Weekly Newsletter
June 2, 2022
News from Principal Emma Liebowitz
Events/Calendar
Friday, June 3: First Grade to Porter Farm
Tuesday, June 7: Field Day
Wednesday, June 8: 1:50 Release
Thursday, June 9: Field Day Rain Date
Friday, June 10: Kindergarten to Ms. Veronica’s Farm
Friday, June 10: Preschool and Third to Porter Farm
Tuesday, June 14: Preschool and Third to Look Park
Wednesday, June 15: Sixth Grade to Ashfield Lake
Thursday, June 16: Sixth Grade Graduation at 1:30
Friday, June 17: Last Day of School - 12:30 Release
Link to Sanderson Academy calendar.
Health Office News from Nurse Loranna
Greetings from the health office! I can tell we are coming into late spring/early summer as a lot of my nurse visits have been for itchy bug bites and sunburns. Remember to apply sunscreen as needed before school and on the weekends, our skin is still adjusting to all this sunshine! Continue to encourage lots of water drinking and send in your child with a water bottle they can re-fill. Bug spray can also be applied before school and check with your child’s teacher for re-application. There has also been an increase in ticks in the area so do frequent tick checks, a good time to do that is at bedtime when bathing or changing into pajamas. The most common types of ticks in our area are dog ticks (which are much larger) and deer ticks which are very small and can carry lyme disease, the tick does need to be attached for over 24 hours to transmit any disease, and when caught early, antibiotics can be very effective, so frequent checks are encouraged. Below is a picture of the deer and dog ticks we have in our area.
Library News from Ms. Robin Wilson
We are all done with checkouts for this year. Please remember to turn in any Library books that might be lingering in your home before June 17! Keep an eye out for reminders in your child’s folder. Thank you!
Preschool News from Ms. Freeman
This week’s focus is all about frogs! Our tadpoles in the classroom are looking more like frogs with their back legs. We are seeing more frogs at the vernal pool and trying our best to catch them. We also read, Jump, Frog, Jump written by Robert Kalan and illustrated by Byron Barton. We pretended we were the frog in the story, and practiced our frog jumps. As we read the story, we jumped to safety away from the many predators. Many preschoolers chimed in as we read, “Jump, Frog, Jump!”
Preschool News from Ms. Melanie
We have been noticing two frogs who live in the swamp by the bridge that we cross each morning to get to our outdoor classroom. We first saw them several weeks ago, their small heads and big eyes just barely peeking out of the murky water of the swamp. We stopped on the bridge to admire them. Since that day, some of us have begun to watch for them each day. We have noticed that it takes careful observation to see them. They stay very still and quiet. We have also noticed that they seem to change color. When we first noticed them, they were a greenish color. Now they look muddy brown, camouflaged there in the swamp. It has become a daily event for some of our preschool friends—to take a moment, standing on the bridge–quiet and still–-to try and see the frogs. And they are always there–quiet and still—looking back at us.
Kindergarten News from Ms. Sarah
Outside this week, the kids have been building a bridge over the deep muck spot in the Close Woods. This involves lots of teamwork to carry over large logs and lay them across the mud. They want the bridge ready for next year’s kindergartners so they can cross that area of the woods more easily. The ferns have exploded which provides lots of additional entertainment and making of fern confetti!
First Grade News from Ms. Wyckoff
One of our final mentor texts of the year is the book Thunder Underground by Jane Yolen. First graders are learning all about poetry! We are learning that many poems rhyme, but not all do and that's okay. When listening to these poems, first graders are closing their eyes to see if they can create images or pictures in their mind while listening to the poet's words. Often poets want to make you feel a certain way, so a poem may make us feel excited or happy or may make us think of a dark underground cave and make us feel a bit sad or even scared depending how they play with the words. One activity has first graders reading a poem about ants, locating the rhyming words and then writing their own idea about what they would do if they were as small as an ant.
