Winter Has Arrived!

The season of coat, hats and mittens is here...or nearly here! More and more children are arriving with winter coats and the wide assortment of gear that goes with winter. PLEASE consider putting your child's name on whatever you can! As much as I try to help them keep track of their "things", something gets left behind! Once it's in the lost and found...it can be more lost than found!

Last week the class finished their introductory writing unit called "Launching the Writing Workshop" which included a few weeks of practice working with writing partners. Children shared their writing with each other and then we invited Mrs. Johnson's kindergarten class to come and listen to our books. We had a ginger ale toast at the end celebrating weeks of hard work! Check out some pics of kids sharing their work...the first three pictures are a sharing circle we had alone before our kindergarten friends arrived. Each child shared only the first sentence of their book. It was a very exciting way to begin!


I will soon be sending home most of their beginning writing. While you may have difficulty reading some of it, please cherish it for what it IS rather than what it isn't. It represents their (for some) very first attempts at putting their thoughts on paper. We use the black markers to take away the need to erase. Sometimes beginning writers become focused on what they can't do or what they can't do well and they will write and erase and write and erase a single letter over and over. The markers take away the temptation to do that sort of thing. They do not color their work so that those children who feel less confident do not spend days drawing and coloring without putting any words down. The very beginning of writing workshop is about building independence and confidence. So, I need to resist the urge to correct every single mistake and resist helping with spelling. If I/we give in to those appeals, children learn that what they do isn't good enough the way it is and will look to others to "make it right." Ask your children to read their stories! They're wonderful books! They show imagination and creativity! Enjoy!

Each day your child is part of a reading group with several other children. We read a new book...some of it together and some independently. I spend a few minutes with one child each day to "take a running record." I have the child read a text to me and I note each word read and take note of reading behaviors. It's a way for me to check for reading progress and to see how a child decodes new/unfamiliar words. I can make certain that children are making reading progress and what strategies are in place and which need more reinforcement! Each night you should find that new book along with a few extras to read each night. This repeated reading practice is crucial in reading development! It's really important to try to read each and every night!

Have a super weekend!

Happy Autumn

Hi Folks,
What a busy, busy week! I really enjoy my wonderful group of children! I feel so fortunate that I get to spend each day with them! They've been doing so much! Let me show you what they've been up to each day...












Here are some children writing. Each day we have a time called Writing Workshop. We begin with a mini-lesson. Early lessons were meant to explain and practice daily routines. Now our lessons are about topic choice, getting started, writing longer and perseverance even when it gets "hard." Then they spend time writing independently while I conference with individual children. I get to spend time hearing wonderful stories and helping them with individual goals...some children are learning how to write sentences and sound out words. Others can write sentences and need help making their pieces more interesting by adding details or looking at word choice or varying sentence structure. At the heart of our work is the use of "mentor texts" to exhibit a variety of writer's crafts...once familiar with a number of texts, I can pull out one of our mentor texts and say, "Remember how this author used dialogue to tell us what the characters said? You could try that in your writing!" Their books cover several pages and tell about their (and your) daily life. What wonderful little authors! Here are some more pictures!

Firefighters Visit

This week two of Hinesburg's volunteer firefighters visited our first grade classes. Mr. Spivak and Mr. Waite came in a fire truck to talk about fire safety. You'll see that after talking about "stop, drop, and roll" each child had the chance to try it out! It started to rain during their visit...and not just a little! It started slowly and then began to POUR! Each child had a chance to jump up in the truck while I took a quick picture! Check them out below!