The next virtual PTO meeting will be this coming Monday, March 13th @7pm. New members are always welcome. Here is the link: https://meet.google.com/fzx-hkei-nae. Please contact lindi.russell@gmail.com with any questions.

Monday, March 13 - Virtual PTO Meeting at 7:00

Wednesday, March 15 - 1:50 Release

Wednesday, March 22 - All School Meeting at 2:15

Thursday, March 23 and Friday March 24 - 12:30 Release for Caregiver Conferences

Monday, March 27 - Representative Sabadosa visits at 10:00

Wednesday, March 29 - 1:50 Release

Link to Sanderson Academy calendar.

March is nutrition awareness month and since nutrition is so important for growing elementary students I thought I would touch upon this. I hope to increase my classroom teachings regarding nutrition- so far I have been very impressed with the knowledge the children already have regarding healthy eating habits! Some things we are already doing here at Sanderson that can benefit growing children and their nutritional needs and knowledge is our amazing community garden and fresh produce that we get to enjoy, we also now have a salad bar with a wide variety of choices that changes daily as well as reducing juice consumption overall and having healthy breakfast choices daily that has been quite popular with our students. Research shows that when children have access to gardening this greatly benefits their overall nutrition as well as their knowledge and interest in healthy foods. We are lucky to live here where there is an abundance of healthy foods, especially in the summer and fall months. Please do not hesitate to reach out to both the Mary Lyon’s foundation and the Ashfield food pantry/Hilltown Churches food pantry if you are in need of help for accessing healthy foods, they are very happy and willing to help. You can also contact me and I can reach out to them on your behalf, I would love to help. Here are the links for the Ashfield food pantry https://ashfield.org/2391/Hilltown-Churches-Food-Pantry and the Mary Lyon’s Foundation https://marylyonfoundation.org/ as well as some information regarding how school gardens can benefit children garden benefits.

Our preschoolers love animals and talking about their pets. This week we are learning how to care for animals. We transformed our dramatic play area into a vet’s office. Preschoolers have been making appointments for pet check ups and visiting the vet’s office if their pet is hurt or sick. We also shared our thoughts on caring for pets. Our ideas included feeding our pets, going on walks with them for exercise, giving them plenty of water, and caring for their injuries. More snow!

The latest snowfall left behind some wonderful hills and valleys to explore. We had fun trying to dig things out of the snow, working together with hands and feet to excavate toys that had been buried in the snow. Early in the week, we walked to the salt shed road and played in the unplowed snow. The next day, the road had been plowed, and we enjoyed making “otter slides” climbing up the high snow banks and sliding back down. Great fun! Inside, we are enjoying learning about birds. We worked together to fill in the pages of a bird booklet, finding parts of the birds in the illustrations, and recognizing letters and words on the pages. We learned a new song about a robin. The words go like this:

Little robin redbreast sat upon my windowsill,

Little robin redbreast cocked his head and sang,

Hello, hello,

Good day, good day,

Hello, hello,

And then he flew away.

This week in our social skills program, we talked about our last thinking strategy for handling problems: our circle of control. We learned that some things are just not within our control, such as the weather or other people’s actions. And when problems come up that we can’t control, it is best to spend our energy figuring out how to let go or work around the problem, rather than fighting against it.

Our Brook trout have grown so much in the last few weeks! Most of the fish are now one inch in length. We are now able to see their scales, various fins, eye color and variation of colors along the trout body. Each first grader has a journal where illustrations are drawn and observations are written. Children enjoy looking back to the very first day the trout arrived when they were just teeny tiny trout eggs. In science we are focusing on how parts of living things help them survive. Fish use their fins to help them swim which helps them survive in their habitat. First graders have now taken on the responsibility of the lunch time feeding of our trout. Each day someone new gets a chance to drop in the small pelleted food. Check out our fish friends below!

In EL we are learning about why authors write about the sun,moon and stars. We recently read an African folktale titled: How the sun and moon got into the sky by: Elphinstone Dayrell. In this story first graders learned how the sun and moon ended up in the sky after the water filled their home so high that they were pushed out and up into the sky. After reading, first graders wrote about why they felt the author chose to write this story. The next story we will read is titled: Summer Sun Risin’ by W. Nikola-Lisa. As we read stories in this unit we will continue to ask the question “Why do you think the author chose to write this story” and “how did the author include the sun, moon and stars?”

This week we are getting settled with our new routines and procedures. Students have been doing really well catching on and seem to be enjoying themselves.

