June 7,2007

Dear Families,

Our reading and writing workshops are still going strong! All of the children have made such wonderful gains in their reading, sight word vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension. It will be important to keep your children reading over the summer. Many of the children have been "bitten" by the reading bug and will do this on their own but others will need a bit more encouragement. Reading a bedtime story at night together is a wonderful way to end the day and to share the love of reading with your child.

This week we reviewed counting coins, buying items from the "vending machine" and making change. Many of these skills are developing. Please continue to count coins with your child and give them some real experiences with money when you are shopping. We also reviewed polygons and three dimensional shapes along with temperature and addition facts, number writing and number scrolls.

Our bean seeds are really starting to take off now. The children enjoy recording the growth of their bean in their plant log.

Tomorrow June 8th our volunteers will be recognized in our morning or afternoon assembly. I will look forward to seeing you there. The children and I would also like to recognize our classroom volunteers and our room mother on Friday June 15th from 10:15-11:00 in our classroom. Come join us for some juice and muffins so that we can say thank you for being an integral part of our learning community.

Upcoming dates to remember:

Friday June 8 volunteer assembly 8:30 or 2:30 in the gym

Bike or walk to school day

Wednesday June 13th Field Day - the children MUST WEAR SNEAKERS! Water bottles, hat and sunscreen are suggested. Please send a bag lunch or a bag lunch will be served from the cafeteria.

June 14th rain date for Field Day.

June 15th Kindergarten Graduation

June 19th Last day of school dismissal at 12:00.

Have a great weekend!

Pam

May 24,2007

Dear Families,

What a terrific week of learning we had here at Central School starting right off with our Hike Through History on Monday! As we hiked through town learning about the history of transportation and life in the 1800s, the children were curious and polite listeners.

On Tuesday we set off on another adventure to visit the Counting House and the gundalow. The conversations and the questions the children asked of the volunteers were amazing. It is awesome to see the children take responsibility for their own learning.

The children shared their data discs and their knowledge about an animal that he or she was interested in. The data discs were neat and informative. Along with sharing information the children practiced being a public speaker and the audience practiced polite audience behavior. The children were also given the chance to ask questions or give a comment to the presenter. The data discs will be displayed in our hallway so we can continue to share our knowledge.

Next week we will start our units on plants. We will begin on Tuesday by planting some bean and flower seeds. The children will keep a plant log to keep track of the bean plant's growth.

May is quickly coming to an end but the activities keep on going. Here is a list of upcoming events:

May 25 - no school'

May 28 - no school

May 30 - third grade assembly

May 31 - ice cream smorgasbord 6:00-8:30 Central School

June 8 - bike or walk to school morning

June 8 - volunteer recognition 8;30 or 2:30 ( if you are a classroom volunteer or room mother you are invited to attend either the 8:30 or the 2:30 assembly so you can be recognized!)

June 13 - Field Day

June 14 - 2:00 dedicate new playground. The Two Fiddlers Community Dance in the evening at Central School

June 15 - Kindergarten graduation

June 19 - last day of school early release day 12:00

February 16,2007

Dear Families,

What an adventurous week we had preparing for Valentine's Day and our 100th Day Food Drive Celebration with a little snow day thrown in the mix! Thank you for making our first Valentine's Day Pancake Breakfast a complete success and a big hit with the students and the staff. These great events wouldn't be possible without all of your support. The 100th Celebration also took place on Thursday afternoon. Central School collected 3092 food items that were boxed up, loaded on trucks and cars, driven to the Food Pantry and unloaded there. This is a huge event that takes many helping hands to make it happen. We celebrated our success today and will look forward to our 3rd year next year.

A note came home today from Mrs. D'Aran, our school counselor, about standardized testing. The testing will take place the first week in March. It is important that you make every effort to have your child at school and on time. In class I really down play these tests. Standardized testing is only one small piece that measures academic progress. We will "practice" test taking after vacation. The most important thing you can do to prepare your child is to get them to bed early for a good night's sleep and have a good breakfast in the morning.

On February 27th from 5:30-6:30 you and your children are invited to our Family Math Night here at school. Come and learn some of the games we play at school to enrich our math program. Your child will also receive a family game kit filled with all kinds of tools so you can play these games at home.

On Wednesday February 28 we will walk to Town Hall to see a presentation on Penguins. It is brought to us from the outreach program at The New England Aquarium.

