We are busily getting ready for the beginning of the school year and wanted to share some important information with you.

Team Website/Blog

Each week we will update the team website with a blog post about classroom happenings, important team information and upcoming events.  

 

Student Allergies

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.  

 

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. Everyday students will leave their lunch boxes in crates.  Please let us know if you have any questions. 

 

Back to School Orientation for Parents and Students

We have scheduled a parent/student orientation for Monday, August 26th at 5:30 p.m. in the FMS library We will share information about the curriculum, expectations, field trips and much more.   New and returning families are welcome to attend although there won’t be much new information for returners. We will post the presentation on the team website for families who are unable to attend.

 

UVM Adventure Ropes Course 

We sent permission slips and waivers for this field trip home to families with summer letters.  Please bring the completed paperwork to the orientation on August 26 or send it with your child on the first day of school.  The students will participate in this team building activity on Friday, September 20. They will be able to order a bag lunch from the cafeteria or should bring a lunch from home that day.  On the day of the field trip students should wear comfortable clothing including sneakers or hiking shoes.  

 

School Supplies

Students will be provided with a pencil case or drawer, a calculator, a clipboard, and a pair of scissors.  In addition, we have classroom sets of markers, colored pencils, crayons, pencils, and erasers. 

Below is a list of additional school supplies that would be helpful for your child to have during the school year. 

• one 1” binder 
• one 2” binder 
• several pencils - regular #2 or mechanical (extra lead if your child is bringing mechanical pencils)

If you are unable to get binders for your child, we have binders that are available for students to borrow.  If your child chooses to borrow binders from us, it is with the understanding that he/she takes care of them and gives them back at the end of the year. 

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

 

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.

Important Dates/Events

August 23           FMS Ice Cream Social @ 3:15 p.m.

August 26           Multi-Age Orientation @ 5:30 p.m. in the FMS library

August 28           First Day of School

September 2        Labor Day - No School

September 13      FMS Picture Day

September 20      UVM Adventure Ropes Course field trip

September 26      FMS Open House (Multi-Age Times 6:15 - 7:15 p.m.)

September 27      FMS PTO Fun Run

May 20-24

Academics

Math

We continued May Number Corner and students are learning about coordinates or motion in geometry.   We also continue a variety of math warm ups as a way to review math concepts from throughout the year.   Included in that work are daily number talks, base 10 strings, some fraction problem-solving and multiplication/division facts.

 

In small group work, fourth graders have spent time reviewing area and perimeter. Fifth graders have focused on division of whole numbers, specifically addressing what to do when there is a remainder, given a context for the problem. In addition, fifth graders have also worked on exponents and powers of 10.

4th Grade

5th Grade

Bridges Units by Grade Level

 

Science

We continued a life science unit with the students.  They are learning about food webs and food chains as well as ecosystems. Part of this unit will include an engineering design unit with a focus on membranes and water filtration.

Word Study

We have one more week of regular word study for the year! May 28-31 will be our final week.  Students have a schedule with choice activities. That schedule is posted on the team website as well as copies of the choices, and a link to the completed sorts so families can see how the words are sorted as well as the rule for each group.

Writing

Students have shifted into our final writing genre of the year: narrative. Students have created pieces after creating story maps, and considering characters, settings, themes and narrators.

Reading

Students in both the Mead classrooms are be reading Former Dorothy’s List books. They have book partners from opposite classrooms. Students in Ms. Jeffrey’s class are reading books by Kate Messner, Carl Hiaasen, Andrew Clements and Mary Downing Hahn.  

Read Aloud

Mrs. S. Mead: The Wild Robot Escapes

Brightbill and Roz made it to the ocean, only to be trapped on the shore by Shadow, the wolf, again. Roz quickly steals a rowboat and begins to head out to see with Brightbill flying overhead. Huge waves capsize the little boat, and it seems that Roz is a gonner. However, from the depths of the sea comes a whale, who brings Roz back to the surface and transports her and Brightbill to safety.

 

Mrs. K. Mead: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Antain has made a very successful life for himself working as a carpenter. His creations are sought after from all over the world. Despite being so successful, he is very much alone and keeps to himself, partly due to his scars from the paper birds. We all think this may change however when he is re-acquainted with a girl from school, Ethyne. His scars do not seem to bother him and he seems to quickly fall in love with her. Meanwhile Luna has gotten older and her memories of the time before the spell that bound her magic are starting to come back. We think her magic is going to be released soon and wonder what will happen to Xan when it is.

Ms. Jeffrey:  Rush Revere and the First Patriots

After meeting King George III, Rush Revere and his students returned to Manchester Middle School in present day.  Elizabeth is being strangely pleasant and Mr. Revere suspects that she is up to something. He had his class watch a video on Benjamin Franklin while he and Freedom, Liberty and Cam traveled back to March 6, 1770 the day after the Boston Massacre.  Thus far they have met Samuel Adams, who has a very strong personality. They are accompanying Mr. Adams on a visit to Paul Revere, at which time he will ask Revere to do an etching of the Boston Massacre. The author of this book uses a great deal of humor to keep the reader entertained.

Important Information/Happenings

Practice Superstars

The following students completed all their practice on time and handed it in when they arrived in the morning.  Parents should check with their child about his/her classroom number.

 

Jeffrey: 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

S Mead:  2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

K Mead: 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21

 

Model Citizen

In addition to Practice Superstars we will select one student as Model Citizen each week from each of our classrooms.  We are always looking for students who demonstrate good character as well as work hard with school assignments. As recognition for being Model Citizen, students will receive a practice pass which can be used on one practice assignment. The practice passes do not have expiration dates. In addition, the Model Citizen may choose to have lunch in the classroom one day with 3 friends. Again, if you would prefer that your child’s number not be in the blog for this recognition please let us know.

 

Jeffrey: 19

S Mead:  2

K Mead: 4

SBAC testing

For any students who still need more time, this will happen next week on Tuesday. All SBAC testing must be completed no later than June 1st.

 

Puberty Unit

The fifth graders will complete a puberty unit later this month.  This instruction will happen starting on June 10th. Materials have been shared with 5th grade parents already through email.

 

EMS Parent Night

On Wednesday, June 5 EMS is hosting an informational meeting for parents of current fifth graders.  The meeting is from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. in the EMS cafeteria. There is a flyer linked below with more information.

EMS Parent Night Flyer

 

Spare Time and Sand Hill Park Field Trips

On the last day of school each grade level of students will participate in one final field trip.  The fourth graders will go to Spare Time and will leave FMS around 8:30 and will return in time for lunch.  The fifth graders will leave for Sand Hill Park at about 11:00. Permission slips should have been returned by Friday, May 24.  Parents who are interested in chaperoning should indicate so on the form. Please note the fifth grade permission slip is 2-sided. If you have not returned this, please do so as soon as possible.

Boston Updates

We are getting close!  The itinerary for the Boston trip is posted on the team website.

 

We have scheduled a parent chaperone meeting for the evening of Thursday, May 30.  We will meet in our classrooms at 5:30 and the meeting should be brief. We want to go over expectations and run through the itinerary with chaperones.

 

Students will need to arrive at FMS by 7:00 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, June 6.  They will need a lunch for that day and please do no send glass containers if possible.  Students may order lunches from the cafeteria in advance of that date.

 

They should have a bag for the bus with their lunch and any belongings they will need that day such as a raincoat, sunscreen, electronics if they are choosing to being them.  Their overnight bag will be stored under the bus and will be inaccessible until we arrive at the hotel in the evening.

 

If your child has ever experienced motion sickness please be sure to administer Dramamine or something similar before arriving at FMS.  We will have over the counter medication on hand to give to students as needed on the trip, if parents have given permission on the health form.  

 

We are in the process of finalizing chaperone and student groups for this trip.  Given the complexity of it we are unable to honor requests for students to be with certain adults or other students.  Parent chaperones will be in the same group and hotel room as their own child. Only adults of the same gender will share hotel rooms.  Students will also only be in rooms with other students of the same gender. For example, two moms could be in the same room with their sons.  Two dads could be with their daughters.

 

Our estimated time of arrival back to FMS on Friday, June 7 is 8:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.  Given the unpredictability of Boston traffic we are asking parents to be flexible and on time for pick up.  We will set up a phone tree and/or other messaging system to alert parents once we get closer to FMS. The trip is jam packed and everyone will be exhausted and eager to get home.  

