Doubts About Merck Forest and Classroom News

The weather report is not looking good for our trip to Merck forest. I know rescheduling may be problematic but it may also be for the best. I'll evaluate the weather report tomorrow night and make a final scheduling decision my mid-day tomorrow. The best alternative date would be Monday, Monday night, and Tuesday of next week. Please let me know if this schedule change would throw your child's life into chaos and if you would or would not be able to chaperone.

Today, we continued to explore solving linear equations with manipulatives. The students enjoy the hands-on approach to problem solving. The process relies on a number of "legal moves" which are presented as game moves. While students are playing, they are also learning fundamental aspects of algebraic thinking. Your child has three problems to solve tonight. They are written down in math journals. Please ask your child teach you his or her problem solving strategy.

In English, we continue to read from My Side of the Mountain. Students had the option of completing homework reading during SSR and tonight students have a short writing assignment. In class, we've begun a revision exercise where each student types and edits his or her short written responses. In linking the pieces together, each child is composing a basic essay.

As part of the social curriculum, we headed up to the low rope course this afternoon. We practiced a series of trust falls and participated in an activity called pirate crossing. Despite one unexpected slip from a low rope and a scraped knee, I was pleased by how the students focused and supported one another.

Please look to the blog for updates re. Merck Forest.

Charlie

Class News and Merck Forest Update

Dear Parents,

The weather for our trip to Merck Forest looks to be a bit on the damp side. However, neither a real downpour nor cold temps are in the forecast. The fifth graders seemed willing to brave the elements. Unless the conditions really deteriorate, I think we should stick with the plan and dress/pack accordingly. It will be important to pack sleeping bags in waterproof (garbage) bags. I’ll be able to drive the sleeping bags, food, and other necessities into the campsite. I expect students to carry a light backpack holding clothes, raincoat, etc.

With poor weather in mind, is there a parent chaperone willing to forgo hiking (in the rain) on Friday and take on the alternative task of driving the bulk of our gear out of the campsite in the morning? Please let me know.

With the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade students out on trips this week, the class schedule has been moved about some. Tomorrow, the fifth grade will have art, French, recorder and PSD. Tonight’s homework consists of recorder practice, a short reading and spelling assignment, and trip preparations. Having finished the first chapter in Chicago Math last Friday, we stepped out of the text this morning and worked with manipulatives to solve simple linear equations. We’ll continue this investigation through Wednesday. There is no math homework tonight.

Here is an article I lifted from the Merck Forest website. It seemed to dovetail nicely with yesterday's stream investigation.

In April of 2011, the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality collaboratively launched what they have entitled the Green Ribbon Schools Program. The program is designed to “move toward educational excellence for the future by recognizing schools that are creating healthy and sustainable learning environments - both inside and outside the classroom, teaching environmental literacy, and increasing environmental health by reducing their environmental footprint.”

From the White House’s announcement on this program: “This initiative will also help to reconnect our nation's youth to the environment around them, as part of President Obama's Americas Great Outdoors initiative, by encouraging outdoor learning. In a day when children spend half as much time outside as their parents did, there's no time like the present to leverage the Federal government's leadership to fuel our children’s spirit of adventure and reconnect them with the outdoors. After all, outdoor access and environmental education will better prepare our students to find innovative solutions to tomorrow’s challenges and compete for the jobs of the future."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/26/cultivating-seeds-knowledge-growing-greener-future-our-nation

Merck Forest Details and Food Shopping List

Dear Parents,

Next Thursday, we’re off for an overnight adventure at Merck Forest http://www.merckforest.com/. If your scroll through my previous blog posts, you’ll discover a suggested equipment packing list. Directly below, you’ll also find a recommended packing list for food.

Each student needs to bring TWO lunches - one for Thursday and one for Friday. Please pack non-perishable foods, or foods that will keep without refrigeration. I suggest VT pretzels, PB&J sandwiches, fruit, crackers, chips, juice boxes, etc. I’ll bring plenty of fresh water for drinking.

