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A movement is afoot
in SAU 16 and it deals with a common approach to teaching Mathematics. Over the
past few years, an SAU wide Math Committee has worked to develop a K-12 math
curriculum. A consultant was hired who provided workshops for teachers in grades
K-12, and many teachers and administrators took part in training on Standards
Based Education.
Throughout these opportunities, it became increasingly apparent that students entering the Middle School in 6th grade would enter on more even footing if all elementary schools provided the same mathematics program. The Math Committee did research and Standards Based Math programs were definitely the way to go.
A couple of the schools piloted two different standards based programs, Everyday Math being one of them. Another school adopted the program a few years ago and they were convinced that it provided a very strong math program for their students. Test scores had improved over the years.
With the recommendation of the Math Committee to adopt a K-5 program SAU wide, it was decided to go with Everyday Math.
In East Kingston this year two teachers, Mrs. Walker in third grade, and Mr. McMahon in fifth grade, have been piloting the program. All teachers in the school will be adopting the program next year. Training is ongoing and materials and equipment will be purchased. Federal grant money has allowed us to purchase the Teacher Resource Kits for each classroom teacher and a representative from Everyday Math provided training during our recent Early Release day for teachers from Kensington, Brentwood and East Kingston.
One thing parents will notice is that math instruction is changing, and students are asked to think about math in very different ways. This program certainly challenges all students, and adults, and the thinking being done is most impressive. We will do our best to provide parents with information and training as we work with the program. We encourage parents to learn along with us, and we will ALL become `Super Mathematicians'!
~Pat Cushing, Principal
Kindergarten
Mrs. Conlan, Mrs. Davis
The
kindergarten chose the two coldest months of the year to take their trips to the
two coldest places on Earth, the Arctic and the Antarctic. In January we read
about the animals of the frozen tundra, including the polar bear, the caribou
and musk ox. Getting ready for our IIM unit coming up in February, we began
practicing collecting facts about polar bears and made a chart of facts we
learned. MIGRATE, INSULATE and HIBERNATE were our dollar words for the month.
We'll expand our expertise as fact and vocabulary collectors as we learn about
whales, seals and penguins in Antarctica.
We kicked off our move to Antarctica with a South Pole Day on Wednesday, February 5. With the help of many parents, all thirty kindergartners spent the early release day working on a host of activities designed to increase our knowledge of the ice continent and its inhabitants. One of the favorite events was the race to find the South Pole. Each group of five had to pack a sled, travel as a group and arrive at the pole without losing supplies or teammates. The deep snow and the frigid wind helped us understand how difficult it must really be to explore the continent. We are hoping to have an Antarctica Day to wrap up our unit when we can share with our parents all the interesting things we've learned. Our IIM project will include fact charts and original seascapes of the Antarctic animals in their natural habitat.
The class observed Martin Luther King Day with a discrimination simulation. The children were divided into two groups by the color of the bear that each child picked randomly. Each group was given certain privileges and restrictions based on the color of its bears. The children could only sit with members of their color group. They were very quick to point out that the rules were unjust and the decisions made only by color were unfair. We had a lively discussion of what they felt during the simulation. Our other activity was a cooperation puzzle of a portrait of MLK. In order to complete your puzzle you had to find a partner who had your missing pieces and needed your extra pieces. The children agreed that the puzzle making activity was much more enjoyable and that cooperation feels a lot better that discrimination.
In math we're practicing counting by tens and ones to get to the Hundredth Day of School. That day will be filled with hundred activities. We are just as excited about counting beyond 100 as we count toward the last day of school. During our Antarctic activities we explored some simple addition and subtraction facts using goldfish crackers. The best part of the lesson is eating the manipulatives at the end.
As the year progresses we are working hard to improve our emergent reader skills and are beginning to work at becoming writers. Combined with developing our skills in math we are looking forward to the rest of a wonderful year.
