Chick Quadrammas

Here are some photos of the kids working on their chick life cycle Quadrammas today. The white parts are made with Crayola Model Magic and the kids will color their hen and chick on Tuesday once the Model Magic has dried.

Chick Celebration

This afternoon first grade classrooms had chick celebrations before sending the chicks back to the UVM farm. We worked on a quadramma project, making a 4-part display showing the stages of the chick's life cycle. We also had lots of family members join us in class to see the work we were doing and to meet our chicks. Each student posed with a chick for a photo and I am including those photos below. Please let me know if you have trouble getting saving the photo of your child from the slideshow and would like me to email you a copy! On Tuesday we will be able to finish our quadrammas (we had to let them dry today) and bring them home along with the "All About Chicks" books that students made. Students will bring their lapbooks full of learning from the unit home next week after we wrap everything up next week.

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Chick Pics

I have compiled all of our chick photos taken thus far using the great app pic collage and here are the chick pics! The first one shows photos from when the chicks first moved from the incubator to the tank and are still a bit wet. The others were taken throughout the week. We have had so much fun watching the chicks and hope you enjoy our photos too! 

The Hatch!

I am finally ready to post our chick photos (I took all the photos with my iPad and have had to find a way to post such a large number of photos efficiently because it works differently on the iPad than the computer)! These two collages show photos of pipped eggs (eggs with the first hole poked through) and the process of one of our chicks hatching.

Budget Vote Message

Below I am copying a message from the Colchester School District Spotlight Blog. Please read it, pass on the information, and personally encourage all of the families and other Colchester residents you know to make sure they come out and vote on the school's upcoming budget proposal. Getting as many people as possible to vote is so important to the future of our schools! Stay tuned for information on when the next vote will take place.

In March, voters went to the polls and defeated a 4.29 percent school budget increase. The school board reduced the budget by $442,744 and put forth a 3.09 percent increase (that would increase property taxes by 3.692 percent). Last week, that budget proposal was defeated as well. Now, as we struggle to find more places to cut, I thought it would be helpful to point out some other numbers that matter.

Our budget represents the vision that our community and school created for our students. It is built around community engagement, innovative teaching and learning, and success for all students. Our vision states that our schools achieve success when they are in partnership with our community. But in our community of approximately 11,000 registered voters, barely 2,000 came out to vote. That number matters.

Many times we’re reminded that Colchester’s per-pupil spending ($12,043) is lower than the state average ($12,789); however, our achievement on standardized tests is higher(statewide: 53 percent proficient/Colchester: 72 percent proficient). Statewide, school enrollment is decreasing, but Colchester kindergarten enrollments are at a ten-year high. Our classroom student-to-teacher ratio pushes the top end of Vermont quality standards at around 22:1 in the lower grades and 24:1 in the upper grades. These numbers should matter as well.

Our educators are some of the best in the state and have been recognized regionallyand nationally for facilitating excellent learning. But more importantly, our students are achieving success both while in our schools and once they graduate and reach forcollege and career goals. For our students and educators to continue this success, we, as a community, must provide them the tools they need.

It’s easy to say no to numbers when every dollar increase puts more stress on our households and families. But we must remember that supporting our public education system is an investment in the future of our community. We each have a part to play to ensure that Colchester remains a great place to live and learn.

Field Day BBQ

Field Day 2014 is scheduled for June 9th at Airport Park and, as always, should be tons of fun for all! During field day we have a BBQ lunch at the park with times staggered so that two classes go up to get food at a time. Our class will eat at 11:20 and families are welcome to join us! Please make sure that you fill out and return the orange Field Day BBQ order form that went home last Friday so that we will have an accurate lunch count ahead of time and can order enough food for everyone. Hope to see you there!

Permission Slip Reminder

Please remember to send permission slips for the first grade bike field trip back to school tomorrow, Tuesday May 14!