IMPORTANT DATES AND REMINDERS Friday, September 27, 9:45-10:15am Friday Share (open to all) September 30 - October 11 Listening Conferences - Please check your classroom schedule for your family’s time. Tuesday, October 8 Dr. Brenda Cassellius, Superintendent visits MHS ​ ​ September 27, 2019 Volume 23, Issue 4 Learning From You Dear Mission Hill School Friends, Families, Students and Staff, Starting Monday, October 30th our school will begin a two-week window for the fall “Listening Conferences.” This is our annual opportunity for classroom teachers to hear from families and learn about your children. We call these meetings Listening Conferences as they are a chance for us to learn from you - the experts on your ​ ​ child(ren). Students attend the Listening Conferences, and together the team will talk about expectations and set goals for the year. If you are not sure when your Listening Conference is, please contact your child’s teacher as soon as possible. Jenerra and I have been having Listening Conferences as well. Ours have been with Mission Hill School staff members. As new leaders, we are spending time listening and learning from the educators we work with. Each conference is unique, and we set the stage by making sure each person can use the time as they need. We offer prompts and questions such as: Tell us about what is going well... What challenges are you working through? How can we support you? What questions do you have for us? For new leaders, these conferences are an investment in our partnership with our colleagues and are key to our democratic school - a place where everyone’s viewpoint is important and every voice matters. And with that, we’d like to offer Listening Conferences to caregivers as well. If you want to set up a time to meet with Geralyn and Jenerra (or “Jeneralyn” as we’ve been coined), please call the office at 617-635-6384. Please offer us a few times that work with your schedule and we will work hard to coordinate ours. Also let us know if you want to meet in person or by phone - your choice. You may have also heard that Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius is also in the midst of a Community Engagement Tour. This includes school visits, community conversations, and more. She is looking to hear feedback from the community - especially historically marginalized populations. You can find her schedule on the Boston Public Schools website. She’ll be visiting Mission Hill School on the morning of Tuesday, October 8th. Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin 1 CLASSROOM NEWS KINDERGARTEN sharp. They can cut hard chicken and gold. K0 Room 108 Jaelle: I like that my aunt put Quéla, Liana, Donna & Sarah beads in my hair. Our classroom was percolating Jayna: So I made a mistake on my with excitement last week! We first try. I turned the page over have been exploring the different and I made the head big so I areas of the classroom space and covered the whole part. I getting to know the routines, elevated my chin. I made the songs and rituals that will help nose a triangle shape because frame our class community this that is the shape and the nostrils. year. I made only the top bun and a K1/K2 Room 106 little spikes coming out of it. -Kathy & June The beautiful weather has Kathy & June ​ allowed us to really enjoy our Last week we spent time looking time outside. We’re cooking closely at our reflections. We K1/K2 Room 107 delicious food with dirt, leaves read The Colors of Us by Karen Jada & Manny ​ ​ and dishes, racing around the Katz. We then took our time While we have been busily driveway on tricycles and thinking about what to include in crafting our classroom creating beautiful masterpieces the self-portraits we made. agreements/expectations, with chalk. Inside, we’ve been Children sat at the tables in the following routines and caring for learning about the tools that art studio in our classroom. each other, we have discovered scientists use to do their work. They sat holding an oval mirror our students deep love for We’re using magnifying glasses in one hand and a pencil or black painting and sharing their to make little things appear pen in the other. Their eyes stories. Here are just a few. bigger and we’re sorting shells glanced to the mirror and then and using rich math vocabulary back to the paper and then back Beck: Once upon a time there with attribute words like “big.” to the mirror again. For many was a bird, a very black bird. “tiny,” “bumpy,” and “smooth.” children, making the first mark There was a very big book that Lastly, we took our first trip to on the paper was the hardest was ripped. The end. visit the JP Library! Everyone part. was very safe as we walked Maeve: Once there was a really along the sidewalk and peeked Children reflected on their black rainbow. It turned into dirt into the windows of nearby portraits. then lots of worms started to live shops as we passed them. We in it. snuck like little mice through the Xander: I drew me. library and selected one book Melina: I like that I put my August: I made a big giant each to bring back to the sneakers that I already have. I mummy. The big orange one is classroom. We will go back like that I remembered to do my the mummy. The green one is every other Friday. bangs. almost next to the mummy and -Liana, Donna, Quéla and Sarah Jayden: This is my nose, my he can sink down there. There is eyeballs, my teeth. They are a big sun. MHS NEWS: 09/27/19 PAGE 2 ​ Abubakar: It is dark outside about supernovas. Once today. Next we asked them what they everyone has shared their hopes wonder about weather. Their and dreams with the class we Will: I made a lot of purple and a questions helped us get excited use those goals to create class little red and some blue to show about our study this theme! agreements. We talk about how love to Jack and Rowan. ● How are raindrops we will help each other reach made? our goals. Stop by Room 210 to Gio: I made a storm. This is my ● When will there be more read our Hopes and Dreams house the red one. The black one lightning? class book! is the storm. ● How does the sky turn -Ashleigh, Alana & Stephanie -Jada Brown & Emmanuel St. Vil many colors at sunset? ● How does thunder get Room 216 made? Danny, Felicia & Destiny ● When is there more “While I’m reading this book, I’d thunder? like you all to practice ● How do clouds turn visualizing. Who can remind me black? what visualizing means?” Emily said, “Making a picture in your Stay tuned to learn about head of what’s happening.” As weather with us! we read through the book On the K1/K2 Room 109 ​ -Katie & Courtney M. Same Day in March, our class Katie & Courtney M. ​ visualized different weather We are beginning our theme around the globe. “I saw polar study of weather and data! To GRADES 1 & 2 bears!” said Yaniel as we read start, we asked the children, about the Arctic. “The snow must what do you know about Room 210 be melting!” said Wyatt as we weather? Below are some of Ashleigh, Alana & Stephanie read about spring in Alberta, their thoughts: It’s a tradition at Mission Hill Canada. “I see a fair where ● I like to jump in muddy School for everyone to write people are buying stuff,” said Joy puddles hopes and dreams at the as we read about Paris, France. ● Snowy beginning of each school year. Practicing our comprehension ● When you have pollen We spend time reflecting on strategies in connection with our allergies what we enjoy about school, science theme helps students to ● The best weather is what we’re proud of and what develop a variety of skills in an snowy feels challenging. After reflecting, interdisciplinary way. As we ● Rain each child creates a goal for the moved on to writing about this ● Dark and sunny year. Many students said they reading, everyone practiced ● Storm want to learn how to read this drawing what they imagined the ● Sunny and rainy year. Hannah wants to work on page about New York City would ● Snowy not getting distracted when look like. Anish used his ● Snowy can make us go doing her work. Jayden and background knowledge to guide inside and watch a movie Danae want to help people. him in drawing a skyline of ● I ate popcorn and Others want to get better at buildings. Vania drew rain and watched a movie when it drawing and learn multiplication gray skies with many frowning was rainy and division. Some want to be faces. Mira drew basketball ● I love snow better listeners and other kids players in the schoolyard, just as ● Foggy want to learn to spell more it was described in the text. We ● You can skate on ice words. Manny wants to learn MHS NEWS: 09/27/19 PAGE 3 ​ look forward to continuing the our students, “Who is a recorded the date, time, and connections between science, scientist?” Here are some of their location. After observing and reading, and writing to deepen answers: drawing what they saw, they our understanding! Emeric: A scientist is a person listed their questions. Here are a -Danny Flannery, Felicia Haynes, who asks questions.