LEARNING CELEBRATIONS
When: October 1, 2008, this “first” Wednesday. 5-6:30
Where: FGCS and in The Tree Swallow classroom.
Who: The students of FGCS will be celebrating the work being done in their classrooms by sharing this very important work with the community.
What: First Wednesday is like a community “open house”. It is a time for local businesses to open to the public and share what they do. FGCS has much to share!
Why: Much of the work done in our classrooms and in this school is valuable to the community we live in. The members of our community (including our families) become an authentic audience for our students to present their work.
How: We rely on “ambassadors” in each classroom. These are students that have agreed to informally “present and share about” the focused work of each classroom.
Swallows 'round the red canoe
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Learning Celebrations
CALLING ALL AMBASSIDORS…
This Wednesday, October 1st, 2008, 5-6:30pm, is our first Learning Celebration for the 2008-2009 school year. In conjunction with the community’s “First Wednesday”, the school will be open to invite community members to tour and learn more about who we are as a school and what we do in each classroom.
Student ambassadors (classroom spokespersons, tour guides and project experts) will be invited to be present that evening, greeting and informally presenting to community members. For this Celebration of Learning, we will be focusing on all our Buddy Projects. The students have written informational captions on a chosen buddy activities and a few students are creating a comprehensive display.
With Wednesday around the corner, we are seeking student ambassadors for this event. Ambassadors will commit to being present Wednesday evening to present work (buddies projects and artwork) to touring community members, family and peers. Please let me know if your child will be able to attend.
This Wednesday, October 1st, 2008, 5-6:30pm, is our first Learning Celebration for the 2008-2009 school year. In conjunction with the community’s “First Wednesday”, the school will be open to invite community members to tour and learn more about who we are as a school and what we do in each classroom.
Student ambassadors (classroom spokespersons, tour guides and project experts) will be invited to be present that evening, greeting and informally presenting to community members. For this Celebration of Learning, we will be focusing on all our Buddy Projects. The students have written informational captions on a chosen buddy activities and a few students are creating a comprehensive display.
With Wednesday around the corner, we are seeking student ambassadors for this event. Ambassadors will commit to being present Wednesday evening to present work (buddies projects and artwork) to touring community members, family and peers. Please let me know if your child will be able to attend.
Goal Setting
READY...SET GOALS… Goal Setting Conferences are coming up, October 8th and 9th
We began discussing goals during “Family Visits” in the fist week of September and continued conversation and reflection during activities around our “hopes and dreams” for the year. This week and next, students will participate in classroom discussions and peer mentored activities to prepare for Goal Setting Conferences (!0/08/08 and 10/09/08 ).
This will be a student-centered conference, supporting your child in identifying attainable learning goals for this semester.
Watch for sign up in the office!
We began discussing goals during “Family Visits” in the fist week of September and continued conversation and reflection during activities around our “hopes and dreams” for the year. This week and next, students will participate in classroom discussions and peer mentored activities to prepare for Goal Setting Conferences (!0/08/08 and 10/09/08 ).
This will be a student-centered conference, supporting your child in identifying attainable learning goals for this semester.
Watch for sign up in the office!
Our Specials
P.E.: Tuesday at 1:00pm. Please make sure you help your Tree Swallow wears appropriate clothing and shoes. If possible, send a personal water bottle too.
Art: Wednesday at 1:00 with Teresa. We have explored oil pastels and have created our hopes and dream flags. These will be displayed in the classroom for Learning Celebrations.
Out and About: Thursday, 12:30-2:30 with Laura. This week, the Tree Swallows took Laura to Ash Street Field to share the work done there last year.
Italic Handwriting: Mondays at 1:30, beginning next week (10/06/08). Last week, Tree Swallow brought a home information about the italic program. If you have not sent in your $5.00 for the student Italic book, please do so. Please let me know if you have not received this and/or have any questions.
Art: Wednesday at 1:00 with Teresa. We have explored oil pastels and have created our hopes and dream flags. These will be displayed in the classroom for Learning Celebrations.
Out and About: Thursday, 12:30-2:30 with Laura. This week, the Tree Swallows took Laura to Ash Street Field to share the work done there last year.
Italic Handwriting: Mondays at 1:30, beginning next week (10/06/08). Last week, Tree Swallow brought a home information about the italic program. If you have not sent in your $5.00 for the student Italic book, please do so. Please let me know if you have not received this and/or have any questions.
Reading, Writing and "Rithmetic
In addition to “The Tree Swallows,” we have dubbed our class “Writers and Readers Galore” because of our enthusiasm and motivation to write stories and to read fictional and non fiction.
We have begun to establish the routines and procedures of Literacy Centers. This is experiences in each of the Literacy domains: Reading, Speaking, Writing, Listening. This choice time also creates independent learners and allows me to meet with focused, guided reading groups for reading and spelling skill teaching.
