School news
Hunting for parabolas at Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Park
Algebra 2 students recently visited Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Park on snowshoes to look for parabolas in nature.
A parabola is the U-shaped curve that shows up when you graph a quadratic equation. Parabolas come up a lot in the real world: the path a ball takes when you throw it, the shape of a satellite dish, the curve of a suspension bridge cable. They're a useful tool for modeling how things move and behave.
The question students are exploring is whether parabolas actually appear in nature on their own. They hiked through the forest, took pictures of curves they found in branches, roots, and other natural shapes, and will bring those photos back to class to write equations and see how well the math holds up.
Thank you to Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Park and to Kat Robbins for supporting the trip.
IDEA program students take flight with polyhedral kite design
IDEA—Innovation, Design, Engineering, Action—is a project-based elective at Woodstock Union that challenges students to learn by doing, tackling real design and engineering problems with their hands and their minds.
This semester, middle school IDEA students are putting that spirit to work in a big way: designing and building kites inspired by Alexander Graham Bell's famous Tetrahedral Kites from the early 1900s. To kick things off, students dove into polyhedral geometry—the study of three-dimensional solids made from polygons—and built their own small models from scratch. It was a lot of fun, and the kites are just getting started.
Ms. Vonada recognized with national teaching award
Woodstock Union high school math teacher Heather Vonada was honored at the NEA Foundation's Salute to Excellence in Education Gala in Washington, D.C. on February 13.
Ms. Vonada is one of just 48 educators nationwide selected by the NEA to receive the 2026 Travelers Award for Teaching Excellence—a prestigious recognition honoring outstanding classroom practice, commitment to equity, and community engagement.
We are lucky to have her. Congratulations, Ms. Vonada!
Library news, February 2026
Students with Jory Hearst
On Thursday, February 5, students who are in the Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club met with Jory Hearst, English teacher at Burlington High School and Teen Lit Mob co-organizer, to discuss plans for the big event! Teen Lit Mob, a literary festival for 200 Vermont teens, will be on Friday, April 10, 2026 at our school. The keynote speaker will be Lily Brooks Dalton, author of the Vermont Reads book, The Light Pirate.
Other authors participating in Teen Lit Mob are Jo Knowles, Kosoko Jackson, Dan Nott and Katy Faber. It is going to be a great day that celebrates students and their love of reading! If you are interested in attending, helping or just need more information, please let Ms. Piccoli know.
Football fun for Super Bowl Week at WES
Some of the Football players joined Mrs. Farwell at Woodstock Elementary School this week to help students with PE class during Super Bowl Week!
