wardsboroschool.com

Fifth Grade and Sixth Grade Homepage

Katie Tobey — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:31:04 -0700

Third Grade and Fourth Grade Homepage

Valerie Bills — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:29:39 -0700

First and Second Grade Homepage

Cris Parker-Jennings — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:57:14 -0700

Cris Parker-Jennings

Grade 1-2

Assistant Teachers: Gwenn Melis in AM & Jayne Mehner in PM

"Dedicated to my father and mother,

who wanted me to be a brain surgeon.

I exceeded their expectations.

I became a teacher!"

-Harry K. Wong

Classroom Rules My Favorite Search Site

Classroom Schedule Students Writing

Pre-K/Kindergarten Home Page

Tammy Bates — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:36:28 -0700

Welcome to the Pre K/K Class Page

Our Daily Schedule:

8:15 - Arrival Activities
(put away belongings, sign in, answer the quesition of the day, choose an arrival activity)
8:45 - Morning Meeting (Pledge, Weather Check, Calendar, Number of the day, Morning Message)
9:10 - Literacy Centers
10:00 - Snack
10:20- Bathroom
10:30 - Recess
10:45 - Sharing, Story, Poems and Songs
11:15 - Pre K Dismissal
11:15 - Kindergarten Special (M-Library, T, Fr - P.E., W-Art, Th - Music)
12:00 - Recess
12:30 - Lunch
1:00 - Math
2:00 - Theme (Content Areas)
2:30 - Dismissal

Classroom Rules:
Eyes Looking
Ears Listening
Mouth Quiet
Walking Feet
Helping Hands

Favorite Links for Kids:
www.starfall.com
www.harcourtschool.com
www.pbskids.org

Newsletter 01/29/10

Laura Smith — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:34:04 -0800

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 100^th 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 19^th 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 15^th.   The reports and projects will be displayed at our first Author’s Tea on Friday February 19^th 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.

Newsletter 01/21/10

Laura Smith — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:31:40 -0800

Calendar

Wednesday, January 27          School Club Meeting 6:00pm

Tuesday, February 2    School Board Meeting 6:30 pm

Thursday, February 11            Early Release Day, Professional Development

February 22 – 26                     No school, Winter Recess

Winter Activity Dates

Tuesdays - January 26, February 2 & February 9.

Cub Scouts

Sunday, January 28 at 6:00pm at Wardsboro Town Hall. Bring your books please.

From the Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

As I write this it is a beautiful Vermont morning with plenty of sunshine, blue sky and white snow – one more reason to be glad to be here. Of course, the students, parents and community provide plenty of reasons. ROARS continues to be a strong component in our school. Respect and responsibility for others are important components of PBS. We had a link to this on Thursday in All School Meeting. Sarah and Kaylah , students from Mrs. Bills’ room, talked with the group about their interest in doing a fundraiser for Haiti earthquake victims. To help everyone learn a little bit more about Haiti, I shared a You Tube clip of a school before the earth quake. In our follow-up discussion, I was impressed with the depth of student comments such as I noticed how beautiful it was before the earthquake, People looked happy even though they didn’t have much, the school was like a tent – no sides. The school then voted on fundraising for Haiti. I am meeting with the student council to explore what we should do. More news to follow on this.

Report cards were sent home today. Hopefully you will find time to discuss these with your child/ren. I always found time to review the report card individually with each of my two children. This helped both of us to understand problems or concerns so positive steps could be taken for continued growth. Please contact your child’s teacher with your concerns. Our after school Connections program is a great resource for families of students who would benefit from additional support and/or homework help. Call school if you are interested in more information.

We continue to have children coming down with a stomach bug so if your child feels sick, please keep them home. As reported previously, we have had several cases of head lice this year. Parents should continue to check frequently for signs of this.

Our newsletter is short due to the shortness of our week. Have a great weekend – take some time to read a good book with your family!

Mid-Year Assessments

In addition to the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests that students in grades 1-6 are taking this month, some students in those grades will also have other assessments. One of the other assessments that will be administered to some children is the DIBELS assessment of reading fluency. Another is the reading benchmark assessments that we refer to as the F & Ps, from the authors, Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell.

Daily Connections and Enrichment Program, Session III

The second week of our program has passed, and I am happy to mention that we have been joined by a few new students. The snowshoeing and speedstacking continued on Wednesday, David Broussard's computer class met on Thursday. Vivian Francy's chorus was cancelled due to illness this week. The Homework Club meets on Thursdays from 3-4:15. If your child is in third grade or up and needs some extra help, feel free to send her/him to me at this time.

In Book Club News...

What would you do if you dug up an old brass pot in your garden, and then discovered that whatever goes into it, comes out doubled? Mr. and Mrs. Haktak confront this wonderful problem in the Chinese folktale, Two of Everything. The group read this and another book involving numbers, A Remainder of One. Poor Soldier Bug Joe always ends up at the end of the lines, without a partner - an oddball remainder of one in the 25th Bug Army Corps. The queen is unhappy with her army's uneven lines, and Joe puzzles out a way to divide the 25 bugs into various lines until he gets it right with five rows of five. After our reading, we played with fingerprint drawing. We inked our own fingerprint creatures to make "two of everything:" two butterflies, two cats, two balloons..." Our fingers were multicolored, but we had fun.

Speaking of remainders - there are four more weeks remaining of Session III. If you have any questions regarding it, or would like your child to join, please let me know.

-Kerstin Kjellberg

Newsletter 01/08/10

Laura Smith — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:32:39 -0800

Calendar

Monday, January 18 No school, Martin Luther King Day

Tuesday, January 19   No school, Teacher Professional Development Day

Tuesday, January 19   School Board Meeting 6:30 pm

Wednesday, January 27         School Club Meeting 6:00pm

Tuesday, February 2   School Board Meeting 6:30 pm

Thursday, February 11            Early Release Day, Professional Development

February 22 – 26                     No school, Winter Recess

From the Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

HAPPY NEW YEAR! It has been a busy week with the beginning of our winter sports. The students were excited about this event. Please remember to send your child with scarves, snow pants, mittens and hats. We need them to be prepared for the weather. Thanks to all parents who are able to support this and volunteer their time.

New Year’s resolutions and we have ours – to become a greener school. The School Club is once again providing a supplement to student lunches several days of the week. This year we are cutting down on waste by reusing bowls and silverware. The School Club purchased bowls that will be coming home for washing and returning for the next lunch. I have also asked them to stop purchasing plastic silverware. I know your children are used to being able to get these from the kitchen when needed but…. Be sure your child has the silverware needed for their snacks and lunches as we are also seeking to cut down on breakfast waste. The frequency of the soup program depends on volunteers to heat and serve. There is more information from School Club and a sign-up sheet within this newsletter.

Connections News – We currently have 26 students signed up for the various offerings. There is availability in all sessions (some limited). Let us know asap if there is an interest. I am teaching the Speed Stacking (along with Charlie Cummings). Charlie Cummings and the students will probably be teaching me! One opportunity that is underused is Daily Connections. This is the opportunity for your child to get homework help or extra support in one or more learning areas. Think about needs that teachers discussed at parent conference time. We have one more session planned after this one.

Enjoy the winter season!

Dear Families,

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and restful vacation. Students came back well rested and ready for learning. This week students were excited to learn that we would be starting a new unit on dinosaurs. We have been reading new books to learn new facts, singing new songs as well as poems and finger plays. If your child has anything related to this theme, they may bring it in for their sharing day.

Our trip to Letterland introduced us to a noisy nine year old boy. See if your child is able to tell you his name and the sound that he makes at the beginning of his name.

During math, Kindergartners started Chapter 11 on addition. Some new vocabulary words that we are learning are plus, equals, in all, sum, add and addend. We will be working on how to put two groups together and find out how many in all. I have sent home the Family Involvement letter for this Chapter. These are activities for you to do at home with your child to reinforce concepts that we are learning at school.

We have started up our guided reading groups. Please make sure that if your child comes home with a book bag that they reread it to an adult, sibling, pet or even a stuffed animal. Also please make sure the book bags are returned to school the following day.

Tuesday was the first winter activity day. I heard from students that they had a fantastic time either sledding or skating at the Stratton Rec area. What a wonderful way to come back from vacation.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Mrs. Bates

First and Second Grade

Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)

It was great to welcome back the first and second graders. I must say that I too was happy to be back at school.    It sounded like everyone had an enjoyable holiday and week off. Now, we are back and ready for some new learning.

If you have not picked up your child’s Now and Then project please do so. I think we have 3 left outside our room.

Guided reading groups are back up and running. We are reading many books and focusing our learning around what is in the text, beyond the text, and about the book structure or authors craft. First graders began spelling this week, and will have their first spelling test on Friday.

During word work first graders have continued learning new activities to work on their high frequency words. Also, first graders practiced strategies to recognize words quickly. Second graders have been exploring vowels with an r, or as WE call them the Vowel Stealers. Also, second graders began to explore the y sound in words.

