The taping for the Winter Concert is on December 10th. Unfortunately with COVID we are not allowed to meet in person to see our children perform. The film should be available for everyone to view later that evening.
Table Talk- Take Two
Table Talk brochures were mailed earlier this week. This is an easy way for parents to talk to their children about what they are learning in school. Enjoy!
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.
Dress Safely Reminder
Please remember, wear something reflective if you’re walking home after school. 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!
4/5 grade Spiral Trees
2/3 grades Snow People
We are Learning………
6-8 Super Studies
This week, before students decided that they wanted to decorate the classroom for Christmas, they did research on the history of bringing trees and greenery into one’s house in December. They will bring in a small tree and decorate next week. They also practiced using a data analysis tool called Tuva, which they will be using later this year with the WeatherBlur project. Then we began our chemistry unit by introducing a chemistry competition that some students will participate in and learning about the periodic table.
4/5 Super Studies
This week the students took a virtual tour of Old Sturbridge Village to see what pre-industrial life was like in New England before learning about the fiber mills like those in Lowell, MA in the 1800s. They explored primary source documents to learn what life was like for the girls that worked in the mills. The class also practiced using a data analysis tool called Tuva, which they will be using later this year with the WeatherBlur project. For Forest Friday, we made star ornaments out of twigs collected in the woods around the school.
2/3 Super Studies
This week, we studied the different ways that animals deal with winter in Maine. We learned about animals that hibernate, migrate, or adapt their bodies and/or behavior to be able to stay where they are. For Forest Friday, we made star ornaments out of twigs collected in the woods around the school.
Pre-K Turkeys
We are Learning…..
ELA
2/3 ELA
Students read an article by an art critic which analyzed Seurat’s painting “The Bathers.” They learned to look at a work of art by analyzing the artists composition, use of light, and use of form. We also read a article that explained how you can approximate the temperature based on cricket chirps.
4/5 ELA
Students continued reading Bud, Not Buddy We had discussions about how Bud felt when he was at the Sweet Pea. As always there was a lot of discussion about the figures of speech used by the author.
6 – 8 ELA
Students completed a brief introduction to our new novel, Esperanza Rising. They read brief articles about the Mexican Revolution, work on a ranch, and the celebration of a 15 year-old girl coming of age.
6/7/8 grades African Silhouettes
We are Learning….
Math
2nd Math
This week we worked on subtraction one digit from two digit numbers. We did this with snap cubes, rods and place value disks. The students seem to understand it best with the place value disks and we will be working more with those this week.
3rd Math
This week we spent time learning about area. We used inch tiles to measure the area of rectangles on paper and learned that we can multiply the length times the width to get the area of a rectangle. Then we found rectangles in the school and measured them with a yardstick and found the area of each rectangle. We also continued to work on our math facts.
4th and 5th Math
We spent time this week learning about multiplying fractions by whole numbers. We learned how to draw out a model to help us understand what we were doing. We also worked with word problems to help us understand when we would multiply whole numbers by fractions.
6th math
We started our work with proportional relationships this week. This can be challenging to learn at first but is an important part of middle school math. To help the students understand, we looked at proportional relationships in recipes. For example if a batch of cookies calls for 1 and 1/2 cup of sugar how much would you need for three batches.
7th math
This week we looked at comparing relationships with tables and with equations. The students are deepening their understanding of proportional relationships and concepts that were challenging for them a few weeks ago are easily understood now.
8th math
This week the students continued their work with similar shapes as well as started working with slope. Because they started with geometry and comparing shapes their conceptual understanding of slope will be strong.
