Day 78 - Sean Mussleman, Burlington Science Center

How Much Liquid Water in a Foot of Snow?:

This past weekend’s blizzard covered New England with several inches of snow and will be remembered as one of the largest (and longest!) storms to coat Burlington in memorable history.
The snow could not have hit at a better time for our elementary schools though, as many of Burlington’s fourth graders are either wrapping up or just starting their science units on weather and climate!

A question often asked by students (and adults) is how much liquid water is there in a foot of snow? When learning about matter, students learn how matter contracts as it gets colder taking up less space, and expands as it gets warmer (taking up more space!)

But water is not like most matter. Thanks to water molecules electronegativity its molecules organize themselves into a special six-sided arrangement that produces a perceived hollow crystal interior. When ice and other forms of solid water are heated up, the arrangement breaks down, the hollow space collapses and the water “melts” into its liquid form. As you can see in the diagram below, liquid water ends up taking up less space than solid water and is therefore more dense than ice!

This phenomena has a profound effect on our Earth! Since ice floats the tops of Earth’s bodies of water freeze over while marine creatures live below. If ice was more dense (like most matter) ice would sink to the bottom, crushing marine creatures below and leaving our seas and rivers relatively lifeless!

Consider trying this experiment with your students or children and see if you get the same results! We are familiar with many different “kinds” of snow (light and fluffy, wet and sticky to name a few!) Do all of these snow types melt into the same amount of water? Does location matter? Allow your students and kids to explore the possibilities and maybe devise their own experiments!

Day 77 - Karen Ferullo, Memorial School First Grade

Musical Instruments: The kids did a fabulous job with their instruments.  They worked hard and it showed.  They were able to share what made the vibration on the instrument and we even discussed how the pitch would change if we made some changes to any of the instruments.

Day 76 - Alison Varrell - Pine Glen Elementary School

Classroom Summary for February 4 - 8:

(Satellite image of Projected February 2013 Blizzard)

Here's what we did this week...

In Fundations we continued learning about the sounds /er/, /ir/, and /ur/. We played the game 'That's Nonsense' to try and earn points as we read and spelled nonsense words correctly. We practiced using the spelling option rule by using our Student Notebook dictionaries. We are getting really quick at looking words up!

In math this week we practiced counting by groups: 2s, 5s and 10s. We used our bodies to show how we can count items multiple ways and still come up with the same answer (How many legs? How many fingers? How many toes? How many children? etc). We also spent a lot of time identifying, trading and counting coins. We know that when you count coins, you begin counting your change with the greatest value coin first. Miss Varrell hooked up the TouchIt board and we played a piggybank game to practice applying our greater than (>), less than (<) and equal signs (=) to money equations. We used that same idea of greater than, less than and equal to as it related to the amount of red used in flags from around the world. We used our calendar markers point out how we could manipulate the 'red parts' of the flags to prove whether more than half of the flag was red, less than half of the flag was red or whether exactly half of each flag was red.

In Miss Varrell's reading group we began listening to a different genre of book called nonfiction narrative. A nonfiction narrative is a story that is nonfiction but is told in a narrative form, or storybook style.  We read the book Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne. We focused on the story elements within the narrative to highlight what a summary of the story would sound like.

Below are some videos that highlight how special Jacques Cousteau was...

Miss Varrell's reading groups also finished reading their assigned books and used context clues and text-to-text connections to better understand the author's message. We will write summaries of our stories next week to keep our skills fresh! Also, this week we wrote in our Kidblogs. Many of us were very enthusiastic about sharing what we love about reading and reading class. Next week we will reflect on our classmates' posts by posting comments on their blogs.

In writing we got more practice writing paragraphs by using the 'four square' graphic organizer. In this organizer a person writing his/her paragraph is very limited with the number of details that can be included about a topic. What makes the four square more challenging is the inclusion of leader/follower detail sentences. A leader detail sentence does exactly what it says: it gives a leading detail about the topic being written about. However, a follower detail sentence gives more detail about the detail sentence! It sounds crazy but here is an example to help you understand:

Topic Sentence: People have all kinds of fun in the snow.

Leader Detail Sentence #1: Some people like to go sledding when it snows.

Follower Detail Sentence for #1: Sledding down steep hills can be very exciting!

Leader Detail Sentence #2: Other people love to build giant snowmen and snow women.

