The Quokka

We all experienced the amazing 50th Annual Museum. I am always intrigued by the student research topics. Each is interested in something unique. The preschoolers really got into the study of guinea pigs with great artifacts. The older students had quite a range of topics. We thank our teachers for going above and beyond to support each child's passion.

Why do we hold Museum each year?

When students are interested in a topic they're studying they are much more engaged. We can "hang" all the basic skills onto their umbrella of their high interesting topic. They have read, written, mapped, modeled, graphed, and did art work and papier mache - all about their topic. In addition to researching, Museum is a real reason to write a passage or a longer paper. They want it to be right, because writing is to share with others. The benefits go on and on.

Read later in this newsletter for important information about the auction. It is just 4 short weeks away.

Warm regards,

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

Also, according to science, people who spread love tend to be happier and have a more optimistic view of life. This helps them better connect with people and form meaningful relationships. In short, when you spread love, that love comes back to you in multifold.

So rather than spreading hate, let’s plant seeds of love wherever we go. We already have a lot of the former and look where it took us. Maybe it’s time to try the latter.

How Can We Spread Love?

There are countless ways to spread love around us. Even simple acts like the following are already big steps in the right direction:

• help the less fortunate
• volunteer at a charity
• say kind words to the people you meet
• give to a good cause
• be kind even to rude people
• give lunch or care packages to a homeless person
• smile more often
• be a good listener for someone
• encourage someone who is going through a tough time

Above all, you need to love yourself. After all, you can’t pour from an empty cup. For the love to spread, it must start within yourself.

For more from this article: https://ofhsoupkitchen.org/spread-love

Mon/Tues Feb. 20-21: Winter Break - No School - There is Kids' Club

Wed Feb 22: Professional Development day - No School - There is Kids' Club

Mon 02/27: Elementary Parent Focus Group 6pm

Tues Feb 28: Community Eat & Meet (in-person; required all community involve. and co-op families)

Thur March 2: Parent-Teacher Conferences - No School all levels - There is Kids' Club

Wed March 15: Parent-Teacher Conferences - No School all levels - There is Kids' Club

As you know, my role at New Morning as Associate Head of School will move forward to the role of Head of School upon Elaine's retirement in June. Having a year to learn the school community before taking the helm is extremely valuable. I have learned so much from Elaine, the staff and your children so far. I am learning what makes NMS such an amazing community and why it is so valued. I would like to hear more from you, the parents, over the next few months to add to my learning. I want to hear about what is going well and what you would like to see improve. Please join me for a focus group via ZOOM. The focus groups are organized by program. You do not need to attend more than one. If you have children in multiple programs, choose one that you feel you want to speak to the most.

If you would like to sign up for one of the sessions, please click on this Sign-Up Genius link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F054EADA72DA7FE3-parent.

I'm really looking forward to meeting with you.

Warm regards,

Pauline Nagle

Monday, February 27 6pm Elementary

Monday, March 6 6pm K/1

Saturday, March 18 9am Make-Up

The auction is just 4 weeks away! There is a lot to do in order to have a successful and fun auction fundraiser. Many of you continue to bring in auction merchandise Thank you! It's not too late to turn in donations. Gift certificates for a restaurant are always a good item. Choose your favorite toy (about $25) and send it our way. Children's items are always welcome.

The other area where you can help is to enter your auction reservations online and then go beyond the minimum and invite another couple. We need a crowd on auction night and we're not there yet - but will be!

Just to repeat, the auction is a fancy event, Sunday best to formal. The auction is planned for adults only except our 8th graders who are invited to attend.

For those of you who have not been to our auction, you will be amazed. It is a wonderful night to celebrate our 50th anniversary!

We look forward to welcoming prospective families in the coming months. They are always so eager to learn about the school. Our best publicity is word of mouth. Here are ways you can help:

• Talk about the school when you are with friends
• Share our postings on social media. That can make a big difference.