Grade One
Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Huss
January brought the
cold winter weather to our much smaller class of twelve. It was a perfect time
to study the seasonal change, heat, light and matter. We studied the states of
matter with Mrs. Huss by talking about ice, water and water vapor. We discussed
snow, hail, sleet and frost and what causes these different kinds of
precipitation to occur. We also learned about the thermometer and had fun taking
temperatures of different things. We now read the thermometer outside our
classroom window and record the daily reading. We concluded the unit by freezing
some "yummy liquid" and eating the resulting popsicles.
The author for January was Norman Bridwell, and we enjoyed the various Clifford books and activities. The children have been reading many of the Clifford stories and a list of their "retired" books is in their reading folders. This means they have shared their stories with a friend and a teacher. After sharing Clifford's Puppy Days, we decorated the hall with our baby pictures. We, like Clifford, have grown and changed!
We have published many of our own stories, and these have become a popular choice at silent reading time. We're working on our conferencing and editing skills. Our goal is to write and publish story #4 soon.
With the coming of day 100 in school, we will concentrate on writing and naming numbers to 100, as well as skip counting by 2's, 5's and 10's. Our focus in February will be on place value. Continue to practice addition and subtraction facts to 20!
We have begun our IIM research unit on birds. Home projects will be shared with Mrs. Woods' class prior to February vacation. Each child will be a bird expert. In Tech. Ed., they are integrating this unit in their weekly class time. In class, we made clay birds that will perch in our learning tree before going home!
We are fortunate to meet each morning with all the first graders as we have our Responsive Classroom meeting. Let's hope the ground hog was wrong and spring will soon be here!
Grade One
Mrs. Woods, Mrs. Huss
Wow! We have made
a smooth transition and have also worked hard to establish ourselves as a new
team. Besides morning meeting, we have gotten together with 1B for special
occasions. On MLK Day the students created friendship bracelets for 1B, shared a
special snack and watched a movie named "Our Friend Martin".
Our January science focus was water in its many forms. Mrs. Huss made popsicles and taught the students how to use a thermometer to track the daily temperatures. We played in the snow, looked at the snow with magnifying glasses and melted snow. The students have learned about experiments and predicting outcomes.
Of course we also read some great books about snow, brainstormed winter words and have written about many snowy day activities. The Snowy Day and Snowflake Bentley have let us compare two Caldecott Award winning books, as well as fiction and non-fiction.
We had great fun practicing and performing "The Mitten" and several short snow poems for Mrs. Brown's class. The students were assigned several other jobs, (technical, prop, announcer) as well as actors to really get the feel for a theatre group.
Math has found us trying out many new math games to practice our addition and subtraction facts, place value of tens and ones, and graphing. The students have listened to several math stories, and we have worked to create number sentences to go along with those stories.
We are continuing to work on our IIM project of NH Mammals. The students spent several sessions with Mrs. Atkins' fourth grade class researching and taking notes in the library and on the Internet. We are creating our art projects and will compile the mammal facts into small reports to share with 1B in February.
In February we are leaving snow behind (wishful thinking) and studying all types of weather. We will do an author study on Norman Bridwell and read many of his fantastic Clifford books. We have plans with 1B for the 100th Day of School and look forward to writing some great Valentines poems and letters for February 14th.
Grade Two
Ms. Merrill, Mrs. Nigrello, Ms. Zimar (Intern)
We are looking
forward to our English Tea Party which we will be doing on Valentine's Day! We
will be dressing up in our fanciest clothes - girls with hats and gloves and
boys with ties - and sipping tea with biscuits and scones! This is going to be a
great way to share some of the things that we have learned about England over
the past month! We have been enjoying the adventures of Paddington Bear very
much, as well as our author study of Roald Dahl. We have been very involved
learning some of his silly poems to perform at our tea — it's been fun!
The other really super thing that we have had happening in our classroom is our study of quilts. If you stop by our classroom, you will notice all of the great quilt patterns that we constructed hanging outside of our door. We were also very excited to work with a real quilter, Merrilyn San Soucie. She shared with us her beautiful quilts and helped us make some quilted pillows. It was a lot of fun — we were very lucky! Thank you to Mrs. O. for setting up this opportunity for us.
We were also able to perform an abridged version of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech with Mrs. O.'s class at the Brentwood Nursing Home. This was a great way to incorporate a day of service to honor Dr. King. We think that the speech and the songs that we sang brought a lot of people joy that day.
