We still have many baby guppies available, if your student would like to take some home! They're not big fish as adults, and they like the company of other fish.  4-6 is the recommended school size if you have no others in the tank,  Let me know and we can make arrangements to get them to their new home!

Learners Are Leaders criteria this month is "Finishing Strong."  I have seen a lot of students take this seriously, and try extra hard to finish the year listening and learning right up to the last day. Even though it is already June, we are still going strong with our learning - and expectations for behavior, homework and effort have not changed!  We have a lot of learning left to do!

On Friday of last week we had a fabulous guest in our classroom.  Bri Lolar came up from Kindergarten and taught us about the Penobscot Indian history, culture and customs. We got to listen to music sung in  the Penobscot language, learned some of the Penobscot words and we also heard about their celebrations, and her experience with drum making. She also shared some information about traditional basket making as well. We continue our Native American studies this week!

As we get down to the final stretch of the school year, we have some special days coming up!  

Field Day is June 6 - THIS TUESDAY!! 

I sent home Field Day permission slips in backpacks last week, and I have not received all of them back yet! Please check your child's backpack for them so they can get signed and returned.
Please have your student come to school already wearing sunscreen and bug spray!  We will be outside all morning at the High School, returning to OTES at noon.

Also, we will be going on part 2 of the Old Town Tour on June 13. We will be going to the Forestry Department, Airport, and the Old Town Museum.  If you have not signed and returned the permission form, please do so!  We will be leaving at 8:05, and returning to school at 11:00, in time for lunch.

Have a great week!

As we get closer to the end of the year, there are a number of permission forms for field trips that need signing.

 Please check backpacks and get them sent back as soon as possible!!

The field trip yesterday to Leonard's Mills was fabulous!  It was pretty buggy, but the kids were troopers and didn't let it take away from the fun.  Some of the highlights were the fish ladder, where the kids were catching and releasing alewives in big nets, sometimes they caught 5 at a time! There were "old-timey"games, crafts and a lot of learning more about Maine logging history, especially the the Lombard Log Hauler.  As one student put it, " I guess people were pretty smart back then."  I guess she was right.





Many thanks to our wonderful parent volunteers, the trip was so much more fun and interactive with all of you there to support our class.

I hope you all have been able to spend more time outside than inside this weekend!  Spring is a very busy time in and out of school, so there are a lot of things coming up.


Wednesday, May 24 - Day long Field Trip to Leonard's Mills
       If you have not returned the permission slip yet for this trip, please do so as as soon as possible!!  I am still missing a few. Some important notes for this trip - we will be gone the whole school day, and will be outside for about 6 hours.  We will be going no matter what the weather is, so if it looks like rain, send their rain gear as well.  Right now, the forecast is calling for a chance of showers, but keep your fingers crossed for a pleasant day.

Please send your student to school this Wednesday with sunscreen on, and already sprayed with bug spray, wearing sneakers.    Because it has been so wet, it is likely to be very buggy there, and this is also a bad year for ticks.

Wednesday, May 31 -  Tour of Old Town Field Trip
Permission slips and more information are coming home this week. Please sign the permission form and get them back ASAP!

Wednesday, May 31 - The OTES Annual Pancake Breakfast is coming up!  The breakfast is open to all families and is FREE!  Please come on May 31st from 7:00-8:30am and enjoy bacon, eggs, fruit, juice, and coffee.  This wonderful breakfast is sponsored by our OTES PTC

Tuesday, June 13 - Old Town Airport/Forestry/OT Museum Field Trip
details and permission slip to come.


Last Friday was World of Work Day at OTES, and the Third Grade had a busy morning learning about the Arts from the Next Generation Theater. We also learned what it takes to be a chef, a TV reporter, a TV cameraman, a Hair Stylist, and a Wildlife Management professional.  Many thanks to our presenters, and to Mrs.Wilcox for organizing this eye-opening day!

     Please be aware that my email has changed.  It will be susanne.white@rsu34.org.  I am not sure if this is a permanent change, but for now, if you need to contact me via email please send it to this address. 
     If you have any urgent dismissal changes during the school day, please call the office and speak to Kathy Rivers and she will get the message to me.  

We have some catching up to do!  We have been busy in our classroom.  

We have a fish tank in our room, and the students are very good at seeing that they get what they need.  Recently, there was great excitement because our guppies have had babies! We have a few pairs up for adoption.  If your child would like to bring a pair home, please contact me and we can make arrangements for their safe travel to your home.  No fish will go home on the bus. 
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Coming up this Wednesday, April 26 is our Science Night at OTES.  Please join us in this fun night.  There will lots of fun things to see - robotics, rocket launching, and a helicopter landing on our playground, just to name a few. Here is the link for more information: 
 https://drive.google.com/a/rsu34.k12.me.us/file/d/0B_OurziqKOQsbXpsQzRGUXlBNUk/view?usp=sharing

Hope to see you all there! 

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Our field trip to the University of Maine's Maple Sugar operation was great!  The students learned so much about Maple Syrup making, and got to sample some of the new product, hot out of the boiler!

The bus ride over was fun too! 

Using power tools!  Ask your students why you have to be careful where you drill multiple holes in sugar maple trees!

using power tools!

 Peering into the inner workings of Maple Sugar making!

A Maple sugar expert

Different grades of Maple Syrup, all equally delicious.

Glad they allowed cats on the property

The calendar said this was a spring day in Maine, but the snow and frigid temps told a different story.

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Some other things we have been up to are finishing up our Junior Achievement Unit.  We have been studying our community, as well as financial literacy, business and city building.

Building 3 dimensional buildings and building our city, putting the different buildings where they belong in the zones.

Designing a diner with classmates, there are lots of money decisions to make when you're a business owner! 

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Dress as your favorite book character was a fun day! 

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One of the STEM activities we have done recently was the third grade Lego Robotics build - the Dancing Birds!  Some fabulous students from Mrs. Daniel's classroom joined us and were excellent peer coaches. They know their stuff, and the third graders loved learning with them.

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We have begun studying fractions in math, lots of hands-on activities help understand this sometimes tricky topic! 

I think he likes fractions! 

 That smile says fractions are awesome!

This beautiful spring door decoration took lots of math skills. Each flower is 5 fraction problems solved!  

Have a great week!