Many children and staff members are sick with colds and the flu. I hope this vacation will allow everyone a chance to rest and get healthy. See you after vacation!

Pam

Return to top

February 1,2007

Dear Families,

It was hard to write February on the board today! Time is just sailing by............ This week we wrapped up our study of penguins by doing some fun penguin experiments and putting together our scientist notebooks. On February 28th the outreach program from The New England Aquarium will come and teach us some more about penguins. We look forward to their visit.

All week long we have been concentrating on writing. The children are becoming wonderful writers I must say! Each child was assigned a writing partner. The purpose of a writing partner is to have someone to talk to about their writing and to help each other add on to stories etc. The partners start by asking "what did you write about yesterday?' and then "will you add on to your writing or will you start a new piece?" The children will then tell each other what they are adding on or what new piece they will write about today. Right now we are writing Small Moments Stories. A Small Moment Story it telling a small part of a big story. For example Jamin wrote about seeing a turtle in the road on his way home one day. He wrote details telling what he saw, what it looked like and what he did with the turtle. He didn't write about where he was going or what he did when he got home but kept the story on one piece of his journey. Small Moment stories help the children focus their thoughts and writing. Small Moment stories are always true and they make sense.

We finished up unit 5 in math and now we are half way through our math program. Their first math journals will be coming home soon. We do not complete every page in the math journal so there are pages your child can work on at home. It would be great practice to go and find any unfinished math box pages to work on. These provide a review and practice on skills previously taught. The children will complete a mid year math assessment and then we will move on to Unit Six mid next week.

We have collected over 100 boxes of cereal for the 100th Day Food Drive! We are still collecting up until the 13th of February so it is not too late to send a box of cereal in for the Food Pantry. Thank you for all of your generous donations.

Our Valentine's Day Party will be held on Wednesday February 14th in the morning. We will have a pancake and other goodies breakfast. Please contact Mrs. Sintiris if you can help by sending in donations for our breakfast. She can be reached at 384-8780. We will be celebrating with our lunch team in the cafeteria. Children can send in Valentine's Day Cards for their classmates. Please send one for every student if you plan to send them.

Friday, tomorrow, February 2nd is a half day of school. Dismissal will begin at 12:00. No breakfast or lunch will be served. The teachers will be working on an anti bullying campaign for Central School in the afternoon.

Thank you for getting your children to school on time and having them dressed for outside play! Thank you for your support and help with homework, your hard work shows! Have a good weekend.

Pam

Return to top

January 25, 2007

Dear Families,

We are nearing the end of January, what a busy month! In class we are working on slowing down, taking our time and doing our best work. You may have seen little slips saying "I am proud of this work because...." attached to some of your children's' work, Each child may fill out a slip and tell why they are proud of a certain piece of work. Maybe their handwriting was so neat or they took their time. It is so nice to see a child take pride in their work!

We continued our study of penguins this week. Ask your child to tell you some facts about penguins. It has been a fun learning experience for all.

In math we have been comparing numbers and telling number stories. The children will all get a chance to write their own number story for a class book. We also learned about turn-a-round math facts and other easy tricks for addition. Keep practicing those math facts at home!

We are halfway to our goal of 100 boxes of cereal! Thank you for your very generous donations this week. We will have our big celebration on February 14th in the gym. (the actual 100th day of school is February 9th). We will also have a Valentine's Party on the 14th. Our team, Mrs. Deluca, Mrs., Corriveau, Miss Fontaine, Mrs. Hofacker and myself have decided that we will bring the five classes together in the cafeteria and make heart pancakes for Valentine's Day. I will be looking for two volunteers to come in and cook the pancakes for us and help set up the party. We are planning to eat at about 9:30 in the morning. Here is a list of items needed for our party:

2 electric frying pans

1 bottle of syrup

1 tub of butter

20 plates

20 napkins

18 juice boxes

mini muffins or donut holes

2 plates of cut fruit

If you are able to donate any of these items please contact Lisa Sintiris at 384-8780. Thank you. The children may also make Valentine's Day Cards for their classmates. I ask that if you choose to make cards please make one for every child. We will make boxes to collect our cards in. I have enclosed a copy of our class list for your reference.

Winter is really here! Stay warm this weekend.