Hats off to UHY, LLP, CPA for supporting New Morning School. At UHY, LLP CPA, Scott Earls specializes om tax planning strategies and business consulting services. Scott and Lauren enrolled their children in New Morning School many years ago. Thank you, Scott, for continuing to support the school.

Thank you to Patrick Corliss and his family for offering to take Oreo and Snickers home for the upcoming winter break. It’s not too soon to consider being vacation hosts for Spring Break, which is March 24-April 3. If you are able, please email Marisa@newmorningschool.com.

NMS families scheduled to clean the school this weekend are the Haas, Martzig, Corliss, Baker/Edwards and Huber families. Cleaning checklists will be available on the counter at the front desk Friday afternoon. Thank you for keeping our school sparkling clean!

Preschool Teachers:

Marisa Downs marisa@newmorningschool.com

Danielle Provencher danielle@newmorningschool.com

Preschool News

Thank you families for attending our Museum on Sunday! We hope everyone enjoyed our guinea pig exhibits and looking at the displays throughout the school. Marisa is sad she had to miss this important culminating event due to illness.

Now we are onto Valentine’s Day! Thank you to Katelyn Drake (Eliza’s mom) and Katie Schanne (Mabel and Willa's mom) for organizing our festivities! We’ll continue the loving fun through the week completing heart themed portfolio work samples, and doing valentine math/science at the discovery tables.

We have a two-week break from our letter study. By now the friends have learned the name, formation, and sound of more than half of the alphabet!

Thank you to Patrick’s family for offering to take Oreo and Snickers home for the upcoming winter break. It’s not too soon to consider being vacation hosts for spring break which is March 24-April 3. If you are able, please email Marisa@newmorningschool.com.

Have a wonderful week and Happy Valentines Day! ~Danielle & Marisa

Teacher: Russell Lightfoot russell@newmorningschool.com

Hi everyone. Here is another little science/STEM update for you all!

Middle School: The students are continuing with our unit on chemical reactions. We tested the ingredients that we used to make our bath bombs and noted any reactions when they were combined together. We discussed what state of matter is and how we can record this as a solid, liquid or gas. We also investigated the ingredients' solubility. The students have created gases and then tested them and have used a flame to see if the gas will either put the flame out or not.

In STEM the middle school students have done some coding using Microsoft MakeCode. We have also started planning for this year's engineering challenge which is the ping-pong pick up challenge!

5th grade: The students are nearing the end of our unit ‘Chemical Magic’. We tested several acids that we can find at home and discovered how they react when we add them to other substances. Everyone discovered how we mix ingredients to make slime and also what we can add to milk to make it begin to curdle. We then did some exploding using ziplock bags, vinegar and baking soda.

4th grade: The students did some research on a volcano that popped up in a Mexican farmers cornfield in 1943 and learned about how this occurred. We also looked at some amazing volcanoes around the world. Next we tried to find out why volcanoes explode and that there are different types of volcano that either produce thin or thick lava. We also did an experiment shaking some sugar cubes to find out what happens to bits of rock that break away from the top of mountains.

2nd/3rd grade: The students looked at various ways that bridges are designed and built. They got a chance to use these designs in their own bridges and tried to see which bridge could hold the most coins before it collapsed. Next we started to think about how we could go faster down a slide. We built some slide models and then tested several materials and heights to see what worked best. We also used coins to add more weight.

In STEM the elementary students have also started this year's engineering challenge - ping-pong pick up. We began by thinking of which things would work best to help us to pick up and secure the ping-pong ball.

We also did a balloon rocket challenge to see how far we could get a balloon to travel along some string. The students also did some more coding using code.org.

K/1: The students got to look at some instruments, such as a guitar and drums, to discover what vibrates in order to make sound. We talked about what it would be like if we didn't have any windows and learned what the words opaque, translucent and transparent mean. We used tissue paper and press and seal to make stained glass windows (these are on display in the gym!). Everyone also started to make a dark box which we will use to test how much light we need before we can see a word or a picture.

