March 2002 News and Notes

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What is Looping?

Looping is when a classroom teacher is promoted with her class and teaches her students for two years. It offers an opportunity for the students and the teacher to have a 'jump start' in the fall of the second year. The teacher is able to build on her knowledge and understanding of each student and create stability over the span of two years. The teacher will already know the learning styles, strengths and challenges for each student. She will know the personalities of the children in her care and will already know which strategies work best. According to Jim Grant, an expert on Looping and Multiage Classrooms, looping "opens up an appealing window of opportunity for creating a continuous progress program. Over the two year span, the teacher can see and take advantage of a child's development in a less fragmented, more natural way." The transition into year two is almost seamless for the students and their teacher. The children will return to a known adult with whom a relationship has been established, and routines are understood and comfortable. The students know the rules of the classroom, know what the teacher expects of them, and they have established a working relationship they can count on. From the parent standpoint, the parents and the teacher already know each other and have established a relationship. The parents know and understand the procedures followed by their child's teacher, and the transition is easier for parents as well. Communication with the parents is rewarding because there is a comfort level already established. Curriculum is much more flexible because the teacher can plan themes over a two year span and for a longer period of time, therefore allowing for more in-depth study. Connections between units can be made and built upon, and the two year curriculum becomes woven together.

There are many fine advantages to looping, and some staff members at East Kingston are interested in researching the model and possibly trying a looping situation. Next year at East Kingston we have an opportunity to have a looping classroom with Ms. Merrill's classroom. She will be moving to second grade with her students and teaching them a second year. In order for looping to work in the future, two teachers must become Looping Partners. For example, let's say that one third and one fourth grade teacher decide they would like to work as looping partners. They would start with the third grade teacher looping up with her class to fourth grade. The fourth grade teacher would then move down to third grade and loop up with that class the next year.

Some parents might ask, "What about teaching the curriculum for each grade level? Will the teachers know the curriculum well enough if they move to a different grade?" Let's start by saying that when teachers are trained to be teachers, they are not taught one grade level of curriculum. They are taught how to teach children, how to create interesting and engaging activities, and how to integrate curriculum. They will be certified to teach at any elementary grade level, some teachers being certified in grades K-8. When assigned a particular grade level, the teacher researches the curriculum requirements for the grade and begins planning and designing lessons utilizing her knowledge of best practices. Teachers are skilled at developing curriculum based on the grade level standards and any teacher could move from grade to grade and bring his/her skills to creating a dynamic learning environment. We anticipate the possibility of creating more looping opportunities in the future and look forward to sharing our experience with the parents as time goes on.

The brief month of February came and went with so many inconsistencies in the weather we weren’t sure if it was winter, spring or summer. Undaunted, we started on our journey toward Antarctica. This year we started by focusing our attention on a marine mammal, the whale. To understand the size of some whales, we used our learning links to compare the size of the blue whale and the killer whale. A blue whale can grow to 100 feet in length while a killer whale grows to just 20 feet. It is hard to believe that a group of killer whales will attack the much larger blue whale. As we studied whales, we reviewed the characteristics of mammals to decide how these mysterious and graceful animals of the sea fit into the species. Our reading books for the month were Water, The Ocean, and Sea Creatures.

We had many special days to celebrate in February. We observed Presidents’ Day by reading about Lincoln and Washington. In the week of February 10 - 14 we celebrated the 100^{th Day of school with lots of counting activities, reading Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for the 100th Day of Kindergarten, and enjoying a special snack of 100 yummy snacks. We also had a Valentine Party that week sponsored by our room mothers. The day included making a special valentine, exchanging valentines and making heart shaped ice cream sandwiches with lots of extras mixed into the ice cream.}

Our special project for the month was making a combination penguin and valentine felt welcome banner for our families.

The last few days before vacation were filled with fun activities centered around an in-school Olympics run by Mr. Peters and reading books from our Dr. Seuss collection with Mrs. Ellen Morse, an English teacher from the high school who accompanied her students to our school for our Read Across America observance.

February flew by! Grade One students finished their IIM unit on Birds, and their at-home projects were informative, creative, and fun to present. They will be shared with Miss Merrill’s class and will be on display after vacation!

