blackrock elementary school oblackrockelementaryschool.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/8/9/13897761/br... ·...
TRANSCRIPT
Blackrock Elementary School October 2015
Blackrock Elementary School Phone: (401) 822-9450 Fax: (401) 822-9452 Website: http://schools.coventryschools.net/Blackrock/
Upcoming Events
For more info or to register for
Coventry Community Connection
Parent Academy Sessions listed
below go
here:https://sites.google.com/a/cov
entryschools.net/community-conne
ction/parent-academy
Thursday, October 1st- SIT Meeting
at 7:30 a.m. in the library
Thursday, October 1st- Google for
Parents - 6:30-8:00 p.m. @CHS
Wednesday, October 7th- Google
for Parents - 6:30-8:00 p.m.
@ASFMS
Thursday, October 8th- Early
Learning Family Fun Activities -
5:30-8:00 p.m. @Coventry
Administration Office
Monday, October 12th- NO
SCHOOL- COLUMBUS DAY
Tuesday, October 13th- PTA MEETING at 6:30 p.m. in the BR
library
Thursday, October 15th- Early
Learning Family Fun Activities -
5:30-8:00 p.m. @Coventry
Administration Office
Monday, October 19th - Coventry
Local Advisory Committee on
Special Education: Social Emotional
Learning for Parents 6:30-8:30 pm
@Coventry Administration Office
Tuesday, October 20th- Google for
Parents - 6:30-8:00 p.m. @ASFMS
Thursday, October 22nd- Early
Learning Family Fun Activities -
From the Principal: I am pleased to have accomplished so much in our first month! Thanks to all the families, staff and students for their support to make it all happen. These things include the exciting updated environment inside and outside of the school, a successful Open House and Buzz-a-thon, a positive kick off for our expected behaviors as well as new transitions at every grade level for both our students and teachers transitioning to new curriculum and content specialist model schedule. What remains the same are the the continuing values of this Blackrock family and home. Blackrock pride! I have taken to this new role with great delight. The excitement the work brings me always leaves me with a smile. I love visiting classrooms, problem solving with staff and families and working on improving what we do everyday. We look forward this year to integrating technology and fostering inquiry into everything we do. It is about asking questions and loving learning! We have a lot of hard work ahead but I know our bees will make quick work of it! Thank you for partnering with us to help us provide the best education for our children! Nicole Hitchener [email protected] As always I seek any feedback to improve what we do! http://goo.gl/forms/kwMbF0Z9Cj
PTA: Thank you to the Stravato family, the Scott/Rhall family and the Villandry family for the improvements to the front of the school!
Register and support our school PTA! Join us at our meetings at 6:30 on 10/13/15, 11/9/15, 1/11/16, 2/8/16, 3/14/16, 4/11/16 &
5/9/15. Child sitting will be available!
Join our BJs Membership drive for Blackrock during the weeks of October 5th-16th! This can save you $, give $ to BR as well as
extend your current membership! Look for more info!
1
5:30-8:00 p.m. @Coventry
Administration Office
Friday, October 23rd - HALLOWEEN
PARTY - 6:00-9:00 pm at Valley
Country Club
Thursday, October 29th- Early
Learning Family Fun Activities -
5:30-8:00 p.m. @Coventry
Administration Office
Monday, November 2nd, 2015 - NO
SCHOOL- Teacher PD Day - No
School for Students
Contact Information
Nicole Hitchener, School Principal:
Rachelle Sweeney, School
Secretary: sweeneyrachelle@coventrysch
ools.net
Melissa Thibodeau, School Secretary:
Joan Guilfoyle, School Social
Worker: guilfoylejoan@coventryschools
.net
Send your email to school to join our Listserv
School Twitter: @BlackrockBuzz
School Facebook Page:
@Blackrock Elementary School
District Web page: www.coventryschools.net
Sign up for Stop and Shop A+ Rewards Program using Blackrock # 10770 at http://stopandshop.com/aplus/registercard/
We earned more than $800 last year!
Please send in Boxtops and Labels for Education! Please try to cut these to size! Thank you!
Make sure you save the date for our HALLOWEEN PARTY
Friday, October 23rd from 6:00-9:00 pm at Valley Country Club 251 New London Ave Warwick, RI 02886 $12per person (under 2 free)! Games & great prizes, kids costume contest, food & more!
All slips due by 10/15! Any questions, please email: [email protected]
Cub Scout Pack 17- Blackrock will be holding an Open House on
Thursday, October 1, @6:30 Blackrock Cafeteria. Members from the Coventry Police and Fire will be available for a
mini-touch-a-vehicle event and presentation, additionally there will be a Pinewood Derby and a Rain-Gutter Regatta. The event is
open to all. Breakfast: Breakfast is available for children upon arrival to school even if they have a later arriving bus. If your children are to have breakfast, please instruct them to go directly to the cafeteria upon arrival to school. Children do have time to have breakfast and are permitted to do so even if a bus is late. If you have questions about the school meal program, please use this link to contact the Aramark Food Services manager: http://www.coventryschools.net/foodservice.htm Please use this link if you need to complete an application for free/reduced lunch: http://www.coventryschools.net/Admin/15-16%20Lunch%20Application%20(NEW%20APPLICATION%20FORMAT).pdf If you have questions about this application, please let us know. School personnel can assist.
