Plant Sale!

Nature Adventure Program (NAP) Fundraiser

When: Friday, June 3rd

5:30 pm

Where:  North Branch Nature Center

What To Do:  If you have a particularly invasive perennial that needs to be divided OR perhaps you're just plain tired of what you have and want to start anew...

DIG 'EM UP AND BRING THEM ON DOWN-

please label your donation with plant name, height, sun/shade requirements, and color (preferably on a popsicle stick) and drop them off between 6/1 and 6/3 at UES or the North Branch Nature Center.

Ohhhhh! What A Delicious Trip It Was...

Last week we walked to Montpelier High School.  Not only did we get our hands dirty, planting lettuce  shoots; but we tasted a number of different types of lettuce, ranging from "zesty", as Alex Zahm noted, to sweet.  

 We also toured the green house, where we learned that MHS students plant and care for the lettuce the we use on our sandwiches and on "salad bar days" at UES.

We also learned about the irrigation system used to water the lettuce and how it was planned and built by MHS students, and we met Mr. Tom Sabo- biology teacher and sustainable community pioneer.  He won the 2009 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award for Vermont.  He has been instrumental in integrating hands on learning and biology into the MHS curriculum and is a "statewide leader in teaching about sustainable communities".


Not only that, but on our walk back to UES, we met Governor Peter Shumlin!  He was kind enough to stop and ask about our field trip, talk to the children, and take a number of photos with our class!  His Press Secretary should be e-mailing them to me soon.

This Week...

The Eggs Have Arrived!

The incubator is up and running as of Sunday (5/1).  We've 21 days of incubation.  This is a wonderful unit as it incorporates math, science, social studies, vocabulary, and writing. We will be turning the eggs a couple of times a day to ensure even heat distribution and observing temperature and any changes we might notice.  

We are also working on The 3 R's: reduce, reuse, recycle and connecting this theme with geography and our place in the world: locally and globally.  

In reading we are working on strategies for when we are stuck on a tricky word(decoding) and "warming up our brains" before and during reading  by "thinking of a question in our mind" and looking and listening for the answer while reading.  A nice way to engage and ignite thinking. We are also working on reading fluently ("reading like we talk") during oral reading.

Our writing has been focused on mechanics: forming the letters correctly, using an uppercase letter at the beginning of a sentence, punctuation, using lowercase letters, and listening for all the sounds in the word.  Some of us have also started working with "silent e".  

Our math activities have included counting to 100 by l's, writing and reading numbers to 100, number stories, estimation, and problem solving.

We are busy!

That said, now that our days are getting longer our little ones might be getting to bed later.  It's also my experience that they have a sense of change that's coming up(summer vacation and moving to first grade).  For many of them, this may cause some anxiety or changes in their behavior due to fear of the unknown.  Sticking to routines and reinforcing expectations is helpful, as well as reassuring them and preparing them for the days and weeks ahead.  I can't believe that the year is almost over!

Oh, and lastly...Nature Adventure is this Friday, May 6th.  We hope to be walking to Hubbard Park to rediscover our "sit spot".The weather is looking iffy.  Please remember to dress accordingly and if needed, pack extra clothes.

Thank you for the poems and flowers (and glue sticks and stickers).

Happy Spring~

Paulette