marlboroschool.net

December 22, 2011

Dear Families,

Happy Solstice! It is always magical at this time of year when the darkness is starting to recede even though the weather is (supposed to be) at its coldest.

The Week at a Glance:

Hogback Trip:

We had a great trip to Hogback on Monday. We lucked out with sunny weather that kept us warm enough and left us wanting to stay on the mountain longer! I was impressed by how quickly everyone found their trees on the mountain. They all took a twig sample and a bark rubbing and we also learned from Dave Snyder how to measure the height of a tree. Thank you SO much to Dave Snyder and Patrick Johnson who came with us to help out on the mountain. Their knowledge and calm presence with the kids was much appreciated. It’s nice for me to learn new things on field trips!

After the trip, everyone learned some of the mechanics of detailed sketching and created a detailed picture of the twig from their tree on Hogback. In addition to their twig drawing they described the key features of their twig and the bark and spent time identifying their tree as well. The knowledge they have gained in the past few weeks is admirable! I am looking forward to continuing to work on tree ID so that the kids can store the information in their longterm memory. Knowing the trees of our native woods is such a useful skill!

Clay Boats:

Our projects are finished, our experiments are wrapped up and the evidence of this is on the bulletin board in the classroom. Bar graphs, line plots, and number lines explain all of the data that we collected over the coarse of the experiments.

Buddy Time!

Now that Jen’s room is all staying for a full day of school, we are able to have whole class buddy times! We just had a really nice time Wednesday afternoon playing games with each other in the outback. Fostering these relationships between ages in the school strengthens our community and supports the emotional growth of the younders AND the olders.

Have a wonderful vacation and holiday season and we’ll see you all in the New Year as the days start to get longer!

Erica and Pam

December 16, 2011

Dear Families,

Thank you all for the part you play in making last night’s concert such a success. The school’s performances were fantastic and the third and fourth grade sang out with passion the way they always do. It was wonderful seeing them up there sharing something they do really well as a group. As you can tell, when the class sings, it is not a quiet affair! Thank you to Charlene for fostering such musicality in our children!

The Week at a Glance:

Clay Boats

We are in the process of finishing up our clay boats. Throughout the end of the unit the students are working in groups to design their own investigation. They were asked to come up with a question as a table group and design their own experiment based on that question. Some example questions were:

• Will a boat have a higher weight carrying capacity in hot or cold water?
• Will a tin foil boat or a clay boat hold more weight?
• Does it matter how much clay you use? If two boats are made with different amounts of clay, will one hold more weight than the other? The heavier or the lighter one?

These experiments were conducted with energy and excitement, lots of group work, and of course, some problem solving. Overall, the groups worked very well together. Every student in the room was involved in the experiment. From here, we will take what the students learned about data and data collection and continue on with other strands of the math curriculum.

Monday is another Hogback Day!

On Monday our class is going to visit our trees again. This time, we will go with a wealth of knowledge in our back pockets about tree identification and take clippings of each tree to take back to school to identify. While on the mountain we will also have some time to explore and enjoy the landscape that is our town park!

**Please send your child prepared to be OUTSIDE for two hours in the morning. Boots, hats, mittens, warm jackets. Please do not send your child in a sweatshirt on Monday. That will not be warm enough. Thanks for your support in helping them dress warmly!

Calendar of Events:

• Monday, December 19^th, Trip to Hogback
• Thursday, December 22^nd, Early release at 11:30

Have a great weekend!

Erica and Pam

December 2, 2011

Dear Families,

Happy December! I hope you all had a relaxing and fulfilling Thanksgiving holiday. My break started out in a wonderful way with our Harvest Feast right before vacation. This hardworking group of farmers cooked up a storm and respectfully welcomed guests into our classroom – thanking them for their donations and support. Without the community, we would not have a garden program.

The Week at a Glance:

Math and Science:

This week we began a combined math and science unit on clay boats, with a focus on data collection and representation. Students have each been given 60 grams of clay with which to make a boat. They have tested the weight carrying capacity (WCC) of their boat and recorded the data from their experiments. After examining and discussing the characteristics that help boats have a higher WCC, they improved their designs, and re-tested the weight carrying capacity of their boat. Students are now in the process of organizing and graphing the data collected by the class during these experiments. We will continue working with clay boats next week, finishing up with some final experiments to help us understand what characteristics help a boat hold the most weight. Ask your child to describe their boat to you, along with some of the experimenting they have been a part of!

Rhythms: A note from Kate…

Recently, Grades 3/4/5 have been working in Monday Rhythms on an improvisational structure inspired by the tradition of the Movement Choir, a choreographic format created by movement theorist Rudolf Laban (1879 –1958).  Laban believed movement choirs promoted a basic need in human society: sharing, relating and constructing together.  More currently, the popularity of Flash Mobs, (like the T-Mobile Dances that appear without warning in train stations, and shopping malls) have extended this tradition of the “choir” and re-located it in public spaces, surprise places, and unexpected venues.

