Third Graders State Intentions for 2021
Third graders spent the first days back thinking about their intentions for the new year. We read the book, One Word for Kids: A Great Way to Have Your Best Year Ever, and thought about words that would help guide us for the rest of the school year. Each student then chose a word, explained why they chose it and wrote three action steps we could take to keep this goal at the forefront of our minds. As a culminating hands-on project, we created beaded bracelets that had our word on them to serve as daily reminders. Some of our words were hope, courage, challenge, explore, imagine, and stay simple.
– Larissa Rochford ’93, grade 3 teacher
Seventh Grade Latin Gets Political in Pompeii
In their current unit, seventh grade Latin students are exploring the positions elected throughout the town of Pompeii along with the procedures, propaganda, and bribery that would take place during the election process. This week, students examined remnants and translations of campaign graffiti and discussed what qualities the people of Pompeii would look for in their candidates. Throughout the unit, students will make connections to the election process as it happens in the United States.
– Nicole Buck, Latin teacher
Eighth Grade Science Class Learns About Density
As part of their study of the properties of matter, eighth grade students reviewed the definitions of mass and volume. This allowed them to then look at the relationship between these two properties which is the concept of density. After learning the definition of density and acceptable units for density, students were challenged to design experiments to determine the density of regular and irregular shaped objects using only electronic scales, rulers, graduated cylinders, and water. This work incorporated their understanding of concepts related to volume calculations, measurement accuracy, Archimedes principle, and significant digits which were discussed in the previous unit. Following this, students will look at the concept of intensive and extensive properties and how these terms can be used to further categorize the properties of matter.
– Sandra Trentowsky, grades 7 & 8 science teacher
Kindergartners Learn About Firefighters
The kindergarten cohorts have been learning about community helpers. Every year, students vote for the community helpers that they would like to learn about. This year’s top three choices were firefighter, paleontologist, and dog groomer. Over the last few weeks, we have been learning about firefighters. We have been reading books and watching videos to find out about their uniforms, equipment, training, and duties. We also did a virtual tour of a fire station in Duxbury, Massachusetts. This comprehensive virtual tour was designed collaboratively by a photographer and a firefighter and is meant to mimic an in-person tour since that is not feasible for school groups and other visitors right now. Feel free to visit the Duxbury Fire Station website to take your own tour from the comfort of your home! After the virtual tour, students watched a tutorial on how to draw a fire truck using basic shapes, which is perfect because we just began our math unit on shapes! Next week, we will write notes to the firefighters to express our gratitude for such an amazing experience!
– Betty Chu Pryor, kindergarten teacher
