marlboroschool.net

Dear Parents,

It’s hard to believe that we are in our final full week of school.

We had a great time mini-golfing with our reading buddies yesterday. It was so much fun to look around the course and see groups of children cooperating, smiling and laughing, taking turns, and encouraging each other. It was hot, but we found some shade to linger in and we drank lots of water, and of course, ice cream always helps one get through a hot day. Were you able to identify the kind of ice cream that your child ate based on the stains on his or her shirt?

The excitement of last week was, of course, the hatching of the chicks. As they were hatching over the course of two days, the students were continually checking on them. After being out of the room for art or recess or P.E., they would return and eagerly head to the incubator to check on the progress of the hatching. We got to see a few of the chicks emerge from their eggs. It was a pretty amazing feat to witness! Fourteen out of sixteen eggs hatched. Most of the kindergarteners love holding the chicks, and are exceptionally careful with them.

Last week, we finished our farm animal research books, and worked with our reading buddies to bind them. Last week, we also did our fourth and final self-portraits. If you haven’t looked at them already, please do! They’re on the hallway bulletin board. Also be sure to look back at your child’s earlier versions in the classroom. I was really impressed by the most recent series—they are paying more attention to the details, working harder to match the colors, and really attempting to draw what they see, rather than just drawing the images that are in their heads.

I am doing a bit of end-of-year assessment—just a few simple, low-key things to help me know where the students are with their math and literacy skills. If all goes as planned for me this week, I will send home reports on the last day of school.

Gail and I decided that it would be much simpler to take the bus to Ann’s for poetry on Wednesday and Friday. Thankfully, Tim and David are willing to drive us there, so we can skip the car seat hassle, and I won’t have to pester any of you to help me with the driving. So leave those car seats at home!

I am beginning to clear out the classroom and send home your children’s work. Today I am sending home their paintings. There is much more on its way later in the week and next week.

I have been posting many of the photos that I have taken at school in a Picasa photo album online. I will send home your child’s envelope of photos next week, but if you’d like to see more, you can view them by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/schoolgardens . You are welcome to copy and/or print photos from these albums. Let me know if you have problems viewing them (or you could skip the middlewoman and just ask Pam…).

Our list of upcoming events is quickly getting shorter as the last day sneaks up on us:

Wednesday, June 11, 10:15-11:45—Poetry at Ann Gengarelly’s
Friday, June 13, 10:15-11:45—Poetry at Ann Gengarelly’s
Tuesday, June 17: Move-up day—trip to Memorial Park with Primary Class
Wednesday, June 18: 11:45 Dismissal—Last day of school

Sincerely,
Sarah

Dear Parents,

The students have been enjoying their lunches in the primary room.  They seem to be getting comfortable with Judy and the primary classroom.  They already know most of the first graders who will be their classmates next year.  Judy says that the lunches and last week’s afternoon visit have been smooth and that any initial nervousness that students have expressed has faded within minutes.

Yesterday, we planted sunflowers and potatoes in the garden.  Your children will harvest these, along with the pumpkins and carrots planted by the first graders, next fall when they are in the primary class.

We have done our final observations in our bean books and will bind those soon.  We have also begun working on the illustrations in our farm animal research books that we are doing with our reading buddies.

We had a great trip to the Montshire Museum last week.  Everyone was patient and calm on the long bus ride—I didn’t get one “Are we there yet?”!  The kids enjoyed looking out the windows, talking to each other, playing “20 Questions” and working on their trip boards (mazes, dot-to-dots, etc.).  At the museum, all the children were deeply engaged in their explorations.  I hope that your son or daughter filled you in on some of the exciting things that they saw and played with—ask them about the turtles, the leaf cutter ants, the moose, the bubbles, the fossils, the fog, the Phoebe’s nest, the animal homes song, the water park…

On our way back from the Montshire, Pam commented on how nicely these children treat each other.  She is absolutely right.  I know all too well how lucky I am, and how unusual it is, to have a class of students who communicate well and who are all kind to each other, patient with one another, and respectful of each other’s opinions.  It is a beautiful thing.  I will miss them dearly!

Upcoming events/dates:
Friday, June 6, 12:15-3:00—Olivia and Shane visit primary classroom until 3:00
Monday, June 9, 8:45-12:45—Field trip to Twinkletown miniature golf with 3rd/4th grade reading buddies
Wednesday, June 11, 10:15-11:45—Poetry at Ann Gengarelly’s
Friday, June 13, 10:15-11:45—Poetry at Ann Gengarelly’s
Tuesday, June 17: Move-up day—trip to Memorial Park with Primary Class
Wednesday, June 18: 11:45 Dismissal—Last day of school

Sincerely,
Sarah

Dear Parents,

I hope that you all enjoyed that sunny Memorial Day weekend!  It’s hard to believe that we have just three weeks of school left.

***Tomorrow (Wednesday) is our trip to the Montshire Museum.  Ellen will drive the bus for us again, and we will leave at 8:30, so please get to school on time!  We will return to school around 2:45.  Please plan to pick up your child, or arrange to have him/her picked up, at 3:00.  For the trip, please pack:
    Portable lunch
    Water bottle
    Shoes that can get wet, for the water park
We will be both inside and outside at the museum—there are nature trails and a water park for us to explore.  Please put sunscreen on your children in the morning, and send some along if you’d like it reapplied later in the day.***

We had a fun trip to the Retreat Farm.  We visited with, petted and fed lots of farm animals, played in the corn silo, and played on a tractor.  We saw newly hatched chicks, emu eggs, baby lambs and kid goats.

We candled our eggs last week, and were able to see the chicks beginning to form!  As we shone a bright light through each egg, we could see a dark mass (the chick) with a dark spot (the eyes).  Our eggs are due to hatch on June 4th, and although I have been somewhat concerned about the temperature in the incubator, it does seem that the eggs are doing what they’re supposed to do!  We have been turning them diligently, as have the primary class and MASP.

