Sprucing Up Room 7

The Spruce Up Committee would like to help with some projects at the school during this vacation.  

One of the projects involves cleaning each and every classroom.  During the break , parents can come to the school and assist with cleaning the classroom.  

Todd Keller, custodian, will be available and will help with the logistics at school.  So any interested parents should look for Todd when they arrive at the school and he will send them in the right direction.  Anyone interested can contact Jen Matthews at jennifermues@hotmail.com or 802.223.1213.

NAP on Friday

We hope to have NAP tomorrow, but the weather forecast does not look promising. If it is raining, we will NOT go out. We will stay at school for a nature activity in the classroom. We will need parent volunteers in the classroom, so please feel free to join us. Students will choose, and research a specific Vermont animal. We will be using Netbooks(small computers) to look for information about our Vermont animals.We will also do some journaling, and continue some snowflake activities.

A Community Service Project

We have collected almost 60 food items for the Montpelier food shelf. We have been making groups of 10 to count.

Thank you for all of your help with this project. We will deliver the food items after the break. 

A Special Visit

Mr. Todd Keller, head of the custodial staff at UES, popped in for a visit on Monday. He brought his moose skull with attached antlers. The moose was aged by a tooth removal.It was estimated to be 11 years old. We learned about the size of a moose, the growth of antlers, and the use of a beetle box to clean the skull. What an interesting lesson on a Vermont animal. Thanks Mr. Keller.

Reminder- NAP Parent Discussion

The North Branch Nature Center Staff would like to invite you to join us on February 15^th, from 6 to 8pm, at Union Elementary school for an evening discussion about The Nature Adventure Program. Your child has been spending every other Friday in the forest of Hubbard Park or just a few blocks from school at Harrison Field. Teachers, parents, and North Branch Nature Center staff have been working together to create outdoor learning experiences that connect children in a unique way to the landscape.

            Please come  Tuesday to learn more about The Nature Adventure Program and how you can participate. Childcare will be provided by a North Branch staff!

A Walk to Montpelier to See the Work of the Valentine Phantom

We walked downtown this morning to see if the phantom had shared the love all over town. How exciting to see all of those hearts. We even brainstormed ways that the phantom could have reached the tower at city hall. A sighting of our mayor, Mary Hooper, rounded out the trip.

100 Items-Food Drive

Thank you for all of your food donations so far. We will be collecting nonperishable food items all next week. Our food drive will continue until February18th. When we return from winter break, we will deliver the items to the food shelf here in Montpelier. We are not at the halfway point yet, so please send in those items this week. Thank you!!

Igloo Progress

Our igloo is nearly complete. We are getting ready to dome over in the next few days. Thank you all so much for your help. We no longer need milk jugs! Please stop by in the next few weeks to see our finished product!!

Debra adds another layer!

Post Office Trip

We walked to the post office this morning. Thanks go to JJ for joining us. We had a tour of the post office, and mailed some special letters. Keep an eye out for mail from your kindergarten kid! We learned how mail is sorted, and loaded onto trucks. We saw how mail is weighed. Our whole class got on the big scale. Together the weight of 15 kindergarten kids was about 850 pounds.We said goodbye to our tour guide John, and thanked him for his quick and informative tour.We also stopped at Rivendell books to say hello to Veruca, an African tortoise who lives in the children's book room.

Hooray, Hooray, It's the 100th Day!

We had a fantastic 100 day celebration! We started the day off by counting, and counting and counting! We learned a song "Hi ho, hi ho, 100 days ago, we came to school and we're so cool, hi ho, hi , ho ...."

We made necklaces with 100 cereal pieces, we made crowns with 100 stars. We built with 100 cups, and tried to make 100 snow people outside.We looked at the 100 poster projects, and started making 100 snowflakes. We even wore 100 glasses and shared them with many folks in the school.

Wow! What a whirlwind.
Your children handled this whirlwind day beautifully. In the past 100 days they have becoming caring, kind, confident community members. They have learned and played together.They have become problem solvers and wonderers.  They have become kindergarteners who are engaged in the world!

Day 100 marks a milestone for all of us. I am enjoying this journey together.

Kindergarten Events in February

Day 100

On February 8th we will celebrate the 100^th day of school. Please help your child collect 100 small items to organize and display on a poster. Just send completed posters to school with your child.Get creative! Use any materials you can find for the posters. You may use a cereal box, pizza box, or just a piece of paper for the poster. Then add 100 items to the poster. You can glue, tape, use bags or attach any way that works.

Not only are we expecting kindergarten kids to be able to count to 100, we also would like them to do some grouping and explaining. Encourage your child to use “math language “to explain the display. Feel free to send in completed projects no later than February 8th.

Valentine Card Exchange

Our class will be exchanging cards as symbols of friendship and caring. This is an optional activity. If your child chooses to pass out cards, please make sure that each classmate is included. You will find a class list in your child's green folder!

We will exchange cards on Monday, February 14^th.   

January Fun!

Home Reading Program

I love to read books! Do you? My hope for your child is that he or she learns to enjoy reading as much as you and I do. To support this goal, we will begin our Home Reading Program. This will be in addition to the language instruction provided during Daily 5 and CAFÉ within the school day.

The purpose for reading at home will be for pleasure. I want the children to read books of interest to them. Plus, I want you to be able to share in their excitement of reading.

Here is the plan:

Students will choose a book to bring home to read to you from their “book basket”. This book will be in a plastic baggie labeled “Take-Home Book Bag.” Please add the book title to the enclosed recording sheet and return it as soon as you have had a chance at read it at home. Each time your child returns a book, an opportunity to choose a new book will occur.

• Sometimes your child will bring a book home that may seem too easy. That’s okay; it’s a perfect opportunity to work on fluency. This includes practicing reading with ease, expression and correct pacing. Often books at a child’s independent level help them develop confidence in themselves as a reader.

• Sometimes your child may bring home a book at their instructional level. They may need a bit of help figuring out unknown words. Have them “stretch” words into individual sounds, but not so many that they become frustrated. It is okay for them to read the words they know and want to try and you fill in the rest. Remember this is supposed to be pleasurable.

• Sometimes they may bring a book home that is clearly above their reading level. Here is an opportunity for them to read the pictures. This kind of reading helps students focus on details, put thoughts together in sentences and interact with books with complex story lines.

Remember, our primary goal
is for your child to enjoy reading!