News & Updates
Newsletter 11/7/19
Thank you
- Bill Fuller for the donation of Beanie Babies to give to students.
- Leaf and Anna and the General Store for coming out in the rain to hand out goody bags.
- All staff who made the indoor Halloween parade and festivities, as calm and enjoyable as possible.
- Eden Cowart for donating mini pumpkins for the Puffins, Pre-K and K kids to decorate on Halloween.
Puffin Classroom Needs
The Puffin Classroom is looking for Hot Wheel cars. Drop them off in the office, please.
Soccer Uniforms
Please return your soccer uniforms, clean and in a plastic bag with your name on it to Mr. Bowden. Please return shirts, sweatshirts, socks, shorts, shoes, shin guards and any borrowed equipment.
Dress Safely Reminder
Please remember, wear something reflective if you’re walking home after school, sports practices, or games. It gets dark so early now, if you are wearing dark clothing, it makes it very hard for drivers to see you. Please be safe!
Thanksgiving Lunch
The Thanksgiving Lunch will be on Friday, November 15th at 11:30 AM. If you would like to join us, please RSVP by Tuesday, November 12th with Louanne in the office. Lunch will be $7.50 for adults. Thank you.
School Cancellations
It’s that time of year again when we’ll be having winter storm/power outage or school cancellations. If you are not getting my remind.com text, please call the office.
Book Fair Time
We will have a soft opening on Friday, November 15th for parents and visitors that will be here during the Thanksgiving Lunch. Books will be available for purchase.
Upper-grade students and parent volunteers will set up our ARCTIC themed fair on Monday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, teachers and students will look at the books and make wish lists for themselves and the classroom. These selections will be posted for those who would like to sponsor said books for any of the classrooms.
Otherwise, 11/20 (Wednesday) & 11/21 (Thursday) will be the heart of the book fair as far as purchasing goes.
Here is a link to our HOMEPAGE for the fair:
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/brooklinschool
**you can make ORDERS ONLINE at the link above!…quick…easy…and shipped right to your home!
We are still looking for some volunteers to help set up, guide, and take payment during the days of the fair.
You can donate your time at the link below:
https://volunteer.scholastic.com/#/signup/uh0sLKYfU
Thank you, Mr. Kennerk
Instructional Learning Update for Week of October 31st
1-2 Literacy
We have been strengthening our reading skills every day during literacy rotations! We have been practicing fluency by reading as many phrases (such as “he can run” or ” too heavy to carry”) as we can in one minute!
1-2 Math
We are continuing our math curriculum, Eureka Math. Students should be seeing homework coming home in their folders. We are having math chats and becoming strong mathematicians!
3/4 – ELA – This week we have worked on phonemic awareness skills, cursive writing, writing our own poems, Love That Dog, and small group reading.
5/6 ELA – Students have continued their close reading and literary analysis of Chains. We have had some lively class discussions, and are beginning to realize that we each interpret some vague text differently, but will find clarity as we continue to read and search for clues.
7/8 ELA – Students have continued reading A Long Walk to Water. The focus has been on how challenges help form character. We have also been able to split up into smaller groups the last 45 minutes of class, with some students working specifically on vocabulary and other reading texts that are at their level of complexity.
3/4 The 3/4 class became time travelers this week when we started a role-play simulation of a schoolhouse in the 19th century. We are starting our first unit on Maine history while also exploring what life was like in pioneer days. On Thursday, to help illustrate pioneer life, we started a read-aloud of Little House in the Big Woods.
5/6 This week, the 5/6 class put into practice some of the concepts they were introduced to at Schoodic and began studying how groundwater can move (or not) through earth materials with different levels of porosity and permeability. They conducted a lab to test soil, sand, and gravel and found some surprising results, which will be written about in the lab reports they started planning on Friday.
7/8 This week, the 7/8 class studied a variety of skulls and bones to consider how animals adapt to their environment. They drew detailed diagrams of these bones and labeled their key features. Later in the week, they researched adaptations of a variety of animals and participated in a role-playing computer game called Wolf Quest, in which they get a taste of what it is like to exist as a wolf. Next week, we’ll discuss what they learned from the game and compare how the choices they made for the wolf enabled it to survive or not.