Last week, we finished our bodies, and used them as tools to teach the 5th and 6th graders about the human body.  They have just begun a unit on human biology, and David asked if the Kindergarteners could give the introductory lesson.  It was wonderful to watch the Kindergarteners proudly share their knowledge with the older students.  I was amazed by how much information they remembered, and it was clear that they understood what they were talking about.  Check out the pictures that Pam posted on the website.

Today, we went for an exciting spontaneous field trip.  Jess, Leander’s mom, graciously invited us over to see their newly hatched chicks!  We visited with Leander’s new dog, the mama hen, and the other chickens; and we got to hold one-day-old chicks!  Thank you, Jess and Leander!

To prepare the Kindergarteners for the transition to the Primary class, Judy and I have a few things planned.  Judy will take Mr. Bear home next week, and come in to our class to read his journal entry to us.  Primary students often join us for lunch, and the Kindergarteners will begin to have lunches in the primary room on occasion.  I will also arrange to have each Kindergartener spend a Friday afternoon, from 1-3, with the Primary class.  The two dates that Judy and I have chosen are May 30th and June 6th.  Please let me know if one of these dates will not work for you to arrange a 3:00 pick-up.

Here’s the list of this week’s dates that you should know about:
Wed., May 28:  Field trip to Montshire Museum—all day—pick-up at 3:00
Wed., May 28:  Spring Concert and Art Show, 6:30
Thurs., May 29:  Journey East performance, 10:45, Outback—all are welcome

Sincerely,
Sarah

Dear Parents,

The weeks are flying by at this point, and we are keeping busy in Kindergarten.  This is a busy time of year, and we do have some exciting events coming up, but I am also trying to keep the schedule and routines consistent while we are in school.  We are continuing with our morning meetings, singing, read aloud, journals, reading one-on-one, and so on.  I am also trying to fit in a bit of extra outside time.

Yesterday, we went for our Monday walk in the woods and learned about the life cycle of a tree.  We found seedlings (baby trees), saplings (kid trees), mature trees (adult trees), snags (standing dead trees, important animal habitat) and, our favorites, rotting logs.  We discussed what happens to trees when they die, if they are left in the forest, and how they help support new growth in the forest.  We also looked for animal homes and brainstormed ideas about what animals might live in holes in trees, holes in the ground, rotting logs, and nests.

Last week, we had our Paper Feelings poetry reading.  Each Kindergartener stood up while I read his or her poem to an audience of the Junior High, as well as teachers and parents.  Ann commented on how much she loved the magic and imagination that run through the Kindergarteners’ poems.  The Kindergarteners were amazingly good listeners while sitting through the reading of all the Junior High students’ poems.

Last week, we also began our farm animal research projects.  Each student has chosen an animal to research, and last Thursday, we worked with our 3rd and 4th grade reading buddies to read about our animals.  Our buddies helped us record the information that we found.  Each student will compile a book about his or her animal.

We are continuing with our observations of our sprouted beans.  The Kindergarteners have been doing careful drawings, and are noticing lots of details in the growth and changes happening in their beans.  Our eggs are in the incubator, and we are turning them several times a day and hoping for the best.  Our “How to Make Bread” book is done.  Check it out—it’s on the shelf next to the lending library.  Each student illustrated and dictated the words for two of the pages.  We have been doing more “grocery store math”—practicing using different combinations of pennies, nickels and dimes to “buy” fruits and vegetables.

Here’s the most recent list of dates you should know about:
Wed., May 21:  Kindergarten visitation day—next year’s class visits for part of the
morning, along with Ellen
Fri., May 23:  Field trip to Retreat Farm
Mon., May 26: No School (Memorial Day)
Wed., May 28:  Field trip to Montshire Museum—all day
Thurs., May 29:  Journey East performance, 10:45

Sincerely,
Sarah

Dear Parents,

I hope that you’re all enjoying this gorgeous spring weather.  I also hope that you enjoyed having your child home yesterday, and that it wasn’t an inconvenience to have an extra “home day.”

There’s a lot going on in the next five weeks, and I’ll do my best to keep you up to date on all the happenings.  Here’s a list of dates and events:
-Friday, May 16, 10:45: Paper Feelings poetry reading—K & Jr. High.
-Wednesday, May 21: Early release—dismissal at 11:45
-Friday, May 23: Kindergarten field trip to the Retreat Farm
-Wednesday, May 28:  Kindergarten field trip to the Montshire Museum—all day.
-Monday, June 9: Field trip to Twinkle Town Miniature Golf in Keene—K & 3/4

Last week, we were thrilled to have Ellen stop in for a visit!  We got to give her hugs, sing a song with her, fill her in on what we’ve been up to, and ask her about her encounters with alligators and javelinas.  The children knew that she would be in at some point during the week, so they made signs and cards to welcome her back.  They are such a thoughtful group.

We are having fun with our study of farming and food.  The beans that we sprouted are growing at a remarkable rate, and the Kindergarteners have been doing careful observations and drawings of the growth of their beans.  The Kindergarteners are also continuing to take excellent care of the plants that are growing in the classroom.  In addition to watering them, some of the students have taken to talking and singing to the plants.

Today we put our chicken eggs in our classroom incubator!  Ellen has incubated eggs in the classroom for many years, and I am excited to give it a try!  The eggs that we are incubating are from Adaylia’s family’s chickens, which came from last year’s Kindergarten hatching.  I have lots of experience with livestock, but this is my first time incubating and attempting to hatch eggs.  The students are excited to undertake this endeavor, and I am striving to balance our enthusiasm with an awareness of the reality that sometimes these things do not go as planned.  The students seem to be embracing the attitude that if the eggs hatch, that will be wonderful, but that we should also be prepared for disappointment.  Please let me know soon if you are interested in taking home some of the chicks.

