February Vacation Dreams 2020

February Vacation 2020
Vacation is coming to a close and school starts back up tomorrow.  I hope you all had a fabulous and fun vacation enjoying many different activities!  I cannot wait to hear about all of the exciting things you did over vacation!  Did you spend time with friends and family?  Did you go away some place warm or cold?  Did you see any good movies?   Please add to our Padlet  by clicking on the  + button to share a couple of fun pictures and sentences telling about what you did over your vacation.  We will be sharing the padlet tomorrow to brainstorm and share to help with our writing while getting back to the school routine.

Visit from Meteorologist Hayley LaPoint

A Visit from WMUR's Channel 9  Meteorologist

Hayley LaPoint

The children had the opportunity to meet  WMUR's Meteorologist Hayley LaPoint.  She was a Topsfield resident and a Masconomet graduate.  She gave the children a behind the scene look at what being a meteorologist is really like!  It was so much fun and everyone learned so much!

Here's a quick snap shot of her sneak peek at work!

In class, the children have been learning about meteorology, different types of weather and the different tools used to measure weather.  Ms. LaPoint was able to give the children wonderful examples of weather and what being a meteorologist is really like.

 Who are meteorologists?

Then, Ms. LaPoint described different types of clouds and what they mean for the weather.  She even had the students learn had motions in order to learn them.

 Cumulus clouds are puffy.

Cirrus clouds are high.

Stratus clouds are flat.

Nimbostratus are rain clouds.

What is a thunderstorm?

The children will be learning about different types of severe weather and how to stay safe.  This was a great introduction to learning about this topic.

A huge thank you to Ms. LaPoint, Meteorologist from WMUR Channel 9, for coming to visit!

And,

a big thank you to the Middleton PTO for organizing such a great visit!

Thanksgiving Day Dinner Table STEM Challenge

Thanksgiving Day Dinner Table  STEM CHALLENGE
Challenge Assigned: Can you make a dinner table large enough to hold all of  Thanksgiving Day food (without overlapping)? Students were given a copy of the paper food, dominoes and popsicle sticks.  The children were to use the dominoes as the legs of the table and popsicle sticks as the top of the table.   Although the task was challenging, the children work cooperatively with partners.  They had to persevere and try different designs when their plan didn't work.  The biggest obstacle for the children was building the table large enough for the food to fit.   Vocabulary terms were introduced: balance  perimeter area surface  
Engineering skills, science skills involving weight and balance, stablility, surface and area, as well as mathematical reasoning were used in this challenge.

 We hope you can try this challenge at home and let us know of your successes or failures. Comment below to let us know!

 In Kindergarten, we really want the children to know that with failure comes success if you never stop working at it.  Keep on trying and looking forward.  It's the POWER of YET!

*This Thanksgiving Day STEM Challenge was created by Brooke Brown.

Happy Thanksgiving 2019

Happy Thanksgiving 2019

During this month of November, the children have been learning about Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful.  Please add to our padlet by clicking on the plus button and share and add pictures what your family is thankful and grateful for.   We will be sharing the padlet to celebrate Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2019

Happy Halloween 2019 What a fun and successful party!  Thank you to all who donated party items such as popcorn, fruit, waters, goldfish, napkins and plates.  Thank you to the parent volunteers who came in to help out with our party!  It was a very busy and FUN time! We had 4 stations: Station 1: FOOD!! The children got to eat popcorn, goldfish, and fruit along with water!

Station 2: THE SPIDER BUCKET!!   Using the tongs to grab a spider through the web!

Station 3: SPIDER RACES! Using a straw, the children got to blow the spider to the end!

Station 4: Ghost Toss!

Toss 5 ghosts into the bucket and see how many you get in!

The faces and smiles from all of the children show the BOO-tiful time we had celebrating Halloween!

Thanks again for all of your donations!

Pumpkin Exploration

Pumpkin Exploration Day

Last Friday, the children got to explore 4 different stations during our 

Pumpkin Exploration Day! 

To get the children ready, we read the story How Many Seeds in A Pumpkin? 

by Margaret McNamara.

This story was a great introduction into facts about pumpkins.  For example:

Every line on the outside of a pumpkin contains one row of seeds on the inside!

The darker the orange color of a pumpkin means the longer it grew on the vines.

The longer a pumpkin grows on the vine, the more lines it will have.

The larger the pumpkin does not mean it will have the most seeds.

We had some amazing help with some special guests: Mrs. Baker, Digital Learning Specialist and Ms. Clemenzi, Math and Science Instructional Support Specialist.  The 4 stations included:

1. First predicting the height and width of the pumpkin.  Measuring a pumpkin with links for the width and cubes for the height.

2. Sink or Float?  First make your prediction.  Next, explore and conduct the experiment to find your answer!  Also, how many lines does the pumpkin have???  Predict first, then count!

3. Have you ever scooped the seeds from inside a pumpkin and felt the flesh?  What do the seeds feel like?  How many seeds did you scoop?

4. A pumpkin seed cycle... color and get ready to put the pictures in the correct sequence. Then, read A Seed Grows to practice our reading skills.

Station 1 with Ms. Clemenzi

Station 2 with Mrs. Baker

Station 3 with Mrs. Newton

Station 4 with Mrs. Gorman

Look for your child's Pumpkin Exploration scientific packet coming home very soon!

It was a great day!

A very special thank you to our special guests!

October Newsletter 2019

Dear Families, 

It is hard to believe that September has come and gone so quickly!  School has gotten off to a great start! The children have made a great transition to kindergarten and getting settled into Fuller Meadow School.  We are enjoying our daily routines and making new friends. It is amazing to see the kindergarteners grow and learn, and each month brings such new adventures! 

It was wonderful to see so many families at Open House!  It was nice to have time to share some of the great things we do in Kindergarten.  We also had an awesome first field trip apple picking at Smolak Farm. What beautiful weather for apple picking, eating cider doughnuts, and drinking apple cider!  

In the month of October, the children will continue to be learning about letters and practice the correct letter formation.  The children are encouraged to write their name with one capital and lowercase letters! Reader’s Workshop has begun and the students are building reading stamina during read to self.  We will also be introducing making connections and retelling, as well as the story elements: characters and setting. The children will continue rhyming and playing phonemic awareness games.  Popcorn words or sight words will be starting very soon. More information will be sent home shortly. 

In the Math In Focus program, the children have been focusing on numbers 0-5, as well as the concept of same and different. In October, the students will expand the concept of same and different and learn the numbers 6-10 and their corresponding value.  Please practice number formation at home and counting with 1-1 correspondence.  

The children have been enjoying Writer’s Workshop and using illustrations to tell a story. We will continue learning about the fall, apples, pumpkins, Columbus Day, and some Halloween activities.  It will be a great month of learning! 

Important Dates:

No School Monday, October 14

Progress Reports : October 18

Halloween Parade: October 31 at 10:00 Costumes must come in backpacks please. No Masks or face paint.

Halloween Party: October 31 at 2:10