Weekly Newsletter

For 50 years, Sanderson Academy has been sending and welcoming students to and from Mexico.

The program that was founded in 1973 connects Sanderson Academy and the Lomas Altas School in Mexico City. The goals of the program have always been to: stimulate social development and maturation, help children become aware of cultural differences and similarities, develop responsibility and independence, and to facilitate the establishment of new relationships.

The program first brings students from the Lomas Altas School who stay with Sanderson families to have their experience here for two weeks. The students from Mexico appreciate the snow and all its activities. While they spend much of their time with the 6th grade students, they also make their way around the school engaging in various activities like eating lunch with first graders, sledding with the kindergarteners, sharing some of their language with third graders, and so on. Field trips are integral to their trip with visits to Old Deerfield, Magic Wings, skiing and tubing at Berkshire East, and ice skating, to name a few. One student from Mexico went skiing this year and said, “It was the best day of my life!” Coming from Mexico City, the sense of peace and quiet, increased oxygen levels (due to an altitude drop), and depth of the night sky are things for our visitors to behold.

The students who travel here largely become hosts to the Sanderson students who will travel to Mexico for their two week visit, which encompasses the February vacation week. Anita Upright, head paraprofessional at Sanderson Academy, has been at the school since about 1995 and has assisted with the travel program for the last couple of decades. She has taken the trip six times and will again accompany the group of 7 sixth grade students this year. Generally, about ⅓ of the class takes the trip, and students who wish to go but require financial help are never turned away.

An example of the program’s longevity and enduring interest is the Shearer Family. Roxanne Shearer was one of the first students to take the trip in 1975. Her son Robert “Robbie” Shearer traveled with the Sanderson trip in the winter of 1994. And Robbie's older son, Caleb went last year, and his younger son Kaden will go this year. The Shearer family is currently hosting Sebastian, one of the students from Mexico. Robbie shared that over the course of the two week trip, he remembers having a sense that he gained new perspective and felt a heightened sense of maturity upon returning. He and his mom, Roxane, recounted a favorite memory that was in common - climbing to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. Unfortunately, sometime between Robert’s visit and his son’s last year, they’ve since stopped allowing visitors to climb to the top though they still visit the architectural marvel and explore the Avenue of the Dead. Sanderson students find themselves culturally and socially in awe as they live and experience life in Mexico City, one of the world’s largest cities with a population of over 21.5 million.

Anita takes great pride in observing the students as they navigate this experience. When asked how the program has enjoyed such longevity, she replied, “It's been all positive from both sides throughout the tenure of the program.” She cites it being, for many, the first time the students have the chance to travel internationally and take part in such a rich experience. Their memories last a lifetime.

We started our week talking about our snow day and shared our experiences. It was great to hear that preschoolers enjoyed time outside. Many went sledding with or without sleds, and some skiing. With sledding on our minds, we decided it would be the perfect choice during our outside time. Preschoolers happily went down the hill with partners and worked together to carry the sleds back up the hill. We had so much fun!

Preschoolers are so excited to learn all about birds. The science table has been transformed into a collection of all things related to birds. There are real bird nests to look at, real feathers to touch, bird puzzles, bird coloring pages and stuffed realistic birds and nests.

The unit began with a discussion about things the children already know about birds. Some of their responses included: “they can be blue or red, they fly and fluff their tails, they build nests, baby birds crack out of eggs, chickens have yellow beaks, baby birds are chicks, and birds keep their eggs toasty warm.” It was amazing how much knowledge the group already had about this topic. They seemed fascinated with birds and began noticing them outside during their play and paying close attention to the feeder on the classroom window.

The next day the children were asked what they would like to learn about birds. Again they were very thoughtful in their responses. Some of the things they said included: “Do birds have bones in their tails? Why do some birds go in water? Why are feathers different colors? And how many different kinds of birds are there?” The children look forward to learning the answers to their questions!

In our literacy program, we continued with the book called On the Same Day in March that showed us what the weather is like in many places all over the world! We looked at photographs from other locations and discussed how the weather was affecting what people wore and did. Then we completed our passport books!

Tomorrow, we will choose a fun picture to practice writing a sentence about. This will be the starting point for a sentence writing project that we will return to and expand over the next few months.

This past Friday, first graders began taking our classroom adopted stuffy cow Celestial home for a weekend of fun! Each first grader will be the “cow keeper” for the weekend. After each visit first graders will write in the journal sharing some adventure they did with their cow, such as going to a basketball game, reading a book, baking cookies or enjoying some hot cocoa! Families send a photo of their child with Celestial and that gets taped into the journal. Families and children get to see what Celestial was up to during her visit home with other children. By the end of the year Celestial will have visited 17 children’s homes!

First graders also had a busy week preparing and practicing to host all-school. First graders were excited to share their magnificent thing creations. First graders, you all should all be proud of your great focus and hard work!

In writing, third graders are underway crafting their own Pourquoi tales. These are stories that explain something that occurs in nature. After creating one together as a class (Why do Polliwogs Wiggle?), they are now working on their own story. Each third grader chose their own topics, which are really fun. Through these stories, we will learn outrageous answers to questions such as “Why do penguins waddle?”, “Why do kangaroos jump?”, and “Why do bobcats purr?” among others. It is great to see the students moving forward in their writing to create sentences, paragraphs, and complete stories. Once the stories are written, the next step will be to practice typing skills and type them into a google doc, so they can be printed and shared with the school community.

In our next math unit, we will be working on: multiplying multi-digit numbers, dividing a multi-digit number by a 1-digit number, solving problems about the area and perimeter of rectangles, reviewing equivalent fractions, and adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers Your child will learn and practice these skills by solving problems like those shown below:

It’s February! In the library, the display shelves will feature books celebrating Black History month, Lunar New Year, and Valentine’s Day (I may even be tempted to bring out a few maple sugaring books, too!).

As January comes to a close, so do a couple of library programs. First, the MCBA book club finally finished its first book which was Air, by Monica Roe. Our book club was small but mighty, and I’m so proud of these kiddos for sticking with it! One of our members even baked a delicious chocolate cake to commemorate the end of the book! They are already asking, “what’s next?”

The end of January also marks the end of the Cover to Cover challenge, an initiative to encourage 3-6th graders to read more chapter books from the library. For each book read, students could fill out a raffle ticket for a special Country Pie lunch in the library with Ms. Wilson and a friend of their choice. With twenty participants and a total of 71 books read, the Cover to Cover challenge was a wonderful success! Congratulations to Brolen, this year’s big winner!!!

Here is another math routine that our Sanderson mathematicians follow. It is called Guess My Rule. Challenge yourself by creating your own version! I would love to see what you come up with. :) aprew@mtrsd.org