Newsletters

May 29, 2025

This is the time of the year when I am blown away by the academic, social and emotional growth that our classmates have attained!  To watch them flourish into confident readers practicing their lines for the 1st grade plays and seem them show empathy for their school community really makes me emotional.  We have started to complete some end of the year assessments.  Some children have completed the “trick” word test which comprises 93 words!  These words are frequently found in our reading materials.  We have completed our measuring lessons and telling time to the hour and half hour.  We have only one lesson left that leads into 2nd grade math and it is all naming and counting mixed groups of coins.  Any time using real money is helpful!  We had a great time meeting and spending time with our U-32 Book Buddies.  They prepared a wonderful morning for us with time to chat and meet one another, a snack, time to read the books that they made for us and games!  We played duck, duck goose and tag games.  We returned to school for the dress rehearsal for Winnie the Pooh!  We all thought about what it feels like to be an actor and prepare for a show.

We had fun learning about using binoculars to see birds and other animals up on the forest trees.  We also enjoyed using them to see our friends close up!

May 9, 2025

Please do tick checks each night!  They are certainly plentiful this spring and we have had several from the school areas.

Rain, rain, GO AWAY.  We have been able to get outside a couple times this week for morning snack recess and an hour for ECO but the weather sure has put a damper on our fresh air intake.  We will work really hard to get out as much as possible during sunny weather next week.  Please wear your outdoor clothing for Thursdays.  This week we weeded our garden bed and the herbs we planted last year are doing really well.  The weeds also thrived but we got them mostly out.  This is a very exciting time of year in 1st grade.  Children are blossoming into independent readers, writers and thinkers.  We are learning so much about birds, changes of seasons, tick safety and how to prepare for weather events.  In math we finished a unit on adding 2 two digit numbers and are now working with shapes.  We are learning all about the attributes of shapes and how to classify them by flat (2D) and solid (3D).  We will use words like angles, vertices, sides, edges, faces and describe “mystery shapes” in game forms.  This unit relies on using shapes to create new shapes (like 2 triangles can make a square and 2 trapezoids can make a hexagon).  

We got to appreciate Sabrina for making us wonderfully yummy lunches and Kristi for everything that she does every single day to make Rumney a successful school for staff and students!  The kids all loved getting into the gym to surprise them both!  And thank you to the PTO for spoiling us teachers this week!  It is so nice to feel your support.

March 25, 2025

March is always an interesting time in Vermont.  We are joyful for sugaring at Rumney and time in the outdoor classroom to see all the changes that this muddy and warm season brings.  We went to the sugar house for the first two ECO times after vacation and this week we all were so excited to get back into the outdoor classroom.  Children had missed their cooking, gathering, hiding, sneaking and capturing areas.  Lately they have had fun working together to “avoid” another group by making tactical decisions about where to move on the snowy paths.  It brings me back to the game capture the flag that I played in the woods at their age at East Montpelier Elementary School.  Working as a team to get from one place to another is magical and exhilarating.  We learned many new math games that are designed to help us add and subtract 2 digit numbers.  This experience begins with first adding numbers that are on the decade (20+70, 30+40, etc.)  This allows us to understand that knowing 2+5=7 helps us know that 20 (2 tens) plus 50 (5 tens) is 70 (7 tens).  We use the “say ten” way (75 is 7 tens, 5 ones) in order to really understand that the place of the number helps create the value.  This week we used that skill to add numbers and some are even able to do this mentally.  We will continue to refine this skill by adding the tens numbers and then the ones as well.  We use a 0-100 number grid to move up and down (addition and subtraction by 10’s) and right and left (adding and subtracting 1’s).  

We are also writing LOTS of sentences- mostly about birds.  The focus of sentence writing is capitals at the beginning of the sentence, spacing and formation, punctuation and sentences that make sense and give meaning.  You will receive a 2 sided bird ID poster coming home.  Several times each day we visit one of these sites Cornell Bird Lab Live Cam or Big Bear Bald Eagle Live Cam.  Enjoy all of the information that is hopefully coming home.  So far we have learned about the Robins (VT’s first sign of spring) and The Red Winged Black Birds. 

Thank you to Ali's grandma for helping her make these adorable chickens with a treat inside!

Sugaring in March.  We went when the sap wasn't always flowing- but we had a great time.  A huge thank you to Mrs. Kalat who was a great help by coming with us 2 weeks in a row!

How lucky are these children to have a sugar house across the street from their school?  Spring makes us all happy.  The snow predicted in late March- not so much!

February 21, 2025

February brought us more snow and SNOW days.  We finally got into the outdoor classroom during the last week before vacation!  The snow was soooooo deep.  It really required teamwork to move about with all the powder but we worked together and made some nice trails.  We learned about how gravity can pull down snow and settle it over time.  Our math unit has moved into the concept of place value.  For example, the number 327 is made of 300+20+7.  The digits have a special value depending on the place they occur in the number.  Children are learning this valuable skill to use that information to add and subtract larger numbers in upcoming units.  We play many partner games to practice this skill.  We write numbers daily in our news using the following terms.

Numeral= 64

Expanded form is 64=60+4

Unit form is 6 tens 4 ones

Word form is Sixty-four

Tens and ones notation  lllll l  …. The lines represent 10 and the dots 1.

We continue to read short and longer passages each day.  We are working on vowel teams.  For long a (ai as  in bait and ay as in play)  For long e (ee as in jeep, ea as in eat and ey as in key)  For long o (oa as in boat, oe as in toe and ow as in snow)  We have covered these trick words in unit 10:  any, many, how, now, down, out, about and our. 

Thank you to Maverick's Grammy Mary for the warm and cozy neck warmers!  We love them!

The students earned a choose your own schedule day.  They brainstormed 10 activities and got to manage their own time during 2 blocks on Friday.  Having student choice is very important and increases intrinsic motivation in all learners!

Phonics and math on the computers, painting, creating with clay, building challenges and 3D shapes were among the choices on choose your own schedule day!