In math, we are continuing with our “grocery store math.”  This week, we practiced using different combinations of coins to purchase items.  For example, students discovered that they could use 13 pennies, or a dime and three pennies, or two nickels and three pennies, to purchase a 13-cent banana.  This activity works well because students can engage with it at different levels.  All of them understand that 13 pennies works in this example, and some of them choose to challenge themselves to find other combinations.  They are also using their “sharp eyes” to discover the many similarities and differences among the different coins.

On Monday, we went for a walk in the woods and explored life under logs.  We carefully rolled over rotting logs and investigated the microhabitat underneath.  We discovered spiders, ants, fungi, decomposing wood, millipedes, and many other insects.  We discussed the idea that many of these organisms help to break down the rotting log, which then goes back to the soil from which it originally grew.  Our most exciting discovery was a log filled with Red-backed Salamanders!  Chunks of the log broke off as we rolled it over, and we found that there were many salamanders living inside the log.

If you are interested, please feel free to join us for the Paper Feelings reading on Friday.  Paper Feelings is a school-wide poetry anthology containing one poem written by each student in the school, with the support of Ann Gengarelly.  Our reading will be at 10:45, with the Jr. High, in the library.

Also, please feel free to borrow books from the classroom.  We received a donation of books intended to enhance our classroom “lending library.”  A selection of those books is on the shelf near the computer.  Additionally, you are welcome to borrow books from the block corner.  Please sign them out on the clipboard and limit yourself to two at a time.  As soon as you bring them back, you are welcome to take out two more.

Sincerely,
Sarah

Dear Parents,

I hope that you got to taste the bread and butter that we made.  The bread-making process was a big highlight of last week.  After reading The Little Red Hen, we started with wheat berries and ground them into flour.  The children took turns turning the crank to grind the seeds and putting the flour through the sifter.  Then on Thursday, we mixed our flour up with water, oil, yeast, salt and a bit of our class-made syrup, and took turns kneading our dough.  While our dough was rising, we made some butter.  The children were excited to learn how simple it is to make butter (just put some heavy cream in a jar and shake!).  Each child got a few balls of dough to make into rolls in shapes of their choosing, and at lunch we got to taste our warm bread with butter!

Another note on the food topic—I finally finished boiling off the last of our sap into syrup, and am sending home a small jar with each student today.  A friend of mine offered his woodstove and in early April, he boiled our last ten gallons of sap down and canned a quart of thick, syrup-like liquid.  (Thanks, Aaron!)  This weekend, we finished it off.  It’s still a little bit watery, but it sure tastes good!  I hope that you enjoy it.

Last week, in addition to our bread-baking project, we opened our grocery store, and did math in conjunction with our store.  We focused on pennies and nickels, and the students came up with different combinations of coins that they could use to buy certain items.  We’ll continue to expand on this lesson in the coming days and weeks.

As we were making our bread, we also planted some wheat seeds.  We will observe them as they grow.  Yesterday, we began recording observations of beans that we have sprouted.  We will be learning about how seeds grow and what plants need to help them grow.

Last week, for our outside time, we picked up trash in the woods around the school.  The students have noticed and been bothered by this garbage in the past, and they were proud that they were able to make a difference in cleaning up our school’s woods.  Yesterday, when we went for our “hike” in our newly greened-up woods, we did an activity that I like because it requires that the students slow down and look closely at their surroundings.  The Kindergarteners have great observation skills, and I am often amazed at their ability to notice subtle details.  However, they also love to run, and are often eager to keep moving when we explore in the woods.  Yesterday, I handed out paint chip samples from the hardware store and asked the students to find things that matched the colors.  They were surprised to realize how many different shades of green and brown there are, and were shocked to find that they were successful in finding bright yellows, oranges, reds, and purples in the woods as well.  They found tiny fungi, lichen, bud scales and bits of leaves and bark with unexpected colors on them.  And they slowed down enough to notice and admire the trout lilies and fiddleheads.

Some dates that you should know about, if they’re not already on your calendar:
May 13:  Kindergarten Registration—NO SCHOOL for Kindergarten
May 21:  Early dismissal, 11:45
May 28:  Field trip to Montshire Museum (all day)
June 18:  Last day of school, half-day

Ellen has finished her bike trip, and I imagine that we will get a visit from her soon!

As always, I encourage you to be in touch with me if you have questions or concerns.  Thanks for sharing your wonderful children with me; I’m really enjoying getting to know them.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Dear Parents,

I hope that you all enjoyed having your children home last week.  It sounds like everyone had some good adventures, whether you went out of town or stayed home.  We heard fun stories yesterday about visiting local farms and faraway friends and family.

The week before vacation ended up being busier than I had anticipated, and we did not end up finishing our bodies, as I had hoped we would.  This week, we are making the last additions to our body models—our hearts and circulatory systems.  Then we will just need to attach our outsides and they will be done!

During the week before vacation, we wrote our goodbye letters to Jodi, we added our leg and arm bones and muscles, complete with knee and elbow joints.  We had extra playtime outside at the ends of those beautiful sunny days.  On Thursday, we had math time outside.  We searched for shapes on the playground and in the woods, and recorded what we found on our data sheets on clipboards.  The students not only found a wide variety of shapes, but they also began discovering letters—a Y in a tree, an A in the swing set, and so on.

This week, we are beginning our study of food and farms, which will carry us through until the end of the year.  Our fantasy play area is now a grocery store.  Yesterday, the whole class jumped right in and took turns donning aprons and being the butcher or grocer, loading up shopping baskets and purchasing food, restocking shelves, making change, and so on.

