Fletcher Elementary is one of 20 schools nationwide to receive the 2019 Champion Creatively Alive Children Grant from Crayola and the National Association of Elementary School Principals. The grant provides $2500 cash to support the arts and $1000 worth of Crayola art supplies. 

“This grant affirms Fletcher’s dedication to being on the cutting edge of arts integration,” art teacher MC Baker said. “Through art, we teach math, literacy, science, creativity and a variety of other academic and social skills. Art has such potential to span the entire curriculum, to create spectacular connections, and we are incredibly thankful that the funding and materials from Crayola will allow us to expand our commitment to arts integration in the future.”

Baker, along with kindergarten teacher Cathy O’Brien and first and second grade teacher Katheen Pellegrino, authored the grant request, which asks students to think about how they can make the world a better place. Entitled, Personalized Global Projects, the grant asks students to design and participate in art based one or more of four focusing Global Goals that include reducing inequities, good health and well-being, quality education, and peace, justice and strong institutions. As part of the project, each student will create an artist’s statement around one of the Global Goals and consider the impact they can have on solving the problem.

Created by world leaders in 2015, the 17 Global Goals aim to make the world a better place through international collaboration. In addition to the goals that focus Fletcher’s current grant work, the Global Goals include 13 additional efforts such as gender equity, ending hunger and poverty and protecting the environment. 

“The arts play an essential role in supporting students’ exploration of these broad, global ideas,” Baker said. “Through drawing, painting, design and other creative outlets, students can process the significance of world issues in a developmentally appropriate way and think about solutions and how they can help.”

Fletcher has also connected the grant project with its schoolwide behavior approach, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), within which four schoolwide expectations to be respectful, responsible, safe and caring encourage a positive culture on a more local level. Using materials from the grant, students creatively decorated both large and small stones as part of the Kindness Rocks Project. The smaller stones, called palm stones, were exchanged school wide before Thanksgiving break so that each student received a stone to take home while celebrating thankfulness. Students and staff transformed the song, Rock you, to become Rock you, With Kindness, for the exchange (see video). Students wrapped their stones in small gift boxes adorned with ribbons and designs before the exchange. Larger stones will be displayed and placed outside in the spring.

“Doing acts of kindness regularly actually has a scientific impact on the chemistry of the brain,” Fletcher School Counselor Lisa Coale said. “Through the act of intentionally being kind to others the body creates endorphins that activate the areas of the brain that are linked to social connection and trust.”

According to Coale, highlighting kindness, as a theme for the school, sends the important message to students that simple acts of treating each other well has a ripple effect that not only benefits their overall happiness and wellbeing, but contributes to the happiness and wellbeing of the greater community and world. 

“Beyond increased social connection and trust, my hope is that by focusing on kindness we will also see students feeling less stressed,” Coale said. “We know that when children and adults alike feel connected, safe, loved and accepted, their brains are better able to think creatively, process information effectively and regulate their thoughts and emotions more consistently.”

“The Crayola grant allowed us to bring the kindness theme together with art for a common goal by providing the materials needed to design the stones and gift boxes,” Baker said. “This is an incredible partnership between Crayola, our art program and our school’s efforts to create a welcoming, positive environment while also thinking about issues that impact the word globally.”

Students’ projects will be on display at the school’s STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) Night in the spring.

“Having new art supplies is very motivating,” sixth grader Colin Wolfe said. “You get to enjoy making really special art and think about how you can help other people around the world at the same time. Those two things kind of go hand-in-hand. It’s like making beautiful art with a bigger purpose than just looking good. It’s about saving the world. I think Fletcher School can do that. I really do.”

Christopher Dodge is the Principal of Fletcher Elementary School and is a regular contributor to THE FWSU STORY. You can follow him on Twitter @FletcherFalcon

On Monday, November 4, Fanfare, the Brass Trio of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, performed before a school-wide audience and several community members at Fletcher Elementary School. 

For over three decades, Fanfare has toured the state, performing in town halls and other local settings. Through their annual school performances, they introduce hundreds of elementary school students to brass instruments each year. Current trio members include Glendon Ingalls on trumpet, Ron Wold on horn and Bear Irwin on trombone. 

“It was a great concert,” first grader Mateo GraffBell said. “They played songs and then taught us stuff and then played more songs and then taught us again.”

Fanfare’s performance included a variety of musical styles plus demonstrations of how the instruments produce their sounds and how each one has changed over time. 

“My favorite part was when they used a long garden hose and a funnel to show us exactly how brass instruments work,” GraffBell said. “Those instruments would be very long if you unwound them like the hose.”

In addition, audience members had an opportunity to ask questions of the performers. The program used a unique blend of old and new music, serious and popular, to produce a lively and informative concert.

The performance was part of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s SymphonyKids education program, which reached over 18,750 school children last year with 262 presentations in 131 Vermont schools. It was made possible and cost-free by a grant from the George W. Mergens Foundation.

“Part of our obligation as teachers includes helping students realize opportunities for lifelong learning beyond the school walls,” third and fourth grade teacher Tracey Godin said. “The great thing about having the trio here was that our students can begin to learn an instrument and play in the school band now, as elementary school students, and potentially continue that experience beyond Fletcher in middle and high school and into their adult lives.”

“I never even knew that you could have your job be playing an instrument as a professional,” fourth grader Faye Hood said. “Or that playing an instrument involves so much math. They have to practice and study a lot to get this good but it pays off because they get to travel around and share everything they know with other people.”

Christopher Dodge is the Principal of Fletcher Elementary School and is a regular contributor to THE FWSU STORY. You can follow him on Twitter @FletcherFalcon

October is Fire Safety Month and Fletcher Elementary School has teamed up with the Cambridge Fire Department to bring fire safety lessons to students both at school and at home. 