January 31, 2025

CIRCUS!!  We are so thankful to Rumney School and The Rumney PTO for helping us all learn and grow with the circus residency.  What a privilege to watch these young performers persevere and try things that are hard and make adjustments for success.  We also enjoyed LOTS of reading.  Reading with partners, in small groups and even reading from classmates to the class out of chapter books!  We completed our first math book and move on to volume 2 and into math that involved understanding place value.  So, in the number 327, that means 300+20+7.  Each digit has a value so a 3 in the hundreds place is different than a 3 in the tens place.  We will learn to add and subtract using place value strategies.

January has given us lots of snow to slide it.  Enjoying a nice chapter book read aloud!

A big thank you to our faviorite BIG dog, Ms. Kristi!  We love that you will do these things with us and for us.  Look at those cute dogs!  "who let the dogs out?"

January 24, 2025

We got back in the swing of things after a 4 day weekend.  We completed our unit all about reading and creating pictographs and comparing data based on how many more or fewer were in the graphs.  As we add more skills to phonics, it is important to continue practicing our other skills.  We have now covered CVC (cat, sit) words, digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ph, ck), blends (2 letters and each make a sound like in slot, grit), FLSZ words (cuff, hill, mess, buzz), and glued sounds (-am,-an,-all,-ng,-nk).  We are now learning about R controlled vowels which have ar, or, er, ir, ur.  Our trick words for this unit are:  say, says, see, between, each.  These will allow us to learn about vowel teams that show in words like (beam, teen) where the 2 vowels make one long vowel sound.  We are thrilled and enjoying our circus time very much!

When your students find out it's your birthday and request a special snack!

And...they convince you that they should make Dish of Dirt from scratch.  We had great fun and it made getting older a bit easier.

Circus practice has begun!  The 1st graders are so excited and ready for new and challenging skill acquisition.  They watched their classmate "balance" a ladder on his chin!  So fun!!

We found deer and rabbit tracks.  The rabbit tracks looked like an adult rabbit with a smaller rabbit.  This allowed us to think about what features Vermont animals have in order to survive the below zero nights safely and how they find food during the winter months.

We are reading The Kingdom of Wrenly chaper book series.  The above photo shows a group of classmates babysitting the dragon eggs during forest classroom.  There were 80,000 and they were in all sorts of colors.  The Red Dragon just hatched during the chapter book.  Reading is so inspiring and creates such lovely moments of acting out fictional scenarios.

January 10, 2025

This week’s focus was assessments to gear future instruction and give clear data for report cards.  To say I was proud of all the hard work, rigor and determination would be an understatement.  Each student read our 93 trick word list for 1st grade.  We have covered 47 thus far, but most students knew even more than that.  We continue to get new words each week like this week’s words:  could, would, should.  Since the ending chunk is not easy to remember we use a saying “oh you lucky dog” (ould) to help us learn the ending chunk as it is new and unfamiliar.  These words are often found in the books that we read and when we write them we can always look up at the posters in class to assist.  We also administered the Acadience Reading tests.  This series had nonsense word fluency (nos, vim, puz) in one minute.  For students that are still learning the sounds or working on fluent (quick) recall of the sounds this can be challenging.  This test is also the first time that we are timed in reading a passage of sentences.  There is also sometimes a retelling portion if they have read enough of the passage in one minute.  A major focus for the remaining months of first grade will be reading these sounds in our heads and then saying them aloud as we read.  In math, we completed the iReady diagnostic test once again.  This test gleans what sections of math that students are secure in and the areas to continue working on.  We had 2 days of indoor recess and missed our ECO time on Thursday due to the wind chill so that was unfortunate for everyone!  I am looking forward to sunshine and milder winds for our outdoor fun soon! 

January 3, 2025

Happy New Year!  We spent this 2 day week getting back into the routine of school and connecting about how our holiday break was for everyone.  January allows us time to give assessments in all areas to celebrate growth from the first semester of the school year.  The children were ready to learn, share with one another and spend time reading, writing and thinking critically about math word problems.  We are embarking on a unit all about comparing data in math, we begin unit 8 of Fundations with a focus on blends and these trick words:  could, would, should, her, over, number.  This will be a formal introduction to R controlled vowels (er,ir,ur,or,ar).   We are learning about winter weather like blizzards and will do both informational and opinion writing about all things snow.

The week before a holiday break is always a joyous marathon!  We enjoyed making gifts for giving with the 2nd graders early in the week.  We are so thankful for Ms. Kalat's help! We enjoyed each day of spirit week and culminated with a fun Cozy day with cookie decorating.  I am grateful for all the families that support us every single day.  Please enjoy time with family and friends and I am super excited to see everyone when we return in January 2025!

December 13, 2024

School Spirit Week!

Student Council invites everyone to join in for some easy, low pressure fun!

Monday: Rumney Day - Rumney colors or clothes

Tuesday: Vermont day - Wear anything that represents Vermont: green, flannel, camo, a team jersey, etc.

Wednesday: Hat day - Wear a hat of your choice

Thursday: Black and white day - Wear just black and white

Friday: Pajama/comfy day - Wear pj’s or comfy cloth

For a short week, we sure got busy!  We are working very hard to keep our schedule as normal as possible during this exciting time of the year.  We are learning so many cool things about each other as we read about family traditions.  We all have a special spin on many “old favorites”.  We created a large class advent calendar and learned ab out the origin of this in America.  We also have a countdown to vacation going on just to keep us focused.  We are continuing with our work of glued sounds and this week we learned -ank, -ink, -onk and -unk.  Our trick words have been:  put and two.  This brought about a robust conversation about words that sound the same, have different meanings and spellings like:  two, too and to.  Our reading has served us VERY well as we move into a math unit all about word problems.  These often have trick words and they are pointing that out all the time.  Our word problems are solved by remembering that all equations have a part, part and a whole.  For example, in this problem, we are solving for the part. 

There were 15 birds in a tree.  Some flew away.  Now there are 7.  How many birds flew away?  

We use a number bond like below. Children then can put the total in the top box and they know the other number is a part.  Therefore the related addition equation becomes  7 + ____ = 15.  They then use a number of strategies to solve for the missing part.  They know this as part, part, whole thinking. 

