Sell those raffle tickets...

...and earn us an ice cream party! 

Actually, the real reason to sell those tickets is to help us pay for field trips.  If you haven't heard of this amazing raffle, come by the school to check it out and buy tickets.  You could win an ipad or a collection of gift certificates to local restaurants or a variety of other prizes.

Book Groups

We started new book groups this week.  If you were to stop by any day, you'd see students reading and discussing books about different Native American tribes or Native American myths and legends.  We are comparing these genres of books as we learn more about Native Americans.  During this time, you might also see small groups of students doing fluency practice, learning to read very long words, learning to type, or recording their thinking about their book on their iPad.

Compost Needed for our Garden

A few weeks ago, several teachers met to clean up the garden and build taller beds.

Ellen turns a bed while Emily and Eric prep boards.

Now we need more topsoil and compost.  Do you have any to donate?  We are hoping to fill up the beds before the first snowfall.

Future Academy star atop topsoil.

Lauren prepares to fill beds with topsoil.

I'm already looking forward to planting beans, corn, and squash in the spring.

Orly builds a higher wall for the garden bed.

I am thankful for...

I am thankful to have a class of such enthusiastic learners!  I love each part of our day.  I love how focused the class is in math, talking to each other about how they solve the math problems, explaining their thinking in their exit ticket books.  I love how students are learning spelling rules and editing their own writing.  I love how they read, discuss, and write about books.  I am thankful for the use of our iPads to record what we are learning about the Wampanoags.  Sometimes it seems that our day isn't long enough to fit in everything I want us to do!

iPads Introduced

Last week we started using iPads in the classroom.  Each student has access to their own iPad to use for educational enrichment.  Here are some of the ways we used the iPads last week:

Math Fact Practice:  We have various apps to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.  A couple of the apps are designed for testing your reasoning abilities while using math facts.

Vocabulary:  Students are creating a math vocabulary book on their iPad.  We will add a new page to the book each time we learn a new vocabulary word.

Poetry Books:  A few students are creating a poetry book on their iPad with their original poems.  They are adding illustrations, photographs, and a sound recording of their reading of the poem.

FYI:  Hopefully we will be able to begin posting photos and other work from our iPads onto this blog in the near future.

Brattleboro Field Trip

Our field trip to downtown Brattleboro last week was a big success.  Because of the threat of poor weather, I shortened the trip.  However, we still managed to learn a lot.   

After taking public transportation downtown, we stopped to look at the Brooks building.  Then we went to the River Garden for a snack and for a discussion about why Brattleboro was built on a river.   

Afterwards we went to Brooks Memorial Library for a scavenger hunt which involved looking for a painting of William Brattle (after whom the town was named), a mammoth tusk, cannonballs from Fort Dummer, arrowheads, and more.  We met up with research librarian Jeanne Walsh who showed us artifacts in the Brattlboro history room including a cane with a sword hidden inside.  Ask your child to tell you about the man who owned the cane sword.  

 Later, back at school, we contemplated the many changes to our town and students were asked to decide for themselves which event in history created the biggest change to the area.