We are a very, very busy class! Things that we are looking forward to in the coming months are learning about folk tales, dinosaurs, and the ocean.
Grade Two
Mrs. Oppenheimer, Ms. Yeaton (Intern)
Second grade spent
January working on a quilt unit incorporating math - geometry pattern, color and
fractions. We many quilt stories and learned about quilts throughout history.
Many second graders shared special blankets and baby quilts, pillows and many
quilt stories. Quilter Merrilyn SanSouci visited us on Jan. As a class we worked
on many sewing projects - pouches, puppets and we made many paper quilts to
brighten our walls.
On January 20 both second and third grades visited The Rockingham Nursing Home and put on a show for the residents as community service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We have been learning about fractions and geometry with our quilts, people fractions, number tiles, and pattern blocks and in February we will be getting into more paper and pencil borrowing work. In math we will be working on subtraction of multi-digit numbers.
Our unit for February is fairy tales.We will review the elements of plot, setting, character, problem, events and resolution.We will read many standard and unusual versions of fairy tales, comparing and contrasting them.We will be learning some healthy heart facts.Toward the end of the month, Wednesday, February 19, we will be having a fairytale luncheon, and each second grader will be invited to dress up as a fairytale character.
In March Ms. Yeaton will be working on a unit on England. Our math focus will be money and, as the month goes on, we will start a Geology unit on rock minerals and fossils and begin a special research project.
One of our paper quilts
For more photos of Merrilyn SanSouci with second graders, click here.
Grade Three
Mrs. Simmons, Ms. George, Ms. Madden (Intern)
January has been a
totally out of this world experience in 3S. Ms. Madden provided a terrific unit
on the solar system. Our studies helped us to explore and discover the mysteries
of the moon and the planets. What fun we had uncovering many new and exciting
facts. Thank you, Ms. Madden.
In literacy, we read The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons. This book provided lots of great information. We also had many shared readings, such as Postcards From Pluto, and many beautifully illustrated picture books. All of these selections helped the class add details to their writing. We had many opportunities to express ourselves in different types of writing; concrete space poetry, postcards from various planets we researched, picture writing entitled "I Am Night" and, of course, our moon journal (Parents, thanks for all your help with observations). Our writing experiences were enhanced by visits from Ms. Hayes who helped with Picturing Writing (painting night skies in watercolor and than exploring authors and illustrators to help us create wonderful poetry) and Mrs. Wysocki who shared with us her own original moon fantasy book. It was amazing! Thanks so much to both of them.
In our own self-selected reading we just couldn't get enough non-fiction reading; the more we learned, the more we wanted to find out. Our next reading genre will also be non-fiction, but in the area of biographies. We are looking forward to learning about many famous people.
In Science we documented the phases of the moon, performed an orbiting activity in the gym and researched individual planets. Mrs. Cushing was a guest speaker; she told us what it's like to go to Space Camp (She's really been there!). Thank you, Mrs. Cushing, for all the great information and pictures. We also loved seeing you in your space gear. All of this information helped us to answer the many questions we had about our moon and the planets.
In Math we incorporated our interplanetary learning with a measurement activity called "Space by the Yard". We also practiced relative weight, distance and size conversions on various planets. It was lots of fun to create fractional spaceships. Problem solving and graphing were also woven into our unit. We can't forget our multiplication facts; keep up the practice at home; it really helps!
In Social Studies our study of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led us into a IIM group research unit. We are into the final stretch, finishing up our group product, which is a big book representation of Dr. King's life, a biography based on the research we have gathered using various sources. Next we will begin individual research on famous people that we are interested in finding out more about.
Our community service project at the Rockingham County Nursing Home helped to celebrate the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a great experience to perform and sing for the patients. Thank you, Ms. Madden, for leading us with your wonderful singing voice and for making our study of the solar system come alive!