You child has also been volunteered to bring one or two food items to share with the class. Please check for your child’s name next to the bulleted items. If the assignment presents a challenge, please let me know over the weekend.


Our dinner on Thursday night will be as follows:

pasta -Charlie
olive oil - Andrew
pesto (a dollop or two for about 15 individuals)- Wulff
2lb. Butter - Abby
parmesan cheese - Gracie
4 loaves of baguette - Gwyneth
4 loaves of baguette - Anja
orange juice (1/2 gallon) - Miranda
Apples - Charlie
tin foil - Charlie
chocolate bars - Aicher
graham crackers Rachel
marshmallows - Abby


Breakfast Friday:

pancake batter – Charlie
syrup – Pauline (If the family supply will allow... Otherwise, I’ll supply)
hot chocolate ( 2 containers rather than packets) - Ivy
One 1/2 gallon milk container - Dylan
One 1/2 gallon milk container - Hamza
1 doz. Eggs -Wulff
1 doz. Eggs – Alex
breakfast sausage - Charlie

Lots of Pics and Important News

The past few days have been busy ones. Most students have completed the construction of a wooden cube structure and a few individuals are adding final details. We’ve begun testing the cubes for strength and evaluating elements of strength and weakness.

In language arts, students continue to read from My Side of the Mountain. The third written response to the reading is due on Thursday. In the spirit of the story, we’ve discussed and shared what might be indicators of a healthy stream. We discussed the idea of pH being an important indicator in a stream environment and we conducted a pH experiment. Tomorrow, students will step into the stream behind the lower soccer field and spend time looking for macro-invertebrates and other indicators of water quality. Students should wear appropriate clothes and have extra shoes or rubber boots.

Students are engaged in the second spelling lesson. We completed and reviewed the spelling exercise in class today. Spelling illustrations are due on Thursday. We’ll have a quiz on Friday.

In math class, we’ve begun to investigate the idea of prime factorization and exponential notation. I've emphasized the idea that in exponential notation, the exponent tells how many times a factor appears in the longest (prime) factor string for a given whole number. If your child is confused by this concept and needs help with homework, please ask him or her to check the notes in his/her math notebook.

In PSD, we’ve been engaged in low rope challenges on our rope course. Students have been both successful in these challenges and frustrated. The success is fun! The frustration has served as a platform for discussion and reflection on how we, as a group, work together most effectively. Discussing this at dinner might make for good conversation.

Next Thursday, we’re off to Merck Forest for our class camping trip. I recently posted a list of suggested equipment. By Friday, I’ll post a slightly more detailed list. I’ll “volunteer” students to bring a specific food item or two. Please look to the blog post for important information and your child’s assigned food item. If you have any question or complication with the plans, please contact me via e-mail ASAP.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Tunbridge World's Fair Agriculture & Education Day

Despite the rain (or, perhaps, because it was raining), the 3rd and 5th grade classes enjoyed a wonderful day with hundreds of other school children at The Tunbridge Fair in Tunbridge, VT. We spent the morning looking at exhibits on the Antique Hill. We visited one of Tunbridge's original one room school houses (1840). We spoke with a blacksmith and observed logs being hewn into beams. We watched an enormous log being bored lengthwise and transformed into pipe to be used for conveying water from spring to home. We learned through observation and narration about the tools and machines used by farmers more than 100 years ago. These were the tools that enabled Vermonters to thrive as farmers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Our early afternoon was spent visiting the small and large (and I mean large) animals.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and video clips as much as I enjoyed traveling through the exhibits with the third and fifth grades.

Please Note Tomorrow is photo day at TGS. Also, the fifth and sixth grade classes may take a hike during lunch and PSD tomorrow. Please send your child to school with good footwear, a light jacket, and a lunch that can be carried in a backpack.

