REPORT CARDS

Report cards will go home tomorrow, February 1.  Please contact me with any questions or concerns.  Thank you!

ECO REMINDER for Friday, February 1

This Friday, due to the projected cold, we will head outside after lunch and spend the afternoon at Harrison Field. A hot drink in a thermos is great to pack throughout the winter, and remember to also send your child with a water bottle.

Please send your child in clothing that will keep him/her comfortable outside on a cold day. This includes: comfortable winter boots with (preferably wool) socks, snow pants, a warm jacket, a hat, waterproof gloves or mittens. Hand warmers and long underwear are also helpful in keeping warm. We are in for a very cold outing so let's be over-prepared! Your child can always leave extra layers in his/her bag when not needed.

-Wendy McGuiggan-

225-8238

WendyM@mpsvt.org

ECO cancelled tomorrow

We will not have ECO tomorrow (1/18/13).  The next ECO date is February 1st.  Families are welcome to join us! 

-Thank you

Volunteers Welcome

We would not be successful with our snowball project without volunteers.  Thank you to those who have come in to help out.  If you would like to and are able to come in to help, we will be working on our targets from 10:30-11 and 12:00-1:00 today (Wednesday) and from 12:00-1:00 for the rest of the week.  We can always use an extra hand and some experienced advice.

Thank you!

Snowball Project

We are working hard on our snowball target designs.  Today we wrestled with lots of design and planning questions, such as:

How can we attach bike gears, chains, and a crank to create a moving target?
How can we prevent the wood from rotting and metal from rusting?
What will work better, screws or nails?
How can we build targets that are removable?
How can we improve the stability of targets in our designs?
How can we paint designs that include all members of our school community?
How can we improve safety for all?
How can we use triangles in our designs?

We worked hard answering those questions and more.  We also selected scraps of wood to use for each of the three projects.  We were lucky to receive help from our head of maintenance Todd Keller,  a community member/ UES parent,  and from a UES grandfather.  Tomorrow, Grandpa Bob will help us continue the project. 

I am very impressed with the students' ideas, cooperation, and dedication as they work on this project.

Service Learning and Snowballs

We had a great first day back!  As a class, we have decided to take on a project to improve the playground for all.  Currently, there is a section of the hill designated for throwing snowballs, but some problems have emerged as it is not engaging for some to throw snow at a hill.

The class is applying the engineering design process to come up with a solution.  Today we worked on ASK:  What is the problem?  What are the constraints? and also IMAGINE: brainstorm ideas.  Tomorrow we will choose the most practical ideas out of the many that came up, and PLAN.  Later this week and next week we will CREATE and IMPROVE when needed.

Our imaginative group of engineers is eagerly working on finding a solution to benefit the whole school!

ECO REMINDER for Friday, January 4

This Friday, due to the projected cold temperatures, we will head outside after lunch and spend the afternoon at Harrison Field.  A hot drink in a thermos is great to pack throughout the winter, and remember to also send your child with a water bottle.

Please send your child in clothing that will keep him/her comfortable outside on a cold day. This includes: comfortable winter boots with (preferably wool) socks, snow pants, a warm jacket, a hat, waterproof gloves or mittens. Hand warmers and long underwear are also helpful in keeping warm. We are in for a very cold outing so let's be over-prepared! Your child can always leave extra layers in his/her bag when not needed.

-Wendy McGuiggan-

225-8238

WendyM@mpsvt.org