News and Notes 2/21

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Winter

Life in New Hampshire has a few certainties, one of which is the inevitability that winter weather will cause us to move to “Plan B.” In the Kearsarge District, this means having students work on Blizzard Bags on the days when traveling through the weather would be unsafe. The families and students at Kearsarge have done an extraordinary job of rising to the challenge of three Blizzard Bag days in three weeks. I am happy to report that our fourth grade participation was excellent and the work that was turned in from Blizzard Bag days was very impressive. Of course we would much prefer to have school in the traditional sense, but it is exciting to see how the fourth graders are able to take ownership of their learning and be engaged in academic pursuits outside of the school building. Many, many thanks to the families and friends who worked so tirelessly to support their fourth graders in their Blizzard Bag work. Here's hoping for sunny and spring-like weather soon, and also that we'll all be able to enjoy the winter while it's here.

Geometry and Number Sense

Generally it seems that fourth grade students find certain mathematical pursuits more appealing than others. One area of math that is generally well accepted is geometry. Maybe it's the very tangible quality of the study of shapes and space, but for whatever reason, geometry seems to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of math in fourth grade. This week we took advantage of this idea and tried to help the fourth graders connect their enjoyment of geometry with their growing understanding of long multiplication. We used the “partial products” method of long multiplication and made a visual representation of the process using an array. Basically we are trying to draw the bridge between area of rectangles and the multiplication of two products. This connection was a challenging one, but over multiple interactions, the fourth grade mathematicians have begun to demonstrate a strong understanding of the link. As we move forward to different and quicker methods for solving long multiplication problems, these concept-building activities will help with the foundational understanding stage of the path to being multiplication experts.

Spirited

In spite of the winter weather, the students and staff at Simonds were able to celebrate school spirit this week. What fun it was to be able to enjoy some creative and out-of-the-box expressions of school spirit! This week of fun and learning was just another reminder about why Simonds is such a great place to be!