Eating Fractions, Fraction Action, and The Hershey’s Fraction Book! showed us how much fun it was to read about fractions as we learned the mathematical facts and concepts. We are making our own set of parts and will continue this unit in March along with two-digit computation. What fun we’ll have actually dividing those twelve piece chocolate bars!

Children have been writing friendly letters and practicing the correct way to address an envelope. How we love to receive and send mail through our in-school program!

We were introduced to writing book reports and will continue this along with our study of Arnold Lobel, author of the Frog and Toad series.

Meteorology and the Five Senses will be our science focus in March. Our class configuration will be divided into five teams that will each represent one of these senses.

A special thanks for a fun class Valentines’ party, to our High School readers who joined us in celebrating Read Across America, and to all who helped, especially Mr. Peters, in making our Olympic experience in school so positive.

Mrs. Brown and the children would like to officially welcome Mrs. Morna Nigrello who is now assisting in our classroom daily from 10:30 to 2:30. She certainly has become a vital part of our classroom community! We will miss the help from both Mrs. Rossman and Mrs. Davis Thanks for stepping in and doing all that you did for us.

After vacation Grade One will be taking their journey to the continent of Africa. We will learn about the geography and culture of this interesting land and people. We will again use the IIM model for our research.

We are all very proud of our completed Picturing Writing books! We "painted the sky" and the results are breathtaking! We are anxious to share them with our families. We are also looking forward to our Japan Day scheduled for next Tuesday. Our plan is to perform a small show and then feast on some special Japanese food! We will also teach our parents some Japanese children's games. It will be a great way to celebrate all of the wonderful learning that has taken place during this unit.

We were involved during the month of February in the Olympics. We had certain people that we were very interested in following -- some that we learned are from NH! The class sent a letter of congratulations to NH skier Bode "The Bullet" Miller. We loved his nickname and how fast he could ski down the mountains! We are hoping that he will send us a letter back! Thank you to Mr. Peters for hosting the mini-Olympic games for us! We had a blast!

The 100th Day of School was a BIG day here in first grade! We did many projects that explored the number 100! We measured, estimated, graphed, skip counted, created math sentences, learned a 100th day cheer and shared our 100th day objects with a buddy. It was such a fun day full of math!

Things that we are looking forward to: Japan Day, Exploring Egypt, and learning about birds (especially ducks).

The Second graders read and compared many different versions of fairy tales in February. “Rumplestilskin,” “Sleeping Ugly,” “The Stinky Cheese Man,” “The Gingerbread Man,” “Cinder-Edna,” and “The Rough-faced Girl” were some of our favorites. We wrote letters to Fairy tale characters and made castles using a crayon/water color resist technique. Many second graders tried their hands at writing their own fairy tale. On Thursday, February 21, second graders dressed up as fairy tale characters and visited the other classes giving clues to their identities. We made our own Wolf Stew and had a delicious Fairy Tale Luncheon.

Our theme for March will be dinosaurs and geology - rocks, minerals and fossils. Each day we will be learning about a dinosaur. We will be working in groups to complete a research project on a dinosaur. We will learn what’s inside our earth, and we will learn about the three different types of rocks and and how they were formed. We will sort and classify rocks and minerals by various properties.

We will be reading many books on dinosaurs but also begin a two-month reading focus on humorous books - looking at literal and inferential meaning. We will learn more about multisyllable words and compound words.

In Math, as a group, we are becoming comfortable with subtraction with and without regrouping. We’ll review these and start working with time, measurement and graphing.

Welcome back! Hopefully, everyone had a restful winter break and is ready for lots of learning. Even though February was a brief month, we did seem to have a very full schedule.

In our literacy study our guided reading led us through two delicious books; Chocolate Touch and Chocolate Fever. Both books talk about how a passion for chocolate led the main characters to trouble. We learned that sometimes too much of a good thing can cause problems. We also read the story, “George Washington’s Breakfast,” which tells about an inquisitive boy, George Washington Allen, who researched and finally found out what George Washington ate for breakfast. His grandmother had promised she’d cook the breakfast for him once he found the information. Well, George Washington Allen is not the only one to eat this famous breakfast; both third grades enjoyed hoe cakes, tea and juice. It was a yummy activity to accompany the story. While learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln this month, we performed a readers’ theater play about the two men. The class had a great time.

