February Happenings

The month of February will be a busy one.  On Thursday of this week we will be celebrating our 100th day of school and will be spending the day doing various activities connected to the number 100 and hope to have a visit from Zero the Hero.  The Scholastic Book Fair will take place during the week of February 10th.  Monday, the 10th will be preview day.  Our class is scheduled to buy their books on Wednesday, February 12th.  In addition to that, the book fair will be open after school on some days if you would like to visit the fair to purchase books for your child.  On Friday, February 14th, we will have our Hands On Nature lesson in the morning.  Our Valentine's Day Party will be in the afternoon at 1:30 pm.  You will find a class list in this week's Friday Folder.  It is not mandatory that your child make valentines, but if they choose to do so please make sure they include a valentine for every student in the class.

Please remember to join us this Friday at 1:30 for our Portfolio Sharing Party.  Another reminder that parent/teacher conferences are scheduled for February 10th.  If you can not make a conference that day, please let me know by this Monday so I can set one up for this coming week.  The following two weeks are very busy and it will be difficult for me to set one up for those weeks.  
Have a great weekend!

Diving Into Non-Fiction Text!

With another week of cold weather upon us it has been difficult to get outside for recess.  We have been making the best of this time with indoor activities in our kiva space.  All of my friends have been doing a terrific job making this a fun and safe time.  We are hopeful that we will be able to get outside again sometime next week and do some running around!
Miss Blair has continued teaching us about non-fiction text this week.  We will continue this learning during Reader's Workshop and will also move into this during Writer's Workshop with the completion of our Opinion Writing unit this week.  Next week we will spend this time creating e-books about a topic we are an expert on using Ipads.  We hope to have those finished and ready to share with our families in a couple weeks.
A huge thank you to Melissa Makay for her work with Junior Great Books in our classroom.  Melissa is currently spending two weeks with one of our guided reading groups reading and doing activities through this program.  Our plan is for her to return sometime in March and help bring this wonderful program to all readers in our classroom. Melissa is a former classroom teacher and we feel very lucky to have her volunteering her time in our classroom.
Almost all of our Flat Stanleys have now returned from their adventures in the United States and abroad.  This week we had one return from Ireland and another from Sweden.  What a wonderful opportunity this has been for us to learn about other areas of the world!
Our new math unit focused on place value to one thousand is going well.  We will continue to work with manipulatives to gain a strong understanding of thousands over the next few weeks. 
Please make sure you sign up for a parent/teacher conference soon.  February is just around the corner.  These will be the last "official" conference I will be having with you before your child goes to third grade.  Because of this, I am requesting that you not bring your child with you.  I would like to have an opportunity to talk more openly about your child's progress with you and give you some good indicators of progress, strengths and areas for continued growth.  We will be having a portfolio sharing time the Friday (2/7) before this conference.  This is planned for 1:30 pm and will be an opportunity for your children to share their portfolios and the work they are proud of in second grade. 
Have a great weekend!

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Hands On Nature-Snowflakes!

This week we finished up our Physical Geography Unit, but have not received all of our Flat Stanley's back.  We will continue to share those over the next few weeks as they are delivered.  On Thursday we will begin a science unit called "Sticky Situations:  Building Walls".
We also finished our Measurement Unit in math and will begin a unit that is focused on place value to one thousand.  We will continue to learn about opinion writing and non-fiction text in literacy.
A huge thank you to Anne Marco and Maura Crawford for a terrific Hands On Nature lesson about snowflakes.  We learned about how snowflakes are formed and had an opportunity to make paper snowflakes.
We have been enjoying hearing about everyone's Hopes and Dreams for the next year during our morning share this month.  These shares have been very thoughtful and the ideas have been very attainable.
Miss Blair was very excited to receive the many letters that included book recommendations for this week's homework.  She has taken them home for the weekend so she can spend some time reading them and responding.  Miss Blair has been enjoying getting to know everyone and learning about our classroom.  She taught a terrific lesson about non-fiction text features that was greatly enjoyed by everyone.
Have a great weekend!

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January PTO Minutes

January PTO Notes & News

Fundraising Update                                                                                             

▪ Amazon – If you shop on AMAZON please take an extra step and enter the site through the link on the PTO page.  The PTO will earn up to 15% of your purchases!  Please remember that you need to use this link each time you shop for the PTO to benefit.

