Day 138 - Sean Musselman, Burlington Science Center

Lego League Bringing Students of All Ages Together:

Drop by the Francis Wyman library on a Monday afternoon and you’ll witness some of the most incredible learning and mentorship taking place between Burlington students. Approximately twenty fifth graders work in groups of two and three, constructing robots of all different designs and purposes. Alongside them sit volunteers from the Burlington High School Robotics Club, providing guidance and encouragement but providing the freedom for the younger students to experiment, create and test their own unique machines.


Marshall Simonds student, Michelle Pothier with club participants brainstorming what’s next for their robot. “The club’s main goals are to introduce kids to basics of design, problem solving, what is a robot and how do robots work” says Gerry Pothier III, an alumni of the club who sits beside Michelle Pothier, a middle school robotics team member assisting students assembling a “capture and throw” robot. “The biggest challenge for the kids is to bring a concept they have to reality and communicating with their teammates how they want to do that.”



Constructing the robot using LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits purchased throughgrant by the BEF in 2010. Club coaches and Francis Wyman teachers, Cid D’Amico and Anne Rigby are quick to admit that their role is largely supervisory. They point to the volunteers as the real cogs that move the club forward. From their perspective they see another side to the learning taking place.
“This club is really bringing kids together, forcing them to work alongside partners… work with each other,” says D’Amico a fifth grade teacher at Francis Wyman.


Fifth graders program their robot with guidance from BHS volunteers. The Lego Robotics club is now in its third year at Francis Wyman. It was originally started with the help of the Burlington Education Foundation, spearheaded by the Pothier family who had students in Francis Wyman at the time.

“This in itself is an incredible experience for a high school student,” says Roberta Pothier. ” One of reasons we started a program in the Francis Wyman was to show the younger students what their capabilities are now and in the future.  My daughter was in the 5th grade at the time the program started and is [now] an active participant on the high school team. We have started a program on a smaller level at the middle school this year and hope to expand that in the future.”
The Francis Wyman Robotics Club is an eight-week program that runs through the end of the school year. Keep your eyes open on this blog for final robot designs from our budding robotics engineers!

Day 105 - Susan Astone, Francis Wyman Elementary Principal

Kindergarten Art Museum: Today is the annual Kindergarten Art Museum. There are five galleries- Impressionist I, Impressionist II, Egyptian, Illustrator, and Contemporary. The students have learned about many artists and have created artwork in the style of each artist. Parents and visitors pay a penny to enter. Students are assigned to each exhibit to explain the artwork. It is a delightful exhibit!

Day 101 - Irene Farmer, Francis Wyman Elementary Grade 1

Spring show photos, Field Trip Updates and more:

Some photos from our Spring Show!

Field Trip to See Click, Clack Moo
Reminder:  The field trip to see Click, Clack, Moo is on Thursday, April 3rd.  Chaperones have the choice of either driving or traveling on the bus for this trip.  The students will eat lunch when we return to school, so there is no need to pack a brown bag lunch for this trip.

Off to the Rainforest!
We are waddling out of Antarctica and traveling into the Rain Forest for our next unit of study.  We will learn about the layers of the RainForest, the animals and plants which thrive there and how we can do our part to help save the RainForest from further destruction.

MATH
We are wrapping up our unit on measurement and you will soon receive all of their hard work from this unit.  Our focus now will be on adding and subtracting with tens and ones.  As always, please help your child's math fluency by having them go onto xtramath (click here) a few times a week.  (Please contact me if you have lost or misplaced your child's password.) It's quick and easy and most children seem to love it!  I've also opened up access to more homework in ST Math if your child is enjoying that program as well.

Day 95 - Susan Astone, Francis Wyman Principal

Read Across America Day: Thank you to all our celebrity readers for joining Francis Wyman students on Dr. Seuss  - Read Across America Day! We appreciate you giving the students your time and attention. By reading to our students, you are supporting their reading development and modeling a life-long love of reading.

School Committee member Mrs. Kristen Russo read to grade two students. She encouraged students to read for enjoyment.

DPW  Mr. John Sanchez read to our grade four class and answered many excellent questions from the students. The students were learning about measurement and enjoyed hearing about the gallons of water Burlington uses on a daily basis.

Selectman Runyan read Green Eggs and Ham to grade two students. The students enjoyed hearing about being both a fire fighter and a selectman.

Senator Donnelly read Sneetches to grade 3 students. He encouraged them to run for Student Council as a way to become involved. It could lead to a life of public service!

Representative Gordon read his favorite Dr. Seuss book The Lorax to grade 5 students. He too encouraged students to become involved through the Student Council.

Day 87, Mrs. Sheehan - Francis Wyman School Kindergarten

Friday was Read Across America Day and our elementary schools hosted a number of guest readers. Thanks to Mrs. Sheehan for sharing a video of her guest reader (her husband) who did a wonderful job reading to his wife's kindergarten class.

Day 63 - Principal Susan Astone, Francis Wyman Elementary

The Bear Exhibit is Here!:
Thanks to the Burlington Science Center, the students will be able to enjoy this display and learn some interesting facts about bears. These life-sized bears are quite a sight!

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Day 52 Susan Astone, Francis Wyman Principal

Our 1:1 First Grade Classroom 

Welcome to our 1:1 first grade classroom ! Within several minutes you can see a number of our  current initiatives and instructional practices occurring.

The students are participating in a Fundations lesson for phonics instruction. They work on their individual iPads to write words and vowels sounds.

The Touch-It interactive white board is used for both teacher directed instruction and for sharing student responses. The teacher's articulation of the phonemic sounds is clearly heard by all thanks to the Light Touch sound system in the classroom. The teacher awards CARES coupons to students who are demonstrating appropriate learning behaviors as she has the coupons conveniently in her coupon pouch.

Students have the opportunity for individual attention from our RtI tutors who assist in the classroom. The students were completely engaged as a result of being able to fully participate throughout  the entire lesson and  get the personal attention and immediate feedback that they need. The lesson focused on research based approaches for reading instruction and learning behaviors. The technology utilized effectively supported the primary educational goals.