SCS Book Fair News

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to SCS next week. Our class will be going to preview the books on Monday morning. Our buying time is Friday 2/17 at 9:30. If you would like to send your child in with money to buy a book, please do so next week and we will send kids with money down with our team para on Friday. I would prefer for families to come buy books together with their children at the after school family night times. The after school hours will be Tuesday and Thursday from 3-8PM. If you cannot make any of those times, no problem. Just send your child to school on Friday with money. Happy reading!

Happy 100th Day of School

Hip, hip, hooray! It is the 100th day of Kindergarten. We celebrated by making these special crowns that helped the kids count to 100 by tens and ones. They also tried really hard to write 100 words from an activity that we call "Write Around the Room." The Hiyaku snack was really yummy and the kids worked together to count by hundreds to see how many pieces of food were in our trail mix...1900. Wow! This afternoon the kids will enjoy a special visit from our 100th day hero named "Zero the Hero". They will also begin learning how to work their way around a hundreds chart. All of this on Kindergarten concert day! What great workers!

News About the Kindergarten Concert

I am excited to announce we will be streaming, LIVE, our kindergarten program! A first at SCS!! Those not able to attend will be able to view the concert over the Internet! I am sending a note home today with the details. Check it out!

Healthy Choices Restaurant

Our classroom restaurant in now open. Thanks for the many donations. As of now, I think we are all set with items. If you have anything out of the ordinary that you think we may not have and the kids would enjoy, please consider donating it to our dramatic play area.

Calling All TP Rolls

We will be doing a craft in a few weeks that involves empty toilet paper rolls. Please send any that you may have in. Thanks.

Busy February

Please be sure to look at the list of upcoming dates to remember. I will outline a few in this post.

2/8 Kindergarten Concert at 9:00 AM in the gymnasium

2/8 100th day of school-We will be celebrating by having a day filled with fun math activities. We will also be making a special trail mix snack on that day together. Each child will be asked to bring in a small bag with 100 small food items to add to our special mix. More information will go home with the kids on Friday about this snack.

2/13-2/17 Book Fair week- We will have a preview time on 2/13. There are night hours that you can bring your child to. I actually prefer this over having you send money in. We will have a time as a class to send any children to the Book Fair that have money. That is TBA.

2/14 Valentine's Day Party- Please let me know via email (ahazen@cssu.org) if you might be able to send in one of the following items as I want to plan a special AM snack: muffins, juice boxes, napkins, fruit salad.

As you can see, February is a very busy month. We also have Ground Hog's Day and Presidents' Day to celebrate. For these many reasons, Rue and I have chosen to hold off on beginning our next science unit called "Being a Scientist". That will begin in March. Instead, we have begun a unit on Friendship. The kids have been listening to many books about friendship and have been role playing different scenarios about how to be a good friend. Be sure to ask your child about our new "Friendship is..." candy heart inspired bulletin board. I'll try to post a picture of it tomorrow.

Date to Remember

The SCS Kindergarten Concert for 2012 will be Wednesday, February 8th at 9:00 am. Mark your calendars for a fun event.

Classroom Work Update

Here is a breakdown of what your children have been learning recently:

Fundations: Uppercase letter formation and multisyllabic word work
Reader's Workshop: Guided Reading Groups have begun and the kids are working in groups based on reading levels. They are also continuing to work on independent and partner reading skills work incorporating use of taught reading strategies.
Writer's Workshop: Personal Narratives, sentence structure, adding details to writing pieces
Math: numeral writing 11-20, addition concepts, money (penny and nickel), many new math games for workplace use

Assessments in all academic areas are complete once again. I love checking in on the kids. Their progress at this time of year is impressive and it's always fun to form new work groups to get everyone to the next level!

Items Needed

Next week I will be on a mission to collect new items to make the dramatic play area of our classroom into a restaurant. If you have any of the following items at home and would like to donate them, please send them in. I am looking for the following:
aprons,oven mitts, table clothes, fake flowers and plastic vases, menus from different local restaurants, trays, place mats, etc. If you can think of anything else fun it would be appreciated. This will be a literacy and math center as well. I will be teaching the kids how to make lists by taking food and orders. They will learn how to identify coins as well as bill values. The cash register will be in full swing I am sure.


The Doctor's office in our classroom has been a blast for all of the kids to play in. They loved all of the unique items sent in. I will put the items aside for later use unless I hear back from you. I know many of the items families may need back. Please email me to make arrangements for getting them home.

A big thank you once again for helping to make our classroom such a fun place to be!

1,2 Buckle My Shoe

The kids have begun reading groups and are learning the first steps to becoming active readers. Today, we used this prereading activity to talk about keeping track of where they are in their reading. We call it 1-1 match and as the kids are reading at home, please cue them to use their fingers to track the text they are reading and to get their mouth ready for the next word. Please encourage your child to read 1,2 Buckle My shoe to you at home using the rebus pictures and the real text.

