MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL FROM CUTTYHUNK ISLAND!

As Christmas arrives we would like to wish each one of you the happiest of holidays, good times and memories shared with family and friends, hugs full of love, lots of fun and laughter, delicious food and treats to eat, and most importantly peace on Earth!  Merry Christmas Everyone!

Please click on the link below to view our funny holiday video - it may take a few minutes to load - turn on your sound and enjoy!  Starring Carter, Gwen, Ms. Dunn, Toby on guitar and Bella.  :)

CuttyhunkElementaryElfYourselfvideo

Until 2014!

See you next year! 

The Cuttyhunk Kids

What's Cooking on Cuttyhunk?

Ciao! This month we have been learning how to cook some foods from the country of Italy.   Each Wednesday afternoon we go to our Culinary Arts class with Chef Kathy Olsen.   Culinary Arts is another name for Cooking.  We have our own chef jackets and hats to keep our clothes and the food clean.  We froze some of the Italian food and then served it all to our parents and teachers in a 4-course Italian meal!

This is Carter and Gwen making an Italian dinner for their parents and seven other friends.
We learned how to set the table for a special occasion.  

Carter is making a Caesar dressing for the salad.

They're now putting it on the Caesar salad and it looks good!

Mangia!  Everyone is eating now and they are really enjoying it!

Carter is topping the cheesecake and it looks so yummy!

The Ricotta Cheesecake is all ready to eat!

Here are our chefs Carter, Gwen, and Chef Kathy. 

They're getting ready for cooking!

 As you can see,  it takes a lot of work to make a big dinner.  Gwen is making meatballs with hamburger.

Gwen is making the meat into round meatballs!

They will be delicious!

Gwen has made a funny meat face ha ha!

Carter is cooking the meatballs in a frying pan.

Carter is happy to make make meatballs and has a milk mustache.

Gwen is chopping some celery for the meatballs.

Gwen is crying from chopping the onions.

Carter is chopping away!

Carter is stirring the sauce and……...

……….they made tomato sauce!

Carter and Gwen made stuffed mushrooms and they look good!

"Want one?"
Until next time Arrivederci from the Cuttyhunk kids!

Have you ever fed jelly to a Black bear?

Last week, we visited the Buttonwood Zoo in New Bedford, MA.   This is a beautiful small zoo and we had an exciting day there doing a special "Behind the Scenes" guided tour.  On a gorgeous late summer day we headed off island for a great day of learning.  We met one of our School Committee members, Jay Hess, at the main gate and he toured the zoo with us. Our first surprise was meeting another Toby!

Carter is feeling very excited about going to the zoo.  Cuttyhunk Island is in the background.

Gwen is having a good time on the boat ride to New Bedford, MA.

When we first got to the zoo we saw a bison - he was HUGE!

This is Toby, the bear, and he is having a treat right now. 

Toby can sit down like a dog and it's very cool.

Toby has another treat while we watch him. He weighs almost 500 pounds!

Carter is scratching the bear and the trainer who feeds Toby is also giving him treats at the same time. 

Toby is licking off some jelly off a spoon (yum!)

Carter is hand feeding Toby some jelly.

Now, Gwen is hand feeding Toby some jelly. 

Carter is putting some peppermint water drops around the bear habitat so it gets the bears' noses going. 

Carter is putting some in a bush to try and trick the bears.

Gwen is throwing some treats around the bears' habitat. 

Toby the bear is looking for some treats that Gwen just hid.   We are watching them from behind a glass wall now.

Its time to say goodbye to the bears and to go and see the elephants. 

This is Emily the Asian elephant and she is eating some carrots, apples and bananas. 

On the right is Ruth the elephant, she likes carrots too.  They are 49 and 55 years old!

Gwen feeding carrots to Emily the elephant.

Carter feeding Ruth the Asian elephant.

At the Harbor seals we tossed rings into them in the water and they brought them back to their trainer for a small fish.

After we left the zoo we got some excellent ice cream at Coldstones and then we went home!

 Until next time,
The Cuttyhunk Kids

Welcome Back! A New Year School Year Begins on Cuttyhunk Island!

We're Baaaaccckkk!  
Welcome Back everyone!  
A new year begins on Cuttyhunk Island.... today was Day 8 in school and we've been very busy! Carter is in 4th grade now and Gwen is in the 3rd grade this year.   

We started our year with a great guided tour of the Cuttyhunk Historical Society's museum with Director Kathryn Balistrieri and learned all about the Penikese and Cuttyhunk Fishing Clubs which started during the Civil War.  We got to play a record on a very old machine called a Victrola.  We also looked at our family trees on both Mom and Dad's sides of the family.  Both sides of our family tree can be traced back to the island for many generations and we saw where our middle names came from.  Then we saw how museums preserve their collections in special rooms where they are a certain temperature and humidity to save them for many years. 

A day in Art class - We had a very special visit from artist Gail Grow who was visiting the island on an artists' retreat at Avalon.  She brought all kinds of cool artist's tools and taught us about painting with watercolors.  She is going to work with us this year to help us write another book too!

 Carter learning how to use a watercolor pen brush.

 Toby doesn't care too much about Art class (he likes Snack and Recess the best!) so he is sleeping on the job...but still watching our door. :)

Gwen gets some useful tips from artist Gail Grow.

Gwen practicing her watercolor technique.

One of Carter's great watercolors from Art class.

Gwen is proud of her beautiful watercolor! 

Gwen painted this watercolor of the Gosnold monument in the west end in Art class this summer. 

Gwen being funny in Science class.  Geology rocks!  We are learning all about rocks and minerals. Our new lab coats keep our clothes clean and dry when we do science investigations.

 Cooking class with Chef Kathy is awesome! We are going to be cooking foods from all around the world and this month it is foods from Italy.  We learned how to make Italian meatballs...yum!  We ate some and froze the rest for next week when we learn how to make the tomato sauce.  Our new chef jackets will help keep the sauce off our clothes. 

Carter being funny trying his chef hat on before Cooking class. He was busting out of his chef jacket like the Incredible Hulk so we have to return it and get an adult size for him! :) 

Somebody...named Carter!...is REALLY excited about earning his awesome prize for completing all of his Summer Reading program before school started!   It's a very cool remote control helicopter! Congratulations for working hard on your reading this summer Carter! 

Until next week,

The Cuttyhunk Kids

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