Calendar of Events:

Winter Concert – December 15^th, 6:30pm at Marlboro College

For the winter concert the third and fourth grade performs a Morris dance. As part of the dance, the students all wear clothes that are similar in color. The students are asked to wear black or dark blue pants and white shirts, preferably long sleeved. We do NOT want you to go out and buy clothes for the concert. There are some people that have extra and can share, and it is also fine to have a slight variation in what they all wear. Please help your child figure out if they need to borrow clothes or if they have clothes to use. We also have a bunch of white button down shirts in our collection of costumes from past performances that students can borrow if they want.

Have a great weekend!

Erica and Pam

November 18, 2011

Dear Families,

Freezing temps at last! We are now officially ready for the cold weather and snow. The ground can freeze and we will be content and happy! Hope to see some of you at our poetry reading this afternoon!

The Week at a Glance:

Garden Harvest Finale:

This week marked the last day in the garden until spring! We pulled all of the root vegetables out of the ground, mulched the garlic that was already planted, and let the brussel sprouts and kale wait until next week’s cooking day! We have a full day of cooking to look forward to on Monday. To start the process, we made butter today from Melissa Powers! With strong people to shake the jars we turned a quart of cream into butter in less that 30 minutes! It was a great study break. Thank you Melissa for donating the cream from her cow!

Poetry reading preparations:

Fluency practice! We have been practicing our poems this week for the reading today and in doing so we have talked a lot about the importance of reading fluently as well as how hard it can be! In small groups throughout the week we have practiced reading and the class gave thoughtful compliments and respectful pieces of specific feedback. They are excited to share their poems today!

Math:

The youngers are finishing up an addition and subtraction unit! We will tie up all of the loose ends before Thanksgiving and in December we will start multiplication. We have reviewed some concepts of multiplication and the kids are very excited about learning it. Somehow things that have a big fancy name are always fun to learn!

Songs:

In music the class is singing a song about four influential people in our country’s history – Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks. There is a verse about each person. At the beginning of singing the song some of these people were unknown to kids in the class. We pulled books out of the library and ordered new ones as well in order to understand the song in more detail. We have had some great discussions this week regarding slavery, the civil rights movement, and what it means to be a peaceful fighter. The class has been very engaged and the song is now coming to life!

Calendar of Events:

• Harvest Feast – November 22^nd
• Wednesday, November 23^rd – early release at 11:30am
• Thursday, December 15^th – All School Winter Concert at Marlboro College

Have a restful and food-filled week of Thanksgiving!

Erica and Pam

November 11, 2011

Dear Families,

We will never see this day come again in our lifetimes! 11-11-11! A very cool day. And it is also Veteran’s day. We will focus at sing on the idea that this day at the end of WWI was supposed to be the end of all wars – a day of peace. We sang Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream in sing which is exactly that sentiment. In addition, we went out to recess at 11:11 on 11/11/11. How fun is that? So fun that we needed to have a dance party at lunch time.

The Week at a Glance:

Math:

The fourth grade math class is participating in the “Reading is an Investment” program from the Vermont State Treasurer’s Office. This is similar to the March Reading Challenge in that they are asked  to read for 20 minutes each weekday for a month. There are a group of suggested picture books that cover topics like saving money and donating to charities that they are encouraged to read during this time, but they may also choose personal reading. We will be covering spending, savings & interest as a topic in math throughout the winter. At the end of the month, I’ll be sending in their logs. There will be a state-wide drawing and the winners will receive a $250 college savings account from VSAC. If any other families would like an entry sent home, please let Pam know.

The third grade math class is finishing up an addition and subtraction unit and will move on to multiplication shortly! The class is working on memorizing their addition facts to aid in solving larger addition and subtraction problems as well as in the learning of multiplication. The class is getting better and better at explaining their thinking on paper as well as in class discussions about strategies. It never ceases to amaze me how many strategies there are for solving math problems and how many angles you can take while looking at one problem. I learn something every day from the way that the kids think about math.

Social Climate: Here are some common themes that have come up in preview and review that the kids would like to work on and see others work on as well:

• When someone asks you to play, don’t say “I’m doing nothing” just to try to get them to go away
• New strategies for picking fair teams during football, soccer or basketball
• Use the golden rule – Treat other people how you want to be treated – specifically when playing competitive games

Instrument Practicing:

I am trying to be more involved in both knowing what the kids are working on and helping them prepare for practicing for homework. At this point, everyone should have a book and clear assignments each week in the homework packet. Please let me know if your child is having trouble practicing. Thanks!

