Martin Luther King
Students have listened to stories, read his speeches and are working on a readers’ theater about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Just think how much this country has changed since the 1960s. Students found it hard to believe that at one time, African Americans could not attend the same schools, eat in the same restaurants or sit in the same bus seats as white people. We discussed Martin’s peaceful protests and belief in nonviolence. He had a dream…..
The UVM Women’s basketball team visited our school on Friday. Our class is penpals with Katie, one of the players. We began our correspondences in early December. It was exciting to finally meet Katie and see the team shoot a few hoops! Katie spent time in our room reading the book Salt in his Shoes, a picture book about young Michael Jordan. She also answered student questions and told us more about herself. (She’s from right next door, Winooski!) Every student received a ticket to their game on Sunday, January 23rd. It would be great to have a large group from MBS there to cheer on the Lady Cats!
Happy New Year and welcome back to school! Students arrived back at school rested and eager to get back in the swing of learning. Early this week students finished their individual snow people…each snow person is unique to each student. The Harmony House hallway looks like a winter wonderland! Students also wrote a goal for the coming year and has it safely ‘tucked’ into a colorful sneaker. We continued our study of magnets. This week students set up an experiment to test the strength of magnets.
The week before vacation was filled with excitement and fun! We talked about Hanukkah and played the dreidel game. We read the story Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins and students wrote a response for their portfolios. Everyone enjoyed decorating gingerbread cookies. Lots of sweets and imagination made for creative characters! Students also practiced their reading fluency by presenting several readers’ theaters performances. We were treated to The Mitten, Christmas Around the World, Snow and The Hat. It is hoped everyone has a restful vacation and Happy New Year! I look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday, January 3rd.
P.S. My New Year’s resolution is to be more consistant with these blog posts!
We are fortunate to be located so close to many town services. We took walking field trips as part of our community study. We visited the police station and rescue earlier this month. Our very own DARE officer, Officer Bressler, gave us the tour of Police Headquarters. The favorite part was the basement room where we saw the 2 way mirror, finger printing machine and bench where persons are hand cuffed! Several rescue volunteers showed us the ambulance and supplies and gave a tour of their building. We met the dummy used to train on and were surprised to learn that rescue folks do spend nights at the rescue building to be ready for emergency calls. On November 23, we walked to the Town Offices. Here we met with the Town Manager who shared what his duties were. We also visited the Parks and Rec. folks and the clerks office. The assessor showed us pictures of our houses on the computer and we were able to go in the records vault where several students were able to see their birth certificates. We also mailed several of our Flat Stanley letters. We will wait to hear about other communities from family and friends.
We had a wonderful trip to the pumpkin patch. The weather was perfect! We enjoyed the play area and meeting the animals before our hay ride to select pumpkins! Kids made great choices. We used our pumpkins the next day for math activities…measured weight, height and circumference. We recorded the data and used our math knowledge to find maximums, minimums, range, modes and medians! Check out the video. The Pumpkin Patch
This week we had our first 4 Winds presentation. The theme this year is Cycles. Our 4 Winds volunteers, Ms. Jacobs and Mrs. Wear taught us about the life cycles of insects. We enjoyed a puppet show where we learned that not all insect life cycles are the same. Some insects, like the grasshopper, look like a small adult when they hatch from the egg. Other insects, like the butterfly, look completely different from the adult when they hatch from the egg. We put together different life cycle puzzles and then ventured outside to look for examples of different stages of insect life cycles. We found eggs (under rotting logs) a larva (wooly caterpillar) and an adult with wings (wasp). The next presentation will focus on tree cycles. Thank you Ms. Jacobs and Mrs. Wear!
This past week was our first full week of the new school year and a busy one! We are working on new routines and 3rd grade responsibilities. We had school pictures and practiced fire drills…the fire trucks even came! Students have also visited our computer lab. They practiced logging on with their school user name and passwords, saving a file and then opening a saved file. Next week we will begin to use Study Island. This is a web based math program that students can access and use from home. It provides practice on a variety of math skills through lessons and assessments and keeps track of individual progress. Friday was Constitution Day. The US Constitution was ratified on September 17, 1787. We discussed what the Constitution was and developed and signed our own Classroom Constitution. It states the rules we will try to live by so that we all can do our best this year.
This week some Monarch caterpillars arrived in our classroom. Some are large and some are small. All are eating and eating and eating more to get themselves ready for the ‘Great Change’. Today students used their scientific eyes to observe a caterpillar. Students made a detailed drawing, noticed body parts and estimated its length. We will now leave them alone and watch what happens. We will record when they make their chrysalises, and keep track of how long it takes before they emerge as Monarch butterflies. We will then release them to begin their long journey south.
I hope you have enjoyed a wonderful summer…being outside and having fun. It doesn’t seem possible that school will be starting soon and you will be here at Malletts Bay. I want to welcome students and families to the Harmony House and Room 198. This is a new room for me so I have been unpacking and getting things ready for your arrival. I am very excited to meet you and look forward to a great year together. This summer I took a class and learned a lot about how to use technology in the classroom. I can’t wait to share some ideas and I’m sure you will be able to teach me something new as well. We will learn together! My first ’tech project’ is to get this BLOG up and running. It is hoped that families will be kept up-to-date with the happenings in our classroom throughout the year.
Don’t forget the MBS Family Picninc on Thursday, August 26th and the Open House on Tuesday, August 31st. Hope to see you then!
