Weekly Newsletter
December 15, 2022
Events/Calendar
Tuesday, December 20 - Winter Boutique
Wednesday, December 21 - Winter Boutique
Wednesday, December 21 - All School Meeting at 2:15
Friday, December 23 - 12:30 Dismissal
December 26 - January 2 - School Vacation
Tuesday, January 3 - School Resumes
Link to Sanderson Academy calendar.
PTO Winter Boutique
The Winter Boutique provides children with an opportunity to purchase low cost gifts for immediate family members. The cost of most items is between $1 and $3.
The Winter Boutique will be held on Tuesday & Wednesday December 20th and 21st. Classroom teachers have signed up for a 25 minute shopping trip on one of these days. See the schedule below. If you would like to opt out or if you need scholarship funds, please email the classroom teacher.
If you would like to help set up on Monday, 12/19, help kids shop Tuesday 12/20 or Wednesday 12/21, or help clean up after shopping on Wednesday, please email lindi.russell@gmail.com.
Before your child's day at the Winter Boutique it is a good idea to create a list with the names of who your child is shopping for and have them bring it to the Winter Boutique. In an effort to be both fair and practical, we ask that families send in no more than $12 in total and that purchases focus on close family members.
Thank you in advance for your support of our efforts to provide our children with this pleasant and positive opportunity.
~Sanderson PTO
Health Office News from Nurse Loranna
Please take note of the illness policy from the nurse leader that will be sent home in folders this week. As always, reach out to me with any questions or if your child will be home due to illness. If you need rapid covid tests they are available at most pharmacies free with health insurance, up to 8 a month how to get free rapid tests.
It is a good idea to have some on hand in the event that someone in your family is unwell.
We have had some confirmed cases of influenza A in our school, please keep that in mind when considering if your child is well enough to attend school.
To help prevent the flu and other colds, teach your children good hygiene habits:
Wash hands frequently
Do not touch eyes, nose or mouth
Cover mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing, use a paper tissue, throw it away and then wash hands
Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Colds are the most contagious during the first 48 hours. A child who has a fever should remain at home until "fever free" for a minimum of 24 hours without the use of medication. Often when a child awakens with vague complaints (the way colds and flu often begin) it is wise to observe your child at home for an hour or two before deciding whether or not to bring them to school. Your child should be physically able to participate in all school activities on return to school. Keeping a sick child at home will minimize the spread of infections and viruses in the classroom.
Check out this link for more information on influenza The flu- a guide for parents.
Preschool News from Ms. Melanie
We enjoyed our first day of sledding after our recent snowfall. We gathered on the hill behind the school on a bright and sparkling day. The snow was just right for a smooth ride down the hill and our preschoolers worked together to bring the sleds back up the hill for another ride. Inside, we are working on a variety of festive projects. We made glittering snowflakes with ribbons for hanging and decorated paper stockings to display in our classroom. We have been busy building and decorating gingerbread houses with our third-grade buddies. This project took several days to complete and our buddies worked patiently to help us build the perfect house. Our creations will be on display in the lobby for a while before they go home–be sure to take a peek! They are amazing!
Preschool News from Ms. Freeman
This week our dramatic play center has been transformed into a bakery! Preschoolers immediately embraced the roles of bakers, creatively using this learning center’s materials. Gingerbread playdough and sparkle dough are a part of this learning center. Here is my favorite playdough recipe. I added cinnamon and cloves to make the gingerbread dough and glitter to make the sparkle dough.
Playdough
INGREDIENTS
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup salt
1 Tablespoon vegetable Oil
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
Food coloring
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Dump all ingredients in a pot. Order doesn’t matter.
2. Stir everything together until it’s mostly uniform.
3. Turn stove on to medium heat, and stir the dough begins to solidify and form a ball in the middle of the pot.
4. Carefully (it WILL be hot), remove the play dough to cutting board. Knead until smooth and cool enough for little hands to touch.
5. Play away!
Kindergarten News from Ms. Sarah
In phonics this week, we learned the sounds for letters y (but only the sound it spells at the beginning of words), x (but only the sounds it spells at the end of words), and z, as well as how to write those letters. We worked on memorizing the sight word you. (You is a very special word because it is the only English word allowed to end with the letter u—it is special, just like “you!”) We also played games to practice breaking words into their separate sounds and putting them together again. The kids are so excited to be almost complete with the alphabet--last letter coming next week!
First Grade News from Ms. Wyckoff
First graders are wrapping up their light and sound unit. A highlight from this unit was when students had to communicate with one another using only light or sound to answer yes/no questions. It was neat to see the different patterns each pair came up with when using either a flashlight or container full of marbles. To close out the unit first graders enjoyed a light investigation where they were shown a variety of materials and had to decide if the material was transparent, translucent or opaque based on how much light could be seen through the object or material. We are now ready to move on to our next science unit - Life science! This past Monday first graders were excited to see the arrival of 200 brook trout eggs delivered by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Over the next several months first graders will learn all about brook trout, their life cycle and their habitat. We will raise them, care for them and then release them in the spring.
