Calendar
Wednesday, Dec. 9 School Club Meeting 6:00pm
Monday, December 14 6:30 pm at Wardsboro Town Hall
School Winter Concert & Basket Raffle drawing
Tuesday, December 15 School Board meeting 6:30 pm
Daisy Girl Scouts
Daisy's will meet 4-5:30 on Monday, December 7th at the Town Hall.
Cub Scouts
Den meeting – Tuesday, Dec. 8th 6:00 pm at the Wardsboro Town Hall. Bring your books!
Winter Concert Practice
On Thursday, December 10 we will be going to the Town Hall to practice for the concert. We will ride the bus to the Town Hall shortly after the students arrive at school on the South bus. If the weather is good we will walk back to school after practice. In case of bad weather we will ride the bus back to school.
Band News
The District Band, Cadet Band and Jazz Band will give their Winter Concert on Thursday, December 17th, at 7 pm. in the gym at Leland & Gray High School. Students should wear black pants/ white shirts (with collar), for this event.
There will be stage rehearsal on Wednesday, December 16th, in the gym at Leland & Gray. The schedule for stage time is as follows:
3-3:30-Cadet Band
3:30-4 District Band
4-4:30 Chorus
4:30-5 Jazz Band
Please pick your child up promptly following their stage time. Please carpool with other parents.
Thank you,
Michael McKinney
From the Principal’s Desk
Rosemary FitzSimons
Merry December! We’ve had the “sound of music” through our halls the last couple of weeks as students practiced with their teachers often in preparation for the Winter Concert on December 14th. The concert has a musical theme not related to Christmas so all students are free to participate. At the conclusion of the concert, we do expect a visit from a special seasonal visitor. Some parents may want to arrange to leave before our visitor arrives. Call school if you have additional questions regarding this.
Our school is a busy place, even after school. Connections, our after school program, is going strong – students participating are enthusiastic about their classes. Charlie Cummings, 21C Director, is planning for our next sessions after the Holiday break. Basketball has started. This year students in grades 2-6 may participate.
It is time to think about our winter sports program. It will continue to be Tuesday afternoons for 5 weeks beginning in January. Students that are skiing should be signed up for this. This year Jodi Perkins and Lucas Bates are coordinating this program at Mount Snow. Kim Lazelle is continuing to volunteer as parent coordinator for the Stratton Rec part of the winter sports program. We will be sending a volunteer sheet in the next couple of weeks asking for parent volunteers. Parents, these are two great programs. Please do what you can to volunteer for the winter sports program your child is participating in – we need you! This past summer three teachers attended a literacy conference. The teaching staff and I will be using the winter sports afternoons for professional development on literacy. Teachers that attended the conference will share their expertise so that consistent strategies are developed and extended throughout the prek-6 grades.
Have a great week!
Food Pantry
The distribution date of food from the Food Pantry will be Monday, December 21st instead of the usual date. Please sign up in advance, by Friday, December 18th.
The usual date is the last Wednesday of the month, from 6:30 to 8 pm at the Vestry beside the Methodist Church on Main Street. Emergency assistance is also available at any time. Call Elaine at 874-7234 for further information or assistance.
Dear Pre K and Kindergarten Families,
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving Holiday. Students came back rested and ready to learn. We had a great week. From Letterland this week, we met Kicking King. We learned that he is a very kind king who has kittens, kangaroos and a king fisher as pets. Students were challenged by writing his letter but motivated to keep practicing. We discovered that Kicking King’s sound is very much like Clever Cat’s. At the art center students made kites. During our word work time we each made a K book with things that begin with the letter K. See if your child is able to read it to you.
The children are excited about our Holiday Concert, which will take place on Monday December 14th at 6:30. One of the songs we will be performing is, “I’ve Been Workin’ On The Railroad”. We will also be singing “Frosty The Snowman” with the whole school. If you are familiar with either of these songs, please try practicing at home with your child.
