Monday, September 26, 2022

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! 

We are going to try again this Friday to head over to Negutaquet Conservation Area. The students came so prepared last Thursday! So far, the forecast looks great! ;-)

A reminder we are collecting boxes for our volume project next week. Thank you to those of you who have sent some in. 

Math - This week we will be investigating the volume of figures made up of more than one rectangular prism. 

Language Arts - We will start a non-fiction reading unit to prepare us for our science investigation. We will talk about non-fiction text structure, evaluating reliable resources, as well as the steps in the research process. 

We will continue with picture book mentor sentences to label parts of speech and practice sentence structure. 

The students will also be having a spelling test on the 100 Frye list for 5th grade. 

Science - The students will be starting a self-guided exploration of water on our planet. We will spend this week investigating many topics on water through articles, videos, and websites to spark our curiosity. Then the students will be able to choose a topic that they are most passionate about or want to investigate further. They will research, explore, question, and create a final project to share with us all they have learned along the way. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. The best way to get a hold of me is through email. I try to check it multiple times during the day, sara.lindgren@rsu35.org

Have a great week!

Reminders:

• Friday, September 30 - Long hike with Woodland and Wonders
• Thursday, October 6 - Field trip to GMRI
• Friday, October 7 - Teacher Workshop Day - No School
• Monday, October 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School

Monday, September 19, 2022

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Today I will be sending home a permission slip for a field trip we will be taking on Thursday, October 6th. We will be headed to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute to participate in LabVenture. You can read all about it on the permission form. If you can get those back to me as soon as you can, that would be great!

This Thursday, we will be headed to Negutaquet Conservation Area where we will be collecting data on the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid with the Woodland and Wonders class. We will be headed out around 8:45 and returning around noon. We will eat lunch when we come back. Can you please make sure your student comes with comfortable walking shoes, a small backpack, a water bottle, and a snack? Also, dressing in layers is always a good idea. If there are any parents that would like to volunteer to join us, please let me know. We can take one to two parents along with us. 

MGWS has sponsored the Eben Ezer School in Milot, Haiti for many years. A few local residents are headed to Haiti in October and are hoping to bring down some much-needed supplies. Here is a list of what they are hoping to have donated:

• Toothbrushes (travel size if possible)
• Toothpaste (travel size if possible)
• Soap (travel size if possible)
• Eyeglasses (prescription, reading, and sunglasses are wonderful donations)
• Painkillers (Advil, Aleve, aspirin, Tylenol, etc) 

Math - This week we will continue learning about volume. We will be moving away from the visualization using blocks to figuring out volume just by knowing the side lengths.

Language Arts - This week we will most likely finish The Cay. The focus will be on making connections, visualizing, and making judgments in our reading. 

I will also introduce Mentor Text Sentences. I pull sentences out of picture books we will read to dissect them. It will reinforce sentence structure, grammar, parts of speech, and punctuation.

Social Studies - We will continue this week with geography, finishing up with latitude and longitude.

Science - Every Friday the students will be participating in some sort of science, technology, engineering, or art activity. We call it STEAM Fridays. On Friday, ask your student what this week's activity was. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. The best way to get a hold of me is through email. I try to check it multiple times during the day, sara.lindgren@rsu35.org

Have a great week!

Reminders:

• Thursday, September 22 - Long hike with Woodland and Wonders
• Thursday, October 6 - Field trip to GMRI
• Friday, October 7 - Teacher Workshop Day - No School
• Monday, October 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School

Monday, September 12, 2022

Happy Monday! We had another great week last week. Now, for a fun-filled, learning-packed 5-day week. :-)

Math - The students have created rectangular prisms using snap blocks to figure out volume. Through exploration, we are coming up with the formulas V=l x w x h and V=B x h

Language Arts - This week we will be reading chapters 3-11 of The Cay. We will discuss; comparing and contrasting, inferencing, asking questions, and making predictions, all through discussions and writing about our reading.

Social Studies - During the next two weeks we will explore a short unit on geography. We will have a refresher on continents, oceans, landforms, latitude, and longitude. The students will color maps, create an interactive notebook, as well as use Google Earth. 

Science - Every Friday the students will be participating in some sort of science, technology, engineering, or art activity. We call it STEAM Fridays. On Friday, ask your student what this week's activity was. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. The best way to get a hold of me is through email. I try to check it multiple times during the day, sara.lindgren@rsu35.org

Have a great week!

Reminders:

• Friday, October 7 - Teacher Workshop Day - No School
• Monday, October 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Not a good impression when I am late with our blog the very first week! ;-)

We had a wonderful first few days. I can already tell that it's going to be a great year!

If you can, please vote for Marshwood Great Works School to win a grant to help fund our outdoor classroom endeavors. https://winterkids.org/portfolio-item/marshwood-great-works-school/

Math - We have started Unit 1 in math. This unit will focus on the volume of rectangular figures.

Language Arts - We have started reading the novel, The Cay by Theodore Taylor. It is a classic story about friendship and survival. We will read this book as a whole class so I can model book clubs, write about reading, vocabulary, and have great class discussions. 

Other - We have been completing a lot of connection projects. The students conducted interviews with their peers and are creating slideshows to present what they have learned. This is a fun get-to-know-you activity as well as an introduction or reintroduction to creating slideshows as a possible project modality. 

Science - Every Friday the students will be participating in some sort of science, technology, engineering, or art activity. We call it STEAM Fridays. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. The best way to get a hold of me is through email. I try to check it multiple times during the day, sara.lindgren@rsu35.org

Have a great week!

Reminders:

• Friday, October 7 - Teacher Workshop Day - No School
• Monday, October 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School