Friday, April 6th
Colonial Day projects are fast approaching! The children are full of questions around colonial day as they see us preparing materials for craft workshops. I will be meeting with our room parents to discuss volunteer opportunities for classroom workshops and on Colonial Day, June 7th. I will send out a VolunteerSpot link for the dates of the craft workshops and what the help entails. I know it's hard to come in to help when you don't know what you've signed up to help with. We can use ALL the help we can get with these workshops to ensure that projects are completed.
I've updated the other pages on the blog with some information about our current science work, as well as some writing projects that we've recently done.
Stay tuned for more on Colonial Day!
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Monday, March 12th
What a lovely day we had on our tracking adventure at Marsh Billings Farm!
The weather was just perfect for us to venture in small groups to the stream, the forest, and the field looking for domestic and wild animal tracks. The children saw what we believed to be bobcat, fox, squirrel, deer, turkey, and dog tracks in the three different habitats. After returning to the Forest Center building, the groups worked together to draw tracking stories that tried to explain who was there and what might have happened. Please see the Science page for more photographs of the different tracks and the children working in their groups.
Parent Conferences
I sent a VolunteerSpot sign up invitation a little over a week ago. Please take a look and sign up for a time to meet if you haven't already done so. With the snow day today, I will need to reschedule several conferences. Please check your email for details on how this will work.
Math Night
Wednesday, March 14th beginning at 6pm. Please join many Ray School teachers and staff for a fun and engaging night of math!
Make a Plate
Tuesday, March 20th @ 2:45 directly after school. I believe this is taking place in the multi. If you haven't signed your child up to participate and you would still like to, please send in the form and a check by next Monday, March 19th.
Passport to Winter Fun
If your child is participating in this, please make sure they claim their prizes for the time they've earned being active. Have them see Ms. Brauch with any questions.
Science Night at the Montshire
The Montshire Museum has extended an invitation to all Ray School families to attend a fun evening together on Thursday, March 22nd. Our school and staff have entered in a partnership with the Montshire as we dive into the NGSS (Science Standards) and begin to give our Science curriculum at Ray a makeover!
Colonial Days - IMPORTANT for your CALENDARS!
Our colonial day is scheduled for Thursday, June 7th. This is an occasion where many parents take the whole day off to volunteer, or just spend the time with the class as we experience life as colonists down at our Colonial House on the school's campus. A week or so before April vacation I will be sending home LOTS of important information regarding Colonial Day and the weeks leading up to it, which are full of volunteering opportunities. The more helping hands we can get, the better!
What a lovely day we had on our tracking adventure at Marsh Billings Farm!
The weather was just perfect for us to venture in small groups to the stream, the forest, and the field looking for domestic and wild animal tracks. The children saw what we believed to be bobcat, fox, squirrel, deer, turkey, and dog tracks in the three different habitats. After returning to the Forest Center building, the groups worked together to draw tracking stories that tried to explain who was there and what might have happened. Please see the Science page for more photographs of the different tracks and the children working in their groups.
Parent Conferences
I sent a VolunteerSpot sign up invitation a little over a week ago. Please take a look and sign up for a time to meet if you haven't already done so. With the snow day today, I will need to reschedule several conferences. Please check your email for details on how this will work.
Math Night
Wednesday, March 14th beginning at 6pm. Please join many Ray School teachers and staff for a fun and engaging night of math!
Make a Plate
Tuesday, March 20th @ 2:45 directly after school. I believe this is taking place in the multi. If you haven't signed your child up to participate and you would still like to, please send in the form and a check by next Monday, March 19th.
Passport to Winter Fun
If your child is participating in this, please make sure they claim their prizes for the time they've earned being active. Have them see Ms. Brauch with any questions.
Science Night at the Montshire
The Montshire Museum has extended an invitation to all Ray School families to attend a fun evening together on Thursday, March 22nd. Our school and staff have entered in a partnership with the Montshire as we dive into the NGSS (Science Standards) and begin to give our Science curriculum at Ray a makeover!
Colonial Days - IMPORTANT for your CALENDARS!
