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Hello
and Happy November! Thank you all for our wonderful conferences. It
is such a pleasure for me to share with parents the academic, social, and
emotional growth of their children. Already such great gains have been
made. And then there's that popular comment from parents, "Are you
talking about the right child?" Our read alouds have
featured two non-fiction books this week: I Am A Leaf and Pilgrims.
I Am A Leaf tells the life story through the perspective of a
leaf. Photosynthesis (the making of food in a leaf) and why leaves
change color are explained in simple terms. We learned that when the cool
weather and short days arrive, the leaves stop making their food and the
chlorophyll fades giving the leaves their beautiful colors. The leaves
weaken with no food and eventually fall from the trees. During our read
aloud on Pilgrims, we learned why they left England, what their voyage was
like, how they survived their first winter in one house with little food, who
Squanto was, and why we celebrate Thanksgiving. We are learning some true
Native American symbols. We are learning many new songs and
poems. Those songs which feature letter sounds are "Alphady",
"Seven Little Letters", and "Learning Letter Sounds A to
Z". "
Grade 1F – Mrs. Finethy/Mrs. Haseltine Click HERE for pictures!
Hello and happy Friday! This week we
had some special visitors from the New Durham Fire Department to review fire
safety with us. Turning the clocks back is a reminder to all that it is
also time to check the batteries in the smoke detectors in your home.
Also, just as the school has the children practice fire drills, so should your
families at home. Make sure that you have discussed a meeting place
outside for all to gather in the event of a home fire. This place should
be away from the house, road, and driveway where fire engines and personnel
might be. This week's read alouds from the Perspective Taking theme
included Big Al and Henry and the Kite Dragon. The lesson
from reading Big Al is that you can't judge what someone is like or how
they feel by just looking at them. Big Al is a very scary looking fish
and no other fish want to be his friend until one day he saves their
lives. Henry and the Kite Dragon is a story of prejudice.
Before the book was read the children were asked to think how they would feel
if they were in Henry's place. This type of perspective taking helps the
children understand the importance of looking at the facts and not inferring
when you are making decisions about people. Two other stories read were
part of a minilesson before Writers Workshop. Vera Rides a Bike
and Vera Runs Away are stories about a young girl who has experiences
much like many of us. It is important to continually point out to the
children how authors often write about their experiences much like we do during
Writers Workshop. We are continually working on how to improve our
writing. Last week we tried including feelings in our stories. We
are also working hard at adding good detail to make our stories
interesting. During Work Board our centers
included fall/Halloween poems, puzzles of the last names of our friends,
overhead projector work, a word search, a Thanksgiving listening center, and
more. We practiced each day on skills involving alphabetical order, the
sounds of "ou" and "ow" when embedded in a word, short
vowel sounds, and the effect a silent "e" has on the vowel in a word.
Please practice -at, -an, and -in words in the car. Have your child
brainstorm words with those endings and then have her/him spell 2 of the
words. In math this week we have continued to solve number stories and
math equations using the number line. We have also begun telling time to the
half hour and when we talk about it we say “it is half-past
Grade 1G – Mrs. Gehring Click HERE
for pictures!
We
have had another busy week in first grade! Thank you to the New Durham Fire
Department and Captain Dave for making a presentation to our class on Tuesday.
We got to see one of the firemen dressed in all of his gear and we learned that
our families should have an escape plan and a place to meet outside of our
houses if there is a fire. In science we learned how the color of clothing
effects temperature. We found that the color black absorbs sunlight and raises
the temperature while the color white reflects the sunlight and so keeps
temperatures cooler. The children were surprised to see the difference color
makes. In our character education theme we are learning about perspective
taking. In perspective taking we are trying to understand others point of view
and feelings. Our theme questions are: How do I feel? How do you feel? Our book
this week was If the Shoe Fits. It's about a boy who learns important
lessons about giving, getting, and wanting. The students were asked to think
about the difference between wants and needs and what the boy in the book
learned. In writing we are learning about the difference between a list type
story and a story that has a lot of interesting details. I modeled this by
telling two different stories. One story was about how much I loved my dog. The
other story was about when I was a little girl and my big brother taught me how
to ride a bike. Well they quickly learned that the bike story was much more
interesting and had everyone laughing. So we are all going to work on
interesting detail in our stories! Our new poem this week was The Squirrel
Song sung to the tune 'She'll Be Coming Around The Mountain'. At centers we
practiced reading, writing, and math through various activities. We also added
the computer to our centers! In math we studied adding and subtracting on the
number line, telling time to the half-hour, understanding the frames and arrows
routine, and counting with a calculator. In telling time to the half hour the
children are expected to understand and use the language of 'half-past’, which
is tricky for some of them. Please practice talking about the time as half-past
Hello! We've had a good week! Everyone is really enjoying our spider
theme. We learned another new poem and read several books. We are enjoying the
Anansi the spider series. Anansi is a trickster who gets into lots of trouble.
