Click Here for the NEW Digital Learning Commons

 

Visit the new Google Site HERE!

A new digital learning commons website is coming soon! Stay tuned.

Summer Send-off 2021

Summer is a great time to get outside and explore everything that our beautiful state has to offer. Here are some ideas and links to help you learn more.

Get Outdoors

• Visit our state parks. Click on this LINK to see where they are. Wolfe's Neck State Park in Freeport is just one of the many options, LINK
• Wells Reserve at Laudholm LINK
• Gilsland Farm, Falmouth LINK
• Maine Audubon Wildlife Sanctuaries LINK
• Go for a "Full Moon Canoe Tour" or maybe a bird walk with the Maine Audubon Society. See all of their fun summer activities here. LINK
• Maine Wildlife Park, Gray LINK
• Go hiking. There are may public trails in Maine. Choose a new one each week, pack a lunch and visit a part of Maine you have never seen before. Here are some possibilities:
• This great website helps you to search for trails by level of difficulty and town. Check it out. LINK
• Traveling this summer? AllTrails.com has a searchable database of trails for the United States. LINK
• Go camping. Theres no better summer activity. Wether you are in a tent or an RV, spending the night under the stars with your family is the best! Get the dirt on over 35,000 campgrounds in the US at this website called, The Dyrt. LINK
• Road Trip! Try one of these scenic byways. LINK
• Visit a Farmers Market or Family Farm. 
• Wow! Look at all these farmer's markets! LINK
• 
  

Beaches

• Popham LINK
• Reid State Park LINK
• Pemaquid Beach LINK

On the Water

• The Maine Island Trail has information about 200 small Maine islands that you can visit for the day or stay overnight. LINK
• Catch a Ferry Boat to a Maine island. LINK
• White Water Rafting! LINK
• Boat tours in Maine range from bird watching and whale watching trips to scenic tours. Here is more information. 
• Cap'n Fish, Boothbay Harbor LINK
• Balmy Days, Boothbay Harbor LINK
• Casco Bay Lines, Portland LINK   

Visit a Lighthouse

• There are 65 to choose from. Some are only accessible by boat, others you can drive to. Some are open to the public and have special tours. Click here for a complete list. LINK. Click here for more information LINK.
• Burnt Island Lighthouse in Boothbay Harbor, has a special reenactment program. Learn more here LINK.
• Read some lighthouse stories together. Here are some in our library:
• Keep the Lights Burning Abbie by Peter Roop
• Abbie Burgess, Lighthouse Heroine by Dorothy Holder Jones
• Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall (Caldecott Medal Winner 2019)
• The Sea Chest by Toni Buzzio
• The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Hoyt Swift
• Celia's Island Journal by Celia Thaxter

Growing Stuff (Indoors or Out)

• Public Gardens
• Merryspring, Camden LINK
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay Harbor LINK
• Viles Arboretum, Augusta LINK
• Garden Centers
• Moose Crossing LINK
• Snug Harbor Farm, Kennebunk LINK
• Estabrooks, Yarmouth LINK
• Plants Unlimited, Rockport LINK

Crafty Rainy Day Activities

• Made by Joel, LINK
• Nature Scrapbooks LINK
• Build a Birdhouse LINK
• Painting Rocks LINK
• Fairy Houses LINK
• Kitchen Creations LINK

Travel Through Time

• Owls Head Transportation Museum LINK
• Maine State Museum, Augusta LINK
• Maine Historical Society, Portland LINK
• Maine Maritime Museum, Bath LINK
• Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport LINK
• Local Historical Societies

READ, READ, READ

• Summer Reading Programs at your local library
• Rockland Public Library
• Thomaston Public Library
• Camden Public Library
• Rockport Public Library
• "Best" List Challenge. Choose one of the following lists and read as many of the books as you can.
• Maine Student Book Award LINK
• Chickadee Program LINK
• Newbery Award Winners LINK
• Caldecott Award Winners LINK
• Geisel Award Winners LINK
• Sibert Award Winners LINK

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Before you go...

Check the Weather, Weather Underground LINK

Check the Tides LINK

Scavenger Hunts and Challenges 

Don't forget your adventure pack!

Summer Scavenger Hunt 2021

Hello South School Families! 

Summer is a great time for special family outings and expeditionary learning. I hope you and your children will have fun exploring the activities below. Students who complete five in a row can bring the completed scavenger hunt to the learning commons in the fall for a prize. If you complete all of the activities you can collect two prizes. Happy Summer! 

-Mrs. Tibbetts

Tiny Birds

 

Plant and Animal Classificatio

 

When Pigasso Met Mootisee

Butterflies and Birds

Blue Morphos Butterflies

 

Moss and Lichen

 

Kiddle Article about MOSS, LINK

Kiddle Article about LICHEN, LINK

Lichen Slide Gallery, LINK

Spring Activities in the Learning Commons

 Hello Everyone,

Spring has sprung and in the learning commons our kindergarten friends are learning and reading about bright and colorful flowers. Our first graders are learning about bugs of all kinds. Second grade is adding information about making maple syrup to their Book Creator Nature Journals. Third graders are drawing settings for their Little Red Stop Motion videos and our upper elementary students are working on research and production skills with Book Creator activities centered on Maine's unique physical features and animals. Ask your children to tell you about the work they are doing during their IT classes.

The Donkey Egg

Our story this week is lots of fun. Only one more Chickadee nominee to go. Do you have a favorite yet?

What is a fish? Chickadee number eight!

 

On our field trip today we are going to Scuba Sam's World. Do you remember our internet safety rules?

1. Always ask an adult.

2. Stick to sites that are just right for kids.

3.Only talk to people that you know.

Here is the link to Scuba Sam's World. LINK

Here are some other fun places for kids that will help you learn more about things that live in the ocean.

National Geographic Animals-Jellyfish LINK

Sea World-LINK

Clean Ocean Club LINK

Chickadee nominee number six!

 Hello South School Starfish,

Our Chickadee nominee this week is about a pygmy marmoset. We are going on a field trip to visit a pygmy marmoset in its natural habitat, the jungle. Have you ever been on a field trip before? What are some of the safety rules we follow when we go on a field trip? How is going online like going on a field trip? Parents, learn more about Internet safety at the Common Sense Media website. LINK

Learn more about pygmies at the San Diego Zoo, LINK.

Cyril and Pat by Emily Gravett

 Hello Friends! This is our 6th Chickadee nominee. I hope you are sharing these stories at home and talking about them around the dinner table. Here is one you can listen to. It's read by the author. Then if you want, you can watch what happens when a real life squirrel meets up with a rat!

Beware of the Crocodile

Crocodiles are cool! Our 5th Chickadee nominee is a nonfiction book about crocodiles. Watch these videos to see them up close.

Chickadee Nominee Number Three!

 Here is our story for this week. It takes place during the Great Depression, a difficult time period in our history when people were very poor. 

Moon Phases

 Hello Everyone!

Second graders are learning about the moon. Below is a video that will help to understand the different moon phases. You can download a cool app called Moon Phases that will help you to view a calendar of each day and what the moon will look like on that day. 

The Proudest Blue

 Our second Chickadee book is the Proudest Blue by Olympic Medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali and art by Hatem Aly. To learn more about Ibithaj Muhammad click on the videos below.