"Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again."
-  Bill Morgan, Jr.

As snowflakes dusted the field outside our window, fifth graders could not resist the opportunity to play in the fresh flakes. We quickly became a group of 18 angels as we lay down to swish our arms and legs across the freshly fallen snow, making imprints of our first snow angels of the season as a class. I look forward to building snow pyramids and even possibly a sphinx with our next snowfall. Let it snow!

Memorable moments for all of us.

Ms. Lightfoot departed for New Orleans this morning, Feb. 1, with an enormous bag of art supplies in tow, representing the final shipment of the 4/5 donations that were collected a while ago. We are hoping to FaceTime with Isabel's (Ms. Lightfoot's daughter) class of fifth graders so we can meet the young artists who are enjoying the art supplies donated by us.  It is so rewarding to make someone else h

In preparation for Game Night, Ms. Leah Booth joins the fifth grade to teach them how to play five card draw (no $ bets made). Surprisingly, many students were already savvy players and luck was in the cards for several fifth graders, as they proudly called flushes, full houses and straights. Some players kept their cards very close to their chests and took great pride their winnings.

The cards are dealt with flying fingers.

A straight is called!!

Another dealer prepares to open the game.

Three full houses- the luck of the Irish!

Another hand of straights- big winnings!

Winner takes all!

During our word work classes, fifth graders have been reviewingand learning about prefixes, base/root words and suffixes.Theyhave drawn from their prior knowledge a list of prefixes and suffixes, have searched for words with these affixes in their reading and have done sorts. Eventually, each fifth grader will need to know the 20 most common prefixes/suffixes in our language. They will also learn what these affixes mean and how they change the meaning of a word. Strategies for growing our vocabulary and strengthening comprehension.

Ms. Florence Griswold would be so honored to hang our Howard Carter palettes on her famous palette tree in her museum. Stay tuned for an opportunity to see all of the classes' palettes on display  and speak to the artists personally.

Fifth graders are presently polishing their manners and learning new ones in a "Mind Your Manners" workshop held during the last week of January and the beginning of February. They are learning respectful behavior for a variety of situations they are most likely to confront, such  as how to make introductions, recognize and use an informal place setting, respond or decline an invitation, deal with social and dining dilemmas, polite use of cellphones, among a variety of other manners for a variety of venues. This workshop will be celebrated in a luncheon hosted by the class parents on February 9, 2017. A perfect situation for a well-mannered fifth grade to demonstrate the kind of behavior that builds confidence and self-respect. Stay tuned for some more news from the classes and photos from the luncheon. We can't wait. Also, it helps for your child to practice what they are learning at home or when dining out. 

Finally, nature continues to surprise us and make us ponder- paper wasps manage to build this unusual nest formation- a cross section or half a nest-in my outdoor lantern?? We got to take a peak inside many of the rooms of their homes.