The second graders learned that spiders are not insects, but arachnids. They
enjoyed looking through non-fiction spider books to find new information about
spiders. We read a great book for our character education focus called Nadia's
Hands. This book was about a Pakistani-American girl who was a flower girl
in her aunt's wedding, and was uncertain about a family tradition of having
intricate designs painted on her hands as she feared how she would be seen as
different when she went to school. We then discussed traditions in our own
families. Our word study focus again followed the principle 'short vowel sounds
are usually spelled with one vowel'. This week we worked with the short o sound
which was tricky because we realized lots of short o sounds don't follow the
rule (such as thought or taught). Next week we will finish up with this word
study principle using the vowel u. In math we worked with time, frames and
arrows with 2 rules, and money. The students are learning that when it's half
past the hour (for example
Grade 2S – Ms. Spack
What a beautiful week we have had with the sun shining and the air nice and warm. It is hard to believe that this is November. We had an excellent visit from the fire department to teach us about fire safety. They reminded us to check our smoke detectors monthly, to have fire drills at home, to have a predetermined meeting place outside, to get out in case of a fire, leaving pets to get out by themselves and to stop, drop, and roll if your clothing is on fire. The students were very attentive, asked good questions, and shared their learning. Thank you to our fire fighters. In our character education program, Voices we are beginning our second theme, perspective taking. The book, Manuela’s Gift by Kristyn Rehling Estes, was our jumping off point. The story is about a young girl who wished for a new yellow dress for her birthday. What she received was a blue dress made from the material of her mother’s dress. She was very disappointed at first but later changed her mind. Ask your student how Manuela changed her mind. We are continuing to read Eric Carl books like Pancake, Pancake and The Secret Birthday Message. His illustrations are fascinating and his stories usually have information and interesting vocabulary in them. We are studying long vowel combinations this week. This includes pairs of vowels like ea, ee, ai, oa, and words with an e at the end. This is a review from last year but the reminder is helping in reading and writing. We continue to work on editing our writing, putting capital letters and periods where they belong. In math we started the week working with base 10 blocks which were incorporated into our centers. We then reviewed money, making combinations of coins as high as $1.25 We pretended to shop at a fruit stand in our math journals where we bought one fruit, then two, and then three and showed the coins we would use in two different ways. We continue to work on problem solving using pictures on the overhead and pictures we have made ourselves. Mrs. Hess was unable to join us but we continued to relate her topics to what we are reading. I need to give a big THANK YOU to Mr. Stasiuk who made my VW Bug for the Halloween parade. We all had fun that day. A “thank you” also goes out to all the parents who returned the Progress Report envelopes signed, the conference sign up sheet, and the permission slip with money for the field trip. For those who haven’t please send them in right away. Special Note – Pajama Day is next Friday. Due to the fact that we are going to the Rochester Opera House that day, we need to have a “dress up” day for that. We in grade 2 will have pajama day on the following Monday. Thank you in advance for helping your child remember this.
Grade 3P- Ms. Parise
Grade 3Y – Mrs. Yates
We
have enjoyed our work with Perspective during Voices this week. We have found different examples of how
characters take perspective and are now working on researching endangered animals
to extend our understanding of perspective in writing. During math we have been making
three-dimensional shapes with straws and twist ties. We have measured the perimeter and used
pattern blocks to fill the inside of each shape to find the area. We also used pattern blocks to work with
probability. Thank you to those parents
who sent back conference forms so promptly.
If you have not done so, please do, as you know from the updated forms
sent home with your child that the schedule is filling fast. I look forward to meeting with you all, over
the next few weeks. Stay healthy and
enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend.
Grade 4M – Ms. Martens
Students
have been expanding their word knowledge by writing synonyms for their word
study words and writing them into sentences.
In science, our young engineers are working to design a vehicle that
meets certain criteria. In math, we are
looking at different strategies to help us learn multiplication facts. All the fourth graders have become the
Grade 4W –
Mrs. Wasson
This week we have worked on several different concepts in literacy.
