Schofield Scoop
December 17, 2023
This week's scoop shows a variety of goings on at our school. It is so impressive to see how teachers harness the energy this time of year with engaging, exciting, hands on, loud and fun activities. I hope you enjoy seeing these busy students and staff at work.
Kara Schofield, Assistant Principal
Mrs. Webb's class earned flashlight reading. The overhead lights are shut off. Students are each given a mini finger flashlight, and choose a space to read in the classroom. When I walked in, I didn't even know the class was in the room - they were so engaged with their special reading activity. What a fun class activity to earn for working together.
Our students are a busy bunch of writers. Kindergarten students are researching and writing about amphibians. They then write a 2-3 page report about learned amphibian facts. As a move around, fun writing activity, Ms. Cavanaugh's class gets to "write around the room" with special markers. Students love moving around the room, using the fun markers, while helping others problem solve the spelling patterns.
We are so lucky to have librarians from the Sandwich Public Library come and read to our 2nd graders every month. This is a wonderful opportunity for the students to really connect with our fabulous librarians, and they all LOVE listening to the engaging read alouds. Not all second grades are pictured above, but every second grade class participates in this community resource activity.
First graders spent time looking at themselves in art class with Mrs. White. Using a mirror to see, students began the process of drawing self portraits. Every single student was very focused on the details they wanted to add in their personal drawings. I'm continually impressed with the effort and persistence of our students while working on these challenging artistic activities.
You simply cannot just walk by any science class with Mrs. Beers. The shrieks of joy and excitement always draw curious spectators into the classroom. The Kindergarten engineers this week worked with stacking and knocking over dominoes, and creating and spinning tops. These activities also require much persistence, and Mrs. Beers gently reminds students that if the experiment doesn't work out, the scientist just tries it again! Second graders worked with mechanical and chemical erosion with multiple step experiments with sugar cubes, rocks, water, and skittles. No foods were eaten for these projects - the students just got to see how to make these sugary items weather and erode.
Structured play, or purposeful play happens at Forestdale at all grade levels. Kindergarteners work on social skills, taking turns, creating, and problem solving. Second graders in Mrs. McAdam's class earn stickers during the week. During the last few minutes of school on Friday, the students receive all the stickers they earned for the week, and get to exchange and barter for new ones with friends.
Forestdale Events:
Feedback time!
Share feedback here: kschofield@sandwich.k12.ma.us Thanks for all your great suggestions and ideas.