Pownal Elementary fifth graders have been caring for and learning about kelp for the past month as a host site for the fall of 2022. Grade 5 teacher Jen Winkler received a grant from the Boothbay Sea and Science Center. The aquarium was a 'kelp nursery' and students had to test the water and record observations. Students reflected on their experiences: "The kelp was so small at first", "We had to test the salinity with a hydrometer", "We used a hydrometer and refractometer to check the salinity",  "We also checked the temperature of water and fed the kelp with fertilizer". Kelp was not the only thing growing in the tank... the tank also had twelve periwinkles that cleaned unwanted bacteria from the tank! The kelp was successfully transferred to a sea farm in Casco Bay on December 14th.

Students at PES will be participating in a special reading challenge over our December break. We are calling it The Monster Madness Reading Challenge. Each classroom will be setting a class goal for the total minutes of reading during the break. Classes will also be creating their own Reading Monster who is wild about reading!

Why a reading challenge? I have found that many students have extra time on their hands during our school breaks and providing a fun opportunity to enjoy reading has been well received by students and families. There is no reward for individual students or classes—just some good old fashion competition and enjoyment of books! Students can read to someone, read with someone, or students can read by themselves (To, With, By). There are many benefits for adding just 20 minutes of daily reading as a habit. See the chart below for a summary of some of these benefits.

Click here to download a Reading Log. Logs need to be returned by Tuesday, January 3rd-Thursday, January 5th! Which class will have the greatest number of minutes reading?

 

 

PES Monster Madness Mascots

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 Pre K Mascot

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K Mascot

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 Grade 1 Mascot

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Grade 2 Mascot

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Grade 3 Mascot

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Grade 4 Mascot

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Grade 5 Mascot

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Our recent fall rain brings splashes of fun!

 

This is such an important role and we could really use your help. If you have considered this in the past but felt unsure about how it works we can help answer any questions you have, and we always provide a couple of days of shadowing to build confidence first. The teachers at PES really support “Guest Teachers” in having successful experiences.

If you are interested in becoming a substitute teacher at Pownal Elementary School please email or call Maggie in the main office. Maggie can be reached by phone at 688-4832 or by email at simonm@rsu5.org.