 

If your child is not participating in the trip we have planned an alternative experience for him/her here at FMS.  Mrs. Goyette and Miss Walsh will be with the small group of students on those two days.

Lunch Bunches

David Hoppe is the guidance counselor for our team this year. In an effort to get to know our students he will be running weekly lunch bunches in his office. If this is something you are not comfortable with having your child participate in, please let us know.

 

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.  

Birthday Celebrations

This year the school is discouraging food celebrations, which includes sending in whole class snacks for birthdays. We will still be recognizing and celebrating students on their birthdays in other ways. We have generated a list of ideas for celebrating student birthday. You can see it here. If you have suggestions for your child's celebration please let us know.

Upcoming Events

Boston Chaperone meeting May 30 @ 5:30 p.m.

FMS Field Day June 5

Boston Trip June 6 -7

Enterprise Day June 11

5th Grade Moving on Ceremony   June 13 8:30 - 10:30 @EMS

Last Day of School     June 14

May 13 - 17

Academics

Math

We continued May Number Corner and students are learning about coordinates or motion in geometry.   We also continue a variety of math warm ups as a way to review math concepts from throughout the year.   Included in that work are daily number talks, base 10 strings, some fraction problem-solving and multiplication/division facts.

 

In small group work, fifth graders began their work in Unit 6. This unit continues their work with division of both whole numbers and fractions. Fourth graders are working in Unit 6 learning how to use arrays and ratio tables to solve multi-digit multiplication and division problems.  

4th Grade

5th Grade

Bridges Units by Grade Level

 

Science

We began a life science unit with the students.  They are learning about food webs and food chains.  Part of this unit will include an engineering design unit with a focus on membranes and water filtration.

Word Study

We are in the midst of our last round of word study instruction for the year.  Students have a schedule with choice activities. That schedule is posted on the team website as well as copies of the choices, and a link to the completed sorts so families can see how the words are sorted as well as the rule for each group.

Writing

Students have shifted into our final writing genre of the year: narrative. Currently, students are trying things out in their writer’s notebooks. They are brainstorming ideas for stories, and playing around with different settings, characters and themes.

Reading

Students are now participating in new book clubs. Students in Ms. Jeffrey and Mrs. K. Mead’s classes finished up reading some historical fiction books, and students in Mrs. S. Mead’s class are reading books in a series. Starting next week both the Mead classrooms will be reading Former Dorothy’s List books. Next week, students in Ms. Jeffrey’s class will be focusing on different authors.

Read Aloud

Mrs. S. Mead: The Wild Robot Escapes

Brightbill has returned and with the help of the Shareef children, and all the farm animals, they have escaped! However, now they are on the run, fleeing not only from the RECO robots who are searching for the rogue robot, but also from the various wild animals that see them as prey. Currently, Brightbill and Roz are making their way across prairies and forests, struggling to find cover as they move.

 

Mrs. K. Mead: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Xan went searching to her childhood home, a castle that was destroyed by a dragon, and found a spell that would bind Luna’s magic in her brain until she is 13. This will allow Xan to teach Luna about magic and prepare her for her powers before she can use them. Meanwhile in the Protectorate, Antain is realizing he does not fit in with the elders and he can not seem to get Luna’s mother out of his head. He goes to visit her and runs into Sister Ignatia, his former mentor, and we are introduced to her as a character. She is a formidable woman who seems to be able to read minds. We are curious how her character will play into the story.

Ms. Jeffrey:  Rush Revere and the First Patriots

Rush Revere, Tommy and Liberty returned to modern day.  Unfortunately Elizabeth, the principal’s daughter, had seen them jump through the time portal and she made some demands as a result.  She wants to time travel with them or she is going to report them. Therefore, they took her back to 1765 to King George’s palace. While everyone else was put off by King George’s arrogance, Elizabeth really liked him.  As the author has portrayed them the characters have many similarities that the students were quick to pick up on. He is using a lot of humor to make this book entertaining to the reader.

Important Information/Happenings

Practice Superstars

The following students completed all their practice on time and handed it in when they arrived in the morning.  Parents should check with their child about his/her classroom number.

 

Jeffrey: 4, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

S Mead:  2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22

K Mead: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 20, 21, 22

 

Model Citizen

In addition to Practice Superstars we will select one student as Model Citizen each week from each of our classrooms.  We are always looking for students who demonstrate good character as well as work hard with school assignments. As recognition for being Model Citizen, students will receive a practice pass which can be used on one practice assignment. The practice passes do not have expiration dates. In addition, the Model Citizen may choose to have lunch in the classroom one day with 3 friends. Again, if you would prefer that your child’s number not be in the blog for this recognition please let us know.

 

Jeffrey: 10

S Mead:  9

K Mead: 10

SBAC testing

Most students have finished SBAC testing. We will be finding time for students still working to continue testing and adjusting their work loads accordingly. Please let us know if you have any questions about this.

 

Puberty Unit

The fifth graders will complete a puberty unit later this month.  Once we have determined the dates of instruction we will share them with parents and students.  We will also share materials with parents beforehand.

 

EMS Parent Night

On Wednesday, June 5 EMS is hosting an informational meeting for parents of current fifth graders.  The meeting is from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. in the EMS cafeteria. There is a flyer linked below with more information.

EMS Parent Night Flyer

 

Spare Time and Sand Hill Park Field Trips

On the last day of school each grade level of students will participate in one final field trip.  The fourth graders will go to Spare Time and will leave FMS around 8:30 and will return in time for lunch.  The fifth graders will leave for Sand Hill Park at about 11:00. Permission slips should be returned by Friday, May 24.  Parents who are interested in chaperoning should indicate so on the form. Please note the fifth grade permission slip is 2-sided.

Boston Updates

We are getting close!  The itinerary for the Boston trip is posted on the team website.

 

We have scheduled a parent chaperone meeting for the evening of Thursday, May 30.  We will meet in our classrooms at 5:30 and the meeting should be brief. We want to go over expectations and run through the itinerary with chaperones.

 

Students will need to arrive at FMS by 7:00 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, June 6.  They will need a lunch for that day and please do no send glass containers if possible.  Students may order lunches from the cafeteria in advance of that date.

 

They should have a bag for the bus with their lunch and any belongings they will need that day such as a raincoat, sunscreen, electronics if they are choosing to being them.  Their overnight bag will be stored under the bus and will be inaccessible until we arrive at the hotel in the evening.

 

If your child has ever experienced motion sickness please be sure to administer Dramamine or something similar before arriving at FMS.  We will have over the counter medication on hand to give to students as needed on the trip, if parents have given permission on the health form.  

 

We are in the process of finalizing chaperone and student groups for this trip.  Given the complexity of it we are unable to honor requests for students to be with certain adults or other students.  Parent chaperones will be in the same group and hotel room as their own child. Only adults of the same gender will share hotel rooms.  Students will also only be in rooms with other students of the same gender. For example, two moms could be in the same room with their sons.  Two dads could be with their daughters.

 

Our estimated time of arrival back to FMS on Friday, June 7 is 8:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.  Given the unpredictability of Boston traffic we are asking parents to be flexible and on time for pick up.  We will set up a phone tree and/or other messaging system to alert parents once we get closer to FMS. The trip is jam packed and everyone will be exhausted and eager to get home.  

 

If your child is not participating in the trip we have planned an alternative experience for him/her here at FMS.  Mrs. Goyette and Miss Walsh will be with the small group of students on those two days.

Lunch Bunches

David Hoppe is the guidance counselor for our team this year. In an effort to get to know our students he will be running weekly lunch bunches in his office. If this is something you are not comfortable with having your child participate in, please let us know.

 

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.  

Birthday Celebrations

This year the school is discouraging food celebrations, which includes sending in whole class snacks for birthdays. We will still be recognizing and celebrating students on their birthdays in other ways. We have generated a list of ideas for celebrating student birthday. You can see it here. If you have suggestions for your child's celebration please let us know.

Upcoming Events

Memorial Day - no school May 27

Boston Chaperone meeting May 30 @ 5:30 p.m.

FMS Field Day June 5

Boston Trip June 6 -7

Enterprise Day June 11

5th Grade Moving on Ceremony   June 13 8:30 - 10:30 @EMS

Last Day of School     June 14

May 6 - 10

Academics

Math

We began May Number Corner and students are learning about coordinates or motion in geometry.   We also continue a variety of math warm ups as a way to review math concepts from throughout the year.   Included in that work are daily number talks, base 10 strings, some fraction problem-solving and multiplication/division facts.