In science we are wrapping up our unit on the survival of living things. In each living things “station” children are comparing and contrasting living things, creating an animal out of playdoh and giving it a covering which helps it survive and in the third station children look through a variety of pictures of camouflaged animals and decide exactly what animal it is. Camouflaging is another way animals survive.
Second Grade News from Ms. Robertson
Last week we completed our science unit on how the landscape can be altered by wind erosion and water erosion by doing an investigation entitled “Wind and Water Change and Shape the Earth’s Landscape”. The class was divided into small groups and each group was given a tray of sand. A river was made in the sand and students had to predict what would happen when wind (the blowing air from a hair dryer) blew across the landscape. Students then had to record their observations. Next each group predicted what they thought would happen when a strong storm (water being poured in the riverbed) rained on the river. After recording their observations from the rainstorm, each group had to discuss what they could do to prevent or slow wind erosion and water erosion from happening along the banks of their river. They discussed natural barriers, such as trees and grass, and human-made barriers, such as fences and dams. Each group was then given a material, such as popsicle sticks, rocks, or mesh, and the group used their material to create a barrier. Each barrier was then tested to see how well it prevented or slowed down erosion. (See examples of the types of barriers that were created in the photos below. Ask your child if the barrier their group made mimicked a real-life natural barrier or human-made barrier and then ask them how their barrier did at preventing or slowing erosion.)
The last several weeks we have been reading aloud some of the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne, such as Lions at Lunchtime and Polar Bears Past Time, as a springboard to a theme on habitats. We recently discussed what habitats need to provide to animals for it to be considered a healthy habitat (adequate food, water, shelter, and space) and how each group of animals within a habitat have special “jobs” to do to help maintain the healthy habitat. For example, some animals are plant eaters or herbivores, while others are meat eaters or carnivores.
Third Grade News from Ms. Carole
During our SEL time this week, Ms. Duprey read a story to the class called “Sincerely, Emerson.” It was about writing letters of thanks to community members who make our lives great. The class loved the book, and even though we did this once at Thanksgiving time, the class decided they wanted to do it again. This time the letters are typed and include images to go with them downloaded from the internet. They also wrote to a different person in the community than whoever they wrote to in November. Ask your child what he/she wrote to their person of choice!
Fourth Grade News from Ms. Lagoy
Fourth graders have reached the last quadrant of our whole group book, The City of Ember. We have two more days of making predictions while we read before our read-in day. As good readers approach the end of a book, they read without interruption to the end, in order to enjoy the satisfying feeling of finishing a book. As they get ready to do this, we will think about how the author is going to “tie up all the loose ends” at the end of the story. Students will complete a final synthesis summary writing assignment about the story. We will conclude the year by considering whether the author made the story believable based on evidence from the real world.
Fifth Grade News from Ms. Johnson
Fifth grade has been learning about the Civil Rights movement. We did some background reading, students learned a little about eighteen activists who were advocating for rights that ranged from labor and farm workers’ rights, to African American rights, to women’s rights, to gay rights. They each chose one of them to study further and are now doing research and taking notes in a two column note format.
Sixth Grade News from Ms.Lilly
Last Friday we had our last visit to Bug Hill Farm. We planted many different vegetables for the community garden. The sixth graders helped dig a trench for a fence, plant vegetables, and mulch the new seeds and starter plants. Sam and Laurel from Bug Hill Farm were so appreciative of all the sixth graders’ hard work.
Library News from Robin Wilson
News from Ms. Prew
We want to hear from you! Please click on this link to complete the 2021-2022 Title I Survey for Parents and Caregivers. This survey is to gather feedback about your experience with the Title I math program here at Sanderson Academy. We appreciate your honest feedback that will help us improve the program. Thanks in advance! :) aprew@mtrsd.org
Summer Opportunity
About Us
Email: eliebowitz@mtrsd.org
Website: https://sanderson.mohawktrailschools.org/
Location: 808 Cape Street, Ashfield, MA, USA
Phone: (413) 628-4404
Facebook: facebook.com/SandersonAcademy