According to firefighter Kristy Wyckoff, who is also the department’s treasurer and chair of the fire prevention committee, teaching fire prevention at an early age is essential because it creates connections between the children and firefighters that help students not be afraid of the firefighters in the event of a real emergency. 

“Fires can be scary and we want the kids to know that we are there to help,” Wyckoff said. 

For several years, Wyckoff, along with a team of firefighters from the all-volunteer Cambridge Fire Department, have taught fire safety lessons at the school during a designated fire safety day in October. The lessons include a discussion about creating a home fire escape plan, the importance of smoke detectors and their maintenance, and fire prevention. Students interact with firefighters who don nearly 50 pounds of protective gear that makes them virtually unrecognizable in an effort to dismiss any fear the students might have about their unusual appearance. 

“My main goals are for the kids to learn something new each year,” Wyckoff said. “Our biggest components are learning about smoke detectors, including when to change the batteries and when to replace the entire detector. We also focus on escape plans and meeting places, encourage getting out and staying out during a fire, and sleeping with bedroom doors shut.”

In addition to Fire Safety Day, Fletcher Elementary created a smoke detector giveaway this year. Cambridge Fire Department and J&L Hardware each donated smoke detectors to be given away to Fletcher families. Students were asked to complete at least two of three suggested fire safety activities at home with their families. Once done, students and their families documented their work and were entered into a drawing for a free smoke detector. The school is giving one smoke detector away each day during October, Fire safety month. The daily drawing takes place during school-wide morning announcements. 

“The smoke detector giveaway is a great way of getting detectors into our community. And, projects like this are important because it brings the learning home in a practical sense,” Wyckoff said. “Most people are unaware that smoke detectors expire after ten years. The fire department bought the detectors using funds from our yearly fundraising events. We feel it’s important to get unexpired detectors into homes. Our hope is that it will inspire families to check the dates on their own smoke detectors to ensure they are not older than ten years.”

According to Wyckoff, students have responded with great enthusiasm and an eagerness to share what they have learned in previous years. 

“Their favorite part of fire prevention is Rollie, our robotic fire truck,” Wyckoff said.  “Their response to Rollie has been overwhelmingly positive. Rollie adds a new exciting way to learn about fire prevention.” Using robotics, firefighters can speak through rollie’s speakers, squirt water, and control flashing red lights. 

During fire safety day, students received junior firefighter helmets and backpacks filled with fire prevention goodies like pencils, trading cards, notebooks and pencil sharpeners and erasers.

“I’ve learned fire safety from the firefighters for five years now,” fourth grader Donovan Austin said. “Every year there is something different. You have to remember to test your smoke detector batteries once a month and change them every year. That is one of the most important things you can do. You can also feel a door before you open it to see if it feels warm. If it does, don’t open it because there may be fire on the other side.”

“When there is fire you have to stay low,” fourth grader Will Mauck advised. “Gasses, heat and smoke all rise. You don;t want to be breathing those in. Also, if your clothes catch on fire, stop, drop, cover your face and roll like mad. That puts the fire out.”

“Something new I learned this year is that smoke detectors all beep three times in a row to tell you that there is smoke and maybe a fire,” third graders Lorelei Sloan said. “You need to get out quickly and go to your family meeting place. Make sure you have a fire escape plan ahead of time.”

“There are so many mutual benefits to engaging with Community Partners like the Cambridge Fire Department,” FWSU Director of Curriculum Linda Keating said. “Such partnerships allow schools to expand their education efforts, raise community awareness of such efforts, and most importantly, with this project, support the safety of children and families.”

“Nothing gets the attention of young elementary students more than firefighters and firetrucks,” first and second grade teacher Kathleen Pellegrino said. “These men and women are great role models to show our students just how important it is to give back to your community and make responsible decisions. Being safe is one of our four schoolwide expectations and the firefighters’ visit is one more way to reinforce how important that is.”

For more information on fire safety and Fletcher’s smoke detector giveaway, visit www.fletcherelementary.org  or read our family smoke detector giveaway letter.

Christopher Dodge is the Principal of Fletcher Elementary School and is a regular contributor to THE FWSU STORY. You can follow him on Twitter @FletcherFalcon

Students at Fletcher Elementary School really dug into their learning on Sept. 20 as they supported archaeologists from the Northeast Archaeology Research Center at a dig site just miles from the school. The adventure was part of a year-long theme that focuses student learning on Vermont’s past and present. 

Third through six grade students from the school learned about the techniques and equipment used to conduct a professional dig, how to catalog their findings, and the many reasons individuals and groups participate in the work. In this instance, the group is helping Green Mountain Power meet its legal requirements as part of a permit renewal process. As the company raises and lowers water levels at their nearby dam, the question remains if important historical objects underground are being lost.

Students reviewed objects found at the site like arrowheads, earthenware and fire-cracked stones from about 1500 years ago before getting their hands dirty by helping to dig and sift the soil and watch for new discoveries.

“Getting to see the old stuff, like the firestone and the arrowhead and part of a tool from a long time ago, was the best,” sixth grader Justus Cota said. “It was great to be learning about history in an all-hands-on way.”

“We actually got to help,” sixth grader Eli Tinker said. “We learned how and why everything was happening and really got to understand it way more than we would from a book or a video.”

“It was just really fascinating,” sixth grader Colin Wolfe said. “It was like history coming to life before our eyes. The soil was telling us a story and I couldn’t wait to hear the next part.”

Christopher Dodge is the Principal of Fletcher Elementary School and is a regular contributor to THE FWSU STORY. You can follow him on Twitter @FletcherFalcon