The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Welcome back everyone! This year our hallways and classrooms will be filled with 4th and 5th graders on Tuesday, September 8. Due to district restructuring, 6th and 7th graders will attend the Intermediate School and 8th graders (including my son Zachary) will join the ranks at the High School.

The 2009 — 2010 school year promises new opportunities for growth and change for everyone in our district. Our school motto “Excellence for All” ensures that teachers and students alike will work together to achieve their own personal best. Here’s to embracing the endless possibilities that come with change and to developing a first-rate community of learners at BHMCS.

This year I have been assigned to a new team of fifth graders! I can’t wait to meet you and introduce you to our classroom blog — Grade Five Alive! 

~Mrs. S

Photo credit: MrPhilDog

Our school year is ending with enthusiasm — a week full of school spirit (sports day, twins day, mismatched day and field day).

Summer transitions are always a little bittersweet, but even more so with the changes taking place in our school district. Our fifth graders will be moving to grade six at the new Intermediate School.

Butterflies symbolize transformation, change, joy and love. Best of luck to all our students and happy wishes for summer fun!

xxoo

Mrs. S.

Last week included two days of MCAS Math testing, and this week two days of Science MCAS testing are scheduled. Luckily Social Studies MCAS has been canceled this year due to state budget limitations.

In Science, groups of students are engrossed in their Biome Projects which we’ll share on this blog when they are completed. We finished A New Nation (the “Constitution” unit) in Social Studies and look forward to Westward Expansion.

Field trips and field day in June all lead up to our final day, a half day of school on June 19!

Mrs. S:  My daughter drew this in chalk on our patio! Cinnamon buns for breakfast, handmade cards, sunshine, and gift shopping with my girls.

Jaime:  My sisters and I bought a Pandora bracelet for my mom and made grilled shrimp and spaghetti so she didn’t have to make dinner!

Jillian:  My sisters and I bought pink hanging flowers for my mom and went shopping and had a cookout with my family and hand-made cards.

Sydney:  I gave my mom a necklace. We had a big lunch!

Genny:  I went to a cookout and tonight (May 11) I am taking my mom out for dinner at Friendlys.

Laine:  My mom came to my lacrosse game and I shot my first goal for her. At the end of the game one of the LAX moms brought roses for all the moms.

Jackie:  We brought my mom out to breakfast and bought her an electronic picture frame.

Ady:  My dad and I made my mom French toast and then gave her very pretty flower earrings.

Kenaz:  Coupons, poem, cards and plan to buy a flat screen TV.

In January I was lucky enough to go to Hawaii. I will share my favorite parts of my trip.

When my friend, her parents, and I first got there we checked into our first hotel. Later on we went to Maui, but the first island we went to was Honolulu. 

On our first day we unpacked and walked around a bit. My friend and I persuaded her parents to go to an ice cream shop. The ice cream shop had many unusual flavors but my two favorite flavors were macadamia nut (with real macadamia nuts!) and green tea.  It really tasted like green tea.

Then we happened to pass a toy store called Animation Magic that had some cool toys like cactus pups and moofias which me and my friend and I now have a collection of. But, the thing we got the most of is pearls.

When we went to Maui that’s all we wanted was pearls. I also came home with some WebKinz and Japanese food erasers which were very cool. One day my friend and I went to a kids club.  We got to go to the Hawaii Zoo and see alligators and leopards. Then we went to the hotel room and took a nap. Going to a zoo is tiring! 

Finally we went swimming in this cool pool for two hours, and after we went to a luau.

~Ruby

Last night our school held the very first game night for parents, students, and teachers.  We called it Are You Smarter Than A BHMCS Student?  It was adults vs. students.  Everyone passed the remote to the next person until we all had a turn. When someone new stepped up to answer, Ms. C would ask us the question on the projector, and then we had to answer, with the remote, either a, b, c, or d.  Most of the time the students and the adults would answer the same thing.  Uggh! :0  I still had an awesome time though. :)  Everyone pretty much had a great time.  

In between the trivia questions, we had bonus questions and raffles.  When we got a bonus question right, we got a special treat like reece’s, m&m’s, and twizzlers.  And, there were plenty of cool prizes for the winning tickets.  In fact, I was actually one of the people to win!  I was in shock when I found out I had one of the winning raffle tickets because I have never won one of these things before. :]  I looked at all of the prizes and decided to go for the certificate to Cartwheels because there weren’t many other prizes when I went up there. 

There were six people from my class who attended, including me.  Daniela, Kaitlin, Nick, Shawn, and Elias.  Daniela chose the April vacation basket full of fun.  Nick took the Red Sox trivia challenge, which I would have chosen if he didn’t take it.  ^-^   Sadly Kaitlin, Shawn, and Elias didn’t win anything. 

Anyway, the score was close.  At some parts of the night the students were winning by a couple of points, and at other parts during the night, the adults were winning by 1 or 2 points.  It was just one question after the other.  No one had a clue who was going to win.  In the end the  ………………………………………………………………………….  students won with a whopping 70 points to 66 points!!!!!

                                                                            ~ Tori      

My friends and I are in the talent show together. We are all wearing sports jerseys and doing a dance to a song called The MCAS. Liana and I are doing round offs while Mariah and Dishinia are doing cartwheels.

Mariah and Deja changed the lyrics to a Hannah Montana song called Nobody’s Perfect.  Some of the lyrics to our song are:

“We’re doing the MCAS, you study the answers, again and again, til we get them right. We’re doing the MCAS, we’re living and learning, and we wont m-ess up this test, we’ll get it perfect.”

And then it goes: 

“Test girls in the house, we’re doing the MCAS, you study the answers, again and again, til we get them right. We’re doing the MCAS, you’re living and learing and we wont m-ess up this test, we’ll get it perfect, word!”

Some of my friends are also in the variety show doing double dutch jump rope. Double dutch is when you have two long ropes, and there are two people swinging the ropes. Then one, two or even three people can jump in. There can be any song when you jump, but you have to switch your feet like “One two, swing with me.” Then, over and over you say, “One two, switch your feet.”

~Genevieve~ 

Today was a an awesome day. We designed our own windmills!

All we needed to make a windmill is a carton, string, cup with a hole punch, material and popsicle sticks for the turbines (or blades), Styrofoam ball for the hub, for the turbines, and a wooden stick for the dowel. Put it all together and you have a windmill and it’s all yours! My partner and I used an octagon shape on our four, medium-sized turbines.

Next get a fan, plug it in, turn it on, and let the windmill go!

After we finished designing it our own way, we tested the windmill working to lift a cup of pennies. The most pennies lifted was almost 100! All of our designs were successful!

~Hannah

Also there were solar beads that changed color by the solar energy coming from the sun. I have to say I really liked the ENERGY FAIR!!!

~ Diazsha ~

At one of the stations we used a special type of science equipment called the Air Gun. Once we lined up the bottles, we would pull back the handle and SHOOT! See how many pins we have knocked down with a burst of air or Kinetic energy!!!!!! Before shooting the air is stored as Potential energy.

Also, after we visited each station at the Energy Carnival, everyone received a solar bead that changes color by the solar energy from the sun.

~Sydney~