Classroom News: September 26th

Dear Barn Swallow Families,

Students have been spending time in the Backyard garden picking, observing, and eating bok choy, tomatoes, basil, borage, calendula, onions, chives, sage, thyme, garlic, and swiss chard. They have learned how to use jeweler's loupes to see the amazing tiny details of each vegetable, and have finished their botanical drawings of our garden pesto ingredients. Students this year will be planning and contributing to the school forest and school gardens and are ready to see other examples of gardens, farms, and forests in order to help them get ideas and plan.

We have several trips tentatively scheduled and will need to have MANY parent volunteers join us!

-B Street Farm: (CONFIRMED) Thursday, September 29th (From 12:45-3:05) (0-6+ volunteers needed)

-Ayer's Creek Farm OR Tillamook Forest: (TENTATIVE) Thursday, October 6th (From 11:10-2:15) (3-6+ volunteers needed)

-Audubon Sanctuary: (CONFIRMED) Tuesday, October 18th (From about 9:10-2:15) (3-6+ volunteers needed)

Please email me if you are able to join us. We look forward to having you!

In reading students have been building stamina with the length of time they are reading. We started at three minutes and are now close to 20. We are learning the comprehension strategy of connecting our own lives to the text by saying, "This reminds me of...". We are also spending some time reading picture books about vegetables, gardens, seeds, and forests in order to gain more background knowledge as a class.

In writing we are reviewing how to sound out words, stretching them out, and writing the sounds we hear. One of the emergent stages of writing is phonetic spelling, which is a very important stage. Students are able to focus on their ideas more and gain confidence as they share their thoughts through words on paper. Spelling will be taught soon as well!

Students are beginning to plan what we should do to enhance the habitat in the school forest this week. We are also beginning to notice and collect the many seeds of the autumn gardens and wild nooks. We are learning about seed saving! Students are encouraged to continue noticing seeds around them, especially outdoors, and to bring them in to share with the class. We will also be collecting materials from home to be reused to create a large model of the school forest and Backyard garden on the large walls of our classroom!

So many students were wearing their rain jackets today! We have a prepared group of kids this year. Please continue to send (or keep) a rain jacket to school with your child.

I'd also like to remind our families that we have a great chance to get together and meet new families during the Harvest Celebration held in the Backyard garden this Wednesday night at 5:30. Come see the future site of the swallows' gardens and forest as well as meet the wonderful people that make up our school community!

As always, weekly classroom news will be posted, along with some photos, at : BarnSwallowClassroom.BlogSpot.Com You can go directly to the blog rather than email if it is more convenient for you.

I hope to hear from you about joining us on our trips!

Sincerely,

Sherry

Classroom News: September 19th

Dear Barn Swallow Families,

I'd like to share with you the following description of what level 1 will be working on this school year!

GARDENS AND LOCAL ECOSYSTEMS

"Children in level 1 will experience the changes of the seasons through taking an active, hands-on role with growing food in the school gardens, observing, exploring, and comparing local ecosystems, and using their knowledge to enhance habitats in the school yard. Children will learn how the garden and ecosystems follow similar natural rhythms and cycles through hands-on experiences. They will also explore the similarities and differences in how humans and animals interact within their environment throughout the seasons. Through various creative means, children will regularly share their knowledge of local gardens and ecosystems with their community."

YEAR 1: GARDENS AND FORESTS

"Children will compare and contrast the ecology of gardens and forests throughout the seasons through regular experiences in the school gardens and trips to nearby forests. In the fall children will identify what is ready to eat for humans and animals in the gardens and forests. Harvesting, tasting, comparing, and observing will happen regularly as children study and explore new vegetables and fruits in the gardens. Children will study the emerging seeds, fungi, and the decomposition process happening in the gardens and forests. As the weather turns colder, children will learn how humans and some animals can store and preserve the bounty of the fall harvest in preparation for the dormant winter. In the winter, they will explore various ways that humans and forest animals stay warm during the cold months and will observe how the rainy season affects the life of the gardens and forests. Children will also begin to plan the school gardens for the year and begin to plan how to enhance the forest habitat on the school grounds based on their experiences and observations in the forest. They will witness the dormant natural spaces of the gardens and forests 'come to life' in the spring. The children will explore the first plants that are ready to eat for humans and animals after the cold, dormant winter. While they observe seeds naturally sprouting on the forest floor, they will also be sprouting their own seeds for the school gardens. Students will learn about plants of the garden and forest, witness and study life cycles of garden and forest creatures, and observe and learn about the pollination cycle. Finally, children will plant, tend, harvest, cook, and eat produce from the school garden as well as take steps towards enhancing the forest habitat on the school grounds. This year is especially important, as level 1 students will be working hard to reconfigure the school garden beds, allowing more than 40 students to be working in the garden at the same time!"

