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This week in All School Meeting we learned about ROARS on the bus. Several students and parents joined forces to produce a skit for the group. This was a fun way to hear the following messages about ROARS on the bus. To meet student needs, we have made some adjustments to our Bus Code of Conduct. It now reads:

ROARS on the Bus – OWN-IT

Ø Enter and exit calmly.

Ø Wear your backpack in front of you.

Ø Remain calm and seated.

Ø Keep your hands and feet inside the bus and to yourself.

Ø Use appropriate language.

Ø Talk quietly with your seat partner.

Ø Follow the bus driver’s directions.

The bus driver may issue a written warning when inappropriate behavior disrupts the safety of transporting all students. Students may be suspended from the bus for a period of time if misbehavior continues.

Thank you for your continued support at home!

Greeting Pre K and Kindergarten Families,

Happy Fall! We had another terrific week in our classroom. We have such a hard working group of students. I am very proud of them and their efforts. This week during our literacy center time students explored beginning sounds of words at the ABC center, in our journals we drew pictures and wrote about something they might do in space (to go along with our IN the Sky theme) and at the reading center we all enjoyed looking at our theme study books. Our word work time consisted of more work with rhyming words. Students were given pictures and were to match the pictures with another picture that it rhymes with. We are becoming proficient at rhyming. Our trip to Letterland this week included meeting/reviewing Bouncy Ben, his letter and his sound. See if your child can tell you what his favorite color is. Our In The Sky theme is going well. At the Art center this week students built and decorated rocket ships. We also read the story, Papa, please get me the moon by Eric Carle and learned a new song about the sun and the moon.

During math, kindergartners began Chapter 2; Patterns. We discovered that patterns are on our clothing, on animals, on flowers, on flags, on buildings and all around us. I have sent home more details about what we will be learning in your child’s home folder. There are also some recommended activities for you to enjoy as a family.

On next Thursday afternoon we will have our first Four Winds class of the year. This year the theme is life cycles. Our first class will be about the life cycle of insects. We are looking forward to it.

Hope you have a great weekend.

First and Second Grade

Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)

The first and second graders had a good week. The first two days this week I was at Leland and Gray working with other teachers and administrators around the district on some professional development.   I am excited to share what I learned with the Wardsboro Staff.   Even with my absence, the students were engaged and active in learning.

Wednesday through Friday I continued with my reading assessments with individual students. I am working with students one-on-one assessing their reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. While I am with a student the rest of the class continues to learn and practice some of our literacy activities such as Story Starters, Squiggles, alphabetical order, high frequency word activities and many others.

Our Word Work part of our Literacy block involves learning different word study activities. These activities will be used throughout the year to practice the high frequency words, words we read and write a lot.

During Writer’s Workshop we finished our shared writing piece that helped us review and learn narrative story format. We created a beginning, middle, and an end to our story. Narrative stories need to include a problem and a solution to the problem. Next, students began their own narrative stories applying what they know about the format we had practiced.

During our Math Workshop first and second graders began our chapter on number patterns.   Students have been exploring skip counting by 2’s, 4’s, 5’s, and 10’s. Also, first and second graders worked with odd and even numbers.   We worked with number lines, number charts and snapcubes. Students also worked on problem solving strategies to use when finding a pattern in numbers.

Our Earth and Moon theme is going super! This week we finished our exploration of why the Sun and Moon appear to move through the sky.   Students discovered that it is actually the Earth that is moving which causes the rising and setting of the Sun and Moon.   We created stained glass-like moons, which we have hung in our windows. Next, students began an investigation about why the moon changes shapes.

            I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!

Yours Truly,

Cris PJ

Dear Third and Fourth Grade Families,

            Thank you to all the third and fourth grade students for trying their best on the MAPs tests, which we were able to complete last week. Once we have the official results I will be working with your child to be setting goals for the school year. Last week I also had the opportunity to begin the Fountas and Pinnel Reading Assessments, and I will hopefully wrap them up in the next few weeks so we can make our official guided reading groups.

            Tuesday morning we had our first Four Winds class of the year studying insects. The class seemed to enjoy this a lot! We discussed the life cycle of insects, looked at what the different stages in an insects life might look like and then we got a chance to catch and observe insects in the school yard.