Calendar or Events:

• Poetry Reading – You are invited! Friday, November 18^th at 2pm
• Harvest Feast – Tuesday, November 22, 2011 – A feast that we cook from our garden. Unfortunately we cannot invite all of the families. We will invite specific people who have helped with the garden and donated time and supplies.

Have a great weekend!

Erica and Pam

November 4, 2011

Dear Families,

We made it through the Halloween week – snow and all! What a crazy year for extreme weather! I am glad that we had a normal week of school despite what is happening with power outages in neighboring states. I hope the holiday was safe and fun for all of your families!

The Week at a Glance:

Halloween: Games and stories – that is what Halloween was all about in our classroom. I try to shy away from food on this holiday because we tend to overdose on it later anyway! So we all learned a math game called Casino (said with a French accent because I learned it when I was in Haiti) the morning of Halloween. It is a great card game about strategy and addition. The game is quite complicated so we will come back to it and continue to get better at the strategy piece as well as add some extra rules to add layers of complexity. In the afternoon we wrote group stories about our characters – always fun to act them out afterward as well. This is a group that loves to write stories!

Word Study:

We have started a weekly word study rotation and next week the word study will appear in the homework packet. The word study is designed to help the students recognize patterns in words. Some students are working on short vowel sounds, some students are focusing on long vowel patterns that are common and some are focusing on patterns that are uncommon. Every week the students will have different work to do during the week and they will repeat the sort at home for homework. It is important to work with the words more than once in order to internalize it. Every few weeks they will take an assessment to see where the students need work and what they are mastering.

Tree Study:

We are continuing our tree study this week looking up pertinent information about common trees in the northeast. We will be talking next week about characteristics of the 8 different types of deciduous trees and how to identify them in the winter as well as in the summer.

Lit groups:

Every child is now in a lit group! They are excited and interested in sharing books with each other and the work that we do in groups is important to help challenge the kids to think differently about their reading as well as practice helpful reading strategies. Ask your child what book they are reading! In

Calendar of Events:

• Poetry Reading: Friday, November 18^th – You are invited!
• Harvest Feast: Tuesday, November 22^nd

Have a great weekend!

Erica and Pam

Classroom Update 10/28/11

October 19, 2011

Dear Families,

That was a very short week! Even so, it feels very good to get back into the swing of normalcy after a week of testing. We’re catching up with ourselves and finishing old assignments that were on hold for a week. Congratulations to all! The tests are new and hard for this age group. They all worked really hard and now they are done!

The Week at a Glance:

Conferences:

I am very much looking forward to seeing you all in conferences! The kids are prepared and ready and excited to share their work. Marlboro School is dedicated to students taking responsibility for their learning and the conferences are a perfect time to demonstrate that to parents and teachers together. See most of you tomorrow!

Hogback afternoon: Adopting a Tree

We spent the afternoon on Monday up at Hogback. We lucked out with a sunny, warm, blustery day on the mountain. The class packed up their handmade science journals in order to record observations of a tree they adopted. We took a tree walk and each child adopted a tree that spoke to them in some way. After maps were created so as not to forget the tree, sketches were drawn in order to observe closely, and in some cases there were still leaves to study and sketch. I look forward to following these trees throughout the year and identifying the trees during the winter!

Halloween!

We will be celebrating Halloween this year on Monday 10/31. We will have sing first thing Monday morning INSTEAD of sing on Friday 10/28. There will be NO sing on 10/28. Parents and children alike are encouraged to wear costumes on Halloween morning.

Calendar of Events:

• Tomorrow! Conferences. Bring your child!
• Friday 10/28 – NO ALL SCHOOL SING
• Monday 10/31 – Halloween celebration and All School Sing

Have a great long weekend!

Erica and Pam

October 14, 2011

Dear Families,

It’s been a wild and wooly week of NECAP testing. I am grateful that we are mostly finished. A few kids who missed days of school need to finish up next week but besides that the testing is behind us. This is an earnest group of learners! They were very thoughtful about the testing and did the best work that they could do. Thanks for supporting your child by helping them get rest and get fed!

Important Reminder!

I look forward to seeing you all next week at conferences. Please call Gail in the office to sign up for a time that works for you and your family. Thanks to those of you who have already signed up! Also, your child comes with you to the conference! They have an important role in sharing their work with you. Please don’t leave them at home!

The Week at a Glance:

Hogback and Tree Study:

Monday we are going to Hogback to start our tree study on the mountain. We prepared for the hogback trip with a tree observation game and activity called “Meet a Tree”. Each child was blindfolded and led another child to a tree. The blindfolded child then tried to go find their tree based on how they got to know the tree and its surroundings. This activity was done with excitement as well as focus. We are ready to start studying a tree in-depth! In addition to the activity, each student also made a journal to use up on Hogback. Each child bound their own book and made it their own with decorations, pictures, and of course, bubble letters.