▪ Red Barn Fundraiser - packets will be distributed January 21^st, orders due back February 3^rd and pick up on March 14. We earn $5 profit on each item sold.  If every family buys or sells 2 items, we will earn $5,000 for our spring grants program which funds things such as the visiting artist program, books, iPads, Kindles, classroom equipment and more!

▪ Red Wagon Plants Fundraiser - packets will be distributed March 28^th, orders due back April 11th and pick up on May 22nd

▪ Dynamic Dates – will take place March 7-14 with the winners being announced on March 17^th.

           

Help Wanted                                                                                                                      

▪ International Pot-Luck Dinner – January 24^th – help with set-up, clean-up and during the event. Contact Courtney Tharpe if you are able to help at ctharpe25@gmail.com

▪ Book Fair – February 10-14^th  - help needed during the school book fair.  Contact Kate Danforth if you are able to help at kate.danforth@gmail.com

▪ Get Out the Vote – March 3^rd - help e-mail/call SCS families reminding them to vote on March 4^th. Contact Courtney Tharpe if you are able to help at ctharpe25@gmail.com

▪ Bulletin Boards – help keep the boards updated with more information that is useful to the parents.  Contact Lisa Williams if you are interested in helping at lisawvt@hotmail.com

Highlights from Principals Report

▪ Discussed the burst pipe right before the holiday break.  Great flexibility to move around class’s and great thanks to the maintenance crew
▪ GeoBee: Josh Gamble was the overall winner and Emma Rosenau was the runner up
▪ Kids are out running around the circle at mid-day due to excessive ice on the playground. Thanks again for flexibility until the ice melts
▪ New memorials are in place to commemorate Trish Alden
▪ Fiddler on the Roof rehearsing for February 19^th and 20^th performances.
▪ FEED conducted a taste test of some wonderful vegetable/turkey soup that was created by students and FEED volunteers. 

Mark Your Calendars                                                                                                      

1/21 – Community Budget Forum @ 7:00 pm in Town Hall

1/22 – Speaker Series at Williston Central School - Parent in World of Computers, Video Games, Smartphones and Tablets from 6:30 – 8:00 pm

1/24 – International Pot-luck Dinner from 6:00 – 7:30 pm

1/29 – Parent Ed Night with Detective Nash - Keeping our Children Safe on the Internet @ 6:00 pm

2/3 – Red Barn Orders Due

Other Business                                                                                                       

▪ Winter Gear Drive – is still happening!  There is still a need for all sizes of winter gear.  Please drop off any gear you  may have in the bucket outside the front office

▪ Parent Survey – Last month to fill out the survey and the PTO needs your feedback! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5TSTHSL

▪ “Like” Shelburne Community School Facebook Page

We look forward to seeing you next month at the PTO meeting on February 11^th at 6:00 pm in the Alpha Space.  Pizza and Babysitting are provided!

Miss Blair Joins Firefly Second Grade

This week we welcomed our student intern from UVM, Haley Blair.  She will be with us until May and will spend two weeks at the end of April taking over the classroom.  We are so lucky to have Haley with us.  Her transition to our classroom has been seamless.  We have been enjoying getting to know her and having her help and support in the classroom. Please check this week's Friday Folder for a letter from Haley introducing herself.
Our Flat Stanleys have been arriving home from their adventures around the country!  This week we learned about their trips to California, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and other states.  Please take a moment to look at our Flat Stanley bulletin boards in the hallway the next time you are at school.
We will be finishing up our unit about measurement in math next week and moving on to another unit.  In reading, we have finished our unit about characters and are beginning a unit about non-fiction text.  In Writers' Workshop we will continue with our Opinion Writing unit and will continue learning about r-controlled vowels in Fundations.
Please be sure to visit the Firefly webpage and sign up for Spring Conference within the next few weeks.  I will be holding conferences on Monday, February 10th, both before and after school.  If, for some reason, you can not meet at all on that day, please let me know ahead of time so I can arrange a time the week before to meet with you.
Have a great weekend!

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News From FEED!

There will be a winter, turkey-based soup taste test (with brown rice and veggies) on Monday, January 13th at lunchtime. Please encourage the parents to encourage their kids to try the soup! This is a tasty way for the kids to warm up during winter, while getting protein, fiber and veggies!

-Becky, the Food Services Director, really needs parent and student input concerning family's needs and wants from the breakfast and lunch program. There is a quick survey on the home page of the school's website. Here is the link. This is a chance for parents and students to express their opinion and contribute to a selection of food in which they will be more satisfied with!