This week we had our VOCABO game and Vocabulary quiz on Friday to allow us time to work with our words, since we had Four Winds on Tuesday morning.

            In math we are continuing to work on improving our understanding of place value, different ways to write numbers, comparing numbers and being able to express what we know and why we know it verbally and in writing.

            Science is also continuing to be an adventure! We are exploring circuits and electricity. This week we focused on insulators and conductors. Students had to create a way to test different classroom items to find which were conductors, then they had an opportunity to test many classroom items.

            I hope spelling homework was less confusing to you all this week. I hope that it will continue to get easier for you!

Enjoy your weekend!

Fifth and Sixth Grade Newsletter

MAPs testing (Measures of Academic Progress) has been going well this week. Students are also being assessed individually for reading with the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System.

This week we completed our maps of the physical geography of Africa, and we have begun our maps of Australia.

The first day of our Four Winds science project was successful! Students found a variety of insects on the school grounds and at the edge of the woods. Thank you to our volunteers: Kim Lazelle, Jen Finaldi, Jeremy Schrauf, and Linda Hescock.

We have also completed our second Homework Heroes contest and the winning team is Team # 2: Shannon, Kelsey, Greer, Askalae, Anthony, and Katie!                                                         New teams have been formed for the next 10 homework days. We are off to a good start with all teams earning a star on the first day of the new contest!

At this time, all students in the fifth and sixth grade have received ROARS tickets. Some have received more than one! We are working hard to demonstrate positive behavior in the fifth and sixth grade!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Shakespeare

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Friday, September 18

Newsletter 09/18/09

by Laura Smith on Fri 18 Sep 2009 08:08 AM PDT

The Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

This week I have just a few bulleted items to bring to your attention.

·        Thanks to all of you who were able to attend our Open House last night. It was great to see so many parents in attendance.

·        It is that time of year when the temperature can change a lot from morning through afternoon. Be sure your child has an extra layer for the early part of our school day. Like everyone, we are conscious of our unneeded energy use.

·        Our afterschool Connections program begins next week. Call ASAP if you would like your child in one of the classes. Our Enrichment Connections choices for this session will be Chinese K-2, Digital Photography 3-6 and Scrapbooking. All classes will have a literacy link. Parents will be able to sign their child/ren up for Daily Connections by the month. This part of the program will offer an opportunity for students to get a variety of support from homework help to tutoring to enrichment.

·        ROARS tickets designed to acknowledge positive behaviors are making a difference. Thanks for your positive support from home.

·        We are having some difficulties uploading our newsletter in a readable format to our website. We are working to correct this.

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Don’t forget to curl up with a good family book.

Daily Connections and Enrichment Connections starts Monday September 21st!!

Afterschool bus for the Connections program will run at 4:15pm on Tuesday and Thursday next week.

I'm pleased to introduce Kerstin Kjellberg as the Wardsboro Site Director and Instructor for the Afterschool program. Kerstin comes to us with wonderful experiences working and teaching children. She’ll be helping organize day to day operations for Afterschool in Wardsboro as well as providing enrichment and academic help to students enrolled in the Daily Connections programs

Please note, due to low attendance, we’ve had to cancel K – 2 Digital Photography and 3 – 6 Chinese. If your children were enrolled in these classes, please contact Charlie Cummings if you’d like to sign up for a replacement activity.

Charlie Cummings, 21st Century Grant Director

Arlington / Wardsboro School Districts, 802.375.6409 Ext 217

Dear Pre K and Kindergarten Parents,

Thank you to all of the parents who came to our Open House Night on Wednesday. I am happy to see that so many of you are taking such an interest in you child’s education. We had a fantastic full week of school. Students seem to be settling in and more familiar with the routine. This week marked the beginning of many different things. First of all we met the first character from Letterland this week, Annie Apple. Kindergartners shared her story with the Pre K students. We also began our first theme study of the year, In the Sky. We all brainstormed a list of things that are in the sky, read some books about the moon and learned a new fingerplay. I was amazed at how much everyone already knew about the sun, moon, stars and the earth.   Lastly, we also began our morning literacy center groups. At the ABC center students molded letters with playdough, at the writing center students wrote about their favorite thing about school and at the reading center students paired up to enjoy some of “theme” books.

