On Tuesday, October 26, the 6th-8th grade students spent the day participating in the Schoodic Education Adventure. Usually this is a 3-day overnight program, but this year we were only able to visit for one day. The students had a review of the Geologic Time Scale and learned about the geology of the Maine coast. They also did some soil tests and observations to learn about different aspects of the soil in different locations around the Schoodic Institute campus. A highlight of visiting Schoodic is always going to Schoodic Point to watch the crashing waves. On this day, with a storm and high tide moving in, the waves were particularly dramatic!
On Thursday, October 28, the 4th/5th grade class were invited to participate in a nature field day at Holbrook Island Sanctuary hosted by Explore Outdoors, a partnership between Downeast Audubon and the Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust. The class had a scavenger hunt on the Backwood Mountain trails and then did activities on the beach about tides and seasons. They also hiked the Backshore Trail where they were able to explore another beach and an old graveyard.
Soccer
Soccer season came to an end and students are starting to get excited for basketball. We have hired Faith Harmon as the boys’ basketball coach and are still looking to fill the position for the girls’ team.
School Community Events Updates
Rosanna’s Readers continues to provide every student with a birthday book. The Sherman family and Jason McFarland come to the school every three months to give books to students and carry on the wishes of Rosanna.
Halloween Parade– Students and staff were very excited to get back to our Halloween parade tradition to the General Store for treats–led by our community firefighters. A huge thank you to the General Store and Leaf and Anna.
GSA visit– Jane O’Connor visited the 7th and 8th grade students. She provided information about the amazing opportunities they would have should they chose to attend GSA. The students were excited and chatty about the whole experience.
Scholastic Book Fair– The book fair will take place in library this year from November 12-19.
Ms. Baird’s Updates
This week in math the kindergarten and first grade estimated , or make guess about how many seeds were in their pumpkin. Then each student counted the seeds by ten and then we added them together. After each class had a total we figured out which class had more and we found the difference. Miss Ellen helped us count and she roasted the seed for us and the students compared their seeds to packaged seeds First grade worked on different kinds of graphs this week and kindergarten played subitizing BINGO and used a rekenrek to help them with some number sentences.
In literacy, students worked on building words first with letter tiles, then by writing a sentence on a whiteboard. We then built sight words with play dough. We have begun being pen-pals with Mrs. Clarke’s grammie Shirley.
Mrs. Hick’s Updates
PK – This week we continued work on our song for the Holiday Show. We practiced for the two songs that the whole school will sing at the beginning and end of the Holiday show. We also played the color song and learned about the steady beat of the music. We practiced showing the steady beat throughout class while playing other games as well. This weeks Performer of the week is Marigold Morgan!
K/1 – This week we continued work on our song for the Holiday Show. We practiced for the two songs that the whole school will sing at the beginning and end of the Holiday show. We practiced a scene from the play that a few of our classmates are acting in. We played the color song and got to play freeze dance at the end of class. This weeks Performer of the week is Augustus Hardy!
2/3 – This week continued work on our song for the Holiday Show. We practiced for the two songs that the whole school will sing at the beginning and end of the Holiday show. We rehearsed a few scenes from the Holiday show to give our classmates a chance to practice their lines. This weeks Performer of the week is Maxim Morton!
4/5 – This week we practiced the song that our class will be singing in the Holiday show. Then because a lot of our class really wanted to learn more about the tech crew and how they keep the show on track backstage we talked about some of the jobs people on the tech crew do. We brainstormed ideas for sets for the show and at the end of class got to play a game called statues! This weeks Performer of the week is Brooklyn Goguen!
6/7/8 – This week we practiced the song that our class will be singing in the Holiday show. Then we worked more closely on the scenes directly before and after that song so that we could work on our transitions between the two. We talked about stage directions and making sure that we are all working on memorizing our lines as quickly as possible. This weeks Performer of the week is Angel Andrews!
Mrs. Bebell’s Updates
6-8 Super Studies
This week, the students started learning about genetics, including the history of Gregor Mendel’s research on peas and how physical traits are passed down to offspring through their genes. We also started our work on the WeatherBlur project by practicing asking questions that could lead to scientific data collection. On Friday, the class started their boatbuilding project with Eric Blake, which will meet weekly throughout the year.
