We completed our year with eye drawings, your amazing almanacs, an inspiring family share, the completion of Stone Tree Village (our river table), a happy Points Day with games, water, sports, burritos and ice cream. Some of you made graduation hats and wrote beautiful graduation speeches. You are an inspiring group of people. You know how to dig into work and play with incredible dedication, humor and conversations along the way!
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Friday, May 31st: -- Return from Farm School! What a trip it was! -- 2:30 p.m. Rivertable and chillin' in our room! Thursday & Friday, June 6th and 7th: -- 8th grade Shrek Junior Performances - Night time performances on Friday and Saturday -- 5th Grade sees the play on Thursday at 9:30 Friday, June 7th: -- 5th Grade Halls Pond Field Trip- focus on birds and other wildlife in our hidden hub. Tuesday, June 11th: -- Jim Papoulis comes to work with the 5th grade during Conservatory time. Thursday, June 13th: -- 5th Grade Revolutionary Walk Field Trip! Friday, June 14th: Complete 5S End of Year Almanacs! Monday, June 17th: Completions Club for Rivertable - Tuesday, June 18th: -- Family Share - 5S Variety Breakfast Share to End The 'Yare'. 7:50 a.m. -- Bind Almanacs! -- Gear up for our Points Day! Wednesday, June 19th -- 5s Points Day! Destination coming soon! Thursday, June 20th -- Complete graduation hats & speeches, appreciation cards and words of advice for incoming 5S students! -- 8th grade graduation Friday, June 21st -- Last day of school- final touches on graduation hat creations -- Summer Solstice Shadow measuring! --- 11:00: Little graduation ceremony in bird sanctuary (if weather permits) *adults are welcome but not expected to be there ~~ Noon Dismissal May: Instead of a bird of the month, we are focusing on identifying local birds of the month by learning their sounds! You are welcome to join us in our bird identification skills! Click this link!
Events of the month:
Coming Up!
Click any photo to make it full and clear! GREETINGS! April is tapping at our door and soon it will burst in with blossoms, warmer weather, singing birds, happy soil and lots and lots of events. I will try to give 5S time to accomplish goals and enjoy the beauty of the world outside. The bird of the month, as you can tell from the photos, is our neighbor in every season, the American Robin: Here is a link about them from: the wonderful Cornell site: All About Birds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/overview COMING SOON! AUTHOR VISIT! Wednesday, 4/3 we have the amazing Kwame Alexander and Versify! see link here! ARTS EQUINOX! Thursday, 4/4 and Friday 4/5- Two incredible days of art all day! The schedule is absolutely amazing! Here it is... click here! We are all so lucky! -EARLY DISMISSALS for conferences: **** NOTE: Students will be dismissed at 12:40. Lunch will be served:
-- 5th Grade ELA MCAS TESTING: Below are the dates for English/Language Arts (ELA) testing: All classes will be taking the tests at the start of the school day. Math and Science MCAS testing is in May!
All tests will be taken on Chrome books. Students have had time to log in and practice the test on the computer. They will have more time to acclimate this week. -- APRIL VACATION- April 16th to April 20th! THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD:
-- EARTH DAY: April 22nd is Earth Day! The theme this year is to protect our species! Here is the official EARTH DAY link. It has beautiful photography and can teach everyone a lot: https://www.earthday.org/campaigns/endangered-species/earthday2019/ The KEEP club is thinking about what we might do to honor this important day! Here is the link to our KEEP Club Website: https://kidskeepclub.weebly.com/ FIELD TRIPS: The 5th grade is going to the Museum of SCIENCE on 4/23/19! Field trip notices went out. All three 5th grades are going to Farm School. 5S is in group 3. See dates below. Still looking ... Our much appreciated but torn "Charlie the Couch" is falling apart. He needs to retire. Do you have an old two seater couch for 5S? And down the road into May and June...4/29-5/1: 5Z goes to Farm School 5/1-5/3: 5H goes to Farm Schooo 5/2: Early Dismissal - 12:40 5/8 & 5/9 : Math mcas 5/14 &5/15: Science mcas 5/17: Community Meeting 5/22: Spring Fair & KEEP club table- 5/23 - Spring Fair rain date 5/27: Memorial Day- No school 5/28 -Grades 5 & 6 track meet 5/29-5/31: 5S goes to farm school!!! 6/14: Tentative Date for End of year share June 21st is our 5S graduation!Heading into summer vacation....Thursday, February 28th, 6-8pm: Join us for the one and only ... Driscoll International Night! Come celebrate our diversity. Share information about your country with a favorite dish, dessert, candy, a song, dance, game or any part of your culture. Or just come and enjoy the evening with your family!
