Our first day of winter PE at the Shelburne Field House was a big success! Students enjoyed playing soccer and kickball, and everyone went home tired! During the winter months of January and February, students will be traveling to the Field House for indoor PE once a week.

Congratulations to all our of students on a fabulous winter music performance. Your “stage strong” presence was impressive, as was the music! The songs and instruments brought smiles to all of our faces. Thank you to all who attended, and to Helen Weston, our amazing music teacher.

 

This week in Spanish, students have created a supermercado (grocery store). They have priced the food, created VT Day School currency, made signs, coupons, receipts and even sale items. It has been a great way to practice Spanish vocabulary and conversational skills (math too!).

As part of our fall CLIC week, students participated in a series of fun, engaging and educational compost related activities. Highlight from the week included an interactive presentation by Rhonda Mace, from Chittenden Solid Waste District, on the importance of composting. With Rhonda’s assistance, the students learned to use tools and build an outdoor bin out of pallets. They designed and painted indoor compost bins and signs, and created group presentations to describe how compostable food should get from our lunch room to the outdoor bin. They put their knowledge to the test on Friday during a compost relay race, during which they needed to sort food into appropriate piles (recycling, compost and waste). Not only was this week a great way to green up our school, but also an ideal opportunity for real-world problem-solving!

This fall, the 2/3/4s have participated in an in-depth exploration of Ancient China. They have created a timeline of important historical events and a map of geographical features, learned paper-making and calligraphy techniques in art, tasted Chinese moon cakes, and practiced informational reading skills in literacy. On November 3rd, the students will present their collaborative book on Ancient China to parents.

 

       

For our October Professional Development Day, a representative from Valley Communications held a training for our faculty on integrating Smartboards with learning and teaching. We learned a lot of new tools and are excited to continue to use our Smartboards to promote student learning and engagement.

As part of their year long study about Communities, the K/1 class is currently engaged in a project-based unit on Tree Ecology. These budding ecologists each adopted a tree in our school yard, and have been learning about what trees need to grow. Lots of opportunities to connect this learning with their concurrent Family Tree exploration in Global Studies!

 

On August, 26th, VT Day School’s first-ever students arrived. We are thrilled to launch the school with thirteen wonderful students and families aboard. It’s going to be a fantastic year ahead!

The exterior of the school received a make-over this summer, with the installation of new playground equipment. Thus far, students (and teachers!) of all ages seem to be enjoying the new structure.

 

Vermont Day School officially opened its door to students on August 26th! Faculty and staff marked the historic day with an impromptu ribbon cutting ceremony on the front porch of our school.

Summer Writing Fun!

 

In this grid you will find a variety ways to have fun writing this summer. We encourage you to be creative, thoughtful, and express your ideas. This writing grid can be used in many ways. You could do one activity per day (or more if you choose!) You could skip around, go in order, write in a journal, or use the computer. You could do them all or just a few. These writing pieces are for you to enjoy and have fun with!

 

Note for younger students:  Ask your parents to act as a scribe and record your ideas. You can also express ideas using a combination of words and pictures.