News, Pics, and Video

It was a busy week in fifth grade. Today, students continued to read from Facing the Lion. The story of Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton's experience as a Maasai child and as a student at a missionary school is extraordinary. In class, we read and discussed Lekuton's initiation into the warrior status of his culture. I was impressed by how fifth graders respectfully considered this aspect of Maasai culture. Please let me know if your child was confused by any aspect of the reading. Students also worked on drawing maps of Africa.

Today, we started the design component of a wooden bridge building project. Again, I was impressed by how students participated in the Q and A component of this project. I emphasized that the purpose of the project can be summarized in four points.

• To exercise planning and math skills
• To challenge artistic vision and construction skills
• To practice working with an expense budget
• To understand how the forces of tension and compression affect a bridge structure

Students will begin building bridges by the latter part of next week and complete the project before the Thanksgiving break. On a separate note, take a look at the newspaper bridge testing video clip posted below.

During today's PSD, the fifth and sixth grade hiked to one of Putney's archaeological mysteries. Located about three miles from TGS is a stone chamber built into the earth and capped with an enormous stone roof. Entry to the chamber is possible through a small opening in the cap stones. Scholars have attributed the construction of the structure to Celtic explorers, Native Americans, and New England Farmers. The jury is out on what theory is correct.

Next Monday in Halloween. Fifth graders have asked about wearing costumes to school. We discussed this at faculty meeting and decided not to have grade students wear costumes. That said, after school on Monday, there is a seventh and eighth grade home soccer game. The students traditionally wear costumes during the game. If fifth graders want to change into costumes at the end of the day and then stay in costume to cheer on their schoolmates, I'll make a very short dress-up time available.

Dear Parents,

This week marks the beginning of a school wide cultural study of the Maasai. We have started off in the fifth grade with a geography and mapping project and we have begun reading Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton's biography Facing the Lion - Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna.

In science, students are testing newspaper bridges for strength. Today, we took a trip to The Creamery Bridge in Brattleboro to set the stage for our work designing and building wooden bridges. Students made sketches of the interior structure and of the bridge in profile. We climbed across, around, and under the structure in an investigation of how a truss is made.

In math, we have been looking at place value and learning to divide by powers of ten. Tonight's homework is a place value puzzle that is tricky but not impossible. You might want to look over your child's shoulder as he or she completes the exercise.

X-C Invitational

Dear Parents,

I hope your child had a pleasant long weekend. I understand that there was a lot of soccer played on Saturday and Sunday and that the students played with heart. Mary Heller has asked me to spread the news that we'll be hosting an Invitational X-C running race this Wednesday, Oct. 26. All TGS students are welcome and encouraged to participate. We'll have a course walk at 3:30. I would be more than happy to offer a homework free night if it would encourage participation.

Immediately following the course walk: .5 mile race for 6-8 year olds, 1 mile race for 9-11 year olds, and 1.5 mile race for 12-14 year olds.

We need teams of at least three TGS boys and three TGS girls in each age group to qualify for the team trophies.

Thanks so much for rallying the troops.

On a separate note, I am attaching a link to an interesting New York Times article on education. It's thought provoking.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?_r=1&emc=eta1


Charlie

PSD and Social Curriculum in Action

Today, I am attaching a copy of the PSD and Social Curriculum description. I thought you might be curious to see these programs in action through the eyes of your child. In the attached pictures, you'll see activities that bring kids together in the spirit of fun and cooperation. Listening is an emphasized skill as the challenges become increasingly difficult. You'll see pictures of students on low rope challenges. Here, safety of the individual is paramount and hinges on the focused attention of spotters. You may see a picture of your child helping another student into a climbing harness or spotting as a classmate climbs a ladder to a high rope element. You may see your child traversing the catwalk. Know that these are challenges that are taken on by choice and that the successful completion is underscored by the attention and support of the entire class.

PHYSICAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: Physical skills development in grade five is a program designed to give a child a chance to develop physically through play, games, skill tasks, core strength, and movement activities. Activities are planned to stress various underlying themes of the program: strength and endurance (muscular and cardiovascular), coordination, game skills, sportsmanship, and social interaction.

