To Ice or Sand??? That is the question....

Kids did an interesting investigation today in our classroom! They explored the way in which road crews clear roads in the winter to keep us all safe - does sand, salt, or just plain time accelerate the melting process when the roads are super icy???  Which is the best?  Students decided how they would investigate this question, and performed their experiment with the cooperation and help of a peer science buddy!  Be sure to ask us about our results and what we've concluded about using salt and sand on our wintery roads.....lots of science going on here.....and more to consider than we ever realized before!  

Mission Accomplished!

Thanks, Mr. Berliner, for delivering the BRAND NEW BOOKS to the Children's Hospital at the University of Vermont today!  Mission accomplished!

Inside each book was written:

This book has been donated to

The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital

With love and warm wishes

from the Students at Richmond Elementary School

Richmond, Vermont

December 2016

Our Book Sale was a SUCCESS!

On Friday, December 9th, students at RES were invited to the Annual RES Used Book Sale!  Thank you to all of the families who donated books to the sale this year - there were so many beautiful books for the children to select!  Our class worked hard to set up the sale, labeling the types of books available and displaying them carefully for friends to see.  Thank you to all of our adult helpers as well, who helped to work at the sale and keep things running so smoothly throughout the day.  We are so happy to see these books loved by their new owners.  The day was filled with amazing thoughtfulness by the students, too. Many comments were heard from students about how they were buying gifts for friends, siblings, neighbors, and even their parents!  It was beautiful and definitely filled our hearts.

Thank you to the community for making this such a fun tradition at our school.  Money raised from the sale will help 4th graders fund Vermont Studies field trips in the spring. Some of the money raised will also be used to buy new books to donate to the Pediatric Unit at the University of Vermont Medical Center - a gift from the Students of Richmond Elementary School.

Math Celebration Today!

Today we finished another math unit and after our assessment we each chose a special math activity to do during math menu time.  Here are some pics from our celebration!  Great work, kids!  Thoughtful choices, too!  Tomorrow we begin our Data Unit!

Tangram Puzzles by Zander....

Great work, Maggie!

Zander goes for it!

his bird....

...another bird....

Lila, Sarah, and Malia doing Prodigy...

Hannah, Jordan, Haley and  Aurora....time out for a smiling pic..haha! :)

Way to go, Malachai!

Nice work Ben, Miles, and Ethan!

Maggie working hard! Nice job!

Zander...proud of his puzzles today.... :)

Carter and Eben psyched with their Prodigy progress!

Today's "State" Debate!

So, if we're pretty sure about the states of matter...the properties of matter....can we always classify things as a solid, liquid, or gas?  Does everything fit neatly into one of these categories?  Today we investigated.....SHAVING CREAM....to try to determine what it was!  It was quite a stumper for us!

Some observations and questions from the student scientists:

"It melts over time and disappears into your skin!"
"How does it grow when it comes out of the container?"
"My penny sinks into it over time!"
"It's a liquid because it makes my hand wet when I touch it...."
"I think it's a solid because it keeps its shape"
"The penny sinks into it when it's placed on its side, but when it's placed level it stays on top"
"I don't think it can be a gas because I can hold onto it"
"Since the hole is moving that was made by the penny, it has to be a liquid"
"It can't be a gas because you can see it"
"I think it's a little of everything!"
"It has to be a liquid because liquids change their shape to be the same as the container and it does that"
"It's does not have a certain shape and it just disappears so it's more like a gas!"
"It's a solid because you have to physically move it, a liquid because it soaks into the paper, and NOT a gas because it doesn't rise and it's not invisible"

Our State Fair was a Success!

Today our class celebrated our latest learning adventure by holding a US State Fair!  We learned where the states are located as well as the capital cities!  We also each chose a state to read about and report on in an essay!  It was an exciting morning as parents, kinderbuddies, and 4th grade peers came by to visit and learn from us!  There were even some special food samples to enjoy....THANK YOU to all of the families with their support of this project!  Wow!!! We hope you had as much fun as we had!  Here are some images from our day.... :)

 

Happy Thanksgiving

To my RES Students and Families....

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Week with your families!  

May your week be filled with laughter, joy, deliciousness, and fun!  

Best of Everything to All,

:)Mrs. Berliner 

Special Info About the RES Used Book Sale on December 9th

Hopefully you have all received the following note from school!  It went home with all RES students last week.   I've included it here again....with some added details....our class will be hosting this community service project.  They will be doing advertising, set up, running of the sale, etc....

