REMEMBER CONCERT MONDAY NIGHT AT 6:30
Kindergarten
Around your table this Thanksgiving I hope you were able to list many things you and your family were thankful for. I know family, friends, food, laughter, and material items were probably mentioned, but I also hope our American Freedoms were in in the minds of those with whom you shared this holiday.
The students in the kindergarten dictated things they were thankful for. Ideas consisted of Moms, Dads, toys, school, but some mentioned the American flag, America and our world. These selections painted the patriotic picture that we need to remember.
I am sure by now you all are aware that Mrs. Linder/Hall is no longer with us. Grammie Pearl , Mrs. Sambito, our chapter 1 teacher, and I are the daily teachers that see your children.
Daily practice in printing names, drawing pictures that tell a complete story, written symbols to tell the story, and cooking are great means to help your children at home.
Any involvement you have with your child, talking with them , playing board games with them and reading to them are perfect ways to stimulate the thinking process. Have fun at it .
A new quarter has begun and you will see evidence of new skills as you talk over the papers that come home in back packs.
If you have any questions please call.
Tying shoes rhyme:
1 Bunny Ear,
2 Bunny Ear,
swoop Bunny Ear,( go around the loop)
Pull Bunny Ear.
My request is that all children be taught to tie shoes by Christmas. See if this helps.
Thanks!
Grade 1
It's incredible how much these first graders have grown since August! Reading and writing skills continue to show growth as well as math and other curriculum studies. Even though we read and write and listen to stories here at school on a daily basis it is still very important to continue to read and enjoy stories at home with Moms and Dads. The more your child is exposed to reading and practices reading, the better reader and comprehender of reading he or she will be. Kids of all ages (adults, too) love to listen to a good story. What better way to end the day than with a story.
We continue to practice counting orally as well as on paper. I'm noticeing less number reversals as time goes on. That's a good thing! We continue to write numbers (as well as letters) neatly and correctly. If working with your child at home remind them we write letters and numbers from top to bottom. Just a reminder that HOME LINKS need to be returned the day after they come home. We use the information collected at home at the beginning of our math class the following day. Some children need to be reminded to put their MATH LINKS in their back packs and return them the next morning. Thanks for your help.
Leo Lionni has been our Author of the Month for November. He has written excellent stories/fables that we have been enjoying. Most of Lionni's characters are mice. The fables always have a nice lesson to be learned. Some of our favorites are Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse; Cornelius; Tillie and the Wall; Tico and the Golden Wings. Many of these stories can be found at the town library and our school library.
During language arts time we have been reading silly stories: The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss; On Top of Spaghetti; and The Lady With the Alligator Purse. We have been practicing antonyms, contractions, the digraphs th, sh, ch; alphabetical order, sequencing, and cause and effect. Your children have been very busy practicing these skills through the above stories. These are other wonderful stories your would enjoy at home.
Thank you all for coming to Parent-Teacher Conferences. It is so important that
you stay involved with your child's education right through high school and
beyond. If your child knows you are interested in what he or she is learning
they will continue to try to do their best. If you have questions at any time,
I can be reached here at school before 8:10; from 10:00 - 10:15; 11:40 to 12:10;
and after 3:00. Also my e-mail address is mstearns@sad4.com
if that is an easier way for you to communicate with me.
Grade 2
Second graders have made good progress reading non-fiction books.
We have nearly finished this theme and will be testing next week. Our next theme
is called Good Friends. There are some funny stories in the anthology, and we
read some chapter books in our groups.
In math we will finish our unit of geometry and go back to addition. Please
take time to practice addition and subtraction facts. We have started Mad Minutes
in class. Some students are doing very well, but some are unsure of facts.
In science we are starting a unit on weather and seasons. It will take us until
Christmas to complete this unit. In health our unit will be about our senses
and some body organs. We will do that unit through into January. We will be
studying life in a city in social studies. When we finish that we will do Christmas
activities.
Grade 3
In Literacy we’re finishing a unit called “Community Ties”.
We are reading How Jo Louis won the Title. In this story were learning
about common and proper nouns, making sentences with compound subjects, and
making generalizations.
In Writing Workshop we’ve been working on writing fantasy stories with
dialogue. We are also working on finishing up our poetry books. We’ve had
lots of fun looking at some different types of poetry. Students will have samples
of haiku, cinquain, limericks and others in their books.