 

In small group work, fifth graders have been wrapping up their work in Unit 5, focusing on multiplication and division of fractions. Fourth graders are working in Unit 6 learning how to use arrays and ratio tables to solve multi-digit multiplication and division problems.  

4th Grade

5th Grade

Bridges Units by Grade Level

 

Science

We began a life science unit with the students.  They are learning about food webs and food chains.  Part of this unit will include an engineering design unit with a focus on membranes and water filtration.

Word Study

We are in the midst of our last round of word study instruction for the year.  Students have a schedule with choice activities. That schedule is posted on the team website as well as copies of the choices, and a link to the completed sorts so families can see how the words are sorted as well as the rule for each group.

Writing

Students have shifted into our final writing genre of the year: narrative. Currently, students are trying things out in their writer’s notebooks. They are brainstorming ideas for stories, and playing around with different settings, characters and themes.

Reading

Students are now participating in new book clubs. Students in Ms. Jeffrey and Mrs. K. Mead’s classes are reading some historical fiction books, and students in Mrs. S. Mead’s class are reading books in a series. They are in partnerships or small groups to discuss their reading assignments twice a week, with reading responses due on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Read Aloud

Mrs. S. Mead: The Wild Robot Escapes

Roz has had a few opportunities to leave the farm, but has decided it’s not her time yet. She is growing fond of the Shareefs, and wants to be sure they are all set before she makes her escape. In addition, she has learned that she has a tracking device that alerts Mr. Shareef when she has left the farm. Roz is working on figuring out how she’ll be able to leave without setting off the alarm. The class has all kinds of predictions about how this might happen for our robot!

 

Mrs. K. Mead: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Luna’s magic has started to come out with disastrous results. She has no control over her magic and even turned Glerk into a bunny without meaning to. Xan is running around after her trying to undo all of her spells. Xan is getting tired however and knows she can’t continue on chasing after Luna. Xan is trying to remember her own childhood but is struggling to pull out her memories- she just knows they are sad. Xan puts Luna in a cocoon and has her sleep while she is trying to figure what to do.

Ms. Jeffrey:  Rush Revere and the First Patriots

Mr. Revere, his horse Liberty and one of his students Tommy traveled back to 1765 with Benjamin Franklin.  They witnessed Mr. Franklin being questioned by Parliament about the colonists’ opposition to the Stamp Act.  They were quite impressed with how he handled the multitude of questions he was asked. Tommy made several comments to the Mr. Franklin about modern times and the students think he is going to figure out that Tommy and Mr. Revere are from the future.  

Important Information/Happenings

Practice Superstars

The following students completed all their practice on time and handed it in when they arrived in the morning.  Parents should check with their child about his/her classroom number.

 

Jeffrey: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22

S Mead:  4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22

K Mead: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 22

 

Model Citizen

In addition to Practice Superstars we will select one student as Model Citizen each week from each of our classrooms.  We are always looking for students who demonstrate good character as well as work hard with school assignments. As recognition for being Model Citizen, students will receive a practice pass which can be used on one practice assignment. The practice passes do not have expiration dates. In addition, the Model Citizen may choose to have lunch in the classroom one day with 3 friends. Again, if you would prefer that your child’s number not be in the blog for this recognition please let us know.

 

Jeffrey: 14

S Mead:  14

K Mead: 14

SBAC testing

Students on our team will continue SBAC testing the week of May 13. We will be testing only in the mornings, and only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. However, for students who need additional time for testing, we may extend into other days and times for them. If you would like to send something yummy with your child during these days, please refer to our safe snack list to be sensitive to allergies on the team.

 

Puberty Unit

The fifth graders will complete a puberty unit later this month.  Once we have determined the dates of instruction we will share them with parents and students.  We will also share materials with parents beforehand.

 

EMS Parent Night

On Wednesday, June 5 EMS is hosting an informational meeting for parents of current fifth graders.  The meeting is from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. in the EMS cafeteria. There is a flyer linked below with more information.

EMS Parent Night Flyer

 

Spare Time and Sand Hill Park Field Trips

On the last day of school each grade level of students will participate in one final field trip.  The fourth graders will go to Spare Time and will leave FMS around 8:30 and will return in time for lunch.  The fifth graders will leave for Sand Hill Park at about 11:00. Permission slips should be returned by Friday, May 24.  Parents who are interested in chaperoning should indicate so on the form. Please note the fifth grade permission slip is 2-sided.

Boston Updates

We are getting close!  The itinerary for the Boston trip is posted on the team website.

 

We have scheduled a parent chaperone meeting for the evening of Thursday, May 30.  We will meet in our classrooms at 5:30 and the meeting should be brief. We want to go over expectations and run through the itinerary with chaperones.

 

Students will need to arrive at FMS by 7:00 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, June 6.  They will need a lunch for that day and please do no send glass containers if possible.  Students may order lunches from the cafeteria in advance of that date.

 

They should have a bag for the bus with their lunch and any belongings they will need that day such as a raincoat, sunscreen, electronics if they are choosing to being them.  Their overnight bag will be stored under the bus and will be inaccessible until we arrive at the hotel in the evening.

 

If your child has ever experienced motion sickness please be sure to administer Dramamine or something similar before arriving at FMS.  We will have over the counter medication on hand to give to students as needed on the trip, if parents have given permission on the health form.  

 

We are in the process of finalizing chaperone and student groups for this trip.  Given the complexity of it we are unable to honor requests for students to be with certain adults or other students.  Parent chaperones will be in the same group and hotel room as their own child. Only adults of the same gender will share hotel rooms.  Students will also only be in rooms with other students of the same gender. For example, two moms could be in the same room with their sons.  Two dads could be with their daughters.

 

Our estimated time of arrival back to FMS on Friday, June 7 is 8:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.  Given the unpredictability of Boston traffic we are asking parents to be flexible and on time for pick up.  We will set up a phone tree and/or other messaging system to alert parents once we get closer to FMS. The trip is jam packed and everyone will be exhausted and eager to get home.  

 

If your child is not participating in the trip we have planned an alternative experience for him/her here at FMS.  Mrs. Goyette and Miss Walsh will be with the small group of students on those two days.

Lunch Bunches

David Hoppe is the guidance counselor for our team this year. In an effort to get to know our students he will be running weekly lunch bunches in his office. If this is something you are not comfortable with having your child participate in, please let us know.

 

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.  

Birthday Celebrations

This year the school is discouraging food celebrations, which includes sending in whole class snacks for birthdays. We will still be recognizing and celebrating students on their birthdays in other ways. We have generated a list of ideas for celebrating student birthday. You can see it here. If you have suggestions for your child's celebration please let us know.

Upcoming Events

SBAC May 6 - 17

Memorial Day - no school May 27

Boston Chaperone meeting May 30 @ 5:30 p.m.

FMS Field Day June 5

Boston Trip June 6 -7

Enterprise Day June 11

5th Grade Moving on Ceremony   June 13 8:30 - 10:30 @EMS

Last Day of School     June 14

April 29 - May 3

Academics

Math

We finished April Number Corner this week! In addition, students have also been experience other math warm-ups during this homeroom time. We have focused on mental math strategies through number talks, base 10 strings, some fraction problem-solving and multiplication/division facts.

 

In small group work, fifth graders have been wrapping up their work in Unit 5, focusing on multiplication and division of fractions. Fourth graders finished unit 5, and began working on some whole number division in Unit 7.

4th Grade

5th Grade

Bridges Units by Grade Level

 

Word Study

Students have been regrouped based on the latest version of the Word Journeys assessment given before April break. They have a schedule with choice activities.  That schedule is posted on the team website as well as copies of the choices, and a link to the completed sorts so families can see how the words are sorted as well as the rule for each group.

Writing

Students have shifted into our final writing genre of the year: narrative. Currently, students are trying things out in their writer’s notebooks. They are brainstorming ideas for stories, and playing around with different settings, characters and themes.

