Library Inventory

First, I would like to thank all of you who helped remind your children to turn in their library books on time.  ALL library books are due Friday, May 31 so I may do inventory.   I have been sending reminders home.  If books are not returned, you will be billed to replace them.  Please contact me (lduffina@chestnuthillacademy.com) if you know your book is lost.
Thanks again for all your help!  The students will be continuing to learn library skills and enjoying books in library time during the next few weeks.

Keyboarding Kudos

As we approach the end of the year CHA Students are working hard to earn a keyboarding certificate. Last week Aidan (5th Grade) and Johnny B (3rd Grade) finished Type to Learn 3, today Anagha (5th Grade) finished Type to Learn 4 and Max L became the first 2nd Grader in the history of CHA to complete Type to Learn 3. Well done everyone!

 

Reminder from the CHA Library

As the year winds down, I wanted to remind you that all CHA library books are due Friday, May 31.  Reminders have been going home all week.  If you have questions about a lost book, please contact me lduffina@chesnuthillacademy.com.  If books aren't returned, your account will be billed (or you may contact me to get a replacement.)  Thank you!

MS Tech - Kodu Programming

For the last couple of weeks our Middle School students have been working on building a Kodu video game. Kodu is a programming language from the Microsoft Fuse Research Labs designed as an introduction to coding for children. The students have been set the challenge of creating a two person game with a scoring mechanism and an objective; hopefully they will get them finished in time for other students to play them, which the rest of the school will love because it involves the use of xbox controllers!

Cinco de Mayo

Students had a great time celebrating Cinco de Mayo this week. Cinco de Mayo took place on Sunday (May 5^th) this year and is celebrated because of Mexico’s victory over the French Army in the city of Puebla.  This week students enjoyed Chips and Salsa and watched as their classmates took a swing at a piñata donated by 4^th graders.

4th, MS--Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

 For the past few weeks, 4th grade and Middle school students put a lot of effort into their Pinatas and their creation turned out GREAT!!! 
The students learned about Cinco de Mayo in Spanish class and worked on the Pinatas in Art class. 
 

MS Keyboarding Success

Congratulations to Cole, Alex and John who today became the most recent graduates in our keyboarding program. Well done boys!

Keyboarding Success!

Congratulations to our two must recent recruits to the CHA Keyboarding Wall of Fame (it's a virtual wall at the moment, but I hope to make it a reality soon!). Hayden and Ethan C completed the final lesson of Type to Learn 4 this morning, which is an excellent accomplishment. I was particularly impressed by how they have coached each other through the process - a little competition here and a little encouragement there. Well done!

Middle School Technology

The students have been making PowerPoint presentations to show their parents the research they did prior to the trip and the fun they have while they were on the trip. This week I showed them how they can add music to the slideshow and then save the slideshow as a movie. The example shown here is by 5th Grader Alex; I particularly like how the theme and the music compliment the subject matter. You can download the other presentations here https://www.box.com/s/vz508nnqxbht7nwxojpv

MS Tech - CAD Designers of the Future!

In Technology this week the students continue to hone their 3D drawing skills. They have ben set the challenge of creating a 3D scale model of the Technology Lab - partly because I would like to paint it over the summer and this is a great way to see what color would look good! The program we are using is Sketchup. I have emailed the students to tell them how to download the program at home - ask them to show you how it works. It is pretty cool, and it is free. Maybe they could help you with a decorating decision too! http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/download/gsu.html

New Titles in the Library

Mrs. Duffina has been busy cataloging new books to add to our CHA library collection.  These books have been donated by individual students as birthday books and donations from the book fair.  A big thank you goes to CHAPTER for donating many new titles ranging from Kindergarten reading level all the way through Middle School.  Not only were fiction books donated, but we also acquired quite a few new non-fiction titles.  Mrs. Duffina shared many of them with the students, and they were quickly checked out!

Windows 8 in the Tech Lab!

Thank you so much to all the parents who donated copies of Windows 8 so that I could upgrade the Tech lab at CHA. The students are really excited, as you can tell from the answer this student provided in a Math test this afternoon!