We have already established “Reading Logs” to document texts each student is reading during DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time.
A favorite time already is writers’ workshop. This time begins with a “mini-lesson” on strategies and procedures to uses during writing time, then turns to independent writing. We have many students well on their way to publishing chapter books!
Last week we began our grade-leveled math groups, Tues-Thurs. The beginning of the week offered time to get to know new friends and sometimes a new space. We shared our hopes for math and our current personal “vision” as mathematicians.
We have begun to establish the routines and procedures of Literacy Centers. This is experiences in each of the Literacy domains: Reading, Speaking, Writing, Listening. This choice time also creates independent learners and allows me to meet with focused, guided reading groups for reading and spelling skill teaching.
We have already established “Reading Logs” to document texts each student is reading during DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time.
A favorite time already is writers’ workshop. This time begins with a “mini-lesson” on strategies and procedures to uses during writing time, then turns to independent writing. We have many students well on their way to publishing chapter books!
Last week we began our grade-leveled math groups, Tues-Thurs. The beginning of the week offered time to get to know new friends and sometimes a new space. We shared our hopes for math and our current personal “vision” as mathematicians.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Dear Tree Swallows,
Oh, the thinks you can thinkThink and wonder and dream-Far and wide as you dare,
And some thinks in between!Think invisible ink! Or a stair to the sky...
Oh, the thinks you can thinkIf you're willing to try!If you open your mind,
Oh, the thinks you will find.
And I know that you've got quite a mind, it is true!A mind that thinks thinks all the way, through and through.
Now with thinkers like this, no telling what may ensue,With a whole year ahead, and a Thinker like you! (an important– and true message inspired by the wise and wonderful Dr. Suess)
And some thinks in between!Think invisible ink! Or a stair to the sky...
Oh, the thinks you can thinkIf you're willing to try!If you open your mind,
Oh, the thinks you will find.
And I know that you've got quite a mind, it is true!A mind that thinks thinks all the way, through and through.
Now with thinkers like this, no telling what may ensue,With a whole year ahead, and a Thinker like you! (an important– and true message inspired by the wise and wonderful Dr. Suess)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Classroom Newsletter February 27-March 12
Tree Swallow News
Classroom Newsletter February 27-March 12
Didn't February just begin? Before we know it, Spring, then Summer will be here. The days are already a little brighter, and we have opened the classroom window several times this week!
Thanks to our room parents, Carol and Rebecca, and to our fantastic Instructional Assistant, Emily, our Friendship Feast was a "heart-y" success! With just moments Carol and Emily transformed the classroom into a festive banquet hall. It was a really special way to spend time celebrating each other.
Our "Heart Affirmations" continue through the end of the month. This is and will be one of my favorite activities of this entire school year. It is such a powerful experience for the "celebrated" child, their peers and for me as well. Ask your Swallow about this event....no doubt you will know when it was your child's day because they will be beaming and perhaps look a few inches taller.
The other day I walked outside my apartment and off in the distance I hear, "pumpkin-eater, pumpkin-eater!". Lily, my 5yr-old, turned to me, "What was that?"
"Red-winged blackbird," I said almost absentmindedly. And then it struck me that I knew the answer. Just this Summer I had been talking with our Principle, Vanessa (also a near neighbor) and this brown, red-breasted bird landed on the grass in front of us. Knowing that Vanessa is an enthusiastic ornithologist, I asked her to identify this bird. She raised an eyebrow and empathetically said, "robin". I know, I know....we can laugh about it now though. My point: I am always learning, right along side and from (and sometimes well after) the kids. The local birds that we came to know through our study so far have become like long-time friends. "Oh, yea...there were dark-eyed juncos all over my yard" the kids say, with authority. It is interesting, and weird but remains to be true: if you start to look at something, really look at it, you will "begin" to notice that something is everywhere. I, like many of our Swallows, now "see" the birds.
Our Backyard Bird Count was a great success. One group caught sight of a couple of Kestrels "bickering". The Swallow children were so professional. They took this task as the utmost serious and when the count was completed assisted Gretchen in entering the numbers in the national database.
Great birds continued to be observed last week as we visited Fernhill Wetlands and Clean Water Services to pick up the plants that will be part of the restoration plan for Ash Street Field that begins this Thursday. Besides red-winged blackbirds, killdeer, geese, and black-capped chickadees, we saw a spectacular great blue hereon and caught a glimpse of a bald eagle in a distant tree.