Reading

Students are now participating in new book clubs. Students in Ms. Jeffrey and Mrs. K. Mead’s classes are reading some historical fiction books, and students in Mrs. S. Mead’s class are reading books in a series. They are in partnerships or small groups to discuss their reading assignments twice a week, with reading responses due on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Read Aloud

Mrs. S. Mead: The Wild Robot

We recently read The Wild Robot, which was on the Dorothy Canfield Fisher list two years ago. Rozzum Unit 7134 was shipwrecked on a deserted island. Her nickname is Roz, and while on the island, she learned to communicate with the animals. Eventually, she learned how to help all of the animals in different ways, and even ended up adopting a goose named, Brightbill, as a son when his family’s nest fell off a cliff and they died. The story ended with RECO robots coming to the island to collect Roz, in an attempt to retrieve all robot parts from the original shipwreck. Roz and the animals defend her, but she is badly hurt in the fight. She ends up getting in the ship that the RECOs came in, and it flies her away, presumably to the factory where she was made, to get repaired. We have decided to read the sequel to this heart-warming and quirky book - The Wild Robot Escapes!

 

Mrs. K. Mead: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

This is a book from last year’s Dorothy’s List. This book is set in a fantastical place called the Protectorate. The Protectorate is run by a group of Elders who rule through holding onto resources and fear. Each year they tell the people of the Protectorate that they must give a baby to the witch in the woods or she will destroy them all. The Elders think this is a lie and are just telling the people that to scare them. In actuality, there is a witch in the woods, however she is a very nice witch. She takes the babies and delivers them to the free cities on the other side of the woods. This year she accidently feeds the baby moonlight which enmagicks the baby and the witch (Xan) decides to keep her and raise her as her grandchild.

Ms. Jeffrey:  Rush Revere and the First Patriots

Rush Revere designed a scavenger hunt for this students including things related to Benjamin Franklin.  As they were looking for the items a thunderstorm began. Since Liberty the horse is afraid of lightning he began to wish that Benjamin Franklin was there with a lightning rod.  Out of nowhere Franklin appeared. Rush Revere knew he had to get Franklin back to 1775 so history wasn’t affected. He time traveled with Liberty, Tommy and Benjamin Franklin back to 1775 in England.  When they arrived Ben Franklin realized he needed to get to Parliament as he was about to testify about colonists protesting the Stamp Act.

Social Studies/Science

Students are wrapping up their American Revolution work and are stepping into our last science unit of the year. During this unit, learners will focus on membranes and water filtration.

Important Information/Happenings

Student Teachers

Miss Walsh and Miss Bissonnette completed their time with us and are now subbing in the building! It’s so fun to still see them around!

Birthday Celebrations

This year the school is discouraging food celebrations, which includes sending in whole class snacks for birthdays. We will still be recognizing and celebrating students on their birthdays in other ways. We have generated a list of ideas for celebrating student birthday. You can see it here. If you have suggestions for your child's celebration please let us know.

Lunch Bunches

David Hoppe is the guidance counselor for our team this year. In an effort to get to know our students he will be running weekly lunch bunches in his office. If this is something you are not comfortable with having your child participate in, please let us know.

 

Practice Superstars

The following students completed all their practice on time and handed it in when they arrived in the morning.  Parents should check with their child about his/her classroom number.

 

Jeffrey: 1, 7, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22

S Mead:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22

K Mead: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19

 

Model Citizen

In addition to Practice Superstars we will select one student as Model Citizen each week from each of our classrooms.  We are always looking for students who demonstrate good character as well as work hard with school assignments. As recognition for being Model Citizen, students will receive a practice pass which can be used on one practice assignment. The practice passes do not have expiration dates. In addition, the Model Citizen may choose to have lunch in the classroom one day with 3 friends. Again, if you would prefer that your child’s number not be in the blog for this recognition please let us know.

 

Jeffrey: 13

S Mead:  20

K Mead: 1

SBAC testing

Starting next week, students on our team will be taking the SBAC assessment. We will be testing only in the mornings, and only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. However, for students who need additional time for testing, we may extend into other days and times for them. If you would like to send something yummy with your child during these days, please refer to our safe snack list to be sensitive to allergies on the team.

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.  

Boston Updates

We are getting close! Be on the lookout for an email from us in the next week to schedule a chaperon information night, if you are planning to join us on the Boston trip.

Upcoming Events

SBAC May 6 - 17

Memorial Day - no school May 27

Boston Trip June 6 -7

Enterprise Day June 11

 

Academics

Math

Number Corner will continue in April, although groups will be different. We are planning to do a modified number corner in each of our homerooms. Students will work on a variety of skills from both grade levels. Students will be working with some geometry, metric measurement, and volume.

 

We wrapped up Bridges Unit 4 with the post assessment on Friday.  Unit 5 begins this week, with new groups based on pre-assessment data.

 

Bridges Units by Grade Level

 

Word Study

Students continue to work in their groups on a variety of spelling patterns.  They have a schedule with choice activities. That schedule is posted on the team website as well as copies of the choices, and a link to the completed sorts so families can see how the words are sorted as well as the rule for each group.   We will reshuffle some groups for instruction after April break.

Writing

Students are completing their opinion writing assessment. In addition, students in Mrs. S. Mead’s class are focusing on Letter Writing with Miss Walsh. Mrs K. Mead’s class is beginning to brainstorm ideas around narrative writing as well as doing one more opinion piece.

 

Reading

Students finished reading their fantasy books last week.  They are now in new groups, reading biographies of figures from the American Revolution. They have a choice board to use for their assignments. They must complete two assignments from this choice board each Wednesday and Friday (for a total of 4 items per week). As these biographies are shorter, students will read two before April break.

Read Aloud

Mrs. S. Mead: We continued reading The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle.

We decided as a class that this book was not a great fit for us. Some people were following the complex structure and enjoying it, while others were having a hard time. We decided to abandon the book as a whole class read aloud, and switched over to a different fantasy book, The Wild Robot. However, students who were interested in finishing The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle, will be able to listen to it during some lunch periods in the classroom.

Mrs. K. Mead:  A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff

We have continued our growing tangle of knots. Each character is on a different path. Cady is trying to convince Toby to stay at the Lost Luggage Emporium by cheering up The Owner with his perfect cake. Will accidently got mailed to New Jersey by his sister- or at least that is what they all think. In actuality, the suitcase he was curled up in bounced off the truck and sprung open and Will is now on his very own adventure! Zane is rummaging around the Emporium for anything valuable and has come across The Owner’s collection of what appear to be empty jars. Those jars are really full of talents. The man in the gray suit has seemed to play a role in all of these different paths and we are wondering how they will all connect!    

Ms. Jeffrey: King George: What Was His Problem?

We have begun reading a new book for read aloud, as it parallels what we are learning about in social studies. This book has a humorous twist in introducing the American Revolution to students, highlighting the decisions that King George made during his reign as king. This week, readers have learned about what led up to the American Revolution. The book provided a brief summary of the French and Indian War, along with why the British in turn decided to tax colonists after the war. Students learned about the reactions that colonists had to the new tax laws that were imposed upon them and what tax collectors of that time had to face in relation to these reactions.

Social Studies

Students are learning about the United States regions as well as early history including colonial times and the American Revolution. The students in Mrs. K. Mead’s class is wrapping up their documentaries this week. We have also been focusing on early colonial times which will lead us into the American Revolution.  Students in Mrs. S. Mead’s class have started their learning about the American Revolution with Miss Walsh. They are excited about this content!

Students in Ms. Jeffrey’s class began learning about the colonists’ struggles with Great Britain.  

Important Information/Happenings

Essex Town PTO Carnival

The Essex Town PTO is looking for classes/teams to run booths at the family carnival on Friday, April 12th from 6-8pm.

 

Please read the flyer below, and contact ShawnnaLea Zemanek at  SLYZemanek@gmail.com if you are interested and willing to organize a booth from our team!

 

Family Carnival Flyer

 

Student Teachers

Miss Walsh and Miss Bissonnette are starting their solo weeks! They will be in charge of the classrooms from April 1 - 12. Ms. Jeffrey and Mrs. S. Mead will still be in the building, and will be checking in.

Birthday Celebrations

This year the school is discouraging food celebrations, which includes sending in whole class snacks for birthdays. We will still be recognizing and celebrating students on their birthdays in other ways. We have generated a list of ideas for celebrating student birthday. You can see it here. If you have suggestions for your child's celebration please let us know.

Lunch Bunches

David Hoppe is the guidance counselor for our team this year. In an effort to get to know our students he will be running weekly lunch bunches in his office. If this is something you are not comfortable with having your child participate in, please let us know.

 

Practice Superstars

The following students completed all their practice on time and handed it in when they arrived in the morning.  Parents should check with their child about his/her classroom number.

