The Newton News

8 November, 2022

Three young girls are in a tree on a sunny fall day. They are dressed warmly.
NOVEMBER LUNCH MENU

Upcoming Events


School Board Meeting

Tuesday, November 8

5:30PM


No School - In Service

Thursday, November 10


No School - Veterans Day

Friday, November 11


Thanksgiving Break

November 23-25

CLASSROOM NEWS

Middle School Social Studies

Mr. Breen

In Social Studies, the 5/6 students completed their first research loopswe got research on Irish mermaids, Russian pelicans, Swiss churches, Austrian architects, and a huge number of other great topics. The kids did a great job. In 7/8 Social Studies, we're wrapping up our first unitthe kids have done great research so far on topics like fashion, wildlife conservation, the meatpacking industry, and disease prevention in early 20th century America. 

Middle School Math

Mr. Reimanis

Last week the eighth graders checked on the saplings that the middle school planted last spring as erosion control in the riparian zone of the Ompompanoosuc river between the villages. We found that many of the tamarack (larch) trees survived better than expected and are in good shape. The other species' survival rate was as expected, about twenty percent. The deer love to nibble the buds of the other young trees. This spring we will return to see which ones made it through the winter. The photo is of a surviving tamarack, a deciduous conifer (loses all of its needles in the autumn and bears coned for seeds).

A blond child in a yellow shirt is looking at a chart of temperatures and following the graph line with his finger.

Kindergarten

Ms. Kicza

We finished up a project about noticing a weather pattern. For several days in October, we looked at the temperature early in the day and late in the day and graphed it. This week we looked at the graph, connected the points with lines, and discussed what we noticed. Each morning the temperature was lower than the afternoon. After talking about it in the group, each student drew what it looked like and had to say the weather pattern we found in their own words. This was a challenging project, and they did great!

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A group of young student stand close in a circle looking down at the classroom.

First Grade

Ms. Fisk

Our classroom was busy with one group

sewing, building, and finishing our

Magnificent Things for our room.


During math, we are learning how to use

dominos to make addition equations.

We have started practicing spelling

words with the short vowel e.


Our Halloween celebration was full of

fun. We listened to a story around the

fire, ate donuts, painted, and had a

mummy race.

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A dark haired child in a yellow shirt is making a building out of cardboard. He is painting the outside of it.

Second Grade

Ms. Denney

Second grade has been busy after a fun filled Halloween celebration to start our week! We have been working on representing hundreds, tens, and ones using beans, unifix cubes, and base ten pieces. In phonics we learned about closed syllable exceptions and began to identify vowel teams.


After reading various narrative nonfiction texts, we discussed how each author provided us with information through a story format. Our community place STEAM projects are underway! Students have been creative in finding ways to build a model of the place they believe is most important to Strafford.

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Math problems on a white board

Third Grade

Ms. Coté

We did it! Ask your child about painting the Painted Essay. This is a big step moving forward in third grade. Our many weeks in school have been practicing our hand paragraph structure and inserting evidence with elaboration on known topics. We also "write" orally by sharing our ideas in a similar structure at our morning meeting or writing class. Writing also gives students a chance to be creative, as they have been painting before writing. This offers a great creative outlet. We have reviewed the narrative elements and are practicing summarizing mostly fiction texts.


In reading, students have been contemplating the author's message as I read aloud to them from a variety of texts. Our guided reading groups continue to meet and they are progressing in their comprehension. In science, students have been learning about why the honey bees are dying. The causes are both man-made and natural. In math, they have been working on counting by tens and noticing the pattern in a group of numbers, especially when the digits in the ones, tens or hundreds' place change. They have been practicing making loops with groups of symbols in them to visually represent their mathematical thinking. We are going to learn more about multiplication now until the rest of the year. It is helpful for students to use what they know and build on that prior knowledge to make connections to new ideas. 

SCHOOL & COMMUNITY NEWS

Lunch Room News

Ms. Gret

The school salad bar, featuring (left to right): lettuce; cucumber; grapes, melons, mushroom; tomato; carrots; cauliflower; hard-boiled eggs; and cottage cheese.

The Clean Tray Club is BACK!!!!


Starting on Monday, November 7th any student that finishes all the food they take on their tray at lunchtime for at least 10 days of the month will be entered into a drawing for a prize.


All students have to do is get their lunch tray, eat all their lunch and then show Gret their “clean tray”.


At the end of the month all the students’ names who have qualified will be put into a hat and one winner will be drawn for the prize of the month and have their photo in the newsletter.


All students will be rewarded with the knowledge that they have created less food waste and can enjoy full bellies for the rest of their learning day.


Spread the word….the Clean Tray Club is back! Yahoo!

The Newton School

South Strafford, VT 05070

802.765.4351