Self portrait poems:

In art, the class just finished creative self portraits. To connect with that theme and also to capitalize on the poetry skills that the kids are gaining, we wrote poems inspired by a biographical story. These self portraits and poems will be up on display for conferences next week. Make sure you take a look!

Literature Block:

As soon as testing is over, everyone will have a literature block group that they will meet with regularly. There are five lucky fellows that had the opportunity to start their group this week. We’ve been working really hard on independent reading and now that that’s becoming easier, we are ready to dive into group work!

Calendar of Events:

• Monday, Oct 17^th – Afternoon Field trip to Hogback
• October 20^th – Fall Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences

Have a great weekend,

Erica and Pam

October 7, 2011

Dear Families,

The cold is upon us! Fall is finally here. We worked hard to get all of the food out of the garden this week before the frost. Thanks to Heather Sperling who came in to help us cook up some food and harvest vast amounts of squash, beans, tomatoes, herbs, and much more! We have mint and basil drying in our classroom at the moment which will enable us to make tea and cook with our own herbs throughout the year!

The Week at a Glance:

Sleep:

We have noticed a lot of sleepy children lately and it is making it hard for some of them to participate fully in school. Please make sure your child gets enough rest!

A note from Ann about poetry:

For the past two weeks the class has had the good fortune of having poetry classes at the poetry studio, just 5 minutes from school.  As one student said, “At the studio we feel free.  We can write whatever we want, go for poetry walks, paint and draw.” Because the gardens are still blossoming with many different kinds of flowers from huge hibiscus to salvia, the students were invited to write about flowers on their first visit to The Poetry Studio. The quality of attention that the poets offered to nature was extraordinary: for instance Cyrus described some overgrown plants as a “city of flowers,” inviting us to see in a fresh way.

Last week the students focused on their special relationship to trees.  Many rich poems unfolded: poems about trees on the land; poems about trees students wished to remember;  poems about the loss of trees because of Hurricane Irene. Below is a poem Shane wrote as a result of the storm:

Ode to the Pine Tree

Pine, you are my favorite tree

even though the raging river

ripped your roots

until  you lay across the river

like a fallen building.

I remember

how tall you were before Hurricane Irene,

taller than two school busses on top of each other.

At least you became a useful bridge  for my family and friends,

a bridge from a dazzling clear brook

to the peaceful forest,

as peaceful as The Poetry Studio .

Ode to the Pine Tree.

Through the students’ poems, we are reminded of the power of poetry to express both what is beautiful in our lives and also what is sad.  As one young poet said, the language of poetry invites us to express what we cannot speak.

It has been a great two weeks of poetry. The group as a whole has been incredible focused, centered and productive! We are very lucky to have the studio to use as a space to write. A special thank you to Julianne Mills, Gretchen Webber, Carol Brooke-deBock, P’tricia Wyse and Dave Snyder who all helped out with poetry!

CONFERENCES:

It is conference time in a couple of weeks! Fall conferences in the ¾ classroom include students for most of the conference. Conferences are half an hour long and during that time the students have a chance to share their work and some self evaluations and goal setting that they prepare for the conference. It is very important for your child to be there! Attached is a schedule for conference day. Please call Gail in the office to sign up.

Calendar of Events:

• LOCALVORE CHALLENGE – next week – Oct. 10^th – 14^th. There is information about how you and your children can participate in Friday notes. There is a contract attached to this letter as well.
• October 14^th – Poetry day #4
• October 20^th – Fall Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences

Have a great weekend!

Erica and Pam

3^rd/4^th grade Conference Schedule

Thursday, October 20^th

7:30 _____________________

8:00 _____________________

8:30 _____________________

9:00 _____________________

9:30 _____________________

10:00 ____________________

10:30 ____________________

11:00 ____________________

11:30 ____________________

… break …

1:00 _____________________

1:30 _____________________

2:00 _____________________

2:30 _____________________

3:00 _____________________

3:30 _____________________

4:00 _____________________

4:30 _____________________

If you are not able to come to a conference on Thursday the 20^th, here are some additional times that I could meet with you.

Monday, October 24^th

3:00pm __________________

3:30pm___________________

Wednesday, October 26^th

3:00pm __________________

3:30pm___________________

September 30, 2011

Dear Families,

Happy last day of September! It’s hard to believe with the warmth that’s been in the air, but we are heading into October – ready or not!

The Week at a Glance:

Hike up Mt Olga:

We lucked out with the weather on Monday for our hike! Blue skies, a cool breeze and plenty of sunshine made for a beautiful day of hiking. This K-4 hike is a wonderful tradition because it brings our classes together and helps the kids get to know each other. This year we have a number of new students in the kindergarten as well as other grades and not everyone has met! The hike made that possible. It is also wonderful for me to be out in the woods with many different kids. It is a place we can make different kinds of connections with each other. All in all it was a satisfying and tiring day!

