Hands On Nature

This week Kim Pryce, Anna's mother, came in to share about Israeli culture with us.  She talked about Jerusalem, and shared about their family's visit to Israel.  We all enjoyed a feast of falafel, hummus, Israeli salad and pita chips.  Many thanks to Kim for teaching us more about different cultures.
Ben created a terrific Powerpoint presentation about the history of Football and shared it with our class today.  We learned about how Football originated from Rugby.  We also learned how it has developed over the years and the rules of the game.  Way to go, Ben!
We are continuing to learn about two and three dimensional shapes in math.  We have been learning about faces, vertices and edges, and have been sorting shapes by attributes.
Today, we had another "Mix-It Up" Day with our Middle School partners.  We visited the Winton Team and made Valentines for Vets with our eighth grade buddies.  It was a fun way to end our week!
Have a great weekend and enjoy the snow!
:)Deb

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Cultural Geography

This week we moved into a Geometry Unit in Math.  We have been learning about defining attributes and working toward using more precise math language to describe the different shapes we are working with.  We have been focusing on hexagons, rectangles, squares, trapezoids and rhombuses.
We have continued learning about non-fiction text features during our Reader's Workshop.  We have been creating non-fiction text feature books which provide an example of each feature and its purpose.  Everyone has done a terrific job creating these books.  These books will be put in portfolios that will come home at the end of the school year.  We have also continued our non-fiction study in Writer's Workshop.  We continue to work hard on our expert books and are learning more about how authors write informational text every day.
As part of our Cultural Geography Unit, Reese's Mom visited our classroom this morning to share a book that was written about Reese's ancestors and their journey to America long ago.  This story was about a couple of Reese's relatives who were brothers and came to America at different times.  Somehow, they both ended up in Vermont working on farms a mile from each other.  They spent 15 months working on these farms before they realized they were living a mile apart.  What an amazing story this was!  We look forward to having other families share about their culture with our class.
Have a terrific weekend!
:)Deb

January PTO Minutes

PTO MINUTES – 1/13/2015

Mark Your Calendars                                                                                                              

1/24 – Shelburne Community Days @ Chef Contos.  She will donate 10% of sales from that Saturday to PTO!

1/30 – International Potluck Dinner.  (This year will include activities with area exchange students!)

2/6 – SCS Bowl-a-thon at Champlain Lanes ($20 ticket includes bowling, shoes, dinner and raffle ticket.  4 tix for $70)

2/10 – PTO Meeting 6pm

Help Wanted                                                                                                                           

•  International Potluck Dinner – 11/30--Set up, clean-up, help during.  Contact Randy Sweeney:  sweeneyrs@gmail.com

•  Bowl-a-thon – 2/6--silent auction, check-out table, raffle sales, etc.  Contact Courtney Tharpe:  ctharpe25@gmail.com) help with

•  Book Fair in the School Library--2/9-2/13--shifts during school hours and 2 nights. Valerie Richardson:  valerie@estimated.com

Principals Report (compilation of December and January)

•  All students experienced coding during December.  K-2 on ipads, 3-8 learned about writing code in the lab

•  red ribbon week "kindness counts" sponsored by middle school LEAD, student council and 5th gr. leadership council

•  mentoring--we were awarded a Mobius grant, allowing us to increase the mentoring matches from 17 to 25!

•  grand rounds--Join us on the 21st for a presentation on adolescent suicide prevention.  CY has a teen parenting class as well                                                                                                                                                                                

Team Updates--what's happening around SCS?--a quick peek:                                                                                 

•  Wonder-5th--Book club unit using DCF books.  Creating journals.

•  Winton-6-8-- attending Flynn performance of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

•  Holden-6-8--55 students participating in Scripps spelling bee.

•  Journey-K--sea creatures unit--each student chooses & researches a creature, then creates a poster to share

•  PE (Mrs. Olson)--Focusing on Body and Brain connection.  Cross fit warm up; Dancing/music cues.

•  Believe-3--creating and performing adaptive fairy tales--would love to come to a PTO meeting to perform for us!

•  Firefly-1--Studying works of a few authors;  Hosted an authors tea.

•  Holden-6-8--Hosted a team breakfast for parents & students, then ice skating at Leddy Park.  Also constructed  speghetti/marshmallow towers

•  Music (Buckingham)--Preparing for Cabaret Night! (Would love parent help during this planning phase).  15 students participated in Low Brass workshop.  Winter band concert is March 9.

•  Guidance--focus on mental and emotional health--how to we know when we need to get help for our friends--who can help us, where do we go?

•  Team Dreams--walking field trip to Shelburne Museum the day before vacation--visited exhibit, made jewelry out of clay.  Currently studying changes in the sky. 

•  Teachers would like to thank the PTO for Fall Grant support and for a successful craft fair!

Fundraising Update                                                                                                                

•  Shelburne Community Days –$513.40 raised at Flying Pig; $112 raised with Cucina Antica Half Baked Pizza Sale

•  Holiday Fair - $1,100 in table $$ which is the highest ever!

•  Used Book Sale – we made $178.50 and then donated the remaining books to the Pierson Library

•  SCS Bowl-a-thon --Flyer is out! Awesome list of auction and raffle items.  Good Comida selling desserts;  Dinner by Marcos.

•  Shop Amazon -- due to VT tax law, this program is no longer available to us.

•  Dynamic Dates -- Flyers will go out on Friday March 9 (paper and electronic), and are due back on 16th. 

