We have some very exciting news at the H. Olive Day School! At their February meeting, the Community Preservation Commission approved using some of their funds to create a new playground and field at HOD. The use of these funds needs to be approved by Norfolk voters at the Town Meeting that will take place on Tuesday, May 7th at 7:00 p.m. at the King Philip Middle School. A new playground will not only provide a safe, accessible and fun place for our children to play and socialize, it will also...

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A great way to connect with the family and get some good family "work" done is to have a family meeting or family meal.  Even children as young as 3 or 4 can be active participants.  With meetings, each family member has a say about the agenda, may participate in a non-judgmental brainstorming session and help in the problem solving process.  It is a chance for everyone to have a role and take on responsibility in the meeting (and in the family).  Decisions are made by consensus....

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2nd Grade NewsIt was so nice to see everyone on Mind, Body, and Spirit Night. Thank-you for coming and participating in the PE, music, and art stations.  I would like to extend a warm and sincere thank-you to Mr. Reilly, our awesome art teacher, Mrs. O’Connell, our fantastic music teacher, the Grade 2 teachers, Mrs. Balfour, Mrs. Dressler, Mrs. O’ Connor, and the nutrition task force for supporting the specialists evening at H.O.D. Here are some fun fitness facts about cup stacking,...

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The highlight of last month in art was undoubtedly the Body, Mind & Spirit Night which featured second grade artists and their "Masterpieces". The fruits of several weeks of collaborative labor paid off with the exhibition of six unique masterpieces that were prominently on display for parents to view. The works of art were created by using a grid technique on a famous painting that was projected on the SmartBoard. Each student was assigned a specific portion of the grid. Initial rough sketches...

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HOD – it’s a great place to be!  That is because all of us at HOD KNOW that it takes a village to raise and educate a child! Here are just a few people who deserve a special HOD High 5! You will see more High 5’s every month. *The Inspiration Performing Troupe, a talented Norfolk based group of performers, who performed at HOD! This performance was a very entertaining ‘dress rehearsal’ for this talented group of girls before they performed at Disney World during...

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This title sounds like what kids yell when they get the right answer! Perhaps that is why PBS chose this as it’s title for the math initiative it is launching to support the development of early math skills for children between the ages of two to eight years old, and their parents. Research has shown that developing number sense in the early elementary grades is a good predictor of later success in higher level mathematics.  We know this about kids.  PBS recently did a survey with...

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Our performances have begun with a great night had by all just before April vacation with our Body, Mind and Spirit night. This Art, Music and Physical Education collaboration proved to be a lot of fun. I will never look at the “Cha, Cha Slide” in the same way again since watching it done with basketballs was such a treat. Our next performances coming up are as follow:Grade 2 concert on Friday, May 17, 2013 at 1:45. It will show the culmination of a year’s worth of work, which...

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Young Children, Technology and Media – a Few ConsiderationsWe all know that the growth of digital devices, smartphones, and social media has been explosive over the past decade. Not long ago, we thought that computers and then laptops had revolutionized the world around us and the way we lead our lives. Little did we know that was only the beginning of the ‘revolution’. The way we communicate, conduct research, do business and learn has been transformed at home, at work and in...

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Any teacher or parent can tell you that our emotions and relationships impact how and what we learn each day.   Here at the HOD, we use the Open Circle social-emotional curriculum to teach our children skills they need to develop healthy relationships and to be good learners.  This curriculum teaches children how to recognize and mange their emotions, learn to communicate effectively and teaches them how to solve problems using sound decision making skills.  By nurturing a...

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Now that each of our first and second grade classes have been using iPads, we are only limited by the schedule which has been filling up each day. It is easy to see that our staff have taken on the use of this new technology with great enthusiasm and it is being well received by our students.

It is hard to believe that we are already at the end of March and moving into the end of another school year and the beginning of our performance season. Students will be working towards those performances as well as continuing in their other aspects of music education. We are working on note reading and were introduced to a series of books whose main character, Freddie the Frog, will help us with everything from reading the notes on the staff with a treble clef to scat singing. We will begin...

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One reading strategy we work on here at HOD is Asking Questions. As readers, we actively engage with a text by asking various types of questions before, during, and after reading. This strategy helps readers monitor their comprehension, stay interested in their reading, and propel them forward in a text. Teachers model this strategy during their read alouds and encourage students to ask and answer questions as they read independently. Readers ask the following kinds of questions:Predicting questions:...

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2nd Grade NewsThe 2nd grade students really enjoyed the annual skating trip to the Norfolk Arena. When I asked the 2nd graders about the trip, I heard many, many positive comments. For example: “It was awesome, I loved skating, I learned how to skate, I can’t wait to go back again, That was the best field trip ever, I want to learn to skate like the performers”, and many more. Please check the NCTV schedule to view the guest performers, skating lessons, and the recreational...

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David J. Whitin and Sandra Wilde wrote the book titled, Read Any Good Math Lately?  This is a resource I find myself referring back to now and again to grab a good book to use with a particular unit or group of students.  Children LOVE to be read aloud to in my experience.  It doesn’t feel like they are doing WORK!  Reading is such a great springboard for math thinking and language acquisition.  We often stop to try one of the problems on the page or use the ideas...

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All second grade art students have been working very hard on this year's "masterpiece" series. This was an extremely challenging project that I started with last year's second grade classes. Due to its success I decided to repeat it for this year. And like last year, each second grade class has been assigned a famous artist from art history. Working as a team, each student recreates a small designated section of the masterpiece. First they are roughly drawn, then they are matched up with corresponding...

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HOD- it’s a great place to be! That is because all of us KNOW that it takes a village to raise and educate a child! Here are just a few people who deserve a special HOD HIGH 5!*Roberta Hunt, our fabulous PE teacher and our equally fabulous second grade teachers and assistants who planned a very successful and safe skating trip for the entire second grade! Special thanks also to Beth Macrina and Stacy Hickey who coordinated all of the wonderful parent volunteers. The trip couldn’t have...

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A question that we often hear from parents is, “What is my child expected to learn this year?” Fortunately, we can provide a good resource for parents in response to this question! Our school district’s curriculum teams spent two years creating Learning Expectations documents in the areas of English Language Arts, Math and Social Studies. (The Science Learning Expectations are still a ‘work in progress’.) The purpose of writing these documents was twofold: to enable...

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Snuggle Up With a Good Book is off to a great start at HOD! We know our students are very excited about this program. Not only are they expressing enthusiasm about reading more, they are also having interesting conversations about goal-setting, favorite books they are rediscovering, and the fun they are having reading at home with family members. Thank you for supporting this worthwhile effort to promote the love of reading! Here are some additional tips from the Classroom Connections website...

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Our new year is off to a great start in both our music world and the technology world here at the H. Olive Day School. I feel blessed each week I hear the “voices of angels” as our children enthusiastically sing and dance through each of our general music classes as well as our choral periods. Our barred instruments have also had a workout as our children focus to add accompaniment to different songs. We will start focusing on more reading of rhythms as well as learning the notes on...

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