Pelham School Press

Open House: On April 14th, we will have our Spring Open House, for all grades. This is a special time we schedule each year for students to share their work with their parents. Each classroom presentation is different and reflects the various units students study from grades K – -6. Parents, please come straight to your child's classroom. We will start promptly at 7:00 PM (The first grade presentation will begin right at 7 PM; third grade at 7:30.) and end promptly at 8:00 PM to allow students to get home at a reasonable hour. Students are expected to remain with their parents throughout the evening. Please come and enjoy the event. Rena Moore

Pelham Principal Search Update: The search for a new Principal of Pelham School is underway. While it is difficult to think of our school without Rena Moore at the helm, we must move forward with a new appointment to this position. Advertisements for a full-time, school-year principal have been placed in newspapers and online for the coming weekend with a deadline of April 15 for receipt of applications. A Screening Committee is being formed and will be comprised of 1 School Committee member, 2 Parents/Guardians, 2 Teachers, and 1 Community Member. If you are interested in serving on the Screening Committee, please contact Kathy Mazur, HR Director via email at mazurk@arps.org or by phone at 362-1803."

Lasting Summer Memories Await...

Looking to partner with another Pelham School family, 8:30-5:00, M-F, for summer caregiving. My kids are 3 (girl) and 6 (boy). Open to spending time at each other's houses, perhaps every other week. Similar aged kids would be ideal. We have found a staff member from the afterschool program who is interested in being our camp counselor. We live near the school, our yard sports swings, a sandbox, much bubble blowing, snacks and good times. Let's team up for a fun summer! Please email or call by April 20. Marcia Young marcia@valleyfiberlife.com 413-222-0720

AGENDA FOR REGULAR Meeting of PELHAM School Committee

6:00 PM, THURSDAY, April 8, 2010 in the Community Room

1. WELCOME:

2. Announcements and Public Comment

3. Principal & Superintendent Update

4. Unfinished/Continuing Business: Principal search update; Budget Update, School Choice Update

5. New Business: Planning for Town Meeting

6. Reports:

7. School Committee Planning: Calendar Review; Items for Upcoming Meetings; Sub-committee reports

8. Adjournment: This is an open meeting; all parents and community members are invited to attend.

Middle School Principal Appointed: Maria Geryk, Interim Superintendent of Schools, is pleased to announce that Michael Hayes has been appointed to a permanent position as Amherst Middle School Principal. Having been a recent candidate in a different community which wasvery interested in his candidacy, we are particularly pleased that Mr. Hayes will remain in our community. Mr. Hayes will assume the role of Principal, effective April 26, 2010. Mark Jackson, who served as Principal of both the Middle and High Schools since the departure of Glenda Cresto in September, will resume his full time High School principalship on April 26. We know our community of staff, students, and families will congratulate Mike and support him as he assumes his role as permanent Building Principal.

The excitement is mounting in our classroom, as the students become very excited about Open House and our State Fair. Children have studied a particular state, learned about its location, landforms, and interesting places. They are currently typing their reports and designing covers. We are in the process of assembling our creative maps, and putting the finishing touches on our PowerPoint presentation. Our “fair” will be open from 7:30 pm to 8:00 pm next Wednesday evening for families to view, and each class will visit the fair next Thursday. Your children have worked very hard preparing for these special days.

We completed our fraction unit on Tuesday of this week, and students showed a strong understanding of the concepts we worked on. We covered understanding and ordering common fractions, finding equivalent fractions, and using concrete objects and models to add and subtract fractions. Six of the problems I gave on the unit test came from released MCAS questions from past years. The students felt these were the easiest part of the test!

Our current geography unit is filled with maps, map games, and the terrain of the United States. We are concentrating on New England at the moment. Watch for sections of the US map coming home to study.

We are looking forward to having visitors next week in the classroom. Of course I am referring to next week's Open House. The class has been busy making preparations. We will be showcasing many of the projects we have completed. Be on the lookout for a variety of displays.

