So many updates!

We have been busy, busy, busy in 5th grade!  This Friday we'll have our first aBay (it's like eBay - the kids bring in things to sell and use their Alpha Cash to bid on items).  If you haven't already seen the permission slip, be sure to ask your child about it. We'll update this blog with pictures so you can see what it was like. 


We have so many snapshots of our days to share with you. First, you will see pictures from our school-wide morning meeting. 5th graders hosted and led our school-wide meeting. The theme of this meeting was gratitude. 

Fifth graders have been reading the text The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind  by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. This window text has shown fifth graders the struggles of life in Malawi, Africa during drought and famine. Since William's family are maize and tobacco farmers, William's family can no longer afford to send him to school. William models a growth mindset and continues to persevere through every obstacle and challenge. William taught himself about wind energy from discovering a book in the small library in his village. In pursuit to find an energy source for his family's home, William engineers his own windmill from materials he found in the junkyard.  ​

As a group, we put ourselves in William's shoes. Our fifth graders worked in groups to engineer their own windmill from recycled materials, just like William. Also, we reflected deeply about life in Malawi and realized how much we are grateful for in our life here in Charlotte, Vermont. Here are pictures of 5th graders sharing their thinking in our video in front of the whole school! 

Next we have pictures from our Japanese tea ceremony. Our students have been learning about Japanese art, gardens and tea ceremony in art. Michiko Oish joined us at CCS to teach us about traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. 

Mrs. Fraser's support room had a special visit from Mrs. Bouteiller and Mrs. Brady's 1st grade class. They shared their published narrative writing pieces with us. The fifth graders were SO thoughtful with their feedback. 

Lastly, we sent an email newsflash with information about our INCREDIBLE experience on Friday with Dr. Susan Durham and Dr. Scott Lollis, but here are a few more photos. Just another plug: we'd like to invite other parents in Science/Technology/Math fields to consider coming in to present. If you've got a cool idea or experience you'd like to share with the kids please let us know and we can try to put together more experiences like the one the kids had today. 

Sweethearts, Heroes and Toy Trucks

Last week, we had a special guest visit us here at CCS. Mr. Incredible, also known as Tom Murphy, taught us all about being a hero. He gave us strategies and action steps to take when we see someone in a tricky situation or being bullied. We learned what bully is and means. We learned to take action in the first 10 seconds to help someone and be a hero. Here are the ABC strategies we learned:

• Away - take the person away from the bully or tricky situation
• Buddy- go over and be a buddy or friend to the person
• Confront (or Call for help)- go over and confront the bully or get help from a friend or another adult

Most importantly, we practiced and role played various scenarios when a classmate might need help as a whole team. We are all heroes and help each other every day!  

Here are some pictures from the presentation:

 Fifth graders learning how we are all better and more powerful together. 

 Learning the power we have when we are all connected!

 Role playing!

In LA we are deep into the text The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. Students have thought deeply about this text and are learning about the effects of deforestation, drought and famine in Malawi, Africa. They have learned about economy in Malawai in 2001 during the famine. Since the maize supply is so low, the demand has increase to incredible levels. Many Malawians cannot afford food or to go to school. Have your child tell you about school in Malawi. What is the difference between school in America and school in Malawi? *See picture below* Ask your child to tell you about William's experience. 

We also learned how William built and created his own toys, from scraps and junk found around his home and village. Unlike children in America, children in Malawi have to build and create their toys. In science, students worked together to develop a plan on how they would engineer their own toy truck, like William, from scraps and reusable materials. The end products were incredible! See the pictures below.