Beaver's are Back at Sanfordville Pond!

Beaver's are Back at Sanfordville Pond!

by Lionel Wolfe, Grace Serritella, Trevor Stevens and Dory Masefield

They’re back! There used to be a beaver lodge at the back of the pond behind Sanfordville

School. It was destroyed a few years ago. But, Mr. Kirschke’s PIE ⅘ class has found evidence

that the beavers are here again. We found stumps that were chewed off with fresh wood chips.

We also found a lot of saplings chewed off and scrapes off the bark as tall as 4 feet high! We

want to share the beauty of beavers and some fun facts about them because they’re awesome

animals, and are often misunderstood.

Here are some pictures of the fresh beaver activity we found in December, 2014, at Sanfordville:

What's cool about beavers?

Beavers are the state animal of New York. Their scientific name is Castor canadensis. Beavers

are related to mice, porcupines, rats, and squirrels. They are the largest rodent in North America!

They grow to over 40-70 pounds and are 35 - 52 inches long as adults. They live up to 24 years.

Beavers are nocturnal, and hiss when they are scared. Underwater, beavers swim up to 5 mph

using only their large webbed hind feet, and can remain underwater for fifteen minutes. Their

eyelids are transparent.

Basics about their biology

Beavers have 20 teeth of which 16 are molars. Their front four incisors never stop growing. The

back side of their teeth are softer and wear away more easily so when they chew on wood, it helps

to sharpen their front teeth like a chisel. They build lodges to live in, working from the inside out to

create a maze of branches and mud. There is a chamber inside that has two tunnels going to it.

The lodge protects them from predators, such as coyotes, wolves and bears that would like to eat

them!

American Indians called the beaver the "sacred center" because the dams they build cause the

area to flood and create wetland habitat for many different animals. Beaver dams also provide

flood protection by restricting water flow. But, their dams also cause a lot of trouble for people, and

can cost up to $100 million in property damage each year. The largest dam ever found was in

Montana, and was over 2,000 feet long, 14 feet high, and 23 feet wide at the base.

The two biggest beavers ever found were 96 and 110 pounds and were in Maine and Missouri.

Their large flat tail helps them to stand up on their hind legs and balance. The tail is 6-12 inches

long. They have two layers of fur that traps air to keep them warm. Their front paws are not

webbed and are very dexterous like hands so that they can carry things and dig and build.

What do they eat?

Beavers eat tree bark, leaves and buds, water lilies and cattails. They also eat plants that are in

and around the fresh water where they live. However, Beavers do not eat fish! They are

herbivores. They store lots of food in the fall near their lodge for them to eat all winter. They do

not hibernate. The lodge entrance is underwater so they can swim out under the ice in the winter

when they need to get to the food they stored.

What do Beavers do in the winter?

They spend most of the winter inside the lodge, going out briefly under the ice to get a stick to

munch on. If you find a beaver lodge in the winter, you can tell if the beavers are inside. The heat

of their bodies will melt the snow off the top of the lodge, and if you sneak up quietly, you might

hear them moving around inside.

We hope that all this fun information will help us save the beavers at Sanfordville, and if they make

another lodge there that it is not destroyed again.

Snow FUN!

Wondering what to do in all this snow?? PIE K/1 students have some suggestions!

PIE Parent Visitation

Partners-In-Education (PIE) parent visitation is scheduled for the week of January 27 - January 31, 2014, or parents who are interested in enrolling their children into the PIE program for the first time.

Kindly conduct your visit to the PIE classrooms between the hours of 9 am - 10 am.

Please stop in the main office at Sanfordville Elementary School to receive a pass and map of our PIE sections.

Remember that the registrations are due to Dr. Leach or Mr. Longfield by Friday, January 31st.

Thank you and enjoy your visit!

PIE Presentation for Interested Families

Happy New Year PIE families! There will be a PIE information meeting on Tuesday, January 7th at 7:00 pm in the Sanfordville school library for families who are interested in enrolling their children in the program next year. Dr. Leach and all of the PIE teachers will be there to speak about the program. Please share with interested families, thanks!!

K/1 Students travel to the World of Wings

The K/1 students spent time this past fall learning about beautiful butterflies, so their teachers and parents planned a special field trip for the kids to enjoy.

PIE K/1 students took a "WOW" of a trip to the World of Wings Butterfly Exhibit, in Teaneck, NJ.

Students and their families were able to observe the variety of butterflies, moths, and other creatures that populate the museum.

The kids loved seeing all the butterflies floating and fluttering around them in the Butterfly Atrium.

They were able to see the butterflies drinking delicious nectar and some of the butterflies even landed on them!

The visit also included a trip to the Exhibition Hall, where zoologists engaged the kids by showing them live reptiles and amphibians, such as Bearded Dragons, Russian Tortoises & Red-Eyed Tree Frogs.

To plan a trip for your family check out the following link: World of Wings Butterfly Museum. It was a great day!!!

Mrs. Powderly's Personification

Students in Mrs. Powderly's 2/3 PIE class have learned how to use the literary element of personification in their creative writing. In writing, personification means giving an inanimate (non-living) object human traits and qualities. For this lesson the students sat down and looked carefully at a beautiful painting that Mrs. Powderly had created.

Next, the students described elements of the painting using descriptive language. Mrs. Powderly wrote down the students descriptions of the night, trees, lake, bushes, moon and shooting star on the chalkboard.

The students used their class notes to create descriptive pieces of writing. They used personification and made the inanimate objects seem to come-to-life by using emotions, sensations or gestures in their writing. 

Here are a few of their beautiful sentences...

"The shooting star glided brilliantly across the starry, indigo night sky."

"The bright, shining moon sparkled brilliantly above the indigo blue lake.'

"The shooting star danced across the indigo blue sky."

