We are proud to announce that Central School's Destination Imagination (DI) Team, "The Illuminating Skittle Squad" received first place in their engineering challenge at the state-level DI competition this weekend in Goffstown. They have now been invited to compete at the Global DI Competition in Kansas City, Missouri this May! This year marks the first time ever that a Hampstead student has been invited to the Global competition at the senior level, middle level, and elementary level. We are very proud of our students, their managers, and their coaches for this outstanding accomplishment! Way to go!!!
Third and fourth grade students spent the last few weeks of technology class collaborating in small groups to code with TI Rovers. Students used TI graphing technology to program the Rover to move, draw, create angles, and even dance. The Rover is a very effective and engaging tool to introduce students to coding and robotics and we are very grateful to Texas Instruments for providing us with this loan opportunity. Thank you to Mrs. Wisecarver and Mrs. McLaughlin for facilitating this awesome learning experience!
Field Hockey Club has started at HCS! This club introduces students to skills, drills, and small games in the sport of field hockey. So far, the club has been a big hit and students in grades 3 &4 have been learning, working hard, and having fun! Thank you to Mrs. Arroyo and Ms. Poulin for facilitating this awesome opportunity for our 3rd and 4th grade students.
Volcanoes! As a follow up post, here are a few examples of research that our grade two volcano scientists prepared. Well done!
Some of our second graders worked on a Mystery Science experiment on the topic of erosion. This experiment paired nicely with the essential question in the Gr 2 reading program- How does Earth change?
Students had fun learning how the earth can change over time and what elements, (wind, water and storms) can contribute to that change.
Recently, some National Science Honors Society students from Pinkerton Academy visited with our fourth graders. Our students had to opportunity to learn about different areas of science from the "big kids." It was a fun, hands-on learning experience for our students and a great opportunity to connect with Pinkerton students. Thank you to Mrs. Morin for organizing the visit and to Mr. Breda and the PA National Science Honors Society members for coming to HCS to share their time and love of science with our fourth graders!
Last week some second graders learned about how the earth changes. Their studies focused on volcanoes. The students wrote a paragraph and drew an illustration about what they learned about volcanoes. As a culminating activity, students created volcanoes in class and made them "erupt." A lot of fun and smiles were had combining science and reading.
Last Friday our third graders had the opportunity to visit Pinkerton Academy for a maple sugaring field trip. The visit was hosted by Pinkerton Academy Forestry students who taught our students all about the sugaring process along with tree germination, and forest conservation with Woodsy the Owl and Smokey the Bear. Students also had the opportunity to apply their knowledge of weather, science, history, and NH culture to their visit. The field trip was a big success thanks to our friends at Pinkerton Academy. Thank you to Jen Haskins (CTE Director), Michelle Mize (Forestry Teacher), and all the PA Forestry students. Thank you as well to all our parent chaperones. One could say this field trip was a "wicked sweet" learning opportunity!
Last Thursday evening the staff of HCS took on the staff of HMS in a friendly dodgeball game. Ultimately HMS won, but tons of laughs and a lot of fun were had by all. The bleachers were packed with staff members, students, families, and community members. Admission to the event was one non-perishable food item. Eight boxes of food were collected for the Salt Box Pantry. Thank you to all who donated!!! Thank you to all who played, attended, facilitated, and organized this event. It was an awesome Hampstead school community event!
St. Patrick's Day festivities at HCS came with the annual visit of the leprechauns! One friendly leprechaun lost their shoe in a story but don’t worry, Mrs. Le's first graders helped solve the problem and made the leprechaun a new shoe!
Mrs. Whitehead’s first grade class wrote about how they would help their leprechaun hide his gold. They wrote about where would be good hiding places and why. They also did a guided drawing of their pot of gold and then did a STEM activity to hide their pot of gold. Here are some of their creations!
The Robotics Club with Mrs. McLaughlin is underway! The kids are having a lot of fun! So far three of our teams are ranked 5th, 7th, and 9th in their robotics competition. Go Huskies!
This past week the Central School started their annual One School, One Book. This year our school community is reading Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. If you haven't started it yet with your student, there is a brief introduction below to the story by Mrs. Cameron and a Book Trailer (also below) to help your child get excited about this community read.
Here are some photos of first grade students in Mrs. Le's class illustrating as they listen to chapters from "Wishtree":
Book Introduction with Mrs. Cameron:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gl1wC1_XP31UM8OMW0wHhlsPP2rXHCri/view
Book Trailer:
https://youtu.be/-P5TSKKBIyo?list=TLGG3Ku7F0mXmaExODAzMjAyNA
Congratulations to the grades 3/4 HCS Destination Imagination team! The team, "The Illuminating Skittle Squad" took fourth place out of six teams in the elementary division for their engineering challenge and will advance to the state tournament. A total of fifty-nine student teams competed at Souhegan High School on Saturday. This academic competition showcases collaboration, creativity, problem solving skills, effective communication, and critical thinking. Teams choose a challenge to work on throughout the year and all challenges include elements of the STEAM principles with one challenge also including a service learning component. The solutions to these challenges are completely solved by the students- adults are not allowed to interfere with this process. Top finishing teams at both of New Hampshire's regional tournaments will advance to the state finals on April 6th in Goffstown. At the state tournament, teams will have an opportunity to qualify to represent New Hampshire at the Destination Imagination Global Finals in Kansas City during the month of May. There will be 15 countries and every state represented at this Global Event. Way to go Central School! Good luck to HCS!
Central School’s Grade 3/4 Destination Imagination team, "The Illuminating Skittle Squad", will be competing in an engineering challenge entitled, "Going the Distance". This engineering challenge asks students to explore and apply engineering skills and tools to design and build solutions to specific applications. The team will be competing this weekend at Souhegan High School in Amherst, NH. We wish our “Illuminating Skittle Squad” all the best in this competition!
We are happy to share that fourth-grade teacher, Heather Burkett was named the 2024 recipient of the NHTM (New Hampshire Teachers of Mathematics) Richard C. Evans Distinguished Mathematics Educator Award. The award is given to an experienced, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable mathematics teacher who continues to dedicate an organized mathematical focus in their teaching both inside and outside of the classroom. Mrs. Burkett will be honored at an event at the end of March for this accomplishment. Congratulations to Mrs. Burkett on this outstanding achievement!
HCS Spirit Week finished out with Red Carpet Friday. Students and staff (including Mr. Thompson!) alike had fun taking a stroll down the red carpet! Music and cheering added to the fun!
Congratulations to Miles Page the current HCS Double Dutch jump roping champion with 434 jumps!
Some freshly fired ceramic figurative sculptures created by Miss Poulin’s 3rd graders during art class with Mr. Terrile
Fourth grade Ventures students took advantage of the flurries this past week to learn about the science and math of a snowflake. They learned why snowflakes are hexagonal and how temperature and humidity impact the size and design of each flake.
February 8th marked an important milestone on the elementary school calendar, the 100th Day of School! This year, HCS students celebrated with all sorts of 100-based/themed activities including STEM activities, Math activities, writing games, fashion shows, a 100-step estimation, and lots of student excitement. The use of 100 was incorporated into many lessons throughout the school.
