Happy Summer to All!

 As we head into summer, I just want to say THANK YOU for all of your continued support throughout this difficult yet rewarding year! I could not have done it without you!

In case you wanted to take a trip down memory lane, here are our monthly forest videos from the year, enjoy!

Week of June 1, 2021

This week was packed with so much fun! On Tuesday, we had our first and only field trip of the year to VINS in Quechee, VT. While it was different having no chaperones to share our day with us, we made the best of it! Students engaged in a Moose activity, learning about Vermont's moose population, what caused it to decline over the years and what Vermont has been doing to repopulate our state with moose. We also walked along VINS' nature trails to find evidence of deforestation from long ago and discussed how that had a direct impact on the moose population. We ventured through the Canopy Walk and were able to get special VIP access to the spider web. This was certainly a highlight! 

On Wednesday, we got to have a Virtual meeting with Lindsay Stoddard, a local Vermont author. She wrote Just Like Jackie, a fantastic read-aloud we enjoy each year. Lindsay spoke about her inspiration behind the book and she shared with us her newest book, Bea is for Blended. We have a special copy in the library I know a few kiddos are eager to check out when we return in the fall. 

On Thursday, VINS came to us and we continued to learn more about Vermont's moose. We created a timeline of events that impacted the moose population. We also learned about various other animals native to Vermont. We looked at feathers, skulls, and furs. It was a lot of fun!

On Friday, we continue to work on our All About Me projects. As the school year quickly comes to a close, these projects give students a moment to reflect on how far they have come this year and what strengths they have moving on to fourth grade. Once these video projects are finished, we will share them with families and the fourth-grade teaching team. This is a wonderful way for the 4th-grade team to get to know everyone before the school year begins. 

Here are some fun pictures from the week:

Week of May 24, 2021

 While SBAC testing took up much of our time, we still managed to play and have fun throughout the week. We ended our week with a picnic on the soccer field and a visit from the Otter. She brought popsicles!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! See you all Tuesday!

Enjoying some ice cream Wednesday morning to celebrate making it halfway through SBAC testing!

Water play! I promise the water was much clearer before a bunch of 3rd graders came along 😀

Thank you to everyone who donated! We had wonderfully delicious food options every day.

Friday we began writing our own Cinderella stories

Hanging out, waiting for the Otter to arrive

Thank you, Otter!

Class picture!

Taking 2 seconds without our masks on to capture our first class picture of the year! I'm sure going to miss this crew. 

Week of May 17th

 What a week! We had an incredible week, filled with time outside, literacy and math review, as well as our first day of SBAC testing on Friday. Everyone did a great job trying their hardest on the test and used all the test-taking strategies they have learned. Thank you to everyone for your notes of encouragement. I wish you could have seen their faces light up as they read your loving words. We will continue to review these notes each morning before we begin our tests. All SBAC assessments should be finished by next Friday, but if students need more time than that they can certainly have it. 

Now, for the best part of our week...our first-ever FOREST POETRY RECITAL. I am so humbled and proud of the number of people who showed up for this event. Every single child was in attendance! That is incredible. It was evident how much work everyone put into their poems. Thinking back to September and how far each student has come since then is magical. I'm certainly going to miss this crew!

Here are some pictures from our week. If anyone captured a picture from tonight's recital they'd like to share, please send them my way!

Enjoying our hammocks!

Dipping our heads in the brook after a hot game of soccer!

Nothing beats playing Gaga Ball with Mr. D

The forest is a wonderful place

Forest Poetry Recital 2021...so, so proud!

Week of May 10th, 2021

 This week was absolutely fantastic! We spent the entire week outside. Honest! Most students did not take a single step inside the regular school building all week. It was awesome. The weather was cool in the morning and warm in the afternoons. Most days the bugs were minimal, with a light breeze in the air, and we ended the week working to clean up our forest field and playing in the brook. We even got our hammocks back up in the trees!

During academic areas, we spent much of our time reviewing concepts learned throughout the year to better prepare ourselves for the upcoming SBAC tests. During ELA, we continued our Cinderella unit. Students are beginning to recognize similarities across all versions of this fairy tale as well as the big idea behind the story. We will finish up this unit by the end of next week before we head into SBAC testing. 

Questions to spark conversation:

-What is a protagonist? antagonist?

-Where in the world have some of the Cinderella stories you've heard taken place?

-What changes did you notice in the forest this week?

Here are some pictures from the week:

We have the best classroom at DBS!

Cleaning up the forest

Teamwork!

Removing a huge stump!

Our hammocks look so great!

Working together and building with nature's tools while their teacher is hanging up hammocks!

They are so brave!

Chillin'