Follower Detail Sentence for #2: Some snowmen look like giant monsters with vegetables growing out of their faces.

Closing Sentence: Snow makes playing outside in the winter extra fun!


In science we began our evaporation experiment using clear plastic cups, water and a sharpie marker for labeling water levels. We planned on finishing our observations on Friday but due to the projected snowstorm we will finish on Monday. If you have time over the weekend you can try to replicate the experiment at home!


Weekend Challenge:  Part of being a good citizen is helping our communities stay safe. Find out where the closest storm drain or fire hydrant is on your street. Ask your Mom or Dad if you can help dig it out when the snow storm is over. When you have finished ask if Mom or Dad can take your picture in front of the good work you did and bring it in to show the class!


F.Y.I.

• If your family is interested in taking the gerbils over the February vacation, please send in a note/email by Wednesday. Gerbils will need to be taken to their 'foster home' by Friday of next week. Food, cardboard, and 'play equipment' is provided. :)
• Book order forms were sent home this week. Money and order slips (including online orders) are due Friday, February 15.
• Please be safe this weekend as you and your family deal with our February Nor'easter!

Day 75, Marshall Simonds 8th Grade Health

The following image will help you remember that all standard alcoholic beverages contain the same amount of alcohol.

Day 74 - Principal John Lyons, Pine Glen Elementary

3rd Grade Math and Written Expression:


Today in Mrs. Lynch 3rd grade classroom I stopped by and saw students graphing weather data during math class and then using expository writing to explain the data. The lesson was addressing Common Core Curriculum for Math and English Language Arts. Students told me they were having a lot of fun and they were learning a great deal about data and charts.

Day 73 - Dennis Villano, BPS Director of Instructional Technology

MSMS is now 1:1 iPads:

Marshall Simonds Middle School is now 1:1 with iPads! The BPS EdTech Team and MSMS staff have completed the 1:1 iPad distribution. All MSMS students now have their own iPads to use at school each day. MSMS has almost 850 students in grades 6-8.

Students received their iPads last week during special brunches. The best part of the deployment was how excited students were to receive their iPads. Several students mentioned that they couldn’t wait to get to school for the distribution days.

MSMS classrooms quickly featured lessons and activities using Evernote, Explain Everything, Notability, Haiku Deck, and DoodleCast Pro. Students clearly needed little explanation about how to use the device. I was very impressed at how engaged students were and how much they looked forward to using the devices for academic work.

Thank you to the BPS EdTech Team and BHS Student HelpDesk for their assistance. Thank you as well to the MSMS staff. MSMS teachers have been getting ready for the 1:1 environment for over a year and their students are already benefiting from their preparation. A special thanks goes to MSMS Library Media Specialist Andy Dexter for his support for the 1:1 initiative. Andy has developed a Student HelpDesk Activity Block and is working closely with all Homeroom Tech Leaders.

I am confident that MSMS will continue to develop an outstanding 1:1 environment for students and teachers. I am looking forward to helping the MSMS community during this new experience.
Please continue to follow this blog for details about the 1:1 program at MSMS. We will feature some the experiences, projects, lessons, and activities of students and the 1:1 environment at MSMS.
Dennis Villano, Director of Technology Integration
For more information about the 1:1 program at MSMS check out:
Preparing for 1:1 at MSMS
MSMS 1:1 Program Details
MSMS Blog
MSMS Learning Commons Blog
BPS EdTech Apps – Middle School Apps

Day 72 - Mrs. Parnell and Mrs. Hoyt, Pine Glen Elementary School

Fish: We spent the month of January exploring fish and creatures the live in the sea.  Our studies were topped off with special presentations today and last Friday.

We had a visit from the New England Aquarium last week.  Presenter, Sam, shared some of the creatures we might find if we visited a tide pool at a beach.  We learned about and touched crabs, sea stars, horseshoe crabs, mussels, clams and oysters of the bi-valve family and snails. Before we touched the animals, we need to put on our imagination hats and get to the beach!

The water was cold, but the touching was COOL! Today, Mr. Musselman of the Burlington Science Center shared the presentation, "Super Fish".  He spoke about penguins, bi-valves, exoskeleton tide pool animals, fish and even brought an invertebrate (octopus)!  He talked about the various parts We were given the opportunity to touch and feel the octopus.