This past week, fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Burkett brought the US National Park experience alive for our fourth graders. Pictured here, Mrs. Burkett's and Mrs. Alessio's classes visited Acadia National Park in Maine with Ranger Sam. Students participated in "Sedimentary Sleuths" where they learned about sediments, weathering, erosion, and their effects on Acadia's landscape. Thank you Ranger Sam! Fourth graders will continue to virtually visit National Parks across the country in upcoming visits.
The HCS Ski Club celebrated another great season at McIntyre Ski Area in Manchester. Thank you to all the parent volunteers and HCS staff who helped make this a successful season!
Every Thursday this past month our Ski Club has been hitting the slopes at McIntyre Ski Area in Manchester and loving every minute of it! Thank you to all our staff and parent volunteers for helping make this program so much fun for our kids!
Happy Halfway Day!!! Today was our 90th day of school. Today marked the mid point of our school year and the end of the second quarter.
The Hampstead School District is sponsoring a Child Find Check to screen children
between the ages of three and five years of age for possible educational disabilities. If
you suspect that your child may have difficulty with speech, hearing, vision,
coordination, development or a learning disability that may require special help, the Child
Find Check may answer your questions. The screening will be done by trained
professionals. All results will be kept confidential and will only be released to other
professionals, i.e. school personnel or physician with parental consent.
The Child Find Check is FREE to Hampstead residents and will be held on Friday,
February 14, 2025 beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the Hampstead Central School.
A parent or legal guardian must accompany the child. To schedule an appointment or
for additional information, call Theresa Altsher in the Hampstead Central School main
office at 329-6326 x1102 between 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Please call by February 7 to
schedule appointments.
Recently, our second graders learned all about penguins! Students participated in various learning activities and projects involving these cold-weather animals.
Gymnastics is back! Every year HCS students participate in a gymnastics unit in PE class. Gymnastics is a perennial favorite for the kids!
From our Central School Family to yours.... Happy Holidays!!
On Friday HCS held its annual Jingle Jangle, a musical event featuring festive holiday sing -alongs and dances. New to the festivities this year was the 4th grade & 1st grade Buddy Reindeer- a partnership project between the first grade students and their fourth grade buddy classes. The Jingle Jangle was the perfect way to kick off the Holidays and Winter Break.
Last Thursday we had an exciting performance by Chaos and Kindness - Recycled Percussion! They brought lots of energy, rhythmic beats, sparks, and excitement. Our students really enjoyed the event which included making music on recycled items. The performance ended with a schoolwide dance party. The children will be talking about this event for sometime.! Thank you to all the families and community members who submitted our school for this contest. We appreciate it!
Earlier this month, 8th graders from Mr. Remillard's Industrial Arts class came to visit our afternoon preschool students. During their visit, the eight graders helped their preschool buddies design star, heart, and truck shapes. They planned out the shapes and the colors together. A few weeks later, the eight graders returned with a special gift for their preschool buddies! The shapes the preschoolers helped design were fabricated into wood by Mr. Remillard's students. The preschoolers sanded and painted their shapes with their eight grade buddies. Cookies and hot chocolate for all the students followed. Thank you Mr. Remillard and your students for making this such a fun, inactive experience for both the eight graders and our preschoolers!
Fourth graders met with their first grade buddies this week for festive holiday activities. This year they worked on Buddy Reindeer for the Jingle Jangle. All the students enjoyed the chance to work together and have fun!
Last week our preschoolers received a special package from the North Pole! Santa had visited the Land of Misfit Toys and sent some special gifts for our preschoolers! Everyone was very happy and excited!
Last week our third graders concluded their study of the Native Americans of the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest. Students researched the different geographic civilizations, created models of regional Native American life, presented their models to the class, and then opened up a museum gallery walk for the entire grade to view all the students' models. Nice work Grade 3!
It's Spirit Week at the Central School this week! Bring your fun and festive cheer! Please see flyer for Spirit Week details!
On Friday, Mrs. Lazzaro's class had the opportunity to walk over to the middle school were they met with their seventh grade buddies from Mrs. Griffin's Flex Class. Mrs. Griffin's 7th graders were working on leadership, connection, and role/peer modeling. To put their lessons to work, they designed five different activity stations featuring literacy and math games specifically based on what the second graders were currently learning in class. This was an outstanding opportunity for Mrs. Lazzaro's and Mrs. Griffin's students. This was another awesome partnership activity between HMS and HCS. Thank you to our 7th grade buddies and both Mrs. Lazzaro and Mrs. Giffin. Well done!
The Polar Express came to the Central School on Friday! Narrated by Cliff West, Kindergarten students were whisked away on a spirited train trip to the North Pole. Tickets in hand, eager Kindergarteners boarded their pretend train. It was a Holiday journey enjoyed by all! Thank you Mr. West for visiting our school again this year for this special holiday treat!
Last Thursday evening our fourth graders serenaded the community at HCS' annual Holiday Concert. The musical program featured a variety of holiday-themed songs, signing, and poetry. Accompanying the presentation was an art exhibition featuring self-portrait works by the students. It was an evening filled with festive cheer! A special thank you to Mrs. Starck, Mr. Terrile, and Mrs. McLaughlin! Bravo, fourth graders!
Kindergarten-4th grade students celebrated the Hour of Code last week in Technology class with Mrs. McLaughlin! Kindergarten and first grade students learned simple algorithms using digital coding and our new robot friend, Andy! Students in grades 2-4 went unplugged and learned how to code Ozobots using markers! They discovered that different colors are used to code the Ozobots for different actions! It was a fantastic week of inquiry-based and hands-on learning!
Mrs. Garside's first grade class has been comparing and contrasting the different versions of the Gingerbread series for the past two weeks. Last week, the class used STEM design and engineering to build bridges across the river so that the Gingerbread Man could escape the tricky fox!