Attendance and Other Procedures: Please try to have your child arrive and leave on time for school at
8:30 and 3:05. Missing instruction by being frequently being absent, coming in late or leaving early has a negative impact on
your child’s learning.
If dropping off your child please either park and walk in using sidewalks and/or crosswalks or use the inside drop off lane.
Please do not get out of your car in this lane. Children should use
2
\
the crosswalk from the car into school. Please allow buses enough room to make the turn on the outside lane. It is important you don’t cut the inside lane corner! Please do not pass buses with
stop signs out and lights flashing, they are loading or unloading. If the bus stop sign is down, you may pass. This
should be considered when dropping off in the inside lane because it may hold you up, parking may be faster.
If you need to change how your child is dismissed please send a
signed note of that change on that day. Please ensure the person picking up is on the back of the emergency card.
School Health News: Hello and greetings from the health office. Here are just a few housekeeping issues to the start
of another school year.
*Dental cards for all students preschool through 5th grade are due to the health office by December 2015. The school dentist is coming in January. Any and all children who do not have written evidence of seeing a dentist in the past year will be seen by the school dentist in January. Please make every effort to have your dentist fill out the yellow card, or they can fax something to me as well.
*Hearing Screenings: Hearing screenings are required in school for preschool through 3rd grade. There are some students who are exempt from the school based screening. Children who failed the school-based screening were sent home with letters to parents on 9/25/2015. Please make every effort to follow up instructions are on the letter. If you need recommendations please contact me. Follow up paperwork for these students from a doctor regarding hearing is due to me by December 1, 2015. *Physicals: Please if your child has seen the pediatrician thus far in the school year, please send in their updated physical forms. *Medication: Please take the time to read the Coventry Public Schools Handbook regarding the medication policy. All medication, whether prescription or over the counter require a physician’s order this includes cough drops. If you need a medication authorization form for any medication, cough drops etc. Please contact me. *Please if your child is going to out absent for an illness, please call the office by 9am. We are tracking absences. If your child is out more than 2-3 days in a row, we recommend seeing the doctor and obtaining a physician's note.
Any questions, concerns, or inquiries feel free to contact me Melissa Thibodeau MSN, RN, CCRN, CSNT Phone: (401) 822-9450 Fax: (401) 822-9452 Email: [email protected]
3
PBIS and the Blackrock Bees: We hope you had a safe and happy summer. The Blackrock Bees are off and buzzing. Everyone was excited to start the new year. We had our school PBIS kickoff where the students moved around the school to different stations. New students were introduced to our positive school-wide behavioral expectations of Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe and Bee your best, and our returning students were reminded of our rules that are followed throughout the school. Bee bucks have begun buzzing throughout the building. We hope that you take the time to discuss and reinforce our rules at home. The positive behaviors are important for the children to follow at home, at school, and in the community. Here’s to another Beeeeutiful school year experience. PBIS Committee
Library/Media: The library media center has been reorganized for the ease of access for our students to nonfiction and fiction books. After a quick lesson of the Dewey Decimal system, ninety percent of third, fourth, and fifth graders chose to check out non-fiction books on their favorite topics. Great beginning for the new school year! Mrs. Hicks, LMS
Reading News: Great News!! Our Blackrock students read a total of 2,185 books this summer for the Dr. William Gordon, of Gordon Orthodontics, reading challenge. Congratulations to all students and families! We are extremely proud of everyone who read for the summer challenge, the Coventry Public Library, Barnes and Noble and the Showcase Cinemas book programs. At the beginning of September, all of our students were assessed in reading and math. These school wide assessments will occur again in January and April. These help us determine how we can better support students in reading and math. One of the best ways to help children develop strong reading skills is to partner read with them. They learn about reading
4
expressively with proper intonation, punctuation, etc., all of which leads to better comprehension. As your child learns to read by him/herself, continue reading aloud every day. He/she will hear new words and build comprehension skills as he/she listens to stories. Studies have found that children can learn as many words from hearing stories as from reading them. Also, give your child plenty of opportunities to practice reading alone. When he/she brings books home, encourage him/her to read them. If he/she isn’t reading on his/her own yet, have your child use the pictures to tell the story. Try to visit yard sales, used book stores and discounted online book sites to help build a home library. Finally, show interest in the reading your child does at school. Ask him/her about his reading group and find out which stories the teacher and librarian read aloud.