During this trip, I was reminded of one of the many wonderfully powerful characteristics of this school: community teachers. Eric Anderson, one of our Swallow parents, called the kids over to a seemingly rotting tree. He displayed the kind of genuine enthusiasm of any "teacher" prepared to share something good. Eric held the Swallows a captive (and participatory) audience as he described and showed the kids how this tree was in fact trying to save itself by re-growth inside the "dead" outer layer. Moments later Eric came across a plant he called "the devils club". Once again, the Swallows hung upon every word describing the progression of this "alien" looking plant.
In our short time together we have had a veterinarian, nurse, author and GPS tracker, and that's just our parents. The community has offered an oral historian, zoo keeper, humane society rep, dentist, and many, many other teachers. From this we come to know that there are teachers and learners everywhere...throughout life, in school and out. This idea is what we strive for. Thank you every day.
Math:
Our tile mystery problem solving was preempted by an authentic Swallow problem. One of our class members decide to tally the coins in her piggy bank. She had 177 pennies, 44 nickels, 52 dimes, 79 quarters and 25 dollar bills. After some time trying to calculate how much money she had, she decided to present it to the Tree Swallows to solve.
We used base-ten manipulatives and money pieces, along with finger counting and our mental math to figure out how much money each collection of coins represented. This involved an understanding of the value of each coin, counting by 1, 5, 10, various ways of representing a given value, regrouping and place-value. In some way, this problem was a challenge for all. For some, this problem was an authentic introduction in to money value. For others, it was exploration of representing values to the right of the decimal. However, after some small-group work, the Swallows came up with a solution. I think Iris is on to a new dilemma.!
Last week, the Swallows, in pairs, created a tile mystery problem for their peers. The pair had to first agree what tile collection would go in the bag then work together to write attribute clues. This week we have begun to solve those student-created riddles. I think one of the most successful parts of this activity is the dialogue between the solvers, and upon discovering that there is not enough information to solve, the appeal to the writers to add more clues without "giving the answer away".
What's next? Put on your thinking cap, family! Your Swallow will be creating a tile mystery problem for you to solve!
Also ahead: Ways of making and representing 100. The creation of a personal timeline has us exploring values on a number line.
Literacy:
Check out the walls outside our classroom! The Swallows put their heart into composing "sense poems" about a warm feeling or well-loved object. Move over Browning and Seuss!
A class collaborative wall-book, with cut-paper illustration shows key understandings about our bird inquiry. BUT... REALLY, the book illustrates just how creative these kids are!
Handwriting next week will turn our attention to the editing process. This week the Swallows will work to ready a draft that they intend to publish.
We have formally introduced a Readers' Workshop. This is a time to read and respond to books. Although it now just names something we have been already doing, the Swallows have embraced this time as something new, exciting and to be cherished. There is a renewed "coolness" to reading. Literature Circles will be forming (we have one group in the midst of Ribsy) for many Swallows. Others will continue meeting one-on one.
Monday, February 3rd, we will spend the day celebrating reading. The Read-In will invite Swallows to explore a variety of modes of reading. We will have guest read-alouds, independent reading, readers' theater, buddy reading and we'll even reconnect with our "Peace Buddies" (one student from John's class and one from Charlies) to share favorite books, lunch and a break at Central School. On this day your child is invited to wear PJs to school, bring a pillow and a favorite book from home.
Odds and Ends
Our Out and About this Thursday will be a collaborative planting at Ash Street with our Kestral buddies.
If you have any comments or questions, please free to contact me at 503-880-5478 or by email, r.weil@fgcschool.
Cheers,
Rachel Weil
Classroom Newsletter February 27-March 12
Love
Love looks like a baby horse is love on the way.
Love sounds like beautiful wind.
Love tastes like yummy sweets.
Love smells like sweets.
Love feels like tree swallows are circling. Krista Reiswig
Dear Tree Swallow Families,Didn't February just begin? Before we know it, Spring, then Summer will be here. The days are already a little brighter, and we have opened the classroom window several times this week!
Thanks to our room parents, Carol and Rebecca, and to our fantastic Instructional Assistant, Emily, our Friendship Feast was a "heart-y" success! With just moments Carol and Emily transformed the classroom into a festive banquet hall. It was a really special way to spend time celebrating each other.
Our "Heart Affirmations" continue through the end of the month. This is and will be one of my favorite activities of this entire school year. It is such a powerful experience for the "celebrated" child, their peers and for me as well. Ask your Swallow about this event....no doubt you will know when it was your child's day because they will be beaming and perhaps look a few inches taller.
The other day I walked outside my apartment and off in the distance I hear, "pumpkin-eater, pumpkin-eater!". Lily, my 5yr-old, turned to me, "What was that?"
