Dear Families,

iMove

As you likely already know, we were only able to participate in two iMove days this winter due to the weather.  As a ¾ team we have decided to make up those days in March.. The make-up days will be 3/14 and 3/21, weather permitting.  If conditions at Trapps still won’t allow, there will not be anymore make up days this year. We missed the make-up this day because of the snow day but next week looks like a go!

Quest Projects

Many students have been busy working on research for their quest projects.  The goal for students was to be finished with all of the research for the project by today.  Moving ahead, students will have until the end of next week to work on the exploration phase of their projects.  The creation of the project itself will all take place at home moving forward. If your child is struggling with their quest project please reach out, and I will help in any way that I can.  

Writing

Students are working through the drafting phase of opinion writing.  This year students will be required to include a counter argument for their opinion, and also cite specific research sources.  This will be their first exposure to citing sources, which will carry over into middle school and beyond.

Reading

After break students completed their unit on non-fiction text structures.  We have looked into a variety of text structures, such as: compare and contrast, descriptions, sequences, and cause and effect.  Knowledge of how non-fiction texts are structured, will give students into what each author’s purpose is in their writing.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mr. G

Dear Families,

What a busy week!  With the snow day on Wednesday, it certainly went by fast!

General Info

Friday the class voted to hold a Valentine’s Day party.  This party will take place 2/14 in the classroom around 11:30.  Students that would like to bring in Valentines, are asked to bring in one for everyone.  If you would like to send in any treats or snacks, please just email me so we don’t too many of the same thing.  Gluten free snacks are always welcomed, in order to accomodate the needs of all students in the classroom!

Reading

Students have now finished their non-fiction author’s study projects in both classes!  We are now moving into a unit on nonfiction text features.

Writing

We are underway with a new writing unit focusing on personal opinion narratives.  Students brainstormed people, places, and things that are important to them.  We then went on to create opinions about some of these items.

Important Dates:

Valentine's Day party: 2/14

3/4  Concert: 3/15

February Break: 2/24-3/6

                                                                                                                                             1/25/18

Dear Families,

We have been busy wrapping up existing units of study, and moving onto new in many of our content areas.

Reading

After learning about different non-fiction text structures and comprehension strategies, students have begun working on a non-fiction author’s study of their choice.  Each class will be putting together a resource for classes to come, that will feature and author’s bio with a review and summary of their writing.  Upon completion of the project we will wrap up the non-fiction unit and move into work that will prepare students for the spring assessments.

Writing

Students have completed their work drafting, editing, and revising realistic fiction pieces.  The class as a whole worked tremendously hard on their writing this semester, and finished by reading their writing to the pre-k classes downstairs.  We have now started a unit crafting opinion pieces.

Theme

This week wrapped up the final Vermont geography presentations for our class.  Students presented in partnerships about an important Vermont landform of their choice.  We have now moved back into science, and have started a unit to explore the complex world of energy conversions.

iMove

With icy conditions, the iMove team cancelled cross-country skiing at Trapps this week as you know.  We have scheduled one make-up day for 2/7.  If any other ski days are cancelled they will not be made up further.

Quest

Students have been returning quest proposals from families with great insight, and commitment from families, thanks so much for your support in such an awesome project!  I got most of the quest proposals back from families this week.  If your child hasn’t returned theirs to me (I understand life is hectic), please make sure it comes in early next week.  I look forward to seeing where their personal pursuits take them on this journey!

Important Dates

• 1/31 Report cards will come home

Hi Everyone,

Happy Monday, it will be a beginning of the week update this week.

Reading

In reading students have been learning a whole new set of “sign-posts”.  These signposts are moments in texts when students are encouraged to stop and work through a series of questions to create deeper understandings of the texts being read.  This non-fiction unit will wrap-up with students working on a non-fiction author’s study, where they will explore the author’s craft, life, and the signposts that they use.

Writing

We are coming to the close of a great writing unit!  Students have been spending a tremendous amount of time polishing up their realistic fiction pieces.  These stories have been planned, crafted, edited and improved upon for the last six weeks now!  Look for a final version to be posted on Seesaw soon!

Theme

The class is working on their final piece of the Vermont Geography unit.  We have studied a range of geography topics including: maps, landforms, Counties, and the use of Google Maps.  Students are completing a choice project in partnerships to show their knowledge of a landform right now.  

