What's Happening: Teacher Edition
Friday, October 30, 2015
What's New About This Week's What's Happening?
-Mr. Wermuth
Veteran's Day
Wednesday, Nov 11, 2015, 09:00 AM
Long Meadow Elementary School, North Benson Road, Middlebury, CT, United States
Preschool News
In September, the preschoolers focused on getting to know one another and on learning
the expectations of the school environment. Each classroom has explored thematic units
about colors, the changing seasons, apples, life on the farm, and pumpkins! We have been looking for signs of fall on the playground, and learning through play. Our upcoming themes will be Thanksgiving, harvest, and then we’ll transition into the winter holidays.
Kindergarten News
First Grade News
First graders win the prize for showing the most exuberance during the first days of school! They had spirit and confidence that came from being “old pros” at things such as riding the bus, forming new friendships, eating lunch in the cafeteria and even storing belongings in lockers! This expertise has helped them to settle in to being “back to school” much more quickly! (Thank you, Kindergarten teachers!!)
Fall in first grade classrooms is all about learning independence during every aspect of the day from settling in with backpacks and homework folders through lunch and recess to ending the day with packing up. Here’s a look at what happens during in between times…..
- Reading and Writing Workshops happen with daily mini-lessons designed around explicit concepts with “practice” time allowed for independent reading from leveled book boxes and writing stories about student-generated topics that are true and about something pertinent to their lives.
- Math takes place with conceptually based lessons designed to strengthen and deepen each child’s understanding of the concepts introduced.
- Science occurs with hands-on experiences provided to learn about shadows – what’s needed to make one and how they change over the course of a day.
- Social Studies squeezes in discussions, stories and activities about our classroom and school community – the importance of rules, important places in our classroom and important people in our school that work together to make LMES a safe and fun place to learn.
A lot to be excited about!...and that’s just the first 40 days of school! Stay tuned, there’s more to come!
Second Grade News
In second grade this month we wrapped up Narrative Writing with a grade-wide author's share. Students celebrated the many writing craft moves and elaboration strategies we focused on in their small moment stories.
In math, students have been helping Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk! We've explored the concepts of place value, addition with two digit numbers, and measurement in the context of this fairy tale.
Second-grade readers are settled into the routines of reader's workshop and are ready to dive into nonfiction in November. In October, we focused on tracking our thinking during reading with stop and jots, analyzing how authors make the whole story click together through retells, and figuring out lessons authors are teaching readers.
In social studies, we’re learning that there are different types of communities all around us, big and small! Communities require rules and laws to keep us safe as well as jobs (chores) to keep communities running smoothly. In the months ahead, we’ll explore more about communities and also begin our States of Matter science unit.Third Grade News
Readers, writers, mathematicians….oh my! October has been a busy month in third grade. Math has been filled with learning and applying a variety of strategies for addition and subtraction using various models. In number corner, we focused on the attributes of two-dimensional shapes on our calendar grid and the calendar collector measured and looked for patterns in liquid volume. Work with measurement will help us as we transition into fraction concepts.
In science, students are investigating the properties of rocks and minerals as they learn to be junior geologists in their science notebooks. Geographical space and place are our focus in social studies, as students learn where we are in relation to our state, country, and the world.
Students are constantly reading and writing in third grade. They are working on understanding characters and building reading stamina and engagement. In writing, we are working on personal narratives and setting goals for continuing improvement as writers.
Finally, our daily morning meetings have provided opportunities to build classroom community with an emphasis on respect for self and others.Fourth Grade News
Fourth grade is well underway! All of the classes have established a community of learners where students are respectful and supportive of one another. The students look forward to class meetings where they greet one another, share things about themselves, and problem solve. Students are learning to look people in the eye when speaking, speak clearly, and answer others respectfully.
Fourth graders have learned many new concepts during the first two months of the year. They’ve completed the first units of study in many subjects, such as The Water Cycle in science, Geography of CT in social studies, Geometry in mathematics, Characters in reading, and Narrative Writing in writing. Students have deepened their understanding of these subjects.
The students took their first field trip to The Institute of Native American Studies in Washington, CT where the students viewed artifacts, made talking sticks, and visited a replica of a Native American village. Additionally, fourth grade had an in-school program on The Water Cycle, presented by The Pratt Center of New Milford. This was a hands-on program, reviewing concepts taught during The Water Cycle science unit. Both teachers and students are grateful to the PTO for providing this opportunity.
Fourth graders have participated in STEM activities each month. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math education. The students solved problems by working collaboratively with others, communicating their ideas, and developing creative solutions. In September, the students were presented with the Spaghetti Challenge, building the tallest tower with spaghetti, marshmallows, and tape. In October, the students worked on Jack and the Parachute where they designed a parachute out of paper to slow Jack’s fall from the beanstalk. Students used 21st Century Skills to complete these tasks.
Fourth grade is looking forward to more fabulous learning opportunities throughout November.Fifth Grade News
Shortened Days
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015, 01:00 PM
65 North Benson Road, Middlebury, CT, United States
GLOBAL READ ALOUD!
This month we participated in the Global Read Aloud Celebration. The project was founded in 2010 with one goal in mind: “To Connect the World with One Book.” This year, thousands of children and their teachers/librarians from all over the world will engage in reading the same books. The founder, Pernille Ripp, has chosen the author Amy Krouse Rosenthal for this year’s primary age selection. Our library media class has enjoyed Duck! Rabbit!, It's Not Fair, Yes Day! and Exclamation Point. We have connected with one class in Grosse Pointe, Michigan via Skype and hope to connect with other classes from somewhere in the US. Check out Amy’s website at www.whoisamy.com.
This month, second graders enjoyed Koko's Kitten, the story of an unusual gorilla that communicates through sign language. Koko was just recently back in the news as she celebrated her 44th birthday and received two kittens as her gift. Second graders then extended their learning using our PebbleGo database to research gorillas.
During media lessons, third and fourth grade students have worked on map skills in preparation to participate in Mystery Skype CT, a game where two schools ask yes or no questions to figure out where each is located. Fifth grade students researched authors and different formats to present information.
Our first Storybook Pumpkin contest had thirty eight amazing entries. Students and staff voted all week and the winner will be revealed on Monday. Thank you to all who participated. Don't forget to pick up the pumpkins November 3-5th. View the slideshow here: https://animoto.com/play/2rTNaCKWjW2tkEtxiEm0Fw.
Art News
All this week 5th grade students have been presenting amazing "Art Profession" Projects and reflections. These projects took our students through phase one: researching and thinking, to phase 2: incubating ideas, to phase 3: making those ideas come to life and finally phase 4: presenting to class! We have enjoyed architects creating sculptures of houses to fashion designers with new styles, to interior decorators designing special rooms. The students had full independent control, and worked both individually and collaboratively. We will be excited to display these great projects next week throughout LMES hallways.
School Pictures Can Still be Ordered!
Haven't ordered yet? Don't miss this year's school picture!
- Go to mylifetouch.com
- Log in with your Portrait ID and Access Code located in your picture package.
Pedidos en español disponibles por internet. Utiliza tu ID del retrato y el código de acceso de tu paquete del retrato.
To redeem your complimentary digital SmileSafe card, click here.
Parent/Guardian, how was this year’s school picture experience? Take survey.