Dear Parents,

We are looking forward to seeing you this evening for our second Community Eat & Meet! Please bring a dish to share, enjoy time with other parents and learn about our annual school auction.

We will also have a guest speaker, Dr. Steve Goodwin from Turning West. Dr. Goodwin has been working with our Board of Directors to review our bylaws and support organizational planning. He has years of experience working with Non-Profit organizations and schools, supporting their strategic planning. This will be a great opportunity for you to hear about the work we have been doing this year and how you can take part.

Warm regards,

Elaine Kennedy, Head of School & Pauline Nagle, Associate Head of School

Tue, 10/04: Community Eat & Meet Potluck: Auction & Orientation 6:30p

Wed, 10/05: Pizza Lunch orders due (for Friday)

Fri, 10/07: NMS Spirit Day - Wear your Teal and Gold! Pizza Lunch Day!

Mon, 10/10: Grandparents and Special Friends Day for PS-8th gr

Tue, 10/11: Grandparents and Special Friends Day for PS only

Fri, 10/14: No School - Records Day

Wed, 10/19: Elementary & MS Field Trip (Howell Nature Center)

Dress for the weather - please be sure kids have proper clothing, including rain coats/boots or extra sweatshirts for cooler weather. We start the morning with our outdoor Jumpstart and go outside for recess, even if it's a light rain. Someone once said, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing!"

Health & Wellness - please take a moment to review our Health & Wellness plan. Our community does best when everyone makes a strong effort to stay home when not well, test for Covid when symptoms arise, and return when symptoms are resolved. Have children use a mask when returning from illness, to help prevent spread. Return to normal, also means return to regular colds and illnesses! Remind children of good habits such as washing hands and using tissues! Thanks for your diligence so that we can be well!

Don't forget to RSVP for your child's grandparents or special friends. Click on the holding hands picture below!

We love our school! One way we can share the love is by wearing and sporting our school spirit! We will wear our school gear on Fridays. If you don't have any gear yet, please be sure to check out our Anniversary Wear store below. You will find other fun items as well, including tumblers and shopping bags. In the mean time, look in your closets for Teal and Gold.

Our first School Spirt Friday is October 7th.

Let's show off that school pride! You can also show your school spirit is by placing your NMS 50th Anniversary sticker on your car. You received a sticker in your Anniversary bag at our last Community Meet-n-Greet, or in your mail slot. Don't worry, it's a peel-away sticker, so it won't stay on your car permanently!

This year, we will enjoy Pizza Lunch Fridays. Our first order for pizza lunch will be due on Wednesday, October 5th. We will enjoy Pizza Lunch on Friday, October 7th. Pizza Lunch is optional. If you do not want to participate, or your child just doesn't like pizza, that's okay!

• Pizza Lunch order forms/envelopes will go home at the end of the week.
• Mark your order and include a cash payment by Wednesday, Oct. 5th.
• You do NOT have to include exact change! That's part of the fun. Students count and make change based on orders. It's another way we use hands-on learning to build math and problem-solving skills.
• On Friday, your child will receive their Pizza Lunch and their change.

We're excited to bring back this fun and yummy learning experience to our kids this year!

Tonight is our auction kick off at the Community Eat & Meet. We are so excited to give you all the fun details of auction season. Please help us by bringing in:

*1 bottle of your favorite wine

*1 bottle of liquor

*lottery tickets

*childs toy (around $25 value) to help kick off auction season.

You can bring them to the Eat & Meet if you are able or, due to the short notice, you may leave them at the table in front of the family mailboxes with your families name attached. These items will count towards your family's merchandise commitment.

Thank you,

Auction Team

Preschool Teachers:

Marisa Downs marisa@newmorningschool.com

Danielle Provencher danielle@newmorningschool.com

Preschool News

Preschoolers are scientists and artists! We are developing our observation, thinking, and creating

skills as we continue our study of nature around us. This week friends may choose to paint pine

cones, corn, and make paint using dirt. We’ll have a nature exhibit at our discovery tables and take a

close look at different varieties of corn. We’ll also conduct a pine cone experiment. We’ll continue

playing with feed corn and dried beans in our sensory tables.

We are excited to add more specials to our schedule. Below is what our week looks like for now.

Monday - Spanish

Tuesday - Reading Buddies with Middle School

Thursday - Gym and Reading Buddies with Elementary

Friday - Spanish and Gym

Our teachers for the letter A are Willa and Remy in Danielle’s room and Chimamanda and Lucas in

Marisa’s. I imagine they will be amazing!

We’d like to request an arrival no later than 8:45 in the morning. We begin our classes at 9am.