Our new theme is Dinosaurs. Students will be learning about how a particular dinosaur survived, and will be writing a report about that dinosaur. Also, there will be another AT HOME PROJECT assignment based on the student’s dinosaur.   The reports and projects will be displayed at our first Author’s Tea on Friday February 19^th at 1:30pm.

During our Math Workshop we finished learning addition and subtraction strategies. We will be diving into our measurement unit, which will be fun with our dinosaur unit.

            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,

Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope that you all had an enjoyable vacation and holiday.
We have quickly jumped back into our regular routines, with a few exceptions. You have probably noticed our biggest change. The assignment notebooks that were used in the fall only had enough pages to get though January. We found that they did not hold up very well, so to replace them for the remainder of the year we will have an assignment page in their assignment folders. Please continue to sign these pages nightly as you signed the assignment books.   The other change with assignment books is that the students will not be bringing them home on winter sports days so that they don’t get lost up at the Mountain.   It would be a good idea for the students to pull their spelling words out of the folder Monday night and leave them at home so they can complete a spelling activity Tuesday night.

We are back to doing our guided reading groups most days. On Thursdays I don’t meet with all groups because we have an extended writing workshop time. This week we have begun to work on writing a response to literature.

In math we have begun to study fractions as many of you have noticed from this week’s homework.

The final change is that we are working hard to help kids stay caught up on work on a more regular basis we are sending home unfinished work during the week. If you notice that your child has a lot of homework it may be that they are not completing enough during the day at school. Hopefully this will encourage students to use their time wisely and complete work in a more timely manner.
Please remember that next Wednesday grades 3 through 6 will be going to see the Little Prince in Weston. The show starts at 9:15 so we will be leaving as soon as second bus arrives. Please make sure children are on time Wednesday or they will miss the show!

Enjoy your weekend!

5^th and 6^th Grade Newsletter from Mrs. Shakespeare

January 7, 2010

Welcome back! Here is a brief synopsis of what we are up to!

Just before the break, fifth grade students learned about using Roman Numerals and shared what they learned with the sixth grade students. Sixth grade students reviewed Roman Numerals at the beginning of this week also.

Students in the fifth and sixth grade are learning about place value and decimals.

We have also begun comparing different aspects of early civilizations such as the: Olmecs, the Mound Builders, the Anasazi, the Mayas, the Aztecs, and the Incas.

Continuing our study of the world continents, students completed political maps of South America.

Next week we will join the third and fourth grades on a field trip to see a production of, The Little Prince. On Thursday we began reading the English version of that story.

MAPS testing, (Measures of Academic Progress) will take place for the fifth and sixth grade students during the week of January 25^th.

Stay warm!

Tap Dance Lessons

Registration for Tap Dance lessons will be held at school on Thursday, January 14 at 4:00pm. Lessons will be at the Wardsboro Town Hall this year. Lessons will begin on January 21^st. Call Kathy Meeks at 896-6013 for more information.

School Club Soup Program

The following dates are planned for Supplemental Hot Soup (free to all children!). We need volunteers to assist…if you can commit to any of the days below, please include your name and phone number. We would need you from approximately 11:30-1:30.

At this time we are planning to serve three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday – however we can do Thursday if you are available. Please indicate below what dates you are available to keep this program going.

Name:

Phone Number:

Email Address:

Newsletter 12/18/09

Laura Smith — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:00:41 -0800

Calendar

Monday, December 21           H1N1 Clinic for students needing second dose

December 24 – January 3        Holiday Recess – No School

Tuesday, January 5    First day of Winter Activities Program

Tuesday, January 5    School Board meeting 6:30 pm

Tuesday, January 19 School Board meeting 6:30 pm

Wednesday, January 27         School Club Meeting 6:00pm

Girl Scouts

Daisy's will meet Monday, December 21 from 4-5:30 at the Town Hall.   Bring your books.

From the Principal’s Computer

Rosemary FitzSimons

What a great winter concert! It takes a lot to put this concert on from the choosing of the songs, to teaching of songs (in music class and in classrooms), bussing to and from the rehearsal, the development of the written program , set up and take down by Jim Hescock and most importantly – student enthusiasm for their learning. It is a great schoolwide event. Thanks to those who were able to attend. The audience means a lot to our students .

A reminder to parents who drop off and pick of your children that you need to park at the bottom of the hill in the mornings and afternoons. I appreciate that so many of you continue to do this. Some parents have forgotten. On Thursday morning this week, the bus driver was not able to back out because of the cars parked in the parking lot. This made the second bus students later than usual. Mrs. Smith has contacted the town and requested they push the snow back more at the bottom so there is additional room for parking. Thank you for following this procedure.

The next three days of school will be busy as we prepare for the vacation. It is hard to believe that we are looking at the new year, 2010. On our first Tuesday back, please be sure you child/ren come to school prepared for the winter sports afternoons. To those parents with children involved in the Stratton Rec program we need your help. Please sign up for one or more days when you can help. We appreciate the ongoing weekly support from Kim Lazelle and Scott Francy, along with other parents who are able to attend on a part time basis. This year school personnel involved include Bill Scarlett, guidance counselor, along with our 4 para professionals. We met this week to discuss strategies for improved safety – too many children on the sledding hill has always been a concern. This year students will be rotating through activities. All children will be sledding and snowshoeing. Those with skates will also be able to skate, depending on the weather.

This week brings an end to the 2^nd Connections session. It is great to see so many students taking advantage of this opportunity. Our next session starts on January 11^th – you should have received the sign- up sheet for this yesterday. For this session there is no Tuesday Connections because of winter sports. There is no bussing available on Mondays so parents will need to make other arrangements. Parents, remember there are scholarships available if there is a need. We don’t want students left out for this reason! We receive 100% grant funding ($22,000) for the first three years of the program. Then 75% grant funding for year four and 65% funding for year five. At the end of five years we can reapply for the grant but would not be eligible for more than 50% funding. To ensure this program continues and ensure we have local money for year four and five, we need to begin to plan now. I am looking for interested parents to become part of a new committee for this reason – The Wardsboro Arts and Enrichment Council. If you have an interest or skills that would help us, please contact me – we need you! We are planning a meeting in January.

This is our last newsletter of 2009. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!

Dear Pre K and Kindergarten Families,

Thank you for joining us at our wonderful winter concert on Monday evening. The kids looked great. I was very proud of how well they did up on the “big stage”.

This week the featured character from Letterland was Munching Mike. He was definitely one of our most anticipated characters of the year so far. The kids enjoyed learning about the things that Munching Mike likes to eat and drink. See if your child can tell you what Munching Mike’s favorite food is. During our word work time, students practiced listening for beginning sounds in words. They each chose 4 pictures and had to decide the letter that makes the sound at the beginning of each. At the ABC center this week students played a letter hunt game. Most of them are becoming letter experts.

During the afternoons this week kindergartners took the MAP assessments. MEASURES OF ACADEMIC PROGRESS (MAP) are state-aligned computerized adaptive tests that accurately reflect the instructional level of each student and measure growth over time. I am very proud of how hard the students worked, despite some technical difficulties. I will be sharing the results of these at our next conference.

Next week is a short week. There will be school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday only. Hope you are all able to enjoy the holiday season with your family.

Yours truly,

Mrs. Bates

First and Second Grade

Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)

Our week started off with a great holiday concert. As many of you know I love seeing kids up on the stage! All the first and second graders have been working hard, especially at not being excited about the upcoming holiday.   Since students are now wearing winter boots to school please make sure that SNEAKERS are either left at school or brought in backpacks. They are ALWAYS needed on Tuesdays and Fridays for P.E.

This week we have been making some holiday decorations. Many of which include the student’s personal touch. I hope families are enjoying them as they come home. Please pick up your child’s interview project next week Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

Students have continued working on their diaries, which include facts that students learned about school long ago.

During word work first graders have continued learning a new activity to work on their high frequency words. Second graders have been making connections between words including their beginning parts (i.e. stop-start, spray-spring, chin-cheese). Also, second graders explored vowel controlled-r words like star, corn, turn, fir, and runner.

During our Math Workshop we began our chapter on subtraction strategies to help subtract numbers quickly. This week we worked on the count back strategy and relating facts (i.e. 4+2=6, 2+4=6, 6-2=4, 6-4=2.) The entire class completed their first addition mad minutes and will be working toward beating their goal each week.

            Thank you for your time and support. I hope everyone enjoys the snow.

Yours Truly,

Cris PJ

Dear Third and Fourth Grade Families,

The holidays are quickly sneaking up on us! I hope that you all have a safe and enjoyable holiday break.

Next week we will be wrapping up many different things we have begun.   As of today we have finished doing the facts for 1 through 9 on our Wrap-Ups. Monday we will complete the 10s.    On Wednesday afternoon we will be having a Wrap-up Party with some friendly competition. Please encourage your students to practice their facts.

On Wednesday the students got a chance to participate in a Japanese Tea Ceremony to wrap up the Vermont Reads Grant and our study of Japanese American History.   It seems that most of them enjoyed themselves. We want to offer a huge thank you to Jill Dean and Amy Dix for their hard work in getting this grant for us and planning the activities.

