Firefly Spirit Week

Firefly Spirit Week

Monday, June 9^th – Sports Day

Tuesday, June 10^th – Board Game Day (Bring your favorite board game to school to play)

Wednesday, June 11^th – Beach Day

Thursday, June 12^th – Pajama Day

Friday, June 13^th – Hat and Shades Day (K-2 Field Day)

Jog-a-thon and Hands On Nature

This slideshow design customized with Smilebox We enjoyed a fun filled day on Tuesday with the Jog-a-thon and all the activities that go with it!  We had lunch outside, played on the playground, danced to the music and got our faces painted.  We finished our day with some indoor games with our Mix It Up buddies from 8th grade. On Wednesday we enjoyed a terrific Hands On Nature lesson about pond life.  We took a walk down to the nearest stream and explored the water looking for pond life.  We found a large variety of creatures and had fun playing in the water. We are looking for volunteers for our K-2 Field Day on Friday, June 12th.  If you are available to volunteer, please send me an email.  As of now, I only have one volunteer from our classroom. On Thursday, June 4th (this Thursday), Megan Maynard and I have arranged for a class picnic at Shelburne Beach from 5-7 pm.  This will be a fun way to celebrate our first grade school year and it will also give everyone an opportunity to meet Megan and get to know her better.  She is looking forward to spending time at the picnic with her new students and their families.  We understand that this is a busy time of year, but hope everyone can make it.  Please bring a picnic dinner and beverages for your family.

A List of Coming Events!

We have enjoyed the beautiful weather this week and have taken advantage of it by getting outside to run the track or have an extra recess every day. 
Spring schedules are very busy and it is a great time of year to be outside playing, therefore this will be the last week of homework for the school year.
On Monday (May 11th) we will be going to the Flynn Theater for our field trip.  We will be leaving at 11:15 and will not be going to lunch.  Instead, we will be eating lunch in our classroom before we leave.  Please make sure your child comes to school on Monday with a lunch from home.
The K-2 Field Day will be June 12th this year.  We are looking for volunteers to man the stations on that day.  If you are available and would like to help out send me an email to let me know.
Jog-a-thon is on May 26th, with a rain date of May 27th.  Please contact Colleen Wemple if you can help out with this fun event.
Please check this week's Friday Folder carefully.  There are many notes coming home!
 Enjoy the weekend!
:)Deb

Hands On Nature

Create a slideshow design  What a busy and fun week we have had!  On Monday, we dissected  owl pellets and were very excited to see all the bones we found inside of them.  Some pellets had bones of more than one animal! We also had our Hands On Nature lesson this week about birds, which tied in nicely with our learning about Owls.  We watched a puppet show and went outside to look for, and listen to birds.  We learned a lot about different kinds of birds and what part of the tree they spend their time in.  A big thank you to Ben and Gavin P.'s parents for teaching us about birds. Today we had a visit from the Flynn Theater for a companion workshop connected to our upcoming field trip.  We learned more about the performance we will be going to see and talked about how we should behave during that performance.  We learned many things about dance and movement and took some time to explore movement  and create our own dances. Have a terrific and finally warm weekend! :)Deb

Owls!

This week we had a terrific presentation by the Audubon Society about owls. We learned many interesting facts about owls.  We learned that their eyes don't move and they have twice as many bones in their neck as we do.  We met three different owls.  The first owl was a Barred Owl named Chapin who weighs two pounds.  The Barred Owl is the only owl with dark brown eyes and has a very distinctive call that sounds like "who cooks for you".  Chapin had a broken wing and can't fly well anymore.  We also met Carson and Alfred who are both Screech Owls. Carson had a broken wrist and Alfred is missing an eye.  They were both injured when they were hit by cars. When we return from Spring Vacation we will be working in pairs to dissect owl pellets, and will be learning more about this topic during Hands On Nature.
We finished our opinion pieces about our collections this week by revising our work and getting it ready for publishing.  When we return from break we will begin writing other opinion pieces.
We have been using a Hansel and Gretel theme to practice counting by 5's and 10's into the hundreds during math. We have been solving crumbs on the path problems, focusing on 5's and 10's.
With the Spring weather finally upon us, we have been spending more time outside.  We ran a lap around the track several days this week to get some of our "extra" energy out.
I still have an extra ticket for our Flynn field trip on May 11th.  If you would like to join us for that field trip, please send me an email.  First come first serve:)
There is no homework this week!  Have a terrific Spring Break!
:)Deb

