“The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love- whether we call it friendship or family or romance- is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light.” -James Baldwin, Nothing Personal

Upcoming Dates and Important Events

• Wednesday, February 25 @ 8:30: February Birthday Breakfast
• Thursday, February 26 @ 5:30: Research Night
• Thursday, March 5 @ 9:30: Sandwich Making Community Service

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” ~Rumi

We started this week with Moving Up Day. Our fourth graders hosted the third graders for the day, while our fifth graders visited the middle school. The fourth-grade students were excellent hosts, guiding their visitors and sharing our class routines. The atmosphere in the room was peaceful, calm, and joyful. Meanwhile, our fifth graders had a great day attending classes with their older peers and returned to Upper Elementary on Tuesday, excited about what lies ahead.

This week, we also celebrated Valentine’s Day by serving others before enjoying the delicious treats you provided. We made 170 sandwiches, which we donated to the St. Vincent DePaul Mission in Waterbury. Thank you very much for your generous contributions to both our sandwich-making effort and our Valentine’s Day party. Your support is greatly appreciated!

The Mission is currently overflowing with guests seeking shelter from the extreme cold we have been experiencing. They are in need of clean, warm blankets and are asking for donations of new or gently used blankets. If you would like to help, please send your blankets to school this week, and I will deliver them to the shelter. Alternatively, you can drop them off yourself or send them to the St. Vincent de Paul Mission Shelter at 114 Benedict St, Waterbury, CT 06706.

We have less than two weeks remaining before our Research Night presentations. Work in class this coming week will focus on finishing papers and preparing presentation boards. By Tuesday, students should have gathered all the information they need from family members so they can focus on writing. If you are sending family photos with your child for their presentation board, we will make color copies of them and return them home. You are also welcome to share any photos digitally with me via email, or your child can upload them to their Google Doc.

Upcoming Events and Important Dates

• Monday, February 16 – No School – Presidents’ Day
• Wednesday, February 25 @ 8:30 – February Birthday Breakfast
• Thursday, February 26 @ 5:30 – Research Night – Autobiography Presentations

“All is strictly interrelated on this planet. And one notes that each science studies only the details of a total knowledge. To speak afterward of the life of [humans] on the surface of the globe is to speak of history. And each detail holds… interest by reason of its strict relation to the others. We may compare it with a tapestry: each detail is a piece of embroidery; the whole constitutes a magnificent cloth.” -Maria Montessori

Our week began with an incredible performance by our Middle School students of their original play, Spoiler Alert! This play was entirely created by the students, from the initial concept to the script and the set design. We thoroughly enjoyed the hilarious performance and appreciated hearing from our middle school friends afterward as they answered our questions about the entire experience.

On Wednesday, we received a visit from the folks at Ben’s Lighthouse, who presented the Isle of Skoo puppet show. This performance focused on feelings and empathy. We enjoyed attending with our friends from toddlers through eighth grade. After the performance, we had the opportunity to put what we learned into action. When one student accidentally spilled a box containing 300 tiny wooden pegs, several students immediately stopped what they were doing and quietly helped clean up the mess. It was a beautiful illustration of empathy in action.

We are now focusing more intensely on autobiographies. Our goal is to complete the rough drafts next week and make progress on the final drafts. You can find the project link on your child’s dashboard in MyFWM. We will meet with students one-on-one next week to help them finalize their papers. Additionally, students will be preparing presentation boards for Research Night. If you have any family photos to share for their boards, we can make color copies at school, or you can share them with me digitally.

On Monday, we will have Moving Up Day for students. Fifth graders will spend the day in middle school. They don’t need to bring anything special for the day, but they should arrive as close to 8:10 as possible. Fifth graders can be dropped off a little early, starting at 8:00. If you arrive before 8:00, please enter through the front door, as teachers do not begin greeting students in the back until 8:10. Fourth graders will host the third graders for the day.

Thursday will be a fun and busy day of celebration and service. We will start our day by making sandwiches for the soup kitchen, followed by our classroom Valentine’s Day celebration. Thank you to those who are generously donating items for our sandwiches and the party. We truly appreciate your support!