Pam

Return to top

January 19,2007

Dear Families,

Yeah! After a week of indoor recess the children were able to go outside and enjoy the new snow. Thank you for sending your child to school with boots, snow pants, jacket hats and mittens. I know they LOVE to play in the snow.

This week we have been talking about Martin Luther King Jr. and his message of peace. We read Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport, Young Martin Luther King, Jr. by Joanne Mattern and We Dream of a World by the Gifted and Talented Students of Pershing Accelerated School in University City, Missouri. These books led us to great, thoughtful and caring discussions about how we should treat all people. Ask your child what Martin's Big Words are. Our interpretation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s message will be displayed in our hallway.

In math we are using base ten blocks to understand place value. We also made comparison statements using the symbols less than, greater than and equal to. Some of the things we compared were animal weights.

Next week we will plunge back into the icy waters and continue our study of penguins. We will make our scientist notebooks and have some fun experimenting too.

On Monday I will be doing some reading assessments and recheck sight word lists. I will send you home a list of words your child needs to work on and I will update their sight word rings.

So far we have 23 boxes of cereal in our quest to collect 100 boxes by February 14th. Thank you for your contributions.

Winter has finally arrived. Hopefully the snow will last the weekend so the children can get outdoors to play. Have a great weekend.

Pam

Return to top

January 12,2007

Dear Families,

Winter weather is finally upon us. Thank you for sending your children to school ready for the cold winter weather. We try to go outside everyday unless the temperature or the wind chill factor prohibits us from doing so.

We have had a fun week learning about penguins! Mrs. Blanchette brings a new penguin to class each day and the children have to find where it is. We have learned that penguins are birds, they don't fly, they are able to withstand the cold weather because of their thick feathers and layer of blubber. Ask your child what else they learned about penguins this week. We have shared some great non fictions books, Antarctic Animals by Melvin and Gilda Berger, Penguins by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and Face to Face Penguins. Antarctic Antics, a Book of Penguin Poems, a book filled with poems about penguins, has been a great tool for learning about the lifestyles of penguins. In the listening center this week the children heard the story Three Cheers for Tacky. Ask you child all about Tacky the Penguin.

In math we have been learning about place value. We used the base ten blocks as a manipulative to help us understand place value. We compared the cube to the penny and the long to the dime. These connections help the children to better understand these concepts. I also introduced the comparisons, greater than, less than and equal to. We played Top It using the appropriate symbols to compare two numbers. Keep practicing basic math facts to ten at home and counting coins!

Our 100th Day food drive is off to a great start. We have collected 16 boxes of cereal so far! We will continue to collect cereal until February 14th or we reach our goal of 100 boxes!

Next Monday there is no school in honor of Martin Luther King. We learn about Dr. King in class next week.

Thank you for sending your child to school with a snack each day. Our emergency snack bag has almost been depleted. If you have any extra snacks at home that we could add to our emergency snack bag it would be appreciated.

Enjoy your long holiday weekend with your families!

Pam

Return to top

January 5,2007

Dear Families,

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a restful holiday and enjoyed some quality family time. It was fun listening to the children share about their vacation adventures.

This week we are focusing on winter and snow. Through conversations and stories such at It's Winter by Linda Glaser and I Love Snow by Cynthia Rothman, the children are learning how people and animals prepare themselves for the long winter. Next week we will begin our study of penguins!

In math this week the children used dominos to learn addition facts and to help with writing number models. I introduced the term "fact power" to the children. Having "fact power" means that you automatically know the math facts, I compared having "fact power" to knowing sight words in reading. Knowing your sight words makes reading a lot easier just like knowing addition facts helps you to move right along while solving math problems. At this point we are working on addition facts +0,+1,+2. It would be great at home to use flash cards to practice all sums of 10. We will work on sums to 20 throughout the year. We finished unit 4 in math on Thursday, unit five skills include find missing numbers and /or the missing rule, Understand place value for longs and cubes, compare numbers using less than and greater than, know +1,+0, doubles and sums of 10 for addition, and solving simple number stories.

Our 100th Day Caring and Sharing campaign has begun, Our class will be collecting 100 boxes of cereal. Since cereal is a more expensive food item the children and I are going to write a letter to the central office and the school board members and ask them if they will help us reach our goal of 100 boxes of cereal. Cereal can be brought in any time now. We will use a large paper thermometer to keep track of our progress.

Looking ahead in January:

Tuesday January 9 - Early Release Day at 12:00. No breakfast or lunch is served today.

