From the Principal’s Desk
Rosemary FitzSimons
We have three goals in our school’s action plan. The first two are focused on math and literacy improvements. The third one states “Use communication with students and families to improve student responsibility for learning”. Communication between school and home comes in a variety of ways – this newsletter being one. Report cards are a critical communication tool. I hope you were able to take time to review your child’s report card with him/her. Were you able to discuss areas that showed growth? Areas that need additional attention from the student? Children are here to learn so we want to celebrate success and support areas in need of continued improvement – continuous learning is what school is all about. Help your child set goals for the next report card. This will help them to understand their responsibility for learning. Parents play a critical role in this. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have questions about the report card.
We have completed three of our five winter sports afternoons. Thank you again to parents who are able to help out at Mount Snow or Stratton Rec. Thanks also to the paras and Bill Scarlett, guidance counselor, for their role in this. The snow shoes have been used weekly at Stratton Rec this year. Primary and intermediate students trade off using them on different weeks. Some students who were reluctant to try these in the past, have discovered they are fun.
Any questions, call or stop in the office. Have a good week – read a book with the family!
Dear Pre K and Kindergarten Parents,
This week we celebrated learning about one of the favorite Letterland characters, Peter Puppy. The highlight of the week was Friday when we had our pajama party. Students enjoyed eating pancakes for snack and playing with the parachute in the gym. See if your child can tell you why Peter Puppy has a problem. Next week our trip will include meeting Quarrelsome Queen.
On next Thursday February 4th (provided there are no more snow days), we will be celebrating the 100th day of school. In celebration of 100 day, we will be making a special trail mix snack. I am asking families to participate by contributing 100 items of one type of snack item. For example 100 chocolate chips, 100 cheerios, 100 pretzels, 100 pieces of chex mix, 100 goldfish, etc. Please do this as a home learning activity to do with your child, by counting out the snack item with your child.
The kindergarteners began learning about Subtraction this week. We will be working on the concept of taking groups of objects and making them smaller, or “taking away” and counting how many are left. A Family Involvement Letter along with activities for you to practice was sent home in home folders.
Please join us on Friday February 19th at 1:30, where Kindergartners, First and Second Graders will be sharing their recent study about dinosaurs at The Author’s Tea. Students will recite dinosaur poems, sing songs, share their dinosaur reports and dinosaur projects will be on display. Please see the attached letter, for more information on the home project.
I hope you all were able to read and review your child’s report card. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to set up a time to discuss them with me.
Sincerely,
Tammy Bates
First and Second Grade
Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)
The first and second graders had a great week. A lot of hard work and achieving happened in our classroom despite the short week. I was surprised to see my thermometer reading 52 degrees on Monday. I am sure that temperature won’t last long. Once again Hot Soup program; offered by our School Club is up and running on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Students are to bring their own plastic bowl and spoon. I will not be supplying these items. In addition, this is a SUPPLIMENT to your child’s lunch. Therefore these items are NOT to replace lunch, but are to be in addition to lunch. Please send in a regular lunch on these days. There is ALWAYS a chance that the Soup Program is cancelled due to some scheduling conflict. The final reminder is really a suggestion. Send in a water bottle with your child’s name on it. This way it can be kept in the classroom, and less time is spent going to the fountain. Thank you for the help with this.
Last week and this week I have been pulling students to complete reading assessments to show their growth so far this year. First graders should be reading at an H level by June and second graders should be at an L/M level by June. Also, Mrs. Sebastian has been assessing students reading fluency. First graders should be reading 50-80 per minute by June and second graders should be reading 80-100 words per minute.
Our Dinosaur theme is going great. The students are very excited about what they are learning about or will be learning about their dinosaurs. Students should be planning for or working on their AT HOME PROJECTS, which are based on the student’s dinosaur. Information about the dinosaur can be sent home to help families with the projects if needed. Once again, family members may assist the projects, but your first or second grader should do most of the work. Grading is based on creativeness, neatness, and timeliness. These projects are due Monday February 15th. The reports and projects will be displayed at our first Author’s Tea on Friday February 19th at 1:30pm.
Thank you for your support with this. I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Yours Truly,
Cris PJ
Dear Third and Fourth Grade Families,
Thank you to all the Third and Fourth Graders for being so cooperative last week during MAPS testing. I will get the results out to families as soon as we have the official scores.
This week we have continued our work on fractions, our guided reading groups, cursive, our plant studies and writing and editing our rough drafts of our responses to literature.
In addition to the regular work we had our Winter Sports on Tuesday and then Wednesday morning we had Four Winds with Jenn Finaldi and Jeremy Schrauf. During Four Winds we learned about birds and their winter habits including how they survive in the cold weather and about migration.
Please continue reading nightly and getting plenty of rest. Next week we will be back on a regular spelling homework schedule.
Enjoy your weekend!
Mrs. Bills
Grades 5-6
This week’s Four Winds Program was an interesting study of bird migration. Students used snowshoes and explored areas around the school that showed evidence of birds that stay in our area during the winter.
Students also completed individual drawings of the interior parts of a volcano in their science notebooks. We learned about the causes of erupting volcanoes. We will continue our study of the earth’s shifting plates and earthquakes.
In current events we are focusing on international events and on oral presentation skills of news article summaries. Students are specifically working on voice tone and increased eye contact.
Our MAPs testing schedule has changed a bit due to the ice day last Monday. Students will complete MAPs testing on Monday, February 1.