On Mondays, Francie comes in to read a story to our class.  Yesterday, she read Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney.  This story led us into a lively discussion of what we might be able to do to “make the world more beautiful,” as Miss Rumphius strives to do.  The students mentioned planting flowers and picking up trash.  Some students knew about “Green-up Day,” and I told them that Earth Day occurred during our vacation week.  On our Monday hikes, the students have often commented on the abundance of trash in the woods.  We decided that our Earth Day activity, to be postponed until a less rainy day, would be to pick up some of that garbage.  Alice suggested that every day should be Earth Day.  The students had lots of ideas about why we might have a specific day to celebrate the earth—the earth gives us “care and kindness”, “protection and courage,” “air to breathe,” “dogs,” “food” and more.  With no prompting from me, the students transitioned from a discussion of reasons to celebrate and be thankful for the earth, to a conversation about environmental protection.  I was impressed by their collective environmental ethic and sense of stewardship for their planet and the land around them.  Olivia brought up the story of The Lorax, which bridged into a discussion of the need to think of the future, and to be careful in our use of natural resources.  I would not have brought up such heavy topics with kindergarteners, but they went there on their own yesterday.  With young children, I try to avoid weighing them down with worries about big issues that are out of their control.  Any “environmental education” that I initiate focuses on directly engaging with the natural world (for example, rolling over rotting logs and seeing what we can find), deepening our understanding of our connection to the land (i.e. “where does our food come from?”), or empowering children to “make the world more beautiful” (i.e. picking up trash and planting flowers).

Today, we read The Little Red Hen and began grinding our own wheat flour, which we will turn into bread by the end of the week.  After two days of being kept inside by the rain, they have plenty of energy for turning that crank!

Check out the photo slideshow that Pam helped me set up on the Kindergarten section of the MES website!  I’ll continue adding to it over the course of the spring.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Dear Parents,

We are having fun and keeping busy in Kindergarten. The students are glad to have the hospital back. It was exciting to have the sugarhouse in the classroom for a little while, but I have realized that the hospital allows for more creativity in their fantasy play. It is such a pleasure to work with children who have vivid imaginations, and to work in a community that encourages and cultivates opportunities for creative play.

We are working on finishing our bodies. Last week, we made our bladders, penises and uteruses. The students expressed some discomfort in talking about these body parts, but this dissipated to some extent as we discussed the idea that these are important parts of our bodies that, like our brain and lungs, serve useful functions (allowing our bodies to get rid of waste and extra liquid, and giving a baby a place to grow). They seemed to understand the distinction between what we are doing—talking openly about these body parts in a learning environment—and what they have been taught already about the inappropriateness of these topics in certain settings. Interestingly, urination was the topic that seemed to be the most taboo for them. We are now working on our bones and muscles and will move on the circulatory system at the end of the week

Yesterday we went for a nice walk in the woods before recess. We will continue to do this on Mondays, and possibly additional days as the weather warms up. A few kids didn’t have boots with them yesterday, so I apologize for sending them home with muddy sneakers! It’s great if everyone can bring boots every day, and especially on Mondays. We took down our sap buckets, thanked and hugged our trees one last time, and found some signs of spring—rushing water, dandelions, swollen beech buds and fiddleheads!

Thanks to Pam’s guidance, I am slowly becoming more adept at posting things on the school’s website. Every week, I post the parent letter, and I often post a few photos as well. I will generally post the photos that are in the newsletter (but they’re in color on the web!), as well as a few additional ones. If you have family or friends who want to know what’s going on in your child’s classroom, direct them to the Kindergarten Parent Letters online! And if you haven’t done so already, check out the photos from our field trip that are on the website.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Dear Parents,

It feels like just yesterday that I was writing one of these letters.  It seems like the days have been flying by extra quickly in recent weeks.

Last week, we wrapped up our sugaring study with a simple pancake celebration.  We had a great time making the pancake batter, and it was very exciting to eat both the pancakes and the syrup that we made as a class.

Over the weekend, the sugarhouse was reconverted into a hospital, and this week, we are resuming our body study.  This is the week when each child will make his or her bladder and urethra, as well as penis or uterus.  I am sticking closely to the way that Ellen has taught this part of the body study in the past—having simple, open conversations about urination, and about boys’ bodies being fancy on the outside while girls’ bodies are fancy on the inside.  One of the larger goals of this body study is to develop an appreciation of the similarities that unite us all and the differences that make us each unique.  We touched on this idea when we compared and contrasted birds and bats—see our Venn Diagram in the hallway.  We will also learn that the uterus is a stretchy place inside a girl’s body where a baby grows if she decides to be a mom when she grows up.  Beyond this, I will leave answering reproduction questions, should they arise, to you.

We are continuing with our journal work on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the students are continuing to take on more and more of their own writing.  It is exciting to see them practicing writing their numbers and letters, and to hear them sounding out words.  When students ask me how to spell a word, I respond by asking them what sounds they hear when they say the word slowly, and what letters make those sounds.  At this point in their development of an understanding of letter-sound relationships, I want students to apply their phonemic awareness and to use the letters and sounds that they hear, even if this means that they spell words “incorrectly.”  I tell them that although there is generally one preferred way to spell a word, that it is okay to spell it however they hear it.  Oftentimes, the ways that kindergarteners spell words make more sense than the “proper” spellings!

Last Friday during choice, each child read a book with me, which they took home to read to you over the weekend.  I will continue to do these guided reading sessions, one-on-one or in small groups, at least once each week.  If you can, please help your child practice reading these books at home, and help them remember to bring the book, along with the bag and reading form, back to school.  I am using the Fountas and Pinnell leveled readers that Judy uses for reading groups in the primary room.

Last week we made thank you notes for Dan and Gail, and also for Liz and her sheep.  We discussed reasons that we write thank you notes and why it is important to do a careful job in effectively expressing our gratitude.

Last Thursday, we had a fun and entertaining field trip to the Windham Orchestra’s Children’s Concert at the Latchis Theater.  The performance taught students about different families of instruments, and helped them deepen their understanding of how music can be used to convey emotions and the overall tone of a scene.  It was great to see how engaged the students were.  The kindergarteners sat with their 3rd-4th grade buddies on the bus, and walked with them from the bus to the theater.   It was wonderful to see the way their buddies reached out to them and took care of them.