We had to be flexible thinkers during ECO on Thursday.  The variable wind gusts made it too dangerous to stay beneath the forest canopy.  We dug with shovels instead.  No one complained even though they were disappointed.  Forest safety is a life long skill to be sure you practice!!

Our science unit all about light taught us that some items are opaque (not see through), translucent (somewhat see through) and transparent (see through).  We got to create our own stained glass art on the windows during science time.

December 6, 2024

How can it possibly be December of 1st grade already?!  A week off can sometimes be tough on students and the idea of getting back in the swing of routines. Not this time- these learners came back refreshed and energized to tackle a whole new phonics unit focusing on words that have the glued sounds -ing,-ong,-ang,-ung.  They are working this week on the trick words when the y at the end says the long /i/ sound like:  try, by, my, why.  The hardest part is making sure that they apply these rules to their reading of words and writing.  When it comes to writing, they always have reminders all around and I will prompt them to look and double check their spelling of covered parts of words as well as trick words.  We are discovering how valuable the trick words are as seen in their math word problems and all over books!  What a gift to watch them read!

In math we did a one day exploration where we solved a summer camp grouping task.  Now we are working on math word problems with missing addends.  For example:  There were 7 birds at the feeder.  More birds came and now there are 12 birds.  How many birds came?  This involves them understanding that the equation is 7 + ? = 12.  We start at 7 on a number line and count up the missing amount until we reach 12.  We do this by first making a friendly 10 (with a jump of 3 from 7) and then another jump of 2 from 10 to 12.  So, the distance or amount from 7 to 12 is 5.  5 birds joined the feeder.

We are working on a mini unit all about family traditions.  I will send home a writing assignment on Friday that should come back by Wednesday the following week.  This is a chance for you and your student to sit down and think about all the traditions that you enjoy this time of year.  This can be anything from making special food together (fudge, etc.), visiting lighting ceremonies or decorating your home.  The conversation about traditions seems to keep the focus on family and time together and less on “wanting” things during this giving season.

Let it Snow!  Winter in the outdoor classroom is magical!  We used my son's old snowman kit to decorate our snowperson.  Lots of cooperation and negotiations were part of the process.

Peek-a-boo.  The snow makes for great little hiding spots under the spruces.

We learned that the Beech trees are the last to drop their leaves and often it doesn't happen until the buds emerge in the spring.  Building a snowperson with friends is fun!  Snow swinging.

Here's the gang with our snowman.  It made me smile to see them use what my boys loved so much.  

November 22, 2024

I wish you all a restful and joyous Thanksgiving week off!  We worked very hard this week to complete Unit 6 in Fundations and lesson 10 in math.  We will review the trick words when we come back and also will brush up on doubles and near doubles in math.  Your child is bringing home either a yellow index card with a few trick words to practice or the entire sheet of 93 words to look at and practice if they did not miss any that we have covered to date!  Hang these in a place where you will read them a couple times a day.  Using them in a sentence will help with acquiring these new words.

A wonderful Thanksgiving luncheon.  Spending time together is always special!

Math games (doubles and doubles plus one).  We use a doubles fact like 7+7=14 to help us quickly solve 7+8 (7+7+1).  We will also do doubles minus one (4+5 is like 5+5=10 minus 1 is 9).  In science we are learning all about light and sound.  The rulers were used to make a sound effect that matched a comic strip bouncing ball.  We are learning about the words opaque, translucent and transparent as part of our light discussions.

Even with the rain on Thursday, we bundled up and enjoyed a conversation about tree maintanence pick up.  A brand new space was quickly designed by moving a bench and working where Joe had pushed back a big pile of fallen trees.  Doubles on the swing was a hoot!  Children work collaboratively in order to break sticks in half and clear the trails.

November 15, 2024

We enjoyed getting back together after the long weekend!  As always I really enjoy meeting with families to discuss all the wonderful growth that is happening in 1st grade!  Thank you for taking the time to meet and hear all about our curriculum.  This week we practiced the words who, what, where, when (? words).  These words are very important to know how to read and also are used when we write our wonderments on paper.  We continue with marking up plural words and discussed the difference between words like fox and socks.  This can be tricky to hear and use appropriately.  In math we are making tens to help us with both addition and subtraction.  The ability to know mental math is going to be a huge building block.  In science we finished our Animal Superpower lessons and are beginning a brand new topic all about Lights and Sounds.  Ask your child about our “pumpkin Jack” experiment too.  We are having so much fun with our adopted cow Bonnie.  Thanks for voting for her or Bonfire.  Bonfire came in the top 9 and Bonnie was 33rd out of 81 cows.  Look at the photos to see her 1 month stats.  She grew 3 inches and gained 53 pounds in one month!  WOW! 

As it turns out our maintenance person, Joe,  took down 4 of the marked trees with his tractor (not the wind!) It is a bit of a mess right now.  We still love exploring the outdoor classroom every Thursday.  He will cut down the rest soon.

November 8, 2024

This week we practiced the words were and are.  Please find a central spot to post our trick words and read them a few times daily.  The ability to read them fluently is so important.  We are learning about plurals.  We learned that when we make “more than one” we add an -s (and eventually -es).  We also learned that in the word dogs, the plural s sounds like /z/ and in cats, the s says /s/.  When we talk about plural words, we think about the base word “dog” in dogs in order to understand that the ending is a suffix.  This will lay the foundation for other suffixes as they grow.  In math we learned that making numbers friendly to add is easier.  For example, thinking about 9+7 is easier if you think about breaking the 7 into 1+6 then the 9 can add to the 1 and now it is more like 10+6 which we can do mentally much easier.  In science, we are finishing a unit all about animal superpowers with a creation of our own camouflage moth We will move into more inquiry lessons too!  We want to shout out a huge THANK YOU to Ali’s grandparents for making us our own “flying launchers” that we used while at ECHO. 

Part of outdoor learning is helping to assess trees that should be cut down.  We discussed animal habitat in dead standing trees that were safe and how some trees can pose a danger in our forest classroom if we don't cut them down.  We are marking those that will be cut down soon.  There were also upgrades to the outdoor kitchen with hooks that we can hang our tools on so they stay off the ground and won't be covered in the falling leaves and snow.  We also are learning how to use the first aid kit to help put on bandaids for minor abrasions.