 

Jeffrey: 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

S Mead:  4, 5, 7, 13, 15, 16, 18, 21

K Mead: 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 21, 22

 

 

Model Citizen

In addition to Practice Superstars we will select one student as Model Citizen each week from each of our classrooms.  We are always looking for students who demonstrate good character as well as work hard with school assignments. As recognition for being Model Citizen, students will receive a practice pass which can be used on one practice assignment. The practice passes do not have expiration dates. In addition, the Model Citizen may choose to have lunch in the classroom one day with 3 friends. Again, if you would prefer that your child’s number not be in the blog for this recognition please let us know.

 

Jeffrey: 14

S Mead:  19

K Mead: 11

 

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.  

Boston Updates

We sent home a letter with deposit due dates.  Please return those as soon as possible. Families may pay the full amount on the 15th or divide their total amount equally due over the three deposit dates.  Checks should be made payable to EWSD or FMS.

 

Remaining Deposit Date: April 19

 

If you have not sent in the second deposit please do that as soon as possible.

 

Now that all families have confirmed participation (students and chaperons), we have finalized the number of rooms needed at the hotel. This takes into account the genders of both students and chaperons. In order to keep the cost as low as possible, we need to place as many people in each hotel room as we can. Given the complicated house of cards that these room arrangements are, we unfortunately cannot take requests to be with certain people. We do our best to be thoughtful and sensitive throughout this process.

 

In addition, we are very thankful for the parents who have signed up to go with us. Although we know emergency situations arise, we are counting on those adults who committed, to join us in June, as rooms cannot be rearranged.  

A few parents have expressed interest in fundraising for this trip.  All ideas will need to be approved by Wendy Cobb. If you are interested in spearheading the fundraising efforts let us know.  

 

Upcoming Events

April break April 22 - 26

SBAC                                         May 6 - 17

March 18 - 21

Academics

Math

March Number Corner continued this week. Fourth graders are working on finding patterns using an input/output machine, as well as continuing their work with equivalent fractions. This month they are relating fractions to time and clock faces, which will lead into computation with fractions. Fifth graders are working on multiplying and dividing by powers of 10, with whole numbers as well as decimals. They are relating this work to the area of rectangles. In addition, fifth graders are also working on measuring length to the nearest ⅛ of an inch.

 

We continued Bridges Unit 4.  Fourth graders continued learning about measurement with metric length.  They moved on to converting with liters and grams. Fifth graders continued to work on multiplication, including the standard algorithm, as well as division.   Overviews for Unit 4 for each grade level are linked below.

 

4th Grade Unit 4 Overview

5th Grade Unit 4 Overview

 

Word Study

Students continue to work in their groups on a variety of spelling patterns.  They have a schedule with choice activities. That schedule is posted on the team website as well as copies of the choices, and a link to the completed sorts so families can see how the words are sorted as well as the rule for each group.   We will reshuffle some groups for instruction after break.

Writing

We continue to work on opinion writing, but are wrapping this up in the next week or two!  Students are writing about a variety of topics on which they can take a personal stance and support their claim with reasonable details.  In the past students have written about food choices in the cafeteria, flip flopping lunch and recess times, year round schools, the benefits of homework, school uniforms and more.  Our work with opinion writing will culminate in an on demand independent task, where students will generate an opinion about a given topic, and use information from articles and videos to support their opinion.

 

Reading

Students continued reading fantasy books.  A few of the books being read are Matilda, Things Not Seen, James and the Giant Peach and Stuart Little.

 

The fantasy book group assignments can be found on our website, under Book Groups.  Assignments are due on Wednesdays and Fridays.

 

Read Aloud

Mrs. S. Mead: We continued reading The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle.

As our book progresses, we have found that more and more children at Rookskill Castle are going missing. Kat and the others are wondering what is happening and why they are being told there is a mysterious illness going around. As Kat and the other children discover haunted, creepy rooms, they begin to wonder what those rooms are being used for. In one instance, they stumble upon what seems like a ghost. There is definitely something creepy going on. As word of Kat’s father being captured by the Germans reaches the castle, Kat begins to think of a way out of the castle and back to safety with her mum. However, finding a way out before the dark magic reaches her and the others seems trickier than ever before.

Mrs. K. Mead:  A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff

We have met many of our characters so far. Cady is an orphan with a talent for making cakes. She is staying with Miss Mallory who has a talent for finding orphans their perfect family (except for Cady). Will has a talent for getting lost and he is hiding in the walls of his apartment building when he hears a loud crash. He comes running out to see that the living room wall behind his brother Zane (who has a Talent for spitting) has been crashed in by a hot air balloon! He and his sister Marigold (who doesn’t currently have a Talent) are stunned. They are waiting for their mother (who has a Talent for knitting) to come home and find out. V is a character who can’t speak due to a stroke. All we really know is that she has lost her daughter Caroline. Lastly, we have met Toby who works for the Talent stealing Owner of the Lost Luggage Emporium. We don’t know much about Toby other than his dislike of the Owner and that he has driven his truck into Miss Mallory’s backyard, literally crashing into a party they are having. We are modeling how these different stories intertwine with each other using string and knots.  

Ms. Jeffrey: The Girl From Felony Bay

As we have now come to the end of this mystery, there were quite a few things that were revealed to us. It turns out that the mastermind behind the entire Felony Bay scheme was Mr. Barrett who was eventually arrested because he was caught red-handed trying to murder Abbey’s father. Abbey spends the rest of her summer living with Grandma Em and Bee, still hoping for her father to awaken from his coma. The Felony Bay mystery becomes quite the story in the news and the land that Mr. Barrett bought was eventually given back to Mrs. Middleton, along with the real treasure from the Lovely Clarisse. It seems like all has ended well for Abbey and Bee, who are still looking for more mysteries to solve.

 

We finished this book early in the week and since then have been continuing to talk about theme with picture books.

Social Studies

Students are learning about the United States regions as well as early history including colonial times and the American Revolution. The students in Mrs. K. Mead’s class is wrapping up their documentaries this week. We have also been focusing on early colonial times which will lead us into the American Revolution.  Students in Mrs. S. Mead’s class have started their learning about the American Revolution with Miss Walsh. They are excited about this content!

Students in Ms. Jeffrey’s class continued learning about Colonial America.  The focus of their learning included the reasons why people from Britain came to North America and what life was like for them.  As part of this work they did Human Bingo (which they love) and began working on a jigsaw activity. Next up is learning about the causes of the American Revolution.

Important Information/Happenings

Placement Forms

Parent placement forms were sent home last week for the upcoming 2019-20 school year.  This is an important process for our schools and your input is not only welcomed, but valued.  Please check your child's backpack for this paperwork. It is due back to school to your child's teacher in two weeks, on March 29th, 2019.  We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Fourth grade parents do not need to complete the placement form as the multi-age team is a two year placement.

Essex Town PTO Carnival

The Essex Town PTO is looking for classes/teams to run booths at the family carnival on Friday, April 12th from 6-8pm.

 

Please read the flyer below, and contact ShawnnaLea Zemanek at  SLYZemanek@gmail.com if you are interested and willing to organize a booth from our team!

 

Family Carnival Flyer

Ski Program for 5th Graders

Click on the link below to learn about ski program being offered to Vermont 5th graders.  

Ski Vermont

Student Teachers

Miss Walsh and Miss Bissonnette have settled right into Ms. Jeffrey’s classroom and Mrs. S. Mead’s classroom!  They have continued taking over more and more of the day! They will be doing their solo weeks April 1 - 12.

Birthday Celebrations

This year the school is discouraging food celebrations, which includes sending in whole class snacks for birthdays. We will still be recognizing and celebrating students on their birthdays in other ways. We have generated a list of ideas for celebrating student birthday. You can see it here. If you have suggestions for your child's celebration please let us know.

Lunch Bunches

David Hoppe is the guidance counselor for our team this year. In an effort to get to know our students he will be running weekly lunch bunches in his office. If this is something you are not comfortable with having your child participate in, please let us know.

 

Practice Superstars

The following students completed all their practice on time and handed it in when they arrived in the morning.  Parents should check with their child about his/her classroom number.

 

Jeffrey: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

S Mead:  2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22

K Mead: 1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21

 

 

Model Citizen

In addition to Practice Superstars we will select one student as Model Citizen each week from each of our classrooms.  We are always looking for students who demonstrate good character as well as work hard with school assignments. As recognition for being Model Citizen, students will receive a practice pass which can be used on one practice assignment. The practice passes do not have expiration dates. In addition, the Model Citizen may choose to have lunch in the classroom one day with 3 friends. Again, if you would prefer that your child’s number not be in the blog for this recognition please let us know.