If any classroom parents would be interested in helping us on the day of the sale, 

please let me know via email....this would be very helpful!

maribeth.berliner@cesuvt.org

Volunteers can help at the sale any time between 7:30am - 12:30pm on Friday, December 9th.  These can be 1 hour time slots or more.....any little bit helps! All is appreciated and it's really fun work.....watching kids of all ages pick out books....wonderful..... :)

Please let me know! Thanks!

The original note:

RES Used Book Sale 2016

Friday, November 11, 2016

Dear Families,

It’s that time of year again!  RES is holding its Annual Used Book Sale!  On Friday, December 9th, children in grades PreK-4 will have the opportunity to come to the Art Room and purchase gently used children’s books for $.25 each!  It’s an exciting day at school, and it’s been a yearly treat to see the faces of the children as they gather new stories to read and share with their families!

We will be accepting donations of gently used books (children’s picture books AND chapter books) starting Monday, November 28th.  Please check in at the front office, and then bring your boxes and bags of books directly down to Maribeth Berliner’s classroom  - Room 35.  This sale is a great opportunity to clean out your collections before the holidays, and keep your books in the hands of our community’s children!  

Money raised from this sale will be used to help support students in our RES learning community.  This year we will again be donating a box of children’s books to the Pediatric Unit at the University of Vermont Medical Center.

Thank you for your support with this project!  

*Any questions about the sale? You can call school and ask for Maribeth Berliner, or email :  maribeth.berliner@cesuvt.org

A Very Special Family Math Morning.....

This morning kids and families participated in another week of Family Math Time in our class.  Being the week before break, we did something a little bit special.....we enjoyed some hot cocoa and muffins while we played our games and some parents even brought in some of their own favorites!  Thank you to all who could join, and if you couldn't....there are more Wednesdays to look forward to!  Our next Wednesday morning (November 30th) will of course be our State Fair....but after that it's back to our math fun!  Best to all and thank you so much for your continuing, amazing support!

Getting Geared Up For The State Fair!!!

Kids in our class have been working SUPER HARD on their State Fair projects and essays!  I'm so proud of them and of all of the thoughtful details that they are adding to their writing and their displays!  They are so creative! They've nearly completed their "titles" and are now starting work on the main portion of their displays.  Shortly after the break the kids will be sharing their learning with parents and peers!  We can't wait!

RES Lantern Parade 2016

Thank you so much to everyone who helped to create such a beautiful evening at RES!  The first ever Lantern Parade was amazing.....what an awesome way to bring the kids and families of Richmond together.  The children did a great job making their lanterns, and everyone enjoyed the singing, drums, treats, cocoa, and togetherness.  We are truly fortunate to be part of such a warm and wonderful school community.  We have much to be thankful for..... :)

Principal, Mrs. Layton, and the 4th Grade Teachers

At the Sing-A-Long.......

Cocoa and Cookies!  Wonderfully delicious!

The RES School Store is OPEN!

Good Morning Everyone!

Great News!!

Mr. Godfrey has our school store and running online! The funds from the school store will support all of our school's PBIS efforts - giving back to the students and celebrating their learning and positive behaviors!

Families should place orders prior to November 24th, so that they will receive their items in time for the holidays.  Don't miss this great opportunity!  There are some pretty sweet items to choose from! 

Click the link below to enter the store!

https://richmondelementary.itemorder.com/

Let's Celebrate our Learning!

At the conclusion of our unit about "Interpreting Characters" and analyzing fiction, each student made a special bookmark which contained the names of the books they've read and some of the messages, themes, and lessons of those books.  Students did a great job with this unit and with the "intense" reading it involved. Their new adventure has begun.....as they enter the world of non-fiction......and study how to navigate it with wisdom, awareness, and a knowledge of the structures of non-fiction text.   How can we take charge of non-fiction text, and how can we get the most from it?

On Election Day....

Today our class learned a bit about the Electoral College and how it plays a role in our US Elections.  In order to get the idea of this concept,  which can be a tricky one, we got some help from our good ol' friend Grover, and his pal, Sal Kahn (of Kahn Academy).....Enjoy!

News from Sarah, Student Blogger

Wednesday morning we had Family Math Morning.  Here are some pictures telling what we did! We had fun!  We hope more parents can join us next Wednesday!
-Sarah K.

Lila and Jordan play Othello!

Finn and his mom playing Othello

Zander and Maggie playing Summit

Haley, Malia and Sam are playing try a tile .

Hannah is making geometry srting art.

Miles and Ben are finshing projects .

Carter and his Mom are taking the Tribulation challenge.

Go   Haley go!

Malia rockin the try a tiles.

Small Array - Big Array

On Thursday, our class played a math game called Small Array-Big Array!  Students did a great job finding multiplication combinations and working together to solve problems!  Fitting little arrays into big arrays can be fun! :) by: Hannah and Mrs. B.