We have also been working hard practicing our constructed responses or Answer Sandwich responses as the kids know them by reading well known fairy tales and then finding details in them to respond to a prompt. Then they are expected to write a response to the prompt. They are getting quite good at these!

I will not be sending home homework during the Holiday break, unless your child has a lot of unfinished work. Please encourage them to continue to use their time wisely so that this won’t happen.   I do hope that children will do plenty of reading during the break.

Happy Holidays,

Mrs. Bills

5^th and 6^th Grade Newsletter from Mrs. Shakespeare

December 16, 2009

Hope you all got to hear our wonderful singing at the concert on Monday night!

This week we learned about the ancient people of North America. We will soon be learning about other early civilizations such as the: Olmecs, the Mound Builders, the Anasazi, the Mayas, the Aztecs, and the Incas.

Fifth and Sixth graders continue to add information to their Math Language and Concepts notebooks. Fifth graders have begun a short unit on Roman Numerals, and sixth graders are continuing their study of geometry.

On Thursday Jill Dean from the Wardsboro Library presented us with a Japanese Tea Ceremony. The third and fourth graders shared information about the rules of behavior for the ceremony.   Jill Dean made us some interesting treats to go with our tea! We thank her for her efforts and for the information provided by the third and fourth grade students.

Have a happy winter break!

Newsletter 12/11/09

Laura Smith — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:36:58 -0800

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

Monday, December 21       H1N1 Clinic for students needing second dose

December 24 – January 3 Holiday Recess – No School

From the Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

We are all set for our winter concert on Monday night. Don’t forget to invite family and friends to join us! Just a reminder, in case you hadn’t noticed on Wednesday, that winter has arrived. Be sure your child/ren come to school with the proper clothing to go outside at recess time. No one can sled without the proper clothing.

WINTER SPORTS PROGRAM NEWS

We are ready for our winter sports program that starts after Christmas vacation. This means early dismissal for our students each Tuesday – 1/5, 1/12, 1/26, 2/2 and 2/9, with a make-up date on 3/9, if needed. There are two choices for families depending on ages and interests. Students with an interest in skiing or snowboarding at Mt. Snow, have signed up with Jody Perkins and Lucas Bates. All other students will be able to participate in the Stratton Rec activities. While there, students will have an opportunity to do a variety of outdoor winter fun activities. Bill Scarlett, guidance counselor, will oversee the program with the support of our paraprofessionals. Kim Lazelle will serve as the parent facilitator again this year. The teachers and myself will be engaged in professional development around literacy and math. To ensure another safe and successful season, we need parent volunteers. Parents, please sign up to help out for one or more of the dates shown above – THANKS.

Yes, I can volunteer to help out at Stratton Rec on the following dates: _____________

_____________________

Parent Signature

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

Dear Pre K and Kindergarten Families,

We had a great week! From Letterland we met and reviewed Lucy Lamplights shape and sound. We learned that she has many animals who love her. See if your child is able to tell you which animals they are. During our word work time we learned a new song using the beginning letters in our names. Students had fun marching along to it around the classroom and taking turns sitting down when the beginning letter in our name was called.

Thank you to those of you who remembered to send your child with snow clothes. We will not go outside every day. However, it is great to be prepared. We will be sending home all snow gear unless you let us know otherwise. Please provide a pair of shoes, slippers or sneakers and a pair of extra socks that can stay at school.

We have been practicing all week for our winter concert. Students have done a fantastic job learning the words to our songs. The rehearsal at The Town Hall also went well. Please remember the concert is on Monday night, December 14^th at 6:30. Plan to arrive at 6:15. The snow date is on Tuesday December 15th in case of inclement weather.

During math time the kindergarten students continued to study number patterns. This week we practiced counting by 2s up to 100. Some of us could still use some more practice with this skill. Another word that we use for this is “skip counting”. Try to practice this at home. We also practiced counting by 5s as well as 10s. We figured out that 8 eyes are on four children, by counting by 2s, we figured out that 15 fingers are on three hands by counting by 5s and we also figured out that 20 toes are on two children by counting by 10s.

Hope you can enjoy the newly fallen snow over the weekend.

Mrs. Bates

First and Second Grade

Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)

All the first and second graders have had a great week. Winter is finally here, and most of the students are dressing for it. PLEASE send your child with an extra pair of shoes or slippers. Boots will be worn outside, but inside students will need shoes that are not cumbersome and track in slop. Also, SNEAKERS are needed on Tuesdays and Fridays for P.E.

This week we finished sharing the Now and Then projects. We are now using them to create a diary about our interviewees. We read several books using the diary writing format, and are writing rough drafts about ten days in the life of the person we interviewed.

During word work first graders have been sorting words by their ending parts, like –est, -ell, -at, and -an. Also, first graders learned a new activity to work on their high frequency words. Second grader’s word work included new high frequency word activities to practice reading and writing words that we read and write a lot.

During our Math Workshop we began our chapter on addition strategies to help add numbers quickly. This week we worked on the make ten strategy, adding ten & adding 9 strategy. Next week we will finish up our chapter and move on to subtraction strategies. After Holiday break we will begin mad minutes which will be assessed on Fridays. More information about what mad minutes are and what is expected will come home after break too.

            Thank you for your time and support. I hope everyone enjoys the snow.

Yours Truly,

Cris PJ

Homophones/ Homonyms

Have you seen the most recent scene of the newest movie advertised on television that will be in the movie theaters soon?

Sometime during the school year, students in grades one through six will study homophones (homonyms). While not all dictionaries give the exact same meaning of the terms homophone and homonym, they are often used to mean words that sound the same, have different spellings, and have different meanings.

Homophones can be great fun if you like to play with words and their meanings. Many puns, riddles, and silly sayings use homophones, such as the following.

                What do you call a naked grizzly? (a bare bear)

I’m on a seafood diet, every time I see food, I eat it.

                When the glassblower accidentally inhaled, he ended up with a pane in his

stomach.

What do you call an uninterested plank of wood? (a bored board)

There are several Internet websites with jokes, activities, and information about homophones that children could use. The URLs for some sites are included below and are geared toward different age levels. Parents should preview any website prior to their child using it to determine if it is suitable and acceptable for their child(ren). These sites may include advertising and/or links to other sites.

URLs for websites about homophones:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/english/homonyms/

http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/frog/frog.html

http://www.funbrain.com/whichword/index.html

http://www.mikids.com/Jigwords/1/Homonyms/h1.html

http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_homonyms.html

http://www.cooper.com/alan/homonym_list.html

http://www.firstschoolyears.com/literacy/word/other/homonyms/homonyms.htm

Newsletter 12/04/08

Laura Smith — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:30:00 -0800

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 14^th. 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 14^th 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

Newsletter 11/13/09

Laura Smith — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:57:43 -0800

Calendar

Tuesday, Nov. 17 School Board meeting 6:30 pm

Wednesday, Nov. 18 School Club Meeting 6:00pm

Friday, November 20 Family fun Night – Crafts 6:30 pm

Monday, November 30   Basket Raffle items due at school

Wednesday, Dec. 9    School Club Meeting 6:00pm

Monday, December 14           School Winter Concert & Basket Raffle drawing

at Wardsboro Town Hall



Cub Scouts

Den meeting – Tuesday, Nov. 17^th 6:00 pm at the Wardsboro Town Hall.                    Bring your books!

Basketball

Practice for the 5-6th grade basketball team will be Friday from 4-5:30 in the WES gym.

Practice for grades 2, 3, & 4 will be Monday and Wednesday next week 4:30 – 5:30pm

Book Fair

Last day for students to purchase books from the bookfair will be Monday, November 16 during Library class time.

Food Pantry Collection

We are off to a great start on our goal to collect 160 items for the Wardsboro/Jamaica Food Pantry. So far we have collected 80 items. We will continue to collect items until Monday, November 23^rd.

From the Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

We hope that you found parent conferences valuable this week. Read over the following pieces of information. Have a great weekend. Don’t forget some family reading!

·         Thanks to all who have donated items at school to be given to the food pantry. We currently have collected 80 items towards our goal of 160 food items. If your family hasn’t contributed, help us reach our goal. We will accept contributions through 11/23/09.

·         Our music teacher, known as Ms. Becky to the students, has begun preparing for our winter music concert. To honor and respect all families in our school community, this concert will not have a Christmas theme. Our theme will focus on “Keep America Singing”.

·         H1N1 – We have had students and staff with flu like illnesses. Most doctors are not testing for H1N1 so we will probably not be reporting diagnosed cases. We will continue to follow the Health Department recommendations for the procedures put in place early in the school year. Please refer to the Student Handbook for at home procedures.

·         At All School Meeting on Thursday, Ms. Becky taught us a new Veterans Day song. I copied this and had all members of the WES community sign it. It is included in our newsletter. I asked the students to pass this out as a thank you to a veteran they know.

