Weekly Update

Dear Families,

This was a busy week for us in 3rd and 4th grade. We started off with our 100th day celebration on Monday. All the 3rd and 4th grade students created stars to show our commitment to our school’s “Be a STAR” program. The stars hang in our hallways and we are very proud of them. Please come by to see them.

On Tuesday, the school participated in the Vermont Writes Day, a day when all schools write for 7 minutes at the same time. Even the teachers wrote! It was a wonderful experience. We had three writing topics to choose from. Please ask your child to tell you our options. We shared the stories afterwards and some of them will be displayed around the school. This event served as the “kick-off” to our classroom’s new weekly writing prompts, a 15 minute writing time when the students will all write a paragraph on the same topic. 3rd graders are expected to write a single paragraph, with a well-developed topic sentence, two supporting details and a conclusion. 4th graders are expected to write a 4 paragraph essay, a writing piece that contains an introduction with a hook, two supporting paragraphs and a conclusion. The students will have a chance to create the writing prompts in school and I will post many of them in our wiki Link Library. Please visit this new section for examples and let me know if your child creates an interesting prompt. Thank you!

On Wednesday, HCS started its traditional Hinesburg Reading Celebration. The whole school met in the gym and read together for 20 minutes. Your child should have already brought home an entry form to this reading celebration so he/she can track how many minutes he/she read. The white forms are due back on 2/19 and the yellow forms are due on 3/2. The winners and the prizes will be announced on the 3rd of March.

On Thursday, the students completed the CSSU science assessment, a constructivist and inquiry-based assessment that encouraged the students to “act like scientists.” The students were observing the flow of water through various earth materials. They were encouraged to make predictions, collect data and make scientific observations and they had to conclude their experiments scientifically. They did an incredible job!

Friday will be our Valentine’s Day party celebration. Thank you all for sending in treats and sweets to our children. It is greatly appreciated.

Have a great weekend.
Regards,

Maria McCormack