We learned how Math centers work this week. Each group of kiddos will rotate in 20 min increments to each of the three stations. One station is with me where we will be learning new workplace games and also focusing on the main curriculum. This week we are focusing on working with open number lines to help us solve word problems. Another station is with Ms. Laura where they will be looking at our calendar and making observations about it. This month they are learning about 3D shapes and how to identify them. The last center is where they get to choose a workplace game that they have learned and play it with their group mates.

We are also getting into the groove of things for ELA. During this time we are reading the story Stone Girl, Bone Girl and figuring out what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story. We are learning what components we generally learn at each portion of the story. In the beginning we learn about the character, setting and what their wish is. The middle is where we learn what the problem is and what they do to try to overcome it. The end is where we learn about the turning point and what the message of the story is. Each day we became detectives and figured out where the beginning, middle and end by looking for these components throughout the story. Here is a tool that we will use from Project Read to help us navigate the story.

Lastly, with conferences coming up soon, please feel free to email me directly or call the office to set up your time.

In math this week the class learned a game called, “I Have, You need.” One person says “I have…” followed by a number less than one hundred. The other person says “You need…” followed by the number they need to get to one hundred. For example:

Ms. Carole: “I have 42.”

Class: “You need 58.”

It is a simple yet helpful game to play and might make the miles tick by on a road trip if you want to try it at home.

In Language Arts third graders have been learning about Pourquoi Tales. These are fictional stories that explain why something in nature is like it is. For example, we read a tale called, “Why Poison Dart Frogs are Colorful.” The class wrote one as a group called, “Why Polliwogs Wiggle,” and now they are working with partners to plan and create their own Pourquoi Tale about an animal from Massachusetts.

This week the third graders have been actively following the progress of the Iditarod mushers and their dogs in Alaska since the race started on Sunday. Each student is following one musher and their status is updated regularly on our bulletin board that shows all of the checkpoints. It is exciting and impressive to see how hard these teams are working to achieve their mighty goal of completing the Iditarod.

Fourth graders are beginning a new unit in math. In this unit your child will: ❚ Multiply multi-digit numbers ❚ Divide a multi-digit number by a 1-digit number ❚ Solve problems about the area and perimeter of rectangles ❚ Review equivalent fractions, and add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers Your child will learn and practice these skills by solving problems like those shown below.

This week we welcomed back our students who traveled to Mexico. It was wonderful to have everyone together again! Over the last week the students who have been here at school have worked on creating an Egyptian game called Senet. We made our own boards, learned to play as a class, and then went off in pairs to play the game. This was a fun way to continue to expand our knowledge of ancient Egypt. We have also begun a research project this week. This project is based on our recent novel, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Each student picked an innovator and we are learning to gather information off the web, find credible sources, and cite our sources on a bibliography. Eventually they will write an informational essay about their innovator. Some of the innovators created driverless cars, 3D printed clothing, and self-healthing asphalt (imagine no more potholes!).

Spring will be here soon but in the meantime you may want something to do as a family that can be enjoyed indoors. Check out these family scavenger hunts (K-2, 3-6)! Not only are they exciting and engaging, but they also reinforce important math skills that your kiddos are learning at school. Enjoy! :) aprew@mtrsd.org

This week there are several library-related events to share, so get your calendars ready! First, a big thank you to Emily Willis and Sarah Jetzon for attaining a computer science grant from PACE, which

Sponsor-a-Book Fundraiser

During the week of March 20-24, please consider purchasing a bookplate (or two) for your child’s favorite library book. A bookplate is a label that is attached to the inside cover of a book and will include the name of your child as a sponsor for the library. Bookplates will be offered on a sliding scale of $5 - $20 each, and proceeds will go toward new furniture for our library, so we can make it a comfortable place to meet and read! Keep your eye out for fliers and order forms in next week’s Thursday folders. Thanks for your consideration!

‘Check It Out” District Library Newsletter

Have you had a chance to read our monthly district library newsletter yet? The newsletter, called “Check It Out,” highlights news and updates from each of our district’s libraries, and provides links to many literacy-related events and happenings in our area. “Check It Out” here!

Mohawk Trail Regional School Celebration of Learning

You are invited to the MTRS Celebration of Learning on March 29th from 4-6pm. Along with a free dinner from Foxtown Diner, this event will also include many fun events in the library, including a graphic novel giveaway, reading to Lamby the Labradoodle, playing with robots, fun coding interactives, and a raffle. Come have some fun with friends and neighbors on March 29!