FALL ISSUE! NOVEMBER 2010

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Bridgewater Village School

Be Respectful, Everyone Ready,Always Resilient,Responsible, &Safe

News From The Classrooms

P.O. Box 31 Bridgewater, VT 05034PH: 672-3464 FAX: 672-5061

One of Vermont 's most beautiful landscapes, Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Historic Park has been made available to our school, through the Park Pro ject . Our kindergarten class had the opportunity to visit the park twice th i s f a l l . We look forward to visiting again in the spring. During our visits the students have collected data to bring back to school. The data col lected was part of our Sc ience Uni t . We are

comparing the sights, sounds, smells and textures of the Park to our school. They discovered that the school and the Park are very similar. The biggest difference was in the number of pine trees found at the park. We will take our discoveries with us in the Spring and investigate why the Park has more Pine trees than the school. Our final project was a counting park coloring book designed by each student.                                            -­‐  Mrs.  Fitzpatrick

KINDERGARTEN CORNER

The first and second graders have been learning all about soil and worms this fa l l !  We examined many different kinds of soil and learned about what is in soil by performing many different soil tests, such as testing dry samples, touching and rolling wet samples, making a smear, and doing a settling test.  We learned that soil is made up of particles that come from rock (clay, silt, sand, and g ra ve l ) , and p ieces o f

decomposed plants and animals (humus).  We learned that soil is important to us because we need it to grow food and to purify the water that we use.  We had a special visit from Jon Harrington, a civil engineer, who taught us about the tests he does on soil and how he uses the soil to design septic systems that purify the water that goes down the drains of a house.  We also took a trip to the Woodstock Union High School

greenhouse, where Mr. Hiers and his forestry students taught us about which plants thrive in different types of soil.  Now we are using what we have learned about worms to write “worm narratives”.  These will be on display in the hallway, so come by and have a look!

Thanks, - Mrs. Ahsan

GRADES ONE & TWO

The BVS bear is displayed all over our school. To find out more about our bear and PBiS read Mrs . Linton’s article on page 3.

Go to page 4 to see photographs of class field trips and projects.

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& It has been an exciting fall in music class preparing songs for different performances! Thanks to the 5th/6th graders for singing at the Homestead and Mertens House. The residents there were very pleased and appreciated the fine music presented by our students.& The winter concert will be Thursday, December 2nd at 6:30pm. Please have the students arrive at their classrooms at 6:15pm, dressed in their nicest clothes!& Our performance at the Killington Holiday Festival will be Thursday, December 9th at 5:00pm.

This event will be held at the Snowshed Base Lodge. If your child is participating, please have him/her at the Lodge by 4:45pm, ready to sing. Again, dress up!& Thanks for your support of music at Bridgewater. I’m very proud of our students and am pleased that they are willing to share their music with our community. - Mrs. Bender

MUSIC NEWS

The 5th and 6th graders of Bridgewater Village School visited the Homestead and Mertens House on Thursday, November 4th to sing for the residents. They began with the song I Want to Walk A Mile in your Shoes, and one of the residents offered up her shoes for the students to try out. The rest of the song set included a song naming the 50 states, fun partners songs and rounds, songs about protecting our environment, and our Vermont state song. Thanks to the students for their great singing and thanks to the Homestead and Mertens House for hosting the students, and providing great cookies and punch! - Mrs. Harris

As a music integrated project in October, the third and fourth graders chorally read Another Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor. They practiced reading a favorite section of the book for fluency, using pitch and tempo. They also wrote individual connections to the piece and responded to prompts based on the theme of the book. The students  created a refrain based on the message of the book and are putting their writing together into a musical performance with Mrs. Bender. This book brought together descriptive language, fluency and expression, and theme in a very beautiful manner.book. The students  created a refrain based on the message of the book and are putting their writing together into a musical performance with Mrs. Bender. This book brought together descriptive language, fluency and expression, and theme in a very beautiful manner.As a music integrated project in October, the third and fourth graders chorally read Another Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor. They practiced reading a

favorite section of the book for fluency, using pitch and tempo. They also wrote individual connections to the piece and responded to prompts based on the theme of the book . The s t u d e n t s  created a refrain ba sed on the message of the book and a re put t ing the i r writing together into a musica l performance with Mrs . Bender. Thi s book brought together d e s c r i p t i v e language, fluency and expression, and theme in a very beautiful manner. - Mrs. Grinold

