Library Conference

Ms. Nugent and I had the opportunity to spend last friday with David Loertscher. He's a former librarian and college professor. He teaches on ways to make the library program more useful and more in tune with current technology. We learned about blogging in the library, how to use wikis to share information, and other places where students can share documents. It was a useful day and I'm looking forward to incorporating some more technology into this library program.

Author of the Month- Jan Brett

We've been enjoying reading books by Jan Brett and looking at her website www.janbrett.com .
The website has all kinds of information about Jan and her books. We listened to Hedgie read a story, checked out several online activities and listened to Jan discuss how she wrote The Three Snow Bears.
Second grade students are now learning about Christmas customs in other lands. Today we read Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve after we learned about Norwegian Christmas customs. Some traditions were evident in the pictures.
First grade children are learning about folktales. The Three Snow Bears and Town Mouse, Country Mouse are wonderful examples of the folk process. Jan Brett's drawings are so detailed that the stories really come alive. We are amazed at the way she can make rocks, needlework and wood look real!

Pilgrims and Wampanoags

Second grade students have been reading several of Kate Waters' books about Plimoth Plantation and the first Thanksgiving celebration. This week we will be comparing Pilgrim life to Wampanoag life in the 1600s. We are learning the terms for houses, tools, and foods. I will post examples of student writing after we are done.
Children have been very surprised to learn that Native Americans today dress and speak like the rest of us. They were especially surprised to discover that members of our school community are Native Americans. Feathers and beads are dress-up clothes, just like fancy gowns and suits. Nobody wears feathers to school!!

Newspaper club writing

Newspaper club students have been writing their articles. Here are some that we worked on yesterday. This is the first time we have tried this and we may do more editing before sharing our work with the school. We will be including pictures in our final version.

OPEN HOUSE
Open House was September 20. It was a night when you could go to school and check out the school. Families met teachers. There was a book fair in the cafeteria. There were cookies in the library. Open House was a nice evening.
-Rhys

THE MHP PLAYGROUND
Kids at MHP like to play on the school playground. Families helped build our playground two years ago. Our playground has monkey bars, a big fish, slides and swings. Kids love recess.
-Brandyn

PICTURE DAY
On October 24 and 25 we had picture day. We got our pictures taken. When I got my picture taken, I had to kneel down. When I got my pictures taken with my class I got to sit. When I got my picture taken I felt happy. I like my school pictures.
-Cara

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
I was a little nervous on the first day of school because I didn’t know Mrs. Pettit very well. I got to pick my own seat. My best friend sat next to me. After a few days I felt a little better. The first day of school was fun and I love school very much now. It is fun. Today is the 45th day of school. We did a lot of hard work today, but I got it all done on time.
-Kelsey

MRS. FEENEY
Mrs. Feeney has taught at MHP for twelve years. Her husband is a high school gym teacher. They have two girls. Brandi is seven and Krista is four. The family likes to play games like golf and softball. Mrs. Feeney is a great teacher and I learn a lot!
-Lauren

HALLOWEEN PARTY
Friday October 19 was the Halloween party at school! There were games, sand art and other cool things! Kids ran around in the P.E. room! At the end of the Halloween party Mrs. Misch gave everybody a goody bag. The Halloween party was fantastic.
-Erin

HARVEST CELEBRATION
On October 31 we had a Harvest Celebration. It was real fun. Each class read a story and made costumes. All of us walked around the gym two times. We sang songs. Moms and dads were there. Then we had a ½ day to get ready for Halloween.
-Andrew

CAFÉ BINGO
We play Café Bingo at MHP. It is fun. We play it every year. People say a letter and if you have the letter, you say “Bingo”. If you say “Bingo”, you can get a prize like a book or a little toy to play with at home. At Bingo there are drinks and food.
-Brody

Newspaper Club

Twelve second grade children at MHP have been learning to put their own newspaper together. We brainstormed ideas for stories, began to think of people to interview for those stories, and have been learning to use the digital comeras so that we can take pictures to go along with our stories.

Last week we went to the playground to take pictures for one story. Everyone got a chance to take some playground pictures. I'm putting some of the best on this page. The kids were really excited and took some great photos. Enjoy!!!

More Kindergarten Pumpkin Information.

Several more kindergarten classes completed writing about pumpkins. Here are some more of their efforts.

Mrs. Klock's class wrote:
Dig a hole.
Plant a seed in the hole.
Give it water.
It will grow leaves and roots.
Then it will grow flowers and little pumpkins.
The pumpkins will grow big and orange.
We will pick them.
We will make Jack-O-Lanterns.

Mrs Turverey's class said:
When pumpkins are big you can pick them.
Pumpkins grow in gardens.
First you plant the seeds.
Next you water the ground.
Then the seed grows.
It gets roots and leaves.
Then flowers and pumpkins grow.
The pumpkins get big and fat.
They will make Jack-O-Lanterns.

Pumpkin Pages from our Kindergarten Classes

Here is some of the information about pumpkins our Kindergarten children have written.

Mrs. Hansen's class says:
Pumpkins grow from seeds.
People plant seeds in the garden.
The seeds grow into little plants.
Then the plants get big.
They make flowers.
Pumpkins grow from the flowers.
When the pumpkins are big, we pick them.

Mrs. Giovo's class says:
First plant a pumpkin seed.
Give it water.
It will grow.
It will grow roots and leaves.
It will grow a vine.
Pumpkins row from the flowers.
When the pumpkins are big and orange we pick them.
We make Jack-O-Lanterns and pumpkin pie.