Invention Convention

On April 13th, the fifth grade students presented their creative problem solving in the form of the Invention Convention.  During the evening, students displayed their work and explained their inventions to over 250 parents and students.  At the same time, in the middle school cafeteria the fourth graders held a Pasta Supper. The profits from the event are going to support next year's trip to Nature's Classroom.  Both events were a huge success.  Below is a link to the Worcester Telegram with 46 pictures of students and their projects.
Invention Convention Pictures

Pick A Time Conference Scheduling

Click the link below to schedule your conference with your children's teachers.
Pick a time scheduler

Read Across America Night

Last week the PTO sponsored the first annual Read Across America Night. The evening featured guest readers from the community, a book fair and community groups such as the Lancaster Library.  Over 200 families attended this fun event.  Below is Nancy Federspiel, a member of the School Committee, with Clifford the Big Red Dog.  Best Buy and Texas Road House Grill also sent mascots for the evening. 

Spelling Bee

The annual Spelling Bee was held last night and was a terrific competition.  The students of Mary Rowlandson were well represented.  Of the 27 participants last night, 15 students were from MRE.  Of the 5 finalist in the championship round, 2 were 5th grade students.  The winner was a 5th grade students, pictured above. The second place student was an 8th grader. 

How to Improve Language and Memory Skills

Here is an excerpt form an article by Eric Jensen.  There is amazing research that shows specific types of sugars lower language and memory skills.

"We know that our brain runs on glucose and oxygen. We know the hippocampus needs glucose to learn, but too much is bad. The form of sugar matters to your brain and there are six types of sugar. The two worse forms of sugar are high fructose corn syrup and concentrated fructose. Every single product that lists fructose as an ingredient might be contributing to problems. High fructose sugar impairs memory, but not learning. Moderate-high levels of fructose in your diet will impair neurogenesis (the birth of new neurons). On-going fructose consumption may damage the liver.
Recently, two large and high-quality studies (both randomized, double-blind) used a total of 780 typical, healthy school aged children. All were given either a combination of vitamins and minerals, a supplement of omega-3 essential fats EPA and DHA, or the vitamins and minerals with the omega-3 fats, or a placebo on 6 days a week for 12 months.
At the start of the trial, the children were tested for blood levels of all of these nutrients, all of which significantly improved when they were retested after 12 months. The schoolchildren on the vitamins and minerals had significant improvement in tests of verbal learning and memory.(Osendarp SJ et al., Am J Clin Nutr. 2007)."

Click the following following link for the full article.  A New Insight to the Brain and Nutrition Puzzle - Eric Jensen

Family Math Night

 On Wednesday, January 19, 2011 the annual Family Math Night sponsored by Title I was held.  Over 100 students and parents attended this fun evening.  Nancy Weber and Deb Doucette organized a series of fun and educational skill based math games for parents to play with their children. 

Making a difference in the community

Mrs. Giumette's 4th grade class collected money to donate to the Sterling Animal Shelter.  After adopting a dog from the shelter, a girl in Mrs. Giumette's class felt compelled to to help the shelter.  She presented the idea to raise money for the shelter to her teacher, her classmates and the principal.  The class then worked together to raise $165 for the shelter.  The quote above their heads is appropriate for this class.

Holiday Sing-along

 On December 23rd, the 36th annual Mary Rowlandson Sing along was held.  Led by Mr. Rossely, the students and staff sounded terrific. The event is so popular that next year it may be held in a bigger space in order to accommodate parents too.

The PTO Enrichment Committee recently sponsored a show for the school entitled "Slapstick Science."  Above is a picture of a student lifting Mr. Rossley with a pulley.  The show explored and reinforced important science concepts that students are learning.  This was a terrific program!

Update for Week of December 20th

Vacation

Thursday, December 23 is a full day of school. All schools will be December24, 2010 and reopen on Monday, January 3, 2011.

Cold Weather

Remember to have your children wear hats, gloves or mittens, and appropriate foot wear for the weather.  Children who wear snow pants will be allowed to play in the snow.

New District Positive Climate – Anti-Bullying Policy

Nashoba Regional School District (NRSD) is pleased to introduce our Positive Climate/Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan, which can now be found on the NRSD website.

NRSD is committed to providing a safe learning and working atmosphere for students, employees and visitors, free from bullying.  

The Nashoba Regional School District expects staff, students, parents or guardians, and others who witness or become aware of an instance of bullying or retaliation involving a student to report it to the Principal/Assistant Principal. 

Reports of bullying or retaliation may be made by staff, students, parents, guardians, or others, and may be oral, written or electronic.  Oral reports made by or to a staff member shall be recorded in writing.  NRSD staff members are required to report promptly to the Principal/Assistant Principal, any instance of bullying or retaliation the staff member becomes aware of or witnesses.  Reports made by students, parents, guardians, or other individuals who are not school or district staff members, may be made anonymously. 

NRSD Incident Reporting Forms are available in each school building and on the district website (www.nrsd.net) along with an anonymous online reporting system.  We appreciate your support in maintaining a safe and positive climate for our community.

Mrs. Archambault's "Box Town"

Mrs. Archambault's first grade class made a town out of boxes.  They are studying communities and what goods and services are needed in a community.

Nashoba High School Football in the News!

This Friday, October 8th, Nashoba will be featured on Fox News as the game  of the week.  Here is a link to preview they ran on Tuesday night.

Nashoba Football on Fox News

Last Update from Nature's Classroom

From Ms. Rich:  Last night the students participated in Thursday Night Live skits and roasted marshmallows. Everyone enjoyed the last quiet sing and did an unbelievable job packing and getting ready to go home.

Now the kids are off for their last field group adventure. We will have an early lunch and will be heading home around noon. The rain is holding out and its been good weather today.

We will be in touch when we are about an hour away from school.

Nature's Classroom - Thursday 9/30

Morning update from Ms. Rich:

The kids enjoyed their Night Hike last night. They traveled into the woods with their field group leaders to do "cool stuff" according to the kids. They learned about the stars, cones and rods in their eyes, and discovered if you chew wintergreen mints with your mouth open you can see sparks!!

This morning the kids are going to be heading to breakfast soon-- pancakes yum! Then they will be playing an enormous game of predator vs. prey!

Wednesday Nature's Classroom Update

From Ms. Rich:

The kids are participating in a simulation game called alpha beta this afternoon. Each field group is creating their own civilization.

The weather is sunny and beautiful today!!

Kids had a great time during their hikes this morning-- everyone came back wet from the beach and marsh!

Tonight we are going on a Night Hike and doing cool outdoor nighttime experiments.

Nature's Classroom Update 9/29 8:44am

The students had a good night on Tuesday.  They did team building activities and challenges.  Wednesday is a long field day. They will go on a hike to the marsh and beach.  The students will have a picnic lunch on their hike.

Nature's Classroom Update 9/28 12:14

I have just heard from the Nature's Classroom trip and all is going well.  Ms. Rich texted me, "Kids just got back from getting muddy in the marsh. They are having a blast! We are heading to lunch & then they have classes this afternoon."

21st Century Skills

The two links below deal with what the world will look like for our children when they graduate from school.  The amount and pace of change is increasing all the time.  A focus for the Nashoba Regional School District and for the Mary Rowlandson Elementary School is to provide our students with solid underlying skills, such as reading, mathematics and social skills,  as well as using 21st Century skills of technology, collaboration and critical thinking.

Did You Know? 3.0


Did You Know? 4.0

Intial set up

As a method to improve communication with parents and the community, we are trying to utilize different modes of communication.  As I and school learn how to utilize a blog, we will update it regularly with current information.