 

Jeffrey: 21

S Mead:  13

K Mead: 16

 

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.  

Boston Updates

We sent home a letter with deposit due dates.  Please return those as soon as possible. Families may pay the full amount on the 15th or divide their total amount equally due over the three deposit dates.  Checks should be made payable to EWSD or FMS.

 

Remaining Deposit Date: April 19

 

If you have not sent in the second deposit please do that as soon as possible.

 

Now that all families have confirmed participation (students and chaperons), we have finalized the number of rooms needed at the hotel. This takes into account the genders of both students and chaperons. In order to keep the cost as low as possible, we need to place as many people in each hotel room as we can. Given the complicated house of cards that these room arrangements are, we unfortunately cannot take requests to be with certain people. We do our best to be thoughtful and sensitive throughout this process.

 

In addition, we are very thankful for the parents who have signed up to go with us. Although we know emergency situations arise, we are counting on those adults who committed, to join us in June, as rooms cannot be rearranged.  

A few parents have expressed interest in fundraising for this trip.  All ideas will need to be approved by Wendy Cobb. If you are interested in spearheading the fundraising efforts let us know.  

 

Upcoming Events

Parent Conference Day March 22

April break April 22 - 26

SBAC                                         May 6 - 17

 

March 4 - 15

Academics

Math

March Number Corner continued this week. Fourth graders are working on finding patterns using an input/output machine, as well as continuing their work with equivalent fractions. This month they are relating fractions to time and clock faces, which will lead into computation with fractions. Fifth graders are working on multiplying and dividing by powers of 10, with whole numbers as well as decimals. They are relating this work to the area of rectangles. In addition, fifth graders are also working on measuring length to the nearest ⅛ of an inch.

 

We continued Bridges Unit 4.  Fourth graders started learning about measurement with metric length.  They focused on converting kilometers to meters. Fifth graders continued to work on multiplication, including the standard algorithm, as well as division.   Overviews for Unit 4 for each grade level are linked below.

 

4th Grade Unit 4 Overview

5th Grade Unit 4 Overview

 

Word Study

Students continue to work in their groups on a variety of spelling patterns.  They have a schedule with choice activities. That schedule is posted on the team website as well as copies of the choices, and a link to the completed sorts so families can see how the words are sorted as well as the rule for each group.   We will reshuffle some groups for instruction after break.

Writing

We continue to work on opinion writing, but are wrapping this up in the next week or two!  Students are writing about a variety of topics on which they can take a personal stance and support their claim with reasonable details.  In the past students have written about food choices in the cafeteria, flip flopping lunch and recess times, year round schools, the benefits of homework, school uniforms and more.  Our work with opinion writing will culminate in an on demand independent task, where students will generate an opinion about a given topic, and use information from articles and videos to support their opinion.

 

Reading

Students continued reading fantasy books.  A few of the books being read are Matilda, Things Not Seen, James and the Giant Peach and Stuart Little.

 

The fantasy book group assignments can be found on our website, under Book Groups.  Assignments are due on Wednesdays and Fridays.

 

Read Aloud

Mrs. S. Mead: We continued reading The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle.

As we read we are becoming more and more convinced that something mysterious is happening at Rookskill Castle. The chapters flash in and out from present time to 1746, where we read that more and more children are disappearing. Connected to these disappearances of children is a chatelaine and charms. As each new charm is added, another child is charmed and disappears. Kat, Robbie, Amelie and Peter are starting to make some connections between the chatelaine and the seemingly charmed children. We will see if they can figure out what is really happening and how it connects to the past flashbacks!

Mrs. K. Mead:  The Courage Test by James Preller

Will and his father continued on their road trip. Will found a job offer for his father out of state and assumed he was going to accept the offer and the trip was his way of telling him. He was upset by this and ran away on the trail and came face to face with a bear! Turns out, his father had already turned down the job and they were really on this trip because Will’s mother has cancer and she did not want him to be around while she received treatments. This was the real courage test, facing his mother’s illness. As the trip continued, Will and his father bonded over how this will change their lives and how they can be there for Will’s mother. In the end, despite having to go through challenging times and despite Will’s initial attitude toward the trip and his father, they were able to come together to support his mother.

 

We have now started A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff. This is fantasy book. In this version of the world, everyone (or almost everyone) has a Talent. Something they are exceptionally good at. The usefulness of the talents vary from baking the perfect cake for someone to being unbeatable at jacks, to tying knots. Cady is able to bake anyone the perfect. She is an orphan at Miss Mallory’s Home for Lost Girls and she is the only orphan Miss Mallory has ever not be able to place. We have also met The Owner of the Lost Luggage Emporium who steals people’s talents without their knowledge. We know these two stories will cross but we are not quiet sure how!

Ms. Jeffrey: The Girl From Felony Bay

As we are getting closer to the end of this book, many things are beginning to unravel. Before February break, we were left with the cliffhanger of what the fate of Abbey and Bee was going to be. This week, we discovered that Uncle Charlie and Bubba Simmons were planning to get rid of the girls by sending them off in a canoe toward Green Alice’s (an alligator’s) nest. The girls seemingly have no way of escaping, as their hands and feet are duct taped and the canoe is beginning to fill with water as they struggle to break free. Skoogie Middleton comes to the rescue just in time to distract Green Alice and have the girls break free. They need to find a way to get off of Reward Plantation without getting caught, but their only choice is to face the news reporters at Felony Bay. The girls risk it all when they run to the microphone and reveal Uncle Charlie’s deceitful plan.   

 

It seems as all hope is lost when Bubba Simmons captures not only Abbey and Bee once again, but Skoogie Middleton as well. Bubba’s plan is to return back to One Arm Pond to get rid of these meddling kids once and for all, but Abbey is not ready to give up quite yet. She tries to instill fear in him by suggesting that Uncle Charlie will put the blame all on him, but she does not have to try for very long. The state police come into the picture and chase Bubba down. The kids are turned over to the police and are safe once again and Miss Lydia Jenkins makes an appearance. Apparently all along she has been trying to tell Abbey that her father wasn’t involved in the robbery after all, but she was unable to do so until given a pen and paper. The girls return to Grandma Em as she explains when she noticed Bee was gone. Now students are wondering what else is in store for the end of the book.

Social Studies

Students are learning about the United States regions as well as early history including colonial times and the American Revolution. The students in Mrs. K. Mead’s class is wrapping up their documentaries this week. We have also been focusing on early colonial times which will lead us into the American Revolution.  Students in Mrs. S. Mead’s class have started their learning about the American Revolution with Miss Walsh. They are excited about this content!

Students in Ms. Jeffrey’s class learned about Colonial America, in particular Massachusetts, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.  The focus of their learning was what motivated colonists to come to North America as well as what life was like for them when they arrived.

Important Information/Happenings

Placement Forms

Students are bringing home the parent input form for the placement process for the 2019-20 school year.  This is an important process for our schools and your input is not only welcomed, but valued. Please check your child's backpack for this paperwork.  It is due back to school to your child's teacher in two weeks, on March 29th, 2019. We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Fourth grade parents do not need to complete the placement form as the multi-age team is a two year placement.

Essex Town PTO Carnival

The Essex Town PTO is looking for classes/teams to run booths at the family carnival on Friday, April 12th from 6-8pm.

 

Please read the flyer below, and contact ShawnnaLea Zemanek at  SLYZemanek@gmail.com if you are interested and willing to organize a booth from our team!

 

Family Carnival Flyer

Ski Program for 5th Graders

Click on the link below to learn about ski program being offered to Vermont 5th graders.  

Ski Vermont

Student Teachers

Miss Walsh and Miss Bissonnette have settled right into Ms. Jeffrey’s classroom and Mrs. S. Mead’s classroom!  They have continued taking over more and more of the day! They will be doing their solo weeks April 1 - 12.

Birthday Celebrations

This year the school is discouraging food celebrations, which includes sending in whole class snacks for birthdays. We will still be recognizing and celebrating students on their birthdays in other ways. We have generated a list of ideas for celebrating student birthday. You can see it here. If you have suggestions for your child's celebration please let us know.

Lunch Bunches

David Hoppe is the guidance counselor for our team this year. In an effort to get to know our students he will be running weekly lunch bunches in his office. If this is something you are not comfortable with having your child participate in, please let us know.

 

Practice Superstars

The following students completed all their practice on time and handed it in when they arrived in the morning.  Parents should check with their child about his/her classroom number.