·         Thanks to all who contributed to the School Club bake sale last Saturday. The School Club raised well over $100 for future initiatives. Their next big fundraiser to support our students is the Basket Raffle. Information on this is included in this week’s newsletter.

·         ROARS is off to a great start. This morning we had one of the PBS coordinators from VTDOE here to interview staff and some of the students. He was impressed by the student (and adult) responses. He told me “we passed” with flying colors. It is great to have this additional layer of support. Parents, last week we sent home a parent survey. We only received a few back. Please take some time to fill this out and share your thoughts with us.

·         THANKS for all you do to support our school!

Dear Pre K and Kindergarten Families,

Thanks to all of you who took the time to meet with me about your child for Parent/Teacher conferences on Wednesday. It was great to meet with you to update you on the progress of your child. I hope you found the time worth while. Please remember, that any time there is a question or concern, do not hesitate to contact me.

In the classroom this week we continued our study about “long ago”. We read a story comparing things people did long ago to things people do today. We discovered that some things have changed while others have stayed the same. At the art center, students weaved paper placemats. They look fantastic. At the ABC center this week students enjoyed playing a fishing for letters game. At the writing centers students wrote things they enjoy doing with their families. From Letterland this week we met a colorful character. See if your child is able to tell you about him.

On Monday November 23rd, kindergarten students will be taking a filed trip to Billings Farm, in Quechee, VT. I will be looking for a few parent volunteers. Please let me know if you are interested. I will be sending more information to follow. Mrs. Mehner will be staying with the preschool group on that morning.

Kindergartners started Chapter 6; numbers 10 – 30. This week we learned about a “ten frame” and the strategy of counting on from ten. The teens are still proving to be tricky for some of us as we practiced using numbers 13, 14, 15 and 16.

On next Monday and Tuesday, I will be attending the NE Kindergarten conference in Nashua, NH. Mrs. Mehner will be here and there will also be a substitute.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs. Bates

First and Second Grade

Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)

It was great meeting with so many parents during our conference time. This is a very important time for me to share the student’s growth and accomplishments. Thank you to all the families for taking their time to meet with me.

Our new theme is Now and Then. We have begun with a home project that is due on Monday, which includes an interview of someone who was born around 1950. Students will be sharing what they learned by this interview through projects that are due Monday. We also have been reading about how different the first Thanksgiving was compared to how we celebrate it today.   On Monday, November 23^rd the kindergartners and our class will be taking a field trip to Billings Farm to learn about what a child’s role was on a family farm long ago. If any family member would like to join us please let me know. I have one chaperone that can be paid for, and others will need to pay $6.   This will be an all day field trip. However, more details about time will come home next week.

            Thank you for your time and support. I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

Yours Truly,

Cris PJ

2009 Wardsboro School Club Basket Raffle

Handmade Basket (Basket #1) – Sponsored by the Wardsboro School Club. This basket will feature several handmade items including knit items. Items include several scarves; a ladies purse and neck warmers.

Chocolate Basket (Basket #2 ) – Donated by the Pre-K and Kindergarten students. Be creative – any kind of chocolate will do…hot chocolate; brownie mix; white chocolate – you name it; it’ll fit!

Christmas Basket (Basket # 3) - Donated by the 1^st and 2^nd Grade students. Anything works in this basket – it could be a small item for a gift, an ornament, tape, wrapping paper, tags, etc. Let’s make Christmas easy for whoever wins this basket!

Kids Activity Basket (Baskets #4 & #5) - Donated by the 3^rd and 4^th Grade students. Think kids of all ages – and simple things to keep them busy – card games, board games, puzzles, arts and crafts, books, snowman kit, etc. Again this year we will split the items into 2 separate baskets!

Bakers Basket (Basket # 6) – Donated by the 5^th and 6^th Grade students. Any item related to cooking/baking would be great here; geared towards adults or children. Cookie cutters, sprinkles, parchment paper, baking pans, etc.

Wardsboro Harvest Basket (Basket #7 ) – Sponsored by the Wardsboro School Club; this basket will feature items such as locally made jams, jellies, pickles, relishes, etc. This is going to be one delicious basket!

We ask that every student donate at least one item for their classroom basket if possible. If you have more than one item or items that you would like to donate to other baskets as well, please do not hesitate to do so. You can drop items off at school – just put a note as to which basket you want it in. We must have all items in by November 30^th in order to get them together for the display at the Holiday Bazaar on December 6^th.

The winners will be drawn at the Wardsboro Elementary School Winter concert; scheduled for December 14^th;in the event this concert is postponed – winners will be drawn on the new date.

The following information is from the Vermont Department of Education website. http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pgm_adulted.html

PROGRAMS & SERVICES:  ADULT EDUCATION & LITERACY

OVERVIEW

Vermont's adult education and literacy programs are offered through Learning Works, Vermont’s Adult Education & Literacy System, which is made up of 10 full-service centers and 3 satellite centers across the state. Full-service centers provide a full range of services, from beginning to advanced literacy in math, reading, writing, interpersonal skills, workplace skills, general educational development (GED), adult diploma programs (ADP), English to speakers of other languages (ESOL), commercial driver's license (CDL) and basic computer instruction.

The goal of adult education and literacy programs is to provide opportunities for adult learners to transition to a better place in their family, work and community life by getting a high school credential or diploma, preparing for college, or sharpening skills for current or advanced employment. Programs are student-centered, placing the learner at the center of their own education setting goals and meeting them with guidance, support and academic rigor from our trained and talented staff.

If you are an adult learner or an adult educator or staff, use the links below to view information about programs most pertinent to your needs:

Adult Learners

·    General Educational Development (GED) Credential

·    Adult Diploma Program (ADP)

·    High School Completion

·    English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English Language (EL) Civics

·    Foundational Skills (Reading, Writing, Math & Life Skills)

·    Family Literacy

·    Workplace Skills

·    Other Skills and Services (Computer, CDL, Other)

·    Center Locations

CONTACT INFORMATION

Adult Education & Literacy Kay Charron, Assistant Division Director  (802) 828-5133 (P) (802) 828-3146 (F) kay.charron@state.vt.us

Tom Alderman, Work Group Coordinator

(802) 828-3134 (P)

(802) 828-3146 (F)

tom.alderman@state.vt.us

Assessment/Adult Diploma Program (ADP)

Sharon Parker, Adult Education Assessment Coordinator

(802) 828-0077 (P)

(802) 828-3146 (F)

sharon.parker@state.vt.us

Professional Development

Kate Nicolet, Adult Education Professional Development Coordinator

(802) 828-5144 (P)

(802) 828-3146 (F)

kate.nicolet@state.vt.us

GED Testing & Information  Sharon Parker, Adult Education Assessment Coordinator  (802) 828-0077 (P) (802) 828-3146 (F) sharon.parker@state.vt.us

Newsletter 11/06/09

Laura Smith — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:42:30 -0800

Wardsboro Update

11/6/09

Calendar

Tuesday, Nov. 17 School Board meeting 6:30 pm

Wednesday, Nov. 18 School Club Meeting 6:00pm

Friday, November 20 Family fun Night – Crafts 6:30 pm

Monday, November 30   Basket Raffle items due at school

Wednesday, Dec. 9    School Club Meeting 6:00pm

Monday, December 14           School Winter Concert & Basket Raffle drawing

at Wardsboro Town Hall



Cub Scouts

Den meeting – Tuesday, Nov. 17^th 6:00 pm at the Wardsboro Town Hall.

Bring your books!

Basketball

Practice for the 5-6th grade basketball team will be Friday from 4-5:30 in the WES gym.

Practice for grades 2, 3, & 4 will be Monday and Wednesday next week 4:30 – 5:30pm

From the Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

Happy November – how did it come so quickly? As a school this month, we are focused on community service. Read over the three opportunities students and families will have for this:

·         Energy Fair at the Town Hall, tomorrow 10-4pm. We can use student help any time during the day. Come as a family and check out what’s there. Have your child see me – THANKS! This is their future. (free homework passes awarded to all who help out!)

·         Food Pantry Donations – with so many families in need, the shelves at the Wardsboro/Jamaica Food Pantry are getting empty. As a school, we set a goal to bring in 160 food items. I did remind the students to check first – we don’t want your family’s supper donated. We are collecting until Thanksgiving vacation.

·         School Club Basket Raffle –This raffle supports the club’s initiatives. Having students involved in the donation of basket items provides an opportunity to participate in their fundraising efforts.

Also, don’t forget conferences are next week. This is an important opportunity for parents and teachers to meet to discuss student growth, along with identifying strategies for continued improvement. The conferences will provide valuable information for teachers, parents and, most importantly, students. There is no playground supervision during conference so if your child/ren need to come to school with you, please have him/her sit outside the classroom. Feel free to stop in and see me if you have questions or concerns. DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BOOK FAIR – Thank you to Jennifer Densmore for organizing and running this for us.

            Our second set of Connections afterschool classes started this week. Two of them have openings if your child still has an interest. Mad Science is full. I’ve heard great things from the students about them.