Rumney's Plow- Austin Plowers!  Thanks to Mike Mason for bringing it by to share with us!

Ali shared some styling glasses!  Breakfast reminds me of an old school diner in the morning.

November 1, 2024

ECO teaches us about seasons, how to move safely in the forest, how to be a steward of the land, skills like trimming trees carefully with clippers, how mixing forest pieces (bark) can look like real food, how to use sticks safely and a lot of creative play!

Halloween!  We got a letter back from Senora Donovan and she sent us Dia de los Muertos coloring pages to remind us about that holiday.  We miss her so much and LOVED her letter!

Look at this crew!  They had so much fun and we built school community while enjoying time with our parents and loved ones and all the older students.

Math games using partners to 10 or doubles to make 3 added problems easier.  3+4+6= can be made easier by adding 4+6 to equal 10 and then you know 10 and some more (3) would be 13.  Doubles are a number plus itself.  We know them up to 5+5 well so practice 6+6 to 9+9 as much as you can!

This inquiry science activity taught us that some birds have small beaks to pick up seeds and birds like ducks can scoop more, but it is hard to get the seeds amongst the rocks with that bigger duck bill.  They cooperated and learned a great deal about animal superpowers.

October 25, 2024,

Our trip to the ECHO museum on the Burlington waterfront was simply incredible!  The fall weather and gorgeous view of the lake was a nice spot for an outdoor lunch.  We enjoyed an inquiry science challenge that replicated butterflies flying all the way from Vermont to Mexico.  Children worked in pairs to use materials to “launch” the plastic butterflies.  Using the design process they answered a question, made a plan, designed, tested, improved and continued testing the device to see how far they could get the butterflies to fly.  We then enjoyed some free explore time of the Mo Willems exhibit where characters from his books offered us a chance to wash laundry, move hotdogs, draw characters and so much more.  We loved the 3D movie Tiny Giants experience and that was a first time opportunity for many!  We used our remaining time to explore other science based exhibits in the museum.  Children were engaged, polite and learned a lot.  We are lucky to have such a wonderful resource nearby.  Thank you to the chaperones that were able to join us and there will be other school based chances to come and spend time with these first graders.

Reminders:

• Use Eldred Fall Conferences to sign up for a chance to chat about your child’s progress.

• Thursday, October 31st we will have an all school Halloween parade.  Join us if you can!

• We visit the outdoor ECO classroom on Thursday mornings so please pack clothing accordingly.  

• Please pack a water bottle for your child to access during the school day.

Wanted:

• Old plastic or metal kitchen utensils (spoons, tongs, spatulas), cookie sheets, strainers, pots, etc. (no sharp objects please) These will help us to dig, collect and explore in the garden and the ECO classroom.

October 18, 2024

The rain didn’t stop us from bundling up and taking advantage of the sunny weather at the end of this beautiful week.  We are studying seasonal changes in the garden and the outdoor classroom.  We discussed the BIG wind storm that occurred on Saturday and saw first hand what the wind can do to change the forest floor.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun we all had working together to dig, poke, break and hammer away at the large white pine tree that was dead standing until the storm sent it across the nature trail at the far end of the classroom.  We also have learned about tree safety in the woods during high winds and how to assess if you should play around a tree that could come down.  They have a good sense of the power of a downed tree after witnessing that pine!!  Roman brought us a sunflower to investigate at our science table too!  Thanks Roman!  We cooperated in small groups to create voting posters for the state wide “name a plow truck” contest.  Our name “Big Road Plow” will be among the contestants next week as each class submits their name which will be passed on to the State competition.  The winners get the name put on a plow truck with a special visit to the school is chosen.  In science we are continuing to learn about animal traits AND we learned that our calf is a Brown Swiss named Bonnie.  She was born on September 6, 2024 weighing in at 90 pounds and measuring 31 inches tall.  She was walking within the first hour of her life!

Bonnie the calf has her own bulletin board!

Counting collections of objects with 2 digits using the strategy of making groups of 10 and some extras.  For ex. 53 would be 5 groups of 10 plus 5.

Learning about harvesting tea herbs, observing what happens when a large tree falls in your path.

Careful chopping of rotten logs, making fairy houses, using our eyes and hands to learn about sunflowers and we are drying sage, spearmint and Tulsi tea in our classroom.

October 11, 2024

This week we celebrated a birthday, learned about our Adopt A Cow Farm, completed a math unit all about fact families and completed our phonics focus on digraphs (sh,ch,wh,th,ck).  We also noticed changes in the ECO classroom and learned about the dangers of dead and rotten trees in the forest.  We were able to play about with a downed rotten log learning that when a tree has decay, it is a home for woodpeckers and insects who like to call it home.  Dead standing trees are crucial to the environment but can be dangerous if not taken care of safely!  They are learning to be stewards of the land.

Please use the Phonics homework as a way to practice these skills with your child.  The “trick” words are very important as they appear often in written text.  They are hard to recognize as a part of the word doesn’t follow a typical pattern.  Children need to read these words but can access the words in the classroom as they write the words.  These are 2 very different skills.  Our unit 4 focus is words with bonus letters (f,l,s).  When a one syllable word ends in f,l,s a second f,l,s is added when spelling the word.  This is called a bonus letter.  Examples are:  cuff, miss, pill, call, toss, etc.  This unit’s trick words are:  you, your, they, was, one, said. Any practice reading these words is really helpful.  Use the flashcards that come home and read them to someone daily!

Reminders:

• Wednesday, October 16th is picture day and forms came home Friday.

• Friday, October 18th is our Fall Celebration in the afternoon.

• Tuesday, October 22nd is our trip to ECHO museum.

Decayed trees make for fun chopping!  In science we used animal traits to match baby birds with the adult that was the parent.  Traits were beak shape, feather placement, feet shape, talons, eye shape and overall length of parts (feet, legs, beaks).

Fact family candy corns!  Making syrup in the outdoor classroom- water, leaves and dirt sure mix up nice!

