Summer 2011

We spent many hours writing stories and poems during the Summer Writing Workshops. You can get a lot done when you spend more than an hour each day writing! We also had fun listening to each other's work and giving each other ideas. We had many beautiful hot days this summer and did a lot of swimming in the afternoons. We swam at the Green River, last year's favorite spot, and then, later in the summer, moved to the Deerfield River, where these pictures were taken. We had other afternoon adventures in between, including daring shoe rescues, a visit to the "Creepy Tunnel," and a pajama party. As always, we thought up new ideas for our stories while having fun outside.

May 2011

In early May we discovered that it was "Emu Week"-- a holiday in our small town of Gill. So we decorated the school with pictures of emus and visited the emu farm, which happens to be next door to the school. We learned a lot about these birds, which are more closely related to dinosaurs than most, and learned about a local farm, which raises the birds for meat and emu oil. Two students went home and asked their parents to let them raise emus, but, sadly, neither met with a positive response.

This month we also finished our geology timeline, which tracked Gill from its location under the sea in the southern hemisphere 545 million years ago to its current location at 42.6 degrees north of the equator. In May we made some more trips to see nearby rock formations which provide clues to the history of our area.

In the last week of school we had a picnic at the Montague Conservation Land, where some of us covered ourselves in clay, while others just explored, swam, and went off the rope swing.

The following day we went on a hike at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton, where we climbed the observation tower in the pictures. It turned out to be 101 degrees that day, so after our hike we went swimming in the Mill River in Northampton and tried out the rope swing there.

Click on the photos to enlarge them!

April 2011

We began the month by celebrating Hans Christian Andersen's birthday-- April 2nd. Preston brought in Danish butter cookies, and we took turns reading Andersen's stories aloud.

This month we also spent a lot of time on our Solar System model. We have been studying Earth Science all year. In April we built a scale model of the solar system where one millimeter is equal to 1,000 kilometers. That means that the earth is the size of a marble, and the sun's diameter is more than a meter.

At the end of the month we set up our model along the bike path in Turners Falls. You started across the street from Unity Park. The sun and the four inner planets were right there.

Neptune (the real one) is about 4,500,000,000 km from the sun. Since each millimeter in our model was 1,000 kilometers, we had to put Neptune 4.5 kilometers from the sun-- near the old railroad bridge that crosses the Connecticut River. Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus were in between. It was a long walk from the sun to Neptune-- more than two miles!

Click on the images to enlarge them.

March 2011

In March, after doing a science lab about Archimedes Principle, we built boats from modeling clay and took them to a river in Montague to see if they would float. At first they all sank, but by the end we had them all floating. Some even survived the rapids! It was a hot day, and we all enjoyed getting our feet wet.

February 2011

At the beginning of the month we saw an art exhibit at UMass called "Swallowed." The artist, Maggie Nowinski, collected between 10,000 and 12,000 water bottles from trash cans or from the ground and strung them together, as you can see in the pictures to the right. There were also videos, other installations, photographs, and information about how many bottles of water people throw away each day.

This month we finished reading Mayflower and also read The Game of Silence, which was the sequel to the a book we read in the fall called The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich. Next month we will begin writing reports about important people from 17th Century Massachusetts, both Wompanoags and European Colonists.

January 2011

In January we visited the Flynt Center at Historic Deerfield. We saw colonial clothing and textiles and learned where different fibers come from. We also saw a furniture exhibit where we learned about wood-working and about different kinds of wood. Our favorite part of the trip, though, was the attic at the Flynt Center. Claire, our guide, let us wander around and look at all the objects that are not currently on display in the museum. Then she answered our questions about the pieces that interested us and also showed us some objects from the 17th Century, since we are studying Massachusetts during that time period.

We wanted to participate in the Day of Service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. We were not in school on the day of the holiday, so we spent our trip day at the The Literacy Project's Amherst site helping them clean the building.

Since the weather hasn't been great for going outside, we have played a lot of chess during break and lunch time.

December 2009

We had only 3 weeks of school in December and stayed pretty close to school. We worked on map-making as part of our Earth Science curriculum. Each of us made a map of Barton Cove, which is right near us on the Connecticut River. First we went to high places and tried to draw the coastline as accurately as possible. We have been looking at old maps from the time when people had neither airplanes nor satellites. Trying to draw the shape of Barton Cove helped us understand how hard the job was for early map-makers and explorers.