Second Grade News from Ms. Robertson
We have completed our Fundations unit on glued sounds and have started a new unit on closed syllable exceptions. First we reviewed what a closed syllable is. (A simple definition of a closed syllable is “a vowel followed by a consonant”, as in cap, slip, and stuck. These words are called closed syllables because the vowel is “closed in” by at least one consonant. In closed syllables, the vowel usually says its short sound.) We also discussed what the word exception means, using the example that drivers follow speed limit laws, but there are times when people go faster than the speed limit, such as when emergency vehicles need to quickly get to an emergency. Then the closed syllable exceptions of -ild, -ind, -old, -ost, and -olt were introduced, as in wild, find, cold, post, and colt. These sounds are exceptions because they have a long vowel sound instead of the expected short vowel sound.
During our math time we have been using 10x 10 arrays to continue our work with two- and three-digit numbers, focusing on the understanding that a three-digit number shows amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones. For example, 312 shows 3 hundreds, 1 ten, and 2 ones, or 312 = 300 + 10 + 2. We have also been applying our knowledge of place value to number riddles and then sharing our strategies for solving them with the class. For example, one riddle we solved was: I am 55 and I have 15 ones. What number am I? Some students made a place value drawing to show their thinking. Other students wrote equations or used a number line to solve the riddle. (See the photo below for three different approaches that were used to solve the riddle.)
Third Grade News from Ms. Carole
Third Graders have been working for the past three weeks on building gingerbread houses with their preschool buddies. They have been using graham crackers, and the “glue” they’ve been using is simply powdered sugar mixed with water. This process is not an easy one, and there are many opportunities for frustration followed by rethinking, trying again, trying something new, and asking for help. Today they enjoyed the culminating activity of decorating their unique architectural masterpieces, and they are now on display in the glass cases in the lobby. While they may look simply like piles of candy, try to look past the sweets to find the hard-earned learning that these wonders represent. It is exciting that these were not pre-made kits but rather constructions creatively designed by students. They will be coming home with students next week to be shared with families. Many thanks for the amazing donations of candy that made the decorating so much fun!
Fourth Grade News from Mrs. Lagoy
Fourth graders were delighted to complete our December STEM project on Wednesday. The challenge was to develop a prototype for a wind powered car. Students had to investigate properties of force, motion, and inertia to build a vehicle that could go forward on a track with one puff of air.
Fifth Grade News from Ms. Johnson
Fifth grade watched Johnny Tremain as a last activity for the American Revolution unit. The last thing students will do is use flashcards to study the main concepts we learned in preparation for an assessment. Students also took the final assessment for unit 3 in math about decimals and place value. In our Second Step program, we are learning about steps to take when feeling strong emotions. They have learned to give themselves a stop signal (hold on, wait a second, stop, etc.) and to name their feeling (I’m feeling frustrated, worried, mad, etc.). We just started talking about strategies to calm down.
News from Ms. Prew
Art News from Ms. Caroyln Hawthorne
We received a notification from the Original Works company that they are experiencing some production delays due to staff illness. Our original delivery date for orders was supposed to be Tuesday 12/13. They have rescheduled our delivery by about 4 days so orders should arrive by Monday the 19th. We will keep you updated when we know for sure.
Donations Needed: 3rd grade art needs about 25 soda/seltzer cans. We could also use some donations of small cardboard food packaging such as pasta boxes, or anything smaller than a cereal box. Also tubes such as paper towels are good for building.
Students in preschool and kindergarten have been making some hermit crabs from clay and some very lovely new shells for the crabs to move into. Kindergarten also started their first ceramics projects and made pinch pots. 1st grade is studying architecture and have designed some blueprints for a building. They will be making models from cardboard. 2nd grade is learning about landscapes. 3rd grade is making ceramic mugs and will soon start a relief mapping project in a collaboration with their study of Massachusetts. 4th grade has just finished some beautiful acrylic paint pouring projects. 5th grade is starting printmaking and 6th grade is creating original ceramic designs. Wow we have been busy in art.
Mindful Movement News from Ms. Sue
It’s beginning to look like WINTER!! With the snow this week, the book Ten on the Sled made an appearance, with yoga poses for all the animals in the story, this was a fun class with all the young students…ENJOY the snow!!!
About Us
Email: eliebowitz@mtrsd.org
Website: https://sanderson.mohawktrailschools.org/
Location: 808 Cape Street, Ashfield, MA, USA
Phone: (413) 628-4404
Facebook: facebook.com/SandersonAcademy