Dear Pre K and Kindergarten Families,

We had another great week. During our Literacy Center Time students at the ABC center played a new Letterland Lotto game with Mrs. Mehner, at the Writing Center students drew and wrote about their families and at Reading Center enjoyed reading poems from their new Poetry Folders. During our “word work” and “phonics” time kindergartners and preschoolers paired up to play an ABC matching game. From Letterland, this week we met the famous Harry Hatman. See if your child remembers, why you have to be quiet around him and what color his hairy hat is. Next week we will meet Impy Ink.

We started a new unit this week. We will be comparing life “long ago” to now. This week we began by taking a closer look at families. Each student drew a picture of their family and shared it with the class. We discovered that each family is unique. Next week we will take a look at family life long ago. We will then compare school life long ago to now. During your students sharing time, it would be great if they could bring in an object in to share that related to our theme. While this is not required, it might spark up a good conversation and learning opportunities. For example, a family photograph, an old quill pen or a story about when their parents or grandparents went to school.

This week kindergartners finished up our unit on numbers 6-10. I think we can officially call our kindergartners number experts. Students this week used number lines, practiced counting backwards and used the numbers in our phone numbers to create a class graph of the most common number. We found out that the number 9 is the most common. Next week, we will begin learning about numbers 10 – 30. We will first concentrate on the “tricky teens” and then move on to the 20s and 30s.

Kindergartners began guided reading groups this week. Each student should have come home with a reading bag with a parent letter explaining it as well a book to read. Please make sure that your child rereads the book to a family member and returns their reading bag to school the next day. Everyone is doing a fabulous job!

Thank you to our Four Winds volunteers for a great class this week. Students enjoyed the puppet show and the hands on activities that the class demonstrated the Life Cycle of a Tree.

Finally, I have heard back from most of you regarding Parent/Teacher Conferences. If you have not sent in your form, there is still time. I look forward to meeting with all of you.

Sincerely,

Tammy Bates

Dear Third and Fourth Grade Families,

            Thank you to everyone that quickly returned their conference sign-up form. Those of you that have returned them will be receiving your original form back with your assigned conference time written and circled on it.   If you have not returned your form there is still time, please return them as soon as possible.

            I am looking forward to meeting with you all next week! I have lots of information to share with you, and I hope to answer any questions that you may have.

            Enjoy your weekend! Please make sure that your children continue to read every day, and if you get chance talk with them about what they have read.

                        Sincerely, Mrs. Bills

5-6 Newsletter for November 6, 2009

On Wednesday, 11/4, parents should have received confirmation of a time and date for a conference to discuss their child’s progress. Because there are 24 students, I have added three days to the 5-6 conference schedule. At this time, it looks like I will be meeting with parents on November 10^th, 11^th, 17^th, and 18^th.

Conferences will last for 20 minutes per student, with a five minute time in between for me to put away materials and reorganize for the next meeting. Please plan to be on time.

Also, let me know of any concerns you specifically want me to address, right at the beginning of the conference. It will help me if you have your concerns written down, so I can determine whether or not we will need to plan for another follow-up conference. I have information I need to share with you, and I will do my best to cover it during the 20 minutes. I expect to have time for discussion and questions during our meeting, but I also want to make sure that we have enough time to discuss any further concerns you may have.

I plan to address your child’s progress (strengths and concerns) in the following academic and study skill areas:

·         Reading

·         Writing

·         Math

·         Social Studies, Current Events

·         Science

·         Work Habits

·         Cooperative Learning Skills

I look forward to a positive and productive meeting with all parents!

Sincerely,

Tina Shakespeare

Daisy Girl Scouts (Grades K-1) will meet on Monday, November 9^th

4:30 – 5:30 pm at the Wardsboro Town Hall

If you missed registration and are interested in signing up for Daisy Scouts, it’s never too late. Please join us on Monday. Registration is $12.00/yr.

We are currently seeking volunteers and supplies. If you or someone you know is interested in volunteering to help with our troop activities, would like to lead another age group, or would like to donate any supplies please contact Virginia Pearson at 896-1042. We would be interested in scrap paper or cloth, old buttons, magazines, yarn, etc. Anything that you can afford to spare and you think may be useful to the girls would be greatly appreciated.

Tips for Making Parent-Teacher Conferences Work for Your Child

By Donna Sebastian

Parent-teacher conferences are an opportunity to talk openly and honestly with teachers about your child. Your child’s areas of strength and any areas of concern should be identified and discussed. A plan can be developed during the conference to help your child if there are any concerns.

Before the Conference

Ø Talk to your child. Find out what he/she thinks is his/her best subjects and the subjects he/she likes the least. Find out why. Ask your child if there is anything he/she would like you to talk about with his/her teacher. Make sure your child doesn’t worry about the meeting and help him/her understand that you and the teacher(s) are meeting together to help him/her.

Ø Familiarize yourself with your child’s assignments and homework folder.

Ø Write notes to yourself about important information to share with the teacher, concerns you have, and questions you want to ask. The parent-teacher conference is a time for you and the teacher to determine how you can work together to help your child. Here are some suggestions of questions you may want to ask:

·         Is my child meeting his/her learning goals?

·         How has my child performed on daily class work?

·         How has my child performed on homework?

·         How has my child performed on tests?

·         Is my child behaving appropriately?

·         Is my child meeting the grade level expectations in each area?

·         Is my child in different groups for different subjects? Why?

·         Does my child participate in class discussions and activities?

·         How can I support my child’s learning at home?

·         What are my child’s strengths and challenges?

·         Are there things that you recommend I do to become more involved in my child’s education?

The Conference

Ø Bring your notes, a notepad, pen, and your date book/calendar to the conference. Make notes for yourself about what you discuss during the conference.

Ø You may want to ask your most important questions first, just in case time runs out before you and the teacher have a chance to discuss them all.

Ø Be sure to ask and discuss with the teacher specific suggestions on ways to help your child do better. This is important because a plan of action to help your child at home and at school can be developed in the discussion.

Ø If the teacher says something you don’t entirely understand, don’t be shy about asking for an explanation.

Ø Near the end of the conference, it’s good practice to sum up decisions you and the teacher have made together. If you write the plan, you could refer to it later and review it frequently.

Ø If you feel you need to meet again, ask to set another conference date/time.

After the Conference

Ø Discuss with your child the plan you and the teacher worked out together.

Ø Begin immediately on the plan. As time goes by, watch your child’s behavior and check your child’s class work and homework.

Ø Maintain contact with the teacher to discuss the progress your child is making.

You and the teacher both have an interest in doing what is best for your child. Parent-teacher conferences can be used to help your child improve his/her success in school. By working together, you and the teacher can help your child on common goals.

2009 Wardsboro School Club Basket Raffle

Handmade Basket (Basket #1) – Sponsored by the Wardsboro School Club. This basket will feature several handmade items including knit items. Items include several scarves; a ladies purse and neck warmers.

Chocolate Basket (Basket #2 ) – Donated by the Pre-K and Kindergarten students. Be creative – any kind of chocolate will do…hot chocolate; brownie mix; white chocolate – you name it; it’ll fit!

Christmas Basket (Basket # 3) - Donated by the 1^st and 2^nd Grade students. Anything works in this basket – it could be a small item for a gift, an ornament, tape, wrapping paper, tags, etc. Let’s make Christmas easy for whoever wins this basket!

Kids Activity Basket (Baskets #4 & #5) - Donated by the 3^rd and 4^th Grade students. Think kids of all ages – and simple things to keep them busy – card games, board games, puzzles, arts and crafts, books, snowman kit, etc. Again this year we will split the items into 2 separate baskets!

Bakers Basket (Basket # 6) – Donated by the 5^th and 6^th Grade students. Any item related to cooking/baking would be great here; geared towards adults or children. Cookie cutters, sprinkles, parchment paper, baking pans, etc.

Wardsboro Harvest Basket (Basket #7 ) – Sponsored by the Wardsboro School Club; this basket will feature items such as locally made jams, jellies, pickles, relishes, etc. This is going to be one delicious basket!

We ask that every student donate at least one item for their classroom basket if possible. If you have more than one item or items that you would like to donate to other baskets as well, please do not hesitate to do so. You can drop items off at school – just put a note as to which basket you want it in. We must have all items in by November 30^th in order to get them together for the display at the Holiday Bazaar on December 6^th.

The winners will be drawn at the Wardsboro Elementary School Winter concert; scheduled for December 14^th;in the event this concert is postponed – winners will be drawn on the new date.

Newsletter 10/30/09

Laura Smith — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:27:04 -0700

Calendar

Tuesday, Nov. 3 School Board meeting 6:30 pm

Nov. 9 – 13    Scholastic Book Fair

Wednesday, Nov. 11 Early Release Day – Parent Conferences in afternoon

Wednesday, Nov. 18 School Club Meeting 6:00pm

Wednesday, Dec. 9    School Club Meeting 6:00pm

Cub Scouts

Den meeting – Tuesday, Nov. 3^rd 6:00 pm at the Wardsboro Town Hall.                    Bring your books! Next meeting scheduled for Nov. 17^th.