Folktales in LIbrary

In preparation for the Cultural Fair, the students have been hearing and discussing folktales from the countries they are studying in their homerooms.  Kindergarten students heard the short story, "Will You Marry Me, Mouse?" and tales from Goha the Wise Fool both based from Turkey.  First grade students enjoyed hearing The Girl Who Wore Too Much and the beginning of The Tale of Two Rice Birds, traditional folktales from Thailand.  The second grade students heard one version of Baba Yaga and Bearhead which are folktales from Russia.  In preparation for their study of Spain, third grade students heard Medio Pollito and The Beautiful Butterfly.  Fourth grade students completed some research on the Internet as a group and heard The Frog King from Kenya.  After looking up information on various atlases about Egypt, the students heard and discussed two myths.
Students will continue to hear folktales and complete work from an atlas for the next week or two.

 For the past two weeks, middle school students used radial symmetry to create these name designs. Radial symmetry occurs when lines or shapes spread out from a center point.
Students began the lesson by folding a square piece of paper into 8 sections. Then they create a triangle with their name in bubble or block letters. Next, They traced their name onto each section, flipping their name over every other time to acieve a mirro image. By using markers, they added color to their design. See if you can identify the artist who's name is hidden within their artwork!

Kudos to our Newest Keyboarding Graduate

Ryan becomes one of a select number of Chestnut Hill Academy students to complete Type to Learn 3 and Type to Learn 4 - an awesome achievement. Well done Ryan!

Dia de los Muertos!

 

¡Feliz Día de los Muertos!

This week students celebrated and talked about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) which is celebrated in Mexico on November 1^st and 2^nd. This holiday is a time to remember people who have died. It is not a scary holiday, but a joyous time, because the belief is that the spirits of loved ones come back to visit on these days. Families create altars and on the altars they place pictures of loved ones or objects representing those who have passed to help welcome them back.

A school altar was set up near the front desk for students to place pictures of the loved ones in their lives who have passed on.

 

Each grade level completed a Día de los Muertos project in either Art of Spanish class.  Their projects turned out great!  Fourth graders and Middle School students finished up their sugar skulls and were able to take them home at the end of the week.

Students had a wonderful time celebrating Día de los Muertos.



National Bullying Prevention Month

Did you know that October is National Bullying Prevention Month?  In library this week, students heard age-appropriate literature and discussed elements of bullying.  It has been wonderful hearing all of the different solutions the students come up with as they talk about what was going on in the books.  The younger students heard The Tale of Sir Dragon by Jean Pendziwol.  Second and third graders heard Bully by Judith Caseley, and the fourth and Middle School students heard Bully by Patiricia Polacco.

MS Technology

Students this week learned about the Internet. We discussed what it is composed of, how we could measure the size of it and who it was invented by. Some students were surprised to find out that it has not been around since the mid 19th century as they thought!! In the Cascades group we also got into an interesting discussion about how French scientists are investigating the use of spider silk to enable communication between devices (read more here http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/spider-silk-computer-chips/) and in the Olympics group I showed the boys how you can trace an IP address to the subscriber's longitude and latitude. Brain Pop has a good introduction to the mechanics of the internet which you can see here http://www.brainpop.com/technology/computersandinternet/internet/preview.weml username is chatechlab and password is chestnut.

Visitor in Spanish Class

During Spanish class this week, Señora Oneto came into the classroom to share her "about to be published" Spanish book, Liliana la Iguana with Ms. Conrad’s, Mrs. Johansen’s, and Mrs. Douglas’ class.  She explained the process of publishing her book to the kids and then she read the book in Spanish to the children.  The students had a wonderful time listening to her stories. Muchas gracias Señora Oneto for coming in to share your story.

Middle School PE

 

Middle School students had a good time with a very fun and challenging cooperative team activity this week.  Students were required to pull in all aspects of good teamwork skills to achieve a common goal.  Skills involved creating a plan, listening to team members, voicing their own ideas, not being afraid to try and maybe fail in hopes of learning and perseverance.