THIS SATURDAY, 3/2/19 IS THE DRISCOLL SCIENCE FAIR Come see the interesting experiments of Driscoll students of all ages and some of our own 5th graders! PLUS... the KEEP CLUB will have a table at the science fair! We will be raising funds and educating people about reducing the use of single use plastics Cleaning house? It's the perfect time to shed some 'like new' toys and items from your home and the KEEP club will use them to raise funds for our projects. SUNDAY, 3/10/19 IS THE 5th GRADE SPELLING BEE BHS auditorium at 1 pm. Our very own Leo and Mor are participating! Sunday, 3/19/19 Is also the day CLOCKS spring forward 1 hour. Extra snack & sleep needed! The good news is that we will not spend as much time in the dark. The difficult part is it is more difficult to get up an hour earlier. I find students need extra snacks on those first few days. Being tired makes us a bit hungrier. Thursday 3/14/19 is Pi π Day. That's because 3.14 are the first three numbers in Pi. 5S will celebrate this mathematical day related to decimals and geometry by singing and reciting the digits of pi and eating pie. Students are welcome (but not required) to bring in pies (no nuts please.) In case you want to know more or memorize the first digits of Pi, CLICK HERE
FEBRUARY BIRD OF THE MONTH: Yes, it's true. The bird of the month is the Northern Red Cardinal- HERE IS a recording of our beautiful and vocal Northern Red Cardinal. The male cardinal is bright red - it looks beautiful in any setting, especially against the backdrop of snow. Red cardinal pairs mate for life. When you see one near you, keep looking and you will usually see its mate nearby. Cardinals stay together year-round. Sometimes you can hear mated pairs sing together before nesting. You might also see them participate in bonding behavior where the male collects food for the female and then brings it to her and then feeds her. Birds are clearly able to care for each other too. 5S STATE of the UNION ADDRESS: On Tuesday, February 5th, 2019, President Trump gave the annual state of the union and Stacy Abrams was the first black woman to ever give the rebuttal. As we continue to learn about branches of government and see the connections between what happens in Washington D.C and 5S, I (Ms. Stark) gave our own 5S State of the Union Address. In 5S, I am the president, Dr. Talukdar and Mr. Youkilis are our supreme court and 5S is the congress. The Alpha Executive Director acts as the Vice President (as both a member of the senate and the executive branch). Click here to see a copy of my speech and click here to see some information we looked at as we examine what the State of the Union is and the proper protocol for it. Next, 5S is writing their own state of the union responses. Students are welcome to read them in class and we will hang them up for others to think about. CHINESE NEW YEAR ASSEMBLY: On Wednesday, 2/6/19 - Driscoll had our amazing Chinese Lunar New Year assembly. 5S performed the Little Apple Fitness Dance. It was spectacular. Each student dove into the experience and did his or her part. If you didn't get a chance to see it go to our photos and video page- click here! SECRET AMIGO'S. In lieu of commercial Valentine's Day, 5S will have a grand time participating in something called 5S Secret Amigos. Please help us to make sure all 5S Secret Amigos get their clues, compliments and the tchotchke . For the Secret Amigo guidelines and information CLICK HERE LINCOLN AND GETTYSBURG:
5S is Hosting COMMUNITY MEETING - Friday, 2/15/19 You are cordially invited to see 5S Host Community Meeting. If all goes according to plan, you will have a chance to see our Gettysburg Address video, and a one of kind video about one of our Revolutionary Relatives written, performed and edited by 5S Students. You will also see what the other 3-5 classes have been up to and we will perform a rousing version of Alexander Hamilton. It should be a wonderful time for all. GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT: Beginning February 15th is the Great Backyard Bird Count. It happens throughout the world! I am hoping that everyone or almost everyone will be able to participate as we focus on birds throughout the year. I realize many of you will be away, but you can still join in. CCC DAY- Friday, 2/15/19: CCC day stands for Cozy, Completions and Choice. On all Fridays, before a week-long vacation, if 5S students want to wear something cozy to school (like pajamas) that is allowed. We will have a chance to complete our Revolutionary Videos, create podcasts, read, complete projects and find out who are Secret Amigo is before heading into vacation! Happy New Year! For Up and Coming January events and beyond, please click here for our 5S Calendar!