Important Dates:

• Winter iMove x-country skiing:  This program will take place starting this Wednesday January 8th, and will run for one month.  Please make sure your child brings appropriate gear for being outside on these days.
• NO SCHOOL 1/15

Have a great week,

Mr. G

Hi Everyone,

With winter break on the horizon I want to keep you posted on the upcoming events we have.  Students have been working hard to to earn their next green thought day celebration.  We decided that as a class we would like to combine this celebration with a winter celebration.  With that in mind, we will be focused more on a celebration of each other, our learning, and community rather than placing an emphasis on the holidays.  If you would like to contribute snacks to this celebration please shoot me an email: Cguggemos@wwsu.org.  We would love a combination of healthy and fun sweet treat this year, keeping in mind that the gluten free students in the classroom should be included as well.

Reading

Last week we began our non-fiction unit.  Students have continued to look for sign-posts in their reading, but relating to non-fiction this time.  Eventually students will be assigned an author to study, looking at their craft, writing styles, and which sign-posts they use.  

Writing

Students have begun drafting their realistic fiction pieces.  Our plan is to have a complete first draft completed by Holiday Break.  We have spent weeks getting to know our main characters, creating problems and solutions, brainstorming setting, and creating internal and external characteristics for our protagonists.  Stay tuned to Seesaw for more of their work in writing.

Theme:  

Our geography unit is well underway.  Students have spent time researching political and physical maps, physiographic regions, and counties.  Our next project will begin looking at important Vermont landforms, where students will have a plethora of choices to show me what they have learned in the unit thus far!

iMove:  

iMove cross-country skiing is coming up soon.  The permission slip coming home is to sign your child up for one of the choices (skiing, snowshoeing etc).  The blanket permission slip signed at the beginning of the school year allows your child to participate in school field trips so we just need an activity choice this year!  Students without slips returned will be placed in groups based on availability.  

Important Dates:

Winter Celebration: 12/21

Winter Break 12/22-1/1

iMove permission slips due back: 12/15

Have a great weekend,

Mr. G

11/12/17

Hi Everyone,

I hope the adjustment into winter was as smooth as possible last week.  I think we were all equally shocked when it went from 75 to 25 in what seemed like one day...With that in mind, please make sure that your child is coming in for the day with warm weather gear.  Students go outside for recess daily unless we have rain or unusually cold temperatures.  

Field Trip

On a similar note, we took a brisk fall/winter walk to the new town library.   We learned about the bridge artwork project at All School Share this week, and went to check out two submissions for project.  The choices were between a train mockup representing historical buildings in town, or colorful bird sculptures.  The reactions and votes varied, some students loved the birds while others liked how the train design represented memorable places in town.

Reading

Students continue to write fiercely about fictional texts in reading class.  This coming week students will put together what they have learned about writing pit-stops and summaries, into a longer form of writing.  Depending on the pace of student’s learning, we will begin a unit on nonfiction authors either before or shortly after Thanksgiving break.  

Writing

Many of you saw clips of your children’s paragraph writing recently.  With that unit wrapped up both classes have started a new realistic fiction writing unit.  We have started learning about a range of strategies to conquer fiction writers block, how to create story ideas, and expectations so far.  Stay tuned and keep an eye on Seesaw for writing samples!

Important Dates:

-November 22-26-Thanksgiving Break

-December 1st-After School Cross Country Ski Forms Due

-December 2nd-River of Light Lantern Parade from 5:00-6:00 pm

Have a great week,

Mr. G

10/29/17

Hi Everyone,

It was wonderful to see you all at conferences this week.  Keep an eye out on Seessaw for updates on goal setting!  

Reading

Students have continued working on writing about reading using a new system used to look for important moments in fictional texts.  We will soon move from writing pit-stops into summaries, and eventually a longer version of writing in the weeks to follow.  We have also been using a new read aloud, The Wild Robot to understand character traits and development.  

Theme

Students wrapped up the week and their most recent science unit.  Many of the final testing moments can bee seen on Seesaw.  Students worked tirelessly designing and redesigning Flugtag vehicles to withstand large amounts of kinetic energy.  We will be working on a fun inquiry science project this week and moving into the first social studies unit of the year to follow.

Writing/Word Study

For the last two weeks students worked through a paragraph refresher unit.  Students began the unit writing on either the golden, or the platinum rule.  After two weeks learning in either my classroom or Ms. Figdor’s, everyone made great progress!  Check out their paragraph writing samples on Seesaw!  Both classes started initial assessments this week to begin working in spelling groups.  All four teachers on the floors will be team-teaching spelling this year in order to meet the specific needs of developing spellers.

Important Dates:

11/7- Picture Retakes

11/22-11/26- Thanksgiving Break

Have a great week!

Mr. G