Physical Education
Diane Toolin 

Volleyball, serving, bumping and rotating have been practiced and played. Small and large team games culminated after individual skills were fine tuned. 

This week and last, we have been learning about archery. The history, the terms, and the etiquette are being covered. The students are more accurate with each turn at the firing line. We use safety "flu, flu" arrowheads made of rubber with a flat tip. 

On Monday, Mr. Dave Smith, the third base coach for the Worcester Tornadoes baseball team was our guest speaker at Common Time. He explained how easy it is to make healthy choices in our lives. The choice to be active at least an hour a day and to choose to eat healthy foods will help keep us in good shape in years to come. 

Coach Smith left a magazine for each student which includes a free ticket to a Tornadoes baseball game this summer. Hope to see you there!

Fourth and Fifth Grade Health
Bob Whitelaw 

In fourth grade health we finished our unit on No Smoking. As part of this unit students created a small poster with a message about smoking and how to keep your lungs healthy. To finish off the unit each class played scramble lingo for green and white points. The points totals were 41 points for green and 35 points for white. We will start our next unit called It’s My Body. In this unit we will discuss how to stay safe, using common sense, making tough decisions, bullies, and finding help. In fifth grade we finished the Love Your Lungs unit. Students have been working on group presentations during the month of April. Students have done research in the Info Center and organized that research into a brief two to three minute presentation. They will present these topics the first couple of class periods in May. We will also begin our next unit called Those Crazy Mixed Up Emotions. In this unit we will look at how our emotions affect us everyday. We will discuss how emotions affect decision-making, and whom we can talk to about our emotions. Students will receive handouts, do role-playing exercises, and maybe a green and white game.

Fifth Grade Physical Education
Bob Whitelaw 

In Physical Education the students continue to be active and are having lots of fun. We finished our volleyball unit and the students enjoyed the time they had with volleyball. We are currently going outside as much as possible, playing different types of ball games, and Ultimate Frisbee. With the warmer weather outside, please make sure your child has the right clothing for class. They are allowed to wear hats during class, bring their own water bottles, and should put on at home sunscreen to repel the sun rays. We will also begin our final testing on the fitness challenges. The scores the students earn will be reported on the comment form at the end of the year. Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest and eats a healthy and nutritious breakfast in the morning before coming to school.

Music & Drama Notes
Erin Schlesinger
Frank Bonanno 

Congratulations to the cast and crew of THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES! The students did a magnificent job, and I am extremely proud of them. 

We have a series of performances coming up which you won't want to miss. On Friday, May 9th the Appleseed and Apple Choruses will be performing at 10:15 a.m. for Special Person's Day. The Appleseed Chorus will reprise several songs from THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, while the Apple Chorus will be performing both new and beloved choral pieces from this school year. Then, on Thursday May 15th we will all gather at 2:30 p.m. for the Lower School Spring Concert! All of the ensembles in the Lower School will perform in a grand celebration of all we have learned this year. Please make plans to attend! 

In the Fourth Grade Recorder Ensemble and the Fifth Grade Beginner Band, we have been focusing on the compositions for the Spring Concerts. Mr. Bonanno has been showing students rehearsal and practice techniques to prepare for the concert. The compositions are more difficult than they have been in the past, these compositions are two to seven part arrangements. Students need to trust their own reading abilities and not rely on what’s being played around them. They have been playing the compositions with more musicality, by using different articulation and dynamics. We are also reviewing how to follow a conductor for clean beginnings and endings, and to help keep the tempos steady. Both ensembles are reviewing proper concert etiquette. The Fourth Grade Recorder Ensemble and the Fifth Grade Beginner Band and Mr. Bonanno are looking forward to our Spring Concerts.

First Through Third Grade Shop
Ed Thomas 

The students are now in the final stages of their basketball game in the first grade, and they can’t wait for their first game. They used the hand saw to cut all the pieces, and will assemble the project using screws and “T” nuts. The games will all be stained, and then a clear finish will be applied. They will be bringing the games home shortly, and the whole family can test their skills. Their end of the year project will be the ball toss. 

In the second grade we are in the final stage of construction on our cruise ship. The parts have all been painted and assembled, and the last step is painting on the port holes. After a final paint touch up, the students will bring their project home. Don’t forget to have fun giving the quiz on the names of all the parts of the ship. For their next project, they will have several choices including the rubber-band powered race car or paddle boat, and the Jacobs Ladder. 

