| Chelsea Elementary School
Home of the Eagles April Newsletter |
| Principal's Message
April is upon us and we are continuing to work hard on multiple projects for the future and taking a breath from the accomplishments of the past month that we have recently completed throughout the school. Some of these projects include: students in grades 3rd - 8th have completed taking the MEAs. As you know the State of Maine tests grades 3, 5, 6 and 7 as well as 4 and 8. The school usually does not receive the results of these reports until late June/early July. Baseball season is beginning and students are eager to get outside and onto the fields!!! Civic Oration (the school's speech contest) is in full gear and will be presented late April/early May. Our Drama club is getting ready for their performance of King Midas and the Palace of Gold. The performance will take place on April 11th at Togus at 6:30 p.m. We hope to see you there!! April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Please take a moment to talk with your child about appropriate and inappropriate touching. Statistics state that abusers are more likely to be someone that a child knows well, so the "stay away from strangers" discussion does not give students the necessary tools to deal with this type of situation. Mr. Doiron |
| Kindergarten - Mrs. Galarneau and Mrs. Beeckel
Kindergarteners have been working very hard for the month of March. They created a leprechaun ladder for the leprechaun to climb down and share his pot of gold with them. The leprechaun decided to share his gold chocolate nuggets with them. It was a yummy treat had by all. Conferences went very well. We would like to thank you for all your support and the many excellent questions. Our kindergarten friends have been practicing their reading skills through site word booklets and mini books they illustrate and color. Continue to read at home as much as possible. Mud season has started. Please send your child with an extra change of clothing including socks and underwear. Mud boots (rubber boots) are great for the wet and muddy playground. Kindergarten Registration
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| 1st Grade - Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Grant
March came in like a lion but we still celebrated the beginning of the month by participating in our annual Read Across America festivities. We had special readers in the gym who read Dr. Seuss books to grades K-2 and then we honored Dr. Seuss' birthday with cake afterwards. Leppy visited both first grades once again this year and left behind shamrock necklaces for all of us. We had a great time with a math activity that involved Lucky Charms cereal and we wore our Irish derby hats all day. We had a Hands Are Not For Hitting presentation where students learned how to deal with anger in safe ways. They each took a pledge to never use their hands in hurtful ways. We were very fortunate to have a field trip this month to see a play at the Augusta Civic Center. The Junie B. Jones play was exciting and humorous for students in grades K-2. In math we have started a new unit on measurement and in science we have been focusing on maps and directions. |
| 2nd Grade - Mrs. Acosta
In social studies, second graders worked on a co-operative learning project. Students worked together in small groups to cooperatively build a leprechaun trap. Each group was responsible to work together and each group had to present the completed project. Students were very creative and came up with some great traps. In Reader's Theater, students are preparing for the performance of their plays. Each group has chosen different ways to present their plays. Some have decided to make masks, while others chose to dress the parts. Students are very excited and have done a great job working together. In Science, students have worked with their eighth grade buddies to make their own compass to find the North Pole. Mrs. Raymond gave us some useful survival skills if we were ever to get lost in the woods. Thanks Mrs. Raymond! We look forward to next weeks science lesson, painting Easter eggs. |
| 3rd Grade - Mrs. Delgallo and Mrs. Pelletier
Third graders were very busy during the month of March. All students worked very hard on the MEA's. Thanks to parents who sent in snacks. Students and teachers really appreciated it. We finished our Polar Regions unit. Third graders enjoyed learning about these parts of the world. Thank you to all parents who went on field trip to the Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College. We had a great time. We just began learning about the water cycle, matter and chemical and physical changes in science. Students are having fun with in class experiments. Third graders continue to be busy learning and practicing 2-digit, 3-digit and 4-digit addition and subtraction skills. Please ask your third grader about their pencil and eraser supply at school. Most students seem to be running low. |
| 4th Grade - Mrs. Biswell and Mrs. Rush
Grade 4 has had an exciting March! Students worked to do their best on the MEA's. We appreciated the support from home with delicious, nutritious snacks. The water from the PTA kept us all thinking and working. Thank you. We have started our government unit. We have elected officers through a nomination process, listened to speeches, and voted. Then our committees worked to choose basic laws, decide on jobs to offer students, create our money system and decide on pay for elected officials. Students have filled out job applications, been interviewed, and have started their jobs. We have had class meetings and court. For writing and social studies, we fill our journals about what we are learning. What an exciting learning time! |
| 6th Grade - Mr. Todd and Mr. Crosby
In Reading, we finished Maniac Magee and are concentrating on Defining Vocabulary Using Context and doing their book projects due the first day back from vacation. We are winding down on the Civic Oration with all presentations due next week for grade. It has been a very busy six weeks. In math, we are getting into studying fractions this week. Students in sixth grade science have just completed a unit on animals and are prepared to begin studying energy. Students can look forward to some exciting labs during the next couple of weeks in which they will investigate potential and kinetic energy, as well as experiment with Newton's First Law of Motion. Students have enjoyed a wonderful time sharpening their understanding of science through a dynamic instructional internet site, www.brainpop.com. In social studies, students are continuing to study ancient Greek history, culture, and geography. Students will also explore the concept of democracy and many other contributions of the Ancient Greeks. The laptop computers that have been made available to sixth grade students have greatly extended the ability of students to demonstrate their learning. If you have internet access at home, students will be able to share their work with you through my class web page: www.quia.com/pages/toddeaglehistory.html. Math students in Mr. Todd's class are wrapping up a unit on Greatest Common Factors and Least Common Multiples. During the next few weeks, students will be immersed in working with fractions. Students receive homework in math at least three evenings a week. If you have any questions about your child's performance, please feel free to contact Mr. Todd through the Chelsea Website. |
| 7/8th Academic Team - Mr. Gammon, Mrs. Perry, Miss McDonough and Mrs. Raymond
All of the seventh and eighth grade students are involved in the Modern Woodmen of America Civic Oration speech contest. The students have been working on researching and writing their speeches and next week, the competition will begin! Students in grades 6-8 will compete in a school wide event. The top three finalists will move on to the district competition in May. 8th grade students are having their "Rock-a-Thon" on April 13th to raise money for their class trip. The class voted to go to Boston and plans are underway on how to spend that special day. The class t-shirt has been designed, thanks to the talents of Kayla Albert and Roseanna Tibbetts, and will arrive soon. The team wants to remind all students that we still have a ways to go before the last day of school, and being prepared for class is just as important now as it was at the beginning of the year. Pencils and notebooks and other school supplies appear to be on their last legs - it may be time to replace a few of those stubby, eraser-less pencils! |
| PE News - Mrs. Peterson
3 - 8 Graders are finishing a volleyball unit. K - 2 having been learning the basics of gymnastics and will finish their unit with an obstacle course. 6th Graders will be learning track and field events for a Union wide track and field day some time in late May. Jump Rope For Heart
The A, B, C's to Success Program thru board breaking.