We have been matched to the Daona Farm in Shoreham, Vermont.  We find out next week what kind of cow our calf is and will learn more about farmer Courtney and her family farm.

October 4, 2024

What a week!  Open house was marvelous and I loved seeing all the 1st graders so excited to show you around and for you to see how much they have grown academically, socially and emotionally in one year.  We also got into the outdoor classroom this week and also we were able to check in on our awesome tea project herbs.  There were about 50 wonderful pollinators on the lavender, so we decided to come back later and not risk scaring them away or having anyone get stung by accident.  Children were able to taste the mint and we also smelled the lavender and basil.  Many wonderful herbs to be used as we head into the colder winter months.  We carved out an hour from our schedule to explore outside.  The imagination and appreciation of both nature and each other while outside is something that makes me smile!  There were several critters found under dead logs (centipedes, newts, earthworms and beetles)  Some children were excited to find sooooo much water in our outdoor storage bin to use for making “mud” pies and others treats.  I was less thrilled as I thought it was water tight….oops.

In math we are working on fact families and finding missing numbers from equations.  Some might say we are doing algebra.  Word problems like Mark had 7 leaves, 3 of them are orange and the rest are yellow- how many leaves are yellow.  Problems like this lead us to think about the PART+PART= WHOLE equations.  3 orange leaves plus some yellow leaves (y) is equal to 7 leaves.  So  3 + y = 7.  We also draw pictures to represent the leaves as a math model.

Our writing is really coming along each day.  Every week we are writing a letter to someone special.  This week we wrote to Mr. Mike, our former P.E. teacher.  He will surely love hearing from these kiddos.  We also write about science and many other tasks each week.  Our phonics continues to be all about digraphs (sh,ch,wh,th) and reading words smoothly and fluently.  

We are going to ECHO science museum on Tuesday, Oct. 22nd.  If you are able to drive there and meet us as a chaperone, please let me know by this Wednesday, Oct. 9th so we can plan tickets and payment.

Here’s to gorgeous fall weather!

September 27, 2024

This week had our first real rain and indoor recess and a marvelous ending with glorious fall sunshine and an all school drill.  Let’s just say these first graders were happy to see the large blocks during indoor recess from when they had a block center in kindergarten!!  I was so impressed with the excellent listening skills and concentration that the children displayed during the drill.  We completed our math lesson all about moving up and down on a number path.  The number path is numbers 1-10 laid out in order to allow children to jump forward (addition) and back (subtraction).  We are also really working on holding the largest number in your head and counting on- for example with 2+5 you would hold 5 in your head and count on 2 to get 7.  That is easier than starting at 2 and counting on 5.  This allows quicker mental math.  Children are shown a number path (eventually a number line) for a visual representation of what you are doing mentally.  Any practice counting on and back in their heads when waiting or in the car is helpful!  We continue to work hard with our phonics lessons adding digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound= sh, ch, wh, th (2) and ck)  They are learning that wh is always at the beginning of a word and ck at the end of a word.  These digraphs are added to words that have a vowel in the medial (middle) position (cash, that, which, wish, shot, them, shock, etc.)  Our tricks words are a review of the 27 kindergarten words.  I will be sending home small index cards with words for children to practice reading quickly.  Our science lessons have been about plant superpowers.  Children built umbrellas that would not blow over with a large wind gust.  This was timely as hurricane Helene devastated Florida.  We were able to discuss how trees are designed to be stable in a big storm. They are stable due to roots, a strong trunk and their crowns are not solid like a beach umbrella to allow them to sway in the winds.  This inquiry science unit was so fun and you can see in the pictures how proud they were of their design improvements.

Plant superpowers science umbrellas that won't blow over with a strong wind.  They made alterations to make them withstand the wind.

This week's phonics and math lesson principles.

September 20, 2024

This week was packed with Monarchs, writing and science!  One of our caterpillars that spun a very small chrysalis emerged this week and we were able to release it.  It flew off so fast, we couldn’t get a look to see if it was a male (2 black dots on the bottom wings) or a female (no dots).  Sadly, our other caterpillar spun a more typical sized chrysalis and on day 15 we began to consider that it wasn’t going to emerge successfully.  The chrysalis fell to the bottom of our aquarium and we will determine the best method to bury it.  We had a very rich conversation about life and death in the animal world.  Children wrote about how they felt about both the joy of releasing one and the sadness of the one that died.  They are a very compassionate group of young learners!  Our writing has taken off.  Children are given daily prompts or topics to choose to write about.  We are trying to push our skills beyond leaving spaces, using capitals correctly and ending with punctuation.  We are trying to add details to our sentences to inform the reader.  We even wrote letters to our former classmate Isaac.  We sent him 2 books that we signed and our letters to show him we miss him and for the 1st graders to realize the power of print and sending written messages.  In math, we completed lesson 2 which was all about addition and subtraction.  The children read and created number stories to accompany basic facts.  For example, there were 5 ducks and 3 ducks flew away, how many are left?  They would need to create the equation 5-3=2 and model with basic pictures (like using a circle to represent an object).  We are enjoying a science unit called “Plant Super Powers”.  We are creating models of how we could use what we know about trees and how they withstand wind to help create beach umbrellas that would not blow away with the strong ocean wind.  This inquiry science involves many portions of the scientific process and is collaborative and hands on.  

Working on letters and sounds, watching the Monarch, reading with friends and math games!

Addition and Subtraction Draw and color with partners.  Who will win the number?

Math game cooperation and having breakfast with buddies is the best! Mystery Science comparing which seedlings will grow into which plant?  Is it a pumpkin, geranium or sunflower?

Septtember 14, 2024

We had so much fun at The Tunbridge Fair!!!

We got to pet a goat, bunnies and see a cockerel!

Getting a much needed break for water and a snack.  We saw sheep and the skinny one had just lost their sweater.  We learned that the ox had to cooperate in order to move together through an obstacle course.  Here they are backing  into the starting gates.

We anxiously await the pig races!  Each person got to predict who would win (#1-5)  The winner is... #5!!!!!!

We pet the calf, this young lady was showing her cow and Ms. Eldred has known her for years.  The peacocks were cool!

