CSR – “Welcome Back”

Welcome to our first radio podcast.  CSR - logo

Today’s show is titled “Welcome Back“.

You will meet our new Principal, Dr. Nugent and a new fourth grade teacher, Ms Kerman.

Mosaic MuralWe will also tell you about our new art work in our school lobby.

We trust you will enjoy listening to our radio show!

Chickering Reporters:
Abby, Grace, Holden, Jude, and Riley

Welcome Back Song
Arrangement and Lyrics by:
Ida Pappas, our fabulous music teacher.
A special ‘Thank You’ to the students in Mr. Keohane’s 4th grade class for recording this song for us.

Bustling Beebots

BeeBots     BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ! We heard that Mr. Harte had a great idea for his technology class. BEEBOTS! We wanted to learn more about these interesting things. We interviewed Mr. Harte to learn about them!

     Beebots are little plastic robots that look like bees. On the bottom they have wheels, and on the top they have different arrows and buttons. You push the arrows down, and they will then move in the direction that the arrow was pointing to. Then, when you’re ready, you press “GO”, and the Beebots do what you programmed into them. You can only command the machine to do the maximum of about 40 commands at a time.

     Mr. Harte thought of this wonderful idea because he went to a conference last year, and saw a presentation about robotics. He thought the robot idea was great, but he didn’t like the type of robot they were using! Then, he found the Beebots, and thought they were a great idea. He decided to use them in his technology class at Chickering School!

     Mr. Harte is only going to use the Beebots with kindergarten and first grade because he thinks that when you start a program, you should start with the younger grades working up to the upper grades. He might start a program including robotics for the older kids later on in the year.

     Mr. Harte hopes that the kindergarten and 1st graders learn a lot out of the experience of using Beebots. He thinks the beebots will help them learn how to program robots. The Beebots move around on mats that have differentBeeBots objects on them, like a mini town with stores and a street, and also mats that have money, shapes and letters. The kids learn from the Beebots by programming them to go to different places on the mats. They will also learn how to work together, and to think about where they want the Beebots to go. The kids will learn how to follow instructions much better when they’re working with Beebots.

     We hope that you learned a lot about these amazing robots! Make sure to watch our interesting video on our school’s first graders using them!

BeeBots from Cheryl Chase on Vimeo.

-Grace D., Issy F, Colin, Christian

Chickering’s World Explorers

The Whites are a family who are traveling around the world. Their trip started on July 1st, 2010 and is ending on June 16, 2011. They have a White's Travelswebsite called http://6explorers.com. On the website are things they have seen and done. There are photos, posts, and videos. We have been making a bulletin board in the hallway, at school, to keep the school up-to-date on their adventures. On the bulletin board is a large map showing where they have been and where they currently are, plus quotes made by Andrew and Reis, twins in fifth grade. Of course, there were some bumps in the rode, such as Mr. White hurt his knee and had to come home to heal and Reis had the flue in Eqypt.  But, they are traveling around the world, together, and are having an experience of a life time.

Reported by Alex and Maggie

Mystery in the 5th Grade Hall

     Windows open. Doors open. Muddy foot prints leading to the computer lab. The Fridge is left open! Where are the Ice cream sandwiches?

     The 5th grade has been doing a project on who stole the ice cream sandwiches to start their C.S.I Unit for science. They went into the lab and got started. Each class took turns in the lab to find the suspect. Each kid in each class had a data bar graph packet, which included instructions and identification of the suspects: all the 5th grade teachers and grade level aids. Each class split up in groups and looked at all the evidence they had and took notes on the data bar graph. The students would match the evidence to the suspect. There were a lot of different types of evidence that involved hair, lips, foot and finger prints, dirt that fell off the suspect’s shoes, and writing samples.  To prepare us for this unit, we spent some time with a forensic scientist, named Dr. Todd.

     We talked to Dr. Todd, who is a professor at M.I.T and is trying to find cures for cancer, small pox, and other diseases, and is trying to cure mice. He loves being a scientist. He’s been working at M.I.T. for about 15 years. He works in a biology lab with microscopes and the cells from these viruses. The toughest part of his job is trying to work with the mice to obtain their DNA. Using microscopes, he checks his progress toward finding a cure for these diseases. His job is something he has wanted to do ever since he was a kid. We were curious about what some of the students enjoyed about this science unit.