Grade Three
Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Kemp
What a winter
it's been so far! We've been integrating all this snow and cold weather into our
math lessons. We visited the Mt. Washington Observatory to find the sub-zero
temperatures, wind speeds, and wind chills, and then we compared them with ours
here in East Kingston. Needless to say, the pictures and descriptions from the
scientists and weather people at the Mt. Washington observatory brought out the
cold reality of life at the top. We communicated with the weather staff via
e-mail and received a lot of information about winter weather
conditions. One cold morning we tromped outside to check out the rime ice that had formed overnight, and we were able to view the branches of ice through magnifying glasses. This third grade is always ready for adventures! Our class has been working on IIM research on Martin Luther King, Jr. and is currently working on the final product. We will be doing individual IIM research projects in class on famous people in conjunction with our biography studies. During January and February our reading genre has been historical fiction. Our reading groups have read books having to do with the Civil War, Civil Rights, the Revolutionary War, Lincoln, Washington, MLK, and many others. In science we've been studying the solar system. We're learning about the planets, sun, asteroids, meteors, the moon and its phases. We continue our study through February and into the beginning of March. There is so much to discover!
As you know, we're working on multiplication facts. Please continue to review them at home with your child, as they need to be memorized. Thanks for the help!
Grade Four
Mrs. Atkins, Mrs. Silverman
John and Molly
Stark, Josiah Bartlett, Passaconaway, John Wentworth, Amos Fortune, and Hannah
Duston from colonial times, as well as more modern notables, Daniel Chester
French, Alan Shepard, Christa McAuliffe, Tomie dePaola, Lynn Jennings, and Jenny
Thompson ~ all role-played by 4A students ~ gathered and shared their stories as
we wrapped up our month long biography study with a focus on New Hampshire
notables. We have almost finished constructing autobiographical time lines using
Time Liner, a computer program.
In science we've been studying volcanoes and earthquakes. One reading group has read The Volcano Disaster, a novel about Mount Saint Helens. The other group is reading a series of short stories and working on vocabulary, character, and plot development. Our math focus has been multiplication. We've learned three ways of multiplying double digit numbers: breaking apart each factor, multiplying on a lattice, and the traditional algorithm.
In March we'll study New Hampshire government in preparation for a field trip to the State House and Museum of New Hampshire History. In math we'll be working on division.
Grade Four
Ms. Hayes, Mrs. Silverman, Ms. Crapser (Intern)
January was a busy
month in our class, and February is flying by. Miss Crapser did a terrific job
in her first solo teaching week She designed and implemented a unit: "How Does
Being Different Make a Difference?" and skillfully incorporated the theme into
all subject areas. In one writing activity, the students were asked to invent a
culture different from the one in which we live. During the writing process they
shared their ideas and talked about accepting the differences of people of other
cultures. Miss Crapser also organized literature circles and got the students
thinking about accepting people's differences as they read and discussed Crash
by Jerry Spinelli. The students were motivated and engaged in every aspect of
the unit, and it segued nicely with Black History Month.
The Accelerated Reader Winter Challenge is now underway and our students are taking a renewed interest in reading to gain points for their team.
February is also the time for the National Spelling Bee. Twenty finalists from the fourth and fifth grades will compete at the local level on February 19 to see who will go on to the regionals in Portsmouth on March 8.
In math we will continue to practice long division with and without remainders while incorporating math skills used in everyday life such as time, money and measurement.
When we come back from winter vacation we will complete our earth science studies and turn our focus in to the life sciences and body systems.
Grade Five
Mr. McMahon, Mrs. Wysocki
In science we
have been studying the make-up and states of matter and measuring the density of
various objects. We have discussed basic atomic structure and made models of
simple molecules. A hydrogen molecule resembled a tiny barbell, and a water
molecule looked like Mickey Mouse's head. Measuring the density of objects
combines the use of different skills and requires the use of different
scientific equipment. To figure density, a student must find the object's mass
(weight) in grams using a platform balance (scale). Then the volume of the
object is found using the displacement of water in a graduated cylinder or
beaker. Volume is measured in milliliters (ml.). One ml. is equal to one cubic
centimeter (c.c. or cm3). Once mass and volume are found, density is determined
by dividing mass by volume. Density is expressed in grams per milliliter (g/ml)
or grams per cubic centimeter (g/cc or g/cm3).
