Knuffle Bunny Project

Knuffle Bunny Project: A Look at Stratham

Did you know that author Mo Willems used real pictures from his community in his illustrations for his book Knuffle Bunny? He took real black and white photos from his neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY to use in his story!

Since we too are learning about our own community and what we can do to support it, we are going to make our own Knuffle Bunny-inspired illustrations of our town of Stratham. Please take a photo of any place in our town where you spend lots of your time. It could be a photo outside of our school, Stratham Hill Park, The Wiggin Memorial Library, or even right in your own neighborhood! Please e-mail these photos to Ms. Riley (ariley@sau16.org) by  Monday, November 14th. We will print out our photos and make our illustrations at school!

*If you are able to make your photos black and white before sending them, it would be much appreciated. No worries if you cannot, we can certainly help!

We will be talking more about this project on Monday in class, and we will add our characters and write about our photos once we receive all of our pictures. Want to see some examples of student work in the past? Click here!

Parading Through 300 Years

We had such a wonderful time at the Stratham 300th Anniversary Parade this afternoon! It was great to see so many giraffes marching with us and cheering along the way.

To top it all off, our "flotilla" depicting all of the schools that have been in Stratham over the last 300 years won 1st place in the float contest! Way to go, SMS Wolves! 

There were also lots of other giraffes marching in the parade with other groups such as cub scouts, girl scouts, and the Wiggin Memorial Library. If anyone has any other pictures they took that they would like to add to the post, please send them along to Ms. Riley! 

Parade Preview

On Friday, the giraffes were the final group to go to MakerSpace to finish up the school house models for the parade! We added the final details to all of the structures. We can't wait to see them in action at the parade on Sunday! 

We added grass, rocks, doors, windows, and stairs to all of the structures. We also helped to organize all of the signs so we are ready to go on Sunday! 

We were even able to spot the giraffe class on the model of our current school building

We hope to see lots of you at the parade on Sunday. We will be sure to take lots and lots of pictures!

Our Hometown: Stratham

Hello, Giraffe Families!

There is going to be a very familiar place featured on TV tonight: tune in to NHPTV tonight at 8 pm to watch Our Hometown: Stratham. Click on the picture below to see a preview of tonight's episode!

Note About The Parade

Hello SMS Families,

There seems to be some confusion about students participating in the Stratham community parade this Sunday, and we are writing to apologize for that confusion and to try and clear it up!

Not all staff members are participating in this voluntary event and students in need of supervision or support should have a parent/guardian with them. We want all interested students to be able to participate successfully; however, we want to make sure that expectations are clear for everyone involved.

1. The parade is almost 2 miles long. Students who walk MUST be able to walk on their own, for 2 miles, without stopping, using a bathroom, or resting. We will be part of a large parade procession and will not be able to slow down or stop.
2. From the time students arrive at 1:00, walk the parade, and return to the park on the buses provided by the parade, students are expected to be in charge of themselves. While the teachers and adults walking in the parade will support students, we cannot be in charge of every student’s behaviors and/or needs. The total time could be close to 3 hours.
3. If your child wants to participate but will need support for these issues – behavior, walking 2 miles, etc – please walk with them as part of the SMS parade procession. This way you can support their needs throughout the parade.

 We are excited to participate in such an important community event, and we want everyone who is interested to participate successfully. We thank you, in advance, for your understanding of these expectations.

Take care and see you Sunday,

Tom Fosher & David Goldsmith

Stratham 300 Parade!

This year, all of the students at SMS have the exciting opportunity to march in Stratham's 300th Anniversary Parade on Sunday, September 25th. The parade route begins at Stratham Hill Park and ends at the circle by the Post Office. 

Here are the parade details:

• Permission slips for marching in the parade are due back by Thursday, September 22nd
• The parade begins at 2:00 at Stratham Hill Park
• Everyone marching in the parade has to arrive at 1:00 at Stratham Hill Park. Wear your SMS Gear!! Look for Ms. Riley when you get to the park.
• We will walk to Stratham Circle. During the parade, students will all take turns holding signs, pulling wagons, etc. 
• Once the parade is complete, the organizers of the parade require that all walkers take buses (provided by the parade group) back to Stratham Hill Park for pick up. Because of traffic, parents are not allowed to drive to the post office to get their children. SMS staff will be at the post office and on the buses to ensure all students get on buses safely and are picked up at Stratham Hill Park

Our students, staff, and volunteers have worked incredibly hard to create our walking flotilla to depict the history of education in Stratham. We have had lots of fun adding our own details to the structures during our time in MakerSpace! We can't wait to show off the final results--the giraffes will be the last class to add the final touches to the structures Friday afternoon before they are in the parade!

A HUGE thank you to Mr. G and Mrs. Dow for organizing the creation of our flotilla! We can't wait to march in and watch the parade on Sunday!