Swasey Central School Family Newsletter December 2015

SWASEY CENTRAL SCHOOL

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Upcoming Events

Mon-Fri. 12/7-12/11 Hour of Code Activities

Mon. 12/76:15pm

School Board Meeting

Mon. 12/14Grade 4 welcomes

WMURs Kevin Skarupa

Tue. 12/15SCS welcomes

Author Chris Grabenstein

Tue. 12/156:30pm

PFG Meeting

Wed. 12/166:00pm

Chorus Show

12/24-1/4Holiday Break!

Happy New Year 2016

Principal’s Message Hello all, December is filled with so many exciting events at Swasey. We have some special visitors coming, our annual SCS Chorus Show, a PFG sponsored production of A Christmas Carol, and thematic activities in classrooms.

Enjoy the season and thank you for being a part of our school!

As always,

Swasey Central School Family Newsletter December 2015

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!! Class To Home Connection

Tablet apps are a great quick way for students to practice skills independently. Below are some great apps to add to your home tablet to support learning.

Dear Swasey Families, The air is getting colder and the leaves have almost all fallen…Fall is certainly here. It has been a busy month here at Swasey. We have been focusing on our quarterly theme of kindness. To keep in the back of your mind, our next book of the month theme will be around respect. As a staff, we have been looking deeper into our math curriculum in how we can further support and push our students. Here at Swasey, we are all very thankful for the love and support we get from the Brentwood community. Thank you, Steve Lebel Curriculum Coordinator

• Motion Math • Algodoo • Amazing World Atlas • Ripped apart: A Civil War

Mystery • Touch Van Gogh • Lego Movie Maker • Pixel Press Floors • David Wiesner’s Spot • Loose Strands • Disney Animated • Kodable Pro • Monster Physics • Water Cycle HD • Instagrok • Fam Bam: Got To have music • Science 360 • Educreations • Videolicious

Swasey Central School Family Newsletter December 2015

Hawk Highlights Grandfriend’s Day! We had an excellent time just before Thanksgiving break visiting with friends and relatives during our annual Grandfriend’s Day. We had over 340 visitors to Swasey during our event this year! Classrooms shared some fun activities with their guests and the PFG was on hand to help ! Thank you all for your involvement in this fun annual event!

Grade 3 Grade three has gone to the planetarium ...It was a highlight. We all learned many interesting things about space.We also planned and conducted our Shindig. It was centered on the theme kindness. The third-graders were very proud to be the first grade to be in charge of the monthly school assembly for the whole school!In the area of language arts, we are wrapping up our narratives. The focus has been revising and improving our writing… Becoming more independent with the narrative writing.In the area of math we continue to work on addition and subtraction.We have been learning many strategies for multi digit addition and subtraction. We have included the traditional method of borrowing and carrying as well. In the area for science and social studies we've all been working on maps, animals and biomes.

Grade 4 The fourth grade classrooms have been busy outside digging in the forest. They are taking part in an archaeology project, called “Archaeological Roots”. Students have learned what an archaeologist does in the field to learn about the past. Swasey Central School is located on the old Sanborn property so fourth graders are eagerly applying their skills in the hope of uncovering artifacts.

Our Greek mythology unit wrapped up with a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  Students were first treated to a tour of the Greek and Roman art and artifacts by a docent organized by Crystal Buswell.  Then class members used MFA maps to plan a self-guided tour based on the lessons they have been taught in art.  It was a real pleasure to travel with the 4th grade class as they are respectful and curious learners who represent Swasey so well.

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Swasey Central School Family Newsletter December 2015

Grade 5 The second quarter is well underway in grade 5!  After our recent trips to Spencer Peirce Little Farm in Newbury, Massachusetts and the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, we have a good understanding of archeology and its connection to history.  We’re putting this knowledge to use as we study ancient American civilizations including the Maya, Inca, and Aztec.  We’ve also begun our second round of science rotations.  Students will work with a new 5th grade teacher on a science topic:  Chemistry, ecology, engineering design, and astronomy!    In math, we’ll spend much of the quarter focused on fractions.  We have fundraisers for Sargent Camp going on throughout the months of November and December. Our annual 5th Grade Brunch is right before our holiday break.   