Fund Spending Update                                                                                                           

•  Visiting Artist Program--Sally Stevens, first grade teacher, shared history and highlights of the Flynn Words Come Alive! Artist in residence program.  2012/2013:  8 teachers participated in the program.  Each team of teachers had one planning session with a Flynn artist to identify a topic to teach (fractions, red clover books, grammar etc.), then the artist came into the classroom 4 times to work with the students on that topic!  A Flynn grant covered $2,500, PTO contributed $2,650 (in addition to paying for musician Jon Gailmore).  2013/2014:  14 teachers participated (including all 5th grade teachers) with the grant covering $2,500 and PTO $4,000 (no Jon Gailmore).  2014/2015:  14 teachers would like to participate, but we did not receive the grant!  PTO promised $3,000 and the Flynn gave $1,250 (half the grant).  Sally asked PTO for $1,250 more.  Unanimously approved by those present tonight!  "This program is impacting lots of kids in our school in a very cool way!

•  Fall Grants - $5,666.30 awarded to teachers/staff! (books for classrooms, knives for kitchen, 2 sewing machines, interactive e-books, Starfall subscription, Typing club subscription, piano accompanist for winter concert, Flynn workshops for middle school)

Other Business/Discussion Items                                                                                             

•  Holiday Fair -- Entering brought through main entrance worked well.  Due to great turnout, parking was a big issue--especially people parking in fire zones.  Next year we will prohibit sale and/or use of guns (marshmallow, nerf and other) at all booths (game and craft).  Seems like more of a carnival than a craft fair--does this work?  Shall we hold a carnival separate from craft fair?  Thoughts on adult craft tables?  Ok if we have space?  After the deadline for tables, open it up to teachers and adults?  What are our expectations about distribution of table profits--$ to teams, charity, ?  **A small Holiday Fair Planning Committee will discuss these issues and report back to PTO before the end of the year.**  Interested?  Contact Randy or Courtney.

•  SCS App--Steve Trombley, SCS parent, developed an iPhone app (android to come) to be used by the school--weather, lunch menu, school calendar, school news--everything in one place!  Can build out sections to include more information.  Has the capability to hold school directory.  There was much discussion about the privacy and safety of including this information.  Directory content would not be on the app in the App Store, but would be downloaded to the app after the buyer proves (with 4 pieces of required info) that they are a parent at SCS.  Information would only be included with parent permission.   App will be rolled out without the student directory, but with the option for families to enter their own information to share.  Steve and Randy will work on an email to send to all parents advertising and explaining the app.  Steve has generously offered all proceeds from the sale of the app to support the PTO!

•  SCS PR--wouldn't it be great if we could share/highlight some of our great programs here at SCS with the community?  The Shelburne News welcomes articles, so if anyone is ever interested in writing an article about the awesome things going on in your child's classroom and beyond, please talk to a teacher and go for it!!

•  Winter Gear Drive--Please continue to bring in donations of winter gear--all sizes, anything to keep folks warm!

A big Thank You to:                                                                                                                            

•  Everyone who dined at the Open Arms Cafe and supported Shelburne Community Days!

•  Everyone who helped Jen and Meagan with the Fall Fundraiser distribution!

•  Sherry Senior and Shannon Baird for the beautiful Holiday Fair bulletin board!

•  Dawn Fragola, Valerie Richardson and Sherry Senior for putting together a very successful Holiday Fair! 

•  Everyone who helped set-up on Friday and clean-up on Saturday at the Holiday Fair!

•  Dave Kelly, Bob Miller, Randy Mushtare and the rest of the custodial staff for help setting up and cleaning up the Holiday Fair!

•  Lori Roberts who continues to produce the beautiful Shelburne Community Day Flyers & Ads to place in the newspaper!

•  Everyone who has volunteered and is here tonight!

                                                                       

Learning About Informational Text!

This week we have been learning about non-fiction writing. We are learning about non-fiction text features and how they help us understand non-fiction text.  We are also learning how to write about things we are experts at. We have finished up assessments and have moved into new reading groups during our Reader's Workshop. These groups will be reading non-fiction texts for the several weeks and will be practicing strategies we can use to help us better understand informational text.
We are also starting up our Cultural Geography unit. During this unit we will be learning about how other cultures influence our daily lives. I have a few families who have volunteered to come in and share about their family culture, but I am still looking for more.  If you would like to come in and share, please let me know.  Every presentation will add to our learning about Cultural Geography. I also encourage everyone to attend the International Potluck Dinner on January 30th at our school.  This event ties in nicely with our Cultural Geography unit.
We have been learning about Rockhopper and King penguins during math this week.  We are using what we are learning about them to practice different kinds of measurement.
We are continuing our weekly lessons with our Guidance Counselor, Katie Tyler. During this time students are learning how to become flexible thinkers, both socially and emotionally.
Progress reports will be coming home next Friday, January 23rd.  This year's progress report is different than in the past and will include an explanation of standards based learning and reporting.  If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me.
I hope everyone has a fun and relaxing 3 day weekend!
:)Deb

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Hope you had a wonderful holiday break.  We have had a busy week back, filled with some exciting new things.  Our Guidance Counselor, Katie Tyler has begun a series of lessons with us to help us grow emotionally and socially.  Peter Nevin, an Speech Language Pathologist at SCS, has continued to teach our class about story markers.  This is a terrific program that helps children develop stronger comprehension skills when reading.  We were also very busy preparing for our Publishing Party.  Yesterday,  we shared our stories with our first grade peers.  This was good practice for today's Publishing Party.
Many thanks to everyone who attended this event.  It was a wonderful opportunity for your children to share their writing masterpieces and feel valued as writers.  Please enjoy the pictures below from our Publishing Party.
We have spent a lot of time doing assessments this week to prepare for progress reports.  Everyone has done their best work on these, but may be a little more tired when they get home.  We hope to be done with these assessments by the end of next week. 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

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