Day 70 - Courage- A Gift to Mrs. Heffernan from a thankful parent says it all

Day 69- Shared by Mrs. Grant

Dear Teacher

In Teacher and Child, noted psychologist Haim Ginott includes a copy of a letter that a principal sent to his teachers at the beginning of each new school year.

Dear Teacher,

I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness:

Gas chambers built by learned engineers.

Children poisoned by educated physicians.

Infants killed by trained nurses.

Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates.

So I am suspicious of education. My request is: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.

Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.

Day 66- Who was Mozart? Yuseff Grade 4

Please check out this link!
http://youtu.be/zu1gCXqojNQ

Day 68- Frankie T. Grade 4- The Immigrant Experience

The immigrant experience- We had a guest in our classroom today.


We learned about the history of immigration. "I was in the journey over group. We got bags and my bag had the statue of liberty. I learned that when the immigrants saw the Statue of Liberty, they knew their journey to America was over."

Day 67- The Musgraves- A Simple Thank You

This morning we received numerous notes of thank you for keeping the Hood School students safe. The Musgraves sent in coffee for their teachers and explained to me that it was a simple thank you from them to us for keeping them safe. They reported that "we are happy that we have such a safe school."

Day 65- Ms. Calvo- Band Instructor

 

Proud Performers - On Thursday Dec 13^th, the Hood Chorus, Beginning Band, and 5^th Grade Band Performed in their first concert of the year!  The Chorus, Directed by Mrs. Ruth Clark, opened the concert with the Star Spangled Banner, followed by Don Gato which is a funny song about a beloved cat that came back to life after suffering a terrible fall.  They also sang Do Re Mi Fa, Tender Sheperd, Walking in the air, The Sleigh, and Winter Fantasy.  The students had to learn some tough harmonies for a few of these pieces, but they sang them with beautiful tone and confidence.  It was obvious that this group has tons of talent.

The 5^th Grade Band played second and they have all worked very hard for the past few weeks to prepare some difficult music.   Under the direction of Miss Jillian Calvao, they performed two classic marches – March Militaire and School Spirit – followed by Riverbend Rhapsody and Auld Lang Syne (AKA the New Year’s Eve Song).  Through this music, the students learned challenging rhythms, tempo changes, and stylistic differences between musical genres.  As such a small group, each student had no choice but to perform their part 100% in order to put it all together correctly.  That can be a lot of pressure for any musician at any age, but they all stepped up to the challenge and handled it well!

The last group to perform was the Beginning Band.  These students have only been playing their instruments for about 10-12 weeks and this was the first time they have ever performed as a band in front of an audience.  It is exciting to see the Beginning Band’s transformation throughout the fall, and they did a fantastic job on all 4 of their concert songs.  They played Mozart Melody, Jingle Bells, and My Dreydl, which were all from their book.  The grand finale of the performance was when the 5^th grade band joined the beginning band on stage for the last piece entitled St. Nick’s on the Housetop.

Mrs. Clark and Miss Calvao are both very proud of their students and what they were able to perform.  The next concert for each group will be the All-Town Concerts at the end of April and beginning of May. 

Day 64- How Children Succeed Bookstudy Quote from the group

"Work Hard.Be Nice"

 http://www.joannejacobs.com/tag/paul-tough/

Day 63- Susan Crockett- Student in Mr. McKay AIC Course

 "Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be a victim. Accept no ones definition of your life, but define yourself."

Day 62- David Biedrzycki- Visiting Author & Illustrator

More to follow

http://www.davidbiedrzycki.com/Home.html

Day 61-We Can Be Very Different and Still Be GREAT Friends- Alexis, Joelle & Caitlin

Click the link below:
http://youtu.be/t1POQvCButE

Day 60- Riordan- Geocaching Student

Geocaching Class #4

After watching a NASA video on how GPS receivers work. There are 29 satellites that orbit the earth that enable you to find your exact location. You only need 24 to find your location. This helps you find geocaches.

Day 59 The Student Council annouces....

It was 20 years ago yesterday that the first text message was sent. It was Dec. 3, 1992, and Neil Papworth, an engineer working in the UK, sent the world's first short message service or SMS. It read "Merry Christmas."
But while most are entering their prime at age 20, the text message might just be past its glory years.
 