Our colonial day is scheduled for Thursday, June 7th. This is an occasion where many parents take the whole day off to volunteer, or just spend the time with the class as we experience life as colonists down at our Colonial House on the school's campus. A week or so before April vacation I will be sending home LOTS of important information regarding Colonial Day and the weeks leading up to it, which are full of volunteering opportunities. The more helping hands we can get, the better!
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Friday, February 16th
We have been busy, busy, busy the last few weeks. With hundred day celebrations, 5th Grade Tumbling Show performances, Valentine's Day activities, a Chinese New Year experience, and lots of new learning in spelling, writing, math, and science, we certainly have a lot to share!
Last week we celebrated the 100th Day of School on Thursday. Students were engaged in spelling, writing, and math activities having to do with the number one hundred. Students were challenged with finding as many words as they could with the letters in the words "one hundred," solved addition and subtraction problems to color a mystery picture, wrote informational paragraphs about their special hats, and walked along the catwalk and under the disco ball in the multi during our traditional "Hundred Day Hat Show." We took a fun class photograph after the show:
We practiced being a respectful audience when we attended the Tumbling Show last week. 5th graders worked in small groups to combine their knowledge of tumbling moves in conjunction with the events of the Winter Olympics as they created skits to music. It was a wonderful show!
Wednesday we enjoyed yummy treats, some Valentine spelling and math activities, and listened to a story read by Charlie's Grandmother. I heard several of the children exclaim, "This is the best day of my life!" It really was great!
Thursday brought us a Chinese New Year celebration. Thanks to Alex's parents, the children learned all about the Chinese New Year, the significance of the color red, and the traditions that families take part in each year. They also learned about the connection between the phases of the moon and the Chinese calendar. Every twelve years the Zodiac sign repeats. Many of the children thought it was pretty cool to know that they would be 19 or 20 years old when the next Year of the Dog returns. The children got to stuff some dumplings with veggies and some with pork, they boiled them and enjoyed them with some homemade soy sauce on the side. They watched the New Year's Gala on YouTube and did some non-fiction reading activities later in the day.
Finally, on Friday, it was time to celebrate the Winter Olympic games with our buddies. It was such a huge success! We traveled from station to station, participating in curling, bobsledding, scooter hockey, archery (with snowballs), and much more. To close out the day, we got back together with our buddies and watched some videos called, "The Science of the Olympics" to understand things like the importance of friction and momentum in many of the olympic events. It was truly a wonderful day! Only photos of inside stations are posted because it was too wet and foggy to take outside photos on my phone!
Upcoming Events and Things to Know About:
March 8th - Our class and Mrs. Vashel's class will be taking our trip to Marsh Billings Farm to do some winter tracking. We are excited to get outside, look for some animal tracks in the snow, draw a tracking story, and learn about movement patterns of different animals.
Conferences - I will be creating a sign up via VolunteerSpot. When you receive the email, please check the days and times and choose one that will work best for you.
March 12th - Inservice for Teachers; No School for Students
March 13 & 15th - Noon dismissal both days for teachers to host parent conferences
We have been busy, busy, busy the last few weeks. With hundred day celebrations, 5th Grade Tumbling Show performances, Valentine's Day activities, a Chinese New Year experience, and lots of new learning in spelling, writing, math, and science, we certainly have a lot to share!
Last week we celebrated the 100th Day of School on Thursday. Students were engaged in spelling, writing, and math activities having to do with the number one hundred. Students were challenged with finding as many words as they could with the letters in the words "one hundred," solved addition and subtraction problems to color a mystery picture, wrote informational paragraphs about their special hats, and walked along the catwalk and under the disco ball in the multi during our traditional "Hundred Day Hat Show." We took a fun class photograph after the show:
We practiced being a respectful audience when we attended the Tumbling Show last week. 5th graders worked in small groups to combine their knowledge of tumbling moves in conjunction with the events of the Winter Olympics as they created skits to music. It was a wonderful show!
Wednesday we enjoyed yummy treats, some Valentine spelling and math activities, and listened to a story read by Charlie's Grandmother. I heard several of the children exclaim, "This is the best day of my life!" It really was great!