3/4 Math: 3rd and 4th-grade mathematicians worked hard this week to demonstrate what they’ve learned so far about place value, rounding, and adding and subtracting large numbers. 3rd-grade mathematicians continued their work on understanding the concept of multiplication and becoming familiar with the multiples of 3s and 4s. 4th-grade mathematicians worked on discovering the metric system, specifically meters, centimeters, millimeters, and kilometers.
5/6 Math: 5th-grade mathematicians began our second module, where we will be working first on multiplication. We spent the week exploring multiplying by multiples of 10 (for example, 30 x 6,000), and then worked on mental math strategies. We drew visuals of multiplication models, which revealed some ‘aha’ moments for some of our students. Our 6th-grade mathematicians continued their work with rates and unit rates and worked on the useful formula: distance=rate x time. They also used the concepts of rates to convert measurement units.
7/8 Math: 7th-grade mathematicians completed their module on proportional relationships by showing what they’d learned about using scale drawings. They then began their second module, which focuses first on integers. They played a card game with integers, which was not only fun but also showed their skills with adding integers. 8th-grade mathematicians continued their work with transformations, focusing first on rotations of objects in the coordinate plane. They then worked on rotating objects 180 degrees. Finally, they started practicing sequences of translations.
Instructional Learning Update for Week of November 7th
Kindergarten and Pre-K students created their own 5 Little Pumpkins booklets to practice story retelling with a poem that they have all mastered. Students are all working to write their own names, and have become quite skilled at recognizing each other’s signatures. In math we continue to work on matching numerals to quantities of items to 10 (and above), sorting, matching and exploring shapes. Shapes are everywhere! Also, in one week we had TWO students turn FIVE! So exciting!
1/2 Literacy
As it was Halloween week, each day our read-aloud was a Halloween-themed book! We had great discussions all week about the stories we read, and what we enjoy about this time of year. Our vocabulary word work has also had a Halloween twist, with students playing a game where one student would hold up a picture without looking at it, and the other students had to describe the picture without saying what the picture was. The pictures were Halloween themed items such as pumpkin, witch, broomstick, etc.
1/2 Math Along with our regular math work, in first and second grade this week we did some fun Halloween inspired math! We were able to review skip counting patterns as well as before, middle, and after numbers (for example 1, ___, 3; and ___, 16, 17 and so on) all with a Halloween twist!
3/4 ELA: This week we continued to focus on phonemic awareness, phonics skills, and spelling patterns; continued with our analysis of Love That Dog; wrote some poems of our own; and, prepared for the student-led conferences.
5/6 ELA: We continued working on Literary Analysis of the text Chains, focusing on tone and mood. We also prepared for the student-led conferences held on Friday.
7/8 ELA: Students spent quite a bit of this week writing an analysis of a specific challenge that Salva (in Long Walk to Water) endured, what factors helped him endure that challenge, and how that event helped develop his personality or character. We also continued to split into separate small groups to work on specific skills of reading comprehension and vocabulary.
3/4 The students have done a wonderful job incorporating their literacy skills into our Super Studies routine. They have been working in small groups to read material that is at their reading level and that supports our science and social studies topics. This week we have also been learning about how classrooms have changed since the 19th century, and also how they are the same. The students have been enjoying our read-aloud of Little House in the Big Woods.
5/6 The 5/6 students tackled the challenge of writing a lab report about their porosity and permeability experiment and have done a wonderful job! Many students were able to include an impressive amount of scientific detail in their writing. They also enjoy exploring an online simulation that demonstrates how water flows through different materials underground. They were able to manipulate many different details and discover how those changes impact the water supply.
7/8 After playing the online simulation game “Wolfquest,” in which they get to play as the wolf and try to survive and reproduce, students examined data about wolves and deer, made graphs, and discussed how the population of deer and wolves are related. They also began their study of symbiosis by reading about different types of relationships between different species and playing a card game to match up those pairs.
3/4 Math: 3rd-grade mathematicians worked on extending their understanding of multiplication and division this week. 4th-grade mathematicians worked on solving word problems with metric units of length – millimeters, centimeters, meters, and kilometers. They also practiced their skills using an online program on zearn.org. On Halloween, they had a fun time learning a new math card game.
5/6 Math: 5th-grade mathematicians made great progress this week in multiplying 2 and 3 digit numbers, using an area model as well as the standard algorithm that we all know and love. 6th-grade mathematicians took an assessment on rates and also began working with percentages. On Halloween, they had a fun time learning a math card game called Golf.