Basketball

The first practice for the 5-6th grade basketball team will be on Friday Nov 6 from 4-5:30 in the WES gym.

Also... If there are any parents or community members interested in coaching the 3/4 grade basketball team please contact Sue Douglas @ 896-9706 or email vtdevilsfan@myfairpoint.net. Unfortunately, if there is not anyone that wants to coach there may not be a 3/4 basketball team.

From the Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

This last week in October was another busy one. On Thursday students were treated to a great cultural experience. They attended the Mongolian Music and Dance Performance at L&G. I am always amazed at the quality of the performance. All classes participated in developing and sharing activities for the Penny Carnival held on Friday. We had a variety of games, activities, craft projects and plays. They also had a chance to make jack-o-apples. Each family was also given a UNICEF container so pennies could be collected while trick or treating. All money raised will be donated to UNICEF. Thank you to the School Club for, once again, donating money to purchase the needed materials.

ROARS is continuing to help us all to grow and learn as positive school community members. The Student Council developed a survey that was given to all students. Our school’s PBS team analyzed the data and observed that the bus was one of the ROARS weak areas. Mr. Italia, one of our guidance counselors and team member, met with each class to get more feedback from students. The results of the survey are included in this newsletter.

Additionally, parent conferences are being held the week of November 9^th. Wednesday, 11/11 is a half day for students. Teachers will be contacting parents soon, if they haven’t already. For families trick or treating on Saturday, have a safe and happy Halloween. The School Club is preparing to oversee the basket raffle again this year. If anyone has a basket of items/products that they would like to donate please notify the school. Classes will be contributing to baskets this coming month, followed by a raffle with winners announced at the Holiday Concert. Money raised by the School Club will support their school initiatives.

Update - Flu Immunization Information

H1N1 Vaccinations in School The immunization clinic for the H1N1 flu is set for Monday, November 16^th. These vaccinations will be provided free of charge and will be given by Ruth Davies, our school nurse.

Seasonal Flu Vaccinations                                                                                                                                      The Deerfield Valley Health center still plans to offer a seasonal flu immunization clinic at school. At this time they do not have a supply of vaccine so they have not set a date for the clinic .

Community Food Pantry

For 15 years the Jamaica/Wardsboro Community Food Pantry has provided food

assistance to residents of our communities. Our service is available to

anyone who asks - no requirements, no questions asked. We work hard to

provide for the special needs of our clients: families with young children,

the elderly and those who by illness or circumstance find themselves in

crisis. Our service is confidential, supportive and non-judgmental.

We depend on your generosity to do our work. With the added costs for fuel,

heating and groceries, we find ourselves in special need as we head toward

the winter season. Hunger has no place in our community. Please help.

Donations can be left in the box in the foyer at the school. Of particular need: Canned soups, fruits and vegetables, tuna fish, peanut butter, jelly, oatmeal, cereal, applesauce, baked beans and canned whole or chopped tomatoes.

Pre K and Kindergarten News

Greetings! It’s hard to believe that another month of school has passed. Today marked our 45^th day of school. We had another busy week. We celebrated three birthdays, Halloween, enjoyed attending The Mongolian Dance performance at Leland and Gray and of course the Penny Carnival. During our morning literacy time students practiced early literacy skills. We sorted pictures by beginning sounds, practiced our handwriting skills and looked for certain letters throughout the room. Our new poem this week involved Five Pumpkins. Your child should be able to recite and act it out for you. From Letterland this week we met Golden Garden Girl. Students enjoyed hearing her story. Next week we will meet Harry Hatman.

Kindergartners have been practicing their counting skills. We have been comparing number groups and using some newly learned vocabulary such as greater than and less than. Another skill that we have been working hard on is writing our numbers correctly. I am pleased to say that most of us have mastered this skill.

Next Thursday afternoon we will participate in our second Four Winds theme on the year. This year’s theme is Life Cycles and the focus this month is on the Life Cycle of a Tree. We are looking forward to this.

I look forward to meeting with you all during Parent Conferences on Wednesday November 11^th. I have included a sign up in your child’s home folder. Please indicate your choices and send the form back to school. I will do my best to accommodate everyone’s schedule.

Have a happy and safe Halloween.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Bates

First and Second Grade

Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)

The first and second graders had a super week, which ended with a great Mongolian performance on Thursday and the Penny Carnival on Friday!   Thank you to all the families who helped with costumes and the Carnival.

WE WANT OUR CHILDREN AND STUDENTS TO ACHIEVE!!! Sometimes homework will be returned in the home/school folder that has the word “CHECK” at the top. This is not meant to drive families nuts.   I am continuing to encourage all first and second graders to achieve by checking for and finding their own mistakes. Please encourage this at home after your child has finished their homework. If you find an error simply say “I see an error or mistake.” Give your child a chance to find it. If they cannot, narrow it down, but still don’t give the specific mistake. Every student in this class has been asked to do this, and has done so successfully. So, your child CAN ACHIEVE when given time and encouragement!

Guided reading groups are going well. Instructional time has included word work activities, guided/active reading, and responding to the text through discussion and writing. Students are reading books that are on an instructional level with me. They are bringing these books home in their new book bags to be reread as much as possible. Please, be on the look out for these book bags.   PLEASE SEND THEM BACK THE NEXT DAY! Some students are not bringing the books or book bags back to school.   I use these books again during guided reading instruction and therefore need them every day.   PLEASE make sure this is happening.

During our word work part of our Literacy block second graders have begun exploring synonyms (words that mean about the same thing.) They also work on making sentences by forming possessives. The first graders focused on learning about beginning sounds in words and making sentences using words with the same beginning sound. They also did some new activities using their high frequency words (words we read and write a lot.) During Writer’s Workshop students continued working on publishing their narrative stories.   Also, the second graders began exploring how to restate a question when answering it. For example, if the question is “What is your favorite book to read?” I would restate it by saying “My favorite book to read is…” During our Math Workshop first and second graders began our chapter on collecting and interpreting data and graphs.   We will be exploring how to collect data, use it in a chart, table, or graph, and applying an understanding of what the data means in a chart, table, or graph.

Our Earth and Moon theme has been lots of fun! Many of the first and second graders are using their Moon Journals to discover how the Moon seems to change over time. Still there have been several students NOT drawing and writing in their Moon Journals.   This was a long-term homework assignment that I mentioned at our Open House in September. This activity takes only a few minutes, and much of our discussion and follow up activities are based on these journals. PLEASE MAKE SURE THESE JOURNALS ARE DONE EVERY NIGHT, AND KEPT IN THE HOME/SCHOOL FOLDER.

            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,

            Happy Halloween to everyone! Please be safe this weekend! Also don’t forget to set back your clocks on Sunday.

            We have just about wrapped up our study of electricity.   We did our post assessment, and based on the results of that we may review a few concepts if needed.   We will be taking a break from science for a couple of weeks to really focus on social studies. We will be working on reading maps and creating maps as well as studying the different features and types of maps.

            We will begin multiplication next week. Third graders will be introduced to the concept of multiplication and fourth graders will get a chance to review their facts and better understand how multiplication and division are related.   This unit will be relatively short, but we will then continue to practice our multiplication facts on a regular basis. It would also be very helpful if you could practice the addition, subtraction and multiplication facts at home with your child. Flashcards are a great way to take advantage of the extended length of time many of us spend in the car to study these facts.

            We have also begun our guided reading groups. I am excited to get to read with everyone!

            Enjoy your weekend!

                        Mrs. Bills

5-6 Newsletter Oct 30

This week the fifth and sixth graders worked on their projects for the Penny Carnival. This Friday, October 30^th, there will be two magic shows, one at 1:50 and one at 2:20. Mrs. Brown has been the organizer for this talented group: Madison Bills –Stage Manager, Ashley Bates – Tinker the Great, Chaston Finaldi – Mr. Plaid, and Emma Densmore – Master of Ceremonies: Jitterbug!    Also: Christopher Perkins- The Great Waldo, Willie Bush- The Great Mario, and Greer Gauthier- Master of Ceremonies.

At 1:35 and 2:05 there will be two different showings of Hansel and Gretel at the Puppet Theater. This entertaining production has been coordinated by Mrs. Sebastian and includes the following talents: Tyler Melis as Narrator and Stepmother, Kyle Holliday as Backstage Assistant, Caitlyn Lackey as Gretel and the Witch, and Anthony Carona as the Woodcutter and Hansel. Also: Kelsey Hescock as the Narrator and Stepmother, Elizabeth Lazelle as Gretel and the Witch, and Bryce Karg as the Woodcutter and Hansel.

The Fractured Fairy Tale Theater presents Little Red Riding Hood and the Vampire, directed by Mrs. Shakespeare. This talented crew is made up of: Morgan Pease as the Grandmother, Shannon Mylott and Luke Cionci as the Wolf, Susie Francy and Katie Lazelle as the Mother, Kristen Perkins and Triton Cesan as the Vampire, and Danielle Senn and Ashley Hescock as Little Red Riding Hood. There will be two showings at 1:35 and 2:05.

