Fun in Your Own Backyard

Fun in Your Own Backyard is an activity that you do at Southeast Elementary School in the spring. There are lots of fun games that include water and some that don’t. Fun in Your Own Backyard is very close to the end of the school year. Some of the activities are indoor and some are outdoor. Sometimes a child gets hurt, so the nurse is outside just in case. There is a game called Sponge Throw. Sponge Throw is when you get to throw a sponge at a third or fourth grader’s face. The third or fourth grader stands behind a board with a hole big enough for a head to fit through. Kindergarteners get to take a sponge, run up and throw the sponge at the face behind the board. We have teams. Whichever team gets the most points gets to pour ice cold water on the principal and a couple of other teachers’ heads. :) 

By: Michelle

Mileage Club

Mileage Club takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at recess for all students. In Mileage Club you have a card and you have to go 20 laps to get a toe token. Señora Hutton and other volunteers get to punch the holes to keep track of your mileage. You get a hole punched when you run around the entire field one time. It is similar to Running Club except it is outside in the field next to the school. If you finish card ten, you get to go on a hike with Miss. Parker. On the first day of mileage club, everyone has to run at least one lap. You should wear sneakers because if you don’t, your feet will hurt. If you run the whole recess, you might finish a whole card. 

By: Brooke

Trip to the Science Center

All of the third graders went to the Hartford Science Center on a fieldtrip on April 2^nd! The Science Center was really big! It had 5 floors!  We went to every floor and every floor had a different exhibit.  My favorite exhibit was on the first floor because it had the robot my Grandpa made. The robot does not look like a human. It has wheels on the bottom and a soft bumper on the top of the wheels.  On top of that it is plastic and the plastic helps protect the wires.  I like the second floor too, it was called Space Invention Dimension.  There was also a movie in 3-D about meerkats. I would like to go back to the Science Center some day. 

This is the robot my Grandpa helped to make. There were robots just like it at the Science Center.

This is the Science Center at night. 

By: Lucas

Only third graders go to the Science Center for a field trip. The Science Center is very big! It has 5 floors. Our chaperone was Mrs. Cackowski, our teacher! There were lots of exhibits like The River of Life, an exhibit about a weather movie with sheep! They were all fun, but my favorite was the movie Meerkats 3D. I would recommend the Science Center to all the kids because the Science Center is all about science, it is lots of fun! 

These are meerkats, I learned about them at the Science Center. 

By: Dakota

Interview with Mrs. Fisher-Doiron about her Retirement

What will you do when you retire? 

When my aunt was 90 years old, she traveled to Medjugorje, Bosnia. I would like to follow her travels and visit there as well. I will also travel to Italy, take walks on the beach, and visit my grandchildren. I will also do things in education as well.   

Will you miss Southeast? 

I’m going to miss seeing the children of Southeast and the staff- it’s become my second family. 

 

How many years have you been working?

I have been working as an educator for 42.8 years and as a principal at Southeast for 20 years.

Will you move? 

I don’t plan to move! My family lives in Connecticut. But I’ll travel. Maybe I’ll move to a smaller house, but not right away. 

Will you get a new hobby? 

I am an artist! I like pastels. I like to paint portraits of people. I will have more time to paint when I retire.

Will you leave something special for Southeast so we can remember you?

That’s a great question. I have lots of birdhouses! I’ll leave a lot of those. I'll leave different  things that would mean something to individual staff members.

Interview done by: Sophie and Lizzie

Minute to Win It

In “Minute to Win It” you get a challenge and you have one minute to win it. At Southeast, only third and fourth graders get to do the Southeast “Minute to Win It” because “Minute to Win It” is to celebrate finishing the C.M.T. and give the third and fourth graders a little fun. Mr. Hendricks is the one who runs it. Each year, he chooses students from third and fourth grade to be part of his pit crew. Once he has chosen his pit crew members, they start thinking of challenges for “Minute to Win It”. The pit crew members come to the gym during recess and help Mr. Hendricks set up and make some new challenges. Every year they have new challenges. For example, this year they had two games called “mad dog” and “dizzy mummy”. “Minute to Win It” in 2013 was fun. 