In the third grade the painting, staining, and assembly of the glockenspiels is nearing completion. The instruments will be fine-tuned, and everyone will learn to play four songs. You will be serenaded with “Mary Had A Little Lamb”, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and “Happy Birthday” when they come home. The students will have several choices for their next project including the merry-go-round, the parrot-in-motion and the alligator puppet.

Lower School Library
Michelle Janoschek 

As we head into the last full month of school, here is a preview of topics to be covered in Kindergarten through fourth grade. 

In Kindergarten and First Grade we will begin a Unit on Sunflowers. I will read Sunflower House by Eve Bunting which is the story of a young boy who plants a summer funhouse using sunflowers. Second Grade will continue to explore the changes in nature that occur in the springtime. We will read A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston and explore the website http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/firstgarden/basics/thirsty.html to learn how to create a garden. 

Third and fourth grades will continue their unit on Spring Awakening and Gardening with the goal of encouraging the students to explore and appreciate the outdoors. They have really enjoyed keeping nature journals which was introduced to them by Claire Walker Leslie last year. We will continue to use her book, Nature All Year Long, as a reference tool. Students will strengthen their research skills they have learned this year including, using Alexandria Researcher to find material in our library, accessing and utilizing Net Trekker for research purposes and figuring out when material is useful for scholastic purposes. 

Lastly, please encourage your children to read over the summer as much as possible. Visit your local library regularly and look into having your child join one of the summer reading clubs. Happy Reading!
MCBA UPDATE: The 2007-2008 Winner is The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.
Note: Here at Applewild, there was a tie between The Lightning Thief and Eager.

Science in First through Third
Tracy Reardon 

First grade scientists have completed the Solids and Liquids module and have begun the New Plants module. We have planted Brassica, which is a "fast plant" which allows the children to observe and record the structures of flowering plants, describing the changes that occur as the plants grow and develop. The students will learn about the structures of plants, how seeds travel from place to place, and what they need in order to grow and thrive. This module reinforces the importance of keeping an accurate journal, just as the students did in the beginning of the year with their weather journals. The children will also be growing different types of grasses and "mowing" them and observing the differences in the types after the "mowing" has occurred. Spring brings about so many changes outdoors that we will also go outside and note the changes that are going on around us on our campus.
Second graders have completed the Balance and Motion module and are moving into the Insects module. In this next module we will be observing and comparing insect structures and behaviors in different stages of the life cycle of a variety of insects. They will discuss and record their findings while thinking about questions that need to be resolved. They will think about habitats of certain insects and what certain insects need in order to thrive. The goal of our work with insects is to help the children develop a deeper appreciation for the diversity of life and to gain a sense of respect for all living things. 
We are very fortunate to have a campus that has many great areas in which to discover the insects that are around us and we will be spending time outside to reinforce respect for the living things around us. 

Third grade electricians are working hard with electric circuits (series and parallel) and electromagnetism through free exploration and systematic investigations. They are observing and comparing electric and magnetic phenomena, and organizing their observations using graphs. They will be applying their knowledge to design a telegraph at the end of the unit. When we have finished with the Magnetism and Electricity module we will begin the Earth Materials module where students will discover that rocks are made of combinations of minerals. They will use properties of minerals and rocks to identify and organize earth materials and explore their uses as natural resources.

Fourth and Fifth Grade Science
Maura Lyons 

Wow! It is that time of the year again and our fourth grades are swept up in the creative invention frenzy. The quotes, “ Necessity is the Mother of invention.”, “Genius is %1 inspiration and %99 perspiration.”, and “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”, ring true. Thank you for all the support and guidance you provide at home for this special project. Inventions will be on display in the Marshall Library and be presented on Grandparents/Special Persons’ Day. 

We were delighted to have parent, Gillian Davies (Forrest Pailes’ Mom) and a soil scientist, deliver a fascinating slide show presentation on vernal pools. These environmentally sensitive areas are homes to many interesting specimens that she collected and brought to the classroom to share with students. Close observations of these specimens resulted in some excellent sketches. We hope next year to visit a vernal pool on campus! 

In fifth grade, things are really “sailing” as the year “flies” by! Our first investigation had us explore the concept of a variable through lifeboat inspections. A fleet of (paper cup) lifeboats was constructed and students discovered how many passenger pennies each boat could support. In Plane Sense, students will learn what makes planes fly. The focus will be on variables affecting how far their plane can fly. With each of these investigations students will gain experience writing lab reports following criteria established by the science department and utilized in the Upper School. Several opportunities for mathematics and language development exist in this fun unit!