Summer Reading

Welcome to Summer! It's a time for being outside with friends and family, for having fun in the sun, and not having to worry about school and homework! But please don't forget about the importance of reading during the months you're away from school.

In ICT, we talked about all the reading programs there are for kids this summer. The Gordon-Nash Library is having a Dig into Reading celebration through much of the summer, with special programs on Tuesday nights from 6:30-7:30. TD Bank in Bristol will award you with $10 in a special savings account if you read only ten books. And our own school will have ice cream and a coupon for a $5 book at the Fall Book Fair for students who meet the reading challenge and color in all 50 shovels on the form you brought home - or that you download from the link above.

Any of these programs would be easy to do - and you can keep on reading all summer long!

GoogleDocs & TuxPaint

First graders are pros at TuxPaint! We looked at some artwork in books and noticed that illustrators sometimes draw in a dark color like black and "fill in" with other colors. So we tried it with TuxPaint. Using the "Magic"tool with "Fill" sure makes coloring in easier! Students illustrated sentences written in GoogleDocs Presentation slides - a soon-to-be slide show about what they learned about plants!

BOGO Book Fair!

It's time for NHCS's Spring Book Fair - and just like last year, it's Buy One - Get One Free! The Book Fair will be open next Wednesday through Friday. Your teacher will give you more information on Friday. But for now, click here to see the hours it will be open. See you at the Book Fair!

Poet and Author Joyce Sidman

In the last few weeks, many of the classes have heard the poem titled SPRING in the book, Red Sings from Treetops: a year in color by Joyce Sidman. Ms. Sidman is a wonderful author who writes about the natural world, in short informational pieces as well as in poetry. Her writing really shows how fascinating and beautiful nature can be!

Our Library Media Center has several of her books of poetry. Click on these links for book trailers to see and hear samples of her wonderful books!

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night 

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature

Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors

Vocabulary!!

Did you finish the final chapter of Frindle? This is one of the best endings to a book I have ever read! Mrs. Granger rocks!!

On Friday at NHCS there will be a Vocabulary Parade to celebrate the end of the One Book/Once School program. Kids may pick a word, any word (well, as long as it's appropriate for school!) then dress up to to portray that word. Have you chosen your word yet? Here are some PBS Vocabulary games to play that may introduce you to some new words to help you choose.

I'm afraid my word will be "ABSENT" - because I won't be at NHCS that day! I'm already sorry I'll miss the fun! If you want to, leave your word choice in the comments below.

Frindle: Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

Uh-oh! Someone anonymously sent the fifth grade class picture to the newspaper - and they printed it! Anonymous means the sender didn't give his or her name. Who would do such a thing - and why? Leave your thoughts below...

Frindle: Nick's Teacher

What do you think of the character of Mrs. Granger. Isn't she SO mean to make kids write I am writing this punishment with a pen 100 times? She must really want kids to call frindles by their real names - pens!

What do you think about this? Is she right to insist that kids use the correct word, not a made-up one? Why is she making such a big fuss about this? Is she just horrible? Or is she just doing her job?

One Book/One School: Frindle!

This is the fifth year we've had a One Book/One
School celebration at New Hampton Community School! By now, you  all have your family's book and the packet with the calendar and the trivia questions. Maybe tonight, you read a little bit about Nick Allen, the main character. What kind of a kid do you think Nick is?

The setting for Frindle is a school in New Hampshire! Maybe Nick's school is like ours! Frindle is a wonderful story that will have you cheering at the end. I liked it so much, I'm going to read it again!

If you need extra copies of the materials in the take home packet, click here! And what's that black pen for? Hmmmm.......

Keyboarding Practice

Every January, third graders begin to learn to type. The program we use, Type to Learn 4, is a series of lessons, games, and challenges through which students progress to learn the efficient use of the keyboard. For kids who like to practice at home or in after school programs, here's a link to a previous  blog post about alternatives to Type to Learn: http://snipurl.com/26klttv.

And for all you third graders, this is how fast you'll eventually type if you train your brain the correct way now. Sit up straight, index fingers on the f and j, curl your fingers...

Phases of the Moon

This week we read Owl Moon by Jane Yolen and a few monthly selections in A Child's Calendar by John Updike. As a follow up, we looked at an online moon phases calendar.  This calendar shows the phase of the moon on any given day of the month. You can even manipulate the calendar to find out what the moon phase was on the day you were born - or what it will look like on the day you  graduate from high school! Students were fascinated with this concept of moon phases and quickly saw the natural pattern that emerges from tracking the shape of the moon over time. I've printed this month's off and hung it outside the Library Media Center so students can use it for reference!