Morning Meeting

What Is Morning Meeting?

Responsive Classroom Morning Meeting is an engaging way to start each day, build a strong sense of community, and set children up for success socially and academically. Each morning, students and teachers gather together in a circle for twenty to thirty minutes and interact with one another during four purposeful components:

1. Greeting Students and teachers greet one other by name and practice offering hospitality.
2. Sharing Students share information about important events in their lives. Listeners often offer empathetic comments or ask clarifying questions.
3. Group Activity Everyone participates in a brief, lively activity that fosters group cohesion and helps students practice social and academic skills (for example, reciting a poem, dancing, singing, or playing a game that reinforces social or academic skills).
4. Morning Message Students read and interact with a short message written by their teacher. The message is crafted to help students focus on the work they'll do in school that day.

OUR GREETINGS

We have been enjoying three greetings

Giant, Wizard, Elf

Handshake, rainbow wave, high five, pinkie shake

Ciao, Aloha, Jumbo, Hola, Kohn-nee-chee-wa, Hell0

Some Interesting Topics

8. Eight 8-Minute Talks by Harvard Education Professors

            At a recent event at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, eight faculty members gave super-brief talks on a variety of hot topics. You can view the talks in full at this link:

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/14/09/8x8-hgse-faculty-share-their-bold-ideas-improve-education

• Paul Reville: Getting to “All Means All” – What can we learn from the failure of education reform, so far, to deliver on the promise to bring high-quality education to all? asks Reville. How can we get past demography being destiny?

• Karen Brennan: Getting Unstuck – Helping students and teachers move beyond using social media and use computers more powerfully. Brennan describes using ScratchEd, a platform for creating projects, and students’ problem-solving strategies when they’re stuck.

• Todd Rose: The End of Average – What neuroscientists have found about how differently people remember and process information, leading to the conclusion that we can’t understand individual brains by using group averages. The same goes for how we deal with students; we must treat them as individuals, which we now can do better with recent advances in classroom technology.

• Bridget Terry Long: Nudging Students to Success – The gaps between low-income and higher-income students being admitted to and succeeding in college are still as wide as they were 40 years ago, says Long. She describes strategies for giving disadvantaged students the information they need for college success, starting years before they apply.

• Tom Kane: Learning What Works – The U.S. labor market has changed in recent decades, and schools haven’t kept up with the task of preparing students for the changed world. What strategies will work, and how can we develop them quickly? asks Kane.

• Karen Mapp: Linking Family Engagement to Learning – Relationships between schools and families have to be relational, interactive, collaborative, developmental, and linked to what students are learning, says Mapp, so that families can be more effective supporting learning at home. In particular, Mapp is critical of traditional open-house meetings in schools.

• Nonie Lesaux: A Matter of Talk – “Today’s ‘science of talk’ tells us, then, that it’s not about how much talk children and youth hear that influences their reading development,” says Lesaux, “but the substance, the matter of that talk. This is actually in stark contrast to what we used to think – that it was all about how many words parents used with young children. And now we know that this is about educators, too.” The words that teachers use in classrooms are essential to developing students’ vocabulary and conceptual knowledge, she says, yet the use of complex vocabulary varies greatly from teacher to teacher. Her research shows that teachers who use a greater number of conceptual words per day boost their students’ reading achievement significantly more than teachers who use simpler words – and than many programs and curriculum packages. What’s more, teachers can rapidly improve their use of more-conceptual words once they are made aware of this insight.

• Howard Gardner: Beyond Wit and Grit – Our understanding of “wit” has been expanded to include multiple intelligences, says Gardner, and we now realize the importance of “grit” – the cluster of non-cognitive skills. But these are not enough. Gardner believes we also need a moral dimension. “You can have plenty of grit, and multiple wits,” he says, “but they need to be directed towards becoming a good person, a good worker, and a good citizen… There’s a ‘triple helix’ of good work and good citizenship: excellence, ethics, and engagement.”