During this week’s Monday hike, we used our sharp eyes to look for signs of spring.  We know that winter could still come back for a visit, but we are keeping our eyes, noses and ears peeled for signs of spring, and keeping an ongoing list.  I hope that you are all enjoying Spring’s approach!  Maybe you and your child can think of more signs to add to our list.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Dear Parents,

Wow, it feels like it’s been a busy week in Kindergarten.

In the classroom, we have been preparing for spring.  We are still enjoying the snow, and taking advantage of it by going showshoeing every Monday, but we are also noticing the changes that tell us that Spring is on its way.  We started a list of “signs of spring.”  Using our keen observation skills, our “sharp eyes” and our five senses, we have noticed patches of bare ground (which “smell like Spring,” Shane noted), melting snow, kids wearing thinner jackets, and birds singing.  We will continue to update our list.

We have begun planting flower and vegetable seeds in the classroom.  We will raise seedlings in our GrowLab and plant them in our school garden, which I am hoping to expand this year.

Last Friday, we had the opportunity to get up close and personal with two of my favorite signs of spring—lambs and maple sugaring!  Along with the primary class, we visited Liz Vick and Craig Hammond’s new lambs, some of whom were only a few days old when we met them.  Liz held the lambs so we could pet them.  Then we walked down the road, in the beautiful fresh snow, to the MacArthurs’ sugarhouse.  There, we got to gather sap from the buckets and carry it to the sugarhouse, watch Dan load the arch, ask questions, marvel at all that steam, and taste some delicious, fresh, Fancy Vermont Maple Syrup!
Yesterday, the girls and I (the boys were absent) decided to tap a second tree.  We wanted to document with photos each step of the process, to add a set of visual directions to our sugaring mural.  Alice, Olivia and Eliza decided which steps they would like to include in our documentation.  They settled on nine steps:
1)  Find a Sugar Maple tree
2)  Drill a hole in the tree
3)  Hammer the tap in
4)  Put the bucket on the tree
5)  Gather the sap
6)  Pour the sap into a pot
7)  Boil the sap until it’s thick and brown
8)  Put the syrup in a jar
9)  Taste the syrup.
We went through the whole process on Monday!  We’ve done each of these steps a few times already, but this was the first time we did it all in one day.  The Kindergarteners have truly become experts on sugaring.

This week, we will bring our sugaring study to a close.  Our fantasy play area will revert to a hospital.  We will leave our sap buckets up outside, and continue to make syrup as long as the season allows, but we will shift our focus of study back to our bodies.  I hope to finish our body models before April vacation.

To culminate our sugaring study, we will have a low-key pancake celebration tomorrow (Wednesday).  We will make pancakes during choice time and eat them at lunch.  If your schedule allows, please come early to pick up your child (around 12:30 or 12:45), and join us for pancakes with our homemade maple syrup.  We will eat our regular lunches before eating pancakes, to be sure that we get a balanced meal.  If you can’t come early, no worries!  We will save pancakes and syrup for anyone who misses our celebration.

On Thursday, we will attend a children’s concert of Ferdinand the Bull at the Latchis Theater, performed by the Windham Orchestra.  We will leave the school at 9:00, and take the bus with Jodi and Judy’s classes.

Sincerely,
Sarah

Dear Parents,

I am so pleased to have all five kindergarteners in school this week!

It was fun to watch and listen as your children proudly shared their learning with you on Friday. I hope that you enjoyed the process and that it gave you a sufficient glimpse into what the kindergarteners have been doing in school, and how much your child has progressed since the beginning of the school year. Please fill out and return those pink conference feedback forms whenever you have a chance! Thanks.

Last week was another short week, but we managed to fit in finishing our dot books, drawing the third in our series of self-portraits, reading with our reading buddies from Jodi’s class, and practicing math games, as well as our usual choice time, read-aloud, journaling, songs and games. This week we will begin to have some extra emphasis on practicing letter formation. We are practicing building the letters with wooden pieces and then writing the letters on little chalkboards.

As usual, we went snowshoeing on Monday. We enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and reviewed our knowledge of trees—we have been practicing noticing specific details when we look at different trees, such as the long, pointy buds on the Beeches and the opposite branching pattern of the Maples. We practiced using our listening skills as we played “fistful of sounds”—ask your child about this game.

We are checking our sap bucket every day or every other day. Although it’s been sunny, the days have been fairly cold, and we have only been able to collect a little bit of sap. It is always exciting when we do get to gather a boil a bit of sap, and there is still plenty of time to do just that. Today we did a sequencing activity that showed that the students have an impressive grasp of the steps involved in the process of making maple syrup. Shane declared “Wow, that’s a lot of work!” He’s right!

I am communicating with Gail MacArthur about planning a field trip to her and Dan’s sugarhouse. It’s tricky to plan, because it depends on the weather as well as their availability. We are hoping that we will be able to go on Thursday or Friday, along with the primary class. I will let you know as soon as I have more details. If Gail and Dan aren’t able to have us visit, I will be looking for another sugarhouse to visit—I’d welcome suggestions if you have any ideas.

On Friday, I need to leave school early. I will leave the class with Tom Hudak from 11:15-11:45 (our normal time with him). He will help the class get ready for recess, and Francie will be in the classroom for lunch and goodbye circle. Thank you, Francie and Tom!

On Monday, March 31st, the school will host the Learning Fair from 6:30-8:00. This is an opportunity not only to take more time to tour the Kindergarten, or to get a sneak preview of life in the Primary room, but also to see the exciting learning that is going on throughout the school. I hope that you can make it. I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,
Sarah

Dear Parents,

It’s been a quiet week in Kindergarten—there is a fever going around that has kept Alice and Eliza home for many days.  Our normally small class has become tiny!  I hope that everyone is healthy and back in school soon.  I miss them and they miss each other when anyone is out!

The March Reading Challenge is underway.  Please feel free to borrow books from the classroom, if you would like some variety in your reading material.

This week, the kindergarteners will be taking on a new responsibility in the school.  Each day, a different student will have a chance to work with a Junior High student to put up the flags in the morning.  After everyone in our class has a turn, the primary class will take on this new assignment.