"The trees are clapping in the wind as the shooting star gracefully glides across the dark indigo sky."

"The mysterious evergreen tree slept in the crystal clear lake."

"The sleepy towering evergreen trees are mysteriously waving their aging branches."

If you have a student in Mrs. Powderly's class ask them what personification means- you will be surprised by what they can tell you!

Fresh Fruit 'F' Day with Mrs. Nachtigal

Every “F” day Mrs. Nachtigal’s K-1 class has Fresh Fruit F day. The kids love exploring a new fruit each “F” day. This week the class was able to use their math skills in cutting up apples (1/2, ¼, 1/8) science / observation skills (what happens to the apples when heated), and some good old elbow grease turning the press, to turn a bushel of apples in yummy warm applesauce! 

It was quite magical eating the applesauce out in the courtyard sun, with lots of newly hatched painted-lady butterflies (fairies) flitting around as they read The Little House in the Fairy Wood.

 Fresh Fruit Days are becoming the favorite days of the week!

Turtle Trail

Mr. Kirschke's PIE 4/5 class went on a hike through Turtle Trail on the Sanfordville school property this week.  The trail had been created by Green Peas Club and past PIE classes, but had become overgrown with pricker bushes and poison ivy.  Some parents have been helping to fix it up.  Mr. Kirschke's and Mrs. Canevari's classes are going to design and make trail blazes to tack on trees.  They are also going to mark the trail with sign posts so that everyone will be able to follow and use the trail.  

The trail is going to be left as natural as possible, with obstacles such as large fallen trees left in place for climbing on.  Along the trail, there are many species of trees that the kids will identify and mark.  A grove of bent over Hornbeam Trees helps frame out a space where a small outside room will be created. 

The trail winds along the Wawayanda Creek, where turtles and birds are often seen, as well as evidence of beavers.  There are many interesting things for kids to observe, such as a fallen Maple Tree lying on the ground with it's roots in the stream bank. The tree is now growing sideways and it's branches are full size trees.   

PIE program wins "Be the Change for Kids" Innovation Award

Yesterday our PIE program received the "Be the Change for Kids" Innovation Award! This award was developed by the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering with the New York State School Board's Association. Three schools were chosen from dozens of districts that applied from across the state. The award comes with a $5,000 grant for the PIE program which will be used to enhance the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) component of the PIE curriculum. To see a video clip of our trip click on this link: "Be the Change" Innovation Award

The judges were impressed with Warwick's PIE program, stating, "This program successfully engages parents in their children's education, and does so in a creative fashion with parents working with the kids on solving a problem, making presentations and/or researching materials for instruction." Professor Dean Fuleihan spoke to all the students yesterday and told the 3 winning schools that one of the reasons the judges selected their schools as award winners was because their school programs foster cooperation and citizenship. The judges felt that these two qualities were very important for someone who works in the field of science because scientists work together on projects for long periods of time to see how things work.

Some of our PIE students took a tour of the college and got to see what scientists do all day. Students visited biology labs and saw a scientist studying cancer cells under the microscope. They also viewed chemistry labs and the nanoscale science "clean rooms." The kids got a kick out of seeing the scientists wearing their head-to-toe white suits, "They look like astronauts!" However, they learned that when you are working in a clean room you have to keep any dirt and dust particles from floating in the air, otherwise, they can get into the small silicon chips that the scientists work on. There were many different types of machines to see, everyone's favorite was the machine that carried the nanochips from one room to another. The tiny chips were placed into a box that ran along tracks in the ceiling overhead!

Bus ride

Lunch outside- we loved the shape of the buildings!

Our tour guide showing the kids an enlarged picture of the inside of a computer chip

The "Clean Room"

Nano transport!

Chemistry lab

We had a great day!

A Visit to the Sycamore Tree

On Wednesday afternoon the PIE K/1 students walked across the school grounds to visit their sycamore tree. Each class in the PIE program has a tree that they observe throughout the school year. Last year the PIE K/1 students had been visiting a gorgeous old tree, but sadly after Hurricane Sandy roared through Warwick their giant, old tree fell down. So what does a PIE teacher do when a problem arises??? They call some parents and say, "HELP! We need a tree!" A new tree was selected and this is what it looked like in the morning...

So the parents did this...

and after a few hours, it looked like this!

The setting was now perfect for the kids to come down and get a close up view of their new tree. This tree is a good hike across school grounds; all three K/1 classes walked out to the new site on a beautiful, sunny day. A group of parents came along for the hike too! Mrs. Barlow-Layne began the science lesson by showing the students their tree and then she led the students in a song called, The Green Grass Grew All Around. Play the video below to sing along with your child!             

                                

                                      

The kids in action!

Each teacher led a part of the lesson, Mrs. Barlow-Layne talked with the students about what it means to observe things like a scientist, Mrs. Nachtigal modeled for the students how to observe something and showed them how to draw what they observe in their Nature Journals, and Mrs. White read a story about a tree to all the children. It was a great way to spend the afternoon!

                                

The first page of a student's Nature Journal, it's going to be a great year!

Peace Wall Ceremony for PIE students

Mr. Kirschke and Mr. McLaughlin's 4/5 PIE students invited their K/1 reading and writing buddies to the Peace Wall for an end of the school year ceremony. The older students presented their younger buddies with "Goodbye and Good Luck" cards, since they will be moving up to the middle school in the fall.

Mrs. Nachtigal's K/1 students raised butterflies throughout the springtime months. The kids had so much fun observing their caterpillars transform into butterflies. They decided that the perfect place to release their butterflies would be at the Peace Wall. The students hoped that the insects would fly to the Peace Garden nearby and live there.

It was a beautiful send off! Good luck to all the PIE 4/5 students who will be moving on to the middle school in the fall, it was wonderful watching you learn and grow!