Publishing Party

This slideshow personalized with Smilebox A big thank you to everyone for attending our publishing party this week.  Everyone was very excited to share their writing with their families.  After Thanksgiving we will be moving on to another writing unit. Many thanks to our Hands On Nature parents for another great lesson this week.  We learned about different kinds of cones, and spent some time outside identifying various kinds of cones.  There will be no share for the month of December.  It is a short and busy school month, so we will wait until January to start sharing again. We have been busy making necklaces to sell at the Holiday Craft Fair.  After Thanksgiving Break we will be painting our necklaces and making gift boxes out of paper to sell.  Many thanks to Anne Marcoe for helping out with this project.  The Craft Fair will take place on Sat.,  December 7th from 9:30-1:30.  I am looking for families to work at our table for an hour during this event.  If you are able to help out, please email me with the time that works for your family. Have a great Thanksgiving!

November PTO Minutes

PTO NOTES & NEWS FOR NOVEMBER

SUPPORT THE PTO WHEN YOU SHOP ON AMAZON!  Click on the link on the PTO page of the SCS website each time you shop at Amazon and the PTO will receive up to 15% of your purchase!

The PTO wants your input!  Please take our  SURVEY by clicking on the link on the PTO page of the SCS website or click on the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5TSTHSL

The SCHOOL DIRECTORY is finished and has been distributed.  Extra copies can be purchased for $5 from Esther or at the Holiday Fair.  We raised over $1500 in business listings.  Please solicit these LOCAL BUSINESSES that have supported the PTO.

HANNAFORD HELPS SCHOOLS program ends on December 1.  Please remember to bring all of your "schools" receipts to the office or put in the kiosk at Hannaford.

The PTO decided to replace the Flower Power fundraiser with a new local plant fundraiser through Hinesburg company, RED WAGON PLANTS.  More info. on this in the spring.

The PTO FALL GRANT COMMITTEE met and distributed $5000 in grants to teachers and staff!  Some of the great things we've funded are:  New instruments for K-8 music programs, books to support the Common Core, an on-line book subscription, playground equipment for EEE/Kindergarten, and math tools.

The WINTER GEAR DRIVE is still happening.  The need is as great as ever for winter gear for all age children and adults.  Box in front of office.

IMAGINATION PLAYGROUND is at SCS again!  This interactive mobile exhibit on loan from the Green Mountain Children's Museum will be shared by all of our primary classrooms through November.

The CVU ROBOTICS TEAM treated middle school students to demonstrations of various robotics and a 3-D printer!

The 2 Vermont based stars of the documentary WRETCHES & JABBERERS visited with 6th graders culminating their lesson of a Skills4Life Bullying & Harassment unit.

7th graders enjoyed STEPAFRIKA at the Flynn as a powerful conclusion to their world music culture unit.

David Southworth's 7th graders had the opportunity to take control of a CAMERA ON BOARD THE INT'L SPACE STATION and took some great pictures!

Officer Thomas Nash is giving presentations to all middle school students on INTERNET SAFETY.   We will also be sponsoring a parent education night with him on January 29.

Teachers and staff have attended PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT on the topics of suicide prevention and youth stress and anxiety.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

HOLIDAY FAIR:  Sat. 12/7, 9:30a - 1:30p.  Adult and child made crafts and goodies. and games! Great place to do your holiday shopping - fun for the whole family!

HELP WANTED:

• Setting up and decorating for the Holiday Fair:  Friday, 12/6 from 3p - whenever.
• Clean-up and breakdown after Holiday Fair:  Saturday, 12/7

C:  Leslie Borrok (leslie@borrok.com)

THANK YOU TO:

• Amy Knight for coordinating the Newberry Cup Bake Sale.
• Everyone who donated baked goods or helped at the Newberry Cup.
• Everyone who supported and helped distribute Genevieve Gift Wrap.
• Leslie Borrok and Lisa Merrill for coordinating the directory and Kim Schmitt, Valerie Richardson, Corinne Levinthal and Elaine brand for their tremendous amount of work on the directory.

NEXT PTO MEETING:   TUES. DEC. 10 @ 6P.  Pizza and babysitting provided and we will have a cookie swap - bring 3 dozen of your favorite cookies!

A Writing Celebration!

We said good-bye to our UVM Sophomore student, Celia, this week and said hello to our student teacher this spring, Miss Blair.  Miss Blair will be joining us beginning in January and will be with us until May.  We are excited to have her join our classroom community!
We are planning our Writing Celebration for this Thursday at 1:30 pm.  We will be sharing our narrative stories and would love to have parents join us.  We have been working hard and have some great stories to share that show what powerful writers we have become!
Next Friday, November 22nd, we will be having a pajama party and read-a-thon.  Students are invited to bring some of their favorite books from home for this event.  We will be spending the day reading in our pajamas!
I am still looking for volunteers to help with the Holiday Craft Fair.  A huge thank you to Anne Marcoe for coming forward to help!  I would love to have a couple other parents help out to prepare for this event.
Wow!  I was so impressed with the number of children who chose to do the Active Schools extra homework this week.  We have been sharing our new routines the past several days and will continue with that through the end of next week.  I must say, we have some very interesting new exercise routines!
Have a terrific weekend!

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Imagination Playground Fun!

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Firefly Second Grade had a terrific time at the Imagination Playground this week.  It was wonderful to see all the creative ways our second grade class were able to use and play with this playground.  It was also terrific to see how much team work was naturally occurring to try to create a structure that reached the ceiling.  We will continue to visit the Imagination Playground periodically throughout the months of November and December.
We have been working hard to persevere during our Math lessons this week.  We have been using an open number line to add and subtract two digit numbers.  We have also been using the open number line to solve problems. We have spent some time during Number Corner building arrays and creating equations to represent those arrays.  We have also been working toward greater fluency with our math facts.
Our narrative unit in Writers' Workshop will be coming to a close very soon.  We are working hard to edit our writing and include more powerful language.  When we are finished with this unit we will be sharing our writing with other classes.
I have not had anyone contact me with interest in helping out with our Craft Fair projects.  I am hoping to get a couple of parents to help out with this event.  Please contact me if you are interested or I may have to reconsider participating in this event.
Have a terrific weekend!

Imagination Playground Coming to SCS

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The Imagination Playground is back for the months of November and December!  The Imagination Playground is a mobile play system made up of big blue blocks in many unique shapes and sizes. The mission of Imagination Playground transform the lives of children around the world through active, creative play.  Firefly will be visiting this playground several times during the next two months.  We had a terrific time last year and look forward to having another opportunity to enjoy this again this year!
We had a terrific "Harvest Party" on October 31st.  We played games and enjoyed snacks and beverages sent in by parents.  A huge thank you to those of you who contributed to our party.
A reminder that this Friday, November 8th is picture re-take day.  If you would like your child to have his/her picture taken again, please return their photos to me before November 8th.
Firefly First Grade will not be participating in the Holiday Craft Fair, but I would like our class to participate, so our class will be sharing a table with the Dragonfly Team.  If you are interested in helping out making crafts for this event, please send me an email.  We have some ideas for things to make, but are open to other ideas you may have.
Have a great weekend!