We are finishing our third unit in Math, Linear Measures and Area. We will be
starting our 4th unit in December... Multiplication and Division. We will be
doing number stories, using arrays, creating number models, and learning the
basic multiplication and division facts (fact power)
In Social Studies we are finishing with a Unit entitled “Living in
the Forest”. Our next unit is called “Living in the Grassland”.
We’ll be learning about the Cheyenne people in Great Plains region of our
country.
In Health and Science were studying about the human body. We are still looking
at how the human body is made up of cells, tissues, organs, and systems. We
are continuing on our project where students are creating life size cut outs
of their bodies complete with organs that make up the major body systems.
Please Take Note
• Book orders are due Dec. 4th
• Please remember to wear appropriate
clothing for the colder weather.
• Make sure all papers go to and from
home in the red folders.
• If parents need to contact me, you may
phone me at school, or if you have
email, my address at school is...
marthers@sad4.com
Grade 4
Most recently our attention has been focused on taking the MEA’s. The students displayed wonderful attitudes and effort during this session of testing! Remember that we will take the second part in the spring, and results will be tabulated and sent to families by the end of the year.
We have begun Super Sleuths, the third of our language arts themes for the year. This one will feature mysteries and is always a favorite with fourth graders! It is a great time to get your child hooked on reading series such as: Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown, Hardy Boys,or Nancy Drew. Many of these are available in our school library, the town library (Isn’t that addition growing nicely?!), local bookstores, and the monthly class book order.
During afternoon readaloud we are now enjoying Lost on a Mountain in Maine , Donn Fendler’s true account of his adventure on Mount Katahdin in 1939.
Working with decimals has been keeing us busy in math. Students are developing a good understanding of what they mean. Parents are encouraged to keep the family newsletter which comes home at the beginning of each unit. There are some wonderful helpers in it!
We are having fun working with Mrs. Lightbody and Mrs. Williams in our weekly art classes. Our first pieces are finished and ready for display. Families are encouraged to look them over after the concert Monday night.
Fourth graders are at such a neat age! It’s the time when they really start to defelop their own independence. However, they still need much guidance from the adults in their lives, and they need to spend a lot of time with them. It’s a great age to play games together. Monopoly, cribbage, chess, Yahtzee, and Scrabble are all strategic thinking games which they can understand and enjoy with adult companions.
Resource Room
We've returned to school after a nice Thanksgiving break and have just a week left in November. Looking back over this month, it seems that we will meet the academic goals we hoped to.
Our fourth graders are working to finish the first part of the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA). This testing battery will take our students a week to complete, since we work on it for less that two hours a day. Special education students may receive accommodations, as noted in their Individual Education Plans (IEP) or 504 Plans, to assist them through these tests. Accommodations may include taking the tests in a small group, having extended time allowances to finish work, having certain portions of the test read to them by the examiner, and being allowed to dictate certain answers to the examiner, who will write responses for them. This is usually the first time most fourth graders take such an extended testing battery and they are serious about doing a good job. I have always been pleased with the effort that most students give to complete this testing.
Special education students are all happily involved with art classes on Fridays. They are enjoying the projects they are working on and are eager to show us their work. Students will have the benefit of art classes until early February.
With December just around the corner, everyone is looking forward to the fun of Christmas. This holiday and the winter months ahead seem to give us a great opportunity for creative writing.
Title 1
At parent-teacher conferences, it was great to be able to discuss with some
of the parents on how we could work as a team to help support their child's
learning. Please contact me at 876-4590 if you did not have a chance to meet
with me. I would be happy to dicuss your child's progress.
In kindergarten, the students have begun their own personalized ABC book. As
they learn a letter in the classroom, they add it to their ABC book along with
a picture that begins with that letter.
In 1st and 2nd grade, the students have been working on phrasing and fluency
as they read aloud. Research has shown, if a student can read fluently and with
phrasing, it will help with their comprehension. They are also checking to make
sure the sound of the word they read has the right beginning and ending sound.
The 3rd and 4th graders have been reading some great fiction as well as non-fiction
books. They have used different kinds of graphic organizers such as a story
map, a KWL chart, or a semantic map to help orgaize the information they have
gained from the story.
All classrooms will have a gift exchange as part of our Christmas Party
on Dec 21. Students are asked to bring a wrapped gift, maximum price of $3.00,
labeled “To Girl” if student is a girl or “To Boy” if student
is a boy. Do not mark who it is from.