We also spent out art classes working on maps. We made ornate compass roses and painted our maps. Some of us added sea monsters and ships to make them look like old maps.

During the holiday break Four Winds had its 10th Anniversary Party. Students from every graduating class were present, along with many of their family members. We ate cake with the Four Winds logo after a beautiful dinner at the PVMA building in Old Deerfield, which was where Four Winds School got its start. Come back soon to see photos of the event!

November 2009

In November the days were suddenly very short. To lift our spirits we visited the Mum Show at Smith College. We read poems about chrysanthemums while looking at many varieties, large and small, all in full bloom. Each of us also cast a vote for our favorite among the new hybrids created by Smith students. Afterward we took the time to tour the rest of the conservatory-- the jungle, the desert, the fern room, the fragrant plant room, the carnivorous plants, orchids, and more!

Two weeks later, we took a trip to Ed Branson's glass-blowing studio. Click here to see the amazing things he makes with glass. We got to watch Ed make a plate and cup. While we were learning about the art of working with glass, Ed talked to us about the history and science of glass-making, as well. After our tour most of us took a turn blowing glass. To the right is a picture of Max making a hollow glass ball. Walker also helped stretch a glob of molten glass into a string as long as the room.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

October 2009

An all-day trip. It was a daunting, yet exciting prospect for the Four Windsers. A two-hour drive each way. Eleven boys, girls, teachers, and a chauffeur all cramped into three cars. Well it wasn't much of a cramp but it was tight. We were going to the Mashantucket Pequot museum to study about the Pequots, a Native American tribe in the Connecticut area near the Long Island Sound.

When we arrived at the museum, we parked and went to the visitors' entrance and put our lunch boxes in a bin. Then we met our tour guide, a cordial fellow named Art. He took us to a classroom where he talked to us about the fort near the museum and gave us papers to map out where artifacts had been uncovered such as iron pots and lead shots. Then we looked at the site of the archeological dig where they had been found.

Then we went in and had lunch. After lunch we went to the gift shop to look at the items there. Some of the kids wanted to go to a tower that had a scenic view of Foxwoods, but they were unable to get into the tower. After that we went on a tour and saw a movie about how the English massacred to Pequots in the mid 17th century.

Then it was time for us to go home. We got into the cars and started the long ride back to Northampton Bowl for the Northampton students and to Gill for the others. It was very interesting and we all had a lot of fun.

By Walker, grade 7

Our next big trip was to Plimouth Plantation, where we visited a restoration of a Native Village, a restoration of the village of the English Colonists, and the Mayflower II, an exact copy of the original Mayflower. On the right are photos from this trip. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

September 2009

The weather was amazing at Tully Lake on the first day of school. A beautiful blue sky lit the day, and the air was fresh and cool. There were ten of us. Two of the canoes had three people in them, and the other two canoes had two. We paddled out to the main part of the lake and landed on an island about 500 feet long, that we designated as our home base. There were many rocks and there was sand. We found ripe blueberries and huckleberries on the island.

After that we were allowed to take separate canoes out to explore. After that we all had lunch on the home base and moved the base to another island, which was also sandy. The island was only half the size. Then after lunch, students took their canoes out, and the exploring began again. Then it was finally time for us to go back to the school. As we paddled out of the lake, we were caught in a massive gale, and it took a lot of skill for the four canoes to get out of the main body of the lake and to the shore. The only canoe that had a lot of trouble was the canoe that Max, Isaac, and I were in. The rest of the class had similar trouble but had made it. We all had a lot of fun.

The reason that we went to the Hancock Shaker Village on the second day of school, was that this year at Four Winds, we are going to study the history of Massachusetts. The shakers were a people who outlawed marriage. The shakers are kind of like the pilgrims. They were trying to practice their religion without ridicule from their neighbors.

At the visitors' center we saw a short video about the Shakers. The video told us the history of the village and what we could get at the gift shop at the museum. Hee Hee Hee. The Shakers had some innovative architecture such as a circular barn, buildings like a meeting hall, and a blacksmith. After we saw the video, we went to all of the buildings; the Blacksmiths, the Barn, and the Living Quarters. Shaker architecture is basically similar to early American in the 18th-19th centuries. The shaker village has been abandoned for about fifty years, and the re-enactors in the buildings were making stuff and answering our questions. We all had a lot of fun and we got along great.