Monday January 15 - No School in honor of Martin Luther King

Thank you for supporting your child's efforts with their homework. I can tell many children are working hard on their handwriting as they complete their spelling packet.

Thanks for all you do to have your child to school on time, rested and ready to learn. Have a great weekend.

Return to top

December 15,2006

Dear Families,

This week we continued to read different versions of the Gingerbread Man and discussed the differences in characters, setting and the endings to the story. We talked about our town of South Berwick and we made a Gingerbread Town which is displayed in our hallway.

In math we have been measuring, measuring measuring! The children have enjoyed using both standard and non standard tools to measure different objects in our classroom. We used the tape measure to measure around objects and parts of our bodies. We used dominoes to work on adding and two fisted penny addition to practice sums to 10.

The children have been world travelers this week traveling to Australia, England, Mexico and Germany to learn about Christmas traditions in these countries. Traveling is a great way to enrich their learning and connect with other teachers. Next Monday we will stay in the United States and travel to Hawaii!

Our holiday party is on Thursday December 21st. Please call Lisa Sintiris if you can help with supplies for the party. 384-8780.

We will have the book exchange in the morning and cookie decorating in the afternoon. Please send you wrapped book to school by Wednesday December 20th with a tag saying who the book is from.

Have a great weekend!

Pam

Return to top

Dear Families,

What a great first full week of December. The temperature has gotten colder so this is a good time to remind you that the children do go outside for recess each day. It is time for mittens, hats, warm jackets and soon boots and snow pants for outside play.

This week I read four different versions of The Gingerbread Man. We are comparing the story elements in the different books. We will continue on with the Gingerbread Theme next week. We will talk about our town of South Berwick and we will make a Gingerbread town to display in the hall. We will also make dough gingerbread men to use for retelling the story.

Starting on Monday we will travel to the multi grade and Mrs. Hofacker and Miss Fontaine's classes to learn about Christmas traditions around the World. The children will get their passports ready and their suitcases packed as they travel to England, Mexico, Hawaii, Australia and Germany.

This week in math the children learned how to use nonstandard units of measurement to measure different items in our classroom. They used a "foot long foot" to get the idea about how long a foot is. I will introduce standard units of measure next week.

Report cards are in your child's folder today. Remember that the report card is standards based and that means that the children are not expected to meet the standards until the END of first grade. Do not be alarmed if you see a DM "does not meet" or PM "partially meets" at this time. If you have any questions please feel free to send me an e-mail, drop me a note or give me a call. I will be happy to discuss the report card with you.

Thank you for your generous book donations from the book fair to our classroom. The children are always so excited about new books! Books ordered from Scholastic should be here any day. I will send the books home with your child unless you gave me a note to hold them.

We have a morning snack each day in our classroom. Mrs. Blanchette and I try to keep extra snacks on hand for children who forget their snacks. We would love donations to our "emergency snack box" if you have any extra snacks at your house. The emergency snacks are only used for children who don't have a snack. At times a child may not like what their parent has packed them and they want an emergency snack but the answer is always no. I encourage the children to talk with you about their snack so you can come to a decision together about an appropriate snack for your child. Thanks for your help!

Our winter party will be on Thursday December 21st in the afternoon. Below is a list of items needed for our party. If you are able to donate to the party please call Lisa Sintiris so she can keep track of the donations, 384-8780.

20 unfrosted gingerbread man cookies

2 cans of frosting, vanilla

items for decorating cookies;

sprinkles

M&Ms

raisins or whatever you think will be good.

Bag of pretzels

Napkins

Plates

17 Juice boxes

cheese and crackers

carrots and dip

20 plastic knifes

We will have a book exchange. Please send in a wrapped book that would be good for both a boy and a girl. The book should be under $5.00.

It is a busy time of year with so much going on. In class I am keeping our routine the same and keeping the kids focused on learning. So far so good!!!

Enjoy the weekend with your families.

Pam

Return to top

December 1, 2006

Dear Families,

I can't believe it is December already and we have finished our 57th day of school. This week the children have been traveling to various classrooms to learn about The Five Senses. Through nonfiction picture books and experimentation the children are are learning how their senses work to help learn about the world around them. We all made Scientist Notebooks to keep track of our learning just like real scientists use. Our notebooks contain vocabulary words, pictures, questions and answers. Once again traveling has been an enjoyable learning experience for all.