The water displacement method of finding volume was discovered by a Greek mathematician named Archimedes who lived over 2000 years ago. He was thinking about a problem involving volume while taking a bath. He noticed as he got into the bathtub that water spilled over the edge. Archimedes realized that by measuring the amount of water his body displaced, he could measure its volume. He was so excited that he ran into the street without dressing to spread the word of his discovery. History does not record the effect on the passerby but does confirm that he came up with a pretty neat way of finding the volume of irregularly shaped objects.
Grade Five
Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Wysocki,
Mrs. DeGrappo (Intern)
Students have
worked long and hard on their research projects with the Europeans Explorers.
The final product (a book) will be complete before vacation. Students will have
the opportunity to present their findings to the rest of the class. Soon we'll
begin work on understanding the colonization of America. This area of study will
be taught through the Social Studies text. To assist student comprehension, we
will work on learning a variety of study skills by using the text.
The fifth graders are having a wonderful time reading about the adventures of Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth. Many of the activities focused on language development, and comprehension skills. This is a fantasy many would enjoy, young or old! After vacation, our reading focus will be back to historical fiction. I like to prepare the students for major themes in Social Studies through literature. The theme we'll be preparing for is the Revolutionary War.
We're very proud of our fifth graders, and the honor of being Class Stars of the Month!
Music
Mrs. Leavitt
January studies center
around the orchestra and its families. First graders heard the story about "The
Houses on my Street" and how the families in the houses were so like the four
orchestral families. We've introduced ourselves to the voices of the xylophones
in the classroom and have learned proper care and handling of each instrument.
We used rhythms for walking, running, and hopping to play contrasting patterns
simultaneously! Good job, Grade One!
Second grade sang "Grandma's Patchwork Quilt" and used "Bear" rhythms to figure out the rhythmic pattern of a song. We listened to "Peter and the Wolf" and heard select members of each orchestral family. We are now beginning the story of "The Magic Fish" which we hope to dramatize. We will accompany our story with the percussion family both pitched and nonpitched.
Our third grade musicians are progressing nicely with their woodwind instrument, the recorder. You will see practice charts coming home each week, parents, which need to be signed by you so that the children may receive a sticker. Practice is the most important stepping stone on the road to success when learning an instrument. You can help our budding musicians on that road by encouraging their efforts and listening to their mini-concerts at home. Maybe you might even try a few notes on them yourself! Our children would love to teach you! These flutes are lots of fun to play once you get the hang of it!
After reviewing the orchestra we delved into folk instruments in fourth grade. We're using some of these to sing a folk song from the Southern U.S. and will learn folk dances to accompany the songs. One of the string folk instruments, the autoharp, will introduce us to chording.
Congratulations to class of the month, Grade Five. They are such hardworking and enthusiastic children! Lines are almost memorized. We have discussed characterization, and what it really means. Our study of the percussion family introduced to us composer Benjamin Britten. In February, we will try our hand at the trumpet and study the life of composer, John Philip Sousa, the March King who invented the sousaphone.
Stay warm by snuggling together on the couch and watching a musical! On Sunday, February 16th, a remake of Meredith Willson's The Music Man will be airing on ABC. This is one of our American classics that proves to be fun for the whole family.
Art
Mrs. LaCasse
In February we have
continued our focus on famous artists. Grade 1 had previously studied the works
of Rousseau by doing crayon drawings in his style. They took their knowledge of
the art element of value and created paper, fabric and corn owls with emphasis
on textures. First, shape was explored by making torn paper birds. Work by
Audubon was studied and drawings were done with emphasis on color.
Second grade also studied Rousseau, then Van Gogh. Van Gogh's colors of blue, green, yellow and orange were all used to create painted "quilts." Fairies were created using a variety of materials to explore the art element of texture.
Third grade has been busy on making individual color wheels based on their favorite planets. "Starry Night" by Van Gogh was studied. Each child did their own painting based on Van Gogh's style with emphasis on texture as created by paint. Fourth grade has continued exploring the works of Van Gogh. They have done paintings in his style and subject matter. Lots of co-operative learning has occurred with children having second grade art buddies. This process has been a delight to watch. Volcanoes were painted by using a variety of watercolor techniques.