The old way to cut timber was to use an ax, chisel and 2 person saws.  This is what our school would have looked like!  We would have gone to school with children 1st to 12th grade!  VINS brought us a box turtle to see.

Sometimes you see animals going to the bathroom...oops.

September 8, 2024

The first graders enjoyed a 3 day weekend and a 4 day school week!  We were able to start our formal Fundations (phonics) groups this week with students working on skills at their “just right” level.  We all are reviewing the letter and sounds of letters A-Z as well as remembering our digraphs (ch, sh, wh, ph, th) covered in kindergarten.  Children all completed a screening inventory that allows each group to work on the particular skills they are honing in on.  We have been doing more and more writing each day!  Our focus in kindergarten was to sound spell words and write mostly single words and beginning sentences toward the end of the year.  In first grade, we will emphasize complete sentences with capital letters at the beginning, appropriate spaces between words, ending punctuation and elaboration of details.  We are learning how to pound and tap out sounds that we have learned and to make the best approximations for the sounds that we want to write that we may not have learned (ex- -ing, /ou/) as well as trick words.  In the coming weeks, children will take iReady math assessments on the computer, be given reading assessments by a teacher using Acadience reading and be assessed on all 27 trick words from kindergarten.  This information will allow me to gear their future instruction appropriately.  

In math we completed lesson 1 which was all about partners to 10 (1+9, 2+8, 3+7,etc.) and this week we jump into beginning addition and subtraction facts.  We enjoyed a fun place value game called “race for a flat (100)” which emphasizes that once you have 10 you bundle and once you have ten 10’s you bundle for 100.  The concept that the number 327 is made of 300+20+7 is crucial for young mathematicians.  The 3 in 327 means 300 and the 3 in 37 means 30 and the 3 in 3 simply means 3.  This concept will follow us through first grade.  

This week we will go to the Tundbridge Fair!  I have lived here my entire life and this will be a first time thrill to me and I look forward to the kids getting to have this experience as well.  We hope to get into the garden and check on our Tea Project herbs this week.  I am also hoping to get into the outdoor classroom and am balancing our wildlife visitors (porcupine and bears) with outdoor educational opportunities.  We decided to weed the steps to the playground as well.  Who doesn't like a hand held space to dig weeds??

Community Service Weeding the playground steps!!

September 1, 2024

Dear First Grade Families,

 We had the most amazing first three days of first grade!  We learned names and played games that would allow us to learn more about one another.  We enjoyed a new classroom layout that has a huge reading area, 4 brand new colorful tables and children labeled many of their own supplies with their artwork.  We remembered routines from getting breakfast, using the bathroom to how to use the broom and dustpan for our little messes.  Watching these learners sit down and complete writing tasks independently is a privilege that I get to enjoy.  They have matured so much.  We discussed First Day Jitters and how we all felt coming back to school after our summer vacation.  In math we counted many things as we learned about new materials and reviewed some basic place value as we rolled the 10 sided dice while playing “race for a flat (100)”.  It is exciting to discuss larger numbers while at calendar time.  We have a new job called reader of the day and even got to hear a classmate read to us!  Reading is so amazing in first grade!  We are still in search of more Monarch caterpillars.  I shared that my normal field that usually has several has had 2 mature and one juvenile turkey move in this summer.  We pondered if the turkeys have been enjoying the Monarch caterpillars as a little snack.  We look forward to this amazing metamorphosis each and every fall.  We will watch the entire life cycle for the next couple weeks.  

Each Friday morning I have a team meeting and Ms. Hernandez, one of our special educators, will be present in the room for the drop off time.  She knows the routine and the kiddos will get to know her more too.  I am so proud of how these budding learners have transitioned from home to school.  Each day will get a bit easier and their independence will shine through!

I have attached photos to my newsletters of children that I know had permission to be shown last year.  I will eventually add more once I know.  If you chose to not have photos taken of your child I will not include them in any newsletters.  If you do not see photos of your child and would like to just reach out and I can change that in the school documentation.

I hope time with family will help to relax and rejuvenate your child!  I look forward to seeing them on Tuesday.

Veronica Eldred

From this point below reflects Kindergarten 2023-2024

~ A note from Señora ~

Dear Rumney Families, 

It has been an honor teaching Spanish at Rumney Memorial School for so many years. Working in this community brought me so much joy and I am thankful for this journey. One of the best parts of my job was teaching all the students and watching them grow, learn and take risks to succeed in the language. I will greatly miss the community, especially the children at Rumney. My heart is filled with so many wonderful memories and I will carry that with me on my next professional journey. In August, I will be moving on to Richmond Elementary School where I will be a third and fourth grade classroom teacher in the Spanish Immersion program. I hope the children at Rumney continue to be inspired to learn languages and stay curious about cultures. Below are a couple of suggestions for future language learning at home. Duolingo is a popular online resource and app. Spanish Playground is a website with wonderful ideas for learning Spanish at home and has free printables. Dreaming Spanish offers a variety of immersive videos. Fabulingua  has immersive Spanish stories.  Outschool offers many online tutoring options. You can also post on Front Porch Forum and check out the local library for more language ideas. I live close by in Waterbury and hope to keep in touch with the community. Please feel free to reach out and contact me at my email address below. 

Mil gracias. 

Con mucho cariño, 

Señora Jennifer Donovan

The Last Days of Kindergarten Special Schedule

In honor of the last week of school we will have the following special days:

Monday: (June 10th) Board Game Day-  bring in your favorite board games to share.  Check to be sure all the pieces are accounted for! 

Tuesday: (June 11th)  Puzzle Day/ Rumney Reads Day-  bring in your favorite puzzle to share.  Please check the pieces and label with your name. Ms. Aly has planned a wonderful day of reading Adventures and each child will receive a special book written by guest author Dan Abdo!

Wednesday: (June 12th):   Fun in the Garden!  Get ready to do a scavenger hunt and enjoy our beautiful garden!  Rain date Thursday

Thursday: (June 13th)  Yearbooks and Summer Birthday Celebration.  We will take a special walk and celebrate summer birthdays (Dawson & Phoebe).  

