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Greenfield Center School
Monday Bulletin | |
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Dear Families,
We hope you had lots of opportunities to be outside this weekend. It was gorgeous and we seem to be headed into some more lovely days. The themes of spring can be found across the school right now. Upper Middles 6 is selling fall bulbs and plants to raise money for their end-of-year overnight trip. Mups are studying the weather. Uppers are starting Ultimate Frisbee. Mid-Ums and UM6 begin Body Education this week. Yes, it's spring and we're ready. We all need a little more light, some warmth and some hopeful budding
The "Crafternoon" on Friday night was a delight. A huge thanks goes to Jen Stromsten, who organized the whole kit and kaboodle. Thanks, too the parents and kids who were our teachers on Friday night. It was an impressive display of skill. Please see Jen Stromsten's report, below, along with a good deal of fun photos!
As we slide into mud season, please remember to send extra clothing and footwear for your children. Our school very much believes in outdoor play in all manner of weather. We are never dampened by the falling of spring rain. In fact, water and mud seem to beckon to classroom teachers and students alike, providing plenty of dirty and damp garments to bring home. Remember, too, that as children move out of hibernation mode, they may need: extra snacks, a full water bottle, sunscreen and/or visored hats. As it warms up, we'll give a dress code reminders to older kids.
Like an awakening and shaking off, lots of classes are having field trips. If you are one of those parents who drives, drives, drives, thank you! If you are not, but would like to be, please don't hesitate to let your classroom teacher know. If you are one of those parents who is almost always unable to drive, please don't worry yourself one little bit about it!!!! We all have different schedules/demands/situations. Please know that the whole community understands that everyone works hard to support the school in their own way!
Here we go, off on another week, ready to greet the world. Thanks for all your work, energy and love.
Jane and Terry
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Mups
MUPS had a spectacular first swimming lesson. Everyone enjoyed themselves. It is so wonderful to see the children in the water. They are all experiencing the surroundings with enthusiasm and noticing new talents and engaged with one another in a whole new way. (see Allison's photos below!)
We begin a photography unit with John Nordell, Andrew and Meredith's dad, this week. This week we explore what makes a good picture. We look at photos and think about our own ideas for subjects. Our weather unit also kicks off this week. Paul Hathaway, Sophie's dad, will come in to show us some weather mapping tools he developed for airline pilots. It is a real blessing to have parents who make time to add to the richness of our learning. We are grateful for the many different ways parents manage to support our classroom, from driving, to shopping, to sharing time and experience that enrich our themes and curriculum in general.
We hope to share our van Gogh inspired paintings at this week's All School. And we cannot wait to play out in the sunshine! Hallelujah!
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Primes
Dinosaurs Beckon!
Send in your booster seats and car seats on Tuesday morning. We will travel back in time to the Shea Theater to see Dinoman-The Science Series. Thanks again to many generous parent drivers who have rearranged their busy work lives to help us out.
Last week while the snow pack was still here Winton, Noah's Dad, wondered whether snow changes weight when it melts? The Primes wrestled with this question by weighing snow, watching it melt, then weighing the resulting water. Did it weigh more, the same or less? To find out, they made initial predictions based on previous experimental results that convinced them that water takes up less space when it melts. Most Primes were sure that the snow would logically weigh less when it became water. Now that they saw the results they were surprised to discover that the weight didn't change at all! Interesting math was necessary to interpret what they observed. Some of the first year Primes focused on making mathematical comparisons. They noticed that the metric balance we used was still level after the snow melted. They concluded that the weight of the water was the same as the snow. Some of the second year Primes hacked away at a giant subtraction problem since they wanted to know exactly how much the snow/water weighed when it wasn't in a container.
Is spring really here? This will be one of the many topic's that we will explore this week. If the weather continues to cooperate we will likely go for several hikes to search for signs of spring. We will also make still life portraits of flowers. Does the 'quality of light change as the days get longer?' The second year Primes have already begun using a sensitive light meter to measure if there is a shift in the wavelengths of light toward the wavelength that activates photosynthesis. It will take weeks to gather the data. We plot our data on graph paper and compare our observations with those made in previous years.
Happy Spring!
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Mid-UMs South
We had a fantastic, hard-working, rewarding We We had a fantastic, hard-working, rewarding week. After many hard hours researching the different regions of the US we arranged the information onto beautiful posters and taught each other a little bit about the West, South, Midwest, and Northeast regions of the US. For example, we learned that Michigan grows 75% of the sour cherries in the US, Texas used to be part of Mexico, that Lake Erie was once considered "dead" because the pollution was so bad, and the largest city in the West is Los Angeles, CA. This week we finally start work on our State Study!