“8x8: HGSE Faculty Members Share Their Bold Ideas to Improve Education” September 19, 2014 (see above for the link)

Homework!!!

Today, the children brought home the Home Packet for Unit 2 of Fundations. There are some practice sheets and activities that the children should complete at home and return to school.

The unit focuses on vowel sounds, tapping words to identify sounds, the use of capitals and punctuation and trick words to memorize for reading and spelling.

Trick Words
the
a
and
is
his
of

Please reinforce using a pencil, proper penmanship position and quality of finished work. You are setting the foundation for homework skills and strategies.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Friendship!

Today, we read a book by Peter Brown. The book, You Will Be My Friend, was a great way to discuss strategies to make a new friend and how to nurture an existing friendship. The children each brought a copy of the book home to share. I hope this will become a family favorite!

A QUOTE

“Listen earnestly to anything [your children] want to tell you, no matter what. If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff.”

― Catherine M. Wallace

Support The High School Environmental Club

You can help the HWRHS Environmental Club

HWRHS Environmental Club

Our organization needs your help. For every purchase made on this siteFlower Power Fundraising will give 50% back to Hamilton-Wenham Environmental Club. Read through this page and see how you can help today!

HOMEWORK- IXL

Do you need your child's IXL password? The IXL math program is a great way for your student to practice a variety of skills based on the first grade math standards. Please let me know if you need help accessing the link or your child's password.

Materials Needed

Please save your cardboard tubes (all sizes) and canceled stamps for projects in the classroom.

Our School Mascot

The Friends Of Cutler are working with the students and teachers to select a mascot for our school. Today, we met and discussed our ideas. The children nominated a giraffe named Gerald.  The giraffe would have a t-shirt with a heart. The word Cutler would be printed in the heart. The giraffe will have a companion who is a penguin. After we wrote our letter and made pictures of our idea, we delivered our letter to Ms. Clifford.

Mark Your Calendars!

Upcoming Events...

Kids and Company Parent Information Night

Parents with students in grades K-2 are invited to come to the Cutler School Dining Hall on Wednesday, October 1^st, from 7:00pm- 8:00pm to learn more about the safety curriculum Kids and Company Together for Safety.  This is a program that the school adjustment counselors have taught for several years in our District.  Although the program specifically targets prevention strategies for sexual abuse and abduction, it also provides tools for self-advocacy and assertiveness.  It may be especially helpful for parents who are new to our District to attend this informational meeting.  For additional information please contact Dolly McIlvaine at 978-468-8475.

Picture Day
School pictures will be taken on Wednesday, October 1st. Order forms will be sent home with students by the end of this week to be returned on October 1 if you are interested in purchasing photographs.

Parent Conferences
October Parent Conferences will be scheduled on Thursday, October 23, and Thursday, October 30. Both of these Thursdays will be an 11:15am dismissal for all students with no lunch served those days. In addition, teachers will be available to meet parents on Wednesday, October 29 following the usual 12:45pm dismissal. Please be sure to schedule a time with your child's teacher to meet during one of these days.

Tallying and Graphing

Today, we sorted, tallied and graphed a collection of buttons. The children worked with a partner to gather and display data. Next, the children will be creating their own graph based on data they collect from their classmates.

Gardening on The Playground

The class had an opportunity to work with Mrs. Stein and Mrs. Ruffell weeding our planting boxes. Once the weather is a little bit colder, we will be planting a variety of spring bulbs as part of our year long study of plants.

Thank You!

The children were delighted with your cards.  They were so excited to share their messages with each other.  I was so happy to meet so many of you on Curriculum Night. I hope you found the evening to be informative. Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to working with all of you this year.

Pop Up Books and Cards- Engineering and Technology

In Art, the children began to work on some pop up scenes which is a wonderful way to introduce the fundamentals of engineering. The students worked on ideas that were testing, redesigned and modified as they looked for ways to make things pop out or stand up. Mrs. Bailey and I will collaborate throughout the year on interdisciplinary projects that support both the Arts standards and the science and technology standards.

