The fourth-graders will be gazing up at the night sky during the day today courtesy of a visit of the Portable Planetarium Starlab brought to the school by the Museum of Science of Boston. Each class will have their turn visiting the huge 25-by-25-by-12-foot Starlab, which imitates a dark, cloudless night sky. Instructors from the museum will show students how to recognize patterns in the night sky and discuss how different cultures around the world create different constellations based on those patterns.
In addition, the use of video images and simulations will allow students an up-close look at some of the most distant objects that can be seen from Earth.
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The end of the year celebration for Donaghue School's sixth-graders will be tomorrow from 3 to 5 p.m. in the school's cafeteria. Pizza and music from a DJ will highlight the event, while sixth-grade teachers will serve as chaperones. Parents must provide transportation after the celebration.
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The Pentucket Regional School Committee will meet tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the high school.
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The first-graders from the Sweetsir School will head to Ordiorne Point State Park in Rye, N.H., for the day on Wednesday to learn more about the organisms that flourish in the coastal tide pools.
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Kindergarten students will take a walking field trip to the police and fire stations on Wednesday to learn more about the jobs of these civil servants. The students will be escorted on their walk by a policeman on his bike, and will even see what jail feels like when they sit in a cell for a bit.
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Donaghue school sixth-graders will be recognized for their achievements at an awards ceremony that includes their families on Thursday at 10 a.m. Awards include those for academic achievements, as well as those in the "special" areas of arts, music, computers and physical education.
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Donaghue students will have a "move-up day" on Thursday when each grade — third, fourth and fifth — will learn who their teachers are for the next school year and visit that classroom for a short time. Sweetsir students will be notified of their teacher for next year via a notice in the year-end report cards, which will be given out on the last day of school.
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The last day of school, an early release day, is Friday. There will be a short all-school awards assembly that morning before dismissal at 11:50 a.m. for Donaghue students and a noon dismissal for Sweetsir students. Report cards will go home that day.
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The new school year begins on Tuesday, Sept. 1 for those in first through sixth grade. Kindergarten students begin on Wednesday, Sept. 2 and preschool classes begin the week of Sept. 7.
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Michelle Pelletier Marshall reports on the Rowley and Merrimac elementary schools. She can be reached at marshallsinmass@comcast.net.
