First Branch Newsletter: Vol. 6

Volume 7 March 17th, 2023

The First Branch Newsletter

A bi-weekly newsletter from Principal Janet Cash and Associate Principal Kate Liptak featuring photos, stories, and updates from the Chelsea and Tunbridge schools.

Important Upcoming Dates

March 20th -30th - PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES

March 31st - NO SCHOOL, In Service

Greetings First Branch Families!

We want to send a ‘thank you’ to the First Branch communities of Chelsea and Tunbridge for showing up on Monday, March 6th, engaging in dialogue about students, and ultimately passing the school budget with the addition of world language and preschool. It is clear that these two communities want the best for their children and are supportive of a robust education.

We’d like to welcome our two new school board members Bill Smith and Allen Ackerman. In addition, we’d like to welcome everyone to join us for our meetings which take place the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30 (locations alternate between the two towns).

If you have not done so already, please sign up for a conference with either your child’s classroom teacher (elementary) or advisor (middle school). This is a great opportunity to connect and hear about the learning that has been happening in the classroom as well as ask questions.

Spring sport sign ups are nearing completion! First Branch is excited to offer both a middle school softball and baseball experience this year for students ages 12 and above. Please contact our Athletic Director, Kyle Diezel at kdiezel@wrvsu.org for assistance with signing up.

While thinking of spring is nice, we are still very much in the winter season. Please continue to send necessary winter items for outdoor learning.

Principal Janet Cash

Associate Principal Kate Liptak

Elementary School News

Second Grade with Ms. Caitlyn

Students in both 2nd grade classes have been working hard to create a piece of artwork and writing piece to submit to the Vermont State Growing Works of Art contest. This contest is used to promote Arbor Day and give students an opportunity to appreciate how trees make a difference in our lives. Students have written a paragraph about a tree that is special to them and a memorable experience they have had with that tree. Second graders chose to write about trees at their homes or nearby forests, trees they experienced on vacation and even some special trees at school. Through this experience students have been able to practice paragraph writing skills, narrative writing and taken part in all steps of the writing process. Students also used watercolors and oil pastels to create beautiful artwork to represent their trees.

Second Grade with Ms. DePaul

Students in both 2nd grade classes have been exploring the term measurement and all the different ways and items we can use to compare objects. While working within the measurement unit during math students have created their own tools. Together, we have discovered how to measure both small and large objects with manipulatives we refer to as inchworm, footworm, and yardworm tools. Within this unit, students must use their best estimate to predict how long places are. Second graders then work together to see how close their estimates were to the actual measurement. Students have used their team building skills to successfully measure the length of the hallway, both classrooms, and from the second grade doors to the office.

Art with Ms Dee

Students recently finished a movie making Unit using the camera on a Chromebook or a tablet and lots of toys, stick bots, and assorted materials. All students in these grades learned how to make stop motion animations in the app Stop Motion Animator and using the camera on their ChromeBooks.

Grade 4 is finishing an anti-bullying stop motion video making Unit that they have been working on for several weeks. Students are using Stop motion Animator or the cameras to capture the photos and will learn to use We Video to edit their movies.

Middle School News

5/6 Math with Mrs. Colby

5th graders have been busy in math class working with decimals, and continuing to explore multiplication and division. Students are wrapping up Unit 3 which involves ordering decimals, rounding decimals, adding and subtracting decimals, and looking for patterns in these operations. We explored what happens when you multiply a number by ten or divide a number by ten, and are using these skills as they carry into our next unit.

6th graders recently completed the “Let’s be Rational” unit, which focused on adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. Many of the problems students worked on involved needing to decide which operation was needed to complete the task. We are currently working in our “Covering and Surrounding” unit where we have begun to explore the area and perimeter of shapes. We are also examining what happens when you have a fixed area or fixed perimeter and looking for patterns. Students are continuing to recognize the importance of knowing the basic multiplication facts for 0-12 and how often those facts are continued to be weaved into current math problems.

5th Grade Math with Ms. Cavanaugh

5th graders have been busy in math class working with decimals, and continuing to explore multiplication and division. Students just completed Unit 3 which involved ordering decimals, rounding decimals, adding and subtracting decimals, and looking for patterns in these operations. We explored what happens when you multiply a number by ten or divide a number by ten, and are using these skills as they carry into our next unit. This week students started a new Number Corner for March and are learning how to multiply multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm. To help them with these skills at home, check-in about their homework. I typically assign homework in math M-W, although some days there won’t be any. Also encouraging your child to practice their basic multiplication facts of 0-12 will help them tremendously going forward. We have a wonderful class full of curious, enthusiastic, and strong mathematicians!

7/8 Math with Erik Anderson

7th grade math class has been working on proportional reasoning and similar shapes. Students learned to identify similar shapes and then used scale factors and ratios to solve for missing information. Students applied this skill to estimate the heights of objects that they could not measure, like the height of the school shop. After making their predictions we brought out a ladder and tested to see how accurate they were. Many students were within a foot or two of the building's actual height. We are now applying proportional reasoning to other situations.

8th grade math recently completed a unit on the Pythagorean theorem. As part of their assessment the class was asked to come up with a plan for laying out a 1,200 square foot rectangular garden. They needed to choose dimensions and a system to ensure that their layout met the criteria. Students were then given a 100 foot tape measurer and 4 stakes and asked to set up their garden on the baseball field. There were several clever solutions to getting by with a single tape measurer. The class is now studying patterns of exponential growth and exponential decay.

Art with Ms. Dee

Students are working on their choices from six projects introduced to them this trimester which include; The World of Sports, Transportation Design, Imaginary Islands, Little Ghosts, Monsters, Super Heroes. Students choose what they want to create from the create tasks in the projects and spend quality studio time working. All students put photos and information about their projects plus a self reflection and peer reflection into their digital portfolios on the Art room Google Site.

Thank you for reading the First Branch Newsletter!