5th Graders share their Science Journals with us...

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Week of November 26th

Wow! I can't believe that November is over and December starts tomorrow. Where has the time gone. I hope that everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and had an awesome week with your children. This week in math we continue to work with addition and subtraction facts. We will continue this over the next few weeks. In writing we learned how to take notes on a topic and are using this information to add to our inforrmational books. In Social Studies we are learning about Native Americans and comparing their lives to our live today. In Reader's Workshop we continue to work on fluency and are focusing on character develop in our independent reading and groups. On Thursday we had the privilege of going to a 5th grade team where the 5th grade students shared their science journals with us. This is great preparation for us as we will be working with Science Journals on our next science unit starting towards the end of January. Check out the pictures in the Smilebox from our little trip. I want to thank all of the families who are helping out in some way for our table at the Craft Fair. Thank-you for taking the time to do this. Have a wonderful weekend, Nancy

Fastt Math

Fastt Math is a web-based program purchased by the Shelburne Community School to provide students with an opportunity to memorize facts in a research based way. We have upgraded this year to the “Next Generation” of the program and student response has been great! The “Fastt” in Fastt Math stands for “Fluency and Automaticity through Systematic Teaching with Technology.” Based on research about how information goes from working memory to long term memory and on knowledge of how children develop fluency with basic math facts, FASTT Math is proving to be a great resource for students who use it 5 or more times per week. Your child’s teacher recommended an operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division) based on classroom performance and assessments. When students first log in (or if they wait 30 days between lessons) they are given a typing test and fact fluency test that customizes the program for his/her ability level. When your child has mastered all of the facts in the operation that he/she started with, we can move him or her on to the next operation. Some students will be using Fastt Math at school and all students who are enrolled in the program can use it from home. We strongly recommend that you encourage your child to complete the lessons at home. Research shows that completing a minimum of 5 lessons per week allows students to make significant progress. Students completing more than 5 lessons per week move even more quickly. From what we’ve seen so far, the games and activities included in the new program are motivating students to use the program. To use Fastt Math: Find the Fastt Math link on the SCS website (from the home page to “Curriculum” then “math”) Once you are at the FAStt Math site, click “Go” and it will ask for your username and password. Usernames are first and last name - all lower case with no spaces, for example “johnsmith”, and the password is “math”.

Week of November 12th

It was so wonderful to meet with all of you for conferences. It was nice that your children got to share their Portfolios with you and show you some of the work that they have worked hard on. Thank-you again for coming in. This week we finished up our Unit on Chemical Engineering. We worked to improve a playdough recipe. (check out the pictures below) Unfortunately we did not have enough time to really perfect it but students now know the process they need in order to do this. They were given some optional homework in their Friday folders if they would like to work on this at home and then bring in a recipe to share with the rest of the class. It will be neat to see if there are similarities between the work that students do. When we return from break we will be starting a Long ago and Today unit which focused on Native Americans. Last year our focus was on Colonial America. I hope that everyone has a restful vacation and a Happy Thanksgiving! Nancy

Week of November 5th

It was a busy week. We had Hands Nature on Wednesday. I would like to thank Colleen, Lynn, Cecelia, and Caitlin for coming in and teaching about Predators and Prey. We learned about some animals that were prey, some animals that were predators and also some animals that were both. We put on skits that showed how prey can protect themselves from the predators. We heard a story about the cycle of life and why it's important to have both prey and predators in the world. We ended the morning by working with a partner and drawing super predators with special adaptations to help them find their prey. We learned a lot!! We were also lucky and had a visit from a women from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. She brought several instruments from the orchestra with her and told us about the different sections that the instruments belong to. After we got to try out the various instruments thanks to some wonderful parent volunteers and student interns from UVM. I'd like to thank Kay, Kathleen, Dave, and Yutaka for helping us out. Some of the instruments we got to try out were flute, harp, cello, violin, xylophone, drums, tamborine, trumpet, trombone, and the baritone horn. We have some future musicians in our midst:) Please remember for conferences next week to bring your child with you so that they can share their portfolios with you. I am looking forward to seeing everyone next week. Have a wonderful long weekend, Nancy

Hands on Nature and VSO Petting Zoo

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Seminar for parents on Mindfulness in Schools comes to SCS

On Tuesday evening, November 13, from 7:00-8:00 PM, Shelburne resident Marilyn Neagley will present a free seminar on mindfulness to all interested adult community members in the SCS Library. This presentation will be of particular interest to parents and care-givers of children at Shelburne Community School, where mindfulness training has recently been introduced and integrated into parts of the curriculum. The goal of this forum is to inform parents & care-givers of what's already going on in schools. Marilyn will introduce mindfulness to parents and show how mindfulness can look when introduced to a classroom. Then parents & care-givers can help reinforce the mindfulness exercises that the children are learning in the classroom. Marilyn is the Director of Talk About Wellness (www.talkaboutwellness.org) and co-editor of Educating from the Heart (www.marilynneagley.com). She has led three in-service trainings for SCS and has most recently presented at the Vermont School Counselors’ Conference and at the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children. This seminar is presented by the SCS PTO as part of its mission to strengthen the partnership between the home and the school. Marilyn’s presentations are sponsored by grants from the Ferguson Foundation and from Holly Bartlett Johnson of Wind Ridge Publishing. Free babysitting will be provided by the PTO. Please contact Alice Brown, 985-4918, if you have any questions.

Week of October 29th

A huge thank you to those parents who sent in treats, juice and paper products for the 'Harvest" party this week. We had a terrific time. We read a Halloween story, played games and made spider wrist bands. It was a fun party for everyone. We had a visit from Madeleine's Dad, Dave, during science this week. Dave is an engineer who shared with us the engineering process of designing and improving bike helmets. A big thank you to him for taking the time to share this information with the team. This coming week, on Wednesday, November 7th, we will be taking our class picture. This is also picture retake day so if your child is having their picture retaken please send in the original picture that was sent home and dress them appropriatelyfor this. We will also be visiting the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Petting Zoo on Thursday, from 8:30-9:30 am. If you are interested in helping with this activity, please send me an email. Finally, a quick reminder to sign up for a parent conference on our web page if you have not already done so. Have a great weekend!