As we continue with our sugaring study, the students are becoming experts on boiling sap.  It is a joy to see them don gloves, hang buckets, gather sap, load wood into the firebox and light a fire, monitor the temperature and depth of the sap in the pan, scoop the bugs and debris out of the boiling sap, add a drop of cream when the bubbles in the pan get too high, grade and bottle the syrup, and so on.  It is interesting to see them apply new learning.  When they are introduced to a new tool, (like a sheeting scoop) or scenario (such as sap bubbling over) in a weekend visit to a sugarhouse or in a book that we read, they incorporate that new information into their fantasy play.

We also boiled the sap that we gathered from our Maple Tree out back, and have made about ¼ cup of syrup!  We will continue to gather and boil sap over the next couple of weeks.  I am still planning on visiting Dan and Gail’s sugarhouse, but at this point, I want to wait until at least half of the class is in school!  Our visit will have to wait until after conferences.

During our sugaring study, we are learning about other products and gifts that people procure from trees.  We brainstormed a list of things (tangible and non-tangible) that we get from trees, and compared that list with a similar list based on a picture book about people and trees in India—check out our “double bubble” map in the hallway.  We also played a fun sorting relay game called “From a tree, not from a tree”—ask your son or daughter about it.  The class has determined that people need trees in order to live!

In addition to our sugaring study, we are keeping up with our journals, playing math games, reading stories, snowshoeing, reading with our reading buddies, and all of the usual choice activities—building with blocks, painting, listening to books on tape, and so on.  On Friday, we had the opportunity to watch David’s class’ shadow puppet plays based on Greek Myths.

Student-led conferences are scheduled for this Friday.  If you haven’t done so already, please sign up for a time slot with Gail in the office.  If neither of the designated times work for you, talk to me to set something else up.  These unique conferences are truly student-led.  This is a time for your son or daughter to share their learning with you.  You will have a chance to look at your child’s journal, to play a math game, and to look at your child’s body model, among other things.  This is not a time for parent-teacher discussion, but as always, I am happy to set aside time to discuss with you any questions or concerns that you have.  Just let me know!  I look forward to seeing all of you on Friday.

Sincerely,
Sarah

March 11, 2008

Dear Parents,

Our sugaring study is off to an exciting start! On Friday, Gail MacArthur brought us a bucket (thanks, Gail!), and we tapped a Maple tree on the edge of the school woods. First, we had to learn how to identify Sugar Maples without their leaves—sharp pointy buds and an opposite branching pattern are the easiest clues to look for. After we found a healthy Sugar Maple, each student had a chance to turn the hand drill as we made a hole for the tap. We hammered in our tap and hung the bucket on the South side of the tree. The sap wasn’t running when we first put our tap in, but when we went back out to check it at recess, we heard the distinctive “plink” of sap dripping into a metal bucket. We each stuck our tongue under the tap and tasted a drop of the sweet water! Today we began to boil our sap on the stove in the kitchen. Thank you, Celena, for sharing your kitchen space with us! I have worked in sugarhouses, but I have never tried to make syrup indoors, so this is an experiment for all of us!

We have been learning about the sugaring process and equipment from experience (tapping and boiling) and stories (picture books and American Indian legends), and then acting out the process in our new sugarhouse, which is equipped with tools that I have gathered from friends and community members. At pick-up time one day, you may want to ask your child to give you a tour of the sugarhouse, or to show you our sap bucket. We will visit Gail and Dan MacArthur’s sugarhouse on a day when they are boiling; Gail and I will try to set something up for next week. I’ll keep you posted.

The March Reading Challenge has begun! I have already been hearing about some students’ plans for daily reading. I would encourage all of you to help your child set and meet a reading goal. As I’m sure that you have heard, research shows that reading aloud to children is the best way to prepare them to learn to read and to keep them reading as they learn and grow. It is exciting to watch your children emerge as readers and writers. We practice literacy skills every day through a wide variety of activities—visualizing images while listening to a story, reading the morning message and sign-in sheet, reading with students from Jodi’s class, read-aloud, journal time, and more. As the class and I settle into a routine together, I will introduce more literacy activities. They are eager to read, and are each learning more every day!

I’m looking forward to having a full week to get into the swing of things with the class.

Sincerely,

Sarah

First, some parting words from Ellen:

Dear Parents,

Before I head off to California, I’m sending this note of thanks through Sarah for the wonderful send-off you all gave me before vacation.  As you could probably tell, I was blown away by your love and support.  The delicious lunch, the gifts and cards, the balloon and flowers and the book the children made (each page really representing themselves so well!) were all so generous and appreciated.  I’ll miss you all but know the class is in Sarah’s capable hands and she has great plans for the rest of winter and spring.  See you in May! 

Love, Ellen

And from Sarah:

Dear Parents,

I hope that everyone had a nice vacation.  It was nice to see the children come back looking healthful and refreshed after the break.  They seemed eager to return to school, and our time together was off to a smooth start.  We all shared some stories from our vacations, and I began my Wenatchi sharing.  Each student has done their Wenatchi sharing, so I am taking this week to share a bit about myself with the class. 

As you know, we had our last winter workshop sessions on Monday.  Last year, I attended the pottery workshops with Bonnie Stearns, and this year, I was able to attend two sessions of dance classes with Aurora Corsano.  During both workshops, I was pleased to see children shining and growing in new ways, taking risks, befriending students from other grades, and having fun.  It was great to see so many of you (and to meet a couple more dads and grandmothers!) at our celebration—thank you for coming out to support your children and the school.

On Monday, we took advantage of the sunshine and fresh snow to go for a multisensory snowshoe hike.  We took turns leading the group, and we smelled Black Birch twigs, felt the sharp needles of Spruce trees, admired the colors and patterns on the bark of Striped Maples (also called Moosewood, as Leander reminded me) and learned a bit about Woodpecker physiology (ask your son or daughter about what they remember about woodpecker tongues and skulls!).