Here is a link to an interview with a wonderful pop up book author

INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT SABUDA: THE MOVEABLE BOOK

• by VIRTUALTRIPS
• 5 years ago
• 7,684 views

MEET ME AT THE CORNER, Virtual Field Trips for Kids, takes you to New York City to meet Illustrator and pop-up book designer, ...

CURRICULUM NIGHT- Wednesday, September 17th 7:15 to 8:00 pm

This Wednesday is our curriculum night. The 3rd -5th grade presentations will be from 6:30 to 7:15pm. The Kindergarten-2nd grade presentations will be from 7:15 to 8:00 pm. Each first grade teacher will be hosting her own curriculum night. I look forward to seeing many of you this Wednesday evening in our room. Just a reminder this is an evening for parents only.

Observing and Recording- We Are Scientists

Today, we spent some time observing and sketching sunflowers. The children and I discussed making accurate scientific sketches and entries in our nature journals. Also, this began our year long study of trees and plants.

Building Community

We have continued to spend time learning more about each other.  The children have enjoyed our daily greetings and cooperative games. Also, we worked together to create poster for Abigail who was absent on Friday.  We wanted her to know we missed her. Our morning recess time is another important part of our day. The children have enjoyed the time to play, imagine and laugh.

Tallying In The Classroom

We had a great time tallying classroom items on Friday morning. The children worked together to count and record. We continue to create classroom graphs. On Monday, we will make a graph about our favorite colors.  The children will the similarities and differences between a tally chart and bar graph.

Help Needed- 6 Pencil Sharpeners!

Hello All

 I am looking for 6 families who would be willing to sharpen our classroom pencils on the weekend. I would send home a bag of pencils on Friday afternoon and ask that they be returned on Monday morning. This would be such a great help! I have some electric pencil sharpeners to share if that is stopping you from volunteering. Please send me an email or note if this would work for your family.

Ice Cream Social

It was such fun to see everyone at the Ice Cream Social.  We all enjoyed the ice cream and toppings but most of all we enjoyed our time together!

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB-ON LINE ORDERING INFORMATION

Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: DXNG8

Dear Families,

Encouraging reading is one of the most important things we can do to help your child succeed. It can be tough finding the right books to keep them interested, which is why I am so excited that our class will be participating in Scholastic Reading Club this school year.

With Scholastic Reading Club:

• Every book you buy earns FREE Books for our classroom library
• You can choose from handpicked, grade- and reading-level-specific books for your child
• You'll find the best values on a variety of formats, including eBooks

Each month, your child will bring home Reading Club flyers. Together you can choose from books hand-selected by teachers and experts, and then order online or by returning your order form and payment to me.

I'd also love some help growing our classroom Reading Club. If you'd like to help out, please let me know! I'm excited to get our class reading!

Thank you for your support,

•  VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
•  ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code DXNG8
  
•  SHOP from a carefully curated selection of the best books, value packs, and Storia eBooks
•  SUBMIT your order and earn FREE Books for our classroom
•  All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!

Our Hopes And Dreams

The children and I read and discussed a wonderful book, This School Year Will Be The Best. After, we discussed our hopes and dreams for the school year. Here are our ideas:

Reece- I hope to see a rainbow.

Ava- I hope to make new friends.

Abi- I hope we have a movie day.

Cecelia- I hope my tooth will come out at school.

Megan- My hope is that I will make new friends.

Caden- I want a sports day.

Penelope- I want to make new friends.

Jonas- I hope that I will win a soccer game.

Ian-My hope is to visit the science museum.

Abigail- I hope to celebrate birthdays.

Gavin- I hope that the whole class gets to go fishing.

Jonathan- I hope to loose my tooth.

Ben- I hope we have a field day.

Alex- I hope I score a touchdown.

Amelie- I hope to bring a special toy to school.

Isabelle- I hope to learn to draw new things at Art.

Amaya- I hope when the school nurse measures me that I will be taller.