Thursday brought us a Chinese New Year celebration. Thanks to Alex's parents, the children learned all about the Chinese New Year, the significance of the color red, and the traditions that families take part in each year. They also learned about the connection between the phases of the moon and the Chinese calendar. Every twelve years the Zodiac sign repeats. Many of the children thought it was pretty cool to know that they would be 19 or 20 years old when the next Year of the Dog returns. The children got to stuff some dumplings with veggies and some with pork, they boiled them and enjoyed them with some homemade soy sauce on the side. They watched the New Year's Gala on YouTube and did some non-fiction reading activities later in the day.
Finally, on Friday, it was time to celebrate the Winter Olympic games with our buddies. It was such a huge success! We traveled from station to station, participating in curling, bobsledding, scooter hockey, archery (with snowballs), and much more. To close out the day, we got back together with our buddies and watched some videos called, "The Science of the Olympics" to understand things like the importance of friction and momentum in many of the olympic events. It was truly a wonderful day! Only photos of inside stations are posted because it was too wet and foggy to take outside photos on my phone!
Upcoming Events and Things to Know About:
March 8th - Our class and Mrs. Vashel's class will be taking our trip to Marsh Billings Farm to do some winter tracking. We are excited to get outside, look for some animal tracks in the snow, draw a tracking story, and learn about movement patterns of different animals.
Conferences - I will be creating a sign up via VolunteerSpot. When you receive the email, please check the days and times and choose one that will work best for you.
March 12th - Inservice for Teachers; No School for Students
March 13 & 15th - Noon dismissal both days for teachers to host parent conferences
Friday, January 12, 2018
Wednesday, January 10th
We are back into the swing of things in the classroom. We are shifting gears in most academic areas, building on skills we've already learned, thinking about scientific phenomena, comparing and contrasting different versions of stories, really getting a handle on what it means to retell a story, noticing sensory details in books and learning how to incorporate them into our own writing, reading with partners and using strategies to check for understanding, having discussions about our opinions of books, noticing how different characters react to problems, adding multi digit numbers, learning about different math representations and when to use them for solving different types of problems, learning new games, activities, and apps for different math skills, sharing our math thinking with each other and evaluating our own work and the work of others. We are some kind of busy!!! Please look at the other pages within the blog for specific information about some of the things mentioned above.
Before the break we talked about the tradition that many people have to make a New Year's resolution. In thinking about our monthly character traits, our community, and beyond, we decided to make some wishes for the world in the new year. Here are some examples of the thoughts from young second grade minds.
As you can see, many students are concerned about our environment. Hopefully within our discussions of this month's character trait of citizenship we will discuss the small things that even second graders can do to help with caring for our environment.
Important Upcoming Dates
Jan. 15th - No school
NH Civil Rights Day
Feb. 8th - 100th Day of School
Feb. 19th-23rd - Vacation
We are back into the swing of things in the classroom. We are shifting gears in most academic areas, building on skills we've already learned, thinking about scientific phenomena, comparing and contrasting different versions of stories, really getting a handle on what it means to retell a story, noticing sensory details in books and learning how to incorporate them into our own writing, reading with partners and using strategies to check for understanding, having discussions about our opinions of books, noticing how different characters react to problems, adding multi digit numbers, learning about different math representations and when to use them for solving different types of problems, learning new games, activities, and apps for different math skills, sharing our math thinking with each other and evaluating our own work and the work of others. We are some kind of busy!!! Please look at the other pages within the blog for specific information about some of the things mentioned above.
Before the break we talked about the tradition that many people have to make a New Year's resolution. In thinking about our monthly character traits, our community, and beyond, we decided to make some wishes for the world in the new year. Here are some examples of the thoughts from young second grade minds.
As you can see, many students are concerned about our environment. Hopefully within our discussions of this month's character trait of citizenship we will discuss the small things that even second graders can do to help with caring for our environment.