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April PTO Minutes

PTO minutes--April 14, 2015 

Treasurer's Report/Fundraising & Fund spending

•   Dynamic Dates raised over $1600 (very popular with k-5.  How can we increase 6-8 participation?)

•   Hannaford’s Helps Schools--earned $576 (no $1,000 bonus this year, as we came in 2nd)

•   Bowl-a-thon--raised just over $3,600

•   Amazon--earned another $300 (even though we thought this money was no longer available to us due to change in VT tax laws.  Perhaps we are earning this through Amazon Smile program?)

•   Red Wagon Plants sale--orders are in, plants will be distributed 5/15

•   Good Comida Mother's Day treat sale--flyers go out 4/17, orders due 5/1

•   PTO Spring Grants--we distributed $4,700 total to fund:  graphic novels, author visit, tools for library Maker space, steam table pans, VT Maple Syrup, puzzles, chair pockets, guest speaker, 25 ukuleles, science equipment, and light blocking material for sky lights! 

Help Wanted

•   Teacher and Staff Appreciation Lunch--contact valerie@estimated.com if you can bring in an item for the lunch (she will send you a link to the sign-up)

•   Jog-a-thon--May 26th: Looking for a k-2 coordinator for this year.  Also looking for someone to coordinate the jog-a-thon next year.  Contact sweeneyrs@gmail.com

•   Coordinator for Holiday Food Baskets next year (approx. 3 hrs) Contact sweeneyrs@gmail.com

•   Coordinator for Potluck Dinner next year.  Contact sweeneyrs@gmail.com

Other Business/Discussion Items

•   Playground Committee update--remember to watch the progress and contribute to the fundraising site:  youcaring.com/SCSplayground .  Fundraiser deadline is May 31!  Currently, plans are coming together for the play equipment and site work.  Help us make the most of this project!  Every donation counts towards making this a great place to play in Shelburne!   *PTO will check income at end of year, and perhaps make another donation to the playground.

•   Kit Antinozzi shared her experience from the state Geo Bee competition (her son, Peter Antinozzi finished in a tie for 8th).  Students were on stage in the spotlight, while the audience watched in a stadium setting--very intense setting and competition!  Lots of educational/life skills value in this competition! 

•   Next year on fall forms, families will have the opportunity to "opt in/out" for PTO List Serve!

Principal's Report

•   Grand Rounds math night was a great success!  Thanks to John Madden, Patty Pauza & Carol Specht for an informative evening!  Also thanks for Becky Mashak for dinner and Part2 for childcare.

•   Snelling Playground Update!  The project was recently awarded $60,000 from the Land and Water Conservation Fund!  We are working to raise $50,000 to meet our goals.  Thanks to Lisa Williams, Barbara Comeau and other volunteers for their tireless commitment to create a wonderful outdoor recreation site for our school and community!

•   Kindergarten orientation--79 students are registered for the fall.  There will be 5 K classes.

•   5th grade Student Leadership Council--8 peer-elected members (2 students per team), led by John Madden, work to develop skills to become effective school leaders.  Projects include writing for The Shelburne News, advocating for changes in cafeteria (real VT maple syrup), and raising money to make blankets for COTS families.

•   Middle school poetry slam--April 15-17--each team will host a poetry slam.

•   SBAC testing--Middle school and 4th grade students have completed testing.  3rd & 5th graders will begin testing after spring break.