Music Happy Holidays from Mrs. Gavin’s Music Room… It’s an exciting time of year for all of us as we approach the holidays, and to be able to work on curriculum using songs that tie into these holidays is a lot of fun for the students AND for me! As we wrap up the month of November, perhaps you’ve heard from your singers a little bit of what’s been happening in their music class; 1st graders were introduced to music notation in their “Big Book” as they learned “Five Fat Turkeys” followed by a dramatization of the song which was both a learning experience in performance & audience etiquette, and hilarious! Second graders discovered that “Over the River & Through the Wood” is a Thanksgiving song, 3rd graders are working on instrumental and vocal ostinati that accompany “Harvest Jamboree”, 4th graders amazed themselves by discovering how much they enjoyed doing the Tango after learning the song “Turkey Tango”, and 5th graders were surprised to hear how hip hop could be combined with country music in “Hip Hop Hoedown”! December will be very busy as the 4th and 5th grade Chorus work through final rehearsals for their performance of “December In Our Town” …performance on Wednesday, December 16th, at 6:00 in the evening, and 2nd graders will be reaching out to the community once again this year on a “road trip” to perform a concert of holiday music for Brentwood senior citizens at the Rockingham County Assisted Living facility. On a final note, I’m hearing very positive comments from the many instrumental students who are taking lessons with our new instrumental instructor, Ms. Erin Murphy !

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Swasey Central School Family Newsletter December 2015

Art Room News Our Swasey first graders have been busy learning about the art element of line.  They began by tracing their hand in oil pastel and creating a design with a wide variety of lines.  Finally their designs were painted in watercolor paints.  Our second graders have been working with line as well.  Their mission was to create a line design in marker following a fun diagonal center line.  Our third graders just completed a lesson utilizing geometric and organic overlapping shapes that were colored with the primary colors red, yellow and blue.  Where the shapes overlap the corresponding secondary color orange, green or violet was colored.  Fourth grade has been creating vibrant positive / negative designs with stencils in chalk pastel.Fifth graders have been hard at work creating a complementary color wheel lesson in watercolor paint that builds on all the color theory they learned in fourth grade.  All grades will be starting their art work for the PFG Square One art fundraiser in December.  Our field trip on October 29th to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston with grades four and five was a huge success.  Each grade took a museum tour that connected to their classroom social studies curriculum as well as the art curriculum.  Thank you for sharing your children with me!Mrs. Buswell

Coming soon to a school near you! Winter! Don’t forget those hats, gloves, mittens and scarves to stay warm!

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Swasey Central School Family Newsletter December 2015

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Hour of Code is returning to Swasey 

Dec. 7th ­11th 

We live in a world surrounded by technology. And we know that whatever field our students choose 

to go into as adults, their ability to succeed will increasingly hinge on understanding how technology 

works. But only a tiny fraction of us are learning computer science, and less students are studying it 

than a decade ago.  

That’s why our entire school is joining in on the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code, 

during Computer Science Education Week (Dec. 7­11). More than 100 million students worldwide 

have already tried an Hour of Code( including us!) 

Our Hour of Code is a statement that Swasey is ready to teach these foundational 21st century 

skills. To continue bringing programming activities to your students, we want to make our Hour of 

Code event huge.  During this week, every student, from preschool to fifth grade will be working with 

different types of coding programs.  Some coding will be taught without the use of technology while 

other “plugged” activities will utilize desktops, chromebooks, ipads, smartboards, and even Spheros. 

Coding will be taught by our curriculum coordinator, teachers and our very own 5th grade “Geek 

Squad”.  

 In addition, a “Family Coding Night” will take place on Thurs., Dec. 10th from 6:30 ­ 7:30.  All 

families are invited to join us for an evening of code!   

For more information you can visit,  https://hourofcode.com/us.