Trips are currently being scheduled for the school year and soon we will be looking for parent volunteers! I will send out an email to Barn Swallow families the moment we have firm dates in hopes to have 3 to 5 parents accompany our class on each big trip. The more volunteers we have, the more successful the learning experiences are for students while "Out and About". We also anticipate that we will need the help of our families when it's time to dig the new garden beds. I hope you can join us!

Last week students brainstormed a list of possible class rules and responsibilities. Then we took the long list and categorized it into four easy to remember rules for school time:

• Take care of each other and critters that we meet.
• Be safe.
• Do your best.
• Take care of all things.

Students also practiced new reading routines and are quickly gaining independence! They have been working on self portrait paintings and they will be up by the end of this week! In Ms. Karen's first grade math class, students explored the many manipulatives that they will be working with this year, as well as got to know each other. Students in the second grade math class picked cherry tomatoes after recess and used them to review counting by tens. We also used the tomatoes to practice estimating how many we had, and then dissected them to count their seeds. Students were introduced to place value as they sorted out the tomato seeds into ones, tens, and even hundreds! During our Out and About to the Backyard garden, students identified and picked over 10 vegetables and herbs. We blended our 'Secret Garden Pesto' ingredients in the food processor, which the students have named "Cropper Chopper". Taste tests on Friday afternoon were mostly positive!

This week we will begin our writing routines as well as start italic handwriting. Students will share their 'Secret Garden Pesto Recipe' with you through their artwork and writing.

As students gain independence throughout the day, I will be starting one on one reading assessments. Reading assessments help me know where students are on the continuum of reading, allowing me to meet children where they are and guide them along the continuum. Please ask your child what 'reading stamina' is, as well as how to choose a 'just right book'.

Time spent on establishing community and routines provide an extremely important foundation for the entire school year! Students are off to a fantastic beginning and I'm looking forward to our indoor and outdoor time together!

Please email me at S.Reuter@fgcschool.org with any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Sherry

Week of September 12th, 2011

Dear Barn Swallow Families,

The Barn Swallow class has had a great beginning to the school year! We have been spending a lot of time getting to know each other, building class culture and community, and learning the procedures and the routines of the classroom. We have learned a few new games, for example, the Freeze Game and the Name Game. We've learned the songs Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Do Your Ears Hang Low, and My Bonnie. Students have been practicing the 'Hand Shake Hello' greeting during our Morning Meetings. We practice giving a firm, but gentle hand shake, with eye contact. Students also learned about the three ways to read today (Read the pictures, read the words, and retell the story).

Last week students visited the Backyard garden, helped water the many dry plants, and taste tested a variety of garden plants. Some favorites were borage (leaf and flower) and calendula petals. Students have also been working on their self portrait water color paintings. They will be finished and on display very soon!

We will continue to build our class community this week and begin to form our classroom rules as a class. I am going to begin introducing the main parts of our literacy structure, which allows students to work productively and independently while I meet with reading and writing groups, as well as confer with students one-on-one. Math by grade also began today. We will have math on Mondays through Thursday every day after the morning recess. First graders will have math with Ms. Karen and second graders will be with Ms. Sherry. Students will also meet their P.E. and art teachers this week. Please refer to the weekly schedule below to ensure that your child is prepared for each day at school. We will have our Out and About on Thursday afternoon at the Backyard garden this week and hope to pick and sample fresh vegetables. We will also begin to think about how to use the garden space so that our classes can grow an abundance of fresh food this year!

Students have a morning snack before their first recess and classroom families take turns bringing healthy snacks every day for a week (Monday through Thursday). On average, families bring the class snack 2 times during the entire year. We currently do not have any food allergies. Students will be working on brainstorming a snack list this week which will include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Good snack choices are foods that are substantial, low in waste/wrappers, and ready to eat, as we do not want to use up a drop of our reading time! The students and I will not have time to cut apples or peel oranges, for example, because we will be busy working on literacy goals and will be reading up a storm! The snack schedule will be sent out by the end of this week.

Birthdays are a special time for students and birthday kids are welcome to bring a simply prepared favorite vegetable or fruit in the morning of his or her special day. (If you would like to.) Party invitations are allowed at school only if the entire class is invited.

*Weekly Schedule: *Occasionally there are changes!

Monday: Art

Tuesday: Art & Sometimes Garden

Wednesday: P.E.

Thursday: Out and About

Friday: Sometimes Garden

Thank you Barn Swallow families. I'm really looking forward to our year together.

We have a GREAT class!

Please email me with any questions, ideas, or thoughts at: S.Reuter@fgcschool.org

I look forward to hearing from you!

In the future I will also post classroom news to our classroom blog at: BarnSwallowClassroom.Blogspot.com

Sincerely,

Sherry