Teacher Shares—a quick peek at what’s happening around SCS:

•   Preschool visits the art room!

•   Peter Antinozzi tied for 8^th place in the state Geo Bee!

•   Holden 6^th graders presented biome projects & are now preparing persuasive speeches to convince people to move to South American Countries.  7^th graders are researching and preparing famous explorers activity books.  8^th graders preparing world war II speeches

•   Believe 3^rd graders—Shelburne history.  Acted out formation of Lake Champlain, learned about Native Americans who lived here, and are now writing historical fiction narratives

•   Wonder 5^th grade working with Flynn to: create nonfiction scripts about planets & reenacting American Revolution scenes

•   Infinity 5^th grade created radio plays about Constellation Myths

•   Kaleidoscope 1^st grade started a plant unit—growing and observing bean seeds and plants

•   Middle School teams preparing poetry slam series with help from Flynn

•   7^th & 8^th grade Spanish students are creating either stop motion films or movie trailers in various genres

•   Team Dreams 2^nd graders celebrated their Opinion Writing with an author share for families

•   Thanks to Dan Boomhower (long term sub for Diana Burritt) for keeping students singing, laughing and learning!  Diana will return April 27^th

•   SCS Band and Chorus—spring concert season will be underway in May!

•   Enterprise & Endeavor 4^th graders shared their informational reports on famous Vermonters

•   Ms. Nakleh’s class has been learning about ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’

•   Shannon Baird’s 2^nd grade hosted a month of giving back to our community.  Participated in ‘The Big Change Round Up’ and provided a meal at ANew Place in Burlington.

•   Treehouse Kindergarten is using a great online portfolio program to provide easy access for parents to view class activities and student work

•   Library—32 popular books are facing off during March Madness—check the bracket on the SCS library homepage or in the library

Mark your calendars

April 17-May 1   Shelburne Community Days--Good Comida Mother's Day Treat Sale

May                  Walk to school every Wednesday--meet at The Town Green

May 12             Teacher & Staff Appreciation Lunch

May 15             Red Wagon Plants distribution

May 26             Jog-a-thon (May 27th rain date)

May 30             Shelburne Community Days--Furniture Sale at Burlington Bedrooms

June 22             Shelburne Community Night at the Lake Monsters

Thanks to:

Shannon Baird and Sherry Senior for the beautiful bulletin board

Kim Schmitt and Valerie Richardson for coordinating Dynamic Dates

Everyone who attended the PTO Spring Grants meeting

A Great Week!

Firefly First Grade has had a great week!  We have been continuing our writing about our collections during Writer's Workshop.  Today we wrote about our "booby prizes".  Yes... that is part of the first grade curriculum!  We learned several new games for our Math Workstations that will help support our learning about numbers greater than one hundred.   We also had a fun time playing "Sparkle" to practice our trick words.
I hope everyone has a terrific weekend.  Warmer weather is supposed to be on its way!
:)Deb

Cirque Mechanics: Pedal Punk!

We began a new unit in Math this week that focuses on numbers to one hundred and beyond.  Today we made estimations about a big pile of craft sticks and then used efficient ways to count them.  We revisited our estimates after they were counted to see which estimate was closest and spent time justifying how we know that.
Our Opinion Writing Unit is going well.  Everyone is excited to write about their favorite piece in their collections.  We have been learning more about how to write strong opinion pieces and how to explain judgments in convincing ways.
We will be going to the Flynn on Monday, May 11th to see "Cirque Mechanics: Pedal Punk!"  Each classroom has three extra tickets for this show.  If you would like to join us, please send me an email and let me know.  It will be first come first serve!
Have a super weekend!
:)Deb