Important Upcoming Dates
Jan. 15th - No school
NH Civil Rights Day
Feb. 8th - 100th Day of School
Feb. 19th-23rd - Vacation
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Sunday, December 10th
We've got a really busy week coming up! Here's a glance:
Monday - Concert rehearsal from 9-10:30am
Tuesday - 2/3 Concert for the school 9am and then concert for parents 10:30am
High School A cappella group performing for Ray Students 1:45pm
Thursday - Mrs. Stone and Mrs. Vashel's Holiday Craft Workshop 12:30-1:30
We will make ornaments, decorate cookies, read a holiday story, and listen to holiday music together. Students are making stockings and have selected a Secret Pal to give one handmade ornament to before vacation.
Friday - 4/5 Concert for the school 9am and then concert for parents 10:30am
Mrs. Stone and Mrs. Vashel's Holiday Craft Workshop 12:30-1:30
We will make ornaments, decorate cookies, read a holiday story, and listen to holiday music together.
From the Haven - The Haven is in need of SOUP. If you are coming to either of the concerts this week, please consider bringing some canned soup to the concert and dropping it in one of the buckets that you will see in the Gym. The Haven is also happy to take winter clothing donations, new or used condition.
It's finally white outside! With winter weather now here, PLEASE send your child to school with appropriate outdoor gear. Boots, a winter jacket, snow pants, a hat and mittens/gloves are a MUST for playing out in the snow on the playground. Please also try to remember indoor shoes, especially M-W, as they are the days we have PE and Music. Wet boots are not fun to wear all day, leave a mess on carpets, and make it uncomfortable to sit criss cross on the floor.
We've got a really busy week coming up! Here's a glance:
Monday - Concert rehearsal from 9-10:30am
Tuesday - 2/3 Concert for the school 9am and then concert for parents 10:30am
High School A cappella group performing for Ray Students 1:45pm
Thursday - Mrs. Stone and Mrs. Vashel's Holiday Craft Workshop 12:30-1:30
We will make ornaments, decorate cookies, read a holiday story, and listen to holiday music together. Students are making stockings and have selected a Secret Pal to give one handmade ornament to before vacation.
Friday - 4/5 Concert for the school 9am and then concert for parents 10:30am
Mrs. Stone and Mrs. Vashel's Holiday Craft Workshop 12:30-1:30
We will make ornaments, decorate cookies, read a holiday story, and listen to holiday music together.
From the Haven - The Haven is in need of SOUP. If you are coming to either of the concerts this week, please consider bringing some canned soup to the concert and dropping it in one of the buckets that you will see in the Gym. The Haven is also happy to take winter clothing donations, new or used condition.
It's finally white outside! With winter weather now here, PLEASE send your child to school with appropriate outdoor gear. Boots, a winter jacket, snow pants, a hat and mittens/gloves are a MUST for playing out in the snow on the playground. Please also try to remember indoor shoes, especially M-W, as they are the days we have PE and Music. Wet boots are not fun to wear all day, leave a mess on carpets, and make it uncomfortable to sit criss cross on the floor.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
The Month of November
We were certainly busy through the month of November. Despite my absences, the class managed to continue with normal routines for the most part. If you happen to be in the school and see Mrs. Hanchett in the near future, please thank her for all her hard work and dedication to the classroom and students while I was absent. Our building project is coming to a close and I want to thank everyone who donated time and supplies. We really appreciate it. The benches will be complete before the holiday break. We'll keep them in the classroom for a while as an alternative seating arrangement for morning meeting and other circle times.
I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving break.
News and Notes from Around the School
Music - please make sure that your child has shoes to wear in the music room. Our class has music on Tuesday mornings at 8:10. If it helps to keep a pair of shoes at school there is space for them on our shoe/boot rack in the hallway. It is really important to keep wet boots off of the carpeted risers so that other students don't sit on wet spots throughout the day.
Lost and Found - Please make sure to label your children's belongings and check the lost and found down by the Gym doors periodically. At the end of each month, all items are donated to the Listen.
Holiday Concert - December 12th @ 10:30 is the 2/3 performance for parents. Please go directly to the gym and not to the classroom. We will see you after the concert for a gathering in the classroom. More information to come on that soon.