We will also begin work on our annual spring puppet show/play production. This year our theme is the Wonder Tale and we have written stories based on fairy tales, folk tales, legends, and fables. Four of these tales will be translated into scripts this week and then work on props, sets, and puppets can begin!
Finally, you are all invited to come take a look at the beautiful charcoal drawings of trees we created the other week. They are displayed on the board outside our classroom. While we drew and smudged we thought about the direction the light was coming from and tried to reflect that in where shadow, darkness and light fell across the paper.
Please remember that fourth graders go swimming on Tuesday and should have their bathingsuit and towel in a bag to bring with them the the YMCA.
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Mid-UM NORTH
Mid-UMs North had an exciting, adventurous week. For our physical education, some of us went swimming at the YMCA and will be swimming for the next few weeks. We studied the 4 regions of the United States, and presented our knowledge of the Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. Groups shared regional information about political and physical geography, historical events, important persons, and made maps for each region. In art, we explored the variety of ways to create portraits and self-portraits, and uses scanners, Photo Booth, plastic panes, and mirrors to create images of ourselves and our classmates.
This week, we begin Body Ed, our study of individual states, and we have the rare opportunity to create with cameras, and experience the art of digital photography. Stop by to see our artwork...it's dangling from the ceiling and dripping from the walls!
Merideth
read Tuck
Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt |
UM 6
Hola... Yo soy Rocio. Quien es? UM 6 began our introduction to Spanish last week. We got to choose traditional and common Spanish names and introduce ourselves. This class is intended to be a basic exposure experience for the language that will help prepare students for Spanish classes in the future.
We also began lit groups revolving around the Underground Railroad movement in US history. Students are either reading True North or Freedom Crossing. In theme class, we watched a video on slavery and the founding of our country. As we watched the video, students took notes reflecting on the effects of one's actions- the essential question we have been focusing on in UM 6 all year. This week, students will be assigned an individual anti-slavery abolitionist to study and begin a variety of assignments connected to that person. Also, we will be having Tony Derricotte (Cameron's dad), visit the class to teach us some African and Slavery songs. What a treat!!!
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Uppers
In Social Studies the Uppers have been studying the Mill Girls strikes of the 1830's and the Bread and Roses strike of 1912. They are learning the dynamics of worker struggles, but are also pushing themselves to understand what a truly equitable economic system might look like and what tactics might be employed to make it happen.
In addition, many 8th graders are working in small groups preparing to teach their peers about modern rather than historic worker struggles. They will be teaching their classes over the next two weeks.
Barb's 8th grade Math class will begin factoring polynomials with leading coefficients this week. They've worked really hard building their skills to get to this point. They start with the "trial and error" method and then will be introduced to a little known mathematically graceful method!
In Science the Uppers have made some interesting discoveries about bacteria growth and the effects, or lack of effects, that small amounts of antibiotic have on the bacteria. We will continue to observe the samples over the course of this week.
Quiz: You are in 9th grade and you get a day off. What do you do? Yes, of course!!! You visit your elementary school. Last Friday, June graduates Emily, Wylie, Oona and Emma came by and spent the day with the Uppers! It was great to see them and have them around! All are doing well at their new schools (Four Rivers, NMH and Amherst High).  |
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BULBS
Gladiolas... Dahlias... Echinacea...
Interested in planting blubs and perennials this spring? Buy your bulbs from a UM 6 student. We are having a flower fundraiser to help us pay for our end of the year trip to Kroka Expeditions... a wilderness adventure program. Stop by the UM 6 classroom at pick up or dismissal to order your bulbs from any UM 6 students. Thanks for your support!
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 Seed Store
Spring is coming, it really is, and so is the 2009 Seed Store. Soon, I will be sending pictures of this year's seed varieties to the classrooms so that students can begin making their wonderful drawings. Perhaps they can do some at home!
I have posted pictures and descriptions of the plants on a Brick Building first floor bulletin board. Please check it out. We are featuring several new varieties, plus some old favorites that folks ask for, year after year.
HELP NEEDED
We always need help putting the labels on the packets. We begin with the back labels (plant descriptions and sowing instructions), and then, as drawings come in, are scanned, and formatted, we add the front labels before packing the seeds. If you are able to help with the labels, please either e-mail me at freeman-johnson@comcast.net, or sign up in the office. I will leave you a folder with labels, packets, and instructions.
Once the packets are filled and labeled, and parents have had a chance to buy their seeds of choice, we will send them out into the communities for the general public to purchase. .We need volunteers to find sites for selling them in their respective towns, or to take them to their workplaces, or to sell them in their neighborhoods. In Greenfield, for example, we have found that some restaurants, the Copy Shop, Green Fields Market, and the Oasis Gift Shop, have been wonderful locations for our seeds.