Hands On Nature

It was great to meet with everyone for conferences and celebrate your child's accomplishments this year!  It is hard to believe that Spring is already upon us and your children will soon be second graders!
We spent some time sharing our collections and beginning our Opinion Writing Unit this week.  I was amazed by all the interesting collections that came in to school.  It was a lot of fun to watch each child share with great pride about his/her collection.  We have used the collections to launch our writing unit.  We have talked about judging the items in our collections fairly and are busy choosing our favorites to write about.  We are working hard to remember to include the reasons for choosing our favorites.
A huge thank you to Brian Fina, Kim Price and Jenn Prada for a wonderful Hands On Nature lesson about deer today.  We watched a puppet show, spent some time looking at different animal parts and watched a slide show.  It was great learning for everyone.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
:)Deb

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Spring Conferences

Thank you to all of you who have sent in collections with your children this week.  We will begin sharing the collections during the upcoming week and will be using them as inspiration for our upcoming opinion writing unit.
We have been working with joining (addition) and separating (subtraction)  problems in math this week and have also been introduced to a couple new math games that can be played during our work station time.
This coming Friday will be a Hands On Nature day.  Please make sure your child dresses appropriately to go outside during this time.  The weather can be tricky this time of year.
I look forward to meeting with all of you to celebrate your child's growth on the 24th and 25th during conferences.  Please let me know ahead of time if you are bringing your child so I can shift the conference in a way that allows your child to be an active participant. 
Have a terrific weekend!  Spring is here...I think!
:)Deb

March PTO Minutes

PTO Meeting Minutes– 3-10-15                                                                                                   

Treasurers Report

•  Still finalizing bowl-a-thon #'s, but raised over $3,000!

•  Many fundraisers coming up--dynamic dates, red wagon, hannafords $ (did not receive 1k bonus this year)

•  Fundraising/spending very close,  and we have a good amount in the bank.

Fundraising Update                                                                                                                                                                                             

•  Dynamic Dates - will take place March 9-16 and winners announced on March 17 

•  Red Wagon - packets distributed March 30, orders due back April 10, pick up May 15 (1 week earlier than last year)

•  Good Comida Mother’s Day Treat Sale – flyer distributed April 17^th, orders due back May 1^st, orders picked up May 8^th

•  Shelburne Community Night at the Lake Monsters -- last year (our 1st yr participating) we sold 100 tickets.  This year, we will stick with an end of school/beginning of summer date.  Monday, June 22 is available.  In addition to earning $2.50 for each ticket sold, we can run a 50/50 raffle at the game and keep the profits!  Courtney will try to reserve the 6/22 date.

Mark Your Calendars                                                                                                                   

March 12^th                             Shelburne Community Days – SCS Dine Out Day at La Villa Bistro—take-out orders included!

March 17^th                             Dynamic Dates Drawing

March 25th                          Fundraising Committee meeting--please let Courtney or Randy know if you'd like to join us!

March 30 – April 10^th    Red Wagon Plant Sale

April 8th                               Spring Grants meeting @ 3:15pm.  Please join us to help distribute our money to our teachers!

April 14^th                                PTO Meeting

Help Wanted                                                                                                                                              

•  Help unloading Red Wagon order – Thursday, May 14th (contact – ctharpe25@gmail.com)

•  Help distributing Red Wagon order – Friday, May 15^th between 1 – 6 pm (contact – ctharpe25@gmail.com)

Other Business/Discussion Items                                                                                                         

•  Playground Update--Lisa Williams & Valerie Richardson are happy to talk to anyone about this project if you'd like an update, and also if you'd like to help!  The overall goals are to create a new play structure that is accessible and inclusive with natural elements.  The committee is currently applying for a state grant, and has already raised a substantial amount of money through other various grants and in-kind donations.  Thank you to those on the committee for your continued hard work!