We were certainly busy through the month of November. Despite my absences, the class managed to continue with normal routines for the most part. If you happen to be in the school and see Mrs. Hanchett in the near future, please thank her for all her hard work and dedication to the classroom and students while I was absent. Our building project is coming to a close and I want to thank everyone who donated time and supplies. We really appreciate it. The benches will be complete before the holiday break. We'll keep them in the classroom for a while as an alternative seating arrangement for morning meeting and other circle times.
I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving break.
News and Notes from Around the School
Music - please make sure that your child has shoes to wear in the music room. Our class has music on Tuesday mornings at 8:10. If it helps to keep a pair of shoes at school there is space for them on our shoe/boot rack in the hallway. It is really important to keep wet boots off of the carpeted risers so that other students don't sit on wet spots throughout the day.
Lost and Found - Please make sure to label your children's belongings and check the lost and found down by the Gym doors periodically. At the end of each month, all items are donated to the Listen.
Holiday Concert - December 12th @ 10:30 is the 2/3 performance for parents. Please go directly to the gym and not to the classroom. We will see you after the concert for a gathering in the classroom. More information to come on that soon.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Sunday, October 29th
On Friday, we completed our Self Portraits and personal goals projects. We began by tracing a head shape tracer with pencil and then used cray-pas to shade in skin color. From there we talked about placement and shape of eyes, colored in the white part of the eye, the eye color and then the iris. We practiced making different noses and talked about placement and shape of the mouth. When it came time for adding hair, the children were pretty independent and creative. At the bottom of each portrait, a set of student generated personal goals are attached. As we progress through the year, these goals will be a reminder of how we
can help each other become even better students and individuals. It is amazing to watch these come to life. When the hair and details of the shirts start to take shape, it is really amazing how accurate these creations are! Next time you are in the classroom, take a look at these hanging on the short wall near the ceiling in the classroom. They truly are amazing!
Kids and Community
We celebrated its conclusion with an assembly on Friday afternoon, led by Ms. Brauch. Our buddy class joined us in wearing purple and we sat, sang, danced and played volleyball together. It was great fun! We are so thankful for the support and dedication from all of the community members featured on this year's cards.
Junior Rangers Field Trip to Marsh-Billings
Due to the weather forecast for tomorrow, we will NOT be going on the trip. We have rescheduled for next Monday, November 5th. You will not have to sign another permission form, we will simply change the date on the ones we already have that you turned in. I will send a reminder as we get closer to the rescheduled date about packing a lunch for that day.
Halloween Parade and Party (Parade 1:30, party to follow)
On Tuesday, K-2 students will participate in our annual Halloween Parade. Parents are welcome to watch and then join us in the classroom afterward for a small party. Best parade viewing can be done in the gym. If you volunteered to send in food or drink, feel free to send it with your child first thing in the morning or bring it to the classroom just before the parade. We hope to see everyone there!
We celebrated its conclusion with an assembly on Friday afternoon, led by Ms. Brauch. Our buddy class joined us in wearing purple and we sat, sang, danced and played volleyball together. It was great fun! We are so thankful for the support and dedication from all of the community members featured on this year's cards.
Junior Rangers Field Trip to Marsh-Billings
Due to the weather forecast for tomorrow, we will NOT be going on the trip. We have rescheduled for next Monday, November 5th. You will not have to sign another permission form, we will simply change the date on the ones we already have that you turned in. I will send a reminder as we get closer to the rescheduled date about packing a lunch for that day.
Halloween Parade and Party (Parade 1:30, party to follow)
On Tuesday, K-2 students will participate in our annual Halloween Parade. Parents are welcome to watch and then join us in the classroom afterward for a small party. Best parade viewing can be done in the gym. If you volunteered to send in food or drink, feel free to send it with your child first thing in the morning or bring it to the classroom just before the parade. We hope to see everyone there!
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Monday, October 9th Update: Our Junior Rangers field trip will either be on October 27th or 30th. The director recommended that we attend... -
Sunday, October 1st First of all, thank you to everyone who came to our Parent Information/Open House night this past Wednesday. It was g... -
Monday, March 12th What a lovely day we had on our tracking adventure at Marsh Billings Farm! The weather was just perfect for us...