December 20, 2014

Dear Families, 

We have had an exciting 2 weeks with Starbase trips to Colchester, a rocket launch at EMES, chorus students singing at area nursing homes, and a snow day.  Our rocket launch was a huge success with a window of no rain just long enough to safely launch each rocket.  Thank you to those families who were able to join us.  Many other classrooms came out to watch as well. 

Literacy:  We were finally able to squeeze in time to watch “The Mighty”, the movie based on the book, Freak the Mighty, written by Rodman Philbrick.  We were also able to compare and contrast the book and the movie, which is always an interesting exercise.  I have been checking student reading logs each day.  Many students are reading at least 20 minutes a day at home, some are reading much more and a few are not reading at all.  Please be sure to ask your child about their reading log. After vacation we will be working on an independent book project.  Students should be reading independently now so they have a book or two ready to complete the independent project  after the first of the year.  

Math:  While we used math in all of our Starbase activities, in our EMES math class we are having a review of fractions, comparing fractions, using fractions in all the operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), number lines, and place value.  We will have a final quiz before vacation. 

Congressman Peter Welch made a guest appearance at Starbase on our final day and attended the “graduation”.  I am posting some great photos of our time at Starbase below with more to follow

Have a great holiday break.  All the best in the new year. 

Ellen

Starbaser's with Congressman Peter Welch

F-16 Tour

Pop Goes the Fizz

Creating a vacuum with marshmallows, before and after