Centers and guided reading groups were in full swing. Over the last couple of weeks I have been doing reading assessments too.

The children continue to be enthusiastic readers and writers!

In math we just finished up unit three. I will be assessing progress over the next few days. The skills we will focus on in unit four are using standard units for measuring, finding simple sums and missing addends, calculate the value of coin combinations, solve simple number stories, order and compare numbers to 22 and tell time to the nearest half-hour. Please continue to practice counting coins, pennies, nickels and dimes with your children. The added practice at home will help to reinforce this skill. Thank you for your comments on the math home links. Domino Top It was a big hit at home. Dominos are a great tool to use for teaching addition and subtraction too! Please let me know if your child is having difficulty with the home links so I can offer extra support at school.

Each morning a take about a half and hour to teach phonics and whole group reading or writing. The children work on their slates to write our Word Wall Words (high frequency words). They learn to make new words by building on to word chunks or changing a letter in the word. I have also introduced Making Words where the children have letter tiles that they manipulate to make words. Both activities are hands on and engaging ways to teach reading and spelling patterns.

Over the next couple of weeks we will read many versions of The Gingerbread Man and do various activities to enrich our learning. I will introduce the children to a Venn Diagram which we will use to compare and contrast the different versions of the story. At our winter party we will decorate Gingerbread Man cookies to celebrate our reading successes!

Speaking of our holiday party, I am planning on having our winter party on Thursday December 21. Each year the children in my class participate in a book swap. I ask that each child bring in a wrapped book that would be good for a boy or a girl. The price of the book should be under $5.00.(If you do not want to participate in the book swap just let me know.) We will swap books during our winter party. In another week or so I will send out a list of goodies needed for our party. Mrs. Sintiris is our room mother this year and she will organize the party for the class. Once I send out the goody list I ask that you call Mrs. Sintiris and tell her what you are going to contribute. This way we know we have and what we need for our party. More info to come next week!

It was a TERRIFIC week back at school. The children came back after Thanksgiving break settled and ready to learn. Thank you for all that you do to support your child's learning.

Our annual fall Book Fair will be held on Monday December 4th in the Central School Gym from 5:30-7:30. The book fair is a great place to start your holiday shopping! The fair is also open during the school day next Monday through Thursday.

This Friday night December 1st PTO is sponsoring Little Shopper's Night to be held in the Central School Gym. There are many inexpensively priced items that children can buy for the special people on their gift giving list. Little Shoppers will be open from 5;00-8:00.

That is it from here! I hope you enjoy your weekend!

Pam

Return to top

November 17, 2006

Dear Families,

This week our focus has been on the First Thanksgiving and what life was like in colonial America. The children traveled to four classes to learn about the horn book, clothes the pilgrims wore, what they packed in their chests to bring to America, and how to use vegetables and fruits to dye clothing. In our own class we learned about the difference between a myth and a fact and we sorted through different Thanksgiving myths. We also learned about the kinds of food the Pilgrims and Native Americans ate at their almost week long celebration. The children then strung cranberries and popcorn to represent harvest food. We are all looking forward to our feast on Tuesday. Please send in your favorite Thanksgiving dish to share. If you are able please send in the recipe you used to make your dish so we can find out if our allergy sensitive students can eat that food. THANK YOU for helping ALL of our students enjoy this festive event. Please send your dish in with your child or bring it to school by 10:30 on Tuesday morning.

In math we have been working on adding and subtracting using the number line. The children also learned to solve frames and arrow problems. We investigated the dime and practiced counting pennies, nickels, dimes and combinations of these coins.

After Thanksgiving we will start our science unit The Five Senses. Once again the children will travel to different classrooms to learn about one of the five senses. The classes involved in our travels will be Mrs. Hofacker, Mrs. Dorr-Garrity, Ms. Craffey, Miss Fontain and Mrs. Mulcahey. We will be making "Scientist Notebooks" to enhance our learning.

I am sending home the December book orders this weekend. I would like to place the order early to ensure the books arrive in time for the holiday. If you want to order any books as gifts please write me a note and I will hold the books aside. Book orders will be due back on Tuesday November 21st. Write one check to Scholastic for all orders.

This will be my last newsletter until after Thanksgiving, I want to wish all of you a safe and happy Thanksgiving with your families and friends.

