Chatham Elementary School

Grade three and four students are following Mass Maritime cadets on the T.S. Kennedy as the ship heads back to Florida. They enjoyed the live map showing boats in the Atlantic Ocean, read some blogs and looked at pictures. They even found the picture of a cadet wearing the Monomoy Shark T-shirt that I mailed to Mass Maritime Academy before the T.S. Kennedy departed.

Grade four students are also learning about Google Docs and how to share documents as they work on items for the newspaper they are putting together. The students are very excited about this project. They do have their own Google account, but email has been disabled for safety reasons. They may use it from home. This account will be with them through their senior year at Monomoy.

Students in grades two to four are practicing keyboarding skills in Type to Learn 4! They are reminded frequently to put fingers on the home row and try to look at the screen. Sitting up straight is also important for ergonomics.

Students in grades one and two went to a website of a virtual tour of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. To check it out, go to www.mountvernon.org/site/virtual-tour/ and see how the first president lived. There are videos and pictures to view as well. The students found it to be very interesting.

Kindergarteners have been navigating different web sites and learning drawing and painting tools. There are many educational and fun websites for them; www.abcya.com/kindergarten_computers.htm, www.starfall.com, jr.brainpop.com/free/ are only a few.

This week in the art classroom students had the experience of working in a modified TAB art classroom. TAB stands for Teaching for Artistic Behavior. Artistic behaviors include problem solving, experimenting, developing working habits, representing, reflecting and connecting. TAB is a philosophy that believes in the child as the artist. In a TAB lesson students typically make all choices with materials, process and interpretation. The TAB experience engages students in the processes of planning, generating ideas and art making. Art centers with various mediums are set up in our classroom during this time. Centers open this week included sculpture, painting, printmaking, collage, drawing and architecture. In the architecture center students created room plans and home designs. In sculpture we turned two-dimensional shapes into three-dimensional forms using straws and modeling clay. Watercolor paint, drawing supplies and stamping were available at other areas. Students had the opportunity to choose which areas they wanted to pursue and spent time in at least two areas. This has been the third rotation of this model in our room and students have loved having choices and freedom in their own art making as well as experimenting with new materials.

Third graders are working to finish their research report on wolves. They learned effective strategies for note taking and used several different resources to find information about their topic. With their knowledge of paragraph writing, including topic sentences, supporting details, and clinchers, they have completed an impressive final copy.

Fourth graders visited the Boston Museum of Science this week. Students explored many exhibits including the Hall of Human Life, the STEM center with hands-on challenges, Natural Mysteries and even a special chocolate exhibit. Did you know before chocolate was a sweet candy it was a spicy drink? Some of the earliest known chocolate drinkers were the ancient Maya of Central America. Students also visited the IMAX theater for the National Parks Adventure to honor the 100th birthday of our National Parks. It inspired the adventurer in us all.

Harwich Elementary School

To celebrate the entire school filling the Shark Tank through student achievement and effort, the PTO sponsored a visit from multiple medal winner at the X Games Kevin Robinson, who encouraged students to work hard, persevere, and always be kind. Students were entertained by some of his amazing stunts while being reminded of the importance of working hard and trying your best to always be Respectful, Responsible, Safe and Ready To Learn!

Parent drop-off and traffic and safety concerns: Working closely with the Harwich Police Department to address some drop-off issues, we have been monitoring the related traffic concerns in front of the old Harwich Middle School entrance before school opens at 8:45 a.m. For the safety of all, drivers are advised not to stop and block traffic out on Sisson Street. We believe that with everyone's cooperation, the drop-off procedures listed below will ensure a safe and efficient way to bring your child/children to school on time.

• Staff are on duty to open the doors and welcome students at 8:45 a.m. (when the first bell rings).

• All cars once stopped in the parent drop-off/pick-up loop should have their children exit the vehicles and walk along the sidewalk to the lower canopy. We can safely unload 10 vehicles at a time and when this happens, the line moves very smoothly and does not create a back-up onto Sisson street.

• If you need additional time or assistance to drop off your child, please pull up to the coned area at lower canopy.

• The pre-K buses will pull-up to drop off their students in the loop at 8:55 and pre-K parents driving their children to school can safely drop off their children in the loop at this time.

• All late arrivals should proceed directly to the main entrance and the students should stop in the office to obtain their tardy pass.

Monomoy High School

In conjunction with the Cape and Islands Art Educators Association, the Cape Cod Museum of Art has just opened its exhibition of student work, "Through Young Eyes." The following students are representing MHRS in this show: Jenna Beebe, Sara Bryant, Rachel Cardillo, Kaylee Cox, Destinee Holt, Hannah Marty, Samantha Morse, Aleela Rose, and Melanie Watson.

MRHS internships offer "real life" experiences and make strong community connections. More than 20 students are interning in the community this school year. Internships run the gamut of professions, including a bank, Cape Cod hospital, police and fire departments, Harwich Rec, here at MRHS as well as many others. Thanks to Cyndi Williams at the Harwich Chamber of Commerce for finding so many placements. In addition, MRHS will be hosting its first annual job fair on March 16 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the gym. The job fair is open to student and community members alike.

Sally Andreola, advisor for MRHS Earth Club, was awarded the "Earth First" grant from the Garden Club of Harwich (GCH). Mary Anne Kinum from the GCH personally awarded the $400-plus check to Ms. Andreola.

Ms. Andreola and the 20 students in the Earth Club applied for the grant to pursue "Energy Education 4 an Enduring Environment" by providing energy monitors (16) and supporting materials throughout our schools and the Brooks Free Library and Eldredge Library, with intent to reach all students and staff in the school district as well as their families. "The monitors report real-time usage of electricity and the resultant carbon dioxide emissions." Use of these monitors will provide info on air polluting emissions which "we hope will startle people into changing their habits!"

Students in Mr. Brown's eighth grade world history classes are learning more than just the facts about medieval Islam. They are mastering 21^st century skills by using their Chromebook laptops and Google applications to summarize and present what they have researched and learned under their teacher's guidance. First, students made identity charts using the Google Drawing app. Then after investigating data on the global Muslim community, they made pie charts and bar charts summarizing the data in graphic form, using Google Sheets. They then pasted their charts into Google Drawing to illustrate and label information they had researched using an identified source. Students also used Google Drawing to make maps of the medieval Islamic world, identifying significant capitals, regions and geographical features. All of their work was submitted digitally. Some students are writing up their research for poster displays in Google Documents, while others are writing outlines which they will use to draft magazine articles. The layouts for the posters and the magazines will be done using Google Drawing and Photoshop, on the computers in the Media Center. These will integrate the charts and maps they have made into the final products.