Miss Bean’s Classroom News

November 29, 2007

Dear Families,

Yes, you have the right classroom newsletter. I thought it fitting to use my maiden name since we re-enacted our Old School Day this week. What fun we had! If you had a chance to join us for the assembly, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed acting it out. Later in the morning we had another opportunity to experience a typical day in a one-room schoolhouse. The pictures below will give you an idea of what we did and experienced. I’ve also included some quotes from your children after the experience.

 

 

   

 

 

Here’s what your children had to say about our morning:

I liked the reading out loud from those really old books.

I liked when we sang "My Country ‘Tis of Thee" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

I liked doing the "Pledge of Alligience" when "William" held the flag for us.

I liked when we sat in the naughty chair.

"Miss Bean" sat on a tack that someone put in her chair. "Samuel" had to write on the chalkboard almost 100 times that he wouldn’t put a tack in the teacher’s chair again.

I liked the clothes everyone was wearing.

"Fred" had to write ‘Canada’ almost 100 times because he didn’t study his geography.

I loved it when "Penn"y had to sit on the stool and wear the dunce cap.

I liked all the different grades people were in.

I liked when we had to practice penmanship on slates with chalk.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to each and every parent for your help in getting a costume together for your child, and preparing a bag lunch for the lunch bag social. Also, thank you to the families who allowed us to borrow a bench, a stool, antiques, chairs, etc. for our one-room schoolhouse. Whenever it’s convenient for you to pick your items, please do so. If you’d like me to bring them to you, let me know and I can drop them off after school some day. I know this was extra work in your already-busy lives. THANK YOU! With your support, our special day was a huge success!

We have taken a bit of time to discuss some proverbs and their meanings, since it was part of our "recitations" for the assembly. Before we talked about the correct proverbs, I asked children to fill in the blanks. I thought you would enjoy some of your children’s inventive proverbs:

Don’t cut off your head to spite your face.

A stitch in time saves time.

Blood is only skin-deep.

A man is known by his beard.

All that glitters is not paper or shiny.

Those who live in log houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Ice water runs deep.

Ice is thicker than water.

Silence is not fun.

Two is company, but three is a party!

It takes two to toot.

Two cookies are better than one.

This newsletter is being written Wednesday evening, so I won’t have time to write about our upcoming Four Winds lesson, which is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. I will write about this and send it to you next week. In the meantime, you can ask your child about this science lesson about "Prey and Predator," and see what he or she remembers and found most interesting.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was my first one without either of my children. We spent the holiday with Skip’s Mom, since it was her first without her husband after 56 years of marriage. Ty and Jen did manage a trip from Rhode Island to spend the weekend with us. He’s student teaching in fourth grade and exhausted, but oh—so happy. Caity’s college schedule in Canada didn’t allow for her to travel home for Thanksgiving, but she hosted a potluck dinner at her apartment. She refused to buy a turkey because "it was too expensive." A friend of hers brought a whole raw, chicken and she didn’t know what to do with it, but figured it out, and was quite proud of herself. She found the neck and giblets after the chicken was cooked and carved—still inside the cavity. Another friend volunteered to bring the mashed potatoes, but only had five potatoes, so everyone enjoyed a spoonful of mashed potatoes with the roasted chicken.

Enjoy your weekend!

Brenda

Dates to Remember:

Wed., Dec. 12 Early Release Day for Children

Thurs., Dec. 13 Vermont Symphony Orchestra visits Moretown School-Time is to be announced

Friday, Dec. 14 Karen Kurzman visits Moretown School for more work with Writing