Pam

Return to top

November 9,2006

Dear Families,

The month of November is filled with lots to celebrate. This week we started our study of the first Thanksgiving and life in Colonial America. Through books like The Story of the Pilgrims by Katharine Ross and Thanksgiving Is... by Gail Gibbons the children are learning how and why the people chose to leave England and travel to a new land. Next week we will travel to four other classrooms to enrich our learning of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.

Our center activities this week included making a Thanksgiving book, listening to Clifford's Good Deed and writing about a time the children did a good deed, making a book about ways to help at home and in the classroom, talking turkeys, using the computer to enrich reading through phonics activities, and working on a November calendar along with silent reading and guided reading. The children continue to read the work board to guide them on their activities. They are doing a great job staying focused and putting forth good effort during this time.

In math we have been practicing skip counting by 2s,3s,5s and 10s. We learned how to use the number line to help with addition and subtraction. Writing number models was also introduced this week along with telling time to the half hour. Thank you for your support with the math home links and for making sure your child's name is on their homework.

Some of the children are bringing home bags with books to practice reading at home. I am now including their ring of sight words in their bag. It would be great if you could practice these words at home along with the story, Please return the word ring in the plastic bag the very next school day as we use them in class also. Thank you for your at home reading support! It is making a BIG difference! I am seeing great reading progress this year.

Central School is collecting food for the food pantry. There will be a collection before Thanksgiving and before Christmas. Children can bring non perishable food items to school and put them in the collection boxes.

Upcoming events: we will have our Thanksgiving Feast here at school on Tuesday November 21st. Children from Miss Fontaine, Mrs. Hofacker, Mrs. Corriveau, Mrs. Deluca and Mrs. Mulcahey's classes will join together to celebrate our study of Colonial America. Each child is asked to bring in a dish of their favorite Thanksgiving food. We will set up a buffet in the hall for all to partake in. You do not need to let me know what you are bringing but we are hoping someone might bring a turkey!! (let me know if you want to contribute that!) The teachers will provide paper goods and juice boxes for the children. Our feast will be in place of lunch that day. The children do not need to bring lunch to school on the 21st. Last year it was a HUGE success and our goal is to carry on the tradition and make this an annual event.

Turkey patterns were sent home last Friday. Please decorate your turkey and send it back to school with a Thanksgiving message from your family by Monday if possible. Some have already arrived and they look great!

November book orders should be here any day. I will send out the December order in another week so books can arrive in time for the holidays.

PTO is holding an auction at Springhill on Friday evening November 10 to raise money for the new playground. The event starts at 7:00 with a silent auction. There are many wonderful items up for auction. Tickets are $15.00 at the door. Appetizers will be served.

Reminder about snack time. We have snack everyday at school. Please remember to pack a snack for your child. We do have 'emergency snacks" for children who do not have a snack. I encourage the children to talk with you about their snacks so that everyone is happy!

Enjoy this three day weekend with your families. Next week will be busy and the day of the feast will be here before you know it.

Pam

Return to top

November 2, 2006

Dear Families,

It is hard to believe we are already into the month of November and working on our 42nd day of school! With our unpredictable weather and the cold coming please remember to dress your child for outdoor play, It is getting to be hat and mitten and warm coat time. This is an early reminder that the children do go out to play in the snow and they will need to be dressed in boots, snow pants, hats and mittens. Hopefully it will be awhile yet before the snow falls!

This week we have been working on retelling the story of The Little Red Hen. Friday afternoon will be story time where the children will retell both The Big Pumpkin and The Little Red Hen. They will also have a chance to act out the Little Red Hen.

The children choose a picture from our field trip to The New Hampshire Farm Museum and the Fire Station to make a page for a class big book.

In math we explored the concept of odd and even numbers and skip counting on the number grid. We are beginning to learn about place value and one and two digit numbers.

November is a short and busy month. In conjunction with Thanksgiving we will be learning about Colonial America. During the week of November 13-17 the children will travel to Mrs. Deluca, Mrs. Corriveau, Mrs. Hofacker and Miss Fontaine's room to learn about different aspects of colonial life. Our travel time will be from 2:00-2:40 in the afternoon. On Tuesday November 21st our five classes will hold a Thanksgiving Feast together. We will ask each family to send in their favorite Thanksgiving dish to share, for example, turkey, potatoes, squash, corn, corn bread, pumpkin bread, stuffing, cranberry sauce, dessert etc. The choice is yours. We will divide the children from all five classes up and eat in our classrooms that day. Students from the high school will come to help set up, serve and clean up. We started this feast last year and it was a huge success! I will send out more details as the date approaches.

