The Hat Project

By Walter Murphy

There are some pretty smart kids in Mrs Giordano’s class, but even they had to put their thinking “caps” on for their recent projects. This second grade class has been reading Amelia Badelia books for a while now and they really enjoyed them. When Mrs Giordano assigned this project, they got right to work, brainstorming and preparing for their projects. They had to make their own special hat or cap using recycled objects that were creative and sometimes functional.

The class worked very hard because they only had a few weeks to make their hats. I think the final products were beautiful.

“We picked our favorite Amelia Badelia book and it was about hats, so we are doing this project,” said Madeleine Gange.

I interviewed several students about their hats. Danny Gies made a very nice paper hat, he glued sprinkles and candy onto it. He also cut the top so it would look like a crown.

Ann Oggeri made a creative Mother Nature hat. She put a fake cardinal on the top. She glued artificial and live plants onto her hat. There were some sticks and pinecones on it, she even put real wild blueberries on it.

This was a very creative hat, but wait until you hear this… Jacob Barret made an elf holiday hat! He sewed glow-in-the-dark figures and a fake lock on it. There were stickers and colorful pieces of cloth on this hat. There was glitter and buttons on it. They were all great!

Mrs Giordano’s class is a very hard working class and this is a sign of their determination to do their best and get good grades.

An Interview

With Miss Miller

By Meghan Barbour

Hi, my name is Meghan Barbour. I go to Hawley School in Newtown, CT. I interviewed a new schoolteacher named Miss Miller. I asked her why she wanted to become a teacher, and she said because kids have always responded well to her. Miss Miller also wanted to teach at Hawley School because Newtown is really supportive of new teachers. Miss Miller’s favorite part about teaching is that she likes making portfolios, because she can see her students work throughout the year. Miss Miller enjoys teaching because she loves working with kids, and her class this year is especially wonderful. Before teaching at Hawley School, Miss Miller taught at Assumption School in Fairfield, which is a Catholic school. Miss Miller’s favorite subject to teach is reading and writing because she likes to see the students’ creativity, imagination, and also excitement. None of Miss Miller’s teachers caused her to want to become a teacher herself. She knew that she could make learning fun and easy for kids, and that’s what attracted her to teaching.

Hawley’s New Timer

By Lucy Remitz

“The children and teachers at Hawley make me come to work every day,” she says. Who is she, you ask. She is Ms Miller, a second grade teacher at Hawley. She is new this year and loves Hawley School in Newtown.

The teachers and staff of Hawley are supporters of new teachers including Ms Miller. Ms Miller is a kid lover. She especially loves working with younger kids, but she enjoys her second grade class at Hawley. She compares Hawley to her other school. She says it’s much happier here and there is a lot of support, her other school was completely different.

She likes it at Hawley because she loves working with kids and her class this year is very, very, very special. Ms Miller’s classroom is full of excitement and happiness. It has a special reading corner and an interesting fake mountain called “Mount Readmore.” It inspires kids to make reading fun and interesting.

Ms Miller is dedicated to her work and is happy and excited with her class. She loves Hawley School and is interested in her work. She makes learning fun and interesting for kids.

By Christina LaValla

This week I interviewed a fourth grade teacher for an update on what is going on in the classroom.

The teacher interviewed told me that the main focus this year is multiplication tables and the study of rocks and minerals. They will also be studying Asia, focusing on Japan. Currently they have been practicing reticulate circles where they work together in groups to derive meanings from books they have read.

Other fourth grade activities included making pop-up books on Australia, writing memoirs about their lives, and drawing murals on animal adaptations from five different habitats: deserts, tropical rainforest, tundra, temperate forest, and the prairie.

They went on two field trips, which included the White Memorial and the Booth Library. The White Memorial is a privately owned nature center with various hands-on activities. They hiked, dredged a pond, participated in a scavenger hunt, and attended an animal adaptation lesson. On their visit to the Booth Library they learned about all the research materials available to them at the library and how to utilize all these materials.

Special thanks to Mr Haber for the interview.