North River News
made by kids, for everyone
February 12, 2021
Here is what you will find in this edition:
- Weekend Weather
- COVID Information
- COVID Tips
- What Colrain classrooms are reading!
- Would You Rather, with a survey
- Animal of the Week: Beef Cows, with a survey
- Endangered Animal of the Week: Red Pandas
- Word Search (ages 5 and up)
- Things About Polar Bears
- Comics
- Birds, Birds, Birds
- Comics
- Fifth Grade News
- Sports
- Productivity at Colrain Central School!
We hope you enjoy this edition!
The Outsiders (Colrain Fifth Grade)
WEEKEND WEATHER with Alvin
Saturday, February 13th will be a high of 26 degrees with light winds and a low of 16 Saturday night. Sunrise will be at 6:50 AM and sunset at 5:20 PM.
Sunday, February 14th will be a high of 29 degrees with snow showers in the morning and sun possible later in the afternoon. A low of 9 degrees on Sunday night. Sunrise will be at 6:48 AM and sunset at 5:21 PM.
COVID INFORMATION with Abby and Claire
Hope you liked our last article. We are going to catch you up on COVID 19 cases this week.
In the United States there are 111,478 new cases as of January 31st, 2021.
In Massachusetts there are 2,665 new cases as of January 31st, 2021.
In Franklin County there are 1,780 total cases as of January 31st, 2021. (We couldn’t find new cases for Franklin County, so we included the total.)
As of Friday, about 10.6 million people in the United States had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and about 1.6 million people had been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Friday January 15, 2021.)
The CDC has recommended that healthcare workers and the elderly be the first to receive the vaccine. It could be spring or even summer before enough of the vaccine can be manufactured to help inoculate the general public.
That’s all for this time.
THREE COVID TIPS with Shaunty
Stay 6 feet away from people.
Keep your hands away from your mouth, eyes and nose.
Keep your hands to yourself at all times.
WHAT COLRAIN CLASSROOMS ARE READING with Jaida
Hello I'm Jaida and I'm gonna tell you what the classes at school are reading about.
Pre k is reading “Pete The Cat” and having lots of fun with it.
Kindergarten is reading non fiction books about what animals do in winter and also reading aloud books about winter in January.
First graders are reading books that helps them practice what they're learning about, letters and sounds. They are also reading about Black History Month.
Second grade just finished the third book of “My Fathers Dragon” and started reading “Toys Go Out”.
Third grade is reading about why Americans celebrate the Fourth of July in social studies and has not started reading a read aloud book yet, but will soon.
Fourth grade just finished “Love That Dog” and are now reading various books. They are also reading African American books in honor of Black History Month and are also reading “The One and Only Bob”.
Fifth grade is reading “Chains”. It's a book they are reading in class about a slave living during the American Revolution. Fifth grade is having lots of fun reading it.
Sixth grade has just started reading “Song of the Whale” out loud and also reading separate books in small groups.
BEEF COWS with Grace
Hello, this week's animal is beef cows.
Did you know that cows are herd animals? If a cow is sick they will stay behind so that they don't attract predators. Since they are herd animals they also protect the other cows and babies.
Did you know that cows have four stomachs? They regurgitate their food. That means the food comes up from the stomach and they chew it again. Each time they chew it gets smaller and smaller then moves to the other stomachs. The reason they have four stomachs is so that they can break down their food.
Did you know that most beef calves are born in spring/summer? The reason why they are born in the summer and spring is because the grass has more nutrients so the babies will grow better. Did you know that baby calves drink from their moms for 6 to 8 months? Baby calves need to drink milk until they start eating hay and grass.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about Beef cows.
Click the link below to select which animal you would like to read about in the next edition!
PHOTO CREDIT: Hager Bros Farm.
ENDANGERED ANIMAL OF THE WEEK: RED PANDAS with Cole
Photo Credit: https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d674d33496a4e77457a6333566d54/share_p.html
WORD SEARCH with Addi
Let's do a word search. Find these 15 words with me.
