Miss Ransoms 2015-2016 Class is "Infinity and Beyond!"

2015-2016

It has been a fabulous start to our new school year. The students and I have been eager to begin our new adventure together. I had the pleasure of meeting most before the school year ended in June. We have been waiting all summer to be reunited... and it feels so good. We are getting to know one another very well already, but there is still so much to learn!

Next week we will be able to really get a feel on what our daily routines will look and feel like. We have already set great expectations that the students are comfortable to follow. 

Here's to a great school year! 

:) 

Meet your new teacher!

Miss Ransom

Walking into North Hero school was a day of overwhelming feelings. I was nervous. I was happy. I was anxious. However most of all, I was extremely thrilled! I didn't know that on Wednesday, greeted by 16 smiling faces, I would finally feel at home. It is only day two but this is what I have been working for... my whole life. I am so excited I am able to share these moments with all of the students and families. 

On the first day of school I shared a book to inform students a little bit about me. I will try to upload an example but for the parents who have not met me yet, here is a little "about me."

I am Mindy Ransom, originally from Williston Vermont where, at the age of three, I have thrived to become a teacher in my own classroom. I found the perfect fit college in Keene New Hampshire where I studied and practiced to become a teacher. I then took over for a sixth grade teacher. I moved back home, to Vermont, to be with family. After a long two years teaching preschool, I was offered a job back in Keene New Hampshire. I just couldn't stay away from this beautiful state of Vermont. I had two wonderful years as a Teachers Assistant while going to grad school for literacy... Now here I am! 

In my spare time I love to read and bake goodies. I also very much enjoy hosting get-togethers. My favorite season is the fall and I try to spend as much time on the weekends to do fall activities as possible. I absolutely love Vermont and all it has to offer. I am now falling in love with the Islands!

This year is going to be amazing, I can feel it! If you need to contact me please send an email to:

melrans@GISU.org

"To Infinity, and Beyond!" 

Renewable Energy

What do you know about Renewable Energy?

The students are exploring various renewable energies in the classroom: Solar Power, Wind Power, and Hydro (water) Power.

Come back soon to see what we have learned and how we are exploring the concept of Renewable vs. Non-Renewable Energy. 

Electromagnetism and the Telegraph

We worked in teams to build a working telegraph!

Using all we knew about electricity and magnetism allowed us to send messages across the classroom.  It was super fun and super challenging, but we did it.  The students quickly realized how difficult it is to send and receive messages in Morse Code.

April Fool's Day Fun

 

Needless to say, not all the 3rd and 4th grader's were impressed by Broccoli Lollipops!  April Fools!

Ask your kids about the "Brownies" they received!

Writer's Notebook

We are putting some of our new skills to the test!  We have learned how to write a strong non-fiction or informational piece of writing.  In fact, we wrote books about Football, How to Annoy Someone, and Finger Knitting; all things we think we are experts on.  Now we are using those skills combined with our newly learned reading and research skills (note-taking too!) to write non-fiction texts about electricity (science!).

We organize our research into SUBTOPICS.

 

 

We have learned to use the TABLE OF CONTENTS  and the INDEX to find specific information.

The class has started reading information carefully to take notes in order to develop their research topic.

 

Topics include: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Alva Edison, Michael Faraday and electromagnetism, Atoms and Electrons, Generators, and Alassandro Volta (the battery guy!) and his study of electrical current. 

Discovering Electromagnetism

Today we used our knowledge of electric circuits and magnetism to create an electromagnet.

Ask your child about these vocabulary terms: insulator, conductor, receiver, source, attract, and repel.  Then quiz them, what is an electromagnet?

We enjoyed some awesome scientific discoveries today and we can't wait for tomorrow!