Living Wax Museum
Weekly Update
Note from Becky Tapley
My Exploration Block organized and ran a very successful blood drive! (We are thinking of having another one in the spring, and I could definitely use a couple parent volunteers for the day of the drive the next time around.) 3rd and 4th grade will be learning about fractions, so talk about fractions whenever you get a chance!
Homework
For students in grades 3-5, practice of math facts would be immensely beneficial.
Upcoming Events
MEAs start March 18th
Note from Julie Wilson
I am seeing increased kindness, cooperation as well as students choosing more challenging works. We have been monitoring the temperature outside, and experimenting with ice and water…. and observing water freeze into ice. We have also been working. Super proud of Pre-k/K’s knowledge of the geometric solids, and of some wonderful collaborative games that we play to help each other learn the names of the solids. Our favorite new terms have been “ellipse” and “ellipsoid”. Our shape detectives figured out that if we were able to squish an ellipsoid, the flat shape that would be created is an ellipse… and our rug IS an ellipse!
We will be studying “Me on the Map” and learning our addresses. I will be sending home some “homework” for the Pre-k/K students to fill out so that they are able to complete their classwork. We are also counting up to the 100th day of school, and many students have completed the 100’s board- a very complex work requiring students to lay down numbered tiles from 1-100 in sequential order. We will also be introduced to the golden beads to concretely explore place value and quantities from 0- 9999! WOW!
Homework
The most important literacy work starts at home! Reading out loud, reading together, modeling a love of books is the best homework for the Puffins, Pre-k and K students.
Upcoming Events
If we do not have any snow days, our 100th day of school celebration will be on Friday the 15th. Also, we will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with both classrooms…. Please do not send any candy on the cards. We have 22 students between both classrooms, and 4 staff. A sign up for these two special days will go up on Bloomz. Please let me know if you are not able to receive or read Bloomz updates! Puffin’s Nest early release is at 12:00 Noon on Friday the 15th Pre-k/K early dismissal time is at 1:30 on Friday the 15th. School Vacation is the week of February 18th!
Parent Help
- This week and every week we could use help on Thursday mornings to help our library time run more smoothly for the Puffins and the Pre-k.
- We are also looking for fun materials to make Valentine’s Day cards… please no glitter or glitter glue little stickers, ribbons, fun paper.
- If you are free to help with the Valentines Day Celebration or the 100 days of school please let me know!
7/8 News
Hello parents of the marvelous 7th/8th-grade students!
I heard back from some of you that this format of the newsletter is much better than bloomz. So, I’m making the switch and sending it out this way from here on out. Thanks for letting me know how it was received, and please let me know in the future if there is any way to further improve it.
Upcoming Events:
Monday, February 11th
GSA Registration for 8th grade students planning on attending GSA
Tuesday, February 12th
Living Wax Museum: 1:15-2:45 We hope you can make it and see what your child has learned
8th grade Dinner Fundraiser
School Board Meeting 6 PM
Friday, February 15th
There are many exciting events happening on Friday! Please feel free to attend these events and take part in a celebratory day!
Winter Carnival: 9:00-11:00
Presentations of Exploration Block projects: 11:00-12:00
Staff-Student Basketball game: 12:30-1:20
Early Dismissal at 1:30
February 18th-February 22nd
No School – February Break
Science/Social Studies: The students have been doing an incredible job finishing their projects for the Wax Museum next Tuesday! Their speeches are coming along and they will finish their posters on Monday. Thanks to Ms. Steed being able to borrow costumes from The Reach theater in Deer Isle, many students’ costumes are ready, but some might still need to get more things from home to finish. Please ask your child what they need for their costume or check the list here: http://bit.ly/waxcostumes.
English/Language Arts: This week, we finished practicing finding the speaker’s purpose. We watched a Ted Talk of a 12 year old boy speaking about the industrial food chain. The students had a graphic organizer they filled out answering the question of “what was the speaker’s purpose?” and providing details from the talk that support their choice of the speaker’s purpose. In general, there are three different purposes an author or a speaker has in their writing or speech. The three purposes are to inform, to persuade, and to entertain. Each piece of writing or speech can have more than one purpose, but we make sure to support the speaker’s purpose with evidence proving our claim.
Math – Our 7th-grade mathematicians completed their focus on writing and solving equations and inequalities. I was very impressed with their determination and teamwork in writing and solving these. This is a skill that takes a long time to fully develop, and we are well on our way! They are now working on some geometry concepts, starting with the beautiful circle. Ask them to sing a little song they know about circumference and area of a circle. (https://tinyurl.com/nbjqweh) Our 8th-grade mathematicians have been reviewing their skills with solving problems in scientific notation. I have been very impressed with their determination and willingness to take risks. They also completed a focus on solving complex linear equations. They applied what they learned about the distributive property and combining like terms to real-world scenarios. We are now moving into graphing these linear equations, starting with proportional relationships. We have one final week in our current WINN (What I Need Now) block, so 7th and 8th-grade students are focused on meeting the goals that were set 5 weeks ago to master fractions, or working on new goals if they met that one.
Spanish: Students are now preparing the 3rd and final part of their dialogues which will be complete next Wed. Feb. 13th. The goal is to speak Spanish for 3-4 minutes with a partner with few or no errors and a good pronunciation.
School News 2-8
8th Grade Fundraiser-Six Course Chinese Dinner
On February 12th, 2019, we are having two seatings, one at 5pm and the other at 7pm. The cost is $30 per person / $100 for table of four. The Menu: Appetizer Platter-Red Curry Coconut Soup, Sesame Beef, Mopo Tofu
and Triple Seafood w/veggies served with steamed rice and dessert. Non-Alcoholic beverages will be served.
Meal Preparation will be coordinated by Jeff and Maribeth Carson and table service by our 8th-grade students in the school cafeteria. Seating is limited to 24 per seating so please get your friends together and make your reservation soon. Message jbaird@brooklinschool.org to make a reservation.
Health Reminders
What can I do to protect myself against the flu and colds?
*Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
*Stay home from work, school or doing errands when you are sick. You will help prevent others from catching your illness.
*Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve when coughing or sneezing.
*Wash your hands often.
*Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose or mouth.
*Eat a healthy diet.
February
- 2/12 6:00 PM School Board Meeting
- 2/15 9:00- Noon Winter Carnival
- 1:30 PM Early Release
- 2/18–2/24 Vacation