We have made it to Thanksgiving break and I just want to say that things are changing so often it is hard to keep up!
Health HUB vaccination clinic and others
Please note that there seems to be a slight shortage of pediatric (age 5-11) vaccines at this time. For the time being, Health HUB is asking that folks take their kids elsewhere for vaccinations, as we can only fulfill the second doses of those who have already started with them at the last Covid vaccination clinic. There are many clinics out there or if you get onto the state's web portal.
Testing in School
We are not doing surveillance-type testing in the school at this time. This means that we are not participating in the testing that surveys kids and staff on a weekly basis. We are, however, doing the other two kinds of testing, so if folks are interested in getting their student(s) or close family member tested either during a quarantine-contact event, or due to having symptoms, you will have to sign up and give permission through the portal that was provided in Jamie Kinnarney's letter to the community dated November 15th. YOU ARE NOW REQUIRED TO DO THIS VIA THE PORTAL AND NOT USING A PAPER COPY. Please review that letter for more information, and PLEASE SELECT "RESPONSE" under the Consent Type column -- do not select "Surveillance."
I hope everyone has a safe, happy Thanksgiving!
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At our Creative and Crafty Kids program students recently made butterflies that could flap their wings. Using two straws and some creativity, students learned how to engineer movable art!
December Session of One Planet
Starting on December 6th, we are doing a special December Session. Here is our schedule:
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The December Session will be from December 6th - 21st. There will be no One Planet on December 22nd. Please fill out this form to sign up for the December Session. Email Jennie with any questions! |
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The next PTA meeting will be Tuesday, December 7 at 6PM. |
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Have a fun, safe and yummy Thanksgiving! |
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Hello, Newton families! We have been learning and growing together beautifully here at Newton this trimester. The students have really engaged and challenged themselves in my SEL classroom time with them. The elementary students have just finished a unit on self-regulation in which they learned about the main parts of the brain and the ways in which they can each use the prefrontal cortex to keep control when they are experiencing difficult and/or intense emotions. Ask your student how to use their hand to model their brain. In conjunction with our discussions and activities, we went through the Mineola Grows! Self Regulation Series. If you would like to see an overview of what your elementary student learned with me recently, check out mineolagrows.com. |
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This week we focused on:
- the letters p and j.
- information on the front cover of a book, including title, author, illustrator.
- how to share interesting parts of a book with other people in class.
- the Thai holiday Loy Krathong with informational videos, photos, and coloring pages.
- Saying hello to each other in different languages including Japanese, Spanish, and Thai.
- patterns using interlocking cubes, paper, and body motions.
- Writing the numbers 6-10 using hands, sand, and paper and pencil.
- two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes, including circle, cone, and cylinder.
- celebrating K, 1, 2 children naming a VT plow truck “Rumble,” with a visit from its driver!
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First Grade
Mrs. Robinson
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It’s been a busy and fun couple of weeks. Recently we read a picture book called The Boy Who Drew Birds. This book is the story of John James Audubon when he was young and doing lots of exploring about birds. We then painted feathers with Tempura paint. It was amazing to see the results! They are beautiful! As soon as I take them off the bulletin board, I will send them home. As an extension of this, the first graders invented a new morning meeting bird call greeting. Becky has been helping us learn new calls.
The highlight of our week was a visit by “Rumble,” the VT state snowplow that we named. Spencer brought it by on Wednesday and the K-2 had a chance to look all through it, inside and out! Spencer’s route is from Thetford to Norwich on I-91. Keep an eye out! There is a sign on the driver’s side of the body that says Rumble, and Newton School.
We are about halfway through our read aloud, The Great Googlestein Museum Mystery. Yesterday we watched a video showing what the real museum looks like inside.
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It has been such a fun week! On Wednesday, we were visited by a
snowplow that we had the chance to name Rumble! In math we completed unit 2 and began thinking about twos and recognizing patterns. In reading we looked at illustrations and found writing that showed how characters are thinking and feeling.
After reading the story Balloons Over
Broadway, we began a STEM project where we designed and created
balloon floats for our own version of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!
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Well, we did it. The third graders completed what I call the hardest math we will encounter in third grade. They had to develop skills to close read, just like in reading class. They had to read and re-read. They had to go slowly. They had to check their work. They had to see if others agreed with their answer.
These were a variety of strategies to add or subtract two and three digit numbers. We had the "removal strategy", made popular by the pantomiming of chainsaws to subtract. We had the "finding the difference" strategy, where we essentially add up or count on to find a subtraction answer on a number line. Then, the pièce de résistance was the "constant difference" strategy, where we add to each addend the same amount so that they are easier to add in our heads. This makes a strange Batman symbol.
They had to be patient and wait until it was time to make a decision. They had to be very engaged learners. We even went over by 10 minutes in math due to the distraction of snowfall. It was a tough class, but we are all in this together and the students and I persevered.
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6-8 Humanities, 5 Social Studies
Mr. Breen
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In 6th grade Humanities, we just finished presenting out our research on important Supreme Court cases and their relationship to the Constitution. Meanwhile, the 5th grade is just now wrapping up their work on Pre-Columbian North America, while the 5th grade is getting started on Colonial American history. The 7/8 is also starting to get busy drafting up creative writing projects, and preparing for book reports. |
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6-8 Math & Science
Mr. Reimanis
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The 7th and 8th graders have been continuing learning about physics by listening, reading, doing, and asking questions. The most recent experiment was about buoyancy (Archimedes' Principle) and also creating a density column out of fluids with different density and different colors. We have a great crew of thinkers and problem solvers! |
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Leading up to Veteran's Day, we learned about the military origins of marching bands. After listening to the Armed Forces Medley, we did some marching of our own outside with instruments. We expanded upon that the following week, learning about all of the different instruments in an orchestra. A great story that illustrates their respective sounds and tones is Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.
As we look towards our next holiday, we are inventing our own instruments to play out of kitchen gadgets. You are forewarned that there might be spontaneous utensil jams while your potatoes are boiling.
I am grateful to be making music with and getting to know your kids! Happy Thanksgiving!
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Grade 7&8 have launched the first episodes of their podcasts! There are more to come, but check out their released content on the Newton Media website, and follow them on Spotify!
You will also find the Strafford News Network on the Newton Media website, as well as our Vimeo channel! |
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THE NEWTON SCHOOL
newtonschool.org
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