Tuesday, August 9th is but five days away!
Hope you're enjoying the scrag ends of summer and planning a joyous weekend — beach, hiking, delicious food, a fun movie, and lots of sleep!
A few updates:
(1) Ms. C
First, as a few unplanned staffing changes were needed this week, I will now be ably assisted by Ms. Liz Cunningham.
As Ms. Cunningham has been at HNS far, far longer than I — and in many more grades than I — I've little doubt she'll be sharing far deeper wisdom with 2G than I could ever muster up!
(She also loves the white terns as much as I do, so watch out if we get another chick on campus! The students will be dragging the two of us back to class after recesses!)
As Ms. Cunningham will be learning the 2G ropes, at least in the early weeks you may get a quicker reply from me than from her.
Re. communications:
Feel free to email me at any time of day or night — I will respond if able
Urgent matters ("I'm running late to bench!") or emergencies — texting is always best (# is always at the bottom of my emails)
Phone calls: a last resort -- I get so many "spam" calls these days, I just don't pick up; callers who really know me will leave a message (which gets texted to me) or contact me by email or text
Feel free, if you'd like, to send a "Hello, this is X" text to me so I can log you in my phone's contact list.
This is helpful when things get busy in class: I can glance at my texts and see your name, rather than a number. And should you call from that number, I'll know it's not a spam call.
(2) Schedule
The 2G schedule — thanks to the hard work of Ms. Jenna Keiburtz of 1G fame — is very similar to last year's schedule.
Please find attached a "first draft" of our internal-to-2G schedule.
(The truth is, sometimes things don't quite gel the way you anticipate and some jigging is required. That said, it's unlikely to change dramatically so it's solid for near-term planning purposes!)
(I've yet to update the daily schedule on the website. Will be getting to that shortly.)
And while I've got you, a little "walk through" of the schedule....
(3) Schedule Walk-Through
We start every day with Morning Circle which typically begins with some math, followed by a Geography story and a round of "I'm Going to the Moon" (to have fun checking that story details were heard and remembered).
Thanks to Ms. Bridgewater — our principal, and ages ago also a flexible 6G teacher open to schedule changes — all of 2G's tough academic work is scheduled for the morning, when young minds are freshest.
In 2G, 3-Station Rotation is (almost always) Phonics, Reading and Math. It is our fervent desire that each 2G student gets at least 25 minutes of each every day.
One of our 2G maxim's:
A joy in Reading, Writing & Math—
not a bad foundation for the 21st century
And we believe it! : )
If you've poked about the website, you'll notice the 2G class is divided into 3 smaller groups (Red, Rust and Purple).
Students begin at a different station each day.
Students rotate through all three stations every day.
Over the years we've found that 6, 7 and 8 year olds can work hard — focus, concentrate, do their best — for about 25 minutes at a stretch.
After 25 minutes even casual, untrained observers will note 2G students tuning out. Big time!
So we schedule "brain breaks" here and there. (In some Scandinavian countries, a 15 minute break every hour is required by law, and that's not just for the youngest students).
Before lunch we have a whole-class instruction period. Typically this is...
A mini-lesson (math or phonics) targeting an issue that is common amongst most students
"Daily Dictation" (altho' we don't do it daily... but the alliteration is nice!)
Math — quiz, games, introduction of new topics
Tree House News (Fridays)
Tree House News is 2G's newsletter. We figure you'd far rather hear from your own student re. what's going on each week that from us!
Click the Tree House News link at the bottom to see what a typical THN issue looks like.
(Worry not, we will keep you informed of anything students might not share via emails... like this one!)
Sharing is a 2G activity Dr. Cat used to dread and not schedule, but through COVID has come to recognize as thoroughly worthwhile!
The sharing schedule is on the CLASS page of the website. (Dr. C and Ms. C are sharing on the 9th, Ava and Aubrey on the 10th...)
Once we're in the flow of things, we leave it to students to figure out when they are sharing — and remember it.
(As there are 13 students in 2G and 2 students share each day, "forgetting" your sharing means you'll wait a little more than a week to have another chance!)
Specialty classes come after lunch.
(4) P.E.
Please note that PE is on Mondays & Wednesdays (and not on the days I previously alluded to).
If students wish to wear lace-up PE shoes, it is our deep desire that they know how to tie their own laces. (This is a great skill to learn at home! : )
A big ask: ankle socks or smaller?
When students bring tight tube socks that run all the way up to their knees — socks they cannot put on (or sometimes take off!) themselves — this, plus the time it takes to lace up shoes... well... it can take inordinate amounts of time!
Again: please wear slippers every day, even on PE days.
Again: we do not wear shoes in the classroom or on the rugs in our out-of-doors classroom. (Yes, I lived in Japan a few years back!)
(5) Music
While we don't at present have a music teacher, Dr. Cat has a guitar -- more than one, actually -- and LOVES to sing with students.
So 2G students will not go music-less.
And — hee, hee, hee— we may use any temporarily-free class time for... work! (There's always something!)
(6) Imaginative play
If COVID taught us anything, it's the importance of children being with other children for significant periods of time day in and day out.
How else do you learn the "rules" of how to play together, or resolve issues without adult help, etc.?
High on the list of important interpersonal experiences is imaginative play. Imaginative play is brain food par excellence.
So week's end with playful brain feeding!
(7) Pick-up time
The 2G pick-up time at bench is 2:40 - 2:50.
I hope that answers any questions that might have been forming in the 2G parent/student universe, and anticipated a few follow on questions.
Feel free to get back to me with questions, concerns, suggestions, complaints, croissants and coffee.
A good evening to all,
Cat (to parents)
Dr. Cat (to students)