Writing:

We are in the home stretch of finishing paragraphs about our summer souvenirs. For this writing assignment we focused on the structure of the paragraph. Starting with a topic sentence, adding three details, and finishing with a concluding sentence. Throughout the paragraph the students were asked to make sure these question words were answered – who, what, where, and when. Individually, each child meets with me and we go over spelling corrections that are appropriate and relevant for that child.

Spelling:

Speaking of Spelling! Each child took a spelling inventory this week which will show me what each child knows and what needs work. I stressed that this is not a test. Everyone has something they are working on and everyone is working on something different. Next week we will start word study!

Garden Harvest:

With some cold weather upon us we carved out some time this week to harvest in the garden. We want to make sure that the winter squash is in for curing, the basil is hung to dry, the summer squash is picked clean as well as the beans and tomatoes. Next week we will start pulling up some plants and unearthing some of our root vegetables that we haven’t had a chance to see yet! We are also still munching on broccoli every time we are in the garden and the kale will get cooked up in large quantities once it is sweetened by a frost.

Calendar of Events:

MONDAY IS PICTURE DAY! Please send in your forms!

• Monday, 10/3 – Poetry day #3 at the studio
  • If you are willing and free to volunteer to help out with poetry, please let me know!
  • Friday, 10/14 – Poetry day #4 at the studio
  • Standardized NECAP testing will take place over the course of the next three weeks.
  • Thursday, 10/20 – Parent, Student, Teacher conferences

Have a wonderful weekend!

Erica and Pam

September 23, 2011

Dear Families,

It has been a busy week – writing letters thanking the road crew and all the volunteers for their hard work getting our town up and running again.

K-4 Field Trip on Monday!

We are going on a hike on Monday up Mt. Olga (the back side of Hogback Mountain). We take this annual trip with the young half of the school as a way to get out into our local woods, have fun together, get to know new people and start to get to know Hogback Mountain – a place we will be spending lots of time this fall. Please send your child with:

• Good Shoes for hiking
• A backpack
• A water bottle
• And a smile : )

Parent Letter: If you would like to receive the parent letter by email rather than hard copy, please email me and let me know (emorse@marlboroschool.net) with “email parent letter” in the subject line. Thanks!

The Week at a Glance:

Classroom Social Climate: We have almost finished our classroom community agreement. After conversations and activities we came up with the rules that we want to live by to make our hopes and dreams come true for the year. With the community agreement we will practice what it means by doing skits of different scenarios that happen in every day life. Right now we are focusing on being safe with our bodies and group problem solving and planning during preview and review. The group is often thinking a great deal about ways to include other people at recess time, making sure they are using appropriate language, and what to do as a bystander if you see something you know is not safe or not right. These are all topics that have come from the group and they are very aware of what is working and what they want to work on.

The Jungle (aka the garden): We cooked up a storm this week! During garden time we made more than four batches of pesto, we learned about the families of the plants, we made tomato sauce with herbs and tomatoes from our garden and we started drying herbs from the garden to use later in the season. Next week we can expect to see some pesto past and mini-pizza’s coming from Kathy in the kitchen for snack!

Literature Block: During literature block we are focusing on reading independently in the classroom. Each child has a reading folder with a log to record every book that they read. Some students are starting to write about the books that they read in class as well. This will lead to the students doing book talks for the class during library time and other writing assignments during literature block groups.

Typing: We have all been working on our typing skills, using Type To Learn software. You are welcome to have this software at home on your computers if you’d like your children to have extra typing practice. You do have to have Internet access for the software to run, but it’s possible that it will run fine on dial-up. If you’d like us to send a copy of the software home with your child, please send in a note or email Pam & let her know if you have a PC or a Mac.

Calendar of Events:

• Marlboro Fair on Saturday! Ames Hill Road
• Hike to Mt Olga (the back side of Hogback) – MONDAY!
• Poetry at the Poetry Studio – 9/23, 9/30, 10/3, 10/14
• Parent/Student Conference Day – Thursday, 10/20/11

Hope to see you at the Marlboro Fair!

Have a great weekend!

Erica and Pam

September 16, 2011

Dear Families,

We are delighted to be working with your children this year! It has been a very positive week of school and I look forward to a great year of social growth and learning! Every Friday, you can expect to see a letter that comes home with your child with updates of classroom activities as well as news and announcements for the coming weeks. Please look for this letter as it has important information about what is happening at school as well as upcoming events and projects in the classroom. This letter is also posted on the third and fourth grade page on the school website.

As teachers of your children, we are interested in working in a partnership with you in regards to your child. You know your child best and the more information you can share with us the more that we will be able to understand how to meet your child’s needs. If pertinent information comes home that you would like us to know, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your thoughts, concerns, or questions.

Contact information: Feel free to call us at home in the afternoon or in the evening before 8:00pm. Feel free to call us at school in the morning or during the day.

