C.A.R.E.S

The school has begun a new tradition at assemblies. Students and staff can now be nominated to win one of the five C.A.R.E.S. awards at the monthly assemblies. If a student or staff member knows of someone who practices C.ooperation, A.ssertion, R.esponsibility, E.mpathy or S.elf-control on a daily basis and is an example to others, he/she can fill out a nomination form for that person. The forms can be found in the classrooms and should be submitted to the office. A committee that meets monthly will review the nominations and choose one winner for each award.
We are pleased to announce that one of "our own" was the recipient of the E.mpathy award for the month of January. This student shows empathy to anyone she comes in contact with and is a fine example with how others should be treated. We are proud of her!

 

Preparing for Our Publishing Party!

Talking about our writing has proved to be invaluable as we learn to paint better pictures with our words and clarify what we have put on paper.

Putting thoughts onto paper.

Once we've had  the opportunity to reread and talk the editing begins. We add adjectives, details, and fix punctuation among other things!

Our Publishing Party is this Friday and we nearing the end of our conferencing and editing! Teamwork goes a long way in the writing process!

Folding Math Books

On Monday, we were joined by 4 Moms, 1 Gram and 1 Math Coach to make our Folding Books for our Vermont Studies. We will begin adding text, maps and pictures to the timeline beginning next week. In these photos, you can see students folding the paper into sixths and creating book covers. We will continue to update you on samples of work in the next several days.

THANK YOU!

I simply would like to thank all of the families in my class. I'm sitting at my computer catching up on 3 blog posts and I am reminded that I can't do my job without you. A number of you have sent in dry erase markers, healthy snacks for kids, and hot chocolate. You volunteer to drive us to Woodridge, spend the day with us at ECO and come in to help make books during math. You e-mail checking in on your child and stop by to update on what's going on in their lives that may effect their school day. I'm thankful that we are in this together. Thanks for all you do to make my job all that more enjoyable and doable!

Visits Bring J.O.Y.

On Thursday, January 22, we visited our friends at Woodridge. We brought pictures of us standing beside them that we had framed and spent a few minutes catching up with each other. We then interviewed them about their memories of going to elementary school. We will look over their responses to decide what questions we need to ask to gather more information in order to write up mini biographies. We ended our visit with a couple games of bingo. As a group of kids were leaving a resident's room they were overheard saying, "Larry is just awesome." I would have to say that our visits bring real JOY to both the young and old!

Update on Report Cards and Progress Reports

Please read the following notice that Mr. Hennessey wrote for the Wise Owl published on December 23.

UPDATE ON THE UES REPORT CARD  

You may have heard that UES is in the process of updating and improving the way we report our students' progress to both you and each other. The UES report card, which has traditionally been distributed twice a year, has not had a significant upgrade in many years, and our goal is to provide you with a document that meaningfully addresses the progress your child is making as a learner using language that any of us can understand.  

The faculty and I are determined to do this well, and we came to the conclusion this month that we're simply going to need some more time to unveil a new report card that is worthy of our community. As a result, the first report card of the year will be distributed the week of March 16-20 instead of the traditional end of January. This extra 5-6 weeks will give us the time needed to get it right the first time. We'd like you to know that even though there will be no report card at the half way point of the year, teachers will instead share a progress report with families which highlights your child's progress in literacy, math, and social development. Again, you will have these progress reports by the end of January. If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns about the status of the UES report card, you can contact me at any time.

Snow is falling

and

we are ready to end 2014 

encouraging one another!

On Wednesday, we had a class meeting discussing various ways we can celebrate this time of year together. We decided on encouraging each other with 5 semi-random acts of kindness. On Friday, December 12, we will draw a name of someone in the class and focus on that person for next week.

• On Monday, your child should be prepared to give his "snow friend" an acrostic poem. For instance, we talked about writing (or having someone else write the name, using clippings from magazine, or using the typing) the person's name down the center of a piece of paper and writing words that describe that person using the letters in the name. It does not have to be the first letter.
• On Tuesday, we decided on Share-A-Book day. Your child can give away a copy of a book that he/she enjoyed and feels OK, passing the book on to someone else to enjoy. If your child does not want to share a book, there will be blank comic strip templates in the classroom to create a comic for the person.
• On Wednesday, we decided on In-the-Spotlight day. You need to create a poster that SHOUTS the persons name and ALL things that person. They will get ideas from just what they know about the person and the questionnaire the person filled out. The poster can be made with any art material, pictures from the computer or magazines, etc.
• On Thursday, we decided on Share-a-Snack day. Your child should bring in an extra snack for their snow friend.
• On Friday, we will have the big reveal. We decide to give our friends a mug. The mugs can be from home, the dollar store or anywhere with the understanding that it is a gift. We will keep the mugs in the classroom to have Mondays with Each Other for the rest of winter. This will mean having hot chocolate or warm cider during morning on Mondays as we share about our weekends and build our relationships.

Please know that you have the option of not spending any money on this week/activity. If you choose to spend money on the mug, please limit it to around $5.00. Students, please remember that your goal is to remain anonymous for the entire week! 

Thank you for the opportunity to teach your child and have a wonderful holiday season!