Anything you can do to help market the seeds will be very appreciated. This fund raiser helps to support the ski and skate program, and to support classroom and admissions activities. You can sign up in the office to take a box of seeds, or you can contact me, directly.
I hope to have the first seed store in the middle of March, and to continue having them several mornings and afternoons a week, throughout the spring. Extra sales help will be very welcomed.
I look forward to seeing what our young artists produce this year...it is always a surprise and always a thrill.
Sally Freeman-Hawks
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Crafternoon Report
Crafternoon (or crafternevening) was so much fun!
Here's a list of the craft stations:
*Jane read Tarot. Hannah and Noah's mom was blown away by the accuracy.
*Sophie Rose and Vivian, and Sophie's Dad Lawrence did bracelets.
*Isabela and her Dad David taught guitar.
*David played guitar for us which made the entire event seem more mellow and at the same time elegant.
*Amelia did May baskets and giant crepe paper flowers.
*Susan Campbell taught knitting, and we kept company by some other expert knitters and watchers including Meghan uppers teacher.
*Spencer and Isabel and their mom Holly taught origami bunny balls.
*Kathleen and her mom Ellen taught other origami shapes.
*Noah and Ezra taught bubble gum blowing, double bubbles for the advanced gum crowd.
*Bianca and Isabel taught gymnastics.
*Lucy and Elizabeth taught fingerknitting.
Everyone brought amazing food - we demolished every speck of it. From fettucine with turkey to chicken chili, delicious fruit and hummus and veggies, salads, quiches, taquitos and fried chicken!
Then dessert. Of course there pies, and banana bread, more fruit, but the big news was the gigantic chocolate bar. Most of the Primes class was there to witness the unveiling of the 10 lb chocolate bar that they won by selling the most chocolate bars! A 10 pound chocolate bar is the size of a Monopoly game box. It's as heavier than Chris Sanborn's new baby. The primes ate chunks of chocolate, and then got to pig out on s'mores (thanks to Sophie Rose and Vivian).
Once the Primes had s'mores things got a little less crafty and a little more, um, active. So it was time to wind things up and say goodnight.
Thank you to the tons of parents who just pitched in to set up, clean up, help with crafts, help transport Uppers back and forth, brought friends to check out the school. A special thanks to Kelly and Jessica who were there at 4 pm to help set up the space, and to Joel who did extra duty to prep the Finer building. And to Megan who worked the longest day of any GCS faculty member and made it look more like fun than work.
For many of us it was an excuse to hang out and spend more time with one another while we tried to look busy. One 6th grade boy said as he left "we should do this EVERY week, like with a different theme!"
Jen Stromsten
Gavin and Ezra teach bubble blowing
Isabel and Dave give guitar lessons
Amelia teaches May baskets and paper flowers
Susan teaches how to knit
Lucy is the finger knitting teacher
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 Search Committee News
Attention All Community Members!
The Search Committee wants to let everyone know that we have completed all initial interviews with 8 candidates. We are currently conducting reference checks on candidates that we're still interested in. This work needs to be completed before our community visit. Therefore, the community visiting weeks are now potentially scheduled for the weeks of March 23rd and March 30th. We are looking forward to introducing you to people we are excited about and want to make sure you all get a chance to meet with the finalists in a thoughtful way. As always, if you have any questions please let one of us know and thank you for all your offers of support and help.
The Search Committee |
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Drop off and Parking Reminders
It is time for some reminders.
1. Please drop your child off between 8:00-8:15, not earlier and not later. We cannot provide supervision for children dropped off before 8:00. Some teachers use that time as planning time and having students in the rooms is difficult. This is especially true in the Uppers.
2. Please make sure your child is here by 8:15. Class starts at 8:15 and it's hard on everyone when stragglers come in late. This is especially true in the Uppers since math starts at 8:15.
3. Parking. The brick building side lot is starting to be able to fit four rows of cars!! One, nosing the black fence. A middle row two cars deep, and a final row closer to the baseball diamond. If you park in that lot, please make sure you are not blocking anyone in. The car in front of you should be easily able to back out. The car behind you should be able to back out. Please orient yourself with our hand parking map: below.(red = the school, cardboard = driveway, white fence=black fence, black square= dumpster)
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Contact Information |
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Greenfield Center School
71 Montague City Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
413-773-1700
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Earn
$100
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If you refer a family to the Center School and they end up enrolling, we'll gladly thank you with one of the following one hundred buck options:
1. $100 applied to your tution bill
2. $100 gift card to the grocery store of your choice
3. $100 donation to the charity of your choice
Thanks for helping us keep the school full and vibrant.
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| Offer Expires: When we are full | |
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