"Red-winged blackbird," I said almost absentmindedly. And then it struck me that I knew the answer. Just this Summer I had been talking with our Principle, Vanessa (also a near neighbor) and this brown, red-breasted bird landed on the grass in front of us. Knowing that Vanessa is an enthusiastic ornithologist, I asked her to identify this bird. She raised an eyebrow and empathetically said, "robin". I know, I know....we can laugh about it now though. My point: I am always learning, right along side and from (and sometimes well after) the kids. The local birds that we came to know through our study so far have become like long-time friends. "Oh, yea...there were dark-eyed juncos all over my yard" the kids say, with authority. It is interesting, and weird but remains to be true: if you start to look at something, really look at it, you will "begin" to notice that something is everywhere. I, like many of our Swallows, now "see" the birds.
Our Backyard Bird Count was a great success. One group caught sight of a couple of Kestrels "bickering". The Swallow children were so professional. They took this task as the utmost serious and when the count was completed assisted Gretchen in entering the numbers in the national database.
Great birds continued to be observed last week as we visited Fernhill Wetlands and Clean Water Services to pick up the plants that will be part of the restoration plan for Ash Street Field that begins this Thursday. Besides red-winged blackbirds, killdeer, geese, and black-capped chickadees, we saw a spectacular great blue hereon and caught a glimpse of a bald eagle in a distant tree.
During this trip, I was reminded of one of the many wonderfully powerful characteristics of this school: community teachers. Eric Anderson, one of our Swallow parents, called the kids over to a seemingly rotting tree. He displayed the kind of genuine enthusiasm of any "teacher" prepared to share something good. Eric held the Swallows a captive (and participatory) audience as he described and showed the kids how this tree was in fact trying to save itself by re-growth inside the "dead" outer layer. Moments later Eric came across a plant he called "the devils club". Once again, the Swallows hung upon every word describing the progression of this "alien" looking plant.
In our short time together we have had a veterinarian, nurse, author and GPS tracker, and that's just our parents. The community has offered an oral historian, zoo keeper, humane society rep, dentist, and many, many other teachers. From this we come to know that there are teachers and learners everywhere...throughout life, in school and out. This idea is what we strive for. Thank you every day.
Math:
Our tile mystery problem solving was preempted by an authentic Swallow problem. One of our class members decide to tally the coins in her piggy bank. She had 177 pennies, 44 nickels, 52 dimes, 79 quarters and 25 dollar bills. After some time trying to calculate how much money she had, she decided to present it to the Tree Swallows to solve.
We used base-ten manipulatives and money pieces, along with finger counting and our mental math to figure out how much money each collection of coins represented. This involved an understanding of the value of each coin, counting by 1, 5, 10, various ways of representing a given value, regrouping and place-value. In some way, this problem was a challenge for all. For some, this problem was an authentic introduction in to money value. For others, it was exploration of representing values to the right of the decimal. However, after some small-group work, the Swallows came up with a solution. I think Iris is on to a new dilemma.!
Last week, the Swallows, in pairs, created a tile mystery problem for their peers. The pair had to first agree what tile collection would go in the bag then work together to write attribute clues. This week we have begun to solve those student-created riddles. I think one of the most successful parts of this activity is the dialogue between the solvers, and upon discovering that there is not enough information to solve, the appeal to the writers to add more clues without "giving the answer away".
What's next? Put on your thinking cap, family! Your Swallow will be creating a tile mystery problem for you to solve!
Also ahead: Ways of making and representing 100. The creation of a personal timeline has us exploring values on a number line.
Literacy:
Check out the walls outside our classroom! The Swallows put their heart into composing "sense poems" about a warm feeling or well-loved object. Move over Browning and Seuss!
A class collaborative wall-book, with cut-paper illustration shows key understandings about our bird inquiry. BUT... REALLY, the book illustrates just how creative these kids are!
Handwriting next week will turn our attention to the editing process. This week the Swallows will work to ready a draft that they intend to publish.
We have formally introduced a Readers' Workshop. This is a time to read and respond to books. Although it now just names something we have been already doing, the Swallows have embraced this time as something new, exciting and to be cherished. There is a renewed "coolness" to reading. Literature Circles will be forming (we have one group in the midst of Ribsy) for many Swallows. Others will continue meeting one-on one.
Monday, February 3rd, we will spend the day celebrating reading. The Read-In will invite Swallows to explore a variety of modes of reading. We will have guest read-alouds, independent reading, readers' theater, buddy reading and we'll even reconnect with our "Peace Buddies" (one student from John's class and one from Charlies) to share favorite books, lunch and a break at Central School. On this day your child is invited to wear PJs to school, bring a pillow and a favorite book from home.
Odds and Ends
Our Out and About this Thursday will be a collaborative planting at Ash Street with our Kestral buddies.
If you have any comments or questions, please free to contact me at 503-880-5478 or by email, r.weil@fgcschool.
Cheers,
Rachel Weil
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