Students have been reading and discussing:

Honey Bee the Busy Life of Apis Mellifer by Candace Fleming

Named the winner of the American Library Association’s 2021 Robert F. Sibert Medal Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifer documents the experiences of a summer honeybee from birth to death.

Some facts about Honeybees:

• In North America, honey bees were not present in the 1800s. They were introduced from Europe by settlers, not native to the continent.
• Only female bees (worker bees) can sting: Male bees (drones) do not have stingers

• Honey is the only food that humans can consume that is produced by an insect.

• Honey never spoils: It has been found in good condition in ancient tombs

Kathy Hatch, Paraprofessional, brought in her father’s beekeeping equipment. She described how her father always tended bees and collected their honey. Her father never sold any of the honey he collected, it was always given as a gift to family and friends.

Special Library Project: 

5th/6th graders came up with the idea of searching for as many books that they can find in our TES Library with copyright dates older than 1970!

In an effort to encourage readers to enjoy books from long ago, these students hope to create a display of the oldest library books in our TES collection. The display will also include more recent publications of the same titles to see how the books have changed over the years and to find out how many of these books are still being read today!

Students have been writing Thank You notes to Rosanne Parry. They have also written to Norwich BookStore for generously providing an author visit at no cost to TES and coordinating the ordering and purchasing of Rosanne’s books.

March Book Discussion Meetings:

5th/6th Grade students will meet at 12 pm on Monday, March 24th and 3rd/4th Grade students at 12:30 pm to discuss Rosanne Parry’s latest book: A Wolf Called Fire.

This month TES students have been very busy conducting Library research for variety of projects:

1st/2nd Grade: have been using library class time to find library books on their chosen topics to complete their informational writing pieces.

3rd/4th Grade: have been finding library books for their informational writing piece on famous people. Their writing will be showcased at this month’s Wax Museum. The Wax Museum will be open to family, friends, and community on Wednesday,  February 19, at 5:30 pm. 

School-wide: Students have been using library class time to find library books on their Science Fair project topics. Projects will be presented at the Science Fair, Wednesday, March 19th open to the public (5:00-6:30 pm) Snow date: March 20th.

Rosanne Parry will be Visiting TES on Monday, February 10th to discuss with students her writing process and her new book: A Wolf Called Fire

Students are very excited to discuss Roasanne’s books and talk about the real life story of how wolves in the United States nearly became extinct. A conservation effort reintroduced Gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park. In 1995, they were thriving again in the West, much to the benefit of the ecosystem.

In library classes, students have been learning about the real life Yellowstone conservation project from Jean Craighead George’s picture book:

The Wolves are Back

Students will be able to order copies of Rosanne’s books through Norwich Bookstore.

Computer Science Education Week — the annual call to action to inspire K-12 students to learn computer science, advocate for equity, and celebrate the contributions of students, teachers, and partners to the field — is this upcoming week, Dec. 9-15, 2024

What are Ozobots?

Ozobots are little robots that are designed as an introduction to coding. 

TES just purchased a new classroom kit of 18 Ozobots. Our new Evo-Ozobots are now compatible with iPads and Chromebooks, are bluetooth enabled, and can be charged in less than an hour.

We have been exploring 2 ways to code: Completely screen-free with Color Codes, and more advanced block-based programming with Ozobot Blockly.

Students have been learning about the U.S. Presidential Election. To help students learn more about the election process and the Electoral College, we read:

Grace for President by Kelly S. DiPucchio.

We also discussed the importance of avoiding misinformation on the internet and how not to share election misinformation. We listened to a short 2-minute audio from NPR:

How to Avoid Sharing Election Misinformation 

Heard on NPR’s Morning Edition by Audrey Nguyen

• We won’t know the full picture the night of November 5
• If you react strongly to new information, pause
• Consider how trustworthy your source of information is
• Be wary of what photos and videos are supposed to “prove”

Norwich BookStore is hosting a TES Book Fair, 

 In-store & Online starting Thursday, Oct 10 – Monday, Oct 21

Book Fair FAQ

How and where can I shop?

Online or in-store, just mention “TES,” “Thetford Elementary School,” or some combo therein and NBS will apply the sale to the book fair so that the school receives 20% of the purchase.

What is the weblink to start shopping?

Here is the link to the TES book fair’s landing page: https://norwichbookstore.com/te

What are the Norwich Bookstore hours and location?

Norwich Bookstore

Monday – Saturday, 9am to 6pm
Sunday, 11am to 5pm

NBS is located in the Norwich Square in Norwich, VT

291 Main Street Norwich, Vermont 05055

Phone number:
802-649-1114

For more information, you may call the Norwich Bookstore.

TES, in partnership with Latham Library, has been awarded a
grant through the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF)!

Here’s what the grant includes:

A kick-off storytelling event for all students in grades PreK-6, celebrating both our public and school libraries.

The kick-off  event for TES is scheduled Thursday, October 24th.

3rd-6th grades: 8:30 am-9:15 am
K-2nd 9:25 am-10:10 am

A finale event between April and June, aimed at getting students excited for summer reading
and public library activities.

A book giveaway at the finale event, where each student in grades PreK-6 will select two
brand-new books to take home.

$500 worth of new books for the TES library, selected from the CLiF book list.

This is a wonderful opportunity for our learning community, and we’re looking forward to
celebrating it together!

Students have been participating in a “Book Tasting” activity.  Students examine various genres they don’t normally read and  discover new genres they unexpectedly enjoy!

The 3rd-6th Graders reviewed the definitions of each genre while the K-2nd enjoyed more of a “Just Right” Menu and interest rating of books.

The activity included a “Menu” handout that students used for their tasting.