Erica at home – 251-1042, Pam at home – 275 – 2809

Email is also a good way to communicate with us.

Erica’s email: emorse@marlboroschool.net, Pam’s email: pburke@marlboroschool.net

The Week at a Glance:

Social Climate: We have spent time this week and last week hearing stories about the summer and learning about the classroom through scavenger hunts, games, and activities. This week we also spent time ironing out the routine of the day. In addition to the routine, each individual is practicing making good, independent choices. Treating our environment and each other with care is in the forefront of our awareness these first weeks of school. Everyone has participated in taking ownership of the room by helping to generate the rules for our classroom this year. We will revisit them frequently as a reminder of how we can make this a successful year for all of us.

Handwork: Using ones hands to create is a process that is important as our brains develop. It is also important to have an activity that is calming. Handwork can do both of these things. Each child made a cardboard loom and started a weaving project. This group is very motivated with their handwork and many projects have already been finished. This handwork is used at transition times, quiet time, or during read aloud time. These projects will be ongoing throughout the year and will expand and evolve with time.

Literature Block:

In addition to community work and setting up the classroom we began our personal reading routine. If you enter the classroom during our reading time the room buzzes with little minds reading and thinking about their reading. Each child has a reading folder and has begun to keep track of the books that he/she is reading at school each day. As part of this reading log, each child is asked to identify the genre of the book, the format of the book (ex. graphic novel, picture book), and also to identify whether the book is easy, just right or challenging. As each child finishes a book, they are asked to reflect on the book and complete a written story map or book report. This Lit block time will evolve into groups that are all reading the same book. At the moment we are focusing on independent reading.

Garden Harvest:

The garden is full and thriving! Thanks to your careful work this summer we have a great deal of food coming from the garden. This week we have harvested tomatoes, ground cherries, beans, squash, carrots and more! The winter squash overwhelmed the garden this summer and we are enjoying the jungle that is our garden! Luckily we will reap the reward when we harvest and eat many pounds of squash. We also harvested a TON of basil and made heaps of pesto, which we have been sharing around the school. Was pesto a new food for your child? We’ve had some exciting new food discoveries this week! Lots of adventurous eaters!

Here are some questions to ask you child to learn specific things about his/her week:

• What did you eat from the garden?
• Is your weaving a rug or a pouch?
• Can you sing the beginning of the snack song?
• What is your hope or dream for the school year?
• How did you decorate your writing journal?

A Few Logistics about the School Year:

Please see more information about logistics and plans for the year in the parent night packet.

Homework: If your child is having a difficult time with part of his/her homework, please send them in with a question or write a note. Homework is not designed to be painful. Please let us know if homework is feeling difficult for your child! If homework is not here on Friday and there is no note from home, your child will spend the first ten minutes of choice time doing classroom work. With a note, however, your child will not need to take time during choice time.

Lunch: There is no microwave in our classroom. Please send your child with food that they can eat without using anything to heat it up. If you have any questions about this let us know.

Birthdays: If you and your child would like to bring in a special snack on your child’s birthday, please let me know so that we can prepare for it. For special snacks we also ask that you provide a special AND nutritious snack. Some ideas for special birthday snacks are: Fruit and yogurt, carrot cake, zucchini bread, and popcorn. It helps everyone if the class is not pumped with sugar in the middle of the day. Thanks you for understanding. If you have any questions let us know!

Calendar of Events:

PLEASE NOTE: the flash freezer is no longer coming to our school next week. If you signed up to volunteer, THANK YOU, but we will no longer need help with the food prep. We do, however, need help with poetry. Please contact me if you are able to help in the morning or afternoon at the poetry studio. Thanks!

• Friday, September 23^rd – Poetry starts – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
• Marlboro Community Fair – September 24^th, on Ames Hill Road

Have a great weekend! Stay Warm!

Erica and Pam

September 9, 2011

Dear Families,

Welcome back to school! It is wonderful to be together again after this eventful end of the summer. I hope you all are fairing ok after the storm. Please let us know if your family needs assistance.

This first week of school has been energetic and fun! We have talked about our hopes for the year, played games together, started handwork projects, shared about our summers and started many specials classes. Now that it is finally sunny we also had the chance to explore the jungle that is our school garden.

The purpose of this letter is to welcome you back and give you information about the beginning of the year routines. I will write a letter every Friday that comes home with your child. I also post the letter every week on the school website on the 3^rd and 4^th grade page. At the parent night next week you will have the chance to choose whether you want to receive the letter by email or in paper form.

Every parent letter has a calendar at the end of the letter. Please check the calendar for upcoming events at school! The parent night is right around the corner! Check below for the date and time.

Homework:

Homework started this week with a simple system to help everyone get back into the routine and learn about the way homework works. Every week your child will come home with a homework packet on Monday. This packet is due on Friday. Each week your child’s homework will have a detailed checklist with specific information about the week. If your child loses their homework, I always have extra copies!

