We’ve had so much fun preparing for and enjoying Valentine’s Day. This week the children distributed notes and treasures to friends, decorated delicious cookies, and agreed that the true meaning of Valentine’s Day is about friendship and love.
May your hearts be happy!
Cindy & Sharlene
We’ve had so much fun preparing for and enjoying Valentine’s Day. This week the children distributed notes and treasures to friends, decorated delicious cookies, and agreed that the true meaning of Valentine’s Day is about friendship and love.
May your hearts be happy!
Amanda & Deanna
We had a short, but fun-filled week of school. On Wednesday, we visited the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, CT. The students learned about light and color through a hands on investigation titled, “Blended Lights.” They each constructed their own blended light project and tested different combinations of red, green, and blue lights. After constructing their light project they made shadow puppets to test the light combinations again. When we returned to school the children designed their Valentine’s bags and shared valentines with each other.
Lower Elementary students enjoyed working with a catchy song, “Catch the Beat.” They learned the song using words like “lala, tutu, boomboom, etc.” accompanied by body percussion, such as clapping, stomping, and tapping.
1st year students learned through moving the designated motions with different words like lala, tutu… Once they are familiar with the song using their body percussion only, then they are ready to transfer to actual musical instruments. 2nd year students are demonstrating this in the photos above.
This was a very short 3 day week for the middle school students. We hope everyone has a safe and restful President’s Day long weekend. We celebrated Valentine’s Day on Wednesday February 12th with fun snacks and drinks brought in by the middle school parents association. Thank you to everyone who helped contribute the tasty treats. The students really enjoyed the celebration.
In Humanities this week, 6th year students began reading The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Inspired by the text, students will learn more about Ancient Egypt. Next, 7th year students worked on European geography. They are studying the rise of Hitler and the qualities that made him such a powerful leader. Students began reading Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan, a memoir of her and her family’s experiences during the Holocaust. Both 6th and 7th years completed vocabulary units as well. 8th years spent some time moving forward with their expert project research and received feedback about next steps. They are also finishing the overall scene outline of our play that we will begin writing next week!
6th year Earth Science students have been constructing wind turbines as part of their unit on natural resources. Students were tasked with designing and creating a windmill that will be able to lift a weight. Students have built their designs using popsicle sticks, cardboard, and 3D printers. 7th year Physical Science students have conducted several labs as part of their unit on chemical reactions and equations. Students performed a laboratory experiment requiring them to find a ratio of baking soda, citric acid, and water, resulting in the coldest temperature. Students were required to write a formal lab report concluding this experiment. 8th year Life Science students represented concepts relating to gene mutation along with the presentation of their DNA model. Students performed an in class activity on the punnet square which demonstrated what genes (dominant/recessive) are passed down from one’s parents.
In Pre-Transition math class, students are learning how to multiply mixed fractions with whole values and other mixed fractions. This has been a challenging skill to master and will continue to be our focus next week. The students had great success with being able to identify if the product of two numbers will be a positive or negative outcome. Keep studying as the next chapter assessment is Thursday, February 20th.
In Transition math class, students are learning about multiplication as shortcut addition (collecting like terms), multiplication with negative numbers, and the rate-factor model for multiplication. Students are able to identify the properties used to solve these arithmetic operations and can successfully complete the word problems by setting up the cross out method for rate multiplication.
In Algebra 1 math class, students are learning about the important exponent rules. Students have created a single unique note sheet to keep all their formulas and rules in one key area. Students are practicing how to simplify expressions with square roots, cube roots, powers of products, and quotients.
Math Joke: Why was the equal sign so humble?……Because she knew she wasn’t greater than or less than anyone else.
“A friend is one of the nicest things you can have and one of the best things you can be” – Douglas Pagels
Children had a blast preparing for our Friendship Celebration! They exercised their fine motor skills to create their beautiful Valentine’s bags and they were super excited to share their valentines with each of their friends! We talked about the importance of being a good friend and ways we could demonstrate love and care for them. We focused on one expression that promotes happiness in our brains, a hug. Children had fun choosing friends to give big hugs! It was priceless!
Children also enjoyed a special homemade fruit salad during our friendship celebration! There was so much love in the air!
We thank you for all your donations to make this day so special!
We hope you have a great little break and a Happy Valentine’s Day!
No School Thursday, February 13th – Parent & Teacher Conferences Online sign-ups were sent on Friday (1/31). Please note, teachers can also make time for conferences throughout the week during times that work for their teaching schedule. Parents can reach out to their child’s teacher directly if they are unable to attend conferences on 2/13.
No School Friday, February 14th and Monday, February 17th – President’s Day Weekend
Parent Association New Event: Trivia/Movie Afternoon Saturday, March 7th-3:30-6:30pm.
Join us at school for an afternoon of competitive trivia! The trivia program is digital, interactive, fast and fun. This event is open to FWM friends and family! Don’t delay, sign up today to reserve your spot here!
Don’t have a babysitter? Childcare for children (walking through 8th grade) will be available at school for $20 per child which includes pizza and popcorn. Children will be grouped by age group depending on the number of students. Please register in advance here.
Trivia Overview: 6 adult players max per team and a maximum of 25 total teams. If you don’t have a team of 6, you will be assigned to a team. Each team is encouraged to create a team name and can choose to decorate your team table in any way that you choose. The trivia game lasts approximately 2 hours. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place as well as last place and best decorated table.The event is BYOB and feel free to bring snacks for your table to share.
Any questions, please email Parent Chairs: Natalia Kokalj-O’Driscoll Kristen Rio Brooke Hopkins Rossana Cinquegrana:
Join a Book Study to discuss the book, How to Raise an Adult. Head of School, Chris Robertson, will be facilitating a discussion in May about this excellent parenting book. For more information, please click here.
March Break Camp Registration is OPEN (Toddler and Primary children). To register your FWM toddler or primary child in FWM’s March Break Camp, please click here. Parents may register their child for one or both weeks. March Break Camp is: Week 1 (March 16-20) and Week 2 (March 23-27).
Google is honoring black history month in several ways- one being an interactive, digital tour on Google Earth. Students enjoyed using this tool and I encourage you to try this one at home, too!
Google Earth’s digital tour, called “The Journey of Us”, has colorful pins across the globe that highlight an event or a person. Each pin represents an area of innovation: advocacy, education, film and TV, business, dance, and technology.
“The stories include generations of people who pushes boundaries and resisted limiting ideologies as they laced the way for the next generation.”