Our Wee Deliver program has us becoming proficient letter writers. We have set up a postal service in our classroom and taken turns distributing the mail. We’ve learned the processes of sorting and delivering mail and how important it is to address mail properly. If you’d like to drop a note to your child, just be sure it is in our school mailbox in the front hall by Thursday afternoon. I’m sure they’d love to hear from you. We also continue to work on writing to prompts and improving our editing and revising skills. We are trying to use rich, silver dollar vocabulary along with good detail.

In math we have continued to increase our knowledge of graphs. We have constructed many different types and learned about the importance of a graph’s title, its vertical and horizontal information. We have written detailed stories about the information they provided. Thank you for providing the class with the data about your favorite Olympic events. Students constructed their own bar graphs using the data. We also constructed a line graph showing the daily viewing of the Olympics. We continue to work on multiplication facts and understanding the inverse, division. Word problems and strategies are another area we are always working on. Time and money will be our next focus.

In science the planets have been our focus. We researched all of the planets and compiled a book of facts. We used many sources: fact sheets, books, charts, posters and web sites. We also constructed a viewer which showed us the phases of the moon. The students took these home to help with their night time viewing.

In social studies we followed the Olympics in current events. We studied black history during Black History Month and read about the likes of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and Richard Wright. Before leaving for vacation we also went on-line to a site that helped us locate Birthday Buddies (famous people that were born during each child’s birthday month). We will be researching these individuals using the IIM research method we used earlier this year as a whole group. Now each student will use this process individually to find information and produce a final product based on their research. We can’t wait to get started!

February was a very historical month in third grade. We studied Black History, Martin Luther King, and Presidents Washington and Lincoln. We had many interesting, thought-provoking discussions about the Underground Railroad, the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and Civil Rights. We made timelines and worked on our IIM research on MLK. Our class celebrated Washington’s Birthday with 3S having a “George Washington’s Breakfast” brunch after reading the story together.

History has been the theme for our reading groups as well. Each student has read at least 2 biographies during their quiet reading time and everyone seems to be enjoying the biography series. The presentations of the memory boxes were wonderful. Everyone did a great job with their projects and speaking in front of the class explaining the life of their character. It was a fun experience for all.

In science we’ve been learning about the Solar System and will continue to study it during the month of March. We’ve been researching each planet using the NASA program for kids and we will be organizing the information in an outline format. We will also be studying the phases of the moon and space exploration.

Valentines Day seemed a good time to begin our study of the circulatory system. Thanks to Mrs. Prescott for teaching us to take our pulses at various spots, to Mr. Peters for providing opportunities to try out this skill after varying levels of physical activity, and to Mr. Fennell for helping us graph the results on the computer. We’ll continue our human body unit with the respiratory system.

Another science activity was making posters about conserving resources and caring for the planet for the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual contest. Mrs. Silverman introduced this project with a lesson on planning a poster, arranging the graphics in a pleasing way, and drawing guidelines for lettering.

In math our focus has been on the relationship between multiplication and division, problem solving, and elapsed time. In social studies we’ve looked at climate and are about to begin our government unit. Special language arts activities in February included the Spelling Bee and Read Across America. The class is fortunate to be working with Ms. Hayes to create Image-Making stories. Our reading groups ended with sharing of ways to be prepared for hurricanes, blizzards, and volcanoes. Keys to survival: common sense and preparedness!

We hope everyone had a fun and restful winter vacation! Now we can look forward to spring which is just around the corner!

This month we will continue to work with fractions. We will review what we’ve learned so far, and move on to fractions as decimals. We will continue with our study of the earth in science. In conjunction with our earth studies, we will begin an exciting unit on water. Mrs. Miller’s husband, who is an engineer for the Manchester Water Works, will guide us in this program. We will research and prepare projects for the final science fair in May during National Drinking Water Week. Mr. Miller will visit our class this month to tell us about the project. We will also have a representative from LifeWise Community Projects visit our class to give us a demonstration on groundwater movement and contamination flow.

