Post Office Penguins!!!!

Enjoy these lovely works of art from Mrs. Doherty's art class.  Will be on display at the Essex Post Office during the holidays!  

Pathways for Children Toy Drive at EES!

The Student Council members met today to tally the number of toys that have been collected for Pathways for Children.  EES families have donated 108 new toys!  We need 42 more toys to reach our goal of 150. We will be accepting new, unwrapped toys until Thursday morning. 

Toy Drive for Pathways for Children

We currently have 62 unwrapped toys!  Our goal is 150!!  Please donate to Pathways for Children !!

Community Spirit is Alive and Well at EES!!!

Student council members,  Lucy O'Flynn and Joanna Shan, endure the cool temperatures while encouraging EES families to donate to the Pathways for Children toy drive.  There is still time to donate new, unwrapped toys.  Student council members will be in the zone every morning until December 17th.  The goal is to collect 150 toys for children in Cape Ann.

The Hour of Code at EES!!

Coming Up at Essex Elementary—The Hour of Code

This week (December 7^th through December 11^th) Essex Elementary School will be abuzz with talk of the “Hour of Code”. Here are some questions and answers to you may have about our teaching the elements of computer programming to students at EES?

1.   What is the Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code is a worldwide program run concurrently this week in over one hundred eighty countries and involving millions of students. All over the world students will experiment with basic computer programming thinking, creating, changing their view from using digital devices to changing what happens on the device. In essence, by thinking outside of the box, our students will be able to program their tablet or computer.

2.   What’s the point of teaching young students computer programming? Do they really need to learn this?

Computer programs are based on developing a set of steps to solve a problem or reach a goal. Learning to solve problems is essential to living in our world. What we are teaching is another approach to thinking and to creating strategies, which will better equip our students for the challenges of living in the twenty-first century.

3.   If this is a critical skill for the future, how will just an hour of coding have any impact?

Actually, our technology program has been teaching the elements of coding over the course of the school year for the past three years. While the Hour of Code lights a fire, both programming skills and creative uses of technology to solve problems are built into the infrastructure of the technology curriculum we are teaching all year long. We are excited to have participated in the Hour of Code since its inception in 2013. This year we have many new activities, which will begin with the week of the Hour of Code and continue as the year progresses. For more information, please feel free to contact Dr. Bodmer-Turner.

Toy Drive at EES!

Hailey Grainger from Pathways for Children came to the Student Council Meeting to announce their annual "Holiday Store" toy drive.  She explained how families at EES can donate new games and books so parents are able to choose gifts for their children.  Student Council members created posters to announce the toy drive to the children and staff at EES.  New games and books can be donated until December 17th.  Send the unwrapped gifts to school and place in the decorated box in the lobby.  

Happenings at EES!!!

Fifth grade ballroom dance!!  Such a great event!!!  Enjoy these pics!

Student Council Food Drive for Open Door!  We need 3 more cans per family to wrap around the entire building by Tuesday!  Can you help us reach our goal?