Got Math?: Many times I am asked for activities/games to help children at home. This year I plan to answer that request with supplying families with an activity that can be done at home. Each newsletter you’ll receive a different activity that can be easily created and done at home. I hope this will help to answer the many requests I receive and provide families with some fun activities/games! Thank you and remember KEEP IT FUN! Mrs. Vandervelde
What’s your problem? This game is appropriate for grades 1-5.
In most flash card games, the teacher gives the problem, and the students respond with the correct answer. “What’s your problem?” is exactly the opposite, the teacher(parent) gives the answer, and the student(child) supply the problem.
● Grab a set of addition flash cards, and read only the sum to a player. The player guesses the problem. If he/she is correct, he/she wins the card. If not, he/she yields his/her turn to the opponent who offers a guess. The players alternate turns until one player guesses the problem correctly.
● Go through the entire set of cards. The player who collects the most cards wins. Vary the game, and use multiplication cards to practice fact fluency.
Pre K News: Fall Greetings from Preschool! It’s starting off to be an amazing year for rooms 10 and 30. The children are adjusting well to our new routines and schedules. The weather has been beautiful and we’ve been enjoying outside play. This month, we will continue to enjoy all that
5
Fall has to offer. We will explore apples, leaves, and pumpkins. We will also have some fun with Halloween activities. Be on the lookout for future notices on our Halloween/Trick or Treat Preschool Party. This is for the preschool students only. Children will be allowed to wear their costumes to school on Friday, October 30th, for a Parade.
Kinder News: Happy Fall Kinder Families! It has been wonderful getting to know each other and learn about our school. I am very proud of all my littles and their transition into Kindergarten. We had such an amazing turnout at Open House! Thank you very much for coming out to learn more about Kindergarten! Your support is so appreciated. Our reading series, Journeys continues to challenge us with new texts and topics each week. In Fundations, we are moving along adding new letters to master each week. Our sight word work continues as we add a new word each week. We have already been exposed to 5 sight words! We just completed Chapter 1 in Go Math, learning all about numbers 1-5. We even took a practice test! Way to go Kinders!! Chapter 2 will focus on the concepts of greater than, less than, and the same. Please stay up to date by reading all the home packets! In Science, we are finishing up our Stemcopes unit on Weather/Climate and Weather Conditions. This will be an ongoing unit as we log weather daily. We also have the changing weather during our four distinct seasons. With Autumn upon us, we will be focusing on the season by exploring apples, pumpkins, and leaves. Star of the Week has begun! Thank you for helping us out at home with the ME Box! As a reminder the Thursday before your child’s special week they will get the box and a letter with instructions. It is always a favorite activity! I am so excited to share this special year with your child! If you have any questions or concerns I am always available to you! Enjoy the month and your child! Mrs. Abood
Grade 1 News: We were happy to meet with so many of you at our open house and hope it was informative for you. The year is off to a great start. The adjustment to a 6 1/2 hour day was more of a challenge for some more than for others, but it seems at this point most have settled into a nice routine. Our math program, Go Math has a nightly homework component that is offered in an
6
effort to meet the rigor that is demanded by our Common core Curriculum. We ask that you continue to support your child's efforts by supervising nightly homework in both reading and in math, and encourage your to be responsible for their nightly reading bag and take home folders coming back each day. We do live in New England and this mild weather won't last. Students should be prepared to play outside to meet with friends to expel excess energy. This means for students to be comfortable they may have to dress one way for the bus and allow for weather changes during the day, inside and out, layers are best. Please remember to pack just one healthy, but small snack along with your child's lunch as there really is only time for a small snack. Thank you for being such an active partner with us in your child's education. We look forward to this being a wonderful first grade experience for you and your child. Mrs. Mary leyden, Mr. Jeff Stevens, Mrs. Jan Talbot, First Grade Teachers
Grade 2 News: Welcome autumn! 2nd graders have been very busy. Our theme of friendship continues, as we will also begin to focus on non-fiction and historical fiction genres in our reading and writing. Topics will include explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Native Americans, Pilgrims, and Thanksgiving. We’re practicing making text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections to help expand comprehension. In math, place value continues to be a target skill. We are practicing writing numbers in standard form, expanded form, and written form. Please encourage your children to practice math facts, particularly +0, +1, and doubles facts. Just a reminder that 2nd graders need to read for a minimum of 20 minutes nightly. Thank you to all parents who were able to attend our Blackrock Open House. We enjoyed meeting with you to discuss our extensive 2nd grade curriculum. We look forward to meeting with each of you on parent conference night. Thank you again for all the classroom donations. They are greatly appreciated! Mrs. Jessica Easton, Mrs. Anna Boulanger, & Mrs. Lori Romano
7
Grade 3 News: Welcome to the third grade. We have had a wonderful start to the school year. Your children are changing classes with ease and enjoying the opportunity to engage in activities specifically planned to maximize their learning in each of the core areas. We are very pleased with the maturity they are showing in this new model. The grade 3 team looks forward to talking with each of you in more detail about your child’s progress in the core areas at the fall conference. Open house was your opportunity to sign up for the time that fit your schedule. If you were unable to join us at open house, please email the team for a time that is still unfilled. We look forward to working with you this year to help your children learn and grow to their potential. Two Sculptors I dreamed I saw a studio And watched two sculptors there. The clay they used was a child’s mind And they fashioned it with care. One was a teacher – the tools he used Were books, music, and art. The other; a parent, worked with a guiding hand, And a gentle, loving heart. Day after day, the teacher toiled with a touch That was careful, deft, and sure, While the parent labored by his side And polished and smoothed it o’er. And when at last, their task was done, They were proud of what they had wrought. For the things they had molded into the child Could neither be sold or bought. And each agreed they would have failed If either had worked alone. For behind the parent stood the school And behind the teacher, the home.
