Plymouth Public Schools

ONE MORE WEEK TO SUBMIT VIDEOS!

EDTV is proud to be partnering with Plymouth 400 to hold Plymouth's first ever student film festival! Students in grades K-12 have the chance to share THEIR voices. Visit http://plymouthedtv.com/2020 for more information.

As you continue to work on your video submissions, here is some important information to help you along.

WE ARE SEEKING HOST FAMILIES!

We are seeking host families as we prepare to welcome middle school Italian students to Plymouth in November.

The middle school program is now open to both 7th and 8th grade students. The goal of the program is for students and families to engage in a one-to-one exchange model - to have the same families reciprocate hosting on each side. In Spring 2020, Plymouth students will have the opportunity to study in Milan.

For more information and to apply, visit bit.ly/PPSItalyExchangeApplication.

We’re excited to welcome students from Collegio San Carlo, Milan, Italy! The focus of their exchange is the science program we have at both of our high schools. They will shadow their North and South host students, attend science classes, visit the Blake Planetarium, experience a football game and see Northern Lights a cappella.

Earlier this week, Italian students and teachers toured Boston, the State House, and MIT with social studies coordinator, Rob Powers, and STE coordinator, Alison Riordan. They also visited the Plimoth Plantation, downtown Plymouth, and Pilgrim Hall Museum.

Our Italian guests are having a wonderful time with their host families - carving pumpkins, venturing out on the lake, and teaching their hosts how to make authentic pasta dishes! It's truly an unforgettable experience for all. We look forward to the rest of this exciting visit!

Plymouth's Fall Hometown Cleanup Day

Now in its tenth year, the town wide clean up spring and fall has become a Plymouth tradition. With all of us pitching in we keep our parks, beaches, conservation land, village centers and neighborhoods beautiful and safe for people and for wildlife.. It is a good way to nurture civic pride in our young people. To find a group or register your own, contact 508-322-3374, pfarah@townhall.plymouth.ma.us. Or go out on your own and spend 10 minutes in your neighborhood.

Prescription Drug Take Back Event

It’s that time of year! If you’re looking to clean out your medicine cabinet & get rid of your unused/unwanted prescription medications consider stopping by the Plymouth Police Department this Saturday, October 26, 2019 from 10am-2pm. Need more information? Reach out to PYDC directly!

STEM WEEK HIGHLIGHTS

What a wonderful #MassSTEMWeek in Plymouth! It has been action-packed with catapults, banana pianos, scribble machines, torpedos, white coats, makerspaces, uniform circular motion models, ionic bonding card games, and amazing alumni. But this is only a small sample of what our STEM program is really like all-year long. Check out this video for more information about STEM in Plymouth.

STEM WEEK PUMPKIN EXPLORATION STATIONS

PFN celebrated STEM week with Mass Audubon pumpkin exploration stations! How many seeds does a pumpkin have? How can we turn a pumpkin into a volcano? Can you build the tallest candy pumpkin tower? We answered these questions and more in fun, pumpkin activities all designed to inspire a passion for all things STEM! Each family left with a book on pumpkins to enhance their STEM learning and promote early literacy skills.

S.T.E.A.M. Week

This week students participated in fun S.T.E.A.M. activities. Miss Melissa’s class observed fall items in their sensory bin such as pine cones, leaves, and acorns. They also built with magnetic blocks testing how high they could make their structures. Miss Megan’s class had pumpkin races in the motor room, seeing how fast they could roll their pumpkin.

Phonics Dragon

Mr. Pease's Kindergarten class met Gus, the phonics dragon, and then Mrs. Donovan's students read their rhyming poems to the kindergartners to celebrate the end of their phonics unit.

Balance for Kids Yoga at Hedge School

In collaboration with the Plymouth Family Network, Hedge School is hosting a 6 week parent and child Yoga program. Children join "Balance 4 Kids" yoga instructors after school for 45 minutes of yoga designed for the young child. Parents arrive later to learn about the skills introduced prior to reuniting with their child for a fun parent child activity.

Pumpkin Globes

Students in Ms. Strauss' 4th grade used their newly acquired mapping skills to make globes out of pumpkins. Students first drew the equator on their pumpkin and then compared the spacing of the continents and added them to their pumpkins. Students needed to use some problem strategies as none of the pumpkins were the same size. Students discovered they were faced with the same problems as early cartographers: none of their globes looked the same. The children loved combining all of their knowledge and are so proud of their final products.

Learning Outside of the Classroom

For the last 3 years 6 PCIS students have been diligently working with students from Plymouth School of Creative Arts in England. Thank you to the PCIS PTA for funding the cumulating celebration. These PCIS students will proudly walk the banner in the Plymouth, MA Thanksgiving Parade this Nov. 2019. After the parade two PCIS students with this banner in tow, will board a plane to Plymouth, UK.

The seventh grade Mercury Gold Team learned about the Cape Cod Canal at the Canal Visitors' center. National Park Rangers explained how the canal operates, how navigation systems work, bridge structures, communication systems, and the history of the canal.

Mercury 8 took their annual visit to Historic Plymouth. We explored the waterfront, visited the 1820 Courthouse, sat in the Selectmen's seats, talked about local government and its roots in direct democracy, and explored Burial Hill, Leyden St, Cole's Hill and the Rock looking for clues to our historical past.

Literacy in the Social Studies Classroom

Students are analyzing images to learn about lasting contributions from the Roman Empire. Each group was given images of modern items and ideas that we borrowed from the Roman culture. Students were responsible for reading text and captions to match up the images and explain the importance of the contributions.

Sugar Skulls

Advanced PSMS art students are helping downtown Plymouth get ready to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos. Rocks stenciled with a skull outline were delivered to the school. After doing some research on sugar skulls, artists met during their lunch period or after school to fill in the skulls with designs and color. Look for these masterpieces next week scattered about downtown Plymouth.

New Ways to Create Art

Art teacher Ms. LaFontaine teaches several types of art classes to PSMS students. 6th-graders take a Visual Art class where they use different techniques and a variety of media to create artworks inspired by both themselves and concepts in art history. Students learn how to utilize their knowledge of concepts such as the elements of art and color theory.

Communicating with Technology is offered to 7th-graders. In this computer art class, students learn how to use Adobe Illustrator to create unique works of art that include logo design, creature creation, ice cream flavor posters, and underwater scenes.

In Computer Art, 8th-graders learn how to use Adobe Photoshop to manipulate existing images and create original works of art. The pictured students chose a panoramic image and turned it into a tiny earth. This introduction includes the use of a wide range of tools and techniques that can be applied to future educational and creative projects.

Biomedical White Coat Celebration

Juniors in the Biomedical Program received their White Coats! Students must have successfully completed the first two years of the program and be currently enrolled in Medical Interventions to receive their coat. The ceremony was attended by representatives from the administration and school committee. Students will now proudly wear their lab coats for all of the lab work they will complete as they finish their junior and senior years in the biomedical program. We are so proud of all of these students for their dedication to the program!