Friday:  (June 14th)  We will attend the 1/2 plays and the 5/6 science fair exhibits!! Kindergarten Celebration with families 2:00-3:00 in the classroom.

Monday:  (June 17th)   Rumney All School Field Day (a.m.) and step up day (p.m)

Tuesday:  (June 18th)  This is a half day for students.  Yearbooks and packing!!

5-25-24

This week we had 3 puppet making sessions with Dan and Barbara from No Strings Marionette Company.  We began by choosing any pollinator that the puppeteers desired and we sketched the basic body parts with Ms. Campbell during an extra art class time.  We then jumped in with Barb and Dan and chose our basic body shape during the first session determining if we wanted it to be realistic or more fantasy styled.  The second and third sessions involved adding details like legs, spottings, body cover and moving parts.  We each also designed a flower to compliment our pollinator as the flower and the pollinators go together well!  This week we also completed the end of the year math assessment on the iReady math platform.  I was so thrilled with the growth that each child made including understanding how to appropriately navigate an assessment on an online platform.  Knowing how to listen more than once if needed and be very diligent and patient while completing it is essential.  They did an excellent job!  

We continue to care for our herb plants and the garden now has several brand new beds.  The old wooden beds had rotten spots here and there and Joe from maintenance used the tractor to completely clean the old out and assemble the new ones to be planted soon.  We are very excited to be able to grow these tea herbs and harvest them next year together.  I am beyond thrilled to be able to stay at Rumney and loop on to 1st grade with this group.  I can’t wait to design our classroom to look brand new and just right for the thriving first graders!!  We have many busy days ahead until the last day of school on June 18th (½ day).

Upcoming dates/reminders:

• Thursday, June 6th- Rumney Fine Arts Night: 5-6pm followed by Student Puppet Performance 6:15-7:15 pm 

• Field day will be held the morning of Monday, June 17.

• Step up day (grades K-5) will be the afternoon of Monday, June 17.  We will chat about how first grade differs from kindergarten!

• Remember to have your children wear or bring sneakers on PE days. Sandals, flip flops, Crocs are fine for recess, but PE requires proper footwear. We have some extras in the clothing closet.

• Our lost and found is overfilled with winter gear. Please come check for your child’s belongings OR to “shop” for next year from our donation closet.

Sketching our basic body shapes with Ms. Campbell really helped when it was time to design each puppet.

Excited artists add, change and modify their puppets just the way they want them to look.

Look at the class in The Times Argus!  So proud!

New garden beds awaiting the passing of the last frost to transplant our tea herb plants.

5-17-24

The overcast weather has been great for “hardening off” our herbs.  Some of our herbs are still very little and fragile and I decided to purchase some that are more robust and had an earlier start in a greenhouse.  This was also a nice lesson in what we can do if our living plants don’t grow as we had hoped (you can always purchase some!)  We will be transplanting Tulsi, Spearmint and Sage when the risk of frost has passed.  If anyone has Lemon Balm or Lavender in their own garden to share we would love that too.  

May brings lots of culminating activities and “show what you knows” for future instruction.  We will begin our iReady Math Diagnostic next week, will continue practicing reading our 27 trick words and working very hard on our puppets for the No Strings Marionette Residency.  Take a look at the pictures from the Jack and the Beanstalk performance that occurred Thursday.  We had an additional art class with Ms. Campbell to sketch our puppets.  We chose to do pollinators and a skit/play about gardens and growing plants.

We are also working on an Eric Carle author study this month.  Ask your child what we have noticed about the way he makes his own illustrations.  You will see our own creations in paint that we will use in an Eric Carle inspired writing project.  He is one of my absolute favorite authors who passed in 2021 but left behind so many amazing books to treasure.

Spring is also a time to celebrate the amazing progress that children have in all areas including social emotional, physical and academics.  Watching these children bud into confident learners and forging friendships is a joy that never gets old.

Come to the Spring Fair! Sat. May 18th 11:00-2:00.  I hope all mothers enjoyed their special gifts and Marigolds.

Foam ship creations made with blocks.  Eric Carle inspired paper.  We made textures with sponges, mashers, carving tools, scrapers and the back of wooden paint brushes.

Sage, Tulsi and Spearmint from the garden center.

Dan and Barbara show us their puppets and get us super excited for the upcoming residency.  Thanks to Ms. Campbell for organizing and the PTNO for supporting this wonderful event.

5-10-24

We have so much to celebrate upon our 2 week return from vacation.  We are all getting healthier by the day, the sun is shining and our outdoor observations have taught us that:  things are getting green, spring ephemerals are making their appearance all over the Vermont landscape, children are excited for nice weather and getting outside and our living plants we have grown are getting bigger and stronger!  Every day we use written language to give messages, share facts, make cards for others and express our ideas on paper.  The emphasis right now is starting sentences with capital letters, leaving spaces between words, staying on topic and ending our ideas with appropriate punctuation.  In math, we have completed our units on addition and subtraction and now are applying that knowledge to word problems using the same operations.  For example, there were 7 bean plants and 5 had beans, how many did not have beans?  Or we had 6 marigolds and we planted 5 more, how many total do we have now?  Each child has their own list of the 27 trick words that they are going to be able to read by the last day of school.  They are working hard to master these words and we are using them in our daily message as much as possible in order to get a grasp of why they are frequently used words in our language.  We are reading, reading and reading daily to hone our skills as learners.  We are pondering why a mama Robin is using our classroom window for a spring ritual again this year.  She will gently rub up against the window, leaving her muddy prints behind a few times a day.  It is interesting to watch her and try to figure out what she may be doing.  The kids have all sorts of ideas.  Thinking about the natural world never gets old!

Critters from home!  Shared and released.  

Outside morning snack time!  What is the Mama Robin doing?

Ms. Eldred shares her new knowledge of spring ephemerals.  Trout lily and Ground Ivy.

Welcome to the outdoor meditation school, hiding in the thick evergreens for camoflauge.

Spring woodland treasures and scraping sap from the spruces.

Cleaning up the dead standing saplings and getting the trails back in shape after a looooong winter.

