Friends and Classmates!!

CUB SCOUTS-SIGN UP

Hello,

I am writing to let you know that the Hamilton Cub Scouts is having its annual Sign-Up Night this Thursday evening at 6:30 - 7:30 at Winthrop School.

If you know any grade 1 to grade 4 boys that you think might benefit from joining our pack please pass the word along to them and their parents.  Wenham also has a pack and we can send any Wenham boys their way if that is requested.

Thank you for your consideration,

Christian Hargrove

Hamilton Cub Scouts Pack 35

Committee Chair

A Responsive Classroom Article on the Importance of discussing Hopes and Dreams

Our Hopes and Dreams for School

Asking students to articulate their hopes for the year

Responsive Classroom Newsletter: 

 August 2001

"What are your hopes for this school year?"

Many teachers using the Responsive Classroom approach ask students this question at the start of every school year.

While the question may seem simple, posing it to students and asking them to share their responses can have a profound effect on the classroom. Just think about the messages inherent in the question: what you care about matters at school; your hopes and goals are taken seriously; you have a say in what we'll learn.

Taking the time to help children articulate their hopes for school—or their "hopes and dreams," as they’re often called—sets a tone of collaboration and mutual respect. It fosters reflection and self-knowledge by prompting children to ask themselves questions such as "What’s important to me at school? What do I want to learn more about? What’s easy for me? What’s hard for me? What do I want to get better at?"

Sharing hopes and dreams also creates a meaningful context for establishing classroom rules. Once hopes have been articulated, discussions can begin about what rules will be needed to help everyone’s hopes and dreams come true.

In older grades, the teacher might ask, "If these are our hopes, what rules will we need in order to make these hopes come true?" In younger grades, "How can we take care of ourselves and each other so that we can all do what we hope to do in school?" In this way, rules become logical outgrowths of the students’ and teachers’ goals rather than directives handed down from above.

HELP NEEDED

Each year, the first graders plant a variety of spring bulbs in the raised beds on the back playground. We would like to continue this tradition. The beds need to be cleaned out! Please let me know if you are available to help with this project. This project can be done during the day, after school or on the weekend. 

Where are we going?

Language Arts

During the month, the children will be learning about our classroom literacy station activities. The station activities will be an integral part of our Readers' Workshop. The children will use a listening station, Big Books ,writing station, poetry journals, word games and other experiences to strengthen their reading skills and comprehension. The children are learning how to work independently which will allow me to focus on guided reading groups and individual reading conferences.

Fundations- Unit 1

The students will be practicing lower case letter formation. We are reviewing consonant and vowel sounds and key words as we practice writing our lowercase letters.

Math

Our first math unit involves collecting data to add and subtract numbers from 1 to 20.  We will learn how to use tally mark to represent numbers and amounts as we collect data. After collecting data, the children will use how to create charts and graphs to visual display the information.

Social Studies

We are focusing on building connections and the concept of being kind, caring and helpful friends and learning partners.  We will be discussing our hopes and dreams for first grade and what community rules we will need for everyone to feel welcome and safe in our community.

Science

Throughout the year, we will be studying trees and plants.  The students will be using a nature journal to record their scientific observations.

Writers' Workshop- Book Making

 This week, we focused our discussions on how writers choose topics and what strategies we might try when we are struggling with an illustration technique or text choice. The children explored engineering paper to create flaps and how to add a page to a book or change the order of the pages.

Getting To Know You

 We spent time this week exploring many classroom materials and partnering with new friends. We are learning how to be a supportive and helpful partner.  We are all working hard to share our ideas with a clear I message and listen to our partner's ideas with an open mind.