I have finished reading Shiloh to the class, and it was nice to see how the main character came up with a creative solution to his problem. How do you save a dog from a mean master? Well, Marty Preston will do just about anything. He tries collecting cans, pleading with his parents, but realizes that a little white lie or two and a bit of blackmail might be the only way. It is interesting to read as he wrestles with his conscience. The story addresses the question: Do the ends justify the means? Now that we are done, students have made pictures with captions and are working on mini-dioramas that depict a key scene from the story. Put this together with their pictures and dioramas from Stone Fox, and there's a lot to see.

The salmon are doing nicely. They are starting to swim in an upright position, change color, and lose a bit of their yolk sacs. We've stayed occupied rereading Leaper for key vocabulary words that will help us devise board games based on the life of a salmon. Students have brainstormed clever ideas and are now sharing them with others. From these ideas they will plan out an entertaining game with rules, art work, and yes, salmon trivia. For a splash of color we are assembling a salmon mural that depicts key images from the book, loosely arranged in chronological order.

Another display item will be the children's writing. They have a personal narrative and a story written with Native Alaskan flair. The narrative was developed by coming up with a variety of story ideas and choosing the best one. Children then made short picture books that showed four key events. Students are encouraged to confine their stories to one setting, so they can learn how to provide more detail and description to one meaningful event. Students then practice telling stories aloud to each other to help solidify direction and focus. Finally, students write a first draft and get feedback before making revisions. The Native Alaskan story they wrote was inspired by a collection of Athabascan legends. After getting a feel for the writing style, students tried their hand at creating their own. Native Alaskans feel strongly about returning something to nature when they must take from it. Another strongly held belief is the unity of human and animal spirits. Sometimes they even change from one into the other!

There will be a few other surprises waiting for you at the Fourth Grade Open House! I hope to see all of you then.

Please return ticket order forms by April 7^th, 2010 to the Pelham School Office. Pick up your

tickets at the school or at the dinner. Proceeds help fund the annual 6^th grade Nature’s

Please complete the order form below and return to the Pelham School office no later than April 7^th, 2010.

Multi-Arts invites families to join our fun day of artistic activities: face painting interactive story telling, and circus for little ones, create 3-D artwork, play along your instrument (easy music for sight reading), theatre improvisation, or learn flamenco dance.

At 3:30 Show time: Come and enjoy “Piece of Pie,” a fun and entertaining show about a circus and its clowns, performed by a group of talented children.

Several Pelham School Teachers have formed a bowling team (The Pelham Penguins), which, once a year, raises money for Big Brothers Big Sister of Hampshire County. This annual event, The Bowl-A-Thon, takes place this year on Saturday, April 10, 2010. It includes dozens of teams that raise almost $50,000 to support mentoring for children in Hampshire County, many of whom attend school in the Amherst-Pelham District.

Please think about forming a team or sponsoring our team of Pelham School teachers in this effort to support Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County. Sponsorship checks can be made out to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County and sent to the Pelham School office by March 30. Thank You,

“The Pelham Penguins” Leanne Hasbouck, Bridgette Hasbrouck, Deb King, Paul Lipman, Paula Russell Meg Gallagher and Lennie Ware

Do you like horses? Do you have a barn, or a three sided shelter? Would you be interested in earning some money? We live in Shutesbury, and are looking for a nearby family who would house our Arab/Andalusian mares, Artemis and Squizit on their property temporarily, or possibly permanently if all goes well. Annette, their human mom, is a horse trainer who dearly loves playing and being with her horses. These beautiful mares are great with children, have been raised to be kind, and are a mother daughter team ages 11 and 21. They are magical to watch together! Annette is interested in a cooperative, mutually beneficial situation, and wants to see her horses safe, and happy. Depending on who provides hay, shavings, and chores, board would be $400-$500 per month. If interested contact Kate Hart, 259-1954 ASAP.