The History -- In More Than 160 Characters
Papworth,  hit the send button on that first text. At the age of 22.
But, of course, it turned into something very big "Years went on and people were able to start to send text messages. It took quite a few years of it to take off," Papworth said. "But by the 10th anniversary it was fairly big”

And it became even bigger than that. In 2010, the International Telecommunications Union reported that 200,000 text messages were sent every minute and 6.1 trillion texts were sent worldwide.

Day 58- Ella M. & Daley The Pilgram Visits Grade 3

Today we had a guest from Plymouth Plantation in our classroom!

We learned alot from our guest! He comes from England. He is different than us because he was from a different culture. He wore different clothing, he greeted us in a different way and if people from his time didn't go to church, they could get arrested because it was the law that eveyone needed to go to Kings church in England.


 

Day 57 Joey & Samantha Grdae 5

Today we were learning how to play the piano. We learned learned how to play the under 3 and over 4 as a keyboarding technique.

Day 56- Kiera & Amanda Grade 3

I was able to discuss science with some of our third graders. I walked through Mr. Larsen’s classroom and observed some student made weather stations and observe an immense amount of excitement when I asked the students what they learned in this unit from our Know Atom curriculum. The student told me that they created weather stations that included thermometers and barometers. They told me what they learned about air pressure and its impact on our climate.

Day 55- Mrs. Molle, Principal of Little School

Day 54 Mr. Quinn & Mrs. Heffernan on Chapter One- Paul Tough

Through our book study work today, we learned that the most resilient students tend to come from families where positive interaction is a common occurrence. We need to be mindful that we need to support and develop all children to meet their fullest potential. This includes exposure to increased vocabulary, emotional support and how to persevere through difficult times.

Day 53- Iain Jones Grade 5 Student & Cub Scout

Iain Participated in the6th Annual Halloween Candy Collection“Treats for Troops.”  He and his pack from the Tiger Cub Scouts of Pack 729 collected Halloween candy to share with our troops as part of Operation Troop Support. 

This year, with the help of the Student Council, the Hood School community donated over 180 pounds of candy!  

According to Iain he learned that many people care about our troops and want to help them anyway they can. 

Day 52, Mrs. Linda Welch- Hood School Staff

18 members of our school staff participated in this years Turkey Trot. It was great to get  together and work together to meet a challenge. I learned that:

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”

Day 51- Mr. Quinn's Grade 5 Class!

Thanksgiving!
http://youtu.be/pDss6gVU9w4

Day 50 Gavin & Sophia Grade 5

Gavin and Sophia were in PE class today. They were dancing along with Just Dance 2.The entire class was engaged. It looked like a flash mob. Gavin told me that it was fun and Sophia it was a chance to get moving.
We learned that school s can make learning fun and exercising is important. They learned some new songs (Jackson 5) and had some fun with their friends.

Day 49- Shea and Sam Grade 4

Shea and Sam participated in the Wax Museum project today.

Please see a clip of them as Victorian and David Beckham.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLRfl1Aa4jA&feature=plcp

We learned facts about our characters. For example David signed his first contract at the age of 13 and that Victoria is the 52nd richest female in Britain.

Day 48- Grade 4 Ryan, Sarah & Calista

Today as I walked the school I observed 3 students presenting their wax museum scripts.
Ryan told me he was learning about the famous people. Sarah was learning facts about Jackie Chan& Calista was sharing facts about Vera Wang.

Day 47- Caitlin, Mia & Joanna on Technology in Grade 5

These students were engaged in learning utilizing our ipad cart. As I videoed theme and continued to think about student engagement. The three students shared with me what they were learning. 

We were learning how to multiply decimals. The assignment was to make a tutorial using the Ipad. We were asked to design a lesson like we were teaching  fourth graders.

We were using the app from the ipads to create this. We got an app update while we were doing this and this update allowed us to type onto ipad. This looked neater with the new version.