By: Michelle & Brooke

Battle of the Books

In Battle of the Books you get to read books. After you read, you get to have buzzer battles. In the buzzer battles you have teams. The teacher asks you a question about the book you read and if you think you know the answer you buzz your button. If you get it right you get a point, on the last day the team with the most points wins the Battle of the Books in the library.  If you win on the last day you get to have 2 extra books the next time you go to the library. The person who runs Battle of the Books is Mrs.Meimers, the librarian. Sometimes you get to watch a movie, at the last day you get to have pizza. Also you do not fight with books!  

By: Dakota 

The Flu

(I interviewed the nurse to learn about the flu).

I am interested in the flu.

The symptoms are: headache, pain, coughing and being tired.

The flu started a long time ago by viruses.

Wash your hands to prevent the flu.

It got the name from a French word: Influenza.

By: Joshua

Building Bridges Group

Who is in the group? Cy’leek, Ethan, Colin D, Colin W., and Damian (all 3^rd and 2^nd graders)

What do we do?  We learn about bridges by reading books, making them, and testing them.

How do you make bridges? First, you take 2 books and stand them up 6 inches apart. Then, you take 2 pieces of paper and curve it into half an oval which is called an “arch.” Next, you put the other paper on top of the books over the arch.

Some things we do to build teamwork are build bridges and test them to see if they work by putting as many small plastic dinosaurs on top as we can before the bridge sags.

We also made bridges with our bodies! The 2 outsider people pulled and the 2 inside people pushed to show a suspension bridge.

Today in group, we made a bridge with two books. We took a piece of paper and pretended we were making a fan by folding it back and forth. Then we put the fan over the book and put a flat piece of paper on top. When we tested it, it held 106 plastic dinos!  

Ethan and I testing our bridge with the dinos

By: Colin D.

XC Skiing

In gym, the 3^rd and 4^th graders went cross-country skiing.  You need snow clothes, ski boots, and skis. Then you need a big hill. After that you need to climb up the hill and then you need to go down the hill. In order to ski, you push then you squat down. I recommended this to my cousin Tori. I also recommend cross-country skiing at Mansfield Hollow. It’s not hard! 

By: Zach

Trestle Tree

In gym we are doing Trestle Tree. Trestle Tree is almost like gymnastics. We climb big ladders and go on balance beams. Kids also climb ropes. We do summersaults, pencil rolls, cartwheels, and jump off the stage onto the mat. There are ladders everywhere. We play Star Wars on the Trestle Tree. For example, if we are on the balance beam, then we go over or under the light savers. Our favorite thing is when we jump off the stage. There is a lot of action on the Trestle Tree!!       

By: Arwen and Raghad

Valentine's Day at Southeast

Valentine’s Day is on February 14^th every year. This is what Valentine’s Day is like at Southeast School. We give out Valentine’s Day candy and cards. We also see teachers and kids wearing red and pink. We make gifts for our moms and dads. People act nicer and are kinder on Valentine’s Day. We even get special deserts at school. Sometimes teachers get balloons and bouquets of flowers.

By: Fawn

Mystery Club

In Mystery Club, we decode stuff, compare handwriting, and we write stories about mysteries. 3rd and 4th graders can join. It meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ms. Carbonelle leads it. My favorite part is when we play Clue. I went because I've never solved a mystery before and I've always wanted to! 

By: Tutu

Abraham Lincoln

I’ve chosen to write about Abraham Lincoln because his birthday was on February 12th. He led the Civil War. In 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot and he died the next day. This year, Abe would have been 148 years old. In my opinion, he was one of the best presidents of the United States.

By: Cy'leek

Learning About Mammals

In Mrs.Cackowski’s class, we did animal posters because we were learning about animals. The animal classes were reptiles, mammals, birds, fish and amphibians.  We did mammals.  We used books and computers to find out about animal classes.  We had two more girls in our group named Janaki and Lucy.

We got to color, draw, write and read. Some things we learned are that a baby can come out of its mother. They have fur and tails. Mammals have two or four legs. Some mammals are monkeys, cats, dogs, and bears. Our favorite part of the project was to be in the group with our best friends.  The project took us three weeks to finish. We presented our projects to the whole class. It was the most fun thing ever!!!  

Our poster

By: Raghad and Arwen