All About Beavers!

Today we had another great Four Winds lesson all about beavers! ) They are incredibly smart animals!   (A big THANK YOU goes out to Jenn Kerner for teaching us each lesson!)  Here are some photos showcasing our learning!

We dressed Paxton like a beaver complete with a paddle tail, fur, flipper feet, big teeth for chewing, and sticks to make her dam and lodge.  Isn't she a cute beaver?

 



Everyone worked with partners to build their own beaver dam.

Pajama Day

We have had a great ending day to our Spirit week!  We all celebrated today with comfortable pajamas and our cherished stuffed animal friends.  We read with our friends, took a spelling check-in with our friends, made math butterflies with our friends., and even took our friends to library.  The hightlight of our day was when we had a picnic lunch on the cafetaria floor!  Here are some pictures from our amazing day!  Enjoy vacation and I will see everyone when school reopens on Monday, April 29th!

Colchester District Art Show

Colchester will be hosting an art show to highlight all of the talented students in our district! Here is the art show information!

• The art show runs from Tuesday, May 7th through Friday, May  10th at CHS.
• The art show will be open from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. each day.
• There will be a reception on Thursday, May 9th from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.  Refreshments will be served.

Hope to see you there!

Fill A Bucket Day!

Today was "Fill A Bucket" Day at UMS!!  Everyone received a bucket and we wrote meaningful compliments to many of our friends!  Make sure you read the slips in your child's bucket, they are so heart warming! We had a wonderful day and everyone felt so happy when they left!  Here are a few pictures from our day! 

 

We are busy writing compliments to our friends!

 

We are making sure our compliments are heartfelt and thoughtful!

 

Here we are with our buckets!

Hat Day

Today was hat day at UMS! We all had a great time wearing our hats! Here is a few pictures of us having some fun!

Alaska - Part II

Miss Yates came back today to teach us about animal adaptations in the cold Arctic climates.  She did a great experiment showing the children how blubber and fur keep Arctic animals warm in harsh storms and subzero windchills.  For the first experiment, the children wore gloves and then stuck their hand in a bag full of Crisco, which acted as our "blubber".  The children then put their blubber hand into a cold bath of ice water.  The blubber insulated their hands so they didn't feel the chill. 

 

Jemima is putting her "blubber coated" hand into the ice bath.  She noticed that her hand couldn't feel the cold water at all!

Here's the ice bath!

 



 

Everyone is patiently waiting their turn to try the ice bath!

 

 

In the second experiment, Miss Yates had each child put their arm in front of a blowing fan, which simulated a raging winter storm. They could each feel the wind when their arm wasn't protected.  Then she wrapped their arm in fake fur and put their arms back in front of the fan.  They couldn't feel the wind at all because the fur insulated their skin!

 

Ryan is putting his bare arm in front of the fan with no protection.

 

Andre has fake fur wrapped around his arm to protect it from the wind!

 

 

The students loved these hands-on activities and really started to understand how blubber and fur can keep an animal warm.

Spirit Week

Next week, April 15-19th, is Spirit Week at UMS!  We will have a low key theme each day!  Your child is not required to participate, but it is fun!

 

Monday - Hat Day

Tuesday - Favorite T-Shirt Day

Wednesday - School Colors Day (green and blue)

Thursday - Fill A Bucket Day (there is nothing to bring for this, just give a compliment)

Friday - Pajama Day (just make sure pj's are appropriate for school/weather)

 

School will be closed for April vacation from April 22, 2013 - April 26, 2013.  School will reopen on Monday, April 29th.  Enjoy vacation!

Alaska

We started learning about Alaska a few weeks ago when the Iditarod dog sled race started.  We are now delving deeper into Alaska and how animals and people survive there.  Miss Yates came to school today and read a book entitled Animals In The Arctic.  After they read a portion of the book, they held a "scientists meeting" where they talked about various animals that live in Alaska as well as the adaptations that they have to survive.  Here are some photos from our discussion.

Here is the beginning of our scientists meeting! 

 

 

Miss Yates brought in a piece of fake fur to show the kids how thick fur can keep an animal warm during harsh winters.

 

 

 

We are attentively listening to the book Animals In The Arctic.