Kindergartners finished up our first unit in math, sorting and classifying. We explored sorting in many different ways and discovered that you can sort things by size, shape, color, kind and also texture. Next week we will begin a new unit on patterns. A Family Involvement Packet will be sent home next week with activities for you to do at home. Also, for homework both Pre K and Kindergartners should be reading or read to for at least 10 minutes each evening.

I hope you enjoy the last days of summer. Monday marks the first day of fall. We’ve been talking about how the seasons are beginning to change. Over the weekend, if you’re outside with your child, look for any signs of fall. We will talk about them next week.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Bates

Dear Third and Fourth Grade Families,

Thank you to all of you that were able to attend the Open House on Wednesday night! It was great to see you! Those of you that were not able to attend please check your child’s assignment books for copies of the handouts given at the Open House.

If all went as planned this week, we will have completed our fall MAPS testing. Once we have the score reports we will be using them for individual goal setting for students.

Enjoy your weekend! Try to help your child get plenty of rest and do their daily reading.

          Sincerely,

          Mrs. Bills

Fifth and Sixth Grade Newsletter

Dear Parents,

It was great to meet all of you who could come to the open house. If you didn’t get to come to the open house, I will send information home with your child. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

On Tuesday we will start our Four Winds Project with Mrs. Finaldi.

We will begin MAPs (Measures of Academic Progress) testing next week on Wednesday.

If you have any idioms to share with your child, please send them in! If you know the story behind the idiom, please include it! Thanks!

All’s well that ends well! Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Shakespeare

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Friday, September 11

Newsletter 09/11/09

by Laura Smith on Fri 11 Sep 2009 07:42 AM PDT

Wardsboro Update 09/11/09

Calendar

Monday, September 14   School Pictures

Tuesday, September 15 School Board meeting 6:30pm

Wednesday, September 16 Open house 6:30 pm

Monday, September 21           Connections Program begins

Reformer Christmas Stocking

Applications are available in the school office for this program which provides warm outer winter clothing for children ages 0-15. The completed applications must be sent in through the school. The deadline for applications is early October so please pick up and return applications as soon as possible. They will not accept late applications.

Band News

District Band (5th & 6th graders) and Jazz Band begin rehearsals on Monday, September 21st from 3-4:15 pm, in the Townshend Elementary School

Instrumental rental night: pick-up night is Monday, September 21st at 6:30 pm in the L&G music room(lower level)

The Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

Our school’s 2008-2010 action plan has the following three goals developed to meet student needs:

Improve student performance in math

Improve literacy skills across the content areas

Use communication with students and families to improve student responsibility for learning.

            We have made great strides towards achieving these goals. We believe that our PBS (positive behavior supports) will help us to further build skills. Our schoolwide focus, ROARS, will especially help us to achieve goal three of our plan. ROARS is an acronym for the positive behaviors of responsibility, own-it, achieve, respect and safety. Last Friday we began ROARS ticketing. Tickets are given out by all members of the school community when others are “caught” exhibiting one of our ROARS behaviors. These tickets are one of the strategies developed to better communicate positive behaviors noted with students, families and staff. Individual responsibility for learning is critical for student success. This was a focus of President Obama’s speech to American students. The following comments, that link directly to goal three of our action plan, were included in his speech to students:

“But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. “                        www.whitehouse.gov

As a school community, we will continue to help students (and adults) grow and learn in a positive supports environment - to encourage responsibility, learn to “own” behaviors, achieve short and long term goals, respect all members of our community and act safely.

Connections

Daily Connections and Enrichment Connections starts Monday September 21st!! I'm pleased to introduce Kerstin Kjellberg as the Wardsboro Site Director and Instructor for the Afterschool program. Kerstin comes to us with wonderful experiences working and teaching children. She’ll be helping organize day to day operations for Afterschool in Wardsboro as well as providing enrichment and academic help to students enrolled in the Daily Connections programs

Please note, due to low attendance, we’ve had to cancel K – 2 Digital Photography and 3 – 6 Chinese. If your children were enrolled in these classes, please contact Charlie Cummings if you’d like to sign up for a replacement activity.