7/8 Math: 7th-grade mathematicians continued their work with adding integers and are moving into subtracting integers. 8th-grade mathematicians practiced sequences of transformations and took an assessment on Thursday on the skills they have been learning. On Halloween, they had a fun time learning a math card game called Golf.
PTF News
Upcoming Events:
- Friday, November 8th @ 7:30 AM Coffee Social. Come have a cup of coffee and a snack.
- Thursday, November 7th at 3:15 PM, we need helpers to pack bags for the Backpack Program in the gym. They will go home on Friday. If you can help, text Molly at 207-266-1298 and we will have a job ready for you. Thank you to all of you who helped pack last week!
- Saturday, December 14th, Annual Holiday Craft Show 10-2. Great place to get unique holiday gifts. Mark your calendars now! If you are interested in participating in the Craft Show, please email brooklinschoolptf@gmail.com or call 207-266-1298. If you are interested in participating in the Craft Show please register https://forms.gle/JJfH3gWP3dYqu4QX7
Warm Clothes Swap
Our winter clothes rack is set up and ready to go! Please feel free to bring in warm, clean, winter gear in and extra hangers that might be cluttering up your closet.
Thanksgiving Lunch
Volunteers are needed for pie baking for our Community Thanksgiving which is next Friday, November 15th. We would love to have lots of different types of pies. Please email brooklinschoolpt@gmail.com to let us know what you are bringing. Thank you in advance.
Community Events
Potluck Dinner
A potluck dinner will be held at the Bayview Hall in North Brooklin on Saturday, November 9th from 5-7 PM. Bring a dish to share. Coffee, tea and cider will be available. As always, donations are gratefully appreciated towards the upkeep of the building.
GSA Information Evening
For 7th & 8th Graders, on Thursday, November 07, 2019, from 5:30-7:30 PM
Come see what George Stevens Academy has to offer during this special information evening.
Light refreshments will be provided at the end of the evening.
For more, please contact Christie A. Snow, Admissions Office
George Stevens Academy, 23 Union Street, Blue Hill, ME 04614
Admissions@georgestevens.org (207) 374-2808, ext.112
Visit www.georgestevensacademy.org
Youth Programs @ BHPL November 2019 Schedule
Schedule subject to change – check online calendar at www.bhpl.net for up-to-date listings
Special Events
Nov 9 Blue Hill Synth Club 1:00-3:00 PM Bass Room
Local electronic musician Sam Lothrop will teach the basics of programming and sequencing beats and melodies. Ages 8+ (teens and adults welcome, too!).
Nov 11 Closed for Veterans Day
Nov 13 & 27 Lego Club 3:00 PM Larchwood Room
Come build with Legos every second and fourth Wednesday. Create anything from your imagination, or optional special challenge. Legos provided by the library. Ages 5+.
Nov 15 Teen Movie: Men in Black: International 4:00 PM Howard Room
The library will hold a screening of the 2019 film, Men in Black: International.
Nov 16 Lego Chemical Reactions with Jess Garrett 2:00 PM Howard Room
Create a chemical reaction, build LEGO molecules, and meet a science book author! Ages 8+. Registration required at www.bhpl.net or 374-5515.
Nov 21 Pajama Storytime 6:00 PM Larchwood Room
Wear your pajamas, bring a stuffed animal and join us for a story, songs, and coloring.
Nov 28 Closed for Thanksgiving Day
Nov 30 Crafternoons! 1:00-3:00 PM Howard Room
Kids of all ages are invited to work on a craft project on the last Saturday of every month. This month, we will be making dream catchers with embroidery hoops, yarn, and other materials. All materials provided by the library.
ALL PROGRAMS ARE FREE AND DO NOT REQUIRE REGISTRATION UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. MORE INFO www.BHPL.net
11/8 12:30 PM Veterans’ Day Celebration
11/11 Holiday—No School
11/12 3:00 PM Pee Wee Basketball Practice
11/15 11:30 AM Friends-Giving Lunch
1:00 PM Early Release
11/14-11/22 Scholastic Book Fair
11/25-11/26 Teacher Workshop Days—No School
11/27-11/29 Holiday Break—No School