What does the word “commitment” mean to you? According to many, it is the act when you dedicate yourself to something, such as a person or cause. According to the Cambridge Dictionary online, it is “a willingness to give your time and energy to something that you believe in, or a promise or firm decision to do something.” In our district this year, our word of the year just happens to be “commitment.”
At Southside School, our dedicated staff makes a commitment each and every day to our students, as they work with their curricula and the district’s vision. You will find the classrooms buzzing with students who are engaged in the rigor of their learning, while teachers are diligently working to meet the numerous individual educational, social, and emotional needs of our student population. At Southside, we offer many choices and learning experiences for our students during and after school. Below, you will find just a few of those experiences that our teachers wanted to share with you.
The Maine Student Book Award is designed to expand literary horizons of students in grades 4-8 by encouraging them to read, evaluate and enjoy a selection of new books and to choose a statewide favorite by written ballot each spring. Mrs. Gretchen Fitzpatrick and her students would like to invite community members to also read from the fabulous list of 42 books and share your reviews with the students by emailing gretchen.fitzpatrick@rsu29.org.
Visit www.mainestudentbookaward.org for more details and a list of the 2016-17 books and resources.
Grade 4 and 5 students at Southside study at the First Lego League mission table as they prepare for the Maine state FFL qualifying round in November. The First Lego League is a national robotics competition for students ages 9-14. Students research a real-world engineering challenge, develop a solution, and compete with LEGO-based robots of their own design. This year’s mission, Animal Allies, challenges students to develop an innovative way to help human and animals work together. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under the FIRSTLEGO League signature set of Core Values, celebrating discovery, teamwork, and Gracious Professionalism.
Miss Melvin’s third-grade class has been learning about the natural resources around our area. We have been studying landforms, learning about erosion, and collecting rocks. We conducted an experiment to show how ice cracks rocks. Forester Dan Jacobs was a guest speaker in September. He taught us to identify local trees by looking at differences in leaves and bark. After the initial instruction, students walked around the school property looking for specific trees. We were allowed to use his boring tool to remove a ring sample. We counted the rings to see how old the tree is. We have enjoyed learning about where we live.
For more information on Southside events and learning experiences, please visit our Facebook page or school link on the district website, www.rsu29.org where you will find electronic copies of our calendar and newsletter.
