Windham Elementary School Newsletter
September 24, 2021
Habits of Mind: “Safe, Responsible, Respectful, Ready to Learn”
Green Mountain Orchard
What a beautiful day to spend walking around the apple orchard at Green Mountain Orchards on Monday. We enjoyed the orchard really to ourselves, and the apples were low enough on the trees that everyone was able to pick their own ½ peck of apples. The students were each able to use an old cider press to see how cider is extracted from apples. Then a special treat of cider and donuts topped off their lunch at the orchard! A special thank you to Kord Scott for taking some time out of his morning to help transport us all to and from the orchard. We are so grateful!
Putney Mountain Hike
We had a beautiful day at Putney Mountain last Friday for our annual all-school hike. Thank you to all the parent chaperones that were able to join us! Things that were noticed along the hike were holes in trees created from a Pileated Woodpecker, many very colorful mushrooms, leaves changing colors and falling to the forest floor, a tree downed by lightning, and four orange newts (“efts”). We even talked with some of the Putney Mountain Hawkwatch members who were watching the hawks and counting them as they migrated south to Central America! The day before they had counted over 2,400 hawks!
Meadows Bee Farm - Young Farmers Program
Our first Thursday morning at the farm was enjoyed by everyone! We started the morning in a circle and introduced ourselves and said what our favorite farm animals were. Responses included: sheep, cow, horses, unicorns, dogs, chickens, moose, and pigs! Next we were given a tour of the barn and barnyard to see what animals were on the farm and where they live. The students then proceeded to help feed the animals their food and water. Some were even lucky enough to gather a few eggs this morning. We ended the morning talking about that the farm is more than just the animals and that it is also used to grow food. The students learned that the farm’s compost pile actually grew it’s own pumpkin patch this year! Each student then was able to pick their own pumpkin and were encouraged to bring it home and use it for a food source (ie pumpkin soup, pumpkin seeds). After returning to school, the K-1 students then proceeded to start their farm journals and illustrated and wrote about what their favorite part of the farm was. We look forward to sharing these journals with parents during our Back to School night on Tuesday.
Monarch Butterfly Update
Oliver’s butterfly that he was waiting for, came out of its chrysalis today. Although it is a female, he had his heart set on the name Spike. So we waited for Spike’s wings to dry and become stronger and released her Thursday afternoon to prepare for her flight south. Still waiting on about 12 more to reach maturity!
Back to School Night
Remember that Back to School night is this Tuesday, September 28th from 5:30-6:30 PM. The event will be held outside and food will be provided by Elevated Catering. Parents/students who would like to visit the classrooms will be asked to wear masks inside the building and one family at a time will be allowed to visit their respective classrooms.
Playground Sledding Hill
The large pile of dirt that was removed from the playground space and is supposed to be our sledding hill this winter is slightly deformed at this point. We are hoping that one or two parents could come with a tractor or some other large equipment to help reshape that pile into a proper sledding hill before the snow flies. If you are able to offer some help with this, please send an email or call Mr. PJ to set up a plan!
Grafton Nature Museum
A special thank you to Michael Pelton, Jan Wyman and Stormie Gordon for offering to help transport the K-1 students to the Mighty Acorns Program. The dates for Oct/Nov/Dec are below:
Friday, October 8th from 10:00AM - 11:30AM
Friday, November 12th from 10:00AM - 11:30AM
Friday, December 10th from 10:00AM - 11:30AM
The Nature Museum will be having these programs as much as possible, so please have your students be prepared for whatever the weather throws at us on the three days above. If the weather is particularly bad, we will be indoors at the museum. Covid-19 policy: Grafton Nature Museum is requiring that all visitors and program participants wear masks when we are indoors. For youth programming outdoors, they have been asking that all students and adults wear masks when social distancing can't be maintained. All of their current staff are fully vaccinated.
September Dates:
September 27th - Grades 2-3 will be visiting the Brattleboro Museum & Arts Center
September 28th - Back to school night - 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
September 30th - Meadows Bee Farm 8:00 AM
Upcoming October Dates
October 7 - Meadows Bee Farm 8:00 AM
October 8 - Mighty Acorns Program with K-1 students
October 10 - Tadis Fall Craft Sale - 10:00 AM. Location is the Tadis Food Truck on 148 rte 100 in West Dover. Student Hazel May will be selling items to help raise funds to go towards activities for WES.
October 5th - Fire Prevention Day with the Windham Volunteer Fire Department
October 8th - Picture Day
October 11th - No School - Indigenous Peoples’ Day
October 12th - 1/2 day - Parent-Teacher conferences
October 14th - Meadows Bee Farm 8:00 AM
October 19th - School board meeting
October 21st - Meadows Bee Farm 8:00 AM
October 28th - Meadows Bee Farm 8:00 AM 
