WELCOME EVERYONE

HAPPY SPRING!

(Click here to view computer work)

(Click here to view art work)

Thank you soooooo much Class News Reporters. You did a fabulous job this year. We appreciate your dedication and your writing skills!

Thank you to students who put work up on the web page!

Love,

Mrs. Palmer and Ms. C.

Meet our reporters:

RUBY REPORTERS What do you like about doing class news? (IN TWO SENTENCES) By: Mrs. Palmer's Class News Reporters   Helen: "I like class news because you get to type and you interview people at the school." Amelia: "I like staying after school and typing. I also like working with my friends."
	Motz-Art Reporting What do you like about doing class news? (IN TWO SENTENCES) By: Mrs. Palmer's Class News Reporters   Andrew: "I like typing. You get to put your work on the web."
Suzuki Reporters What do you like about doing class news? (IN TWO SENTENCES) By: Mrs. Palmer's Class News Reporters Clare: "I like class news because you can type anything you want. And I get to work on the computers." Maddy: "I like typing and seeing my articles on the web. I also like people enjoying my articles."

Mrs. Hall interview By The Ruby Reporters Q: How many years have you been an art teacher? A: “15 years” Q: Do you like your job? Why? A: “I love my job because I love kids and I love art!” Q: Who was the art teacher before you? A: “Mrs. Blanchette - she teaches at the middle school now.” Q: What made you want to be an art teacher? A: “When I was little I started baby sitting, and I discovered I loved kids. When I was in high school, I discovered I loved art!” Q: Is it hard being an art teacher? Why? A: “I guess it’s a little hard because you need to keep track of the art work and you have to see if things work together.”  Q: Did you do anything before this? What? A: “I had a printing business that I owned, and then I was a full time mom. After that I owned a catering business.”   Q: Is there anything else you would like to tell me today? A: “I want to thank you for interviewing me and teaching is rewarding!”

INTERVIEW OF RAI BY MOTZ-ART REPORTING   Q: Should I call you Ray or Mr. Charles? A: Rai Q: Where did you live while you were growing up? A: Grenada Q: How did you end up in Maine? A: I left home to go sailing and ended up in Maine. “I have sailed all around the world.” Q: What schools did you go to? A: Jrava in St. Georges in Grenada Q: What did your home look like when you were a child? A: Just ordinary Q: What languages do you know how to speak? A: English. Some people speak French and Pattie Q: What kind of work did you do before you became a custodian? A: Sailor work in a machine factory making motor vehicle parts Q: Is there anything else you would like to tell me? A: When I moved to Maine I started in a factory. I’ve worked in Falmouth 19 years, as long as the princupal

Oceanview By Suzuki Reporters On February 28th 2008 Mrs. Coppinger’s class traveled to Oceanview. When we arrived there, there was not a single senior teacher in the games room! Mrs. MacEwan, the person that works at Oceanview, went door to door letting senior teachers know we were there. Finally one senior teacher came walking into the room smiling. Then a couple more came! There was Rosalie, Pam, and Mabel.  Once a group of children got a senior teacher they started playing either tangrams or pattern blocks. (Everybody got a senior teacher if you were worrying.) After a while Mrs. Coppinger called up all of the children in her class to sing four patriotic songs for the senior teachers. While the children were scrambling up in front of the senior teachers, Mrs. Coppinger passed out the papers that had words to the songs the children were going to sing. The four songs were… The Star Spangled Banner, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame. After the four songs were over, it was time to leave. But I had a wonderful time at Oceanview! On April 13, 2008 Mrs. Coppinger’s class rode the bus over to Oceanview. This time we shared Native American buffalo skins and Native American games. The buffalo skins are pieces of paper that we wrote a certain message on. To write the messages we used Native American symbols. We had the senior teachers look at a symbol sheet in order to figure out our messages. The games we played were the Native American stick game, and the Native American cup game. How you play the stick game is…  You drop three popsicle sticks. The three sticks have one man on one of them and the two other have snakes.  Say that the sticks landed all sides up. The scoreboard would say your score. The cup game you may already know. It is when you have an object under one out of the three cups. You mix the three cups up and have a person guess which cup has the object under it. And last, we got to recite the poem “The Four Corners of the Universe” and the song “Land of the Silver Birch.” But after the song and poem we had to leave. We had a blast at Oceanview.

