Health Education Day at EES!!!!

Kudos to P.E. teacher, Linda Collins, and Nurse Donna Smith for hosting an amazing Health Education Day at EES!  This was a wonderful community effort, with parents, members of the community at large, and staff providing hands on lessons on all aspects of health education.  Topics such as oral hygiene, mindfulness, nutrition, safety, tobacco education (grade 5) and movement were just some of the informative subjects that students in various grades learned about today.  I am including pictures for you to enjoy, but please ask your children what they learned today.  Thank you Donna and Linda for your efforts in teaching wellness at EES!  

SNOW at EES!!

I thought you would appreciate this picture.  This is the view from Miss Jordan's kindergarten classroom.  The students were amazed when they came in this morning.  The first two pictures are the view out the window.  The third picture is looking up under the eave of the school.  The mountain almost touches the snow hanging over the roof.   Nothing like I have EVER seen before!  I do want to assure all parents that the roof has been cleared off and the custodians have done an incredible job clearing paths for students.  The entire MERSD custodial/maintenance staff deserves a huge kudos!!….(and a gift card for a massage!!!!)

Teachers at EES share their strategies for meeting the needs of high achieving students!

Two goals from our annual School Improvement Plan are:

• Investigate options for meeting the needs of all learners including high-achieving students throughout all academic domains.    

Teachers continue to find ways to extend learning for  students during WIN time.       In order to accomplish these goals we have held two faculty meetings to share practices that teachers are using to meet the needs of ALL learners (with a focus on our high achieving students). I thought parents might appreciate a glance at what is happening at EES in this regard.  Here is a snapshot of what was generated from these two meetings: ·      Oral counting in grade 1- estimate popcorn, who has the most, strategy for counting them, explaining their strategies; questioning to extend their learning ·      Grade 1- Vary the way to express your understanding-pictures, numbers, letters and words ·      Gr. 4 and 5- book groups-parent led, higher level texts, student choice, discussion with higher level questions; teachers met with volunteers to coach them. ·      Grade 3 book groups with Mrs. Hardy.  Schedule during lunch was difficult, but WIN time worked out. ·      Grade 3- A Fence for Gretchie and Ashby.  Use a real life problem to solve, included planning, designing, and proposals. ·      Grade 3- looked at student’s interests to engage the student, specifically gymnastics, muscles and bones etc. ·      Grade 2- Open response-partners worked together and wrote together mostly student driven; students need scaffolding to solve problems-think/talk/present. ·      Grade 5- EDM projects with the higher kids; now doing it during math workshop or WIN time. ·      Grade 2 Brainteasers-third grade math problems; set the expectation high; students rise to the occasion; worked cooperatively and collaboratively; moved through the fourth and fifth grade; students were targeted-students who are always done quickly. ·      Grade K--work stations-change the specifics by using different envelopes perhaps higher number, harder words; same activity but the contents are changed; Use color coding or write their names on the envelope.  Students did not even realize that they were doing something different. ·      Grade 5- Math notebooks-change complexity of problems within the teacher’s station; use the pretest to form groups so that small group instruction can be differentiated. ·      Technology- A conversation with students about strategies; post the strategy and label their precept; changes how others perceive other students ·      Grade 1-use tangrams for visual learners, easy to differentiate by making the task more complex; riddles to solve to develop their inferring ability and then to create their own ·      Use the data you have to think about what students need. ·      Hour of Code   Dec. 8-14 ·      Grade 4- coding during WIN time. ·      Technology-  all students have access to coding; continue in Jeff’s class and students can become a teacher to others; highly motivational ·      Grde 3- coding experiences – students are sharing what they are learning with others ·      Grade 1- notebook for students who would blurt, write it down and share it with the teachers; these students get the answer quickly and provide others the wait time needed. ·      Grade 1 given a problem and choice of numbers to work out; the words of the problem stay the same.  Building a wordbook of math vocabulary in order to discuss how they solved the problem or write an explanation.  ·       Grade 5--pretest/posttest in Math; teacher has challenged students to write a song to teach others  how to do fractions-SIMPLIFY IT to the Taylor Swift song. ·      Grade 2--students are writing books during WIN that are within the genre of study; very motivational; student choice. ·      Grade 4-Harris pictures with story starter, they can write a story as long as they keep with the picture. ·      Grade 4- electronic math facts device-different levels for addition, subtraction, multiplication facts-highly motivational-timed ($15 at Toys –R-Us purchased by PTO)….THANK YOU PTO!! ·      Grade 4--keeps track of students’ needs in math, matches the needs of students to skills in IXL. ·      Library- iPads to record and listen to themselves read; reflect ·      PE.- shows the end game so that they know the steps to get to the goal; scaffolds the steps for students to reach the goal; allows students to move at their own pace; ·      Art-students naturally go higher on their own; provides choice within the project; matches the complexity of the project with the students’ abilities; challenges the students ·      Grade 5--book groups during WIN time w/ a parent volunteer; generates excitement and encourages students to continue their reading; teachers and parents selected a book to read and students chose the book to read. ·      Grade 5--whole class enrichment creating a book trailer; students selected the book to read; read with a partner; students were to write a persuasive piece; students match the genre with the music and photographs; long term goal is to create book trailers on their own for picture books for younger kids. ·      Kindergarten-sentence starters in K; students have more choice in their writing no longer have to use the starter. ·      Kindergarten-stations in reading; ABC station for letter id; Word Work for students who need to learn how to build and read words ·      Grade 3-Reciprocal Teaching w/a group that needs the strategy; the higher kids love the strategy because it provides structure; the group is more focused. ·      Special education-addresses the needs of their students by singing, speaking with accents, wearing costumes, providing memory tips, chanting, getting up and down on the floor, dancing, knowing their personalities, and constantly looking for materials to hook the students to keep them achieving. ·      Music-find places to highlight the students in a solo position; for performance based activities, he uses students who are proficient to help/teach others; allows students to create a composition on their own using what they learned when they have finished a project; reaches students who may not excel in other areas. This is just a sample of the ideas that were discussed during these two meetings.  The work the teachers are doing in this regard is very impressive….

Brrrr……It's cold outside!!!!

Miss Kelley's first grade class had a lesson in weather and temperature today.  They learned that it only takes 2 minutes to freeze a wet shirt when it is negative 4 degrees!!  They borrowed an extra shirt from the nurse's office, wet it and placed it outside.  Checked the temperature and waited…..only 2 minutes and it was frozen solid.  They certainly know now why we need to bundle up!!!  …..Enjoy these pics!  The children were amazed!!!

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!!!!

Festive last day of year at EES!  Happy Holidays to you all!  

Hour of Code at EES!

Thanks to Dr. B-T, students at EES are participating in the Hour of Code.  The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. It is a grassroots effort to encourage millions of students to try an Hour of Code during December 8-14, 2014, in celebration of Computer Science Education Week. 
"Every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science. The Hour of Code helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. If we start students early they will  have a foundation for success in any 21st-century career path." (http://hourofcode.com/us)

These pictures were taken today as some of our fifth grade students participated in a coding lesson.  Dr. B-T introduced them to the notion of coding and then shared the activity with them.  Students will create a snowflake by moving Elsa (from Frozen) across the ice. They have to follow directions at the bottom of each page.  For example, CAN YOU CREATE A SNOWFLAKE USING THE REPEAT BLOCK TO MAKE A SQUARE 10 TIMES AND THE TURN BLOCK TO TURN 36 DEGREES BETWEEN EACH SQUARE?  Each time the student is successful in following the directions, a pop up appears congratulating them.  Students are practicing their mathematical skills while creating code in such a fun fashion.  Once the students are congratulated, they can click a button to see the code that they just created!!!

Parent volunteers are supporting the Hour of Code in each of our grade level sessions in the computer lab.  Some teachers have decided to extend these opportunities into the classroom.  If your child wants to practice this at home, they can go to Dr. B-T's website to access the Hour of Code website or type in the URL.  Students have a log in and can easily continue this at home.  There are easy to follow tutorials for each activity.  

Brian Lies, Author Visit

Brian Lies Biography ( cited from http://www.brianlies.com/brian_lies_bio.htm )  

I was born in 1963 in Princeton, New Jersey, which back then was a quiet college town, surrounded by old farmland slowly giving way to housing developments. I spent a lot of time building dams and forts in the woods across the street with my best friend, inventing things, and writing and drawing with my older sister. At various times during my childhood, we had newts, gerbils and rabbits as pets. When I was in fifth grade, an author and illustrator visited my school, and I was amazed that one could have a job writing and drawing. I wished it could be my job! But I didn’t think I was good enough at either writing or drawing to even try.

I had always liked to draw, though, and kept doing it just for fun. During high school, I also painted with oil paints and made stained glass windows. I actually sold some, too—my first taste of self-employment. I went to Brown University after high school, where I studied Psychology and British and American Literature. I began to think about what I really wanted to do for a career, and what I really wanted was something that involved art. So after graduation from college in 1985, I moved to Boston to study drawing and painting at the Boston Museum School (also known as the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

At the Museum School, I started getting paintings in exhibitions and won a few prizes, and then was able to get political illustrations published in the Christian Science Monitor and the Boston Globe.

Suddenly I had a career as an editorial and political illustrator, working with a lot of magazines and newspapers. In 1989, I illustrated my first book,Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye, with Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston.

Since then, I’ve illustrated over twenty-five books, including my latest one, Bats at the Ballgame, which I also wrote.  My other four written-and-illustrated books to date are the New York Times bestsellers Bats at the Beach and Bats at the Library, Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite, and Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle.

I also get lots of work published in Cricket, Spider, Ladybug and Babybug magazines, and I enjoy visiting schools to work with students on writing and illustrating stories.

I live in a seaside town in Massachusetts with my wife, my daughter, and two cats. My hobbies are bicycling, woodworking, and tending a big vegetable garden behind the house. I’m very interested in old-fashioned food preparation, too, and sometimes try making my own kimchi, sauerkraut, cheese, and other things (including a vinegar-laced drink called switchel, which I kind of liked but which everybody else in my family thought was really nasty).

I also read a lot, which I think is important—it keeps my imagination going, and leaves me feeling much more relaxed than television does!

Thanks to the EES PTO, Brian Lies visited our school today and met with each kindergarten and first grade class.  He read one of his books and explained the writing process to our young students.  He repeatedly stated, "PRACTICE MAKES BETTER!!"  The students had great questions and comments for Mr. Lies.  He ended his visit with each class by drawing a bat picture for the students to keep in their classroom.  Included are some pictures from Miss Kelley's visit with the author.