This week in school, we will continue to work on our bodies, adding tracheas, lungs and ribs.  The hospital will remain open for the remainder of the week, but will shortly be transformed into a sugarhouse.  Sugaring is a magical process and an important part of Vermont culture, and I do not want to let March pass us by without doing a short sugaring study.  So we will put our body construction on hold for a couple of weeks to make some maple syrup. 

I will do my best to make this teacher transition as smooth and painless as possible for the class.  For now at least, I will strive to keep classroom routines consistent with the way that Ellen conducted meetings, meals, etc.  I believe that consistency in scheduling and routines is important for children.  However, we will also be working on developing some flexibility, and understanding that different people may do some things differently and that there is more than one right way to do a given task.  If you have any questions or concerns about this transition for your child, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

I am very excited to have this opportunity to get to know your children, and to create and deliver an engaging curriculum that allows each student to grow and learn at his or her own pace.  As parents, you are the experts on your children—how they absorb information, what delights them, what scares them, and so on.  As a teacher, I value and respect input and insight from parents.  I want to know what your hopes are for your children, and I want to know if you have any questions or concerns.  Feel free to approach me at the end of the school day, or to contact me at home if there is anything that you would like to discuss.  My email address and home phone number are at the bottom of this letter. 

Thank you for welcoming me.  I know that it is not easy to say goodbye to a beloved teacher, and I appreciate your openness in accepting me as a replacement. 

Sincerely,

Sarah Rosow

February 19, 2008

Dear Parents,

Time does fly when you’re having fun and this year has been such a treat.  It’s hard to believe we are already at this transition where Sarah is here learning the ropes and ready to take over.  We’ve spent a lot of time talking through the many things involved in teaching here from how to hatch chickens to how much money there is in the budget.  I feel very confident in Sarah and know that your children are in good hands.  I’ll look forward to seeing them at Sing on Fridays in May and June and to see how much they will have grown in 8 weeks.

I am sending home reports on each of your children today so that you will have a chance to check in with me (and/or Sarah) before I leave if you have any questions or concerns.  There will be student-led conferences on March 21 where you will be able to see your child’s work at the usual end of the trimester time.

As part of our long-term planning, you might want to mark a couple of dates on your calendars now.  One is the Montshire trip which I mentioned before on Wednesday, May 28 that will be a full (until 3 p.m.) day of school.  Can you chaperone?  The other is Tuesday, May 13 which will be registration for next year’s class so there won’t be school for kindergartners that day.  Later in May or June there will be a visitation day when both this year’s class and next year’s class will be here together (and I’ll be back for that one too).  On a closer note, remember that Monday night, March 3, will be the Winter Workshop showcase night at 6:30 p.m. in the Outback.  The dancers will dance and the potters will be showing their work as well as the other workshops sharing their experiences.  I’m planning to be there for that as well so I don’t have to say goodbye yet!  I’m flying to San Diego the next day.

You may have seen the “outsides” of the bodies hanging in the hallway.  These will be put away shortly while the work on the “insides” continues.  Today we worked on our stomachs cutting up little pieces of construction paper to put in plastic bag stomachs.  Later in the week, we’ll add the intestines and esophagus (esophagi?) which will lead us through the always interesting, but sensitive issue, of what comes out at the end of the digestive process.  My experience has been that children take these issues around their bodies quite seriously.  Later when they make their penis or uterus you may hear questions at home.  We refer the “big” questions back to parents but usually talk about how boys and girls have mostly the same body parts but are a little different in these areas.  Mr. Rogers has a song about how boys are fancy on the outside and girls are fancy on the inside.  We use a balloon to replicate the uterus (a stretchy thing where a baby can grow in a grown up girl).  We don’t get into reproductive issues but you may still find yourself fielding questions so be prepared just in case!  Children seem to feel very important hearing adults talk matter –of- factly about the more private things around our bodies.

Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating Day 100.  Please send in 100 of something with your child.  We will do a couple of special activities to celebrate.  We’ll also be leaving for the Deerfield Valley Health Center at 10 so it will be a busy day!

Sarah will continue sending these weekly newsletters home.  Thanks for all of your support this year.  It has been a real pleasure to teach your children!  Have a great vacation week.

Ellen

February 12, 2008

Dear Parents,

Have you seen the long paper chain decorating our classroom?  We are gearing up for Valentine’s Day on Thursday.  I hear rumors of treats coming in.  Thanks for whatever you would like to bring.  Knowing that tomorrow’s weather could keep us from having school, I won’t plan on making anything special with the class.

The students decided that the fantasy hospital should be cheery for the patients so hearts are sprouting on the walls and paper chains decorating the entrance.  We have had a lot of broken bones, rescue workers and hospital staff taking care of patients recently.  They have played out the recent accident on I91 last week when a truck went off the highway.  They added many more patients and had more happy endings in their version.

One of the reasons I teach about the body and the hospital is to give children a familiarity with these things that will help them if they ever need to deal with a real medical emergency.  Or, if they get a simple thing like a cut, they know that the platelets are rushing around the body to help stop the flow of blood.  I was disappointed that we can’t visit Brattleboro Hospital but we will get to visit the Deerfield Valley Health Center in Wilmington.  We’ll go next Wednesday at 10:00.  You are welcome to join us if you would like.  We went there a few years ago and had a very hands-on visit so I’m looking forward to going there again.

We have been playing games and reading about our 5 senses the last few days.  Ask your child if they can tell you what they are.  Today we’ll begin the insides of our bodies by learning about the brain, the spinal cord and the nervous system.  We’ll act out how the messages get around the body and how the nerves are what keep us safe from a hot woodstove.  We’ll be going through the body system by system to keep everyone on the same place at the same time.  Have you seen the “outsides” hanging in the hall?