GRADES THREE & FOUR

GRADES FIVE & SIX

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PAW-SITIVE CORNER& Positive Behavior Intervention & Supports (PBiS) is a systematic approach that defines school expectations.   PBiS is a team based system that trains educational staff to problem solve behavioral issues in a positive manner and recognize those behaviors that are desired by staff.  Bridgewater Village School is committed to providing a nurturing and positive environment for children to learn.

Staff attended a summer institute to aide in the creation and implementation of PBiS within the BVS learning community.  Staff outlined the system and worked collaboratively creating the matrix that will be used.

At the beginning of the school year, the system was implemented.  Each student will earn a PAW-sitive disc for displaying respect, responsibility, resilience, readiness and safety.  When each classroom has earned 200 mini class bears, their classroom bear mascot would journey to our office lair.  Once one

classroom has accomplished their goal of fulfilling their classroom bear buckets they begin to help other classroom obtain their goal.

We have successfully journeyed to the Off ice La i r severa l t imes .  School wide celebrations have included a watermelon feast, chalk drawings in the rain, kickball game with ice pops and a dance party.

Another fundamental part of using the PBiS system is the data collection.  This allows staff to track problem behaviors and the situation surrounding those behaviors.  This will assist staff in improving areas of concern and making them adaptable to all students.

Bridgewater Village School staff meets monthly to ensure that communication is shared and decisions are made through the team based matrix.  To date PBiS has become an essential part of our learning community.

- Mrs. Linton

All classes visit the BVS Library for library enrichment, library skills and book selection. &B u b b le Trouble by Margaret Mahey was the first Red Clover award nominee I read this year. It was a big hit for me and the students. The story was simple, a baby caught in a bubble; but the rhyming and vocabulary are amazing - complicated, but fun. Children also got to blow bubbles, which made the lesson even more memorable.

Two more Red Clover’s are based on older stories: Lousy, Rotten, Sinkin’ Grapes by Margie Palatini is a redo of Aesop’s Fox and the Grapes and Chicken Little by Rebecca and Ed Emberley is a redo of another very old fable by the same name. Both updated versions are entertaining and continue to teach a timeless life lesson.

Older students are encouraged to read the new DCF books. Mrs. Harris has done so much to

promote the reading of these Vermont recommended new books.

Our reference books have made their way across the parking lot and into the new Resource Room. Using these books along with the laptops makes research more efficient and effective.

NEW - I have been collaborating with teachers on technology projects this year at a scheduled time. This month I worked with Mrs. Fitzpatrick on using the Kidspiration program to create bar graphs. We did this as a whole class activity on the smartboard in the Resource Room.

In addition to meeting with different teachers on a monthly rotation, I see the 5th and 6th graders at a scheduled time each Monday.

For more information, visit the library page on our school website www.bvsvt.org

- Mrs. Vaughn

VISIT THE 5/6 WIKIMrs. Harris and Mrs. Vaughn recently set up a wiki for the students. Students will soon

be adding documents, projects, photos and video to their wiki. Here is the url -

LIBRARY & TECHNOLOGY

http://bvsbigbears.wikispaces.com/

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MRS. FITZPATRICK’S CLASS VISIT TO THEMARSH-BILLINGS-

ROCKEFELLER HISTORICAL PARK

THE BEARS COME INAs a PBiS reward, students worked

in groups to build the tallest mountain out of toilet paper. What fun and group spirit! After the mountains were measured, students added their pile to the tallest pile. Everyone was a winner. I noticed that several students took it upon themselves to pitch in and clean up after the event. It is so great to see children independently t ake on the re spons ib i l i t y o f community service.

MRS. AHSAN’S CLASS VISIT THE WUHS/MS

A SPECIAL VISIT FROM JON HARRINGTON, A CIVIL ENGINEER.