your classrooms? Well we want to help teach your students about hunger. And not just hunger in general, hunger here! In Vermont! In fact, we are one of the hungriest states in the US! And that includes kids, just like the students in your classrooms, living right next door! So we want to help your kids understand how close to home the issue of hunger is. We are also asking them to make difference in our fight against local hunger! How do you ask? With friendly competition!

We want to have a food drive for the Campus Kitchens Project in your classrooms, your houses specifically. We are in dire need of food here at UVM to help make meals to feed the 12,000 kids that rely on Vermont food shelves every month! We are hoping to have the food drive during the week of November 5^th-9th. Ideally on the Friday before the food drive begins, we would like to meet with each House to explain the issue of hunger briefly (10 minutes) and inform the students about the food drive. If there is a date or time that would work best, we hope we can work with the Houses schedules to figure out an agreeable time! We will be picking up the food at the end of each day, and keeping a running count on which house in the lead. At the end of the week, we hope to announce the winning house and award a small prize to the students! We really believe your students are the future of humanity, and with their help, we can reduce hunger in Vermont. Thanks so much for your time, and for your willingness to help!

Shelburne Farms Field Trip on November 14th – Please send in your permission slip if you haven't already done so.

Have a great week, everyone!

Mr. Bolger

...oh, and Brendan lost his tooth.

                                                               

Updated Conference Schedule

Mr. Bolger’s Tentative Schedule for

Parent-Teacher Conferences 

Updated Sunday, 11/4/12 

Your time is confirmed if your name appears below.

Tip:  if you haven't signed up yet,  choose your first second, and third choices, and email them to me. Then, bookmark this page to easily check back for your confirmed slot. 

Note: conferences are for 20 minutes each.

Weds, Oct. 23, 2012

2:50 Cotter

Thursday, October 25, 2012

3:00 Clos

Friday, Oct. 26, 2012

3:00 Allen

Monday, Oct. 29, 2012

4:00 Pudvar

4:30 Fellows

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012

4:00 Rohatgi

4:30 Zimakas

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012

3:00 Jennings

Monday, Nov. 5, 2012

4:00 Giroux

4:30 Forrest

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012

4:00 Tharp

4:30  Steinman

Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012

3:00 Beaudry

3:30 Willey

Monday, November 12, 2012

8:00 Lamorey

8:30 ___________________

9:00 ___________________

9:30  Olszewski

10:00 __________________

10:30 __________________

11:00 __________________

11:30 __________________

12:00 __________________

12:30 __________________

1:00 __________________

1:30 __________________

Tuesday, November 13, 2012
12:25 Fisher/St.Cyr

Note: If you can’t make any of these times, let me know, and we’ll figure something out. I’m looking forward to getting together with you!

David

Oct. 21, 2012

Dear Parents,

Important upcoming events:

Can you donate a cup of cut-up veggies to our Stone Soup by Tues or Weds? Also, please send in a mug and a spoon for your child - See below for Andrew Wolfe's letter.

Sign up for Parent-Teacher Conferences. Check your email. I am scheduling conferences across the next three weeks. Email me with your choices. We'll make it work. Note: students may come and play in the Kiva while we talk. Then, they may join us for the last 5 minutes or so. 

Taylor Swift talks about reading: Horizon students will tune in on Wednesday to a presentation by Taylor Swift on why reading  is important to her. 

Our Nutrition Field Trip Shaw's has been posponed to October 31st. The original field-trip permission slip you signed will suffice. Opt out by emailing  me if you do NOT want your child to go to Shaw's on the 31st.
  
Halloween Celebration: 1:45-2:30 October 31st. Jessica Lamorey will be contacting the parents who signed up to donate goodies  or a craft.  :)

Some highlights from the week:

In Science:
We continued our workshops on The Senses. What did your child learn this week about seeing, hearing, smelling or tasting?