We will continue to think about how to be kind to ourselves through exercise, sleep, healthy foods, water, meditation, being outdoors and time to play. And, we will continue thinking about how to be kind to others: noticing how others are doing, getting into the shoes of others, listening, asking questions, etc. We will also continue to have thought provoking conversations and how to take care of one's circles of obligations. And, because of the up and coming federal Martin Luther King Day Holiday, we will also think about what can be learned from people who fought for justice through non-violent methods.
Speaking of change, 5S has launched our focus on energy. Energy is defined as the ability to do work – That sounds an awful lot like 5S. We definitely have the ability to do work and play! We are learning about different types of energy and how it is never created or destroyed but transfers from one type to another. Stay tuned... (sound energy). 5S will also continue our yearlong focus on birds. Due to the fact that we are still watching the Nature movie, Murder of Crows, the crow will continue to be our bird of the month but will look at the whole corvid family. February's bird of the month will be the incredible eagle! Four years ago, 5S found out about a live cam of an eagles' nest in Washington D.C. This year the mother and father are back (their names are Mr. President and First Lady) and soon, the live camera will be up and running. We will be watching and taking notes about their behavior during class. It's exciting when they come crashing back into the nest with new sticks to spruce up their 5 foot nest or fish and other objects to keep them healthy. We are also doing a great job of keeping the birds in our bird sanctuary healthy. I hope this has eased up some of the hunger and thirst for our neighborhood birds and squirrels. Now that the grass is growing on the river table, 5S will be thinking about the designs and structures they will build on our colonial village on the river table. The river table will be the same scale as Legos 1-48 ---- 1 inch =48 inches (4ft) 1.5 inches = (6 ft) 2 inches = (8 ft ) etc. Soon we will be gathering items to build on the river table. If you have any extra hot glue guns for kids, glue sticks for glue guns, clay, wooden coffee stirrers, popsicle sticks, acrylic paints, please send them in. Also, Charlie the Couch is falling apart. If you happen to have a small couch you are ready to remove, 5S would love to have it. Last, but not least, thank you again for your generous gifts to Ms. Messiqua and me. I used some of the money for our new whiteboard. Although the U.S. and the world have many challenges to grapple with, we can all breathe easier knowing the depth of kindness and care that exists in our wonderful community. Sincerely, Francesca Stark The crow is our bird of the month-
We will be thinking more about light & dark, hope and kindness as we ease into the shortest days of the year. It is the perfect time to turn to what warms and brightens our days. Below are some highLIGHTS of the next few weeks: Make sure to scroll down FOR INFORMATION ABOUT OUR 5S Cup of Kindness FAMILY GATHERING! *** Click for our 5S calendar Monday, 12.3.18:
They are still in need of volunteers, and also paper grocery bags, that can be dropped off in the library Tuesday, 12.4.18:
Thursday, 12.6.18:
Friday, 12.7.18: Grades 3-5 Community Meeting: 8:10-8:45. 4M Hosts . 5S will be hosting Friday, February 15th. Monday- 12.10.18
Wednesday, 12.12.18
Thursday, 12.13.18 -
Friday, 12.14.18
Thursday, 12.20.18
Friday, 12.21.18
Wednesday, 1.2.19
Great Thanksgiving LIsten! 5S spent time thinking about someone they would like to interview for the Great Thanksgiving LIsten. They then wrote a bunch of questions based on what they know about the person and using the suggested questions - click here from the Story Corps app. Here is a link if you want to join in! https://storycorps.org/participate/the-great-thanksgiving-listen/
GIVING THOUGHT TABLE:
GRADES 3-5 COMMUNITY MEETING
Anniversary of Gettysburg Address
GIVING BY LISTENING
TALKING TURKEY
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