Late April- and Early Spring!

4-24-18

Welcome Back!  

I hope you all had a wonderful break. Today we began making up the hours we owe due to the storm back in October.  It was strange to be teaching until 3:15 for the first time in my 21 years here!

Field Trip

We had a wonderful trip to The Butterfly Place on April 13.  Thanks go out to Erin Mueller, Judy Dion, Beth Rothschild and Mark Haseltine for chaperoning.  Here are some photos- please look for a slide show on the left side of our blog. Our next field trip will be on May 25 to the North End of Boston and all are welcome to join us!

Greening of the School:

Please take a peek at our new Greenhouse!  It was donated by our Fifth Grade class as their gift to the school. We began putting plants outside in it this week and the children noticed a huge difference in the temperature inside compared to outside.  What a great science experiment! If you would like to volunteer to help with moving plants, stirring compost or watering please let me know.

Sharing for the month of April is a Baby Photo and a memory of when they were “little”. (In an envelope with my name on it!)  I HAVE ONLY RECEIVED 2 OF THESE SO PLEASE SEND ASAP!  I’m extending the due date until next Monday, April 30.  We will have fun guessing who is who!

Curriculum update:  

We are wrapping up our study of the Continents in Social Studies this week, which has also been woven into our Reading and Writing.  The students have created a booklet that you will see at our Open House in May! We will be starting our study of Communities next week.

In Math we are in full swing of our unit on 3-digit Addition and Subtraction.  Please continue to play the math games that come home as these give children essential practice time for these skills. Let me know if you need any help modifying to make it a “just right” experience.

Once again thank you for all of your support and encouragement this year!  We are in the final stretch!

SIncerely,

Deborah Niles and Julie Pond

4-2-18

Welcome April!

Now if the weather would just cooperate!  

Gardens:  A HUGE thank you goes out to Beth Rothschild and Jessica Polizzotti for coming in last Thursday and truly “getting their hands dirty” preparing trays of pots for 10 classrooms around the school, and helping our students each plant a seed for our summer gardens.  The “Theme” is going to be:

Kindergarten: Flowers

1st Grade:  Rainbow vegetables

2nd Grade: Companion planting: “The 2 Sisters” Native American gardens

3rd Grade: Italian:  Tomatoes, peppers and basil

5th Grade:  Science themes:  Sunflowers and pumpkins

In addition, we planted herbs today and will continue to do so each day this week.  Marcus’ grandfather will join us this Friday for planting cool weather crops directly into the gardens!  Let us know if you’d like to join us and we’ll find a time for you!

Flat Stanleys are due to return home to you on Friday, April 6.  We will share them next week.  Students should practice a short 2-3 minute presentation and be ready to share by next Monday, April 9.  Once students have shared the adventures of their Flat Stanley, they add a mini Flat Stanley to our second grade Flat Stanley bulletin board in the hallway and pin the place to which their flat friend traveled.  This turns into an amazing display.

Sharing for the month of April will be a Baby Photo and a memory of when they were “little”. (In an envelope with my name on it!)  Please send those in BY the Monday after April vacation (4-23) so we can have fun guessing who is who! The names have been fascinating and this will be lots of fun!

Field Trip: Thank you so much for submitting the signed permission slip and check.  We are excited for our journey to The Butterfly Place.  We still do not have enough chaperones so please consider this opportunity- it is a magical place!

Author Visit:  We were inspired by Matt de la Pena's visit to Happy Hollow last week.  The author of Last Stop on Market Street and Love, among others, told us about his childhood growing up with a Mexican mother and a white father in San Diego and how he wanted to write books for children that they could see themselves in, as he often couldn't find books as a child that reflected the poverty in which he grew up.  Thank you to Colleen Flannery, our Library/Media specialist, for arranging this event.

Finally, our Butterflies all hatched over the long weekend :( but we are enjoying their mischievous activity in our classroom (including “swimming” in the sugar water!).  They will “spread their wings” and fly free outside before week’s end!

As always, please let us know if you have any questions as we proceed along this educational journey together.

Deborah & Julie