Save the Date

March 14th is Parent Teacher Conference Day.  Teachers will be setting up appointments soon.

Read Across America

Friday, March 1st, we will celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday and Read Across America Day.  We’ll come to school in our PJs, sing “Happy Birthday” to Dr. Seuss, listen to some of our favorite Dr. Seuss books, have a piece of his birthday cake for dessert at lunch time, and more. Come join us around 10:30 AM in the library to kick off the celebration.

The students have been coloring paper grocery bags with Seuss people for early bird Tradewinds customers this Saturday. Customers will also get the wonderful poem below reminding all of us grownups and older brothers and sisters of the importance of reading to and with children.

Send a picture of you or someone in your family reading to your child/children.  I’ll print them and put them on the bulletin board outside the library to show that Brooklin School parents care about developing their children’s reading skills and love of reading.  My email is mschatz@brooklinschool.org.

Read Across America Poem

You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild,

To pick up a book and read with a child.

You’re never too busy, too cool, or too hot,

To pick up a book and share what you’ve got.

In schools and communities,

Let’s gather around,

Let’s pick up a book,

Let’s pass it around.

There are kids all around you,

Kids who will need

Someone to hug,

Someone to read.

Come join us March 2nd

Your own special way

And make this America’s

Read to Kids Day.

©Anita Merina

News from Ms.Julie’s Room: (Prek-K)

Past 2 weeks

We returned back to school with ease and confidence AND we are almost all back to full health! We loved the Winter Carnival – especially the bounce house! We celebrated the 100th day of school on Monday by jumping for 100 seconds, counting to 100, printing/ tracing numerals up to 100, decorating and wearing our 100 Day smarter (and kinder) crowns, having a special snack and hot cocoa, sharing collections of 100 and combing collections of 10 items to create 100 objects.

Let’s Lookahead

“Me on the Map” will be our anchor text as we increase our knowledge of geography and where they live. We have had many lively debates about whether we live in Maine or in Brooklin/Sedgwick/Stonington or the United States- so this book and some of the hands-on activities planned will help students to understand that all of these are correct!

What can parents and students work on at home? I would love to begin charting the number of minutes students are enjoying books at home: being read to, looking at a book and re-telling the story, or reading to someone. I haven’t figured out a “busy family” way for families to share this information with us- any suggestions are welcome!

Upcoming Events:

• Friday is Dr. Seuss’s birthday and our favorite librarian, Mrs. Schatz has a fun celebration planned for us! Students are invited to wear pajamas to school, and I have heard there will be cake!

• On Monday,  Union 76 announced the dates of a 2 day training that Ms. Wardwell & Ms. Julie both need to take. Due to lack of appropriate sub coverage, the Puffin’s Nest will need to be closed on March 5th & 6th so that the teachers can attend this very important training.

Reminder: Please be sure your child has inside shoes in their backpack or keep at pair at school so that wet boots can stay in the hallway!

Things we need! Gently used sneakers, slippers or shoes in various sizes are welcome to help restock our “extras basket”.

News from Ms. Tapley’s room: (3-8th grade)

Past 2 weeks

My students amaze me every day! The 3rd grade students have been diving into fractions and gaining an initial understanding of how we think about fractions. The 4th grade students wowed me with their use of protractors. They picked right up on this skill. The 5th and 6th grade students consistently do well with their math journals, as they have share their approaches to solving problems with one another. The 7th grade students have been doing great work with finding area of complex shapes while our 8th graders have jumped right into the study of slope.

Let’s look ahead

All students are preparing to take the MEAs, our state tests, beginning on March 18th. Some of our time in the upcoming weeks will be spent getting ourselves as confident as we can going into these assessments. But, we aren’t stopping our learning in other areas of math. 3rd and 4th grade students are studying fractions; 5th grade is working on long division with decimals; 6th grade is working on solving equations and inequalities; 7th grade is learning about surface area; 8th grade is learning how to graph equations in slope-intercept form.

Upcoming Events

• MEAs are beginning on March 18th. These will last about 2 weeks.

• The 8th grade students will be visiting GSA on Thursday, March 7th.

• Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming soon, on March 14th (Pi Day!).

News from Mrs.Baird’s Room (3-8th grade)

Past 2 weeks

The 7/8 did an excellent job determining the speaker’s purpose during a Ted Talk. They practiced as a class for one video and got to show their learning while determining the speaker’s purpose during a Ted Talk.

Let’s look ahead:

• 7/8 is reading Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. We are continuing reading, analyzing the author and the speaker’s purpose, and reading for the main idea of a section of the reading.

• 5/6 is reading World Without Fish, by Mark Kurlansky. We have been reading for the main idea, and will be focusing on finding the author’s point of view in sections of the book.

• 3/4 is doing a unit on wolves. We are learning about the wolf as a character in literature as well as learning about wolves in nature. We are practicing answering text-dependent questions

News from Mr. Kennerk’s Room (1st and 2nd grade)

Past 2 weeks

The students have been writing autobiographies with enthusiasm and vigor.

Let’s look ahead

We will be taking a look at carrying and borrowing through our story imagery, math manipulative’s, and good old fashion processing.

News From Mrs.Bebell’s Room (3-8)

Past 2 weeks

I am blown away by all the hard work from the students that participated in the Wax Museum just before break.

Let’s Look ahead:

• 7/8: American court system

• 5/6: Ancient Greece

• 3/4: Trees and maple sugaring

Upcoming Events:

Tentatively – March 22 3rd-8th grade trip to Augusta to see the State House and/or Maine State Museum.

Needs for our classroom:

The 3/4 class would love to borrow some maple sugaring equipment – spiles, buckets, etc.

PTF News

• Get yourselves prepped for the great, soup, chili, chowder, challenge on March 9th. Wade Dow and Friends will be playing! If you bring a soup you get in for free. This year there is a 1st, 2nd and 3rd overall prize, instead of a prize for each category. This community event is always a blast so don’t miss out.

• We would like to thank everyone that helped with our first ever Winter Festival. It was a blast. Check out our facebook page to see all the photos.

• PTF has approved peewee basketball hoops for the school so you will be hearing more about that exciting news soon.

• Next meeting is March 26th. We will be talking about spring events, a new family initiative, a new child initiative, the backpack program, sports clinics, clubs and more. If you are interested in coming to a meeting we would all be thrilled to have you!

 

Community News

Blue Hill Heritage Trust Maple Sugaring Event

Join local tree tapping expert and syrup enthusiast Tim Laflam, on March 2nd, from 1-3pm, at the BHHT

headquarters for a family fun afternoon celebrating maple sugaring season.  Get lessons on how to tap trees, see “boiling” demonstrations and even get to taste the finished product over ice cream or yogurt.  Free and open to all. Location is 157 Hinckley Ridge Rd, Blue Hill. For further information call 374-5118.

March

• 3/1 Read Across America Day
• 3/4   No Puffin’s Nest Classes Today
• 3/5No Puffin’s Nest Classes Today
• 3/6 3:00 PM Play Rehearsal
• 3/9 5:30 PM Soup Chili Chowder Challenge
• 3/12 6:00 PM School Board Meeting
• 3/13 3:00 PM Play Rehearsal
• 3/14 Parent/Teacher Conferences–NO SCHOOL
• 3/15 Teacher Workshop Day–NO SCHOOL
• 3/20 3:00 PM Play Rehearsal
• 3/27 3:00 PM Play Rehearsal
• 3/29 1:30 PM Early Release