Bike Rodeo
Fitness For Life
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| Art News - Mrs. Dunn
Our student artist of the month for April is Emma Begin in grade 3. Emma's pictures are on display on the bulletin board outside the art room. Seventh graders have been learning about architecture. They have learned the basics of drawing a floor plan. Eight graders are working on medieval art. They are finishing up an illuminated letter, and are getting ready to begin looking at the art of the Renaissance. Fifth graders are having fun beginning to apply some of the fundamentals of design to three-dimensional works of art. Grade four students are studying oriental art. They will be doing some origami, and they are currently learning about Chinese and Japanese ink painting. Reminder to all that our musical production King Midas and the Palace of Gold will be presented on Wednesday evening April 11, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. at the Togus Theater. There will be a second performance, also at Togus, on Thursday morning April 12, 2007. |
| Music News - Mr. Morgan
Hello! I would like to tell you about two concerts at the end of the school year. The Union Band will be playing at Windsor Elementary on Thursday, May 17th. Students from Whitefield, Windsor, Jefferson, Palermo, and Chelsea had to audition to become a part of this band. They have been working hard, rehearsing since January. The audience will be made up of primary aged children from Union's 133 and 132. Parents are welcome too. The second concert will be on Tuesday, June 5th and will feature grades K-4. The concert will also feature a few select students from grades 5-8 performing and singing songs. Grades 7/8 have been studying the guitar and piano and will be performing songs for their classmates at the end of the year. We will be having two shows for our play this year. The first performance is on Wednesday, April 11th at 6:30pm. The second show will be during the morning of April 12th for the school. The students involved with the play are working hard rehearsing twice a week after school. |
| Library News - Mrs. Klemenc
The Spring Buy-One Get-One book fair went very well. Thank you to all parents for stopping by the library with your students. A special thank you to Mrs. Elliot and Mrs. Foye for their special continued support. Some of the new titles acquired for library via the book sale were:
Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Maine Student Book Award Voting Ceremony. Twenty-one votes were counted in all. The top book voted by Chelsea students was E.R. Vets by Donna M. Jackson. Close following were Tiger, Tiger by Lynn Banks and Flush by Carl Hiaasen. The new list for next year 2007-08 is now available online http://www.windham.lib.me.us/msba.htm and through the library. We already own three of those titles. Happy Reading Chelsea Students! |
| Guidance - Mrs. Blake
All 8th grade students have chosen their high school for the next school year. Courses for the next year have been selected and approved with Erskine, Cony, and Hall-Dale High Schools. Gardiner Area High School will work with the last group of 8th graders to select their courses on Tuesday, April 10th. |
From the Nurse - Jenny Young
Salmonella Infections Associated with Peanut Butter
The affected jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter have a product code located on the lid of the jar that begins with the number 2111. Both the Peter Pan and Great Value brands are manufactured in a single facility in Georgia by ConAgra. Great Value peanut butter made by other manufacturers is not affected. A symptomatic individuals should discard the product, retain the lid, and call ConGra at 10866-344-6970 for reimbursement. Symptomatic individuals should retain the entire product and contact the FDA at 1-800-891-8295 for further instructions about testing of the peanut butter. 288 cases of food borne illness in 39 states have been linked to consumption of varying types of Peter Pan peanut butter. One of these cases was from Maine. The outbreak appears to be ongoing; the first consumer may have become ill in Augusta 2006. Great Value brand peanut butter beginning with the product code 2111 is manufactured in the same plant as Peter Pan peanut butter and, thus, is believed to be at similar risk of contamination. Individuals who have recently eaten Peter Pan and Great Value brand peanut butter brand beginning with product code 2111 and have experienced symptoms should contact their health care provider immediately. Providers are encouraged to obtain stool cultures for bacterial pathogens in persons with symptoms. Asymptomatic individuals do not need to be tested. Any confirmed illnesses should be reported to the state health department at 1-800-821-5821. |