Puffy Sidewalk Chalk Paint Recipe

I found this recipe online and thought it looked cool! Have fun!

Puffy Sidewalk Chalk Paint Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon dish soap – just about any dish soap will work.
• 5-10 drops food coloring or washable paint

How to Make Sidewalk Chalk Paint:
In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour and water until there are no lumps.
Stir in the dish soap to the flour mixture.
Add food coloring of your choice of color until the desired color is achieved.
Pour the mixture into your squeeze bottle.
Give the kids their new sidewalk paint and let them have fun!
Use up the paint on the same day you make it, this recipe doesn’t save well… it will explode if you leave it closed.
If you are making multiple colors, make each color in a different bowl or one at a time and pour into the bottles and then make the next color.

Alewives at Nequasset - Keep on Swimmin'!

Below is a message I received today from Becky at KELT! I hope your family might consider signing up to count fish this spring.

KELT is continuing the annual fish count with modified procedures to align with health and social distancing safety standards. Perhaps your students may want to sign up to count fish with their family? 

Links...

• KELT's Nequasset page (landing page with lots of info...on why we count and previous count data and more!): https://www.kennebecestuary.org/fish-counting
• Why we count (includes videos showing the ladder restoration): https://www.kennebecestuary.org/nequasset-restoration
• Instructions to count: https://www.kennebecestuary.org/2020-fish-count-instructions
• Sign up to count: https://www.kennebecestuary.org/fish-count-signup

Enjoy Your Break

As we wrap up the first five weeks of our distance learning to take our April Break, I want to say thank you for your dedication to making this possible for your child to whatever extent you've been able. Everyone is at a different place right now with their situation, and I want to recognize that any effort you have made has been appreciated. Please take some time to relax, and help your child to step away from the technology for a bit so they can recharge and get ready for our last 6 weeks or so of online learning. I look forward to reconnecting soon!

If you haven't yet seen it, this article written by Pender Makin, Commissioner of the Maine DOE, is a must-read for all Maine families experiencing distance education. LINK

Be well,

Ms. H.

Book Club with Ms. Barker

Ms. Barker our librarian is inviting new members to the Maine Student Book Award Book Club. Students will have a chance to borrow books, read and meet virtually 1x / week after the break to discuss and share their love of books. Please let her know if you think your student is interested. She can be reached at mbarker@rsu1.org. 

Navigating the Weekly Schedule

As you know, we have officially moved to distance learning for the rest of the school year.  While I am sad not to see my students for face-to-face learning, I am looking forward to watching them continue to grow as learners this year. I miss them very much and I am thinking about them (and you, guardians!) all the time. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help make distance learning work better for you.

I know some families are struggling to know what to do each day and feel like there is a lot going on. I made a video to show students how to follow our class schedule. I hope this can be handy for parents/guardians, too.  Here's a LINK to our weekly schedule. Here is a VIDEO for you to watch together.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter, from my home to yours!

~Ms. Hoskins

Special LIVE Mystery Doug -- April 7th

Next week, Doug is inviting students into his home for a LIVE, 20-minute science show. He’ll answer real kids’ questions about the current situation we’re all dealing with, as well as share a few fun surprises.

Mystery Doug Livestream
Tuesday, April 7, 1 pm Eastern
mysteryscience.com/live

Hope your family can join the fun!!

FMS Family Hub

The FMS Family Hub is THE place for all the information and resources you need during the school closure. Please bookmark this site and (ideally) visit it daily!!

https://sites.google.com/rsu1.org/fmsfamilyhub/

Features:
The Front Office:  Our front office staff is posting regular video messages on Flipgrid to keep in touch and share important information. Mr. Berkowitz is also doing Morning announcements, and Nurse Ricki and Ms. DeRosa have some great recommended resources for families.

5th Grade: Under the fifth grade tab, you can always find an updated copy of my class Schedule, plus a link to this blog! There's also a link for students to access my Google Classroom.

Support Services: The Support Services tab has links to the Google Classrooms for our special educators and Title 1 service providers.

Library, Music, PE, Art, Guidance: These tabs have links to specialists' blogs, weekly assignments, or Google Classroom pages.

Live Events: COMING SOON... This is a place where we eventually intend to share information and links for whole school "assemblies" or special things that we would like to do LIVE with the kids.


We hope you find the Hub convenient, user friendly, and helpful. It is intended to be a one stop shop for accessing all the resources you and your child need.