Thank you for making your best effort to be on time. Other reminders are to check your family mailbox by the copy machine and please send in a family picture for us to post in our classrooms. Pizza Fridays are starting up. Check the general news section of the Quokka for more information on that. Also, Grandparents and Special Friends days are next week.

Have a wonderful week, families!

~Danielle and Marisa

Science Teacher

Russell Lightfoot russell@newmorningschool.com

Hello everyone,

We have had a great start to the year in science and the students have been working hard on their different topics. Here’s some information about what we have been doing:

Middle School - We have been thinking about where natural hazards happen and how do we prepare for them? The students have been learning about the 2011 tsunami which was triggered by an earthquake off the eastern coast of Japan. We have investigated the following questions: What happens to a community when a tsunami occurs? Where do tsunamis happen and what causes them? How do they form and move? How can we forecast where and when tsunamis will happen and which communities are at risk? We have studied data and researched different models in order to help us find our answers, including using a foil pan to see what happens to the water when an earthquake occurs.

5th Grade - The unit we are studying is ‘Web of Life’, which teaches us about ecosystems and the food web. We started off by looking at Biosphere 2 which is a research facility in Arizona. The students brainstormed what food they would need if they entered the facility for a period of two years. What living things would they need to take inside with them? Next we moved on to thinking about why a hawk would move to New York City and this acted as an introduction to food webs. We played a game to see who could make the biggest food web and earn the most points!

4th Grade - Our unit is called ‘Energizing Everything’, we will learn about energy, energy transfer and electricity. The students started off watching a video of a band called ‘OK Go’ who use Rube Goldberg machines in their music videos. Next we moved on to thinking about how our body is similar to a car in terms of us needing food to provide our energy and a car needing gas or electricity. The students made a design for a new ride called the ‘twist-o-matic’. We used different rubber bands to see which ride would spin the most using as few turns as possible.

2nd/3rd Grade - Our unit is ‘Animals through Time’, where we will learn about fossils, animal survival and heredity. We investigated a special cave in Mexico where scientists have discovered strange footprints and fossils and the students made predictions about what they thought they were. Next we asked the question, where can you find whales in the desert? We looked at some discoveries that people have unearthed at a quarry in Illinois (including shark teeth!) and started to think how long they have been there and how they got there.

K/1 - We have started off the year learning about animal superpowers! The students discussed how animals survive in hot, cold, wet and dry places. Then we looked at clues to help figure out how you would help a lost baby animal find its parents. We looked at several pictures of baby birds then tried to match it to the correct mother bird. We went on a nature walk outside to discover what we could see and hear. Finally we started to investigate why it is that birds have beaks.

STEM (Elementary and Middle School) - activities so far have focused on team building. The students have worked together on a string lifter, cup stack challenge, building towers with index cards and constructing towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows! We have some new drones which everyone is excited to use as well (Many thanks to Charlie's family for donating them to our school!)

Look out for more updates in a few weeks,

Mr. Russell

Teacher: Lucy Bratt lucy@newmorningschool.com

K-1 Lead Aide: Shelley Blakeney

Dear Parents,

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see your children last week, due to a brush with Covid. I have heard, however, that they were truly delightful for all of the sub teachers and aides who helped out in my absence, that they all coped well with the changes in their routines and that they completed all of the work that I set them. I am extremely proud of them for carrying on without me and I can’t wait to see them and catch up with all their news this week.

In reading this week we will recap and review the letters we have learnt so far, s, a, t, i, p and n. We will ensure correct letter formation in our handwriting and will continue to expand the words that we can sound out using these letters. We will also be blending these sounds in order to make words. I am so excited to watch the younger children become readers and gain confidence the more we practice this! In addition, those who are ready will be practicing their comprehension skills when reading a variety of text.

Writing will consist of continuing with our personal narratives. We shall be producing first drafts this week, then learning to edit. Watch this space for where and when you can view final publications!

In math, 1st graders will be skip counting to 120 by 2s and 10s and continuing to enhance their use of numbers as words as well as digits. Kindergarteners will begin learning to recognize numbers to 10 as written words as well as digits. Also this week, everyone will be subitizing, or recognizing groups of objects without counting them. This is an incredibly important skill that helps develop a strong mathematical foundation and understanding of numbers.

Finally, a couple of reminders. Pizza Fridays begin this week, please collect your envelope from your family mail slot, complete your child’s order then post the envelope into the mailbox on the bench outside our classroom. Orders and payment are due Thursday morning at the latest.

Monday next week is Grandparents and Special Friends Day. Don’t forget to invite grandparents or special friends to join your child in school for the morning. This is an amazing opportunity for them to spend time with your child in our classroom, to experience a “Specials” class and to learn more about what makes New Morning School so special.

It’s going to be a great week!

Ms. Lucy

Teachers:

Hannah Diaz hannah@newmorningschool.com

Christine Jansen christine@newmorningschool.com
Cynthia Weber cynthia@newmorningschool.com

EL Lead Aide: Karen Staples

Hello October,

It is hard to believe we have been in school for a month. The students are settling in a routine, working on transitions between groups, and meeting in their skill groups. Each skill group picks a name for their group. We have some pretty fun and interesting names. Ask your student what their group name is. They are all doing a great job filling out their plans and working to complete work assigned. Everyone also seems to be liking all of our special classes. We will be starting reading buddies with pre-school. This is a great way for our kids to be leaders and meet some of our younger friends.

Skill groups are meeting 2-3 times a week. We have started reading, writing, and math assignments based on what they are learning in group. They will work on those assignments on the days they do not have groups or when they have a choice time on their plan. All the kids are participating and working hard. Their first spelling test went well. We talked about different ways to study. All of our students have access to the spelling website that we use for home.

Social Studies:

We are studying early explorers for Social Studies. They are working in groups of 3 and doing a project on an explorer. They will learn about that person and present them to the class. Ask your student who they are studying and what they are learning. We have some fun activities planned to help learn about early explorers in a hands-on way too. We will be going on a scavenger hunt, learning about what was traded back then, and what diseases they might encounter.

Reminders:

• Please turn in permission slips and money for our Howell Field Trip
  
• If you can drive on the trip please let us know how many kids you can take
  
• Pizza Fridays are Back! Please fill out your order and turn that in with money before Thursday
  
• Help your child remember to study for spelling
• Grandparents and Special Friends Day is October 10

If you have any questions or concerns please let us know.

Cynthia, Hannah, and Christine

Teachers:

Linda Hyde linda@newmorningschool.com

Nicole Matoian nicolem@newmorningschool.com

Hello Middle School Parents!

We hope you enjoyed the brisk October weekend. Fall has definitely arrived!

We have quite a lot planned for this week. We will be preparing for Grandparent's Day which is scheduled for next Monday morning, October 10. We are making special plans for the morning and look forward to meeting grandparents and/or special persons in our students' lives. Make sure to sign-up on the Sign-up sent out last Friday if your child's grandparents or special persons plan to attend.

Also this week, students will be assigned pre-school Reading Buddies. We are happy to resume this tradition that was necessary to suspend during the height of COVID. Students are excited to continue this program. Additionally, Pizza Friday resumes this week, and the 8th grade students, as leaders in the school, will assist with plating and distributing pizza orders for their fellow students.

Last week we announced and sent home field trip liability forms for our special field trip to Howell Nature Center planned (with Elementary) for Wednesday, October 19. We thank many of you for returning the forms promptly. We plan to drive and can carry 4 students in each of our cars. We are looking for other parent driver volunteers. If you can drive and remain with us for the day, please let us know ASAP so we can plan accordingly. We thank you in advance for volunteering!

In Language Arts, students will continue their poetry writing unit by writing both an "Ode," which is a poem that pays respect or tribute to a person or object, as well as a "Ballad" which is a poem that tells a story. Although students won't be quite finished with their poetry writing next week, they will share their work-in-progress with their grandparents/special person(s) next Monday. Students will also learn more about the figurative language techniques of simile, metaphor, and personification, as well as alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, and understatement and utilize those techniques in their poetry writing this week. Finally, this week students will write another vocabulary story to demonstrate their comprehension of their individualized list of vocabulary words encountered in the reading. Students have written some very creative and imaginative stories!

In Social Studies, students will research and present their findings (in a google slides presentation) concerning the six prominent Italian City-States to develop during the Renaissance Period. Students will take notes on the presentations.

In Math, Group A will continue their study of area and how it relates to triangles. They will begin by dividing a parallelogram in half and ultimately work their way up to using the base and height of the triangle to identify a formula. After this portion of the unit, students will review the concepts covered this far and take an assessment next week. Group B will use scale drawings in maps to solve problems about traveling. They will estimate the distance an object traveled as well as its speed or elapsed time. Students will also create their own scale drawing when given the actual dimensions of the object and the scale. Group C will analyze and describe the effects of rigid transformations on the lengths and angles in polygons, as well as describe their rotation patterns.

Have a great week!

Ms. Linda and Ms. Nicole

Office Phone: 734.420.3331

Email: nms@newmorningschool.com

Elaine Kennedy, Head of School elaine@newmorningschool.com

Pauline Nagle, Associate Head of School pauline@newmorningschool.com

Joan Barrett, Admissions Director joan@newmorningschool.com

Kit Zrull, Administrative Assistant nms@newmorningschool.com