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Lights on After School

Cheston School’s After School Program, 21st Century Community Learning Center, kicked off its fifth year on October 15th.  Currently 50 students are enrolled in the CCLC program.  These students receive dinner, a snack and participate in Math, Literacy, Computer, Guidance, Music and Library sessions that reinforce and enrich their learning.  On October 31st the students will take part in a seasonal skit based on the book, The Spider and the Fly, by Tony DiTerlizzi.  The culminating activity of this year’s program will be The Arts Day Celebration on May 1st. 

On October 16th, twenty-five adults and sixteen children took part in the National Recognition of After School Programs through the Lights on After School event.  This program, held as one of our monthly After School Family Nights highlighted programs and events that occur during the CCLC program.

Spanish Class Pen Pals

In Mrs. Tozzi’s Spanish classes at EAHS, she incorporates a "pen-pal" system between her level one Spanish students.  They write letters which are delivered to other level one Spanish students from other classes.  The letters include information which "mirrors" the concepts practiced and learned in class.  As they gain more proficiency the content of the letters become more sophisticated. This writing activity, used as a cumulative assessment is usually received with enthusiasm by students who like the idea of getting "mail" and to see who wrote to them.  By the way, the recipients of the letters obviously write back, answering the numerous questions asked in the letters.  Obviously all writing is in Spanish which, done on a regular basis allows students to practice their writing skills in the target language.

Mock Elections at F.A. March Elementary

Our students are informed about the presidential elections!  For the past few weeks, third graders at F.A. March Elementary have been learning about the local, state, and national government, the presidential candidates, and the election process.  Our adventure began a few weeks ago as we participated in a mock election and choose the political party we wanted to be affiliated with.  Once we chose a party, the research began.  We compared local, state, and national governments, we read about each presidential candidate and we finally made informed decisions on which candidate we wanted to support in this upcoming election.  Finally, Mrs. Joseph created an interactive PowerPoint about the election using the Promethean Interactive Whiteboard.  Students were actively engaged in a technological experience while increasing their knowledge about the election process.  We thank her for her time and hard work to create such an interactive lesson.  This week we will vote for the presidential candidate we think is most qualified based on what we have learned. 

                                    Submitted by J. Stacey Ely

The EAHS Debate Team began its season with a debate at Northampton High School.

Home-School Literacy/Writing Connection

The third grade students in Mrs. Hawk and Mrs. Hatten’s classes “spooked” their way through a writing piece to describe a haunted setting. Each student wrote an eerie advertisement for a haunted house during writer’s workshop and constructed a spooky haunted house at home to match their descriptions. What a fun way to use adjectives to describe a setting!