Sanderson Academy
Weekly Newsletter
March 20, 2014
CALENDAR CHANGE: DUE TO MCAS TESTING AT MOHAWK, WE HAVE CHANGED THE
1:50 ON MARCH 19TH TO 1:50 ON MARCH 26TH. IN ADDITION, MAY 28TH WILL BE A
1:50 RELEASE INSTEAD OF MAY 14.
From the Principal:
Students have been working so hard on MCAS. We should all be proud of them! As a reminder, the following
is the MCAS schedule:
Friday 3/21 - Grade 3
Monday 3/24 - Grades 4 and 5
Tuesday 3/25 - Grade 3
Thursday 3/27 - Grade 4 Composition Make-Up
Upcoming Events:
March 26: 1:50 Release
March 28 at 9:00: All School Meeting
March 28 at 2:00 : The after-school drama club will be performing The Substitute Creacher (based on the book
by Chris Gall)
From the Local Education Council:
Dear Sanderson Families,
This spring, all classes will participate in local history events with field trips as in the past, but with
additional new activities and projects. Students will research and write about the topic for their grade, and each
class will create a presentation for a culminating evening event. The Local Education Council Enrichment group
aims to connect parents and community members with teachers in order to provide support and local
knowledge. If you have an idea, a resource, or just want to offer some help, please contact the point person for
the grade level and topic that interests you. Examples of resources include: a historical artifact; a newspaper
clipping or photos from historical Ashfield or Plainfield; a story from your family; a suggestion of a resident to
interview.
Thank you for considering how you could participate in this endeavor.
Kindergarten: Quilts and their use in the Underground Railroad; songs and movements. Jess Kuttner,
jkuttner@gmail.com
1st grade: Toys and games. Jess Kuttner, jkuttner@gmail.com
2nd grade: History of Main Street. Jenn Pease, pease@ecs.umass.edu
3rd grade: Schoolhouses. Laura Stravino, bovinofamily@gmail.com
4th grade: Immigration and immigrants. Wendy Keyser, wendyk@crocker.com
5th grade: History of Sanderson. Lauren Preston-Wells, jallwells@earthlink.net
6th grade: Cemeteries / biographies. Paul DiLeo, pdileo@grassrootscap.com
First Grade News:
First grade is focusing on ways to get along with friends and each other. We have "key" words that we are
using to open friendship. Our words include; patience, friendly, include others, honest, listen, take care of
ourselves, flexible and stop and think. In math we started a unit about graphing. We are collecting data and
learning skills to graph the data. We are continuing our work learning vowel pairs and sounds. The children
are enjoying listening to books by the author, James Herriot. He is a country vet. We are reading Stuart Little
as our chapter book.
Second Grade News:
Happy First Day of Spring! Second grade completed their math unit on shapes and measurement this week by
taking the end of the unit assessment. We now turn our attention to subtraction and will be focusing on the
process of double-digit subtraction. To help students improve their efficiency with recalling the subtractions
facts, we will start doing one-minute math daily. Students will be given one minute to do as many subtraction
facts as they can, with the goal being to improve their score each day. (We will continue to do our weekly four
minute math.) We are tying up the remaining ends of our Nature Walk theme in reading and our next unit will
be a study of fables. We are also tying our Wampanoag theme into reading this week, as partners work together
to read nonfiction text about the traditional life of the Wampanoags and then answer comprehension questions
about it.
Third Grade News:
Third grade has been working on figurative language in language arts this week. We discussed and found in
poetry books examples of onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyming, and similes. We also worked on figuring out the
meanings behind idioms such as, "spill the beans, taking the bull by the horns, and skating on thin ice." It is fun
to discover figurative uses of language in our daily speech and in the books we read.
Fourth Grade news:
We are wrapping up our study of the Iditarod now that all mushers have made their way to Nome. Each student
followed a musher and gathered daily race statistics, and we also found out more about these courageous men
and women, their dogs, the race itself, and the amazing state of Alaska. MCAS testing began this week with
Writing for the 4th graders on Tuesday. The Long Composition consists of a prompt, students plan their writing
and create a first draft in the morning. Then in the afternoon, students proofread and revise their writing and
create a final draft. In class we have focused on the many elements of writing and have practiced what changes
we can make to strengthen our writing . Our class wrote strong, creative stories on Tuesday and focused for
hours on their writing! They did an incredible job and worked very hard.
News from the Art Room:
Currently we're doing a unit on symbols. Specifically symbols that represent eternity. Celtic Art, Islamic Art
and Mathematics all have images that appear to go on infinitely. Radial designs done in the sixth grade and in
kindergarten and 1st grade connect us to Pi day. While grid patterns done for our sock designs connect us more
to the tessellations we see in Islamic Art. A huge thank you to Diana Szewczyk for getting our SANDERSON
IN SOCKS project started for Dr. Seuss's birthday. Impressively imaginative patterns and color combinations
are on display in the front foyer.
News from the MathRoom:
Sanderson Academy had a wonderful pi-Day celebration last Friday, March 14 (or “3.14” as mathematicians
prefer). We surpassed our goal of collecting 314 non-perishable food items for the Hilltown Food Pantry with a
pi-Day total of 349 (and then more this week for a grand total of 363!) At All School Assembly, I reported that
our annually growing pi-Day paper chain now includes 346 non repeating colored rings. (You can see it in the
dining room through Friday.) Seven students collectively recited the digits of pi that each had memorized.
Indeed, one of our fifth graders has memorized 110 decimal digits of pi! Next, the 3 rd graders taught and then
led the whole school in singing a two part round about elephants. We had 29 students and 1 teacher hulahooping for 3 minutes and 14 seconds while the rest of us cheered them on and counted down the final 14
seconds. Our pi-Day celebration concluded with the familiar song round, ending, “A circle’s round; it has no
end. That’s how long I want to be your friend!” Thank you for helping make this day a success for Sanderson
and your own young mathematician. Before you know it, it will be 3.1415…pi-day, March 14, 2015!
News from the Reading Room:
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand what is read. Some students will learn to read the words on
the page but may struggle with comprehending them. This can happen with students as text becomes
increasingly more difficult. Some students are trying to remember the exact words in a story. Encouraging your
child to make a movie in his head of the book will prove to be more productive than having him try to repeat
word by word what has just been read.
1. Read a short, interesting passage to your child and encourage him to make a movie of what is being read
in his mind Ask a few questions about the story.
2. In time, when you have evidence your child is forming pictures or a movie with words that he hears;
select a short easy passage for him to read. Stop in a few places and ask him some questions about his
“movie”.
3. When your child is successfully reading aloud and creating visual pictures, have him read a passage
silently, reminding him to stop every few lines and tell you about the story. At the end of the reading
have him re-wind his “movie” and retell the story.
This is only one technique to help your child in comprehending text. It is important to remember all students
need to be actively involved in their reading.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
Cathy Geyster
Reading Specialist