We asked students what their favorite category was in CSI, fingerprints, hair samples, lip samples, handwriting, etc. A lot of the students liked fingerprints because it was what real scientists do. Other people liked hair samples because it was really hard to figure out.

We asked the students how they felt when Flynn (our class caterpillar stuffed toy) was stolen. Lots of the kids thought it was mysterious; others were worried about him being missing because he is very well liked.

We asked the students what they thought was the most interesting part in this unit. Some kids thought the thrilling thought of Flynn being stolen was the best part, other kids thought the huge investigation was fun with the fingerprints and the hair samples etc, the rest just liked it all! 

This was obviously a fun and exciting unit!

Reported by Mitchell, Nick, Iona and Sara

Magical Mosaic Mural

    Our school decided to have a mosaic mural in honor of all of the past, present, and future teachers and students at our school. The mural was designed by Joshua Winer, a local mosaic artist. The mural is hanging in the lobby so all of the people who come to visit our school can see the amazing mosaic mural! All the staff and students got to work on the mural and have their own little parts that they will always remember!  

     Google sure comes in handy when you need it. It really helped Mrs. Pelletier when she was looking for an artist. Mrs. Pelletier wanted a permanent art media that could be hung up on the wall and kids could touch it. She Googled Massachusetts mosaic murals and Josh Winer’s website was the first one to come up. Beep, Beep Ring, Ring, she called him up on the phone. After a while the deal was done and Josh Winer would come to our school to make a mosaic mural in honor of all the teachers past, present and future at Chickering School. She had been planning to have a mosaic mural at our school, since spring 2010 (the end of last year). All of the teachers had a big meeting and made different ideas and sketches. Josh combined all the ideas to make our amazing mural!!       

     Do you like pizza? Well Josh Winer must really like it a lot, he ate pizza for 4 years as partial payment for his art. Josh was asked to make a mural for a pizza parlor at age 19 when he was in college. In return the pizza parlor gave him $100 and free pizza for 4 whole years. 

      Since then, he has considered himself as an artist. Josh Winer has created 20 mosaic murals in Massachusetts, U.S.A. Most of the murals are in schools; such as, Wayland Middle School and High school, Locker School, Pine Hill School,  The Alcott school, and many more. He has been making murals for 7-8 years. Mr. Winer thinks that murals should be in public areas for everyone to enjoy. His favorite part of his job is working with the children and parents, not just working alone. His murals range in size from 6 x 6 feet, to 60 x 60 feet, to a mile long, in Newton, MA! Not only has he worked in the United States but also in France. If you would like to learn more about Josh Winer and his art, please visit his website: Josh Winer

     Our mural will inspire visitors that come, including us when we come back to the school and see the mural.

We would thank all the people that put the effort into helping with the mosaic mural. Special thanks to Mrs. Pelletier and Josh Winer for letting us interview them.

Reported by: Hannah T., Avery, Zoelle, Drew, Hannah D., Catherine, Caroline, Princess, Mary, Annabel, and Chloe

Fifth Grade Physical Education

Squeak, squeak, bounce, bounce, bounce!  A fifth grader swishes the basketball into the basket. He screams, “Who dat! Who dat!”  Those are the sounds you hear in our gym class. 

Our gym teacher, Ms Riordan, has been working as a PE teacher for 23 years. Can you believe it, 23 years? Our other PE teacher, Mrs. Gillis, has been teaching for 17 years. That is 40 years combined. 40!!!  Ms Reardon and Mrs. Gillis choose their job because they really liked children and P.E. Mrs. Gillis said the community of Dover supports the instruction Physical Education music, art, band and Chickering Reporters. They chose this school because our kids are very nice. They love our school. Love it! They also love coming to their job every day. Can you believe it?

This year the fourth graders will practice flag football skills. They had to have the fourth graders play flag football because they couldn’t find Frisbees for there unit on Frisbees.  We wish we could have done that last year.

