Monday News

Dear Families,

Hike Day is Thursday. The rain date will be Friday. Please return the yellow permission slip as soon as possible.

In writing, we are focusing on "elaboration" in our true stories. Students elaborate by using dialogue, thoughts, feelings, and showing actions.

We are almost finished with our first read aloud called A Hundred Dresses. Ask your child about the lesson or theme of the story.

Our social studies unit this year is Vermont. We are starting with Vermont civics. We will visit the State House in the spring.

Enjoy the pictures of rose hip tea!

Monday News

Dear Families,

As we start this year together, I want to take a moment to convey to you some of my plans for helping your children grow in their abilities to spell conventionally. I have been assessing your children’s spelling during these first few weeks of school, and I’ve come to believe that some children in the class are choosing only "easy" words to write because they are worried about whether they can spell the more advanced words correctly. My first goal, then, will be to make sure that every child is a fearless and inventive writer and that every child is willing to write enormous rather than sticking with big even if that child cannot spell enormous conventionally. You will see that I do not expect perfect spelling in children’s first-draft writing.

The second thing I have noticed is that many children in this class haven’t yet learned to spell some of the most important high-frequency words--words like because, said, although--correctly. I will directly and explicitly teach children a list of high-frequency words. Periodically, children will bring that list home, and more important, they will be expected to incorporate those spellings into their writing whenever they write. I’ll help them do this!

Spelling groups will start this week. Ask your child who they have for a spelling teacher. Students will be in groups based on spelling rules they have not yet learned. We all know that there are great thinkers who struggle with spelling (Einstein was one of them). Children need to be reminded that although their progress in spelling matters and merits attention, they need to also work toward other goals as well. Like all children, I’ll encourage these youngsters to write a lot and to write with voice and detail. I look forward to supporting and studying your children’s progress toward writing more correct and more effective pieces of writing.

Important Dates:

Monday, Sept. 24 - Class celebration - costumes
Wednesday, Sept. 26 - Open House
Friday, Sept. 28 - Our class leads all school morning meeting

Enjoy your week,
Mrs. Carter

Students enjoying red clover tea on outdoor day!


Students conferring about their writing notebooks for story ideas. 

Monday News

Dear Families,

This week, your child will bring home a reading log. This log will go from home to school and will be used to help your child set goals for reading. Please encourage your child to record what he or she has read each night. The homework recommendation in third and fourth grade is to read for at least 20 minutes each night.

We started our cursive lessons last week. Some students are so excited that they asked for cursive practice to be homework. I haven't decided if we will begin sending home cursive for homework though.

We are starting our read aloud book called The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. There is a great lesson in the book. We will practice deep thinking skills during read aloud so your child can practice during reading workshop with his or her independent reading book.

Your child will be bringing home a Highlights Magazine order form. Our classroom will get free supplies if I return the forms. Even if you check "no" and sign the form, it still counts as a response towards the free supplies. Please help our classroom by filling out the yellow form with a "yes" OR "no". Thanks.

Enjoy your week,

Mrs. Carter

Monday News

Dear Families,

Our class is leading all school morning meeting on Friday from 7:40-8:00 am. If you are available, please come join us!

We will have Kinderbuddies this Monday. Third and fourth graders will be paired with a kindergartener for the year and we will do an activity together each month. This month we will spend the time getting to know each other. We will be paired up with Mrs. Driver's kindergarten class.


In reading workshop, we will start the year looking at characters in stories and how characters develop throughout a story. Students will place their understanding of character development on a progression. The first stage is a retell. If your child tells you everything that happened to the character in the story, then their understanding of that character is in the first stages of understanding that character. The second stage is to notice character feelings. For example, your child may say, “The character felt lonely, even though she had a dog”. The third stage is to notice character traits. An example would be that the character was sneaky and untrustworthy. The last stage is to notice the lesson or the theme. For example, your child may notice that the character realized that, “You should appreciate the friends you have”.  Reading comprehension strategies are developed on a continuum or progression. The students learn to place their comprehension strategies on these progressions, so they can set goals and monitor their understanding.

During outdoor learning on Thursday, students focused on observing with their senses. We made goldenrod tea. Goldenrod can help with allergic symptoms caused by ragweed. Please remember to send your child with clothes to be outside on Thursdays. An extra set of clothes in their backpack might come in handy. 

Enjoy your week,

Mrs. Carter

Monday News

Dear Families,

We had a very successful first week of school! We are definitely feeling the benefits of a comfortable air-conditioned classroom, thanks to the geothermal cooling and heating system. We spent the week establishing expectations and building our classroom community.

This first newsletter will be an introduction to our outdoor classroom on Thursdays.

Thursday Outdoor Schedule:

7:40-8:00	Tea Ritual
8:00-8:40	Project time
8:45-9:30	Physical Education
9:30-9:45	snack
9:45-11:00	Focused Lesson
11:00-11:25	lunch 11-11:25
11:25-11:55	Free Explore  11:25-11:55
12:00-12:45	Shinrin Yoku
12:45-1:45	Focused Explore/ Sitspots
1:45 - 2:00	Tea Ritual
2:00 - 2:10	Inside for dismissal

Parts of the Day:

Tea Ritual - The students start the day and end the day together with a mindfulness activity. We will be planting a tea garden and tasting different teas every Thursday. The students will have a tea recipe book with a list of ingredients to take home at the end of the school year.

Project Time - Student-centered research topics that change each trimester.

Lesson- Activities that are connected to the curriculum. Last week we created clans for groups of students. Ask your child about their clan animal.

Free Explore- This is during recess, but students can play in the outdoor classroom. There is a mud kitchen and a moving parts playground.

Shinrin Yoku- This is the active movement part of our day. Students will go on a hike every Thursday.   Click here to watch a short video on Shinrin Yoku

Focused Explore - This is connected to the lesson in the morning and the students must respond to the focused explore in their sit spots.

Sit Spots  - Silent reflection time in their science notebooks, followed by a discussion.

Tea Ritual - A wonderful, calming end to our day!

Odds and Ends:

• Cross-Country Skiing will be in January and February on Thursdays. Students will be provided equipment and group lessons.
• Please contact me if you'd like to volunteer!

Enjoy your week,

Mrs. Carter