Charlie Cummings

21st Century Grant Director

Arlington / Wardsboro School Districts

802.375.6409 Ext 217

Dear Pre K and Kindergarten Families,

Welcome back. I hope you were able to enjoy the beautiful weather over the long Labor Day weekend. At school this week, our class continues to practice and establish routines of the classroom. The importance of learning these routines will allow the rest of the school year to go smoothly and maximize learning time. We have also been focusing much of our time learning the letters in our names and practicing how to write our names. We have learned poems, sung songs and explored magnetic letters using our own names and the names of our classmates. This week during our word work time, we learned the song Down By the Bay. Students enjoyed making up silly rhymes to the song and then drawing a picture of their favorite rhyme. We will make these into a class book. Next week we will meet the first character from Letterland, Annie Apple.

On Tuesday, preschoolers met our school guidance counselor, Bill Scarlett. He will visit our classroom every Tuesday morning and work with us on many different social skills and how to get along with others.   Many students had their first opportunity to “share” an item from home with the class. This proved to be an exciting activity. Please remember not to send in toys.

In the afternoon kindergarten students have been working on our first math unit, sorting and classifying. This week we continued to work with vocabulary to introduce the unit. We played a game, similar to musical chairs that helped us practice telling our left from our right and reviewed top, middle, bottom, over, under, below and above.

On Friday afternoons, we have been pairing up with Mrs. Bills third and fourth grade class for Buddy Reading. So far students have looked forward to thisopportunity.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Mrs. Bates

First and Second Grade

Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)

Our ROARS notes have been coming in! First and second graders have been demonstrating Responsibility, Ownership, Achievement, Respect, and Safety.

HOMEWORK:

·         First and second graders homework time should not take more than 30 minutes, including reading.

·         First and second graders should read for 10 minutes or more.

·         Math homework comes home a few nights a week.

·         Next week second graders will begin spelling homework. Please be on the look out for it in your child’s folder. Spelling homework will be looking a little different this year. I will explain any changes as assignments go out. First graders will begin spelling after winter break.

I have started my Beginning of the Year assessments to show any changes is reading behaviors that were made over the summer.   While I am completing these assessments students are learning and practicing new literacy activities at centers.

During Writer’s Workshop students continue to build on their writing fluency through Silent Sustained Writing (SSW.) First grade word work has been focused on rhyme. Students have been matching rhyming pictures to their word, and writing some of these rhymes. Second graders word work has been focused on noticing beginning and ending parts of words. They have discovered that many words have the same ending part (rime,) and just by changing the beginning part (onset) they can make a new word.

During our Math Workshop we have been exploring number sense and place value. We have explored vocabulary such as Ones, Tens, and digits. Students discovered that all numbers, no matter how large include only 10 digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9. However, we have also discovered that where the digit is placed changes its value. Having a solid understanding of number sense sets the stage for student’s success with math in the future.

Our Earth and Moon theme is going great! Students explored what a model is. We learned that a model is an object that looks just like the real thing, but it is much smaller, like a toy car or globe. This week we also discovered that if a tennis ball was the Moon, our classroom globe is the Earth, and then our school would be the Sun. Wow, that’s big.   However, why does the moon and sun look about the same size in the sky?

            I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!

A FEW REMINDERS:

·         SNEAKERS need to be worn or brought to school on P.E. days.

·         PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE if your child has a fever or is throwing up do not send them to school. Although medicine may take the fever away they are still contagious.

·         Check HOME/SCHOOL FOLDERS every day.

·         Any notes for school should be put in the folder

·         Only ONE dessert for after lunch

Thank you for your help with this.

Yours Truly,

Cris PJ

Dear third and fourth grade families,

          It seems like it was just yesterday that I was writing the last newsletter. We have continued to be very busy in class learning routines, and activities.

          During our literacy time we have been learning to use SRA, practicing doing silent sustained writing, how to complete our science activities, and learning how to use a dictionary to find a definition of a word and write what it means in our own words.   Thursday we played our first game of VOCABO, and practiced completing a vocabulary quiz. Students have also been working in groups to read a book and prepare to hold a book discussion about that book. Before working in our groups I modeled this by reading Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine aloud and holding a class book discussion.

          In math we were busy this week practicing our problem solving skills including choosing a strategy, organizing our work, presenting what we have learned and using math vocabulary to explain our thinking. The strategy we focused on this week was using an organized list.