Kindergartners started a new unit on Number Patterns. You will find a Family Involvement packet in your child’s home folder that has activities for you to practice new skills that are being learned at school. In this new unit we will be using a 100s chart to practice counting up to the number 100, to find number patterns and to skip count by 2s, 5s and 10s.
Winter weather has arrived! Please make sure your child is prepared for all types of weather and be sure to pack the following; winter jacket, snow pants, boots, mittens and a hat. You are welcome to leave any winter clothing at school in your child’s cubby.
First and Second Grade
Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)
All the first and second graders enjoyed their Thanksgiving break. Everyone is rested and ready for learning.
REMINDER: weather is getting cold. PLEASE send your child with a winter coat, hat, and gloves. Once snow arrives students will need boots.
We have continued sharing the Now and Then projects. All the students are VERY excited to share them! If families get a chance take a look at the display outside our classroom.
We have begun writing reports about what we learned about the difference in schools long ago. Students will be working on including details that make the reader feel like they were there. I have read several books by authors that include exciting details to model this writing trait. During word work first graders have been identifying vowels in words. Second grader’s word work has focused on words with one, two, three, or four syllables.
During our Math Workshop we began our chapter on addition strategies to help add numbers quickly. This week we worked on the counting on and adding doubles and doubles plus one. Other strategies we will be working on are making sums of ten and adding 9, and adding 10.
Thank you for your time and support. I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!
Yours Truly,
Cris PJ
Dear Third and Fourth Grade Families,
Keep up the good work on the multiplication practice! Remember the only way to get better is to practice! Keep practicing the Wrap-Ups, practice pages, flashcards and any other ways that you have found to practice. Parents if your child is struggling remind them to try skip counting, or repeated addition to help them.
The class has been working very hard on some math problem solvers this week, and they are getting much better at being able to explain their thinking.
Our literacy groups are in full swing. Each group meets with myself, or Mrs. Sebastian daily for part of literacy time. The remainder of the time is spent on independent work assigned to them as part of their guided reading group or a whole class assignment. The students are working on using their time wisely so that they can complete their assignments without having weekend homework.
We are beginning a new unit in science studying Growing Things. We will be doing some experimenting, observing and investigating. I think that this unit will tie into our Four Winds theme.
Enjoy your weekend! Please keep reading and practicing those multiplication facts!
Mrs. Bills
5-6 Newsletter Dec. 3
This week students enjoyed learning about the dispersal of seeds as part of the Four Winds Program. We also continued to practice songs for the winter concert. Students should know all the words to the three songs by Friday! Sixth grade students have continued their study of geometry. This week we reviewed alternate interior and exterior angles. Students should be able to explain to you about parallel and perpendicular lines. They should be able to explain to you what a transversal is. Fifth grade students are reviewing and learning about algebraic symbols. Ask them to explain to you what < means and what > means. Ask them how they can easily tell the two apart. In addition, they should be able to explain how to write the symbols for less than or equal to and for greater than or equal to. In social studies we are continuing our study of early explorers. This week we learned about the conquest of the Aztecs and the Incas.
The Red Clover Children's Book Award
Each year the Red Clover Award is co-sponsored by Mother Goose Programs, Windham County Reads and the Vermont Departments of Education and Libraries. Ten contemporary picture books are selected each year to be on the Red Clover list. Thousands of Vermont children in kindergarten through grade two participate in this program. The children either read the books themselves or adults read, share, and discuss the books with them. Then the children vote for their favorite book by April. A conference for teachers and librarians occurs in the fall. The winning author/illustrator is (are) invited to attend the conference.
The nominees for the Red Clover Award for the 2009-2010 school year are included in this newsletter. Our school library has many of the books. Books from the list not found in our school library, may be obtained through our state’s library system or purchased from a bookseller.
For more information about the Red Clover Children’s Book Award Program, you might want to visit the following website.
http://www.mothergooseprograms.org/lit_red_clover_overview.php