Sharing my spring ephemerals nature walk from my Saturday Tea Project class.  Above:  Trout Lily, violets.  Below:  Trillium, garlic from the school garden and look at our herbs growing and growing.

Pokemon is a new sensation in the classroom during arrival time.

Art with Ms. Campbell based on The Snowy Day.

Creative buildings, structures and not sure why but, pushing each other across the floor as "sweepers".  They are funny!

4-19-24

What a week!  We worked hard in kindergarten writing about personal events and on Friday we had fun with following along in “how to“ drawing books that we will use for more writing when we return from vacation.  Spring energy has been high and we were thrilled to watch Rumney’s play called Dear Edwina.  It was so wonderful to see a Rumney tradition make its way back this year.  The children loved seeing their school mates, siblings and friends perform in a very funny musical.  If you get a chance to attend Friday and Saturday it is really great!  In math we continue to add and subtract numbers and played a couple whole class games to continue learning those fast fact strategies.  Any opportunities at home to make simple addition and subtraction problems from real life happenings is a powerful way to support that skill.  I hope that you all have a restful week no matter what you have planned.  I look forward to seeing the children the following week and hearing about all their adventures.  Please be sure to mark your calendars for Tuesday, April 30th at 3:00 for the All School Meeting called “growth” hosted by your very own kindergarteners! 

Dear Edwina performance and captivated kinders dreaming of a time when they can be in the school play.

Voting for Red Clover Books with Ms. Aly in the library- a state wide reading project.  Celebrating the day before vacation with some "how to" draw books.  Very creative thinkers.

4-12-24

The eclipse gave us all energy that last throughout the week!  What an amazing experience to be able to share with my students!  We watched some eclipse videos after the fact and I think their background knowledge of personal experience really made the learning impactful.  We are practicing for our Rumney All School Meeting on Tuesday April 30th at 3:00.  We are excited to share all about growth (plant life cycles and care) . We are learning all our trick words (was, from, they, of, are, etc.) and used our magnetic boards in pairs to practice.  In math, we finished unit 5 which was all about numbers to 100.  We are still learning to count on for addition and are focusing on subtraction as well.  This week students used their senses to taste test Rose Tulsi Tea.  Some really liked it and others did not.  The goal is to find those fragrances that bring each person calm and peace.  Discussing how we all have varied preferences is a powerful tool to celebrate our uniqueness.  Our tea herbs are still germinating and we planted the Heal All after it stayed in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.  The beans that we transplanted are doing surprisingly well.  We evaluated what the garden currently looks like and thought about which bed may be ours for transplanting in a few weeks. 

Practicing trick words with partners and all school meeting lines with Mr. Scott and our buddies!

Rainy day indoor recess allowed more observation skills with a seashell collection and look at our castle!

Eclipse amazement, how long is that block train?  Spring warm mornings mean outside snack.  Our buddies are the best!

Outdoor dramatic play- "there's a tornado coming!" 

Transplanting root bound herbs, smelling catnip and planting Heal All from the refrigerator.

Taste testing Rose Tulsi tea.  Some liked it and some did not.  Oops- you will have spills when serving yourself.  Tea is used as a calming tool for the children. 

Checking our tagged buds, what does the garden look like now that the snow melted?  Look at how big my bean leaf is!!

4-5-24

What a week!  We went from April’s fools day with t-shirts and fun on the playground to a snowy Nor'easter and power outages!  Couple all that excitement with the eclipse excitement and kindergarten was a busy, busy place.  We focused on reading and writing about our plants this week in preparation for the all school meeting on April 30th.  We will partner up with our 5th grade buddies to share all we are learning growing herbs for the tea garden, growing marigolds as well as planting our forced lima beans.  I have never done this with children but they really wanted to see how the roots would do if put in potting soil.  They know that this may not work, but I was thrilled that they wanted to give it a shot.  On Friday, we were thrilled to attend an all school assembly where Oli’s mom and dad came to teach us all about the eclipse.  What luck for us that they are scientists and they came to tell us what to expect and how to safely view the eclipse.  Thank you so much Nikki and Patrick for being a part of our Rumney community and giving back with your knowledge and the NASA goodie bags.  You made some young scientists very happy and excited about what we are about to experience.  

These boys convinced me that we should plant their forced lima beans in soil and see what happened.  I was game for sure!

So far we have catnip, spilanthes, sage and lavender sprouting.  We will plant our heal all next week as it has been stratifying in the refrigerator for the past 2 weeks preparing and mimicking winter.

Our beans on the left and our marigolds on the right.  Look at the excitement each morning as they gather to water and look.

We enjoyed many models that showed us what to expect during the eclipse and how the moon, earth and sun are interacting.

Not every school gets to have scientists and bags from NASA! Look how proud they all are.

We went from tennis racquet guitar playing to a foot of snow!  We marked 4 different buds on trees this week.  We will keep track of them and see the progress.  We "adopted" buds on 4 trees:  apple, beech, birch and a bush. 

The kindergarteners "found" the tire swings and wanted to go faster and faster.  No thanks for this teacher. lol

Winter concert with Ms. Miskin.  Ms. Aly reads us a special book about tea and we make our own tea cups to keep and enjoy in the classroom.   This is a nice compliment to our tea project!

3-29-24

We began the week with a wonderful winter concert singing all about winter in both English and Spanish. They were proud performers for sure!  We celebrated sugaring season with a school wide sugar on snow with our buddies. We are reading books every single day and our theme right now is life cycles of plants and animals. You will see writing samples all about our bean seed observations. It is incredibly powerful to watch budding scientists get excited as they watch germination inside a baggie. Some are full of mold and others are performing with green leaves and long roots. We are supporting each other regardless and sharing in the successes and disappointments of growing any plant. The outdoor classroom provided a new project when the whole class decided to “build” on top of a log pile of spruces. The cooperative nature of designing is fun!  We are still practicing our CVCe words on each calendar piece and in math we are counting on with numbers to 20. For example, if given the equation 7+4 we keep the larger number in our head and count on 8,9,10,11. This skill will be refined in 1st grade.

Lima beans on wet paper towels show what happens under ground with seeds.  Some mold, some germinate.