SOCIAL CURRICULUM: The social curriculum at TGS is designed to complement the academic curriculum and help maintain a healthy social and learning environment. Fifth graders are continually engaged in games and group and individual challenges that are designed to promote positive social dynamics. These activities complement and reinforce the classroom-based social curricular activities and goals. We define a healthy school community as a place where people have a sense of belonging, where adults and students extend and receive respect in their relationships with each other, and where people feel both a sense of support and personal challenge to help them learn and grow as human beings. Class activities help highlight and develop important community skills such as cooperation, team building, personal and social responsibility, listening, mindful speech, emotional literacy, respect for diversity, conflict resolution, stress reduction and relaxation, self-awareness, and problem solving.

A Great Day on Monadnock

We had a great hike up Monadnock! The weather was perfect. The students were challenged by the hike and did a superb summiting Southern New Hampshire's tallest peak. We could see Boston!

Thank you Marjorie, Natalie, Joanne, Amy and Ned for your support with the students, your driving and your enthusiasm. Some students missed the pm bus on our return trip. I hope this wasn't too great an inconvenience.

5th graders are currently engaged in the second unit of the math curriculum - Data Collecting and Interpreting Probability. Last week, we watched a fun Bill Nye movie exploring probability. We've conducted two probability tests and worked to interpret the results. The math draws on skills in calculating the range, mean, median, and mode within a data set. Students also need to perform calculations that hinge on correct interpretation of place value. Tonight's math homework is something of a puzzle. A number of calculations need to be made. Place value is the emphasized principle. While the puzzles are tricky, each follows a pattern that is explained in the written directions. If your child is confused, please read through the directions with him or her. It is appropriate for your child to use a calculator.

In science, we are actively making newspaper bridges. We're reading from David Macaulay's book Building Big and learning about the forces of tension and compression. By the middle of next week, we'll test our newspaper bridges for strength. Watch for blog posts and video clips!

In English, we've nearly finished reading My Side of the Mountain. Students have been using laptops at school to revise individual written responses to the reading. Each student has a nearly completed a second draft of a critical essay tracing the main character's development and decisions.

Tomorrow, we're off to hike Mt. Monadnock. This is an exciting opportunity and a first for fifth graders. The weather should be perfect. To be prepared, students must have comfortable clothes and shoes to hike in. Students must also have warm pants, a coat, a hat and gloves or mittens. These latter items should be carried in a pack along with a lunch and adequate beverage. I recommend packing a relatively light fleece jacket and a light rain coat rather than a heavy parka. The combination provides some flexibility in layering for warmth. We'll leave TGS (8:35) in cars if we have enough seating or we'll travel by school bus. We'll return to TGS by 3:00.

Students should pack a snack in a separate bag so as to have easy access during the drive to the trailhead.

If you need to contact me during the day, my cell number is (413) 230-4897

Parent Information Nights

I kept my fingers crossed for rain throughout the day and each time the sun broke through the clouds I regretted canceling our trip. The forecast, however, is for continued rain tonight and a cold and wet day tomorrow. I think canceling was the right call. I look forward to scheduling an alternative overnight trip in either the winter or the spring. This Friday, we’ll head to Mt. Monadnock. The weather promises to be beautiful.

You may have seen the following announcement in the last Wednesday Notice. I’ve attached the pertinent information as it pertains to fifth grade.

Parent Information Nights

On October 4th and 6th The Grammar School will host our annual Parent Information Nights, formerly called Curriculum Nights. We have renamed and refocused these evenings for two reasons. First, the faculty has realized that our curriculum, in whole and in part, is available and well spelled out in our Curriculum Guide on our website and via Teacher Pages.

Secondly, a Parent Information Night allows the faculty to disseminate important, timely, and topical information related to, and in some cases beyond, the curriculum and allows for questions and answers.

This year's Parent Information Nights will be as follows:
On Tuesday, October 4 at 6:30 pm, teachers of kindergarten through 5th grade will focus on mathematics in their classrooms. We hope you will come join us for an informational evening that will provide a hands-on opportunity to experience a math lesson in your child's class, as well as an overview of mathematic topics at your child's grade level. Classroom time will be followed by an opportunity to listen to short presentations by the teachers of Art, French, Music, and Library.

I look forward to seeing you at the Parent Information Night and to sharing some of the math materials and manipulatives currently being used in the classroom.