Multiage Team Blog
October 7 - 11
Responsive Classroom
Morning Meetings continued this week. During Morning Meeting everyone has the right to fun, feel like they belong, and feel that they are in important. Students created guidelines for behavior to make sure everyone has those rights. This week students did things like: Mouse Trap, Suffle them Up, Bopper and Which Direction!
Math
Our October Calendar Grid focuses on identifying figures based on their side, top, and front views.
We continued our first unit of the year in Bridges. Fourth graders began working with the Metric System, and the idea of Base 10. They also started continued practice with the subtraction algorithm. Fifth graders continued working with volume, completing some Graham Fletcher Tasks, which are real life applications using cubes, water and various rectangular prism containers.
Math Stars
Students are working diligently to earn Math Stars. A reminder that students may not get help from others on Math Stars. We recognize that the problems can be challenging but it is important students learn perseverance skills.
Writing
Mrs. S. Mead's students brainstormed ideas related to our science unit that they would like to know more about. This will turn into a longer piece of informational writing.
Mrs. K. Mead's class is also working on informational writing. We have brainstormed everything we know about the gym at Founders and how it used. Students also independently brainstormed everything they knew about a topic of their choice. We will use our class piece to model organization, transitions and topic/concluding sentences. Students will then have a chance to try this on their own with their topic.
Reading
Read Aloud
Mrs. S. Mead's Class started reading: Chomp this week. Mickey Cray and his son, Wahoo, live near the Everglades in Florida. Their business is to run a wildlife refuge in their backyard, and Mickey, who is a lover of all animals, lends out his creatures for publicity and films. The producer of a survival show called, Expedition Survivial, comes to the Crays and asks to use their animals. Mickey is hesitant because he knows some things about the show's star, Derek Badger, and as it turns out, everything he's heard is true. Derek is pompous, arrogant and NOT knowledgable whatsoever about animals. Instead, he does stupid things for publicity and fame, and Mickey Cray is not about to let this guy get away with mistreating his animals.
Ms. Jeffrey's class is reading The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle. Mason and Calvin finished putting the sonotube into the root cellar and for now, are using a bowl to keep rain out. Once again Lieutenant Baird paid a visit to the Buttle home. He wanted to see if Mason had written more about what he remembers about the day his friend Benny Kilmartin died. When Benny shared what he had written using the Dragon, the Lieutenant was not happy. It seems that he has decided Mason is guilty and is simply looking for a confession. Mason is feeling like there are others in town who are also suspicious of him. When he went to Calvin's house, the family housekeeper seemed to be giving him cold looks. When he told her it was nice to see her again, she said nothing.
Mrs. K Mead's class is reading Space Case by Stuart Gibbs. Dash and Kira continued their investigation into Dr. Holtz. Dash also had to visit the base psychiatrist, something that is mandatory for all Moonies. While visiting Dr. Marquez, Dash was able to get under his skin and he revealed that there are more people than Dash was aware of who had a grudge against Dr. Holtz, including Mrs. Sjoberg and Mr. Grisan. While attending Dr. Holtz's memorial service Dash noticed that Daphne was missing. Curious about where she was he went to go investigate and found her stealing plans from MBA. She turned out to be a corporate spy and was sending information to a travel company that wanted to build a resort on the moon. This helped Kira and Dash cross her off the list of suspects. They decided to go out looking on the surface of the moon for Dr. Holtz's phone. While out there they started to get attacked by a robot! We are waiting to find out who is behind it all!
Science
Ms. Jeffrey's class learned about stars and constellations. They continued to learn about the stars with a focus on why we don't see them during the day and why some constellations are only visible during certain times of the year.
Students have a stargazing chart and it would be great if they could observe the stars and constellations on a clear October night. They have resources such as the constellation guide and Universe in a Box to help them. Once they have completed the star gazing chart they can return it to school and share their findings. Both of those documents are linked below.
Mrs. K. Mead's class is continuing to learn about Stars and Constellations. They are reading a text about stars and galaxies with a partner and completing a summarizing activity.
Mrs. S. Mead's students completed the Seasons science court this week. This is a fun and interactive show put out by PBS. The students really enjoyed it!
Parent Conferences
Lunch Bunches
Allergy Free and Safe Settings
Allergy Free and Safe Settings
We have some students on our team with severe, life-threatening allergies to tree nuts, peanuts, and sesame seed and oil. That means foods containing those or foods processed in a facility with those ingredients will not be allowed in the classroom. Please read food labels, including the entire ingredient list, carefully. A safe snack list is posted on the team website for your convenience.
Please plan to pack your child's snack in a separate bag or container to keep the snack away from any lunch items containing tree nuts. Lunches do not have to be allergen-free, and may contain any foods. Everyday students will leave their lunch boxes in crates. Please let us know if you have any questions.
A note from the Odyssey of the Mind Coordinator:
Essex Town Odyssey of the Mind: Registration Open
This is our 9th year of Essex Town Odyssey. Odyssey of the Mind is an international STEAM based program that focuses on creative problem solving for students in kindergarten through college. Teams of 5-7 students work together to creatively solve a long term problem and to practice spontaneous problem solving. The team members must solve the problem--coaches facilitate and guide the group, but can not provide any answers or solutions. They present their solution in an 8 minute skit at the State Tournament in March. If you or your student is interested, please fill out the registration form.
Please follow the link to complete the registration form:
https://forms.gle/oM7dRCQtrdbCqhvn7
For more information about Odyssey, you can check out:
http://vt.odysseyofthemind.org/wp/ and https://www.odysseyofthemind.com
or contact Rachel Preston at preston6vt@gmail.com
Strut your Stuff Day
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
We are having a special spirit day at Founders. We are inviting all students and staff to wear something that shows what they like to do outside of school. We are calling this day “Strut Your Stuff Day.”
Students are invited to wear clothing items that show their outside interests. Students were shown some faculty “samples” at our school-wide morning meeting on October 4.
Here are some guidelines for items that may be in question:
Students may wear/bring: hats, helmets, leotards, sports padding, books, signs, goggles, art supplies.
Please leave items at home such as: skates, cleats, electronics, fishing poles, hunting equipment, gaming devices, baseball bats and hockey sticks, etc.
Please think reasonably about what your child will wear on October 16 – we are looking forward to seeing everyone strut their stuff!
Music Blog for Mrs. Ferris
Practice Superstars
Jeffrey: everyone
K. Mead: 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
S. Mead: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
Important Dates
October 16 Strut your Stuff Day
October 17 Parent Conference Day (no school for students)
October 18 School holiday (no school for staff and students)
October 22 FMS Picture Retake Day
Contact Us
Karen Jeffrey: kjeffrey@ewsd.org
Kelsey Mead: kmead@ewsd.org
Stacey Mead: smead@ewsd.org
Kristi Goyette: kgoyette@ewsd.org
Website: https://www.ewsd.org/Domain/379
Location: Founders Memorial School, Founders Road, Essex Junction, VT, USA
Phone: 802-879-6326