UPCOMING EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Monday, February 9: Moving Up Day for Grade 5
• Tuesday, February 10: Moving Up Night for parents of students moving to Grade 6
• Thursday, February 12: Sandwich Making and Valentine’s Day Celebration
• Friday, February 13: No School – Professional Development Day
• Monday, February 16: No School – Presidents’ Day

• Monday, February 9 is Moving Up Day for fifth graders. They will spend the day as a middle school student. Students should arrive at school at 8:00 for the start of their middle school day.
• Thursday, February 12 will be a busy and meaningful day. After making sandwiches for the soup kitchen, we’ll celebrate Valentine’s Day as a class. Please look out for an email from Nora with more details about the celebration. Thank you for your continued support with our community service!

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

“In these times, more than ever before, our hope is that education will offer an aid to better the condition of the world.” -Maria Montessori, London Lectures 1948

This week in Upper Elementary, we stayed busy with our learning despite the short week. In our writing lesson, we focused on adding variety to our topic sentences. We discovered that topic sentences can be declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, or imperative. Additionally, we learned strategies for using appositives and subordinating conjunctions to make our topic sentences more engaging. For our follow-up work, we will incorporate this new knowledge into our autobiographies. As we progress on our projects, we are applying the skills we learn in writing lessons to enhance our writing each week.

In grammar this week, the fourth graders studied personal pronouns, focusing on person and number. We explored singular and plural forms of first-, second-, and third-person pronouns. Meanwhile, the fifth graders learned about action verbs, linking verbs, and predicate words, as well as distinguishing between transitive and intransitive verbs.

In geometry, the fourth graders learned about the equivalence of polygons to rectangles, while the fifth graders concentrated on identifying the sides and points, apothem, and radius of polygons and circles.

In history, we continued our exploration of our closest fossil relatives, marking the beginning of our study of six primate groups: Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Neanderthal, and Cro-Magnon. about the equivalence of a polygon to a rectangle, and fifths focused on identifying the side/point, apothem, and radius of polygons and circles.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” -Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham, Alabama jail, April 16, 1963

We had a fantastic week in Upper El! Our first order of business was introducing our new guinea pig, Porky, to Teddy. We gave them some time out of their cages to get acquainted. We discovered that Porky needs to learn some manners, so we are giving Teddy some time to teach him while we assist a little. Next week, we will continue to let the two spend short periods of time together.

On Tuesday, we attended the Middle School Math Carnival. We had a blast playing the games created by our sixth through eighth graders, winning tickets, and enjoying some delicious treats. Our fifth graders are very excited to participate in this annual carnival next year!

On Thursday, we made 120 sandwiches for the St. Vincent DePaul Mission in Waterbury. We are becoming quite efficient at Cafe Upper El, completing the sandwich-making and cleanup in just half an hour. Thank you very much for all the food donations, and a special thanks to Nick, Leslie, and Nora for volunteering their time.

We are making great progress on our autobiographies, incorporating our writing lessons into our work. Students are enjoying taking a stroll down memory lane as they write chapters about their younger years and learn so much about their families!

Upcoming Important Dates:

• Tuesday, January 13 @ 2:00: MS Math Carnival
• Thursday, January 15 @ 9:30: UE Community Service – Sandwich Making
• Friday, January 16: Early Dismissal – Professional Development
• Monday, January 19: No School – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service
• Friday, January 30 @ 2:15 – UE Performing Arts Presentation

What a joyful week we’ve had, full of preparation, anticipation, and celebration!

We wrapped up our lessons for the session and had our final Literature Circle before heading off on our two-week break, finishing up our assignments together. We baked four delicious loaves of banana and zucchini bread (with chocolate chips, of course!) for our December birthday breakfast on Wednesday, chosen by our birthday honorees. We worked hard to transform the Upper El/Middle School hallway into a gingerbread house, which our adorable toddlers and primary students especially enjoyed. We even found time for sledding, snowball fights, and building snowmen—all while getting ready for the Winter Showcase.

On Thursday, we celebrated with our holiday party in our PJs, exchanged “Secret Holiday Pudding” gifts, and watched Annie on the Promethean Board. To top it all off, our amazing students, led by the equally amazing Megan Kirk, delivered a stunning, emotional performance on Friday to send us off into winter break.

Thank you so much for the yummy treats you sent in for our party and for the thoughtful gifts you gave to Sara and me. I wish you a beautiful holiday season filled with love and peace!

See you in 2026!