Fifth grade has made clay suns in conjunction with their unit on explorers. Shape, line and pattern were the art elements explored. After studying Van Gogh's paintings each child did a painting of irises with emphasis on color and texture. The children had their own "palettes." Lots of sharing of ideas and enthusiasm for this unit.
All grades made heart compositions in conjunction with Jump for Heart. All of our lessons were coordinated to emphasize classroom curriculum. We look forward to sharing all of this beautiful work with you in the spring. The children are a wonderful, hard working group to teach. I enjoy them very much.
Physical Education
Mr. Benson
It's been a couple of
busy months in Physical Education. Classes have been studying ball control
skills, basketball, fitness concepts, bowling and rolling skills. Speaking of
bowling, the 5th grade class had the opportunity to practice their game and
scoring skills during a recess-bowling tournament. Pictures can be seen at the
web site
http://fc.sau16.k12.nh.us/~cbenson/rbpics.htm. Students were asked to create
three member teams, and then competed against each other. Students kept score
manually and then were able to check their score with the computer. A total of
eight teams had a great time bowling through the cold of January.
Looking ahead to February, we are starting to get ready for Jump Rope for Heart, sponsored by the American Heart Association as its major fundraiser for heart and blood vessel disease and stroke research. Blood vessel disease and stroke are our nation's number 1 and 3 killers. It will also fund the development of educational materials that teach the importance of heart health and staying fit. Our school also earns gift certificates for physical education equipment. In the next few days, students will be coming home with some very import information about our event. Please go over all of it with them. Also, in that information will be your chance to help out with the event. Mark those calendars now for February 20. We'll be holding our event in the gym throughout the day. Visit the Physical Education web site at http://fc.sau16.k12.nh.us/~cbenson/default.htm for more information.
That's it for now. Take care, stay warm and stay fit. Spring is coming.
Counselor's Corner
Betsy Schulthess, School Counselor
Character education continues to be an important part of a child's education. Good character isn't a gift that is just given to us at birth. Just as our bodies' muscles need time to develop strength so we can walk, run, climb, jump, or lift, it also takes time, practice, and hard work to develop strong character muscles. Certain core character traits are necessary for a child to develop into a healthy, functioning, positive member of society - traits such as being truthful, caring for others, forming strong personal relationships, acting responsibly, and so on. As children grow both outward and inward, they gain higher self-esteem and confidence and have a greater belief in their own power to make a positive impact on the world.
During the last few months I have been spending time in the fourth and fifth grades discussing and exploring the following topics:
Citizenship: What does it mean, and how can we be good citizens in school, our families, our communities and in our world?
Honesty: What does it mean to be truthful and trustworthy? Classes were divided into several groups that were given different scenarios that focused on the topic of honesty. After spending time in their groups discussing the examples, the entire class spent time discussing students' reactions.
Cooperation: What does it mean? Why is it important to learn to cooperate? What do we need to do in order to cooperate peacefully, such as, keeping an open mind, putting ourselves into someone else's shoes, approaching a problem with an open mind and being able to listen to another. Interactive group exercises were performed and students' reactions were discussed.
I plan to continue conducting classroom guidance sessions that focus on Character Education for the remainder of the year. If you have any questions, ideas, or input, please feel free to call me.
~Betsy Schulthess, School Counselor
Health Office
Is it a Cold, or is it Flu?
Sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish between a cold and the flu. The symptoms for the flu are more severe, particularly fever and exhaustion. Because they are viruses, colds and the flu cannot be treated with antibiotics.
| Cold Symptoms | Flu Symptoms |
| Runny Nose | Fever, generally 101 degrees or higher |
| Sneezing | Extreme exhaustion |
| Mild Cough | Headaches |
| Sore throat | Severe chills and body aches |
| Sore throat | |
| Heavy cough possible |
Prevention:
Washing hands thoroughly with warm, soap water and completely drying them is one of the easiest and most effective ways to help prevent the spread of germs and illness.
~Tara Prescott, RN
School Nurse
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Thursday, July 19, 2007