Week 2 with Miss Blair!

Hello everyone!

We had another great week here in Firefly 2nd grade. Wednesday we had an exciting field trip to see "Seussical the Musical" at the Flynn. Today, we experienced a companion workshop where the students were able to actually act out some of the musical themselves!

Yesterday we had a fun Hands On Nature, learning about how animals disguise or camouflage themselves in order to survive. A big thank you to Andrea Boehmcke and Jamie O'Brien for coming in and leading us through an outdoor adventure as well!

I want to thank everyone for their hard work this week, making my last solo week so enjoyable. I cherish all the time spent in this classroom, and am looking forward to one last great week after break!

Enjoy your well deserved vacation,

Miss Blair

The Camera Is FIxed!

Create a slideshow The camera has been fixed.  Please enjoy the above slide show from the past few weeks' events. Friday will be Miss Blair's last solo day!  She has done an outstanding job and your children have had lots of fun learning the past two weeks.  I am looking forward to getting back to the classroom after our Spring Break. We will be finishing up our Science unit and making our own windmills the first week after break.  We will also be finishing up our poetry unit and our unit about reading series books.  With the weather finally creating great opportunities to get outside and play, we will be moving away from weekly homework and only have occasional assignments to be done at home.  Students will still be required to read for 15-20 minutes every night.  There is no homework over the break!  I hope everyone has an amazing week enjoying the Spring weather we have spent a long time waiting for!

A Week of Learning With Miss Blair

Hello everyone,

This week we started a new unit in literacy, learning how to read series books. Each group is reading a different book in a series, working on understanding patterns and connections between books. Next week we will meet together across book clubs, discussing what we have noticed about characters, problems, and themes common across books in the same series.

We have also made great progress this week as mechanical engineers. Today my friends created their own sail designs based on what we know about certain materials and their properties relating to their abilities to "catch the wind". Next week we will test the sail designs, and use what we have learned to begin making our windmill blades.

Throughout the week we found time to practice our songs for the concert, and I think the hard work paid off! Everyone did a beautiful job singing yesterday, and the artwork to accompany the songs was remarkable!

Next week will be very exciting, with our field trip to the Flynn for "Seussical the Musical" on Wednesday along with the amazing weather we are expected to have! We hope to get outside, especially for Hands on Nature on Thursday.

Have a great weekend, looking forward to all that is ahead of us before April vacation!

Sincerely,
Miss Blair

April PTO Minutes

April PTO Notes & News

Join the PTO List Serve - think of this as Front Porch Forum specific to Shelburne Community School, a periodic digest of announcements, help wanted and other topics. It can allow for more timely, easy managed communication within the school and parent community, for key subjects such as upcoming happenings (budget forum, school play, soccer tryouts, get out the vote, etc.),  as well as help wanted (‘we could use a hand with International Pot Luck cleanup’, mentoring volunteers wanted, etc.), among other relevant topics.

If you would like to be added to the List Serve, please e-mail Courtney Tharpe at ctharpe25@gmail.com.

Fundraising Update                                                                                                                                       

▪ Red Wagon Plant Sale – order packets have gone home and orders are due back Friday, April 11^th.  The plants can be picked up on Thursday, May 22^nd from 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm.  If you need a copy of the order form, you can find it here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1IV5TlL1TUvRjNwWXlPN0psYm8/edit

▪ Amazon – the PTO has made over $500 so far this year.  So please remember, 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.

▪ Comedy Night  – Back by Popular Demand – The Comedy Divas are sponsoring another comedy show to benefit the Charlotte and Shelburne PTOs.  The event will be held at the Old Lantern in Charlotte on Friday, May 9 at 7:30 pm. The show will feature local Comedy Divas, Josie Leavitt, Tracie Spencer, Autumn Engroff Spencer and Sue Schmidt.

This is an adult only event and tickets are $20 and can be purchased:
                  - online at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-night-of-comedy-tickets-6632962369
                  - at The Flying Pig bookstore or at the door the night of.

▪ Shelburne Community Night at the Lake Monsters Game – Friday, June 27^th.  Come celebrate the summer with Shelburne Community School students, family and friends!   Tickets will be available for purchase at the end of May.


Fund Spending
▪ March Grant Meeting – The PTO Spring Grant Committee met and distributed $5000 in grants to teachers and staff!  Some of the great things we've funded are:  new choral microphones for the music department, a new camera and lenses for the art department, a theatre-in-action workshop on bullying for all students in 6^th, 7^th and 8^th grades, and new eBooks for the library.

Help Wanted                                                                                                                            
▪ Red Wagon Plant Delivery – help with unloading and distributing the Red Wagon plant delivery on May 22nd.  Contact Courtney Tharpe at ctharpe25@gmail.com if you are able to help anytime between 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm.

▪ Gift Wrap Fundraiser Co-Chair – if you are interested in helping organize the Gift Wrap fundraiser next October, please contact Randy Sweeney at sweeneyrs@gmail.com

▪ School Directory – if you are interested in helping with the school directory (entering/editing data), please contact Randy Sweeney at sweeneyrs@gmail.com.  This is a job that can be done at home and doesn’t require you being at school.

Highlights from Principals Report
▪ VT Writes Day Celebration: everyone in the school wrote for 7 minutes and shared them all over the building. Quite a sight! 500+ pieces of writing
▪ Winter Band Concert and Stage Band and Cabaret night in the last month were fantastic
▪ Wind Ensemble off to Montreal on 4/9-10
▪ School received an award for energy efficiency from the Vermont Legislature
▪ Joplin James awarded Aw Shucks award for his selfless dedication to the school
▪ Book Fair was a huge success, selling $17,000 in books
▪ End of year schedule: graduation on Thursday 12 June, last day for K-7 13-June
▪ Facilities: new plans are being put in place to hire an architect firm to develop a rough plan to improve the school facilities in a major way.  A presentation will be made on May 13^th at 7:00 pm after PTO meeting from the facilities committee. 

Mark Your Calendars                                                                                                                                                            

▪ April 11^th – Red Wagon orders due

▪ May 9^th – Comedy Night Fundraiser @ 7:30 at the Old Lantern

▪ May 13^th – Staff Appreciation Luncheon

▪ May 22^nd – Red Wagon order pick up from 3- 6 pm
▪ May 27^th – Jog-A-Thon (rain date May 28^th)
▪ June 27^th – Shelburne Community Night at the Lake Monsters Game    

Walk/Bike to school Wednesday’s in May – meet at the Parade Grounds

We look forward to seeing you next month at the PTO meeting on May 13^th at 6:00 pm in the Alpha Space.  Pizza and Babysitting are provided!

A Visit From Our Friend Hisham

Our friend Hisham, who was part of our class last year, visited us this week to share Flat Stanley and his adventures in Africa with Hisham's family.  Hisham also shared a slideshow that included a safari he and his family went on and other photos of the area he and his family currently live in, in Tanzania. We also learned about the language of the native people of Tanzania and Hisham shared names for numbers to ten and taught us a numbers song.  He also gave each of us a beautiful handmade keychain from Africa.  It was terrific to see our friend Hisham and his mother, and we all felt very fortunate to have him share some of the many wonderful experiences he is having in Africa.

For the next two weeks I will be out of the classroom, but in the building, while Miss Blair does her solo weeks.  Please check this week's Friday Folder for a letter sharing more information about this.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.  I am very confident in Miss Blair's ability to manage a classroom and provide a strong learning community for your children.
My camera is acting up so there is no slide show this week. Hopefully it will be back up and working by next week!
Have a great weekend, and enjoy the somewhat warmer weather!