Take care everyone,

Mr. Russell

Teacher: Pauline Nagle pauline@newmorningschool.com

K-1 Lead Aide: Shelley Blakeney

Dear Parents,

Last week:

This past week was all about Student Museum! We wanted to highlight some of the amazing learning that occurs throughout the weeks of this independent study that you don't always see at the culminating event. Here are just a few skills practiced through the unit:

Listening Skills - listening to videos and stories for information.

Fact vs. Opinion - understanding that facts are real and opinions vary

Math skills - including measuring, capacity, volume, graphing, and counting

Reading Skills - reading for information, understanding non-fiction text

Fine Motor Skills - coloring, drawing, painting, cutting

Speaking Skills - presenting to an audience, projecting your voice, eye contact

Memorization Skills - memorizing information, the order of a presenting.

Writing Skills - letter formation, sounding out words, paragraph structure with topic sentence, facts and closing sentence (1st)

Planning Skills - planning and executing the vision of their artwork, planning their dioramas in relationship to their new learning

We're looking forward to getting back to some of our regular routines of learning this week and next. We'll get back to our planning routine with reflection on our choices.

This week's Morning Meeting Leaders are: Thorin, Ada, Audrey and Calvin.

Looking Ahead:

• 100s Day is coming on Feb. 28th. Don't forget to gather 100 small items and create a 100s shirt for your child to wear that day!
• March is Reading Month and we LOVE guest readers! If you would like to come read a story to the class, we would love some mystery readers to join us during the month of March, ideally at 3pm. A sign-up genius will be in next week's Quokka.
• Also, our K-1 Parent Focus Group is on Monday, March 6. If you want to share your thoughts about the school program with me, please plan to attend via ZOOM.
  
• St. Patrick's Day is not too far off. We'll be asking for yet another shoe box type box to use for Leprechaun Traps. We will try our best to catch one of those sneaky characters! Please bring a box in by March 7th.

Have an outstanding week!

My best,

Ms. Pauline

Teachers:

Hannah Diaz hannah@newmorningschool.com

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

EL Lead Aide: Karen Staples

Museum was a huge success! Thanks for sharing this special day for your young scholar. They worked hard completing everything for their boards and practicing their presentation. BRAVO!

Special Speaker

We will have a speaker coming in on Thursday, February 23 to present features of Procreate, a drawing app the scholars have enjoyed exploring. It will be a unique opportunity for our students to learn new ways to use the app from an expert.

FYI

Cynthia will be out this week for eye surgery and Dino Bruce will handle her groups.

Enjoy this unusually spring-like weather,

Christine, Hannah and Cynthia

Teachers:

Linda Hyde linda@newmorningschool.com

Nicole Matoian nicolem@newmorningschool.com

Hello Middle School Parents,

It was so nice to see you all at Sunday's Museum. Thank you so much for your support and accolades. The students worked very hard and did a fantastic job with their research and presentations. We couldn't be more proud of them.

This week we plan to decompress from the pressure and enjoy a celebratory party on Tuesday, Valentine's Day. Thank you to all of the families who have donated treats for our celebration. Then we will slowly resume our normal activities.

In Language Arts, we will read about the history of Valentine's Day, and make and share Valentine's Day cards with our preschool Reading Buddies. On Wednesday, students will begin the self-assessment process in preparation for student-led conferences that will take place in March. Be on the lookout for the Sign-up for Conferences scheduled for Thursday, March 2nd, and Wednesday, March 15th. For the rest of the week, we will resume our reading units on the Outsiders/Identity themes.

In Social Studies, we will continue our study of African American history in celebration of Black History month before resuming our study of the Renaissance Period after our return from Winter Break next week.

In Math, Group A will work with equivalent ratios to understand that they produce the same unit rates. Next, students will be introduced to percentages as a rate per 100. Group B will represent situations involving percent increase and percent decrease using equations. We will also identify real world examples of percent increase and decrease. Group C will begin their next unit on functions by taking the unit pre-test before working with input and output problems.

Enjoy your week and Winter Break!

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