School Photos

School photos will be taken November 7th and 13th. Please return this form to your child's teacher by November 6th.

Fall Clean-Up Day Report

We had perfect weather for our Fall Clean-Up Day on Friday! Here are a few of the jobs we completed:

Amoskeag students raked the lawn in front of the school.
Ossippee students "mucked" the sheep pen.
Soonipi students cleaned the driveway gardens, re-graded the edges of the parking lot, and harvested our worm castings.
Monadnock students cleaned the vegetable gardens and raked the sheep's grazing yard. (Leaves aren't good for the sheep to eat!)
We all pitched in and moved brush, sand, compost, and vegetables to get ready for the coming cold season.

Thanks to all the parents who helped out, sent tools, and supported our workday!

For more photos and reports, you can visit the individual class pages.

Pizza Form for November

The November Pizza Form is due by Tuesday, November 6th.

Parent-Teach Forum Report

Thank you to the many parents who participated in our Parent-Teacher Forum Thursday night! We had parents and teachers from every grade level of the school.

All participants shared their enthusiasm for and commitment to our school's Multiple Intelligences mission. Our major reasons for attendance and participation in this school include:

• Our welcoming community
• Constant accessibility to teachers and classrooms
• The enthusiasm that students share for their studies and their school community

Parents and teachers alike expressed enthusiasm for our new website initiatives, including the class blogs. Parents used the online materials to keep track of their children's activities, and to share news with their extended community and with distant family members. Teachers use the online pages to document their curriculum and classes, and to demonstrate our school's program to prospective families.

We discussed several candidates for our annual group book discussion process, including:

• Protecting the Gift (Gavin DeBecker)
• Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference (Vogt)
• Above All Be Kind (Weil)
• The Essential 55 (Ron Clark)
• Five Minds for the Future (Howard Gardner)

We invite you to take a look at these books and let us know which you think we should read as a group.

We also brainstormed our 20th Year Celebrations, which will take place in the Spring. Possible events include environmental art workshops (fairy housebuilding!), concerts, educational seminars, cook-outs, and more. All parents are invited to participate in the planning process.

We discussed student identity cards, fundraising ideas, and school photos. We'll post more materials as they come up; just search this blog with the label PTF to see the latest reports.

(View the official minutes of the meeting.)

Fall Open House: November 3, 2007

This event is meant for non-HIS parents and families; please pass this information on to a friend or two.

Hopkinton Independent School

Fall Open House

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

10:00 – 11:30 : Preschool-Grade 3
11:30 – 1:00 : Grade 4-Grade 8

Come tour the school and meet our teachers!

• Full & half day Preschool, Kindergarten, and 1st-8th Grade Programs
• Extended Day and After School Arts & Enrichment Classes
• Beautiful facility on 60 acres of farm and woodlands

For more information, visit us online.

HarvestFest 2007

Here are some photos from HarvestFest 2007:


Todd Aubertin gave us a flute- and drum-making workshop. He showed us how he makes these instruments, and he played us some soothing music.
We got to ask plenty of questions...
... and we learned all about the natural materials Todd uses to create his instruments.

Later, the Upper Grades students presented their Native American Cultures projects.

Each student taught us about his or her project's culture, and even showed us some words in that culture's language.

Then it was time to cook!

We chopped vegetables and prepared a delicious harvest soup using tomatoes from the preschool gardens.

Everyone had a job to do in our busy kitchen.

In one center activity, we learned some traditional Native American games and practiced our listening and hunting skills!

Students danced two Native songs in honor of the harvest season. For the second song, we placed our drum at the center of our dance circle, because the drum is the heartbeat of our music.
After our songs, we heard some native stories from our storyteller, Peter.

You can also see class reports on the Elementary Grades and Upper Grades class pages.

If you attended this event and have some great pictures you'd like to share with the school, please email them to your child's teacher.

Snow Day Care

Remember, the deadline for Snow Day Care sign up is November 1! You can sign up on the office door to ensure a space for your child when wintery weather closes the school.

HarvestFest 2007 Preparation

This special extended day offers our school community the opportunity to share in a harvest celebration as we participate in activities centered on Native American culture (our fall social studies focus).

The first part of the afternoon will involve activities for students K-8. The day will culminate with a Native American dance performance by the first through eighth grade classes, a storyteller performance, a potluck supper, and the raffling of our wonderful harvest baskets!

Here is the schedule of the day…

1:30 = Native American activities for grades K-8

• K-1 = Native Arts with Jane List, Sara, Catherine, and Courtney
• 2-8 = Flute workshop with Todd Aubertin

2:30 = Snack break
2:45 = Center activities

• Cooking (with Catherine)
• Drums (with Todd Aubertin)
• Native Games (with Kate)

4:10 = Grades 5-8 prepare Native Culture presentations; grades K-4 wait on playground
4:20 = Grades 5-8 present Native Culture projects
4:40 = Native Dance and Singing (outside)
5:00 = Native Storytelling (multipurpose room)
5:30 = HarvestFest Potluck Supper
6:30 = Clean Up and HarvestFest Basket Raffle

Sign up for the potluck supper in the front foyer. Parent volunteers are welcome for any part of the day. Please see Courtney Huff (Ossippee teacher) if you would like to help.

The raffle baskets are available in the entry hallway for donations. Please add a gift or harvest-related item to the baskets. Raffle tickets are available from your child ($1 each or 6 for $5); for extra tickets, see your child’s teacher.

This is an extended day for students in grades 1-8. We welcome parents to join us any time after 2:45. We ask all students to pitch in with clean up after the supper.

-- Courtney

See the Elementary Grades class page for Courtney's report on HarvestFest 2007.

Environmental Day at Camp Tuckernuck: Thursday, October 4

On Thursday, October 4, upper school students took their annual field trip to Camp Tuckernuck. We departed from school around 9:00, and returned to school at 5:00. The extended day enabled us to do lots of activities centered around the natural resources and wonderful spaces of Camp Tuckernuck. We spent lots of valuable time on the water, in the woods, and along the trails of the Deering Reservoir area.

For more information, you can:

• Read about the activities of the students in our Upper Grades
• See some photos of active Elementary Grades students