Next week Sarah will be here the whole week as part of her taking over the classroom.  We’ll be meeting to plan each day for a smooth transition for your child.  I’ll be writing reports over the weekend that I’ll send home before vacation.  Student-led conferences will be held March 21.  If you have questions, I’ll be here until March 4 to answer them.

Next week we’ll be celebrating Day 100.  Each child should bring in 100 of something that can fit into a bag.  Suggestions include pennies, paper clips, pieces of pasta – anything that you have around the house.  Today is Day 95 so it could be on Tuesday unless we get snowed out tomorrow.

Next Monday is All School Skate.  This is held in the afternoon when kindergarten is not in session but you are welcome to bring your child to Memorial Park to skate that afternoon.

Next week is Eliza’s Wanachi week.

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Ellen

February 5, 2008

Dear Parents,

Over the weekend the fantasy area changed from a post office to a hospital. We ended up making about $14.00 from stamp sales! We celebrated with little ice cream sandwiches after lunch on Friday. There were lots of pennies to count which we made into piles of 10’s. This was good practice in keeping track when counting small objects. Some children practiced moving the coins from one place to another so they could see which ones they had counted. For Day 100 in another week, I’ll ask children to bring in 100 things and you can use this strategy with counting small objects with your child.

We counted the dimes by 10’s, and the nickels by 5’s. There were $3.00 worth of dimes – lot of good counting by 10’s practice! If you have pennies at home that you would like to add to our donation to Pennies for Peace, just send them in. I think I’ll invite the rest of the school to join us in the Friday notes this week.

I called the Brattleboro Hospital to set up a tour and discovered that they won’t give tours during their construction. Maybe in May they could go but for now, we’ll have to learn by doing in our own hospital here. I have lots of “real” items that I have collected from various hospitalizations (don’t through away that tube, that mask, that mask!) and the students will have a chance to explore these items in a non-emergency situation. There is a clipboard for the doctors and nurses to write down the patient’s name and their aliment and remedy. Yesterday, Olivia was treated for a broken leg and put on the child size cast. Fortunately, we did get in to see Rescue earlier in the year so in case of a real emergency, children will have some familiarity and less fear around the medical world.

At the same time, we will be constructing our bodies system by system. We’ll start this week with the outsides, carefully mixing colors to represent the clothes that each child is wearing. Then we’ll put these away and starting with the nervous system, construct a model of our bodies. This will take a long time but I have found that they really have a better understanding of what’s inside by seeing and constructing their own versions. I’ll keep you updated as we go along and Sarah has the instructions to finish them in March. At the very end, the outsides cover up the insides and we’ll put them all together.

I did schedule our annual trip to the Montshire Museum up near Hanover, NH for May 28. I can drive the bus as I’ll be back by then but we will also need some parents to come. This is one trip that younger siblings are not invited so I’m hoping with enough notice, some of you will be able to make it. Please mark your calendars now!

Next week is our Valentine’s celebration. Shane’s mom has brought in some paper goods for us. Thanks Jen! I’m enclosing a list of names for children to use in addressing their valentines for everyone. We have saved our mailbox from the post office so we can “mail” them here first.

Did you hear about the surveys we did around the school last week? Ask your child what question they were researching and their results. We learned how to make tally marks to keep track by 5’s and gave our results to Celena to help her in planning healthy snacks.

Leander’s rat came for a visit yesterday as part of his Wanachi sharing. Next week is Alice’s turn.

Thanks,

Ellen

January 29, 2008

Dear Parents,

We’re in the final week of the post office. This year it seems like we could go on forever as the mail volume stays steady each day. But, there are other things to do this year as well! Alice asked yesterday about what we are going to do with the money. We brainstormed some ideas together. You have altruistic children! The thoughts included putting some of the pennies back in the jar so kids could buy stamps next year (they’ve seen me give them a lot of pennies to use), giving the money to poor kids and sending money to the children who are in a war. I think we can do all that. I have been reading Three Cups of Tea about a man who has been building schools for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has started a program called Pennies for Peace where school children collect their pennies. A pencil costs a penny in these countries and the buying power is certainly more than it is here. We don’t have a lot of money to send but I like the symbolic gesture of children helping children. We’ll count the money on Friday (yes, a math lesson!) and I’ll let you know how much we have. I’m guessing it’s over $10.00. That’s a lot of stamps! I also said that I would bring in some ice cream on Friday to celebrate the hard work that they have done.

Thanks to Pam for her help with the snowshoeing yesterday. We had a beautiful day to explore the woods beyond the boundaries. We saw several special trees and talked a little about evergreens and deciduous trees. We followed some tracks for awhile as well. See what your child can tell you about our adventures outside.

I hope you have seen the Ezra Jack Keats inspired collages hanging in the hall upstairs. We read several books by him, noting the characters that reappear in some of his stories. It’s hard for them to imagine inner city living with other races and apartment buildings. We read Apt. 4 about two boys who go from floor listening to the sounds from different apartments. At one point they hear a harmonica playing. From the kitchen, the kindergartners could hear a harmonica as well! One child thought it was coming from the book! It was actually Tim from the junior high adding another layer to the story.

I think you have heard about the word robber that takes away a word form the morning message some days. This week he took the word “applesauce” and we had fun figuring out the missing letters. We realized that there were 5 vowels and 5 consonants in the word and that 5 and 5 makes 10 so there were 10 letters all together. I love it when the learning comes so easily out of what we are doing.

We’ve also been learning about counting by 5’s and 10’s. We each made hand prints that are hanging in the meeting area with the numbers underneath. You might find times to count that way around your house. Today we’ll be playing called Compare which you might recognize as War. We’ll start in the traditional way. Later in the year, we’ll add two cards together to see which is more. You can play this at home with playing cards with the face cards removed. Take out the bigger numbers if they are too large for your child.

Next week I’ll send home a list of the children’s names for Valentines Day. We’ll celebrate by exchanging them and having a special treat after lunch. Any papergoods or treats would be welcome.

Leander will be our Wanachi next week.

Thanks,
Ellen