Claude Chester School 1 Harry Day Drive ~ Groton, CT Tel ~ Fax

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1 1 Harry Day Drive ~ Groton, CT Tel ~ Fax February 2018 Dear Families and Friends of, Students are increasing their reading stamina! Everyday students enjoy independent reading time during Reader s Workshop. They select books of choice both fiction and nonfiction. The whole school will be celebrating reading during Read across America Week which starts on February 26 and ends with Dr. Seuss s Birthday on Friday, March 2. To celebrate, all grade levels will be taking field trips to the Groton Public Library. Students will have a tour, hear stories, make a craft, and more. The Permission Slip came home last Wednesday, and is due February 21st. In addition to the Library field trips, we will January PUPs of the Month! See the PBIS section in this newsletter for more details. have a Spirit Week and have guest readers share a favorite book with classes. We are looking forward to these excellent events! [Please see this newsletter for a list of Spirit Week days.] A wonderful way you can celebrate and help your child everyday is to read with your child at home and talk about what you have read. Among many benefits, it will help to expand their vocabulary, learn about new topics, and increase a love of books all while spending time together. Next Friday at our Whole School Morning Meeting we will be introducing Kindness Links. This will kick-off a whole school activity to recognize a student or adult who has demonstrated kindness. We will be tracking the acts of kindness with paper links to connect to one another. All of the links will then be joined together at the April Whole School Morning Meeting. It will provide a visual for all to see. It will be exciting to see how many links of kindness we will have! With winter comes many ailments. Please remember to call into the school if your child is going to be out sick and follow-up with a signed note upon their return. Please refer to the Attendance Policy in the Groton Public School Handbook for further information about attendance. We had a wonderful turnout at our February PTO meeting. It was super to see so many new faces who came and offered their input and ideas. Our next meeting is Tuesday, March 6th at 5:15pm. I hope you can make it. This Newsletter replaces the Wednesday's Weekly Word this week.

2 Integrated Preschool News January flew by so quickly! We had so much fun conducting science experiments that involved freezing and melting. We learned about making predictions and collecting data. Mother Nature gave us many opportunities to observe snow and ice this month! In February, we will welcome some new friends into our classes. We will talk about ways that we can be kind and helpful towards others. We will also learn all about bridges. There will be many opportunities to read books about bridges and construct bridges out of many different materials. KINDERGARTEN NEWS Time is flying by! We have had an amazing start to the New Year! Our students continue to work hard on their reading, writing, and math skills. We are looking forward to celebrating the 100 th day of school and Valentine s Day with our friends! In Fundations, we are finishing up our uppercase letters and beginning Unit 3. In Unit 3, students will continue to learn how to blend and read three-sound words. These CVC words begin with any consonant and we will practice changing the initial, final and medial sounds to create new words. We will also practice blending some non-words such as bez for decoding mastery. In this unit, students will also listen for the vowel sound in words to distinguish between the long and short vowel sounds in words they segment. Students will continue to work on retelling stories. In our Writing Workshop we will begin How to Writing. Students will be teacher others how to do something by writing and illustrating the steps in sequence. In Language Arts, we continue to work on our reading and writing skills. Please continue to read to your child (or have your child read to you with their Guided Reading homework) minutes each night. Please continue to review sight words and read each night. The children should be reading at least 20 of the 55 words by the middle of March and all the words by the end of the school year. In math, we are beginning Unit 3. This unit will bring more focus to: -Big Idea: Partners of numbers (+ - =) through 6 -Big Idea: Tens in Teen Numbers - Big Idea: Building and Writing Teen Numbers In Science we will continue to explore the changing seasons, how animals adapt to these changes and where animals live. First Grade In first grade we are focusing on the glued sounds of -ng and -nk. We are also working on the long vowel sounds using silent/bossy e in Fundations. First graders are increasing the accuracy of spelling trick words when writing texts. In math, we are focusing on the relationship between addition and subtraction. We are looking closely at fact families, also known as number bonds, and how the numbers relate to each other. We are furthering this understanding by representing these relationships through addition and subtraction equations. For example, in the fact family 2, 6, 8: 2+6=8, 6+2=8, 8-2=6, and 8-6=2. In reading, first graders are finishing up units studying non-fiction texts as well as being word detectives to solve tough words. We are moving towards students really taking charge of their own reading, and reaching for higher levels of text. We are focusing on the readers being able to identify when they are having trouble decoding or understanding a word and then knowing what strategies they can try to work through their problem. Please continue to review grade level sight word lists with your child. Thank you! Page 2