In Writing:
We worked on our "An Important Event" stories. Ms. Le Clair, our student teacher, taught a lesson on similes, and students are learning use them to give more "punch" to their writing. We also did a quick-write on what we like to do with our Moms.  That was also our sharing theme  for the week.

In Technology -- See COMMENTS below...
We learned (and Second Graders reviewed) how to post comments on a blog. Students "commented"  on the question, "How do you know that someone loves you?" The class will take the many comments and use them to fashion a Whole-Class Poem.

In Math:
First and Second-Graders are doing projects. In Second Grade Math, we are starting a unit on ants that builds number sense.  Kids practice thinking about -- "If I have 25 ants in all, with 14 of them underground, how many ants are above ground?"  Also, first graders are learning different combinations to 10 while second graders are learning combinations to 20.

At-Home Reading: 
Students who are building independence (i.e., building their word-attack skills/building their fluency and  expression/building their ability to use phonics, pictures, and grammar knowledge at the same time -- to figure out what words mean) will take home the book they have just read in reading group, and they should read that at least once to you. Encourage them to first practice it silently and then read it to you with great expression and enthusiasm -- as though they were reading it as a read-aloud book. 

 If your child is reading more-independently (having bridged into chapter books), you will see books from reading group only occasionally. But you can really help your child by having them silently practice a page of their choice and then read it with expression to you. This is so important for building fluency and also for your checking in to see if that book is a good level for your child.

Skimming your child's book and asking them questions/ helping them make connections to their life/talking about why the author chose to do this or that  --  is another thing that'll give you lots of bang for your buck.

That's all for now. Looking  forward to seeing you at Parent-Teacher Conferences!

David

________________________________________________________________________________________

Andrew's Letter to Parents:

Tuesday October 16^th 2012

Dear ABS Parents,

It is time again to celebrate the harvest by sharing another batch of stone soup in the garden at our fine school. Please bring a bit of goodness from our generous land to put into the pot.

The meal will be served at your regular lunch time with milk, apples and bread provided by the cafeteria. Kids need to bring their own eating utensils and a mug or bowl for soup. The meal will be made up of pre-chopped veggies and rice brought from everyone's home*. Please bring these items to the office in the morning on Tuesday October 23^rd or Wednesday October 24^th so we can begin to make the broth. Any tupperware will not be returned. The celebration will take place on the 25th of October during each classes lunch time.

Also, please contact your FAP rep for parent volunteers to help serve the soup and direct the flow of the event. It is especially great if some parents can help for the whole time, from 10:30 until 1:30.

*Here are some great ideas for items to bring.

Try to use fresh whole foods and leave meat, nuts, dairy and gluten out for sensitive kids. Rice, Quinoa and lentils make a great substitute. Bring enough to fill a mug or bowl.

Brown Rice	Onions	Garlic
Lentils	Radishes	Kale
Beans	Corn	Peas
Celery	Carrots	Sweet Potato
Potato	Tomato	Squash
Peppers	Brussels Sprouts	Fresh Herbs
Fruit for clay oven baked pies!	Peaches	Apples
Berries	Plums	Quinoa
Leeks	Taro root	Burdock
Ginger	Dandelion Greens	Jerusalem Artichokes

I'll be happy to answer any questions by phone or E-mail. Autumnally yours, Andrew 222-7976 guerillagardens@gmail.com

A question for My Students

October 12, 2012

 "I know my mom loves me because..."

"I know my cat loves me when..."

Dear Class Poets,

Welcome to our class blog. There is something I am trying to figure out: 

Every day, we hear people say, "I love you,"  to each other.

And lots of times you can tell someone loves you by what they do.

 Do people at your house say something to let you know they love you?

Does someone at your house do something that shows they love you?

Where do you see love? How do you know someone loves you?

Please write your answer so we can make a list of the ways. Then together, with all your comments,
I will help you join your ideas to make a gigantic, class Love Poem.

Thank you for your quiet, loving thoughts this morning.

Mr. Bolger