¾-3/8

Jeffrey: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

S Mead:  3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 17, 18, 21, 22

K Mead: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22

3/11-3/15

Jeffrey: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22

S Mead:   2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, 17, 18

K Mead: 5, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 19, 22

 

Model Citizen

In addition to Practice Superstars we will select one student as Model Citizen each week from each of our classrooms.  We are always looking for students who demonstrate good character as well as work hard with school assignments. As recognition for being Model Citizen, students will receive a practice pass which can be used on one practice assignment. The practice passes do not have expiration dates. In addition, the Model Citizen may choose to have lunch in the classroom one day with 3 friends. Again, if you would prefer that your child’s number not be in the blog for this recognition please let us know.

 

¾-3/8

Jeffrey: 6

S Mead:  15

K Mead: 6

 

3/11-3/15

Jeffrey: 19

S Mead:   14

K Mead: 5

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.  

Boston Updates

We sent home a letter with deposit due dates.  Please return those as soon as possible. Families may pay the full amount on the 15th or divide their total amount equally due over the three deposit dates.  Checks should be made payable to EWSD or FMS.

 

Deposit Dates: March 15 and April 19

 

If you have not sent in the second deposit please do that as soon as possible.

 

Now that all families have confirmed participation (students and chaperons), we have finalized the number of rooms needed at the hotel. This takes into account the genders of both students and chaperons. In order to keep the cost as low as possible, we need to place as many people in each hotel room as we can. Given the complicated house of cards that these room arrangements are, we unfortunately cannot take requests to be with certain people. We do our best to be thoughtful and sensitive throughout this process.

 

In addition, we are very thankful for the parents who have signed up to go with us. Although we know emergency situations arise, we are counting on those adults who committed, to join us in June, as rooms cannot be rearranged.  

A few parents have expressed interest in fundraising for this trip.  All ideas will need to be approved by Wendy Cobb. If you are interested in spearheading the fundraising efforts let us know.  

 

Upcoming Events

Family Reading Night March 20

Parent Conference Day March 22

April break April 22 - 26

SBAC                                         May 6 - 17

 

February 18th- 22nd

Academics

Math

We wrapped up February Number Corner.  Fourth graders are currently learning about some geometry terms, including lines, line segments, points and angles. They are also starting to classify angles and will eventually learn to measure angle degrees with a protractor. In fifth grade number corner, students are learning about some metric units of capacity as well as multiplying fractions.  We will begin March number corner when we come back from vacation.

 

We continued Bridges Unit 4.  Fourth graders worked on rounding whole numbers as well as the addition algorithm.  Fifth graders worked on multiplication strategies such as halving and doubling as well as half tens facts.   Overviews for Unit 4 for each grade level are linked below.

 

4th Grade Unit 4 Overview

5th Grade Unit 4 Overview

 

This unit will continue after break.

Word Study

Students continue to work in their groups on a variety of spelling patterns.  They have a schedule with choice activities. That schedule is posted on the team website as well as copies of the choices, and a link to the completed sorts so families can see how the words are sorted as well as the rule for each group.   We will reshuffle some groups for instruction after break.

Writing

We continue to work on opinion writing.  Students are writing about a variety of topics on which they can take a personal stance and support their claim with reasonable details.  In the past students have written about food choices in the cafeteria, flip flopping lunch and recess times, year round schools, the benefits of homework, school uniforms and more.   Ms. Jeffrey’s class continued a guided research opinion piece on year round schooling. Most recently, students in Mrs. S. Mead’s class wrote about the biggest challenge(s) facing parents today. Mrs. K. Mead’s class is working on a research piece about whether or not chocolate milk should be served in schools.

 

Reading

The students are participating in a unit on nonfiction or informational text.  Students are reading about a variety of topics including United States regions and colonial history.  Students are also learning about nonfiction text structures, using text features to increase comprehension, and identifying main ideas in non-fiction texts.  

 

We will being focusing on fantasy books after break. Students will participate in book groups reading many different titles. A few of the books being read are Matilda, Things Not Seen, James and the Giant Peach and Stuart Little.

 

Read Aloud

Mrs. S. Mead: We continued reading The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle.

Despite warnings from some of the residents at Rookskill, the children have moved into the castle and begun their studies with the strange and elusive Lady Eleanor. As the chapters about the children and their run-ins with strange sounds and secret doors occur in this book, there are also flashbacks to the 17 and 1800s, when a tale about a lady named Leonor was told. It was said that she used magic to steal the souls of children, and kept these souls in her chatelaine (a collection of charms she wore on her belt). Although the two storylines have not yet converged, the students are thinking that they are very much connected, and are starting to wonder about the souls of Kat, Robbie and Amelie.

 

Mrs. K. Mead:  The Courage Test by James Preller

Will tells his father about Maria Rosa and they decide they need to help her find her cousin. Will’s dad talks to Maria Rosa and finds out she is a runaway and is potentially in the country illegally. They find Maria Rosa and her dog a place to stay for the night then travel to her cousin’s address the following morning. Unfortunately he is not there and it seems as if there is no hope in finding. They decide to continue to try anyway and stumbling upon him working at a gas station as a mechanic. He agrees to take Maria Rosa in but refuses to take her dog. Meanwhile, Will has also gotten a hold of his mother who sounded funny on the phone. We are curious what is going on with Will’s mother and if there is a hidden reason for this trip.  

 

Ms. Jeffrey: The Girl From Felony Bay

Unfortunately, after the discovery of the trio’s operation and scheme to hide Miss Jenkins’ jewelry, Abbey and Bee find themselves in a sticky situation. Uncle Charlie and Bubba Simmons return to Felony Bay and discover that the two girls have been snooping around. Abbey and Bee are on the run and have to find some way to get off of Reward without being caught. Abbey’s quick thinking allows them to get past Ruth on horses and they are able to get to downtown Charleston without getting caught...until Uncle Charlie arrives. They seek refuge in the hospital, but they aren’t fast enough to outrun Uncle Charlie. Now it looks like Abbey and Bee have no way of escaping.

Social Studies

Students are learning about the United States regions as well as early history including colonial times and the American Revolution. The students in Mrs. K. Mead’s class is wrapping up their documentaries this week. We have also been focusing on early colonial times which will lead us into the American Revolution.  Students in Mrs. S. Mead’s classroom are learning about early colonial times and will be moving on to the start of the Revolution after break. Miss Walsh will be kicking off this part of our social studies unit. Ms. Jeffrey’s class started a history unit with a focus on Native Americans. The quiz on the Pacific Coast states and capitals will be Friday, March 8.  

Important Information/Happenings

Essex Town PTO Carnival

The Essex Town PTO is looking for classes/teams to run booths at the family carnival on Friday, April 12th from 6-8pm.

 

Please read the flyer below, and contact ShawnnaLea Zemanek at  SLYZemanek@gmail.com if you are interested and willing to organize a booth from our team!

 

Family Carnival Flyer

Ski Program for 5th Graders

Click on the link below to learn about ski program being offered to Vermont 5th graders.  

Ski Vermont

Student Teachers

Miss Walsh and Miss Bissonnette have settled right into Ms. Jeffrey’s classroom and Mrs. S. Mead’s classroom!  They have started some instruction with students in small groups and will work with everyone on the team. We are excited to have them on board.  

Birthday Celebrations

This year the school is discouraging food celebrations, which includes sending in whole class snacks for birthdays. We will still be recognizing and celebrating students on their birthdays in other ways. We have generated a list of ideas for celebrating student birthday. You can see it here. If you have suggestions for your child's celebration please let us know.

Lunch Bunches

David Hoppe is the guidance counselor for our team this year. In an effort to get to know our students he will be running weekly lunch bunches in his office. If this is something you are not comfortable with having your child participate in, please let us know.

 

Practice Superstars

The following students completed all their practice on time and handed it in when they arrived in the morning.  Parents should check with their child about his/her classroom number.

 

Jeffrey: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

S Mead:   2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21

K Mead:  3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22

 

Model Citizen

In addition to Practice Superstars we will select one student as Model Citizen each week from each of our classrooms.  We are always looking for students who demonstrate good character as well as work hard with school assignments. As recognition for being Model Citizen, students will receive a practice pass which can be used on one practice assignment. The practice passes do not have expiration dates. In addition, the Model Citizen may choose to have lunch in the classroom one day with 3 friends. Again, if you would prefer that your child’s number not be in the blog for this recognition please let us know.

