Last week some second graders learned about how the earth changes. Their studies focused on volcanoes. The students wrote a paragraph and drew an illustration about what they learned about volcanoes. As a culminating activity, students created volcanoes in class and made them "erupt." A lot of fun and smiles were had combining science and reading.
Last Friday our third graders had the opportunity to visit Pinkerton Academy for a maple sugaring field trip. The visit was hosted by Pinkerton Academy Forestry students who taught our students all about the sugaring process along with tree germination, and forest conservation with Woodsy the Owl and Smokey the Bear. Students also had the opportunity to apply their knowledge of weather, science, history, and NH culture to their visit. The field trip was a big success thanks to our friends at Pinkerton Academy. Thank you to Jen Haskins (CTE Director), Michelle Mize (Forestry Teacher), and all the PA Forestry students. Thank you as well to all our parent chaperones. One could say this field trip was a "wicked sweet" learning opportunity!
Last Thursday evening the staff of HCS took on the staff of HMS in a friendly dodgeball game. Ultimately HMS won, but tons of laughs and a lot of fun were had by all. The bleachers were packed with staff members, students, families, and community members. Admission to the event was one non-perishable food item. Eight boxes of food were collected for the Salt Box Pantry. Thank you to all who donated!!! Thank you to all who played, attended, facilitated, and organized this event. It was an awesome Hampstead school community event!
St. Patrick's Day festivities at HCS came with the annual visit of the leprechauns! One friendly leprechaun lost their shoe in a story but don’t worry, Mrs. Le's first graders helped solve the problem and made the leprechaun a new shoe!
Mrs. Whitehead’s first grade class wrote about how they would help their leprechaun hide his gold. They wrote about where would be good hiding places and why. They also did a guided drawing of their pot of gold and then did a STEM activity to hide their pot of gold. Here are some of their creations!
The Robotics Club with Mrs. McLaughlin is underway! The kids are having a lot of fun! So far three of our teams are ranked 5th, 7th, and 9th in their robotics competition. Go Huskies!
This past week the Central School started their annual One School, One Book. This year our school community is reading Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. If you haven't started it yet with your student, there is a brief introduction below to the story by Mrs. Cameron and a Book Trailer (also below) to help your child get excited about this community read.
Here are some photos of first grade students in Mrs. Le's class illustrating as they listen to chapters from "Wishtree":
Book Introduction with Mrs. Cameron:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gl1wC1_XP31UM8OMW0wHhlsPP2rXHCri/view
Book Trailer:
https://youtu.be/-P5TSKKBIyo?list=TLGG3Ku7F0mXmaExODAzMjAyNA
Congratulations to the grades 3/4 HCS Destination Imagination team! The team, "The Illuminating Skittle Squad" took fourth place out of six teams in the elementary division for their engineering challenge and will advance to the state tournament. A total of fifty-nine student teams competed at Souhegan High School on Saturday. This academic competition showcases collaboration, creativity, problem solving skills, effective communication, and critical thinking. Teams choose a challenge to work on throughout the year and all challenges include elements of the STEAM principles with one challenge also including a service learning component. The solutions to these challenges are completely solved by the students- adults are not allowed to interfere with this process. Top finishing teams at both of New Hampshire's regional tournaments will advance to the state finals on April 6th in Goffstown. At the state tournament, teams will have an opportunity to qualify to represent New Hampshire at the Destination Imagination Global Finals in Kansas City during the month of May. There will be 15 countries and every state represented at this Global Event. Way to go Central School! Good luck to HCS!
Central School’s Grade 3/4 Destination Imagination team, "The Illuminating Skittle Squad", will be competing in an engineering challenge entitled, "Going the Distance". This engineering challenge asks students to explore and apply engineering skills and tools to design and build solutions to specific applications. The team will be competing this weekend at Souhegan High School in Amherst, NH. We wish our “Illuminating Skittle Squad” all the best in this competition!
We are happy to share that fourth-grade teacher, Heather Burkett was named the 2024 recipient of the NHTM (New Hampshire Teachers of Mathematics) Richard C. Evans Distinguished Mathematics Educator Award. The award is given to an experienced, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable mathematics teacher who continues to dedicate an organized mathematical focus in their teaching both inside and outside of the classroom. Mrs. Burkett will be honored at an event at the end of March for this accomplishment. Congratulations to Mrs. Burkett on this outstanding achievement!
HCS Spirit Week finished out with Red Carpet Friday. Students and staff (including Mr. Thompson!) alike had fun taking a stroll down the red carpet! Music and cheering added to the fun!
Congratulations to Miles Page the current HCS Double Dutch jump roping champion with 434 jumps!
Some freshly fired ceramic figurative sculptures created by Miss Poulin’s 3rd graders during art class with Mr. Terrile
Fourth grade Ventures students took advantage of the flurries this past week to learn about the science and math of a snowflake. They learned why snowflakes are hexagonal and how temperature and humidity impact the size and design of each flake.
February 8th marked an important milestone on the elementary school calendar, the 100th Day of School! This year, HCS students celebrated with all sorts of 100-based/themed activities including STEM activities, Math activities, writing games, fashion shows, a 100-step estimation, and lots of student excitement. The use of 100 was incorporated into many lessons throughout the school.
HCS Spirit Week is Coming! - February 19-23
Our Gr 4 Student Council is planning a spirit week for the week before break - February 19-23. Join the fun and dress up!
Recently, our third graders received a visit and a generous donation of a dictionary sponsored by the Salem-Area Rotary Club. The third grade students were very excited to receive their dictionaries! Thank you Salem-Area Rotary Club for supplying our Gr 3 students with this valuable learning resource!
Last week Kevin Skarupa from News 9 (WMUR) came to visit with our third graders to kick off their weather studies. It was a great visit. HCS even got a nice shout-out on the morning news! Please click link below.
http://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-weather-hampstead-central-school/46574600
This week Mrs. Lazzaro's class was working on a class art project when all of a sudden, the class received a surprise visit from Mr. Terrile! The students were very excited and ready to "add details, details and more details" as Mr. Terrile always says. Well done Mrs. Lazzaro's class!
Kevin Skarupa, meteorologist from WMUR (News 9) came to kick off Grade 3's study of weather this week. The kids were excited to learn about weather, meteorology, and how the weather report is broadcasted. Thank you to Kevin Skarupa for coming to visit us!
Fun in Art Class! Recently, Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Parsons joined in on some sculpture fun in Mr. Terrile's first grade art class. #hcshuskies
