ABCD Brains! #brainresearch

Third graders were lucky enough today to hear about their developing brains from Hugh Garavan, Ph.D from the University of Vermont.  He shared a short slideshow with our students regarding the development of their brains and how THEY are able to change their brains right now!  He also wanted to share a new and very exciting research study currently in the recruitment stages at UVM.

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is the largest long-term study of brain development and health in the United States.  The research study is currently in the recruitment phase, looking for participants who are 9-10 years old.  That's us!  So...if you are interested in your child's participation in this study, you can contact UVM for more information.

Here's an article from UVM about the study:

Garavan, Potter and Team Launch UVM Recruitment for Landmark Adolescent Brain Development Study

And, to learn more about the overall brain study and how to sign up, visit: ABCD Brain Study.

Thank you to Dr. Garavan for stopping by today!

Jumping for Hearts!

For the last six weeks or so, Mrs. Berliner has led an after school enrichment group participating in "Jump Rope for Heart" with the American Heart Association. Through Jump Rope For Heart kids learn jump rope skills, how their heart works and raise money to help kids with special hearts. Have fun, learn how to stay healthy and make a difference in the lives of others! Today, jumpers demonstrated all of their superb jumping skills in an assembly before their celebration this afternoon! Way to go, Jumpers!

Fraction Conjectures

     
   
         As our third grade students were wrapping up their unit on fractions, they worked in partnerships to prove or disprove conjectures.  A conjecture in math is a statement that is made that appears to be true, but hasn't yet been proven.
   




      In partnerships, they worked to create models and examples to prove the statement true or to prove the statement false.  After spending time working on them they gathered in larger groups to share their ideas and put it all together.  Third graders persevered in this work and really solidified their conceptual understanding of fractions!

 

Snow Motion 2017

Another successful year at Cochran's learning and practicing skiing and snowboarding skills! Thank you Mr. Godfrey for organizing this wonderful program. A HUGE thank you to all of the donors who helped to make this program happen for our students!

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Pet Sitters for February Break

Our classrooms are in need of pet sitters for the February break.  We have lovely cockroaches, hermit crabs, and fish.  Please email your child's classroom teacher if your family is able to pet sit for vacation!

Global School Play Day #gspd17

Last week, RES third graders participated in Global School Play Day along with nearly 300,000 other students around the world.  The idea of the day is to (re)discover how valuable unstructured play can be in student learning.  The rules were simple:  NO screens, NO rules (other than expected behavior) and NO directions regarding how to play the games!  As you might imagine, third graders were THRILLED!