New Job Opportunities – Posted 02/12/2018
2 Anticipated Teaching Positions for the school year 2018-2019
1.0 FTE Grade 1 Teacher
1.0 FTE Special Education Teacher (Grades 4-6)
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Student Council News…
Student Council Officers would like to begin to plan to create a school store to raise money for school events and for community/charitable projects. They are writing letters to local businesses to ask for donations of pens and pencils, as well as healthy snacks and other items needed during the school day. They hope to display the items for sale in the glass case between the gym and the cafeteria, and will hold store hours in the morning between 8:30 and 8:45. More on the store soon!
Student Council also hopes to plan for one or two fun events to raise money for a local charity and to help pay for an end of the year dance party for the upper grades. They hope to have feedback from the PTA and school administration to begin planning for one event to be held in early March. If any parents are interested in helping with plans for an end of the year dance, please contact either Laura Catullo, in the art room, or Lisa Crozier in the office.
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Art News…
Students in Grade 6 will be finishing a portraiture project started last month and will begin to prepare for fundamentals of drawing using perspective. Grade 5 students will be finishing their team sculptures and will place them on display in the main entrance hallway. They worked in groups of 4 to create sculptures that answered questions such as “How Strong is Nature?” and “Is Love Magic?” Local Artist Ann Jon came for the critique class in early January and provided many interesting suggestions. Grade 4 has been creating prints from hand assembled textural plates and will be producing copies of their prints over the next few weeks. Grades 1-3 finished studies in drawing faces and will begin drawing (and later sculpting) students in various action poses. Grades Pre-K through 1 enjoyed using clay-dough for sculptures and next will be creating collages using winter theme shapes (snowflakes, hearts, etc…), as well as creating animals emerging from the snow using pine cones and other miscellaneous materials.
The Holiday Arts Night Exhibit at the Otis Library in December was well received and featured live music provided by Brooke DellaGiustina and Megan DeCelle. The raffle winner was Megan DeCelle. Thank you to all who attended!
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The March Madness Reading Program is coming up!
Our Reading Program for grades pre-k through 6th will begin on Monday, February 26th and end Monday, March 12th.
This March, we’ll be celebrating women authors, illustrators, main characters, and historical figures for Women’s History Month. To earn a participation award this year, students will have to meet the minimum required reading. Part of the minimum required reading must be about a female historical figure, a book with a female author and/or illustrator, or a book featuring a female main character.
We had a 68% student participation rate last year, and grades 2-6 read a total of 15,000 minutes. This year, we are aiming for a 75% student participation rate and 17,500 minutes read! Please help up reach our school-wide goal by encouraging your child to read and log their minutes each day of our competition.
Keep an eye out for your student’s March Madness Reading Log on Monday, February 26th”
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Enrichment News…
The next science club will start on March 5th. This club will be for students to learn how to use design software to create items that can be printed by our school’s new 3D printer. There are applications in numerous fields that use this technology- fashion, engineering, manufacturing, medical, art, and many more! Due to the rigorous nature of this club, 6th graders will have the first chance to sign up, and if any space is left, 5th graders will be given a chance to sign up as well. This club will not be open to 4thgraders. However, I intend to run this club each year, so this year’s 4th and 5th graders may have an opportunity to join this club next year. Look for the 6th grade sign-up sheets to be sent home the week of February12th and 5th grade sign-up sheets (if space is still available) the week of February 26th.”
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Kid’s Café News…
January’s harvest of the month was apples! We had applesauce, cinnamon apple wedges, homemade Apple Crisp and Crispy Apple Chips! The Apple Chips were a huge hit and the students would love to have them again!
February’s harvest is Butternut Squash – Yummy! Keep a look out for it on the menu. We purchase our produce locally.
Please check out our new page on Facebook. We will post our menu daily and keep you up-to-date on any exciting news.
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Health & PE News…
Exercising in the Snow!
Here are some fun ideas to get outdoor activity during winter:
* Ice skating – burns 410 calories/hour
* Shoveling – burns 422 calories/hour
* Sledding – burns 400 calories/hour
* Building a snowman – burns 285 calories/hour
* Snowshoeing – burns between 420-1000 calories/hour
* Cross country skiing – burns 510 calories/hour
* Downhill skiing/snowboarding – burns 375 calories/hour
www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/quick-ways-burn-100-calories-snow#1
Check out these great local places for ski and snowshoe rentals and trails!!
Hilltop Orchards – Richmond, MA
Cross Country Ski and Snowshoe Rentals
www.xcskimass.com/ski-areas/about-hilltop-orchards
Canterbury Farm – Becket, MA
Ski and Snowshoe Rentals
http://berkshires.org/member/canterbury-farm-cross-country-skiing/
Arcadian Shop – Lenox, MA
Ski and Snowshoe Rentals
Tech Bytes…
Hour of Code at FRRSD
The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching over 100 million students in more than 180 countries. Farmington River participated in The Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week. Students can continue to work on The Hour of Code activities by finding the links on frrsd.blogspot.com. Students as young as five are learning the language or computers as they participate in coding events in their technology classes.
*Apps…What is it? What does it do?
- YouTube Music– is a mobile version of the social media channel focused entirely on music. Unlike YouTube proper, there’s a safety mode, so kids can search for and find whatever they want with parameters set by a parent. Users get a free trial of the commercial-free YouTube Red, but when that expires they’ll either have to pay to continue that service or deal with commercials before select videos and songs.
- Ditty– is a third-party messenger app that turns what you write into music. Pick a song, type out your message, and watch it transform into a musical. The next time you want to cheer someone up, do it with a song set to your own, personalized lyrics.
*The descriptions here are informational only. This is not an evaluation or endorsement of app choices for students, but a tool for parent involvement.
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