Their favorite games to teach are ‘cooperative games’ were you work together. Grades 3-5 do fitness testing; we do the mile. We do curl-ups.  Together we did 90 curl-ups! We also did pushups. We also do sit and reach and the shuttle run.  A few of Ms Riordan and Mrs. Gillis’ favorite games are:  “Cone Knock Down”, “Dodge Ball”, “Cooperative Games”, “Flag Football” and “Hula-Hut Throw Down”.

We wish that we could have PE Class EVERYDAY!

Reported by,
Jonathan and Peter

Stunning Student Council

Ringgggggg! The bell just rang and the fifth grade doors are opening; feet are scurrying to run off to student council to help out the teachers for the morning. The students leave at 8:20 and then they will crowd the floor as they go back to their fifth grade classrooms at 8:45. Why students participate in student council is because the students think it’s a good thing to do to make Chickering School a better place for kids “to learn, laugh, grow, care and make a difference”. The ‘specials’ teachers they help out in the morning are Mrs. Pelletier, Mrs. Greenwald, Mrs. Chase, Ms Riordan, Mrs. Gillis, and Mr.Harte.

Library Student HelpersHow does a student become a member of student council? To be on student council, at the beginning of the year, you had to complete an essay that asks you what you would do if you were on student council.

During our last student council meeting (we have one meeting every month) we talked about our blue ticket awards. Our school’s blue ticket awards are blue slips that are given to you by a teacher or student who thinks that you are being nice or helpful. Over the last month students and teachers have not been giving out as many as usual. To help students and teachers remember to give them out, we have worked together to put a reminder on the school’s lobby monitor and we also put signs up in all of the hallways.

At the beginning of the year, when the student council leaders decided whoComputer Lab Helpers would be on student council, there were so many they had to spilt us up into two groups. The group that was going to be at the first half of the year was called the A group. The group that was going to be at the second half of the year was called the B group. Who was going to be in what group was decided by the first letter of their last name. The people whose last names started with the letters A-J were in the A group, and the people whose last names started with the letters K-Z were in the B group.

Reported by: Ceci, Ellie, and KB

Ceremonious Civilizations

Do you like to have hot chocolate on cold days? On September 9th we started a history unit on the Aztec, Quechua, and Mayan civilizations. During class we watched movies about the three groups. Later in the unit, we were given a project to find lots of facts about one of the groups, and these are the facts we found.

The Quechua [Inca] lived in three parts of South America, Peru, Chile, and the Andes Mountains. From 1200-1532 A.D., the Sapa Inca controlled everything; he owned all the land, he made all the rules, and he had a well trained army. The Quechua worshiped many gods, they prayed daily in Temples, they worshiped nature, and believed in life after death. The Quechua did not believe in the use of slaves. They believed that every one should be treated fairly; have a home, own land etc. Quechua sacrificed everything that had blood to a fire because the blood would rise and keep the gods happy. The Quechua sacrificed more animals than humans. We think the Quechua believed that humans were better than animals because they also did not believe in the use of slaves. In 1532, a man named Francisco Pizarro led his Spanish army to the Quechua villages stealing gold and killing almost everybody. Pizzaro destroyed one of our three civilizations.

Another group are the Maya, they lived in southern Mexico and Central America. They were living in about 2000 B.C to 1532 A.D. The Mayan empire had many cities and each city had its own king. The Mayans believed in many gods and goddesses. The chief god was Itzamna, he created writing. The Mayans made many sacrifices, of humans and animals. Blood made the gods happy. The rich Mayans had slaves, like prisoners of war and children sold by their family. During hard times usually slaves were sacrificed to the gods. The slaves were killed when their masters died.  The Spanish wanted gold, slaves, and land. The downfall of the Maya was in 1520, when Hernando Cortez and the Spanish destroyed the Maya, and stole all the gold in the Mayan city.