Reminder that book orders are due on Friday, November 3. I will send one more order form home before the holidays in case you wanted to shop for holiday books or gifts. I always send the books home with the children but if you want them to be a surprise just write on the order form and I will save them aside for you. I believe the last order forms I sent out on Monday were not put in the correct mailboxes so please write your own child's name on the top of the order if it is incorrect!! Thank you!! I wanted to let you know that you can write one check for your total order made out to Scholastic.

Dates to remember:

Book Orders due tomorrow Nov. 3

No school Friday November 10 - Veterans Day

No school November 22-25 Thanksgiving Break

Seussical Nov. 3,4,10,11 at the High School - It was such a great treat to go to the high school and watch some of the production. It promises to be a great show!!

Have a great weekend!~

Pam

Return to top

October 27,2006

Dear Families,

We had a wonderful trip to The New England Farm Museum in Milton N.H. on Tuesday. Other than the weather being a bit chilly the day was a complete success. The children experienced life in the early 1800s. Thank you so much to our chaperones, Mr. James, Mrs. Flynn and Mrs. Howe who helped ensure everyone had a safe and positive experience.

This week many of our activities centered around the story The Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall. The children compared chores children did in the 1800s to chores children do today. WOW! What a difference. We learned that children as young as four years old had chores they were responsible for. We also discussed our wants and needs, what kinds of things we need to survive and what kinds of things make our life easier.

In math we have been counting coins, pennies and nickels and counting coin combinations. We also reviewed telling time to the hour and making tallies. The children learned to write both addition, (change to more), and subtraction, (change to less), number models.

Thursday was our second Walk or Bike to School day. It was a beautiful crisp fall morning for a walk. It is nice to see so many of the children get involved in these healthy activities.

Next week we will begin a new story for story retelling, The Little Red Hen. When we are finished the unit we will make butter and bread in class to celebrate.

Our PTO is looking to get more families involved. The PTO meets once a month at 6:00 in the cafeteria. This organization does so much for the students and teachers at Central School. It is a great way to make connections and get involved in our school. I will send a reminder about the next date. You can also find out more information about our PTO by logging on to our Central School Web Site and clicking on PTO.

Halloween is next week but we do not have a party celebrating this holiday. I will bring in a special treat for the children and we will read some fun holiday stories.

In your child's folder is a sheet informing you about our class behavior program. If you have any questions feel free to get in touch with me.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Pam

Return to top

October 13, 2006

Dear Families,

What a busy week here at Central School. It was great meeting with many of you on Wednesday evening. I look forward to meeting the rest of my families next Thursday evening.

We had a school evacuation on Thursday morning. A notice went home on Thursday afternoon explaining the event. The children did an excellent job following our protocol for a fire drill.

On Wednesday morning our class walked to the South Berwick Fire Station to learn about fire safety. It was great having Mr. Valli and Mrs. Flinkstrom walking with us. Discuss with your children an escape plan in case there was a fire in your house. Ask your children to share the fire safety tips they learned this week.

Our language arts centers are going very well. The children are getting the routine down and are independently reading the work board. Some of the activities the children worked on this week are writing, making words, listening and responding to the story, making a counting book and writing sight words, reading color words, filling in beginning sounds and rhyming words along with guided reading and independent reading.

In math we continue to work with numbers and number patterns. We are learning to tell time to the hour and to exchange pennies for nickels. After each lesson the children complete a math box page. Each math box page has four boxes practicing different skills. The goal is for the children to complete the math box pages independently and they are on their way to achieving that goal.

I am sending home the volunteer schedule today. I have misplaced my volunteer sign up sheet so if I missed you on the calendar please drop me a note at home this weekend at jpmulcahey@comcast.net and I will put you in. I haven't given up hope of finding it so by the time you read the schedule it may be correct! SORRY!

This week we have had a couple of discussions about fueling our body with a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast. We talked about how doing these things will help to keep us alert and fueled up for a day at school.

If you have not sent in your permission slip for our field trip to the New Hampshire Farm Museum please do so as soon as you can. Also I received many signed permission slips without the $6.00 fee. Please send the money to school in an envelope with your child's name on it. If the fee is a hardship just let me know.

