We Will Miss You Dr. Mathias!

Dr. Mathias is retiring, and we will miss her very much! 

We wish you all the best!

Book Bingo At Home!

Ms. Neil has provided this super fun Book Bingo for students to work on at home. Keep reading, and enjoy all the books you can during this school closure!

Mrs. Neil's Book Bingo link.

Homeschooling Art Activities

From Mrs. Elliott:

In response to the school closures, I would like to share a number of art activities which students can do at home.  Please feel free to adjust the materials to suit what is available around the home. Most of these activities will require no more than paper and pencil. Adding color is fun for students, so if  you do not have access to crayon or markers, please feel free to reach out to me at jelliott@bsdvt.org

Here is an awesome art scavenger hunt which children can do around the home and neighborhood.

I have used Art For Kids Hub as a special treat in the classroom on many occasions, and students love it. It includes videos appropriate for kids Kindergarten through middle school. The vast majority of the videos are draw-alongs, and include tons of character, seasonal, and animal themes.

Mo Willems (The Pigeon books, Elephant and Piggie) is doing a free online draw-along called "Lunch Doodles With Mo Willems," through the Kennedy Center. You can join the fun here. It's going to air at 1pm each day, beginning with "Animals with a lot of legs." As he says in today's video, "It's not the best drawing I have ever made, but it was kind of fun to get lost in it." Art can help kids forget their stress!

Here are some fun drawing prompts. Doing one each day is an outlet and creative distraction. Here are a few ideas:

1. Imagine and draw an animal doing something that only humans usually do. (Ex., dolphins surfing, a moose gardening, dogs skateboarding, cats riding a roller coaster, etc.)

2. Create your dream bedroom. What features would it include?

3. There are a million fish in the sea. Create your own original fish, and show its ocean environment.

4. Create the dreamiest ice cream sundae you can imagine. What toppings would it have?

5. Nature has created some pretty bizarre creatures, but none as bizarre as one you can dream up! Combine creature features and make a whole new animal that the world has not yet discovered. How would it move? What would it eat?

Here is an additional general education resource:

Scholastic has a terrific Learn At Home site chock-full of academic activities to keep our students learning, available here. 

I will continue to share new art ideas frequently!

Love Your Library Month at EES

 February is “Love Your Library” month at Edmunds! To celebrate, we are holding a reading race with our theme this year being “Ancient Egypt”. During the month, students will be reading and keeping track of the number of hours they have read outside of school to help their class’ cat travel the pyramids.

        Every morning there are quiz questions about Ancient Egypt that students can answer to earn more hours for their class. At the end of the month, the classes with the most hours spent reading will win a class celebration for their efforts! (pictured: Library Bulletin board used to track class hours. Created by Susan Shepherd, Library Assistant.)

Congratulations to Betsy Nolan, Winner of UVM's 2019 Outstanding Teacher Award!

Congratulations to our EES Music teacher, Betsy Nolan for receiving the 2019 Outstanding Teacher Award from UVM for Burlington School District. She was acknowledged for her work as a teacher, a colleague, and as one who insures that every child has the opportunity to participate in music in whatever form they can, from singing, to playing instruments, writing, and performing music.

Scottish Fish Performance

Scottish Fish, a fiddle group comprised of five Boston based teens, performed for students at EES on Friday afternoon. Their set of traditional Scottish tunes included fiddle, piano, and cello, and was enjoyed by all!

If your student enjoyed the music and you'd like to hear more, the group's new holiday album is available for purchase using this link. It is also available on Spotify .

Super Readers in Ms. Kilburn's Class

Mrs. Kilburn's kindergarteners practicing their SUPER READING POWERS with reading partners and their super power pointers!