A Big Thank You

I want to thank you all for the generous holiday gifts. I know that I've told you before but I want to reiterate how much of a gift you already give me every day by sharing your wonderful children with me. Have a great, snowy weekend:)

A Peek at Work Time

As the kids were working today, I took a couple of photos so that you could see how dedicated they are to work time. Picture Perfect!

Active Readers

The kids are on the move and ready to continue learning how to be active readers and writers. The past two days we have reviewed the workshop processes and their brains are once again ready to continue learning to better themselves. Here are a few photos from today as they were "Reading Around the Room".

Winter Clothing

Snow is finally here is Shelburne. Please remember to have the kids wear boots, hats, mittens, and snow pants to school every day until further notice. They must also have an extra pair of shoes to change into to wear in the building. Thanks for your help!

Happy New Year

Hi everyone! I hope all is well with you and your family in the beginning of this new year. I can't wait to see the kids again tomorrow! Happy New Year!

Extra Change of Clothing

Please be sure that your child has a full set of extra clothing in a labeled zip-lock bag here at school. The nurse does not currently have extra clothing to loan out. I encourage the kids to keep this set of clothing in the bottom shelf of their mailbox area.

December PTO Notes

PTO NOTES & NEWS FOR DECEMBER 2011
The PTO gave out $3618.78 for our FALL GRANTS. Grants included: Flat screen TV's for the office to better monitor the doors, new e-readers and e-books for the library, new books for the library, recess equipment, sheet music for the chorus programs, and a portable induction cooktop for FEED in-class cooking activities.
We voted to spend $500 to help fund a speaker in March who will work with students, teachers and parents doing a BULLYING WORKSHOP.
WANTED: There is a 2 YEAR SCHOOL BOARD OPENING. This will replace Mary Catherine Jones who is not running for re-election. If interested you would need to file and have 30 signatures by January 30. You can get forms from the town clerk and can call Mary Catherine Jones (985-9882) if you have any questions.
Winton teacher, Lisa Phelps and middle school counselor, Rachel Petraska, organized a FACULTY FOOD DRIVE that provided Thanksgiving meals to over 20 Shelburne families.
HOLIDAY COAT DRIVE is still going. They are still in need of coats and any winter gear - boots, hats, gloves, etc.
The PTO HOLIDAY FAIR was a great success as always! There was some talk of making it shorter next year (currently it goes from 9:30-1:30). Let us know if you have any thoughts on that.
At the Holiday Fair the PTO did silent Auctions of a family membership to The Edge and a donated book which brought in $785 that will go to the Angel Fund.
The SKAT LEGO ROBOTICS class traveled to Dartmouth College in November to participate in a LEGO Robotics tournament.
VISITING TEACHER FROM CHINA, Tao ye has been working with K-8 classes sharing lessons on Chinese culture, language, calligraphy, art and even eye massage.
Thanks to the Teaching from Space Office at Johnson Space Center, Allan Miller has real ANTARCTIC METEORITES & MOON ROCKS that he has been sharing with students in all K-8 classes.
On November 28 when we all had off, SCS faculty participated in a PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Day which included work on: curriculum mapping, defining goals for the School Action Plan, sharing curriculum work done over the summer and a meeting of the configuration committee.
On December 9 a team of 6 middle school teachers and our math and literacy coordinators attended a ONE DAY WORKSHOP ON BRAIN RESEARCH at Dartmouth College. They explored what recent neurophysiology discoveries mean in terms of designing our best classroom instruction.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Friday, 12/16 - Middle school dance
Thursday, 1/5 @7:30p - Jazz/Pop and Show Choir Concert
Friday, 1/6 - Red Barn fundraiser begins
Thursday, 1/12 @ 7p - School budget forum
Thursday, 1/19 @ 7p - 4/5 Chorus concert
Friday, 1/20 @6p - PTO International Potluck Dinner
Monday, 1/30 @ 6:30p - Youth Risk Behavior Survey dialogue with Margo Austin

THANK YOUS TO:
Sharon Harkness, Wendy Hallock, Leslie Borrok and Courtney Tharpe for coordinating the wonderful Holiday Fair!
Kate Danforth for running the coat drive
Jan Thabault for organizing the holiday baskets
Everyone who helped on the grants committee
Everyone who helped and shopped at the Holiday Fair.

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, January 12, 2012, 6:00pm
As always babysitting and pizza provided!

Story Bit: The Little Engine that Could

This week we read the story of The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper. The children were introduced to the words dingy, bellowed, and persevere. A large part of our discussions about the book were around the topic of perseverance.

Chinese Numbers

Today we had the privilege of having a visiting teacher from China come to our classroom to teach us Chinese characters and pronunciations for numbers 1-10. She showed a slideshow of her home town. Thank you Tao!

Moon Rocks

This morning the kids had a special surprise presentation from Mr. Allan Miller, our SCS 6-8 Principal. He brought in some rocks that came from the Moon to show our inspiring scientists. He has connections to NASA and the rocks are on loan to SCS for a little while. How cool! The discussion that followed in the classroom raised some very important questions that our class jotted down. We will invite Mr. Miller back in to answer some more of their questions. I am very proud of their observations and wonders! Great scientific minds already!