Students spent an enjoyable time learning about trees during our Four winds project on Tuesday. This was informative and engaged every student’s curiosity! Thank you again, parents and volunteers.

This week’s math involved the students getting a brief introduction to some geometric formulas. They also had to create map scales for their World Atlases.

Connections News

The first six weeks of our Connections program has ended! We had a small first group, and everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves. The scrapbooking group created beautiful mementos of their “youth,” and the digital photography class was active indoors and out capturing their ideal pictures. In Chinese class, the children learned about the Chinese New Year and all of the customs that accompany that holiday. I would like to thank all of the generous teachers and assistants who contributed their time to this fledgling program: Mrs. Perkins, Mrs. Bush, and Mrs. Jacobs for a great Scrapbooking class; Mr. Broussard for lending his talents to Digital Photography; Ms. Virginia for her work in the Chinese class; and Mrs. Shakespeare, who helmed the successful Spelling Bee group. Thank you, too, to Mr. Hescock and his assistant, Jon Wissman, for getting all of our classes set up each day. We can’t mention our Connections program without extending a sincere thank you to Mrs. Bette Parsons, who faithfully arrived to pick up our students in the trusty Bette Boop bus, and endured the growing pains that come along with a new program and strange scheduling.

We did not have as many students in our Homework Club as I would have liked to see, but soccer kept many children busy in the early fall. Our next six weeks is already filling up, and promises lots of fun and creative learning. Please keep us in mind as the days continue; I am available to help with all subjects, whether your child needs one day of help or prefers an entire six weeks (12 days total) of guidance. In addition to homework help, children in Grades K-2 will play some math and language arts games; the Homework Club for Grades 3-6 will be more traditional.

In case you still aren’t sure about what the Connections program offers, on Monday “Mad Science” begins for the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade students; Wednesdays will be devoted to the K-2^nd grade children, and the exploration of all sorts of materials to create seasonal crafts and recipes. Stories to accompany each craft will be told or read, too. “The Art of Writing” meets on Wednesdays for the older students.

Please keep the Connections program in mind as the days go on; we will be here, four days a week, after school. It’s your program, it’s here for you, and we look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely,

Kerstin Kjellberg

Newsletter 10/09/09

Laura Smith — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:01:47 -0700

Flu Immunization Information

H1N1 Vaccinations in School

Information for parents and permission forms have been sent home with all children. Please return the permission form to school whether or not you want your child to be vaccinated so that we know you have received the information. We will notify parents when a date has been set for the clinic. These vaccinations will be provided free of charge and will be given by Ruth Davies, our school nurse.

Seasonal Flu Vaccinations

The Deerfield Valley Health center plans to offer a seasonal flu immunization clinic this year at school as they have in the past. They have not set a date for the clinic at this time. We just received information which we have also sent home to parents. Deerfield Valley Health Center accepts most insurance to cover the cost of the seasonal flu vaccinations.

The Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

This was another great week in WES. The students in grades 3-6 completed their NECAP assessments in reading and then completed part one of their math assessments. Next week we’ll finish up math. 5^th graders will also take a writing portion which will be given to them again in 8^th grade. We also had 8 students from Mrs. Shakespeare’s class attend the district spelling bee. These were all students who participated in the Connections afterschool program to prepare. Six of the students will participate in the actual spelling bee and 2 have served as coaches. We are proud of their initiative. We celebrated with a pizza lunch on our way home from the Newfane Elementary School, site of the spelling bee.

                Fall is a good time to “fall into the family reading habit”. Below are suggestions taken from www.readastory.org. If you are a parent of a preschooler, there are also great suggestions for you. Do take the time in your busy lives to spend a few minutes reading with your children. They are some of my favorite memories! I remember one time when my son was gravely ill at about 13 months. We knew he was doing better when he lifted his head and injected words from a favorite book I was reading to him, The Pokey Little Puppy. At age 29, I am sure this is no longer his favorite book but it is mine!

Many of us have a chance to read to young children. It can be our child, grandchild, a relative or a friend's child. Reading to a child is something special that we can all do!! Here are a few reading tips:

It's never too early (or too late) to read to children.

Set aside a special time to read, such as before going to bed .

Find a cozy place to read, away from distractions. Make reading a book comfortable for you and the child/ren.

Read with enthusiasm and with expression.

Read the book slowly and pause once in a while. Don't rush when you are reading a book. Make it a pleasant experience!!

Choose books that are interesting to children or relate to something going on in their lives. For example, if you are going to the fire station, it might be fun to find a book that has a fire station in the book.

For young children, read the same book many times. If a child has a favorite book, it's good to read it as much as he/she wants. Children like repetition in their lives.

For young children, sometimes after a while, the child might pitch in and "read" a part of the book, especially after hearing the book many times. It's fun for the child to know what's coming up next in the book.

For the young, let the child point to pictures in the book and turn the page of the book. Let the child look at the words and the pictures in the book and be familiar with the book itself.

Have a shelf or even a box available for your child to store their books.  With rising prices, look for special deals or places that give away books. Books can be purchased at low prices at garage sales and thrift stores, too.

Get a library card for your child. It's good to use the library to borrow books for a child. The public library is an interesting place to visit with fun events for children.

Be a good example for a child by letting him/her see you read the newspaper, a book or instructions to put something together. Let them know that reading has a reason such as finding out information, learning or just having fun.

Hello Pre K and Kindergarten Parents,

It’s really beginning to start to feel like fall. I would like to remind parents at this time that we try to go outside everyday, as long as the weather permits. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately. Also, if your child keeps an extra change of clothes at school, it should also be appropriate for the season.

In the classroom this week, we continued our theme study of In The Sky. This week, we took a closer look at The Earth. We learned that the Earth is the only planet on our Solar System that has living things. We then brainstormed a list of living things and non-living things. Also, at the art center students made their own representation of The Earth with paper plates, tissue paper and glue. I think they came out great.

Our Letterland trip this week introduced us to Dippy Duck. We discovered that her letter can sometimes get confused with Bouncy Ben’s, but learned the story of how Dippy Duck does not like to swim backwards. Students loved learning the song and finger play Five Little Ducks. See if your child is able to sing it to you. We continued to learn about parts of words, or syllables this week during our word work time. We learned a new poem, and students enjoyed clapping out how many parts are in their favorite food. We also made books about our favorite foods this week.

This week in math the kindergarten students began our number sense unit. We started off focusing on number 0 – 5. This week we learned about equal groups, more, fewer and concentrated on one to one correspondence when counting. That means counting one number for each object that you see. This week we practiced only with the numbers 1 – 4. I realize this may be a review for some, but an important skill to have mastered to help us once we start working with bigger numbers.

Enjoy the fall colors.

Mrs. Bates

First and Second Grade

Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)

The first and second graders had a great week!

Guided reading groups are up and running. Students are reading books that are on an instructional level with me. They are bringing these books home in their Home/School folders. However, new book bags are being ordered, so be on the look out for these in the next few weeks.

During our word work part of our Literacy block second graders have been working on reading and writing words with the long vowel sounds.   Also, they worked with consonant cluster words that have an s like star, skip, scale, and small, snow, and swim. The first graders focused on hearing and applying beginning and ending sounds in words. Also, they focused on onsets and rimes in words, like ch-eese or c-at.

During Writer’s Workshop students continued working on their narrative stories.   We looked at some examples of student work. The first and second graders were able to see what a story should include. Then, we choose one of our stories that we drafted to revise and add the elements like a title, exciting words, transition phrases, and dialogue.

During our Math Workshop first and second graders began the chapter on comparing numbers. We explored ordinal numbers which we use every day when we line up, playing games or using the calendar. Also, we compared numbers that are greater, less than, and equal to.

Our Earth and Moon theme is a lot of fun! This week we explored moon dust and rocks. The students were able to feel moon dust and discovered that even though there is supposedly no water on the moon it felt like it does. We also explored moon rocks and made diagrams of them.

            I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!

Yours Truly,

Cris PJ

5-6 Newsletter 10-7-09

This week’s NECAP testing is underway! We will complete the Reading Sessions on Wednesday, and the first part of the Math on Thursday.

Our 5-6 spelling team will be competing in the WCSU District Spelling Bee this Friday! Wish us luck!

We are continuing our study of the physical geography of our world. Students learned more about using latitude and longitude coordinates to locate points on a grid. Ask your child about the major line of latitude that divides the earth into the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. In addition your child should be able to tell you what major line of longitude divides the earth into the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere.

Students wrote summaries of a current event this week and also learned about the Hubble Telescope in our current events magazine, Time For Kids.

We continue NECAP testing next week, so remember to get enough sleep!

Have a great weekend!

Newsletter 10/02/09

Laura Smith — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:27:22 -0700

From the Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

Autumn is a beautiful time of year in the northeast, although the fantastic colors come and go too quickly. We hope that you are able to take some time with your family to enjoy this season. At school, we are back into the rhythm of learning. Most of our students have completed their fall MAP (Measures of Academic Achievement) testing. Assessments are given in math, reading and language usage. Kindergarten students will take these in December. Because these are taken on laptops, students usually enjoy these assessments that are given a minimum of two times per year. This year we will receive training in how to better use the data to drive instruction.

Fall is also NECAP (New England Comprehensive Assessment Program) time. We recently received the results of the Science NECAP assessments given in May to fourth graders. 9% lacked proficiency, 64% of the students were partially proficient, and 27% were proficient. These results and those of 8^th graders in L&G indicate that we need to continue to improve our science instruction. The teachers and myself have developed a plan to align science instruction over the PreK-6^th grades to ensure students receive needed instruction in physical science, earth/space science and life science, areas assessed on the Science NECAP.   An important piece of this includes developing inquiry skills. Collaboratively we will review our learning units, make adjustments as needed to instruction, vocabulary and plan strategies for increasing levels of inquiry.   Parent letters were mailed yesterday to parents of 5^th grade students who took this assessment last spring.

Beginning Monday students in grades 3-6 will be taking NECAPS using the following schedule. Please plan appointments and early release time around this schedule, if possible. Also, ensure students are well rested and have a healthy breakfast. Thank you for your support. Remember these assessments provide a snapshot of student learning. We want students to do their best but not be stressed by the process.

NECAP Schedule

Reading (3^rd-6^th)                    Mon/10/5        Tues/10/6        Wed/10/7

Math                           Thurs/10/8 (5/6 – part 1)       Fri/10/9 (3/4 – part 1)

Math (Part2 & 3)       Mon/10/12      Tues/10/13

5^th Gr Writing                        Thurs/10/14    Fri/10/15

Makeup dates                        10/6-10/19

INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING YOUR TIME BUT NOT SURE HOW YOU COULD HELP? If so, give a call, there are a variety of tasks we could use help with.

PreK & Kindergarten News

It’s hard to believe that a whole month of school has gone by. Happy October to all of you. We had another productive week in our classroom. During our literacy center time students worked to sort letters that are in their name and not in their name at the ABC center. At the writing center and in their journals students wrote about their favorite fall activity. This week we met Clever Cat from Letterland. We learned about her shape, sound and how she got her name. See if your child is able to share this with you.    During our word work time students learned that words have parts, or syllables. They applied their learning by sorting pictures together that have the same number of parts. This proved to be a bit challenging but rewarding at the same time. We continue learning about things that are in the sky. We learned that the moon has no air, weather or noise.

During the afternoon, kindergartners wrapped up our chapter on Patterns. This week we built our own patterns, learned about what a pattern unit is, as well as figuring out which part of a pattern is missing. Next week we will begin our number sense unit, starting with a brief review of numbers 0 – 5.

On Thursday we had our first Four Winds class of the year. Students learned about the life cycle of an insect. I learned that some insects go through three different stages and other insects go through four different stages before they reach their adult stage. See what your child can share with you about our class. Thank you to Jill Dean and June Dibble for volunteering their time and making the class fun, enjoyable as well as informational.

Have a terrific weekend.

Mrs. Bates

First and Second Grade

Mrs. Parker-Jennings (PJ)

What a super week we had! The first and second graders began their MAPS testing. This is an assessment taken on the computer, which assesses students’ reading, writing, and math skills.   Hopefully, I will be able to share these results at parent conferences.

Next week I will begin our guided reading groups.   Small groups of children, who are working on similar reading skills, read books that are on an instructional level. Typically, these are books that are one level higher than their independent level. We will be working on skills such as building reading strategies, responding to text both orally and in writing, and fluency.

During our word work part of our Literacy block second graders continued to learn different word study activities.   This week second graders began making connections between words. Students noticed that many words begin the same and end the same. The second graders ended the week identifying words with long vowel sounds. First grade word work focused on saying words slowly so they can hear the beginning, middle and ending sounds. This will help them with their spelling of words. However, there is no push to be spelling words with unusual spelling patterns. Just a focus on writing a symbol for every sound they hear. Therefore, if a first grader wants to write the word catch he might write it like cach.   This is a good thing.

During Writer’s Workshop students began their own narrative stories applying what they know about the format we had practiced.   We are working through the writing process beginning with prewriting where they brainstorm ideas for their stories. Students used a picture flow map to help guide their thinking of story structures. Then, the first and second graders began drafting their stories.   Drafting is when we quickly get on story onto paper. There are some wonderful authors in our classroom!

During our Math Workshop first and second graders continued through the chapter on number patterns. Students explored a variety on ways to show their math thinking when solving problems that include a pattern. For example, if students were trying to find out how many wheels were on 5 tricycles there are different ways to figure it out. Some students used snap cubes, and made 5 groups of 3 snapped together. Other students made a diagram of 5 tricycles showing 3 wheels on each. While other students use a T-Chart or T-Table to show the pattern. In the end all students must explain their math thinking in writing.

Our Earth and Moon theme is going great! This week we explored the surface of the Moon more closely. I shared some pictures that were taken by astronauts that went to the Moon. These gave us a better understanding of what the Moon looks like up close. We noticed that the surface is not smooth, and not made of cheese.   Next, we explored how craters came to be on the moon.   We used pie pans, flour, and cocoa to represent the surface on the Moon. Next students dropped a marble from about 1ft. above the pan, and then carefully removed it as to not disturb the powder in the pan. Finally we discussed what we saw in the photo of the moon that was similar to what we saw in our pans. Students learned that there are rocks flying around in space. Every once in a while, one of these rocks will hit the Moon, just as the marble hit the powder. When this happens, the rock leaves a large pit, or crater, on the surface of the Moon. Thank goodness Earth has an atmosphere that keeps most space rocks from crashing into it.

            I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!

Yours Truly,

Cris PJ

Dear third and fourth grade families,

            Thank you to everyone last week that made sure that their children were able to complete their spelling homework on time.   It was a more successful week for kids on their homework and their spelling quizzes. We will be having two bonus words per week on top of their regular spelling words. These words are words that they will encounter often and need to be able to spell, but they may not fit the pattern on the weeks spelling list. On their final spelling test they will be able to gain five bonus points for each bonus word, but they will not lose points if they get them wrong.

            We are wrapping up our unit on place value this week, with work on comparing numbers. This has been leading us into addition and subtraction with regrouping, which we will be continuing to practice.

            We have studied the first four presidents of the United States, and we are going to be working on reading and creating maps of the local area and the state.

            Tuesday morning Mrs. Allbee was here filling in for me while I was doing some reading assessments. We have finished the individual assessments, and we will begin our guided reading groups very soon.

            Next week we will be beginning the NECAP testing for 3^rd through 6^th graders. In my class while we have testing, we will not have homework, except 15 minutes of reading nightly.

            Electricity continues to be our topic of study in science. The class has designed a way to test items to see if they are conductors or nonconductors, they have ran many trials and have come up with a statement about what types of materials are conductors and which are not. Ask your child to share what they have learned.

            Enjoy your weekend! Make sure to get plenty of rest and eat healthy breakfasts before school to prepare for learning and testing.

            Sincerely,

            Mrs. Bills

5-6 Newsletter 9-29-09

This week we are finishing up MAPs testing for students who were absent the week before. We also had Ann Allbee as a guest teacher on Wednesday, so that individual Fountas and Pinnell reading assessments could be continued.

We are continuing the work on our World Atlas project. This week we completed Antarctica and hope to complete Australia as well!

Students worked on inquiry math projects on Thursday to test their ability to use the strategy of benchmark estimation. We learned about this strategy earlier in the week.

The Vermont Reads Project book, When the Emperor Was Divine, has provided our literature this week. We will continue to read and discuss the book during class, next week as well.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Shakespeare

PS   The talented players at the soccer games are awesome to watch!

CONNECTIONS NEWS

Charlie Cummings, Grant Director

Happy Autumn from the Connections after-school program! We are off and running with programs running and projects starting up! If you'd like to sign your child up, and he or she isn't already enrolled, contact Charlie Cummings at cummingsc@bvsu.org, or at 802.375.6409 ext 217. The Daily Connections program runs Monday and Wednesday for grades K - 2, and Tuesday and Thursday for grades 3 - 6. Program cost is $5 per day, and it runs from 3 - 5:30. During this time, students get snack, homework help, enrichment fun, and physical exercise. Also, keep in mind that we'll be sending out sign-ups for new Connections enrichment activities around the middle of October, so stay tuned!!

Newsletter 09/25/09

Laura Smith — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:06:11 -0700

Calendar

Tuesday, October 6                 School Board meeting 6:30pm

Saturday October 10   Harvest Supper

Tuesday, October 20   School Board meeting 6:30pm

Wednesday, October 21        Early Release Day

Thursday & Friday, October 22 & 23             No School

School Club Meeting October 28     6:30 pm

Schlastic Book Fair   Nov. 9 – 13

From the Principal’s Desk

Rosemary FitzSimons

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

Newsletter 09/18/09

Laura Smith — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:08:39 -0700

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