We've talked about author's purpose, transitions in writing, and expository
writing. All of these concepts apply to both reading and writing. Our word
study work has been with “diphthongs”. They are 2 vowels that go together to
make a new, unique sound like the letters OY and OU. We're finding these words
everywhere! Students in 4W have finished presenting their “bills” to the
“senate” and are ready to move to the “house of representatives”. All students
have been thoughtful with the comments to other committees that were presenting
their ideas. I'm proud of their “professionalism” during this activity. I'm
sure we'll have a set of 4th grade laws and a constitution before
too long. In science students have been working with the stream tables, once
again. This time they've experimented with the idea of multiple streams coming
together at one source. The lab groups are all working well. It's wonderful to
see them effectively share the materials and their ideas. Our class has
finished up unit 3 in math. These concepts involved multiplication, division,
number sentences and algebra. The next unit of instruction focuses on decimals.
Grade 5DR – Ms. Duffield/Ms
Richards
5DR
literacy As we finished up this round of guided reading books
everyone took a test that asked both specific questions about their book, as
well as more general questions about literary elements such as setting, plot
and characters. Next week we will be starting more guided reading work on the
topic of informational reading- a very important part of our daily lives. We
have continued to work on our memoirs and this week we focused of revising not
only our introductions to make them more interesting, but we also looked at the
verbs we had used. After brainstorming a list of strong verbs, we went back
into our work and
replaced weak verbs with stronger ones. Spelling words went home this week. We
are looking at words with vowel combinations that make a single long vowel
sound. Ask your students how we "played" with our spelling words
using a program called wordle. Two important notices went home today. One is
for our annual ski program and the other is a request for volunteers to provide
goods as well as help supervise at a table at the New Durham annual craft fair.
A final reminder that all calendar stubs sold, along with money, need to be
turned in to us by November 30 at the very latest. If you need further
calendars to sell, please let us know. One of our math groups is doing the
book keeping for our fundraising so I am sure we will be able to give you a
current total soon. Our thanks to all of you who have worked so hard for the
benefit of our students, as well as helping to save money for all fifth grade
families.
Grade 5H – Mrs. Harris
I
am asking that 5H students have their student planner signed by an adult at
home each night. This is so families know what the homework assignments are,
and it gives students a chance to ask for help - if they need it. I don't
expect homework to be corrected at home, but monitoring what is being completed
and packed in backpacks to be returned the next day would be beneficial for
all! A notice regarding the NDS craft fair on 12/5 went home this week. If you
have any questions please ask. I've been wiping down books, manipulatives,
pencils (sounds crazy but true)...with disinfecting wipes to help keep
everybody healthy. Donations of disinfecting wipes would be greatly
appreciated. ND Firefighters presented fire safety strategies to fifth graders.
We met with our 1st grade buddies, who also saw the presentation, to
create fire safety posters.
Grade 6CK– Mrs. Craycraft / Mr. Kiely
This week we got to have some great
experiences. On Monday, 10 international students from
On another note, Gunstock permission forms should have come home today. There
is information about this at the class website and in today's jottings. Have a
great weekend!
Grade 6DR – Ms. Duffield/Ms.
Richards
Ms. Richards - 6DR literacy:
As we finished up this round of guided reading books everyone took a test that
asked both specific questions about their book as well as more general
questions about literary elements such as setting, plot and characters. Next
week we will be starting more guided reading work on the topic of informational
reading- a very important part of our daily lives. We have continued to work on
our memoirs and
this week we focused of revising not only our introductions to make them more
interesting, but we also looked at the verbs we had used. After brainstorming a
list of strong verbs, we went back into our work and replaced weak verbs with
stronger ones. Spelling words went home this week. We are looking at words with
vowel combinations that make a single long vowel sound. Another activity we
completed this week was with the program wordle - students experimented with
designs on the laptops based on their hopes and dreams essays. It has been
quite a week for visitors. On Monday, ten international students from Brewster
academy came to our sixth grade classes and shared information and pictures
about their home country. As non-native English speakers, they also practiced
their English skills at the same time. In turn we were treated to a little
multicultural education. It was pretty exciting to meet them and see how they
live their lives at home, and a great learning experience for both Brewster and
New Durham children. On Friday we were fortunate to be visited by KRHS
students who are part of the Peer Outreach program. Each year they visit and
share ideas about not taking drugs through a variety of skits and other
entertaining ways to communicate a very important message.