One of the most common groups we studied were the Aztecs. They lived in Mexico and Central America between 1200 AD and 1520 AD. The emperor was the leader of all Aztecs. The emperor was the leader of all war.  Montezuma II was the most famous emperor of them all. The Aztecs had many slaves. Slaves were usually children that sold themselves to slave masters when their families were in hard times. They did this so they could eat and get clothing. Many Aztecs had slaves and workers. Aztec slaves were not always slaves for life. In 1521 the Spanish conquistadors went to Mexico. The leader Hernando Cortez and his expedition of Spanish soldiers visited the temple of Montezuma II. The Spanish brutally attacked the Aztec people because they wanted gold, land, and slaves. Many Aztecs that didn’t die in war died of a deadly disease called Smallpox. That was the end of a great civilization.

If we didn’t have the Aztecs we would not have hot chocolate or turkey. They were brought to Europe instead of directly to America. A lot of other things of the Aztec, Inca, and Maya have made many things that we have today, such as, according to the Mayan calendar, the world may be ending in 2012. Our calendars that we use today are based on the Mayan calendar.

Reported by
Brian & Jack

Nature’s Classroom

 Otter Lake

Otter Lake

Have you ever been to overnight camp? Was it fun? Well, the 5th graders of Chickering School will be going on a fun and educational trip to Nature’s Classroom in Greenfield, New Hampshire. We interviewed parents, two teachers, one of whom actually attended the camp when she was in sixth grade. Parents said that they were very excited for this opportunity for their children but worried about missing them.

The parents learned at a meeting in September that, in May 2011, the 5th grader’s of Chickering School will be going to Nature’s Classroom in Greenfield, New Hampshire. This fun trip will last 4 days and 3 nights. The 5th graders will be doing fun and educational activities. Some parents were anxious and nervous, but they  agreed that it would be a great experience for their child. An individual from Nature’s Classroom made a  presentation for the parent’s of the 5th graders. They enjoyed how thorough, complete, and descriptive he was. The parents had some very good questions about  Nature’s Classroom, for example, would somebody monitor the kids to make sure they don’t do the same activities over and over again? What if there was bad weather the whole time? Parents had a great time learning about what their child will be doing during this fun and educational trip.

Regular Day at Nature’s Classroom

7:15 – Rise and Shine!
8:00 – Breakfast & Clean Up
9:30 – Field Experiences
12:00 – Lunch Free Time New Games
2:00 – Special Interests
4:00 – Special Interests
6:00 – Dinner and free time
7:30 – Night Walk
9:00 – Snacks
9:30 – Quiet Sing

We asked Ms Yorston some questions about what teachers thought about Nature’s Classroom. When we asked her if she had any worries she said ” NO, I am very excited and eager to do this.” By her answer it seems to us she has no worries about any of the programs or how kids will react. They have been thinking about this trip for a long time and have decided to finally plunge forward and do it. The reason for this was to have everybody participate in something together rather than some people doing it and others not. This will be a wonderful experience for 5th graders and staff members in Chickering School going to New Hampshire on this field trip. Too allay any concerns about this new experience we talked to our own alumn.


In the 6th grade, one of our own 5th grade teachers went on the same trip weCabin are about to do in May-June 2011. Knowing that we were going, we had to ask her all about it. Ms Varley gave us all a wonderful idea of what the camp was like, which gave many families the “OK” for their child to go. We asked her a bunch of questions, such as, how many kids sleep in a cabin or how do they decide who is in each cabin’s with each other, her answers were, there are nine campers and one councilor per cabin and we get to pick one of the kids in our cabin, the others are random. We will also be having a buffet styled meal and dessert every night, Ms Varley informed us. We will be working on math, ELA, and team building activities with each other, which all the teachers and kids are looking forward to doing. We also asked a few more questions about her experience at Nature’s Classroom. We found that she went with her school in Holliston when she was eleven and she went in early spring; she had a blast! Knowing what we now know, we, the 5th graders and staff, are prepared for a great time at Nature’s Classroom in the upcoming year of 2011!

We gathered lots of information from interviewing teachers and got the parents’ opinions on how they think this trip will go. We, the students, are very excited to go on this trip to Nature’s Classroom. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to check out the website: http://www.naturesclassroom.org/Greenfield.htm

Reported By: Katie B, Andriana, Caroline C, Brickley, Mariam, and Seika

Images from: http://www.naturesclassroom.org/Greenfield.htm