March marks the beginning of the Accelerated Reader Winter Challenge! Each student has been assigned to a team that represents an area ski resort. They are encouraged to read on their own books that will earn points for their team, and for their own enjoyment! In April, when the competition is over, the team with the most points will be rewarded with a pizza-bowling party.

The fifth grade is continuing to work on fractions. We are adding and subtracting mixed numbers with same and different denominators. The students are becoming comfortable with regrouping when adding mixed numbers. They are beginning to work on regrouping for subtracting mixed numbers, which always seems more difficult and takes more time. These are complicated and abstract processes. Most of the kids have internalized most of the steps and are doing very well with them. We will review two-digit by three-digit multiplication and division with two-digit divisors. Coming soon we will have linear, area and cubic measurement, geometry of some plane and solid figures, and angle measurement.

In science we will be investigating basic atomic structure, states and properties of matter (weight, mass, volume, and density) and the structure of plant and animal cells.

The fifth graders have worked diligently to produce fabulous books about European explorers. They will be proud to share them with you at curriculum night.

We’re on to learning about the early colonists. We will discover how towns were structured physically and politically. We’ll learn about important imports and exports supporting the colonists.

Colonists are angered with “Mother England.” They have no responsibilities in the British Parliament; therefore, no say in how and what goods the colonists will be taxed on. That’s one of the issues which brings the colonists to the Revolutionary War. In class we’ll learn the rest of the story.

February was a short month but with time enough to sing songs written during the time Lincoln was in office (to celebrate Presidents’ month). Second graders sang and acted out “Little Red Riding Hood,” integrating their study of folk and fairy tales. We saw how the plot was told through the music and had many laughs along the way.

Fifth graders are working with all kinds of instruments and improvising short melodies built on the pentatonic scale. We discussed chords and scales and discovered half tones. Fourth graders have begun to add an ostinato descant to a chorus and accompany themselves with recorder and autoharp. Third grade is now in the lower register of the recorder, working on producing the lowest tones a soprano recorder can play. Singing in a round a song about that silly Australian Kookaburra was challenging for first graders, and they did a marvelous job!

Learning the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” with its poetic language proved to be another challenge for us all. But by the end of February we did very well and have now moved on to “God Bless America” for our March morning exercises.

March brings Irish jigs, Easter songs, and spring. It also has been designated by MENC (Music Educators National Congress) as Music in our Schools month. On March 14 the entire student body will be gathering to watch The World’s Largest Concert on PBS. This would be a wonderful program to video tape for your children, parents, especially since one of our SAU #16 elementary schools in Exeter has applied to be a part of the production. It will be exciting to see them on TV and we hope they make it into the show. Come on Spring!

We had lots of fun during the month of February learning about line, shape, color and pattern. All grades created cut paper valentines. This lesson provided lots of opportunity for cutting and consequently strengthening hand muscles. Children learned a variety of paper techniques such as the layered heart, broken heart, spiral heart and positive and negative heart.

Grade 1 used the papers they created (by blowing drops of watercolor), then cut them into strips to use in their weaving. Warp, weft and weaving were all new vocabulary words that the children learned. They are becoming aware of how line, color and pattern and color affect their weaving.

Grade 2 created beautiful paper weavings with an emphasis on earth tones by using wallpaper and construction paper. These weavings have a natural feel to them, and their appearance correlates well with their upcoming unit on dinosaurs.

Grade 3 constructed 3-dimensional forms that illustrated the children’s study of the universe. Line, shape and color were all art elements they used in their drawings. They used colored pencils, metallic crayons and watercolor.

Grade 4 has been emphasizing drawing and exploring the art element of line during this process. Children choose their own subject matter and were encouraged to do large simple drawings that “catch” someone’s attention. Grade 5’s art lesson correlated to their study of early explorers. By using recycled trash the children made 3-dimensional boats with emphasis on form. The children loved building 3-dimensionally and particularly liked developing details for visual interest.

Thank you to all who sent in yarn, lace, ribbon and fabric for weavings. For those who have not yet sent anything in for your child, it’s not too late. Please send these items in a bag labeled with your child’s name. Our weaving unit should be an inspiring one for the children. Your support is very much appreciated.

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