Maine Statehood Day!

March 15 was Maine Statehood Day. It has been 192 years since Maine became a state in 1820. To honor the day, we had a special snack of Maine foods. This plate shows just a sample. We had B&M Baked beans, brown bread, blueberry muffins, potato chips, pretzel  logs, Swedish Fish, and apple cider.

Dahliya shows us what may be the world's largest potato chip!

Of course, we had to try Maine's own soft drink...Moxie!

As you can see from the almost empty bottle, it was a hit!

For the non-fizz fans, we had a choice of apple juice or apple cider.

We played two games. In the first one, students took turns trying to guess what the picture on their back was by asking yes or no questions. In keeping with the Maine theme, the pictures were a variety of Maine people, places, animals, or plants. We were having so much fun playing that I forgot to take a picture!

The second game, Pin the Tail on the Moose, provided us with lots of laughs. 

Brenden shows us how it's done!

Looks like everyone was pretty close...

...until you look around at the big picture.

Thank-you families for sending in food, drinks, and paper goods! We had an awesome time!

Maine's First Residents

Last week, we were fortunate enough to have a visit from James Francis, from the Penobscot Nation on Indian Island. He came to teach us how the Penobscot Indians met their needs through the seasons by using what they had available in their environment.

Through a very detailed map, which Mr. Francis drew, we learned how the Penobscot tribe got food, shelter, and clothing, using what was available in nature.

Students were fascinated by how the Indians used different materials, depending on the season.

 

Mr. Francis also drew examples of the various things the Native Americans made, as he told about them. 

Thanks, Mr. Francis! You are an awesome artist,

and we learned a lot from you!

Skillin Iditarod

We learned about the Iditarod race, which recently finished in Alaska. We tracked the mushers' progress, we watched videos, and we read about the history of the race.

On Tuesday, March 6, as part of ABL, we held our second annual Skillin Iditarod race. Fortunately the weather cooperated and we had a perfect amount of snow. As you will see in the slide show, we had a blast!

Thanks to Mrs. Murray and all the adults who helped us out!

Slideshow made with Smilebox

Trout!

As part of our year-long study of water, we are raising trout from the eyed-egg stage until we release them as fry, in May. Katrina from Portland Water District came by with these awesome costumes to help us remember the stages in the trout life cycle, and the parts of an adult trout's anatomy.

Molly models the eyed-egg stage, while Brendon is wearing the yolk sac that the alevin have. Alevin get their food from their yolk sac. This is a good thing, since they don't have mouths yet!

Once the trout develop into the next stage, fry, they are starting to look more like trout. This stage is when they develop a mouth, which Shaunna is demonstrating.

Pamba is showing what the belly of the trout looks like. Trout have a variety of fins to help them swim around in the water.

If you look closely, you can see that Jimmy is wearing the caudal fin and caudal peduncle, which is the powerful muscle that attaches the caudal fin to the rest of the trout's body.

Notice, also, that Shaunna's head now has eyes. Trouts' eyes are on the sides of their heads. This allows them to have a wider range of vision to the side and back to look for food and watch out for predators.

Sydney shows what the complete trout looks like with all the parts.                                                                                                

Thanks, Katrina, for the cool lesson!

We can't wait until our trout hatch so we can see them develop for ourselves!

Handbell Concert

Check out our slideshow of the 4th Grade Handbell Concert!

Digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox