SkippyJon Jones

Greetings!

Yesterday, we had our very first field trip to the Flynn. This was a very exciting day for all of us and we very much enjoyed the show. Students enjoyed the time to socialize and spend time in Burlington, for many it was their first trip to the Flynn. Students were wonderful listeners and enjoyed the view from the balcony. In our opinion the play was as good if not better than the book! I was stopped from snapping pictures in the theatre, but here are a few snaps from the bus!

Addition At Work

Greetings,

In Kindergarten we have been working hard to master our understanding of addition and applying this skill to our daily routines. Students have been very excited to notice that addition has long been a part of their routine, however they may not have realized it before. For example, last week a student commented on the addition we do each morning when we add up how many people will be having hot lunch. She said, "We do addition every day, it's sneaky!" These discoveries have been a wonderful part of our mathematical learning and I look forward to another week filled with their observations!


If you care to extend this learning at home challenge your child to find the addition in your routines or create some new traditions that include it! Students have also been spending time experimenting with money and the different forms of addition that exist in our currency, if you have a change jar kicking around pull it out!

Sharing: 2013

Hello everyone,


I want to thank all of you for helping me to redirect the focus of morning meeting shares. Students have come back for the second leg of the year with books, stories, projects, and treasures found in nature to share on their days. Thank you all so much for channeling this focus into something a little richer for all students to experience. It is so wonderful to see the students putting time into creating things that represent who they are as well as what they would like to share with the class. We have heard and seen lots of fresh new ideas. Keep up the great work!

Vegetation Exploration With Kristin Andrews

Greetings,

Today we were very lucky to have Kristin Andrews, who is the Education Coordinator for ANESU food service, come in and share some of her knowledge with us. Kristin came in and spoke with students about different fruits and vegetables they liked or knew of. Students then worked together to brainstorm a list of these favorites according to the colors of the rainbow.

Students worked together to create fact posters about different fruits and vegetables. These are now hung along our book counter. Following our discussion Kristen led the class in a prep and sample time where students were able to try pears, pomegranates, cabbage, peppers and many other delicious snacks.

As an extension we will be tracking our classes consumption of fruits and veggies on a graph that Kristin provided. Kristin will be returning in a few weeks to follow up on our findings and discuss more about the benefits of eating healthy!

Thank You Tari Shattuck!

Greetings everyone!

This week I am very excited to share that we received and set up our listening center. In the fall I applied to the Tari Shattuck foundation, they grant money to teachers throughout the district in memory of educator Tari Shattuck. Shattuck was an educator in Bristol Elementary School who passed away in 1993 after a six year battle with a rare form of Leukemia.

The organization granted my request and we have received a listening center for our classroom. This enables up to 8 students at a time to listen to a story on CD or tape while following along in a book. We are very fortunate at our school because we have MANY wonderful stories such as William Steig's Dr. Desoto and Bill Martin's Chika Chika Boom Boom. Additionally, the foundation granted my request for a starter pack of books on CD for our classroom. Students were very excited to have class favorites such as Piggy Pie and Five Little Monkeys become part of our collection.

Thank you so much to the Tari Shattuck Education Foundation for supporting our learning and providing these wonderful tools!

Study Buddies

Greetings!

I am very excited to share with you all that we had our first study buddies meeting on Friday. Our class will now be meeting with Ms. Yerrick's 1/2 class on Friday afternoon to read and share writing with one another. Students got to know one another on Friday and Ms. Yerrick's class had some stories prepared to share with us. This coming Friday Ms. Yerrick's class will be coming to see us and we will be reading to them!

Students really enjoyed the opportunity to explore another classroom and make connections with some (slightly) older students. We are very excited to be working together. As a class we are noticing that no matter a persons age there is always something new you can learn from friends, both old and new!

Young Yogis

Happy New Year!



I hope you have all had a restful and rejuvenating break. Before the break we were beginning to become a little antsy at school, so we decided to take a break one afternoon and re-focus. One of the ways we did this was to practice some yoga exercises and songs. Students used yoga mats from our very own gymnasium to put some of the moves we have been learning to good use. Enjoy the snapshots!