4/5 Super Studies
Early this week, the students concluded their study of seasons by writing about their favorite season and making diagrams to show how the movement of the earth around the sun is responsible for it. We also started our work on the WeatherBlur project by practicing asking questions that could lead to scientific data collection. For Forest Friday, the class hiked the nature trail to see if there were any blowdowns from the last storm. We discovered a few trees that could use some attention, and were pleased to find that some kind hiker trimmed back some branches that were growing into the first part of the trail! Thank you to whoever that was!
2/3 Super Studies
We started the week by concluding our work with maps with a cut-and-paste mapmaking activity. The students demonstrated that they can make and use a compass rose correctly. Then we started learning about seeds! We went on a seed hunt outside to look at the variety of ways they grow on plants. For Forest Friday, we examined the insides of a huge spruce tree that came down in a recent storm. Then we had a class meeting in the grove to discuss how to respect ourselves (take care of our personal needs, speak up for ourselves), each other (be kind, helpful, and safe), and the forest (don’t damage living things or disrupt animals’ habitats) when we are outside exploring.
Mrs. Thoner’s Updates
2/3 ELA
This past week some students continued work on the prefixes: dis-, mis-, ab-, and ad-. They also worked on the vowel combinations: ai, ay, au. Other students worked on reading at their current instructional level.
All students worked on phonemic awareness [hearing sounds in words – both blending and segmenting (putting together and taking apart)], i.e. hearing the sounds within words.
All students also worked on vocabulary and reading fluency.
As a group, we read “The Evergreen Tree” – a story about a wood thrush who was injured and was looking for protection for the winter. We also completed a first read about life in Iceland.
4/5 ELA
Students have read through chapter 8 of Bud, Not Buddy. They are learning about what life might have been like during the Great Depression and how one boy (fictional) might have survived life alone during that time.
6-8 ELA
Students have finished reading A Long Walk to Water and will spend the next week on their final projects. Choices will include writing a two person poem, further researching waterforsudan.organd designing a fundraising project, or proposing and completing a research project around water shortages around the globe.
Mrs. Sproul’s Updates
2nd grade math – This week we finished up the unit working with data. They have learned so much and really seem to understand it! We will now be working on adding and subtracting within 100. We also continue to work on math fact strategies. Ask your student which strategy they are working on and see if they can share it with you.
3rd grade math- We spent this week learning what multiplication is and looked at it in various different ways. We talked about how it is figuring out groups of numbers instead of adding. For example if we were setting 4 tables with 5 plates we could add 5+5+5+5 to get 20 or we could think about four groups of five (4×5). It is important for them to understand exactly what multiplication is before we spend time learning each fact. We will dive more deeply into the facts and talk about strategies to learn them. We will also continue to work on addition and subtraction facts if they have not been mastered yet.
4th and 5th grade math – This week we spent quite a bit of time working with equivalent fractions and comparing fractions. A solid understanding of fractions is needed for middle school math and all too often students don’t understand them. I am trying to avoid them struggling in middle school by laying a solid foundation. Friday it was exciting to see the students explain how they knew which fraction was larger of a pair I was giving them. This is not easy for them and they have worked hard learning how to do this. I am proud of them!
6th grade math – The students spent time this week learning about the difference between surface area and volume. They spent time making nets of shapes and figuring out the surface area. We also made different shapes with the same amount of blocks and learned that you can have shapes with the same volume but different surface area and the same surface area with different volumes.
7th grade math – The students worked with proportional relationships and understanding the constant of proportionality. This is key to the next steps we are doing in math class and it is a hard concept to fully understand. They are learning to work through frustration and rely on their classmates to help. This is hard for some and we discussed the importance of being able to solve problems by thinking about them logically using the information they already have. If they can master this, there will be no stopping them! We also spent some time creating a game to practice their multiplication facts. They really enjoyed this!
8th grade math – We are working with dilations and relating them to scale factors. This week we were able to do some hands-on work and they seemed to enjoy that. They are fully grasping the topics and are working together well. We also spent some time creating a game to practice their multiplication facts. They really enjoyed this!
Mittens and Gloves
We are looking for mittens and gloves for kids to wear out to the playground if they forget theirs. If you can help, please drop those off in the office. Thank you in advance.