	Mask The Ruby Reporters The third grade is making masks with the art teacher and with Nanci Kahn. The third grade is all doing different masks of Native American tribes. First we brainstormed some ideas, and then we drew our mask ideas on paper. And then we taped on newspaper parts with the artist Nanci Kahn. We put paper mache on the newspaper parts.  Next, we will be painting and putting symbols on the mask. Then “voila”, we are done! The third grade thanks Nanci for coming in and helping us with our masks!
	Native American Study By The Ruby Reporters The third grade at Plummer – Motz School is studying Indians. They are in different places like the Plains tribe is located in the middle of North America and the Micmacs are located in the northeast. We all have to memorize a poem to go with the Native American tribes. We also are making masks to match the tribe that we have been assigned. We have performances. The date is Wednesday April 16th  from 6:00 to 7:30. Hope you can come!

Oceanview
by
The Ruby Reporters

Mrs. Palmer’s class went to Ocean View. We showed our Senior Teachers our biome poem\slide show on a laptop.  The Senior Teachers thought it was cool! When we finished, we read some picture books.  After that we sang some traditional songs like “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and “Yankee Doodle”. Then we sang some silly songs to the tune of the traditional songs like “Take Me Out of the Bathtub” and “Cranky Poodle”. We also sang Happy Birthday to Mabel and Betty. I hope we go again. 

Irish Step Dancing
By: Suzuki Reporters and Abby

On Friday March 14, 2008 Abby, Molly, Stephanie, and Jillian came in to Irish dance for Ms. Coppinger’s class and Mrs. Palmer’s class.
Abby has been dancing for about a year. Molly has been dancing for five years. Stephanie has been dancing for five years and so has Jillian! Their dresses were so gorgeous. Abby’s dress was her school dress. Everybody that dances at the Stillson school of Irish dance receives one. Molly, Stephanie, and Jillian all have solo dresses that you earn when you go up to higher levels. The first dance that they did was The Reel, featuring Abby and Molly. When Molly and Abby were done with their amazing performance and were catching their breath Jillian and Stephanie did another amazing performance. Their dance was called Storyteller. That was an amazing performance too! Before Abby did her solo, The Light Jig, Stephanie and Jillian’s mom asked if any of us had questions. She also told us a little information about all the girls amazing talents. She talked about their dresses, and how long they been dancing. Finally, Abby did her solo. Everybody was silent then Abby started to dance. She hopped, she crossed her legs, she even kicked. All those movements, plus more, made up the Light Jig. Applause could be heard all throughout the school. Abby bowed and people clapped even more. The last dance included everyone! That dance was called the Treble Jig. First the three older girls (Molly, Stephanie, and Jillian) did the fabulous dance. At the end of the dance Abby did a fun hand thing with Molly and Stephanie did the same fun thing with Jillian. The amazingly fantastic show was over. But I bet everyone would love it if they came again.

SPECIAL VISITOR

Annie Finch, a poet, came to Mrs. Coppinger and Mrs. Palmer’s classes. She has been a poet from third grade to now! Her ambition was to be a poet since childhood. Her first book was called the "Encyclopedia of Scotland". She published it herself! She was born in NEW YORK CITY! She has written twelve books, and she is working on a textbook about writing poetry! The very first poem she ever wrote was entitled, "THE FOREST". It was really great having her come to our class. Check out Annie's web site:

http://www.usm.maine.edu/~afinch/

Suzuki Reporters

Mrs. Langley
By the Ruby Reporters

Q: Do you like your job? Why?

A:      “ Yes I do like my job because
I get to work with kids.”
Q: Was there anybody before you? Who?
A:      “Yes there was somebody before me and her name is Mrs. Wood.”
Q: Did you do anything before this? What?
A: “I used to be a substitute, and planning time assistant.”
Q: Is it hard being a secretary? Why?
A: “Sometimes yes because I don’t have a lot of time.”
Q: Is it fun being a secretary? Why?
A:  “Sometimes it’s fun because of the people I work with.”
Q: Do you get a lot of breaks? How many?
A:  “No I don’t. Sometimes I get a lunch break, and we get some vacation.” 
Q: Is there anything else you want to tell me today?
A: “I really enjoy getting to know all of you, and helping the parents.”

Global Warming and Climate Change
Interview with Glen Brand
By Althea Finch-Brand

What is global warming?

Global warming means that the earth is getting hotter. This is happening because of the way we produce energy to make electricity, heat and cool our homes, power cars and to do other important things that we need energy for.

