Welcome Lynn
We would like to welcome Lynn Curran-Sargeant to the Brooklin School Committee. We have had the great fortune of getting to know Lynn as a substitute teacher and will miss her in that capacity. But welcome, welcome. We are so glad you are here.

What are we learning……

Ms. Julie- As a classroom community we are refining our  classroom meeting /circle time manners: bodies to selves, eyes on the speaker, voices off, ears listening; one of our favorite ways to practice these skills is during author/illustrator share time. Each student has a turn in the “Author/Illustrator” chair to showcase their work. After showing their work, the author/illustrator invites others to offer “Questions or comments”. Guidelines for comments: stay on topic (this is not a time to tell us about gramma’s birthday party) and be kind (saying “that’s just scribbles” is NOT kind).
This week  we listened to and discussed two more fables by Leo Lionni: Fish is Fish  and Cornelius. Both books provide wonderful opportunities for conversations and understanding about: imagination, friendship, independence, kindness, jealousy and an introduction to the lifecycle of a frog. Cornelius is a crocodile who walks upright like a person, he can see and do things his friends can’t do. When Cornelius’s friends act uninterested and say, “So what?” about his experiences and accomplishments he feels disappointed, but he keeps on trying new and different things…at the end of the book it is revealed that Cornelius’s friends are all secretly trying (and failing) to do the same things Cornelius does. Fish is Fish features a minnow and a tadpole; the minnow doesn’t believe or understand that the tadpole is not a fish like him, so feels sad and lonely that his friend is able to crawl out of the water and explore life on land. Fish tries to join his friend on land, and learns quickly that he is not meant to be out of the water, and is saved when his frog friend is able to push him back into the water.

Mrs. Baird- In literacy this week the kindergarten and first grade students began working with “Miss Carrie Videos.” Miss Carrie is the literacy specialist that I work with, and she has made awesome dictation videos at each reading level. Each student has been working through the videos at their own personal level. They work on quick letter sounds, vowel teams, sight words, spelling patterns, and finish with a sentence. In math this week the kindergarten students continued to work on ways to make 10 and teen numbers. They played a game called roll, tally, write. They also did some work in espark and education.com. The first grade worked on fact families and played a game called Teen numbers. They also did some work in espark and education.com

Mrs. Thoner- ELA – 2/3
Students are learning about justice and injustice through reading books about the history of discrimination based on ability/disabllity, gender, and race.

Students are also learning how to share and edit their writing.  Students are learning that they might want a friend to be able to read their stories, but might not want to allow their friends editing abilities.  They are also learning that their work is not ready to be printed until the editing is completed – at least having a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and a punctuation mark at the end of their sentence.  Some are learning that you can’t just have one extra long sentence with no breaks (punctuation).

ELA – 4/5
Students have started the  historical novel, The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick, which takes place during the Civil War.  Homer’s brother, Harold is sold into the Union Army and Homer sets out to find him.

This is a follow-up to their Super Studies unit on the Civil War, as well as to the ELA project during the past few weeks on topics of their choice around the Civil War.

The book is written using a lot of figurative language including metaphors, similes, idioms and allusions –  a perfect book to teach each of these literary tools.  Since this is an introduction to most of these terms, students are not expected to master all of  them this year.  By the end of the unit, they should be able to tell the difference between a simile and a metaphor.

ELA – 6-8
Students have just started reading the book, I Am Malala, an autobiographical book by Malala Yousafzai and co-written by Christina Lamb.  This is part of the class’s global studies unit for Super Studies.  Mrs. Bebell and I try to mirror each other – especially in grades 4 – 8.

Mrs. Sproul-2nd grade math
The students worked more on addition and subtraction of double digit numbers with the number line.  We also worked with story problems.
3rd grade math
The students finished up the unit on addition and subtraction within 1000 and started working with division basics.  They are working on what division is and how it is related to multiplication.
4th and 5th grade math
The students finished unit 4 which included decimals to the hundredth place, place value to the 1,000,000 and adding and subtracting large numbers.  We will be starting a new unit on Monday.
6th grade math
The students continue their work with percentages and will have a test soon.  They are also continuing their work with number sense and fact fluency.
7th grade math
The students are continuing their work with percentages by looking at real life situations that involve percentages.  They are learning how to solve these algebraically.
8th grade math
They are working on solidifying their understanding of solving linear equations.  This can be challenging and we are taking our time to make sure they have a solid understanding.

Ms. Bebell- 6-8 Super Studies
Early this week, the class wrapped up their research and discussions about global conflict and diplomacy. Then we’ve been busy preparing a slideshow for the school board about their class trip proposal, getting ready for the Easter egg hunt fundraiser and school activity planned for next week, and even trying to squeeze in a quick unit on the electromagnetic spectrum before vacation week!

4/5 Super Studies
The class has been enjoying learning how the Civil War ended, and has done such a wonderful job throughout this unit! On Wednesday, we welcomed Barbe Dow into the classroom to share artifacts and stories about Sienna’s third great grandfather, who fought in the Civil War. Reuben Dow was from Brooklin, and it was so interesting to discuss how the war impacted families right here in our community.

2/3 Super Studies
The class has done a wonderful job demonstrating their understanding of food chains and how energy is passed from one organism to another. They also learned about the anatomy of a fish and compared and contrasted body systems of fish and humans. We were so excited to see the first salmon egg in our classroom tank finally hatch on Friday!

Calendar

April

4/11   3-5:00 PM   Little League Practice

4/12   3:15 PM  PTF Meeting

6:00 PM   School Board Meeting

4/13  3-5:00 PM   Little League Practice

4/15  8-10 AM   Swimming for grades K-3 (Last Class)

4/15    12:30 PM  Early Release

4/18/–4/22   April Vacation