Day 46- Open Circle- Samantha G. Grade 5 Student

Open Circle has a strong emphasis on cultivating a climate to prevent bullying behavior, as well as teaching children the tools necessary to advocate for both themselves and others.Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is a process for helping students develop the knowledge, understandings and skills that support positive behavior and constructive social relationships. SEL is an approach that teaches students to recognize, regulate and express the social and emotional aspects of their lives so they can operate successfully in the world and manage life tasks. According to research, social and emotional learning increases self esteem and well being and, at the same time, works to prevent negative behaviors such as violence, truancy, and bullying. Research has shown us that children who feel safe and are able to work with others in a classroom learn more effectively, have a sense of responsibility, and care about others.

Our goal is for all students to feel cared about, welcomed and valued by all members of our elementary school community. Furthermore, in recent years we have learned that the social competency of children is strongly tied to both social and academic success and the development of higher-level thinking skills.

I was out at recces today and I was pleased to see some model Hood School students in action. I was able to discuss Open Circle with a student and asked her what she learns in Open Circle. Samantha keenly noted "in Open Circle we get to know each other better and understand each other. We learn what we have in common so we can have good conversations and make new friends. It is nice to get to know everyone."




Here is a link to an article that I wrote a few years ago!
http://reading-northreading.patch.com/articles/what-is-open-circle-and-social-emotional-learning

Day 45- Natalie & David- Kindergarten Students

How can you combine Thanksgiving & Math?

Mr. Reynolds Kindergarten Classes have the answer!


David and Natalie worked on two things to help create this fantastic bulliten board. They helped create addition sentences and were able to write down what they were thankful for.


 

David told me that he is thankful for his Mom & Dad.
Natalie noted that she was thankful for her family.

Day 44- Two members of the Forni Family

McKenna learned that it is fun to have guests come in and read to her class. She was surprised and happy it was her mom today. My mom "showed us that reading is fun!"

Day 43- Julianna F. Jullet B. Grade 5 Students

In PE/ Health we learned that 
"when you sneeze without covering your mouth it can spread 12 feet away." & "If you sneeze and cough on your hand there can be almost 10,000 germs spread."

Day 42- .Rachel Anastasia, Special Education Teacher, Bathchelder Elementary

I learned several things today!  I learned...

-How to better plan double dose Fundations lessons and facilitate individual progress monitoring in a small group situation with the proper data collection.

-How to better support regular education instruction at the tier 2 level in and out of the classroom.

-Intervention focus areas for Fundations: accurate word reading, automaticity, fluency within connected text

-Appropriate benchmarking is classroom and school based; BUT  progress monitoring is individually based and measures rate of improvement over time.  

-DIBELS progress monitoring can be used weekly and each trimester for grade 2 progress monitoring as they do not have one within fundations for grade 2 but since they learn all six syllable types in second grade it corresponds well and culminates at the end of second grade appropriately. I am now ordering DIBELS next for grade 2 to appropriately progress monitor my students. 

Overall, today gave me the strategies, tools, materials, scope & sequence to provide stronger Tier II instruction in a small group in and out of the classroom and to collect and assess their progress with appropriate accurate monitoring tools.

Day 41- Brooke M. (5), Nicole H. (K) Giving to the Troops

Today we participated in the Hood School Treats for Troops

We learned  "learned that we must give back to the troops for helping our county."

We collecting the candy for the soilders because they help us.

Our Treats For Troops program is an opportunity for all Trick-or-Treaters to donate their Halloween candy to American troops overseas. This is a terrific chance for even the smallest of children to feel like they're a part of something that's bigger than all of us.



 
 

Day 40 Ms. O'Connell- NRMS Principal

A middle school student asked me the other day if I am excited about the building project more as a North Reading parent or as the principal of the middle school. It's a great question.  I had to think about it for awhile.  While I am thrilled that my two sons will get some time in the new high school (one will get 1 year and the other 2 years), I am more excited about what the building project means for the North Reading community.  During the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday morning I was so proud to represent the middle school.  I am very grateful for the opportunity to lead the middle school through this project. What an exciting time for North Reading.

 

Day 39- Olivia & Kayla- Grade 5 Students

What did you Learn Today?

In Science class we  learned about Motion & Speed today. We had the chance to test the race cars that we made. We wanted to see how far our vehicles would go. The goal was to see how far our cars could go based on the design.

We had Fun!