3 Second Grade Second graders have enjoyed being able to get outside and play in the snow this season! We are about start a new fiction reading and writing unit. We have been making great reading growth and becoming more independent students. At the end of January, we were in charge of whole school morning meeting and taught the school a song called, Here we are. Here s to another wonderful month of learning! Third Grade In literacy this month third graders will continue to study informational writing. We will be reading informational books and observing text features. We will then include these features in our own writing. We have begun our fractions unit in math. Our focus is on halves, quarters, thirds, sixths and eighths. Continue to practice multiplication and division facts at home to gain fluency. Fourth grade Fourth graders are busy here at Claude Chester! Each of the three classes has been studying a different unit in science: soils and erosion/deposition, living things and electricity and magnetism. The kids have been loving these hands-on lessons, and hopefully they ve come home and shared some of their knowledge with you!! In literacy, we ve been studying informational texts, specifically focusing on text features and text structures. Students are acquiring new reading strategies for reading non-fiction, which can be applied to reading fiction texts as well. In addition, students are learning about figurative language that authors use, that they can then use in their own writing. Some are finding it to be a piece of cake! Fourth graders are also writing opinion essays in class. We are reinforcing the essay structure, which always starts with a thesis statement! This is big work for fourth graders, and they are taking it in stride; we are so proud of all the hard work they are doing! In math, students are working on multiplying and dividing multi-digit numbers. The students find learning these strategies much easier if they have their multiplication facts memorized, or close to it. Although the strategies your child is using may be different from the ones we learned, we are asking for your help in NOT showing them the algorithm/shortcut for multiplication or division just yet. This process is one similar to riding a bike. We wouldn t just throw kids onto a 2-wheeled bike and let them go without teaching them with training wheels first. Once students have truly mastered the area model of multiplication, we will be able to take their training wheels off and show them the next strategy. This will be extremely helpful when we move deeper into division, as you will soon see. We appreciate your support in reinforcing the skills and strategies being taught at school. Let YOUR CHILD be the teacher, and show YOU how the strategy that we re using organizes the numbers and works in a similar way! As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns. Grade 5 Students are reading their choice of a fiction novel as we work on identifying main idea and theme, and using details in the text to support responses. Writing lessons are focused on how to write a literary essay which includes theme and supporting details from a reading selection. In math we are working on multiplying and dividing fractions. Social Studies classes are studying the first European colonies in the Americas while focusing on main idea and details. Science classes are continuing our unit on Earth s movement in the solar system. Please remember to send your child to school with appropriate clothing for outdoor recess Page 3

4 Ravenlynn Lanzer Aubriella Goss Derell Johnson Unity Claxton Alexa Shell Anthony Thepphalath Anthony Harris Anthony Juarez Aliah Martin Congratulations to PUPs of the month for January! Positive Uplifting People Miz Vazquez MiaRose Summersett Rafdiel Cruz Kao Santiago Kamryn Barriere Michael Russo Renee Cabreja Berroa Cesar Juarez Cordero Angelina Abraham Colon February News From the Art Room Kindergarten Kindergarten Art students are continuing to build their art-making skills as they rotate through their art centers. First Grade First grade art classes have completed their texture/painted fish scene. Next, they will be working with a new type of paint media- tempera. They will use tempera paint to create a winter-inspired penguin painting. Brrr..! Second Grade Students in Mrs. Kohary's Second Grade Art classes are in the process of creating a winter landscape using a mixedmedia technique. So far they have used glue, glitter, and tissue paper. Next, they will use construction paper and tempera paint. Third Grade Mrs. Kohary's Third Grade Art classes have been learning about the late French artist, Henri Rousseau. They are using water-color techniques to create a Rousseau-inspired jungle scene. FOURTH GRADE Mrs. Kohary's Fourth Grade students are working with the color wheel. They are learning how to mix colors to create Tertiary colors, tints and shades. Fifth Grade Interpreting artwork and comparing our interpretations with that of others is the focus of the current fifth grade project. Students will be creating an abstract painting and will compare and contrast their reactions to each other's works of art. Greetings from P.E. I would like to take this opportunity to give everyone a few reminders. Please have your child wear or bring in secure tied or velcro sneakers on physical education days. Also, we are participating in Jump Rope For Heart, which helps to raise money for the American Heart Association for research and education. Our event will be taking place during your child s P.E. Class during the week of February 12 th February 16 th. Parent letters along with donation forms have gone home with students this past week. Mr.Carter News from the Media Center Greetings from the Library Media Center! We have been up to some very exciting stuff in Library Media Enrichment! Students have been exploring coding using ipads and Dash robots. Please ask your 1 st -5 th graders about what we re doing in enrichment. Please help your children remember to return library books on their library day. If students forget they still pick out a new one but I save it for them until the old one comes back. Thank you for your help with this. Happy reading! Miss Fargo Page 4

5 Helpful Hints from Mrs. Hug, Psychologist Here are some helpful hints to keep your child motivated to learn and succeed at school. 1. Encourage Positive Family Relationships and Responsibility **Provide reasonable structure to help your child become independent and responsible. **Have regular conversations with your child and provide time to listen to his or her interests and concerns. **Praise your child for both trying hard and for being successful. All children need to know when they are doing well. 2. Model the Importance of Learning **Plan family activities that encourage learning, such as visits to the library, museums, and parks. **Let your child know that you think learning is important and is the central purpose of school. **Let your child see you read books, newspapers, and magazines. Talk about what you read. 3. Teach Habits that Encourage Learning **Have a set routine for school work. **Make sure your child finishes school work at home before doing things that could distract him or her. **Help your child become expert at something, such as baseball, dinosaurs, insects, whatever, and use those things to encourage learning. 4. Work With Your Child's Teacher to Enhance Academic Motivation **Talk regularly with the teacher so that you and the teacher know what is going on in school and at home. **Develop a system to give reinforcements at home for working hard in school. February Events February 15 Moe s Fundraiser February 19 No School February 20 No School February 21 Library permission slips due February 26 January PUPs to Bridge Market Feb 26-Mar 2 Spirit Week! March 6 PTO March 2 Read Me Day March 9 No School Moe s Fundraiser Sponsored by Claude Chester PTO Thursday, February 15 from 5:00pm-9:00pm 15% of your purchase will support Claude Chester! Please remember to bring your Green Flyer! Don t forget to bring in your Box Tops for education. Drop off you Box Tops by 2/17 to complete the current contest! Page 5

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