          In social studies we have continued our presidential study. Ask your child if they know who the second president of the United States was. We have also begun some Vermont geography.

          In science we have begun our unit on electricity. We will be building circuits using batteries, wires, and light bulbs. We will also be discussing electrical safety and important vocabulary terms such as insulators and conductors. I will be reminding students to be safe and not experiment with electricity on their own.

          Don’t forget to review the homework expectations, and complete any weekend homework. If your child has weekend homework it means that they didn’t complete something during the week so it needs to be completed and turned in Monday or they will owe their recess time to get it completed.

          Enjoy your weekend!

                   Mrs. Bills

Fifth and Sixth Grade Newsletter

Homework Heroes                                                                                                                                       So far, so good! The 24 students in the fifth and sixth grade classroom have succeeded in completing 100 % of their homework assignments for 10 days! As a result, each member of the four winning teams will receive a free homework pass! Also, because 100% of the class managed to complete the challenge, a bonus pass is issued to each student! The free passes which will be issued on Friday, September 11^th, must be used within the next two weeks. Usually a pass is good for use during the following week after winning, but since each student earned 2 passes, they have two weeks! Just to clarify: one pass is good for one night’s homework. It should be presented when I am checking homework in the morning.

Mathematics                                                                                                                                                  Students in the fifth grade are reviewing multiplication of two and three digit numbers as well as learning the steps to completing long division problems. Expect your child to be practicing the multiplication facts that he/she still has not mastered. Calculators are great for use when solving math problems, but a firm grasp of the basic multiplication facts is still a necessary skill. Sixth grade students are currently reviewing rounding of numbers. They will also be reviewing math facts as needed.

Social Studies                                                                                                                                                 Students should have completed the first map for their individual atlases. The first map is a physical map of North America. A write up about the physical geography of the continent will also be included in the completed atlases. We expect to complete the atlases by the end of October, if not sooner! In addition to completing physical maps of the continents, students will be expected to correctly identify: the continents, major bodies of water, the equator, etc. on a world map by the end of this unit of study.

The WCSU Spelling Bee is scheduled for October 6^th! We have a group of 8 students currently working to be ready for the competition! Our team members and coaching crew are made up of the following students: Tyler Melis, Chaston Finaldi, Susan Francy, Kristen Perkins, Danielle Senn, Bryce Karg, Emma Densmore, and William Bush.

Assignment Folders will turn into Assignment Notebooks next Monday. Students will still receive the Homework for the Week on Mondays, but they will be expected to write in specific assignments in their Assignment Notebooks.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Shakespeare

Dear Families,

Please consider checking your paper recyclables for books before emptying them into the dumpster/collection bin at the Town Transfer Station. Last week, Jill Dean, our Town Librarian, came to our school with some books in hand. I recognized the titles because we have them in our guided reading collection here at Wardsboro School. I asked Jill if the books were mistakenly deposited at the Town Library. On rare occasions, that has happened in the past, and likewise a book from the Town Library has appeared in our school library’s book return bin. However, to my dismay, Jill told me she found the books in the paper-recycling bin at the Town Transfer Station. I thanked Jill for rescuing the books and bringing them back to our school. I hope you will find an opportunity to thank Jill, also!

Most of the books in our school’s guided reading collection cost quite a lot of money and we need these multiple copies of each book in the collection so we have enough books for each child in each guided reading group. In the primary grades, after each guided reading book has been read in school with a teacher, each child takes their book home in a book bag to read the book at home, and then return it to school. This extra practice reading the same book again helps improve children’s reading skills and reading fluency. At the same time, it provides an opportunity to build responsibility and respect, which are part of our positive behavior system, or ROARS, of which you will be hearing more. Please help us in these efforts by ensuring your child returns Wardsboro School’s books to the school. We stamp the inside cover of each of our guided reading books with the school’s name.

Wardsboro School’s guided reading collection has been established with the help of a ten thousand dollar grant and taxpayers’ money. Additionally, some staff volunteered their own time (outside the workday week) to prepare, organize, and develop the school’s guided reading collection. We still have more genres and levels of books to add. This is an ongoing effort. Please help us retain the books we have so we don’t need to spend money, replacing books prematurely. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Donna Sebastian

Instructional Support Teacher

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