If your child has questions about their homework, please encourage him/her to bring the packet into school to ask me! It is much more helpful to answer questions during the week than after the fact on Friday.

Instruments and Violins:

David Tasgcal was here on Wednesday to make sure everyone has the right size violin. Please help your child remember to bring in their violin on Wednesdays and Fridays for lessons.

For fourth graders, your child has a choice to play a band instrument or continue to play violin. Every child is expected to choose one or the other. If you have questions about this let me know. If your child has an instrument, please make sure they bring the instrument next Wednesday to start lessons. If not, they will get the necessary paperwork to rent a band instrument.

Calendar of Events:

Parent Night – Tuesday, September 13^th, 6:30pm

Fall Conference Day – Thursday, October 20^th – please put this in your calendar!

Please stop by and say hi if we haven’t seen you yet this year!

Have a great weekend in the SUN!

Erica

June 16, 2011
Dear Families,

In many ways, it felt as if last Friday should be the last day of school. We celebrated the success of our show and basked in the glow of it all. However, it has been good to be together this week to finish up projects and have some closure together without being quite so tired!

End of the Year at a Glance:

Post-Show Blues and Recovery
Over the past few months we’ve been through a great deal together! Putting on a show with this group was an inspiring experience. At the beginning of the year I wasn’t sure what kind of show we would be able to do with this group. They seemed so little to be putting on a production. But as the year progressed the growth was clear and we decided that we could take on a larger show. Doing a show with the class at the end of the year is powerful in relation to group dynamics. As you heard in some of the reflections last week, during the process of putting on Alice in Wonderland the group gelled, new friendships formed and social structures that have been in place started to change. It is our hope that some of these new friendships will continue to grow and that the lessons learned about working together are taken with each child throughout the coming year. Thank you, again, to all who helped out with the show! We could not have done it without all of the support!

Alice in Wonderland DVD
Your child brought one home yesterday! Thank you Pam for making it possible!

Garden
As of yesterday, the garden is fully planted and looking quite handsome with our new Marlboro School garden sign! Thank you to all of you who are coming to help out this summer to make our garden successful. This is a community garden! Come visit whenever you want!

Image-Making Books
We celebrated the printing of the image making books this week by reading them to the primary class! They look beautiful and were read will ease and grace to a wrapped audience. ENJOY these books. A great deal of work has been put into them!

Report Card Note: Your child’s report card will be in the mail next week.

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This is the last letter before the summer! Thank you all for supporting your children throughout the year! They are lucky to have you all to come home to and we feel lucky to spend our days with your children.

Have an adventurous and fun-filled summer!
Erica and Pam

June 10, 2011
Dear Families,

We are in celebration mode now that we have made it to the end of our week! We had an incredible week working together and spending a great deal of time focused and working hard at the theater. Thank you to all of you that pitched in and helped during the week:
•    to Pam for bringing popsicles on the first hot day at the theater
•    to Kathy and her flexibility with our snack
•    to Dave Snyder for being the sound king
•    to Gretchen for organizing refreshments for the show
•    to everyone who made refreshments for the show
We couldn’t have done it without you either! Thank you for all of your support. It is amazing to feel the power of community at times like this.

I want to send a special thank you out to Charlene who has volunteered an enormous amount of time to help us make a show like this possible. She puts her heart and soul into the work with the class and her years of  experience are invaluable!

And of course, thanks again to Terence – pianist extraordinaire – who makes this show feel like we’re on our way to Broadway! We are incredibly lucky to have an expert who wants to come back year after year to work with us!

As part of our day today, each child wrote a reflection about our play. Here are some of their responses. The power of a production like this is felt on many levels. These are comments in their own words:

What did you learn about yourself or the group while working on our play?
•    That it can be fun doing a play with all of my friends
•    It was fun because we worked together
•    At first I didn’t want to be in it. Then I started having fun and wasn’t as shy and worried about messing up.
•    We all have very different characteristics and learn things at different speeds
•    I didn’t know people would respect me so much when they thought of me as my character.
•    That I could sing.
•    The harder you work, the better you’ll get.
•    I learned that I enjoy performing and being on stage

How has our group changed over the time that we worked on the play? What changes do you notice?
•    We became a team
•    We all got closer with each other while doing the play
•    We all learned how to have confidence in ourselves and in others.
•    Nobody gave up.

This is just a snap shot! It’s wonderful to hear how it affected the kids on all levels. I have seen the same changes and growth that they talk about. What perceptive and thoughtful children in our midst. I feel blessed!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Erica

June 3, 2011
Dear Families,
Although shorter than usual, it has been a full week! We spent a lot of time out of the classroom this week!
•    Tuesday we had poetry
•    Thursday was Hogback day
•    Friday we went to Emily Johnson’s dance performance
o    Ask your child about some of these experiences! They have a great deal to share. They are incredibly observant!

