We had fun preparing for our Thanksgiving Feast on November 26^th. We went to the feast as Native Americans. Miss Adler helped each of us make a Native American vest and placemat. Miss Garcia taught us a Thanksgiving song. In class we made a Native American necklace, headband, and a puppet. We also made some of the food. Our job was to make the breads. Along with the second grade Pilgrims, we recited a Thanksgiving poem. All of these activities reminded us, ,just as it did the Pilgrims on their first Thanksgiving, how very thankful we are for all that we have.

The fourth graders recently checked out what's living in the wild around Melville pond. As a culminating activity for their ecosystem unit, Mrs. Heller and Mrs. Straka's budding ecologists walked down to Melville pond to examine life in and around the pond. The swans were a hit as they demonstrated their fishing prowess. Perhaps the most exciting discoveries were made in the large puddles left from recent rainfall. The students discovered the puddles were teaming with life. The classes hope to make a few more trips to the pond area to document the changes that occur as the seasons progress.

Mrs. Polselli's kindergarteners have undertaken a project for the month of December. The children will be doing good deeds for their classmates. Gingerbread paper dolls will be cut out. Every time someone does a good deed for someone else, the student will paste the picture of the person on the face of a gingerbread doll and join the doll to the growing paper doll chain. By the end of December, the room should have a very long paper doll chain hanging around the classroom representing all the children's acts of kindness!

It’s hard to believe that we are entering December. Although it is a short month, we have a lot planned.

To start off the month, we have a team of educators and parents visiting Melville School from December 2-6. Their assignment is to spend four days visiting classes, talking with teachers, parents and administrators, and examining every piece of available data. Then, on the fifth day, they write a report that gives direction to the school for its future improvement efforts. Parent participation is scheduled for Wednesday, December 4 at 8:45 AM in our school cafeteria. The team is expected to produce a report that can be used as a continuous improvement model for schools. The faculty, staff and school improvement team will be invited to the initial read-out in late December. The final report will be placed on the Department of Education website once the report has been approved by the State Commissioner of Education. The School Accountability for Learning and Teaching (SALT) team is assigned to each school once every five years.

Students activities are bountiful. Grade 4 will be going to Rosecliff Mansion on December 4 to see the Island Dance Company perform The Nutcracker. The Middle School will sing for the student body on Wednesday, December 11 and the Navy Band will play holiday selections for all children on December 17. Grades one and four will have electrical safety programs brought into their classrooms on December 16. Grade 3 will listen to author, Muriel Barkley Tolly, discuss her books and the efforts that go into publishing a children’s book.

Just a reminder: school ends for winter vacation on December 20 and resumes on January 2.

Many Melville students marked Veteran's Day buy sending personal messages to veterans. First and second grade students made beautiful cards and wrote letters to male and female residents of the Rhode Island Veteran's Home. The veteran's were delighted.

Students in Mrs. Heller's class have been corresponding with penpals in North Carolina. Having recently mailed their second letter, the students are learning they have much in common with their fourth grade counterparts in the South.

MPTG

The Melville Parent Teacher Group's next meeting is scheduled for January 18, 2003 at 7:00 PM.The main agenda item will be moving forward with new programs based on last spring's survey.

Questions/comments:

MPTG newsgroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PortsmouthMPTG

Melville School website: http://melvilleschoolri.tripod.com