- ATE
- BLACK
- BROWN
- FIND
- FUNNY
- LITTLE
- NEW
- PLEASE
- PRETTY
- RUN
- THERE
- TO
- UNDER
- WHERE
- WHITE
Ages 5 and up
THINGS ABOUT POLAR BEARS with Makalya
Polar bears live in the arctic. With their big coats of fur they can live in the cold. They're big and strong so don't go near them! They eat seals, fish, and fruits. Polar bears usually live to about 30 years but it's rare. Polar bears are adapted to the cold but that does not mean however, that they cannot freeze to death.
Fun facts
. A polar bears’ skin is not white, it is black.
. It was confirmed in 2006 that grizzly-polar bears hybrid exist.
COMIC with Logan
BIRDS, BIRDS, BIRDS with Joey and Ms Mary
Feeding the wild birds can be a lot of fun and a real learning experience. For instance, the Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Blue Jays and the larger birds really enjoy suet. Did you know that suet helps the birds to keep warm in the cold weather, And they Love it!!
We make our own suet and they are thriving on it. Our Cafe manager, Ms Tina very nicely donates all of the meat drippings that she freezes for us! We boil it down, add some goodies, like a 1/2 cup of peanut butter, or crushed, unsalted peanuts, sunflower seeds, and a little millet. We then pour it into the molds which are the square plastic containers that the store bought suet comes in. We then freeze it again. It is all set to be put out the very next day.
You can add raisins, bits of fruit, and whole and/or cracked corn. Which makes for a wonderful treat for the birds!
This is a fun project and don't forget, you are helping our wild birds to stay warm and healthy...and...happy!
See you next time, Joey and Ms Mary
COMIC with Summer
FIFTH GRADE NEWS with Wyatt
In our fifth grade class we do a lot of learning.
In math, we have to do a lot of multiplication and division. We have also started working with adding and subtracting fractions and decimals.
In physical education, we do a lot of exercise videos and exercise with them.
In social studies, we are learning about the American Revolution by watching “Liberty’s Kids” and reading a book called "Chains".
In music class, we are learning about rhythm.
In ELA, we are doing book projects. My book project is about "My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish". It is in a series of books.
In Art, we have been drawing snowy pictures of winter landscapes.
In Science, we learned about producers, consumers, and decomposers, as part of the life cycle.
As you can see, we keep ourselves busy in fifth grade.
SPORTS with Abi
As you all know most sports are shut down in our district. But if you practice as much as you can, when they do open back up/if they do, you are fully prepared. Right now skiing is the only sport open!
The most popular sport in Colrain is...soccer! In elementary school these are the other sports we play: baseball, basketball, and softball!
QUESTION
When you grow up what's the one sport you would want to play as a job? And why!
It would be fun to be paid to play a sport when you are older!
PRODUCTIVITY AT COLRAIN CENTRAL SCHOOL with Kaydan
Colrain Central School is very productive when it comes to all school hikes. My two favorite hikes that we took were when we went to the H.O. Cook State Forest and Catamount State Forest.
At H.O. Cook State Forest we saw thousands of trees that were planted by hand!! Then we saw a big graveyard and it had the grave of Mr. H.O. Cook. We passed the state border and had lunch in a field in Vermont.
At Catamount we saw a big lake. Then we went up to an old house. I think it got burnt down and the chimney was still there and there was an AMAZING view! We had to cross a bridge but under it, there was a bees’ nest so we had to be super careful. We also saw stumps chiseled to a point because of beavers and we saw their dam.
So as you can tell, we saw a lot of things that we would not normally see in everyday life. So you should get out more too and look around to see if you can find anything cool.
THANKS FOR READING THE NORTH RIVER NEWS!
The Outsiders (Colrain 5th Grade)
Email: mnorwood@mtrsd.org
Website: colrain.mohawktrailsschools.org/
Location: 22 Jacksonville Road, Colrain, MA, USA
Phone: 413-624-3451