Applewild School Presents Founders Award to Ronald Ansin – submitted 5/4
Chris Williamson, Head of School at Applewild School in Fitchburg, presented the prestigious Founders Award to Honorary Trustee Ronald Ansin on April 25th. The award is presented annually to a loyal friend of Applewild to honor exemplary service to the school. As a parent of students, Ansin began his long-term association with the school when he joined the board in 1971. He is the longest serving trustee as he was an active member of the board until 2001. He served as treasurer from 1976 to 1983. Ansin has been committed to achieving the mission of the school and has actively participated in fulfilling the goals of the board. Ansin's commitment continues as the grandfather of sixth-grade student Kurtis Bryars and Fifth-grade student Nicholas Bryars of Ashburnham.
The ceremony was attended by his daughter, Kimberly Blanchard of Ashburnham, and sons Kenneth Ansin of Boston and Robert Ansin of Lincoln. In 2005 the Founders Award was presented to Nancy Bullock of Fitchburg, who was a founding trustee of Applewild School, and in 2006 the recipient was Jeanne Crocker of Lunenburg, who became a trustee in 1964. Albert Stone of Groton was the 2007 recipient. Mr. Stone joined the board in 1969 and held the position of president of the board from 1973 to 1982.
Applewild School Introduces ActivBoard Technology to French classrooms – submitted 4/19
Applewild School in Fitchburg has introduced Promethean ActivBoards into their Upper School and Lower School French classrooms this year. Made possible through the generosity of the Cadahemark Foundation, the ActivBoards are interactive whiteboards which were designed by teachers, for teachers and as a result, it brings the learning experience to life. Instructor Heather Leger is in her fourth year of teaching French to Kindergarten, first, second and third grade students at Applewild, after a career of teaching French to grades 7-12. In contrast to the constraints of following a textbook-based curriculum, she has been able to create her own course of study that covers vocabulary which is relevant and useful to the Lower School Students age and experience level.
Her goal of making learning fun is aided by the ActivBoard which enables her to create, customize and integrate text, images, quizzes and tests, web, video and audio content to more easily capture the students' attention and accommodate different learning styles. The students can participate in activities together at the large board, which everyone in the class can see. It provides an opportunity for students to get up out of their seats to answer questions and interact with educational internet sites, pictures and text on the board using Activpens which write exactly like pens with the added functionality of a mouse. With this tool the students can right-click, drag and drop, highlight, open tools and applications, switch between pages and activate sounds and images.
In her Kindergarten class the students are learning numbers by going to the board to circle the number that they hear in French. In the first and second grades Heather has taught the students the skills to talk about a theme they love, animals, and extend the vocabulary to talk about themselves and other people. The first grade meets for 30 minutes a week, and the ActivBoard has been invaluable in helping them learn animal names, habitats and descriptive adjectives. In their twice weekly class, the second and third grades continue their study of animals and they add body parts, nature-related vocabulary, and actions associated with animals. The second grade was the first to watch and interact with a DVD on the large screen as well as with Chez Mimi, an educational French game site on the internet. This curriculum has also been connected with other disciplines as together with the science and art teachers Heather created a unit on insects for the Lower School.
The third grade has interacted with the ActivBoard and tried out a game on Chez Mimi. While reviewing questions using the verbs 'to have' and 'to be', they played Guess Who? online. It was a great review of the same game they had played in class a month prior, and the students received both oral and written feedback via this activity. By using the ActivBoard for these interactive lessons, the students find it entertaining, they get to use it and it improves their listening skills. In the Upper School French classroom, students are using this technology to view DVD's, to access internet sites for cultural reference and to aid in note taking by providing both oral and visual confirmation of the material being taught.