Pilgrim Study

 We have been learning about what the homes and clothing of the Early Settlers was like and comparing home life and clothing from that time to our homes and clothing of today. 

Friday Explorers: Cone Discoveries

 Observing and discovering patterns on cones.......

 and looking for seeds inside. 

Farm-to-Table Meal

 Kindergarten and 1st grade students and their families shared a special Farm-to-Table meal at the Stockbridge Meeting House.  Ms. Figoras, our music teacher lead us in a  song called "Dirt Made my Lunch". 

 Co-Principals, Bonnie Bourne and Lindy Stetson, served lunch to students and their families.  Julie Taylor and the Rochester lunch staff made a delicious Shepherd's Pie  made with beef donated by North Hollow Farm in Rochester and potatoes donated by Uphill Farm in Rochester.  Also on the menu: applesauce and apple crisp made with apples picked by students at Happy Valley Orchard in Middlebury, pumpkin bread made with pumpkins picked by students at Papa's Pumpkin Patch in Stockbridge and rolls made by Rochester Kindergarten class.

 All students ate their lunch from uniquely made clay plates that the art teachers Janet Cathey and Cynthia McPhetres helped them create during art class. 

Great time was had by all! 

Literacy Rotations: Poetry Center

 After reading our poem (printed on large chart paper) several times, we use highlighter tape to mark sight words, letter,  rhyming words. etc. 

 Students mark their own smaller  copies of the poem with highlighters that match our chart version.  They draw a picture to illustrate the poem. 

 Poems get filed in our "Poetry Notebooks" so we can go back and read them again and again. 

Students also re-create the poem using sentence strips ( with poem printed on them) and a pocket chart.  Of course, they must re-read to make sure they have them in the correct order.  The original poem is close by for reference. 

Literacy Rotations: Reading Buddies

 We read each day with our 2nd and 3rd grade "Reading Buddies".

After reading, we record one book that we read on the chart in our  "Reading Buddy" folders.

Literacy Rotations: Listening Center

 We listen to stories.

 We draw and write about the characters and our favorite part of the story.

We collect the recording in our "Listening" folders.

Popcorn Salad

 We got ready for our first Popcorn Salad Day of this school year. 

 On Wednesday afternoon we mixed up our ingredients for Popcorn Salad and put it in bags. 

 On Thursday morning we headed off to each classroom to sell our yummy treat at snack time. 

What a fun way to learn about buying and selling things and learning about money.  We will have three more  Popcorn Salad days this school year.    We will donate our money to a charity of our choice at the end of the school year. 

Kindergarten and 1st Grade Make Pizza

 After reading The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza,  we mixed up some dough and made our own individual pizzas. 

 Of course, everyone wanted to help!! 

We created our own shapes, scooped on the sauce and grated the cheese to put on top.  They were delicious!!

Reading Buddy Tea

 Our 1st Reading Buddy Tea of this year.  Some of us came to school dressed as a favorite book or movie character.  We all marked a page in a book we have been reading and shared why that page was noteworthy. 

 Enjoying yummy treats to eat and "orange juice or apple juice" tea/. 

 Best Reading Buddies ever!!

 Sipping "tea".....notice the extended pinkie!!

Eating Rice with Chopsticks

 After reading Everybody Cooks Rice, we made our own rice (learning that rice is a grain).

 We all tried using chopsticks to eat our rice.