The principal’s column — WES milk challenge
What is a “milk challenge”? This experiment involved students calculating number of cartons of leftover milk dumped each day from Monday-Thursday. On Friday, we made a challenge to the school to drink as much milk as they could. We wanted to see how low we could get our milk waste down to. On average, 55 cartons of milk were dumped each day. On Friday, this was down to 19 cartons dumped. We also have some great artwork done by WES art students. This challenge will be repeated in March for a week. Great job, Wiscasset Elementary School!
Reminders
Monday-Friday, Feb. 20: February vacation
Sunday, March 5, 5 p.m.: Opus One Big Band concert — music-department fundraiser at Wiscasset Middle High School
Monday, March 27, 8-11:30 a.m.: Fourth- and fifth-grade field trip to Portland Symphony Orchestra performance of “Beethoven Lives Upstairs”
Thursday, March 30, 5:30 p.m.: First- and second-grade performance and art exhibit at WES; art exhibit will open at 5 p.m.
Thursday, March 30, 6:30 p.m.: Third- and fourth-grade performance at art exhibit at WES
Friday, April 7, 5:30-7:30 p.m.: “Mangia” swim fundraiser at WES
Tuesday, May 16, 6:30 p.m.: Fifth- and sixth-grade chorus and band concert and art exhibit at WES
Sixth-grade pictonotes
Sixth-grade social studies classes are currently studying important turning points in human history, such as the development of agriculture, cities, writing, trade, and social classes. As a way of processing the implications of these developments, sixth-graders created “pictonotes” from the knowledge they had from films, textbook, and class discussions. Pictonotes, also known as “sketch notes,” are a way of combining diagrams, symbols, pictures, and words to process information. They provide an opportunity not only to take notes on information, but to make connections, create conclusions, and think about implications as one is drawing and writing.
100 days of school equals $100 in box tops
There are many ways to celebrate the 100th day of school. One can practice counting to 100, one can practice adding and subtracting numbers to equal 100, or one can try to write 100 spelling words or 100 describing words. One can tally up all the books read as a class and see if they have reached 100. Or one can check, snip, organize, and count 1,000 little 10-cent Box Tops for Education and help to raise $100 for the school. Lynn Morissette’s class is honored to provide this volunteer work for our school each month.
100th day and Valentine’s Day celebrations
It was a great week at WES! We finally made it to the 100th day of school, and classes around the building celebrated by exploring the number 100 in lots of different ways. Carole Drury had her older classes finding totals of 100 using musical-note values, while her younger classes used percussion to practice counting to 100. Clara Brown’s class made lists of 100 words that they know. Donna Footer’s class is making a list of 100 acts of kindness that they are completing together. The fifth grade is compiling a list of its 100 most recommended books. Becky Hallowell’s class filled 10 frames with Fruit Loops, and strung 10 sets of Fruit Loops on necklaces and then ate them. Other classes have displays and celebrations planned. There’s no limit to the imagination in this building!
After vacation
Coming up: Pictures from Winterfest and some great fifth-grade projects!