Library Note!
Please return all library books by Friday, June 10th. Students will be allowed to check out books during the summer, but we need to make sure everything comes back for inventory before then. Thank you!

Alice in Wonderland – Important Note!
During the week of our musical (next week) the college hosts a dog camp. They are very generously  letting us use the college under one condition – that we not spend any time outside of the theater. This will mean that when you come to the performance, it is important that you come directly into the building and at the end of the performance we will not be able to spend time outside. Thank you for understanding and helping us all follow this direction!

We need more garden help this summer! Read below for information about how you can help!
 Summer Garden Volunteers Needed!  No Experience Necessary! 
Take care of the garden for a week this summer!
You have the opportunity to:
•    Get to know the school garden with your child
•    Spend time caring for plants together
•    Help out the school community
•    Take home some fresh vegetables
•    Learn something new!
To be a Summer Volunteer Family you need:
•    Enthusiasm
•    Energy to learn something new
•    A little bit of free time with your child
•    Willingness to commit to a week of garden care
What you need to know:
When you sign up, you would be committing to taking care of the school garden for a week this summer. We ask families to come to the garden at least two or three times each week. During your visits to the garden you will water, weed and harvest.

For interested families you will be left with plenty of information to feel informed about what to do, whether you have experience with gardening or not! We look forward to hearing from you! To sign up, please contact Gretchen Webber (Eliza’s mom) at: webber.gretchen@gmail.com or you can also contact me at emorse@wcsu46.org.

Have a great weekend!
Erica and Pam

May 27, 2011
Dear Families,

I think it is officially summer, folks! I know it is when the kids ask me to douse their heads with water after spending time outside! In this very busy time, here are some of the things that we’ve been up to, and other things to look forward to!

The Week at a Glance:
Garden Time!
It was a welcome change to see some sun this week. Not that the kids didn’t love the rain (we were out in it every day for the past two weeks) but it sure is easier to get things accomplished in the garden without rain coming down.

This week in the garden we:
•    Dug a bed for potatoes
•    Planted winter squash
•    Transplanted tomatoes, basil, and flowers
•    Dug a new bed for herbs
•    Watered the garden!

For the summer, we need your help to keep the garden thriving! See below:

 Summer Garden Volunteers Needed!  No Experience Necessary! 
Take care of the garden for a week this summer!
You have the opportunity to:
•    Get to know the school garden with your child
•    Spend time caring for plants together
•    Help out the school community
•    Take home some fresh vegetables
•    Learn something new!
To be a Summer Volunteer Family you need:
•    Enthusiasm
•    Energy to learn something new
•    A little bit of free time with your child
•    Willingness to commit to a week of garden care
What you need to know:
When you sign up, you would be committing to taking care of the school garden for a week this summer. We ask families to come to the garden at least two or three times each week. During your visits to the garden you will water, weed and harvest.

For interested families you will be left with plenty of information to feel informed about what to do, whether you have experience with gardening or not! We look forward to hearing from you! To sign up, please contact Gretchen Webber (Eliza’s mom) at: webber.gretchen@gmail.com

Here is the schedule of weeks that need coverage during the summer
Week of …
June 20th
June 27th
July 4th
July 11th
July 18th
July 25th
August 1st
August 8th
August 15th
August 22nd

Next week’s dance performance:

Dance Performance with Emily Johnson:
We are very lucky to live in a place with a rich and vibrant arts community. This coming week we were lucky to take part in a performance supported by the Vermont Performance Lab (Sara Coffey’s organization). Emily Johnson, the performer, is also the Alaskan woman who came to visit in January to go ice fishing with our class. Here is a brief description of the dance piece.

The Thank-You Bar
The Thank-You Bar is a performance installation of dance, live music, storytelling and visual image to create an intimate performance experience intended to engage audiences and offer the question “what is a true home?” Created and performed by Alaska-born choreographer with composers/musicians James Everest and Joel Pickard, the Thank –You Bar connects ideas of displacement, longing, and language to history, pre-conceived notions, architecture, and igloo-myth.

Image-making:
We are in the finishing stages of our image making stories! We are sending them to the printer next week and if time is willing they will arrive before the end of school! Thank you to those of you who sent in money for the books. If you plan on sending in money at this point, the sooner the better! Thanks.

Calendar of Events:
•    Tuesday afternoon, May 31st – half the class Spring Poetry Session
•    Friday, June 3rd – Field Trip with Primary to Vermont Performance Lab performance with Emily Johnson at the Latchis Theater.
•    Thursday, June 9th, 7pm – 3rd/4th grade Performance of Alice in Wonderland at Marlboro College!!

Have a GREAT long weekend!

Erica and Pam