Kindergarten

Ms. Kicza

Thank you to Clayton’s mom, Hillary for coming in so we could ask her questions about making maple syrup and for hosting us at the sugarhouse! We had an awesome time and learned a lot! Hillary gave everyone their own maple syrup so they could enjoy more of Winding Brook Farm’s delicious maple syrup at home. Yum! Thank you to Emilia’s mom, Liz, helping us out on the trip.

The class has been hard at fun work learning about making maple syrup in so many ways. They just finished writing and illustrating a group book about how it is made. Look for a copy coming home in your child’s envelope. They are beginning individual writing pieces. Each will choose one of three questions about maple syrup to answer through their writing.

First Grade

Ms. Fisk

Thank you so much to our families who

came in and made the conferences

successful. The first graders were very

proud to share their hard work.

We just started our new Module for

EL. We will begin to learn about birds,

their bodies, and how to care for them.

The first graders have planted the idea

of hatching our own bird eggs in the

classroom! We will continue to talk about

what this could look like.

During math, we started discussing

whether a shape is symmetrical. We are

also working on our math facts to 20.

Second Grade

Ms. Denney

In math we have practiced recognizing

multiples of ten, one hundred, and one

thousand by using paper clip chains. We

worked together to create chains until

there were one thousand total paper clips.

During phonics we focused on when we would use the different spellings of

the long a sound. We have finished up our

narrative writing pieces! Students published their stories by creating a cover

and writing an author’s note or dedication

page.

Third Grade

Ms. Cote

Students are proud of typing up their plate tectonics essays. As we have wrapped up that unit, we still relish a good rock hunt. In Outdoor Ed, students worked in teams to identify rocks based on a brief description. They really have learned a lot. 

Our next segment of learning is about the effect of flooding on Vermont in history. Students will be learning about the Flood of 1927 and Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Please share with your child any personal stories of where you were in 2011. 

In math, we are wrapping up a unit and are heading into more work with multiplication and division. This week's spelling test keeps getting delayed. The test is now scheduled next Tuesday, the 11th. Students have been practicing their words here with classmates.

Thanks again for all of your support. 

Fourth Grade

Mr. Walker

The 4th graders have been working so hard on their math this year. Among the interesting things that they did this week was completing a crossword puzzle using their math knowledge. I posed a question to them, which was: Are you smarter than a fifth grader? This is based off the game show. Some of the crossword questions were at a 5th grade level. The kids loved it and rose to the occasion. Well done 4th graders!!!

Art

Ms. Aurora

Last week Newton students got a chance to work with Lynn Murphy, an Abenaki elder craftswoman who visited Newton 2nd-8th grade art classes. Lynn brought some of her baskets and beadwork to show students and we were blown away by her amazing art. Students then got a chance to use some of Lynn’s awesome bead collection to create their own jewelry. The art room has looked like a jewelry store all week!

Music

Ms. Brooke

Mark your calendars for ARTS NIGHT!!: Thursday, June 1, at Barrett Hall. 

K-4 has shifted focus to the Big Night. We are choosing songs to sing as respective classes, on top of the originals recently created with our visiting artist. 

5th grade has started filming! Any volunteers are welcome to help, especially those who know about movie making! Email me if interested. 

Sixth-8th grades have started presentations for "Soundtrack of My Life" and it is beautiful! The students have really dug deep and we have covered a lot of topics so far, learning a bunch about one another along the way. Ask your middle schooler to share it with you! We have some teachers joining in on the fun, too. 

Library/Media

Ms. Simone

Some students have been enjoying using the recording studio during browse time, making short videos all on their own. As we start planning our year-end projects, I applied some editing tools to their videos to show them all the ways they can present what we've learned about being readers this year.

Stay tuned for these and other library media projects!