•  End of the Year Fundraisers--Spring fundraisers include dynamic dates, red barn, good comida, jogathon, community days--it's a lot!  Is this a bad thing to have so many fundraisers in a short time?  We'd love feedback in advance of the fundraising committee meeting.  Thoughts from the group:  Very diverse, local things, things we do anyway (plants etc), kid centered (dates, jogathon).  Teacher feedback?  Any objection?  Not in spring, but gift wrap/catalog fundraiser may be too much in fall--a time when teachers are just getting to know the kids.  Don't object to catalog stuff, but don't get really excited about it...Really like the spring things--getting everyone involved.  Bowling went very well.  How about a fall community event?  Courtney is trying to work on something at Bread and Butter Farm (for the past 2 years).  Craft fair teacher discussion--could we go back to having a 'winter carnival'?  2 separate events--winter carnival and craft fair.  Please email Randy or Courtney your thoughts!!

•  Like us on Facebook!

Principals Report                                                                                                                          

•  'Zero the Hero' (aka Chris Danforth) helped k-3 classes celebrate 100th day of school with classroom visits, books, and real world math examples.

•  Congratulations to Tim Buckingham and his music students for a fun night of great music on Monday!  5th grade concert band, 7th/8th grade small ensembles, and Jazz stage band performed.

•  Congratulations to spelling bee marathon winner Lena Kerest.  She and runner up Neva Williams spelled for 70 rounds!

•  Each year, students create valentines to send to our veterans overseas.  This year, SCS received a lovely thank you note from one of the veterans!  Great for the students to hear how much their effort was appreciated!

•  Thank you all for helping make this our most successful book fair ever! (over 3,400 books sold!!)

•  Read Across America--K-5 gathered in the gym on March 4 (wearing costumes, 'cat in the hat' bows, hats and whiskers) to celebrate RAA day and listen to teachers read "Oh the Places You'll Go".   

•  SBAC testing begins next week, and will continue through May.  Please ask if you have any questions about this new test!

A quick peek at what's happening around SCS...                                                                                           

Winton House (6-8)--Capped off a great February with an awesome day of ice skating at Cairns Arena!

5th grade SLC's 2nd social of the year will raise $ to construct picnic tables for playground and buy blankets for COTS

Kelsh (music)--shared video of Alpha 6th grade using Orff instruments (funded by PTO grant!)

Buckingham (music)--SCS Band Winter Concert was a great success!  Cabaret night is April 10--performances, food, silent auction

Treehouse (K)--Preparing for a trip to the Flynn to hear the VSO!  Studying science of musical instruments, math patterns of music.

Davenport (5)--Studying Abraham Lincoln's leadership and life.  Writing short responses and long projects citing multiple sources.

Kaleidoscope (1)--Reading the new Red Clover books and doing projects to go along with them!

Southworth (6-8)--8th graders researching topics of the 20's & 30's, 7th--researching famous explorers, 6th--biomes

Garvey/Niles (2)-- 3 Flynn wkshps:  day/night, Red Clover books, book character opinions. Next topic--place value in math!

Team Dreams (2)--Prepping for upcoming author share.  Opinion writing unit.  Loved our sugaring field trip to Shelburne Farms!

Kindergarten--All 5 classes completed their sea creature unit.  Visited all classrooms, sharing reports and artwork.

Art--Select K-8 artwork is displayed at the Umall through the end of March--check it out!

Wonder (5)--Flynn workshops include: short play involving the planets; Scenes of causes of the American Revolution

West (3)--Participating in 'Trout in the Classroom'--raising eggs to the parr stage, then releasing them locally in May.

Believe (3)--Month of inquiry and investigation.  Forces and Motion experiments; theories about connections between mult & div

Student council & LEAD (6-8)--while at VAMLE conference, students worked on leadership skills and school action plan for change

Rachel Petraska--(5-8 guidance) 8th grade just finished 4-session suicide prevention curriculum.

Burritt (music)--k/1 creating 'good food groove'; 2nd creating melodies using frets on guitar; 3rd learning the recorder; 4th collaborative unit on Vermont history; 5th creating rhythm patterns to perform in groups of 4

Endeavor (4)--Learning history of town meeting day!  Even held their own town meeting, debating issues and using a voice vote.

Thank you to:                                                                                                                                                                                                               

•  Everyone who helped with the Get out the Vote Calls