It has been an amazing math week in our classroom. The children have been engaged in everything from counting to 10 with the sets basket to multiplication with the multiplication bead board. Here's some of the math work that's been keeping us busy:

• Aiden working with the Binomial and Trinomial Cubes
• August, Corbin, Delia, Hailey and Tucker building numbers with the Golden Bead Bank
• Ava identifying numerals to 100
• Ciana learning about place value with the 45 Layout
• Avery learning about teens with the Teen Beads and Boards
• Lila learning addition facts with the Addition Strip Board
• Lydia and Max working with quantities 1 to 10 with the Bead Stair
• Mark learning addition facts with the Addition Chart
• Rhys learning multiplication facts with the Multiplication Bead Board
• Senji exploring the bead chains
• Talia practicing numeral formation

Hailey builds numbers with the Golden Bead Bank	Ciana completes the 45 Layout
Senji works with the 5-squared chain

Many thanks again to Jen Betit-Engel for organizing and carrying out the CH playground workday last weekend! Pegboards are going to be so useful for organizing shovels, snowshoes, and sleds. And the Red House lives on with wooden reinforcements and a fresh coat of paint!

Please continue to send your child to school dressed for the weather. Coats, hats, mittens, warm boots, and snow pants, as necessary, are essential as the days become colder.

Looking forward to seeing Grandparents and Special Friends next Monday.

Melissa & Ellie

• classifying triangles by side and angle
• comparing the body functions of fish and amphibians
• learning about adjectives
• reviewing contractions and capital letters
• how to take 1 away from 1000 with the golden beads
• learning the reason for the seasons
• becoming better readers!

To end our busy week, we took a trip to Amherst College's Bassett Planetarium to enhance our study of the sun and earth, and space in general.  Many thanks to our parent drivers Karen Blumberg, Ellen Garvey, Rebecca Fontaine, Rachel Zamore, Andrea Burke, Rita Ramirez, Leigh Marthe, and Amanda Rupard.  

 

Haytown Revelers	Studying the functions of a fish
Haytown Sweet Shoppe Owners	Chocolate Factory Employees
Leaf Grinder	Working on sketches for their big book

How to bind a book

This week the fourth and fifth year students traveled down to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Students enjoyed a guided tour of the ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman galleries. After lunch, students continued to explore these galleries as well as galleries throughout the museum. Thank you so much to our drivers who spent the day with us.

To better understand topographic maps, students built mountains and valleys out of clay. They then used rising water levels to create two dimensional maps of their creations. This work connects to the students' exploration of watersheds as part of the Work of Water study.

Please join on Thursday, December 19 at 2 pm until dismissal for our Upper El Museum. Students will display their recent project work and answer your questions about their work. You can also visit the Museum on Friday morning from 8:30 to 9:00.

On Friday, December 20 the Upper El will host its annual Present Making Day. Students will have the opportunity to make several small hand crafts throughout the morning. We do need parents to run 'workshop' tables during the morning. Students will move from table to table throughout the morning, with generally five students at one workstation for about twenty to twenty-five minutes. Past crafts have included snow globes, candles, window stars, and pop-up cards. If you would like to be part of Present Making Day, please contact Tom.

Helen Schmidt, interim Director of Children's Programs at River Gallery School (and Tula's mom!), has asked us to share an exciting announcement.

The River Gallery School has received a grant that enables us to offer full and partial scholarships to students for our upcoming short course and spring term enrollment.  We will work with each family to determine what they can pay towards the cost of the six-week short course in December and January or the fifteen-week spring class starting in February.

Our midterm course runs for six classes from December 2nd to January 24th.

The fifteen-week spring semester course runs from February 3 to May 26th.

This is a wonderful opportunity for students who might not otherwise be able to take advantage of high quality art programming in a safe and nurturing environment. We would love to have as many students as possible be able to benefit from this opportunity. For more information, please contact the River Gallery School.