Here are some pictures of the first academic weeks-- landscape drawing by the Connecticut River and our visit to the Ashfield Stone Quarry, including the enormous saw they use to cut stone.

By Walker, grade 7

Summer 2009

This summer there were nine students in the writing program plus Eloise and Brian, who wrote, too. We spent our mornings writing together and then sharing our stoies or poems. Listening was as much fun as writing, as others developed their stories each day. There were stories inspired by our daily swimming and visits to the covered bridge, stories about Rob the Hobo, as well as some of the other characters we know and love from the regular school year, and lots of new ideas, too, including lego people coming to life, mysteries and adventures, and a couple stories set in Cape Cod. Several of us wrote otter poems after seeing a family of otters at the river one afternoon.

We spent our afternoons outside. Some did more writing outside, and many of us got ideas for stories from our afternoon adventures. We enjoyed the waterfall and the rope at the covered bridge, and most of us swam every day-- except for one when there was a thunderstorm! If it rained without thunder, this enthusiastic group went out anyway. On the right is a picture of Sam and Jasmine swimming in the rain.

We added one more shoe to the collection of lost shoes from Four Winds, and nearly lost another, which Jasmine caught in a daring rescue. We also started a few new traditions and created stories and characters that will hopefully continue to develop in months to come.

Click on the photos to enlarge them. You can see the bridge in some of them.

May 2009

May was the final month of school. We finished up all of our academic work on May 22, and spent the last week of school going on field trips. We went canoeing at Tully Lake, like last year. It was so much fun, and this time it didn't rain! Some people explored the many islands, others went swimming, and some people started a canoeing taxi service.

After the successful time at Tully Lake, we went to Mass MOCA. The exhibits there were extraordinary; at least that was my opinion. Several exhibits included Dante's Hell, Room of Colors, and You Art What You Eat. At around lunchtime, we got Herrell's ice cream. On the way back from Mass Moca, we played Brain Quest, and Ghost, a spelling game.

Then, the next day, everyone helped clean the room for Graduation. We finished up the Text Book on the Twentieth Century, and the 2008/2009 Yearbook. Everyone also wrote a response to The Gospel According To Larry, a book we read. The Response Question was to choose a serious issue to write about, if you had the whole world's attention. Both the Textbook and the Sermons were on display at graduation.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

By Lia, grade eight

April 2009

In April we had several different people come visit the school. One of them was a woman vietnam veteran named Cherie. She talked about her experience in Vietnam, and how it affected her even after she returned. We also had Joe Parzych, a local author, come and visit us. He talked about his childhood and growing up during the great depression. We read his book several months ago, so everyone had many questions.

We also went and saw the play "Anne Frank" at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls.

Last, we went to a waste water treatment plant for science class. The manager of the plant, explained to everyone how the sewage and sludge traveled through the plant. In April, we also made cabbage tea during science class, dipped paper in the cabbage tea, applied either an acid or a base, and observed what color the paper was. The cabbage tea smelled awful, but the experiment was very interesting. The acid made the paper turn pink, and the bases made the paper turn green.

We did another experiment dipping litmus paper in different acids and bases and seeing what color the litmus paper became. Red indicated an acid, blue indicated a base.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

By Lia, grade eight

March 2009

We spent this cold gray month reading and writing poems about spring and touring greenhouses. We visited the Smith College greenhouse first, and then made a trip to Coyote Hill Farm. Farmer Ervin Meluleni showed us his passive solar hothouse, where we soaked up the sun, admired all the green, and picked arugula to bring home. Click on the second picture to see the black barrels of water which store heat and keep the greenhouse warm at night, allowing him to grow lettuce, spinach, salad greens, and arugula through the winter. Ervin told us that the on the coldest night of winter, the hothouse was 27 degrees!

Raymond Elliott came to the school and spoke to us about his experience as a soldier in an all-black regiment stationed in the Pacific during World War II and, also, what it was like returning home after the war. We had read and talked about World War II as part of our year-long study of the United States in the 20th Century. Next month, though we have moved on to the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, we will see a performance of The Diary of Anne Frank at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls.

We also did some fun sceince experiments this month. We oxidized metal, measured the percentage of oxygen in the air, separated the hydrogen and oxygen in water, and added electrlytes to water so that it would conduct electricity and light a lightbulb. Here are some photos of our most exciting experiment-- electrolysis of water-- with our oxidized electrode (nail), and scientists Jasmine, Max, and Lia observing the experiment.