Grade 4 News: Mrs. Barter, Mrs. Bousquet, and Mr. Raboin would like to thank all parents who
attended the Open House to meet with us and learn about your child’s school day. We have been very busy setting up routines in our classrooms and also getting used to “switching” classrooms as this is our first year with the content specialist model. The students are making gains with this new initiative.
Students need to come to school and class prepared to learn each day and with their necessary supplies. We encourage students to do their best work and apply their greatest effort. This coincides with our PBIS matrix which outlines Be Ready, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and BEE YOUR BEST. Our new school BEE Pledge encourages this. We are also working diligently to build great organizational skills this year. Students need to use their Agenda Book daily to record homework and other important information. Please check with
8
your child about their assignments and any important school notices that are sent home. We count on our families’ support in helping to establish good work habits.
Fourth grade has already planned a fieldtrip for Friday, November 6, 2015 to Trinity Repertory Company to see A Christmas Carol. Be on the lookout for this permission slip. We have been made aware that we can ONLY ACCEPT CASH for payment for this fieldtrip.
We look forward to a rewarding, successful year with your children.
Grade 5 News: We have had a busy beginning of the year in Fifth Grade. We are still working on becoming responsible, organized students! Hopefully, parents have not seen too many homework assignment slips coming home, but if you have, then please have a conversation with your child about this situation. The summer book blurb was due on September 18th and the students should continually be reading to meet the target of 4 book blurbs that are due by Mid-trimester on October 2nd with a total of 8 by November 20th. In Science classes, we have been learning about Matter through hands on Investigations and Engineering Solutions. We set up our Science binder to use as a learning tool. We have also become used to our new schedule and the changing of classes and are working on our organization. Please look on the Listserv and students’ Agendas for up to date information.
Art News: Welcome and welcome back to our talented art students at Blackrock!! First graders have been drawing self portraits in art. We started with a small talk about the parts of a face and what should be there and created some fabulous art work. THEN students watched an instructional video, looked in our own mirrors and had some direct instruction from the art teacher. Wait until you see the amazing artwork the children created! Second graders practiced leaf rubbings with texture plates and added concentric line design to finish their composition. They have also begun self portraits discussing "the 1/2 rule" of drawing a face. Grade three used stencils to make an abstract, realistic, or dreamlike composition using marker, colored pencil and crayon. They have also been working on block printing with styrofoam printing plates designing a lighthouse picture. Grade four sketched and formed plaster paris finger puppets!! Students loved working with this material and the end product is fabulous!!
9
Fifth grade sketched and built paper mache' masks. The mix was slimy but students prevailed and got the job done!! Come check out the masks in the glass showcase in the cafeteria! So creative and colorful! All classes have made portfolios to hold artwork throughout the year, we have begun to review critiquing artwork in a constructive way using the "praise-question-polish" method and the creative ideas are being caught on paper! If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to get in touch with us by e-mail or phone, and keep encouraging your children to think out of the box! Mrs. Gauthier :) Mrs. Smith :)
Music News: Greetings from Music Land, With yet another academic year well underway, and again this year as last, when it comes to music at Blackrock, I’m the only game in town. It’s not like it was a couple of years back when the building was divided among three music teachers. The big news comes out of third grade, and it has to do with the way the students obtain their recorders. We’ll be taking a field trip in April to hear and yes even perform with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. This is an opportunity never before experienced by students at Blackrock, and because of it, third graders will not have to pay for their recorders. Additionally they will receive a workbook from which a good deal of the music for the year will come. Details about this will come in a notice which if you’ve not seen it you’ll see it soon. The other news comes regarding fifth grade. Nearly all of the units for the year have been posted online in a folder from an online service called Dropbox. If a link to his information has not already been posted on the school’s website it will be soon. Meanwhile, if you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me via email at [email protected] Thank you, and have a great year.
10