This is a rather long blog post, so please stick with me.... Happy New Year! I am so happy to be back with all of the students again. Yesterday was the first day we had a full class, but we are all here and healthy, and that is wonderful!  Getting back into the routine has been easier for the students than I anticipated, but we did spend a little bit of time reviewing expectations and safety protocols. We are all back in the saddle now!

Before going into the details of our academics this week, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the recent sad and disturbing events in our news. I know that some of the students must be aware of these events and are probably confused or frightened by them. I have tried to balance the need to give them space to ask questions and express their worries with the need to keep with our routines. Since no one said a word about it to me, I stuck with our routines while keeping an ear out for any conversations that needed to be addressed. Ironically, we started our unit on Democracy and Citizenship today, and nobody brought up the news from the White House at all even though there was ample opportunity. I am sure the issues will come up over the next few weeks, and I plan to do my best to answer any questions with facts. Please let me know if your child is feeling confused or frightened and you need any support from me.

Our Democracy and Citizenship unit will be a repeat for the students who were in my class last year. Unfortunately, whenever you go from a multi-age to a straight grade classroom, half the kids are going to miss something and the other half will have to repeat something (in science and social studies, at least.) I think this unit is critical, and particularly in an election year. The main questions we will be answering are: What is democracy? What are the rights and responsibilities of a citizen in a democracy? How are laws made in Vermont? How can citizens be involved in their democracy?  I see students getting excited about these topics every year, and I hope this year won't be an exception!

We have started our new math unit -- Addition and Subtraction with Large Numbers. In this unit, students learn to use increasingly efficient strategies to add and subtract BIG numbers, ending with the standard US algorithm. This is trickier than it sounds. Up until now, they have been taught to add the hundreds, then the tens, and finally the ones. That is pretty ingrained! When they add numbers using the US algorithm (with "carrying and borrowing" the way we used to do it) they have to start with the ones place! So far, we have worked on addition, and in just 5 days, we are using the algorithm successfully! The students are begging me to write more problems for them on the board! It is an amazing "AHA" moment for them. Subtraction is coming along soon, and that is a totally different thing.... Stay tuned!

Reading and writing are moving along. We are learning some strategies to make our nonfiction writing more interesting, such as mixing facts with ideas, adding humor, and adding introductions and conclusions. We are also learning how to tackle difficult vocabulary and how to summarize what we have read. Both of these units will be completed in a week or 2.

Finally, I want to remind you all that report cards are coming home on Monday, and conferences will start on Wednesday. I think the easiest way to manage the conferences is for you to all use the google meet link that is on my google classroom. Here it is again, just in case Conference Link.  I will do my best to finish each conference on time, but please be sensitive to the fact that the conference before yours may not be quite done when you try to join. If that is the case, please just wait a few minutes and then join. You are more than welcome to have your child join the conference -- but I will leave that up to you.  Here is the Conference Schedule. Please let me know if you have any questions about your conference time or about conferences in general. I'm happy to help!

I hope you all enjoy a lovely weekend. The sun is shining -- which is a nice way to end the week!