Today, most of our energy comes from burning coal, gasoline, oil, and natural gas. When these fuels are burned, they release a natural chemical called carbon dioxide (or CO2 for short) in the air. As more and more CO2 goes up in the air, it traps the sun's heat, sort of like putting a wool blanket over the earth and making it warmer.

What’s the problem with global warming?

Scientists have discovered that global warming is changing the weather or climate, which is causing many different problems depending on where you live. In some parts of the earth, climate change from global warming is causing flooding and stronger and wetter storms, while in other places it’s causing serious dry weather (called droughts) and allowing more insects and pests to grow.

Even now, some animals and plants are having a hard time dealing with these changes. For example, polar bears are having trouble moving around to find food now that the icebergs are melting.

So what can we do about climate change?

The first thing we can do is to save energy by doing fairly simple things like insulating our buildings to keep the heat or cool inside, using energy-saving light bulbs, and driving cars that go farther on a gallon of gas. The second thing we can do is to make a lot more of our energy from clean power sources like solar (from sunlight) and wind, which doesn’t release CO2. That way we won't need to burn as much coal, oil and natural gas.

What can kids do?

Kids can do lots of things to help. They can turn off lights when they leave the room, help their parents recycle at home, take the bus to school, use long-lasting metal water bottles instead of plastic ones, and ask their parents to buy clean power for their home, which they can find out about at the Maine Interfaith Power and Light website (http://www.meipl.org ).


What can you tell us about the 3 R’s?

The three Rs are Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. They are all important for saving energy and doing our share to clean and protect our earth. For example, if you use a sturdy metal water bottle you will use fewer cheap plastic ones, and after you have used it for many years, you put it in the recycling bin so new metal water bottles can be made from it.

What do you love about teaching?

By all Class News Reporters

I love my job because I get to read and write with children. I also enjoy working with other talented teachers here at Plummer-Motz. I think teaching allows me to have fun and learn new things every day. (Michelle Brown)

I love my job because I am allowed to work with children, which is wonderful. I love helping them to learn and grow as individuals. It is exciting to watch the growth in each child and see them turn on to learning. (Lynn Booth)

I enjoy being with children each day. We laugh a lot and learn from one another. It is the perfect job for me! (Jennifer Merrifield)

I like my job because I enjoy working with kids and seeing them get excited about what they are learning, because I really enjoy working with the teachers I work with and because I like seeing my kids during the school day!! (Mara Wiggin)

I like my job because an elementary school is a happy place to come every day. The children at Plummer – Motz are eager to participate in PE and learn new skills that they can use all their lives to stay healthy. I believe in the expression “healthy bodies healthy minds” (Mrs. Earle)

I love music and I love working with kids. I can’t imagine a job that is more fun or more rewarding than experiencing music with children (Mrs. Kantor-Churchill)

I like my job because my students challenge me everyday to be my best. I also enjoy having the ability to explore ideas and concepts with them. Additionally, I have the distinct pleasure of working with both third and fourth grade teachers and staff. Aren’t I lucky! (Mrs. Barry)

My favorite part of my job is the students! It is so much fun to share in their excitement of learning. Every day is filled with smiles and interesting conversations. (Ms. Hasty)

I like it because there is nothing better than happy children and books. (Mrs. Barth)

Because the children make me laugh everyday! (Mrs. Penrod)

I have been a teacher since college and just love working with kids. I look forward to coming to school everyday. I am so lucky to have this job! (Sue Isler)

I love children and love watching them become independent, motivated learners. They keep me young! (Mrs. Snow)

I truly enjoy working with children and helping them learn about themselves and how to live in our beautiful world! (Mrs. Palmer)

I like to work with small groups of children and help them learn strategies to make class work easier. (Mrs. Nadzo)

I enjoy working with children all ages. I like working in both schools…never a dull moment. (Kathy Peary)

I like my job because I work with amazing teachers and students. I enjoy seeing how much students change and learn throughout the school year and I get to be a part of that process.J (Michelle Kuklewicz)

I love my job because I have many opportunities to learn about different cultures and the countries my students are from. I also have a chance to hear and learn other foreign languages!!! (Mrs. Parsons)

I like my job because my kids can always cheer me up when I’m feeling blue. (Rachel Gutner)

I really like working with all the students in kindergarten though fourth grades and helping them find the best book to read or best resource for their project. (Mrs. Bennett)

I have the best job! I get to help students and parents solve problems and make school life better. I also help to match Big Buddies and little Buddies and to see their friendship blossom. (Nancy Dix)