 

 

Jeffrey:  10

S Mead:  16

K Mead: 4

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.  

Boston Updates

We sent home a letter with deposit due dates.  Please return those as soon as possible. Families may pay the full amount on the 15th or divide their total amount equally due over the three deposit dates.  Checks should be made payable to EWSD or FMS.

 

Deposit Dates: March 15 and April 19

 

Now that all families have confirmed participation (students and chaperons), we have finalized the number of rooms needed at the hotel. This takes into account the genders of both students and chaperons. In order to keep the cost as low as possible, we need to place as many people in each hotel room as we can. Given the complicated house of cards that these room arrangements are, we unfortunately cannot take requests to be with certain people. We do our best to be thoughtful and sensitive throughout this process.

 

In addition, we are very thankful for the parents who have signed up to go with us. Although we know emergency situations arise, we are counting on those adults who committed, to join us in June, as rooms cannot be rearranged.  

A few parents have expressed interest in fundraising for this trip.  All ideas will need to be approved by Wendy Cobb. If you are interested in spearheading the fundraising efforts let us know.  

 

Upcoming Events

February Vacation February 25 - March 1

Family Reading Night March 20

Parent Conference Day March 22

April break April 22 - 26

SBAC                                         May 6 - 17

 

February 11-15

Academics

Math

We continued with February Number Corner.  Fourth graders are currently learning about some geometry terms, including lines, line segments, points and angles. They are also starting to classify angles and will eventually learn to measure angle degrees with a protractor. In fifth grade number corner, students are learning about some metric units of capacity as well as multiplying fractions.  

 

We began Bridges Unit 4.  Fourth graders worked on rounding whole numbers as well as the addition algorithm.  Fifth graders worked on multiplication strategies such as halving and doubling as well as half tens facts.   Overviews for Unit 4 for each grade level are linked below.

 

4th Grade Unit 4 Overview

5th Grade Unit 4 Overview

Word Study

Students continue to work in their groups on a variety of spelling patterns.  They have a schedule with choice activities. That schedule is posted on the team website as well as copies of the choices, and a link to the completed sorts so families can see how the words are sorted as well as the rule for each group.   We will reshuffle some groups for instruction after break.

Writing

We continue to work on opinion writing.  Students are writing about a variety of topics on which they can take a personal stance and support their claim with reasonable details.  In the past students have written about food choices in the cafeteria, flip flopping lunch and recess times, year round schools, the benefits of homework, school uniforms and more.   Ms. Jeffrey’s class continued a guided research opinion piece on year round schooling. Mrs. K Mead’s class is working on a guided piece about wearing hats in school. Most recently, students in Mrs. S. Mead’s class wrote about the biggest challenge(s) facing parents today.

 

Reading

The students are participating in a unit on nonfiction or informational text.  Students are reading about a variety of topics including United States regions and colonial history.  Students are also learning about nonfiction text structures, using text features to increase comprehension, and identifying main ideas in non-fiction texts.  

 

Read Aloud

Mrs. S. Mead: We continued reading The House on the Gulf.

We finished this book! It had a really great twist right at the end, with the Marcus’ not even being related to them, as Bran has suspected.

 

We started our new read aloud book last week, The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle. This is a book that takes place during the London Blitz, in 1940. A few children are sent to this castle to continue their schooling away from the dangers of the bombing. Mysterious things are said about the castle, and as soon as the children arrive in Scotland by train, they are warned not to go to Rookskill. Of course they have no choice, as their parents had sent them, so they take a carriage to a very eery, cold and looming castle.

 

Mrs. K. Mead:  The Courage Test by James Preller

Will continues his road trip with his father. While at first he was very negative about the trip he can’t help getting excited as his explore the wilderness of the Western United States. He goes river rafting with his father and his father’s friend and even thinks he sees a bear while camping. Everytime it seems as if Will is started to forgive his father and open up to him, his father does something that makes Will feel like he doesn’t care. Will and his father are now back at the base camp and Will sees a girl with a dog that he had seen earlier in the trip. This time he goes to meet her and finds out she is on a quest to find her cousin. We are curious as to how this girl will fit the story and Will’s own quest with his father.

 

Ms. Jeffrey: The Girl From Felony Bay

Abbey lucked out and happened to see Bee on her way back into town with Grandma Em. She caught a right with them back to Reward, and on the way, quietly spilled the beans to Bee about what she’d been up to. Of course, Bee wanted to be a part of any investigation happening, and the two decided to sneak out to Felony Bay at night to try and figure out what Uncle Charlie, Ruth and Bubba Simmons were really up to. They discovered something terrible. It appears that the trio were behind the robbery of Ms. Jenkins’ jewelry, and they had an operation to tarnish and melt it, making it unrecognizable.

Social Studies

Students are learning about the United States regions as well as early history including colonial times and the American Revolution. The students in Mrs. K. Mead’s class is wrapping up their documentaries this week. We have also been focusing on early colonial times which will lead us into the American Revolution.  Students in Mrs. S. Mead’s classroom are learning about early colonial times and will be moving on to the start of the Revolution after break. Miss Walsh will be kicking off this part of our social studies unit. Ms. Jeffrey’s class learned about the West. The quiz on the Mountain West states and capitals will be Friday, February 22.  

Important Information/Happenings

Ski Program for 5th Graders

Click on the link below to learn about ski program being offered to Vermont 5th graders.  

Ski Vermont

Student Teachers

Miss Walsh and Miss Bissonnette have settled right into Ms. Jeffrey’s classroom and Mrs. S. Mead’s classroom!  They have started some instruction with students in small groups and will work with everyone on the team. We are excited to have them on board.  

Birthday Celebrations

This year the school is discouraging food celebrations, which includes sending in whole class snacks for birthdays. We will still be recognizing and celebrating students on their birthdays in other ways. We have generated a list of ideas for celebrating student birthday. You can see it here. If you have suggestions for your child's celebration please let us know.

Lunch Bunches

David Hoppe is the guidance counselor for our team this year. In an effort to get to know our students he will be running weekly lunch bunches in his office. If this is something you are not comfortable with having your child participate in, please let us know.

 

Practice Superstars

The following students completed all their practice on time and handed it in when they arrived in the morning.  Parents should check with their child about his/her classroom number.

 

Jeffrey: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22

S Mead:   1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

K Mead:  1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18 ,19, 20, 22

 

 

Model Citizen

In addition to Practice Superstars we will select one student as Model Citizen each week from each of our classrooms.  We are always looking for students who demonstrate good character as well as work hard with school assignments. As recognition for being Model Citizen, students will receive a practice pass which can be used on one practice assignment. The practice passes do not have expiration dates. In addition, the Model Citizen may choose to have lunch in the classroom one day with 3 friends. Again, if you would prefer that your child’s number not be in the blog for this recognition please let us know.

 

 

Jeffrey:  21

S Mead:  19

K Mead: 1

Team Wish List

Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated!

DCF books (click on this link for titles) Ziploc bags (snack, quart or gallon) colored Sharpie markers Vis a Vis markers Post It Notes

Expo markers Kleenex paper plates paper bowls plastic spoons

Parent Volunteers

There is information posted on the EWSD website for parents interested in volunteering.  Here is the direct link.  

Boston Updates

We sent home a letter with deposit due dates.  Please return those as soon as possible. Families may pay the full amount on the 15th or divide their total amount equally due over the three deposit dates.  Checks should be made payable to EWSD or FMS.

 

Deposit Dates:  February 15, March 15 and April 19

 

Now that all families have confirmed participation (students and chaperons), we have finalized the number of rooms needed at the hotel. This takes into account the genders of both students and chaperons. In order to keep the cost as low as possible, we need to place as many people in each hotel room as we can. Given the complicated house of cards that these room arrangements are, we unfortunately cannot take requests to be with certain people. We do our best to be thoughtful and sensitive throughout this process.

 

In addition, we are very thankful for the parents who have signed up to go with us. Although we know emergency situations arise, we are counting on those adults who committed, to join us in June, as rooms cannot be rearranged.  

A few parents have expressed interest in fundraising for this trip.  All ideas will need to be approved by Wendy Cobb. If you are interested in spearheading the fundraising efforts let us know.  

 

Upcoming Events

NAEP testing for 4th grade February 20

February Vacation February 25 - March 1

Family Reading Night March 20

Parent Conference Day March 22

April break April 22 - 26

SBAC                                         May 6 - 17