MKG Messenger December 18, 2020
The Principal's Office
I would like to wish the entire MKG family a Healthy & Happy Holiday season!!! Although this year might be different it's important to take time to rest, relax and enjoy the break!!!
The cohort calendar for the week before and after vacation is a bit different so I have included the cohort information here:
Monday, Dec. 14 - Cohort 2
Tuesday, Dec. 15 - Cohort 2
Wednesday, Dec. 16 - Cohort 3
Thursday, Dec. 17 - Cohort 3
Friday, Dec. 18 - Cohort 3
Monday, Dec. 21 - Cohort 2
Tuesday, Dec. 22 - Cohort 2
Wednesday, Dec. 23 - NO SCHOOL
Monday, Jan.4 - Cohort 2
Tuesday, Jan.5 - Cohort 2
Wednesday, Jan. 6 - Cohort 2
Thursday, Jan. 7 - Cohort 3
Friday, Jan. 8 - Cohort 3
Assistant Principal's Office
Students have been participating and engaged in STEAM activities this week. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics.
MKG students have been working on various challenges with assorted materials. It has been fantastic to see their creativity in designing their solutions to the questions.
Grade 1
The First Grade Team would like to wish all our families Happy Holidays. We hope everyone enjoys the break. You deserve it!!! Your children have done well adjusting to a new way of learning both in-person and remotely. This would not have happened without your support and encouragement. You are great cheerleaders. We sincerely appreciate your efforts and the special relationships we have with our families.
Grade 2
Season’s Greetings from Second Grade. As we wrap up our math unit on adding with 2 and 3-digit numbers, we will move on to Unit 5 and 6. In Unit 5 and 6, students will learn strategies for solving subtraction problems in the same manner as they solved addition problems. Second graders read a variety of folktales and are working on retelling using details from the story to support their thinking. Some classes continued the STEM theme this week by constructing bird feeders. They used materials that could be found in most homes (mostly recycled items!) to construct a prototype for a bird feeder. Students were able to test the feeders at their home to see what bird it would attract based on the construction of the feeder. Students were also given the task of constructing a bird feeder that would not attract certain animals, such as cats, squirrels, and hawks. Teachers would like to thank the parents and guardians for their continued support for in-person and remote learning. We could not do this without help from you. Thank you and Happy Holidays.
In the first Unit of ELA, “The Beauty of Seasons” Grade 2 students read the book “The Storm” by Cynthia Rylant. It’s a lovely story about a family that lives in a Lighthouse. Upon completion of the story, Mrs. Peters had a great idea: she brought a buoy to school and the “buoys and gulls” in Mrs. Germano’s and Ms. Gillis’ room each signed the buoy, along with their teachers. She also included the MKG phone number so anyone who found the buoy could call in and share its location. Then, Mrs. Peters met Mrs. Germano at Brant Rock (Marshfield) where Mrs. Germano tossed the buoy into the Atlantic Ocean on November 15, 2020. On December 15, 2020, Ms. Gillis received a call from a Fisherman in Salem Harbor. He found the buoy! His name was Douglas Heath and he was fishing a few miles south of Bakers Island in the Salem Sound. This means the buoy was found roughly 31 miles across the sea from it’s starting point! Wow! He told Ms. Gillis that he tossed it back into the ocean for another person to find!
Grade 3
STEAM Week was a great success in third grade. Students had a great time this week as engineers and scientists. Each class had a variety of challenges for the students to perform using the design process. They had to design and build weight-bearing bridges, create towers, tall structures, catapults and snowflakes. What a fun week of learning!
Grade 4
As term one comes to a close and we enter the holiday season, we are grateful for the many successes of the last few months, as well as the struggles that have made us stronger. Our fourth graders have been very busy working on STEAM projects, demonstrating perseverance, and learning to try, try again. We certainly have some budding scientists and engineers among us! We have some fun seasonal learning opportunities and activities planned for next week. Winter break will provide us all the chance to “recharge our batteries” and hit the ground running in 2021!
Leave a little sparkle wherever you go!
Grade 5
Alligators, crocodiles, wolves, and bears (oh my) were some of the subjects of the non-fiction texts read by Mrs.
Winterbottom’s class this week as they continued their study of the structure and purposes of nonfiction books and articles. Long division, gravity, and some holiday point of view creative writing pieces rounded out the activities from our last full week of 2020.
Mr. Williams' class did a nice job preparing for and taking a social studies test on the early settlers of North America, and are doing an extremely thoughtful paper comparing and contrasting characters in one of our favorite novels as well as determining the author's theme (or message). Long division using the standard algorithm is also going well. It's been a terrific start to an unusual year.
The students in Mrs. Kuketz's class have begun noticing words from their Greek and Latin Roots work popping up all over the place. They show up in our read alouds, in our study of gravity, and as we finish up our Colonies unit. They are beginning to plan passion projects as an introduction to research skills and informational writing. It is up to each student which topic they choose, but one of the criteria is to use different types of sources that include print and internet.
Mr. O'Brien's class: We shared our wishes, we shared our poems, we did an experiment with energy transfer and we finished Pinballs, a great story with great characters! We ended a week of gratitude with the appreciation of just being able to be together. We'll have to share our winner of the WIsh writing for the next newsletter. Have a happy and safe holiday!
Champions
Champions will be having a fun safe socially distanced Winter Break Camp at the MECC on Dec. 28th-30th. If anyone is interested in signing up. They can contact Champions with any questions about registering.
Lindsay Tateo
Site Director
Champions @ Mary K. Goode
503-752-2326
Middleboro Public Library
Join the Middleborough Public Library and Ms. Amanda for a countdown to noon on 12/31/20 from 11:30am-12:30pm! A great way for all to celebrate without staying up until midnight. We will listen to stories, have a dance party, and make some arts and crafts. Participants need to pick up the corresponding kit from the library prior to this event. Space is limited Registration begins December 7th. Call the library or email ameyer@sailsinc.org to register. https://midlib.org/events/2020/11/19/noon-years-eve-zoom-party
Middleborough Public Library
December 21st - March 19th
Read and log 12 hours to complete the challenge and earn virtual tickets. Explore Activity Badges for even more chances to win one of three prizes: $25 Amazon gift card, $25 Target gift card, or a surprise bag filled with Library goodies. You get to decide which prize pack you want to try to win. Good luck and happy reading! Open to kids up to 6th grade. To sign up visit: midlib.org/kids-homepage.
Contact Amanda Meyer, ameyer@sailsinc.org, or call 508-946-2470 with questions.
This program is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Middleboro Public Library.