A new resolution and flower beds!

First off, I have a new resolution, which is to take more photos here at school.  I am not a natural photographer, and am working on adding taking pictures to my repertoire.  So, to that end I have added a photos page to this blog, and will be using this to try to hold myself accountable for taking pictures!

Also, we are beginning an investigation of hardy-annual flowers.  We have done some research, and will be preparing beds and sowing seeds in the next few weeks!  I am not sure if we will see any blooms by the end of school, but please feel free to come check out our garden over the summer and cut a few if you would like!


Dave

Progress Reports and thanks

First off, it was so nice to see many of you at our conferences earlier this week.  Also, on that note thank you so much to those of you who were able to fill out the feedback form.  This was the first time I have used a Google form to canvass parents, and I found it very useful and user friendly.  I also gained some great insight as to what you all find valuable with regard to parent teacher conferences.  Based on the feedback you all gave me on this round I think I will proceed with a "traditional" parent teacher conference in the fall and a student led one in the spring, with the opportunity, for those who wish, to have a student-led in the fall, or a more traditional in the spring.

Also, today make sure to check your student's Friday folder for their progress report.  These are in simple white envelopes with your child's name on the front.  If they forget to give them to you, please ask to make sure you get to check them out.

I hope you all have a restful and refreshing week, and I look forward to seeing everyone on the 24th.

-Dave

Student led conference feedback.

Please use the following link to give me some feedback on student led conferences!  Thanks for doing this, I really take your feedback into account when planning in the future.

-Dave

https://docs.google.com/a/wcsu32.org/forms/d/1-8P3HORHBUjFDTjvJcioUeSK4EeZsN6kvCGdNr9aINQ/edit

A short week and conferences!

We have been enjoying our first week back from February Break!  During this week we have revisited characters in Winn-Dixie, brushed up on some math facts, and focused most of our time on team-building.

We have worked together to move cups with rubber bands and string, build towers out of paper, and lift a very light ball without touching it!  This time of year is great for team building.  It allows our class to re-coalesce and be ready fro the exciting spring that is ahead!

Speaking of exciting upcoming events on Friday March, 31 we will be having our spring conferences.  Spring conferences are a bit different than fall ones as they are student-led.  This affords students the time and framework to reflect on their work throughout the year, and present this work to you.  For student-led conferences there are generally multiple conferences happening at once.  If you would like to have a little private chat with me during this time, it can easily be arranged.  Please also note that a sign up form is coming home this afternoon.  There is a link to the sign up sheet embedded on the "Conferences" page of our blog.  To sign up you can either return the paper copy, or send me an email, and I will get your name on the list (I will keep this list updated throughout the school week).

Have a great weekend!

-Dave

Just a few updates!

We are chuggin' along in third grade.  We are working on finishing up some final drafts of biographies, as well as investigating electricity and circuits!  As we move forward in math, we are working on finding products, as well as reviewing addition and subtraction of large numbers.  There are a few announcements below:

Food Drive, we have a food drive happening in our school.  We are collecting food to donate to the East Montpelier Food Shelf.

I Love East Montpelier Day!:

I Love East Montpelier Day~Wednesday, February 15th

It has become an annual tradition at EMES to have a day right around Valentine's Day to celebrate the great community that makes up the town of East Montpelier.  We will have a special lunch on this day, and guests are welcome to join students.  You do need to make a lunch reservation by contacting Susan in the kitchen at solander@u32.org or calling 223-7936 ext. 306.  Meals for adults will be $5.75.  There will be chicken stew and other wonderful goodies.  Here is the schedule for lunch times, in case you want to try to coordinate or plan for others. Students are invited to wear red/pink, etc. on this day to celebrate!

11:15 - 11:50      PK, K, 1

11:50 - 12:25      2, 3, 4

12:25 - 1:00        5-6

Celebration of Learning!:

On Thursday February 23 we will have a celebration of learning in our school starting at 6:00 p.m.  Please come and check out the hard work your students have been engaged in so far this year!

-Dave

Reflecting on the week and looking forward to the rest of the year.

This week we have worked hard to increase our conceptual understanding of multiplication.  We have been working with the idea that all multiplication expressions can be represented by a rectangle, with the product of this expression being represented by the area of said rectangle.  We are also working on building the foundational skills needed to move forward our knowledge of multiplication.  This weekend you will notice that your student has brought home their math notebooks to practice the table of 5.  Many of the ladders on these notebooks have a few asterisks next to certain factors, these are the ones your student should focus on the most.  Please take few minutes a few times a day to practice these with your student.

We also have been working with biographies.  We have read biographies of civil rights leaders from our history, and yesterday did some group work to summarize the lives of some of these great leaders.  We are looking forward investigating biographies of some people of our choosing in the coming weeks, and we will be working on researching and writing about the people that we choose.

Also, looking forward, we are preparing for a unit on gardening and food systems this spring.  We will be starting some seedlings in our classroom, watching them grow, and nurturing them to health.  We are also looking to revitalize the small garden plot that our school has.  If you would like to be a part of this, please let me know.

Thanks, and have a wonderful weekend.

Dave

The dawn of a new week!

Monday morning is always an exciting and happy time for me.  We are getting revved up for a fresh week, while at the same time reflecting on the week past.  Last week we had an interesting mini-unit investigation on the dinosaur extinction.  We learned about a relatively new theory about this extinction.  The discussion that surrounded this learning was profound and in depth.  It was really interesting for students to think about the notions that they had to begin with, as well as, introducing themselves to new information.

As for this week, we will be starting another mini-unit based on books, we will be thinking about books that we love, forming a statement that captures the gist of that book, and making some artwork to show what we are thinking about.

Of late, I have been thinking about the importance of language in our learning, and we have worked really hard to help everyone in here have and hold onto a smooth statement that captures what we are working on, and the essence of the lesson.

I hope all is well!

-Dave