Have a great weekend!

Pam

Return to top

September 28,2006

Dear Families,

Another exciting week here in first grade. Our last chrysalis hatched on Wednesday! It was awesome to see it fly off to a new adventure on a beautiful fall afternoon.

Thank you for taking the time to come to Open House on Tuesday. It was great to see everyone here. I look forward to talking to you individually at the upcoming conferences. Thank you for signing up to volunteer too. Right now I am planning on starting volunteers in our classroom in the middle of October. I will send home a volunteer schedule and calendar each month. Look for more information in the next couple of weeks.

This Friday we will celebrate our 16th classmate! Interviewing our friends gives the children a great opportunity to learn how to ask appropriate questions, to be a good listener, develop public speaking skills and to show each other what we have to say is important. It is held in a very comfortable environment where the children feel safe taking a risk.

In math we have finished the first unit in our Everyday Math Program. The goals for unit two are to calculate the values of various combinations of pennies and nickels, find compliments of 10, solve simple addition and subtraction stories, count up and back by ones on the number grid, tell time to the nearest hour, exchange pennies for nickels, and count by 2s to 20 and 5s to 50. Thank you for supporting your child's learning by having your child complete the math home link each night. The extra reinforcement at home will have significant impact on your child's learning. I would like to ask that you PLEASE have your child write their name and the date on the top of each individual home link. I have lots coming in with no name so we have to be detectives to find out who they belong to!

Guided reading groups are moving along very smoothly. The children tell me they are reading at home and they are doing a terrific job of returning the books the next day.

Next week we will start learning centers. During our language arts time in the morning the children will work on a variety of activities throughout the week. The activities will consist of reading, writing, spelling, making words, computer, poetry, art, science or math. The children are reading and writing everyday during our language arts time.

Upcoming dates to remember: October 4 is Walk/Bike to school day. You must sign the permission slip that went home if your child is going to participate. October 6 there is NO SCHOOL as it is a teach workshop day. Monday October 9 is NO SCHOOL in observance of Columbus Day. Parent Conferences are October 11 and October 19th. I will send reminder notices home.

It is Home Coming weekend at Marshwood High School. Stop by and catch a football or field hockey game on Friday night and soccer games on Saturday! Have a great weekend!

Pam

Return to top

September 15,2006

Dear Families,

We finished our first full week of school and we are beginning to settle into life in first grade! The children are becoming comfortable with our classroom routines and they are doing a great job learning each others names.

This week we celebrated four students. After we interview our special student the children go back to their seats and create a page for a book. When we have finished celebrating each child we will celebrate the whole class with a special snack.

We made our Classroom Promise together. Our promise is the backbone of our classroom environment and the expectations that we have so all children will feel safe and all children can learn.

I have begun guided reading with your children. Some nights your child may come home with a book in a plastic bag. Please have your child read the book to you and return it to school in the bag the next morning. Reading the books at home is great practice and the children will be able to see themselves as real readers. The children learn to follow the patterns in these early books and they also are learning a sight word vocabulary. These books are used for guided reading lessons each day so it is important that they are returned the very next day. "Keep Books" are for you to keep and practice at home.

In math we have been working with numbers and the number line. We are working on the skill of one more and one less, number writing, and making tallies. The children have played Top It, one of our favorite math games and Penny Grab. You will receive your first Family Newsletter from our math program on Monday along with the first homework packet. This packet will only be math. The Home Link will follow the lesson of the day.

The children are doing a great job remembering to wear sneakers each day, especially Day 2 our physical education day. Thank you!

Blue folders should come to school with your child everyday.

We have snack everyday so please send a healthy snack to school with your child each day. There are children at our lunch and recess with severe peanut allergies. We are being very careful in our classroom to wash our hands after we eat snack and lunch and before we go to specials. The children are working hard to keep all of our Central School friends healthy.

Upcoming dates to remember:

Friday September 22 is Picture Day. If you want to order pictures please fill out the picture form and return it to school.

Open House is Tuesday September 26 from 5:30-7:00. This is a great opportunity to come in and see our classroom and see what we have been up to. You can also sign up for October conferences and to volunteer in our classroom.

Have a great weekend with your family! I am heading to Orono for Freshman Family Day with my daughter!

Pam