Artist in Residence

This year Simonds School is hosting an Artist in Residence, Ron King.  Our mission is to work with Mr. King to design an outdoor amphitheater for our school.  This week the students created models of their ideal natural play areas.  A mixture of creativity and natural resources led to these amazing designs...

News and Notes 9/27

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Designing with Nature

There is a special project going on at Simonds School this year.  We welcomed Artist in Residence, Ron King, to our school for a special project.  We are going to design and build an outdoor space to serve as a kind of classroom or meeting space for our school.  This “amphitheatre” will not be constructed out of just any materials, but will be a natural construction.  This week the fourth graders, along with the rest of the school, took turns meeting with Mr. King and designing their own models of the outdoor space.  Using pinecones, rocks, moss, and other natural materials, the students built models of what they want the space to look like.  The fourth graders had lots of fun designing with nature and are looking forward to using the space behind our school in a new way!  We discovered this week that designing is fun, especially when you can design with nature!

Science In Review

As we close the book on the first part of our rocks and minerals studies, the fourth graders had a few chances to demonstrate their knowledge of the world of geology.  First, we started the week off with a little review game.  The fourth graders answered questions about types of rocks, the rock cycle, and all kinds of geology vocabulary.  They did an amazing job working together to answer the questions.  Usually when we play trivia games the goal is to beat the teacher, who gets points whenever the class misses a question.  Needless to say, with this class of rock experts, the teacher lost this round of review big time!  Being able to play games and practice working cooperatively is an added bonus to the main objective of reviewing the science curriculum.  By the end of the week the fourth graders were ready to show off their rocks and minerals knowledge on our final test.  They did a great job of using words and pictures to demonstrate their understanding of the rock cycle and the ways that rocks are formed and change.  As we move into a deeper study of the earth’s changing surface next week, it seems likely that these amazing scientists will continue to dig deeply into their learning!

It’s a Predicament!

This week in math we discussed the term “problem solving.”  The fourth graders shared what they thought the word “problem” meant: a predicament, something tricky, bad, unusual, negative, an issue, equation, or something that just went wrong.  From here we talked about our role as problem solvers.  The goal is to know how to face “problems” of any kind, from tricky questions in math to conflict on the playground.  We want to develop these essential skills so we can be super-duper problem solvers!

Testing Rocks and Minerals

The fourth grade geologists have learned about the different tests used to identify rocks and minerals.  From color to luster to hardness, they have learned how to find the mystery identity of a given mineral.  Here are a few photos of our geologists hard at work...

State House Field Trip

Today the fourth graders took a quick trip to Concord to visit the New Hampshire State House.  The kids were all looking very sharp, maybe because it was also picture day!  They did an amazing job of respectfully following the tour through our state's government building.  What a great time of learning and discovering where the decisions are made for the people of New Hampshire!

Constitution Day

The fourth graders have rewritten the US Constitution!  Well, not exactly... To celebrate Constitution Day (September 17th), the fourth graders read the Preamble to the Constitution.  Then using our dictionary and vocabulary skills, we worked in pairs to rewrite the Preamble in "kid-friendly" language.

We, the people, in order to…

make a better group,

make equal rights,

make sure our homes and families are calm,

bring supplies for the usual fights,

help grow the health of many,

and keep safe the hopes of freedom for

us and future generations,

make this Constitution for the United States of America.

~The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America

(in fourth grade language) 

Simonds Climbs Mount Kearsarge

Our third annual school-wide hike up Mount Kearsarge was a time of great fun and community.  Even with a bit of windy and foggy weather, it was still a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the beauty of our town and celebrate the beginning of a new year at Simonds Elementary School!

News and Notes 9/13

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Do You Remember?

After a summer full of family, friends, and lots of fun, it is sometimes hard for students to recall all their great learning adventures from the previous school year.  In an attempt to help them recall all their successful learning, we have devoted a bit of each day to reviewing the concepts the students worked on in third grade.  These “Review Stations” are a great chance for students to refresh their memories, feel successful in recognizing past learning accomplishments, and also helps the fourth grade teachers to see where we need to pick up the learning on different skills.  The fourth graders have shown great enthusiasm as they review their learning from third grade.  They are so happy to show off all that they have learned!  The answer to the question, “Do you remember?” is a resounding YES!

IDR

The fourth grade readers have begun working on their IDR books.  This term “IDR” means “individualized daily reading.”  The fourth graders are very eager readers and it is an important part of the day when the IDR books are pulled out.  Everyone finds a comfortable spot, pulls out their “just right” self-selected book and dives into their reading.  The classroom is quiet except the occasional spurt of laughter or gasp of surprise that comes from one of the engaged learners.  As the year progresses, the fourth grade readers will continue to work on their IDR books and will practice different important reading strategies independently during this time.  When we are busy coming and going and learning all different types of exciting things, it is nice to have a few minutes each day devoted to some quiet reading.  There’s nothing quite like settling down with a good book!

Fourth Grade Homework

Today marks the beginning of the homework routine for the fourth grade.  Hopefully this year will be a good homework experience for students and families alike.  Our hope is that homework will be an opportunity for students to extend their learning beyond the walls of the classroom.  We have based our weekly fourth grade homework assignments on the Kearsarge Regional School District homework policy.  We generally have one packet of homework that goes home on Friday and is due the following Friday.  The students will practice math, reading, and writing.  As often as we can, we try to include a component of choice in each assignment to give students more ownership of their homework learning.  If families or students have any questions or concerns about the fourth grade homework routine, please feel free to let us know!

Review Stations

A big part of the start of the school year is clearing out the cobwebs that summer vacation brings and asking students to recall their learning from the previous school year.  We take a little time each day during the month of September to do "Review Stations."  The fourth graders have fun remembering all their great third grade learning, and enjoy feeling like experts!  This is also an important preparation for the upcoming NECAP testing which will assess their learning of third grade content.  Here are a few pictures of the fourth graders working on their Review Stations...