News from 5th Grade

Dear Parents,

I trust your child enjoyed the first few days of school. I observed a group of kids enthusiastic about being together and jumping into new games and academic projects. We had to contend with a fair amount of rain early in the week but today was beautiful and we spent the afternoon outside engaged in games designed to promote positive group dynamics.

On Tuesday, we started reading Jean Craighead George’s story My Side of the Mountain. Students will read this book aloud in class and independently at home. The reading responses that accompany these assignments are intended to cultivate critical writing skills. You’ll notice that I ask students to build a paragraph while responding to a given topic sentence. Ultimately, each of the paragraphs will be linked together to form a complete essay tracing the main character’s development. Please feel free to discuss the questions with your child and to help him or her generate clear and specific responses.

In math, we have started reviewing basic multiplication facts through a variety of exercises and games. Today, students began working to find the factors of whole numbers using several shortcuts. For example, a number is divisible by three if the sum of its digits is divisible by three. A number is divisible by six if it is divisible by two and three. A number is divisible by nine if the sum of its digits is divisible by nine. I hope you’ll help your child commit these shortcuts to memory, as they will facilitate our work with math throughout the term.

In science, we have begun a building project in which students design and construct a small wooden cube capable of supporting a minimum of forty pounds. Students began this project on Tuesday by sketching a solid wooden block and then practiced drawing a cube by using vanishing points. On Wednesday, each student worked to generate a plan for building his or her cube including two perspectives and measurements. This activity taxes spatial reasoning, draws on math and measurement skills, and exercises the imagination. We'll culminate this project by testing each cube for strength in a hydraulic press.

The third and fifth grade classes are off to the Tunbridge Fair next Thursday. The purpose of our visit is to attend the agriculture / education day. Our students will visit Antique Hill and observe demonstrations including timber framing, wooden water pipe making, type setting, and rope making. We'll also visit the large and small animal barns. Students should pack a lunch and snack as usual. We'll be leaving TGS on the school bus at 7:30 promptly and we'll make a stop at the Westminster Heights Rd. Park and Ride (The road that leads from below the I91 North bound exit 5 to the Kurn Hattin Home. The Park and Ride is just opposite the enormous solar panels at the Green Mt. Power offices.) Teacher Linda Kosiba will be waiting at the Park and Ride until the bus leaves at 7:40. If you get to the Park and Ride and Linda is still there, the bus has not yet arrived! We'll return to TGS in time for the PM bus run.

I'll be at TGS with the door open at 7:10.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Thursday night, September 29, is our overnight camping trip at Merck Forest. Included here is a basic packing list in case you want to get a jump-start on packing. Trip details will follow. Let me know if you would like to come along.

Each student will need to bring the following items:

• a pack for equipment
• sleeping bag (and sleeping pad, if you have one)
• WATER BOTTLE(S)
• flashlight (optional)
• hat with brim (optional)
• sunglasses (optional)
• mess-kit or plastic bowl, plastic plate and mug
• spoon, fork and knife
• bathing suit and towel (optional)
• sturdy shoes for walking
• 1 pair long pants
• 1 pair shorts
• layers of: fleece or wool, a long sleeved shirt, vest and raincoat (It could be cold at night...Let’s be prepared)
• wool socks

Pictures and News from Day One and a Note from Hop

Dear Parents,

We had a busy first day in 5th grade. Students began the day with a general overview of the classroom and some expectations. We played a few games designed to draw the class together with a focus on listening and fun. Ask your child about Speed Rabbit. We read the first chapter of Jean Craighead George's book My Side of the Mountain and took the first steps into a science building project. We played a multiplication factors and product game and started working in our math journals. The rain kept us indoors more than I would have liked but the day was punctuated with an outdoor game of Clay Pictionary.

Paul Hopkins (7th grade homeroom teacher) sent out this reminder.

-Charlie

Hello,

Quick reminder: Laurie Penfield (8th grade teacher) and the eighth graders will start selling pizza tomorrow (Wednesday). The price is $2 per slice. The money goes to the yearlong fundraising efforts for the eighth grade.

Thanks,

Hop