Upstander puppet show was presented to our second graders who eagerly offered the puppets strategies to stop bullying on
November 2017
PRIMARY LETTERS WASHINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE Mrs. Emily Judd
October was a very exciting month. Our Planktober event was a big hit with cheers of support filling the WPS gym! Students, staff and parents challenged themselves to greater fitness by planking for increasingly longer amounts of time. Although two minutes of planking was enough for some, several students planked for ten or more minutes! This event was a reminder of how important exercise is to building a strong body core. Aside from planking, school-aged children need at least sixty minutes of physical activity daily. Encourage your child to play outside, take hikes, bike or just move to some fun music. Making movement a routine will form solid fitness habits for the future. During Fire Prevention week, The Washington Volunteer Fire Department visited our school. The volunteers provided each class with an informational session and a hands on session with the fire trucks and equipment. Students learned that working smoke alarms and having a clear fire escape with two ways to exit a room and a house is critical during a fire. Students were extra excited to spray water out of a real fire hose! Our youngest students proudly wore their fire hats with smiles. Please take time to create an escape plan and assess your smoke alarms. If you are in need of a smoke and carbon monoxide detector, contact the Washington Fire Department. Many thanks to our emergency personnel for partnering with our school to provide safety education to our students.
November brings very special annual events. We will celebrate American Education Week with our Parent Visitation Day on November 15th. A schedule for your child’s classroom will be posted on the Refrigerator door. The schedule will include parent informational sessions in reading, math and science as well as classroom visits. You are also invited to spend lunch with your child on that day. Later in the month, we will honor our senior citizens at the Senior Citizen Luncheon with a Thanksgiving meal and class presentations. I thank all of you for your continued support and for your positive energy. If you should have questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at
[email protected] or at 860-868-7331.
CALENDAR
During Character Education Week, The Danbury Women’s Group presented various programs to our students to support social skills. Through a theatrical approach, Act Out-Upstander Program, students in fourth and fifth grade were presented with several social stories and were invited to generate multiple solutions using kindness and empathy. Pre-K through second grade students participated in the Care and Kindness and Safe Touch puppet show programs while third graders focused on empathy through a read aloud of Bully Beans by Julia Cook. An additional Upstander puppet show was presented to our second graders who eagerly offered the puppets strategies to stop bullying on the spot. The students at WPS gained a greater awareness of self and how to identify and apply strategies to restore kindness and respect for all. We are especially grateful for the positive role the Danbury Women’s Group plays in growing proactive social skills within our school community.
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Fri.
Nov 3
Lyman Pie Delivery
Mon.
Nov 6
3:15pm ASAP Hand Drumming
Tues.
Nov 7
NO SCHOOL: Election Day, PD Day
Fri.
Nov 10
NO SCHOOL: Veteran’s Day
Mon.
Nov 13
3:15pm ASAP Hand Drumming
Tues.
Nov 14
6:30 PTO Meeting
Wed.
Nov 15
Parent Visitation Day
Fri.
Nov 17
1:30pm Spelling Bee
Mon.
Nov 20
Senior Thanksgiving Luncheon
Wed.
Nov 22
NO SCHOOL: Thanksgiving Recess
Thurs.
Nov 23
NO SCHOOL: Thanksgiving Recess
Fri.
Nov 24
NO SCHOOL: Thanksgiving Recess
KINDERGARTEN MRS. DESENA
FIRST GRADE
Kindergarteners have been introduced to the Writing Workshop this month. In kindergarten, writing begins with oral storytelling. Telling stories has helped students learn that talk can help you think your way through a story and lead to more details. Kindergarteners have been sharing stories about their lives. We have also been practicing what it means to be a speaker and a listener. By doing this, they learn about each other and become members of a learning community. Students know that authors think about and choose meaningful experiences to share. We have generated lists of things we know and can do and we are learning how to plan our writing. Kindergarten authors have begun to use pictures and even some words to put their ideas on paper.
First graders have been using dominoes as math tools. Students are quickly identifying the number of dots on each side of the domino, and then writing fact families to match their dominoes. They are friendly competitors during our domino math games! Students have been learning lots of other math games, too. Ask a first grader to teach you a new math game!
SECOND GRADE
MRS. RAY
MRS. FEOLA
Second Graders are working and thinking like materials engineers! Scientists are preparing to mix their own mortar to build a durable wall. In preparation, students tested three earth materials in a wet and dry state, to explore which materials (or combination of materials) might create the strongest mortar for their wall.
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THIRD GRADE MR. HOSKING Third graders have been thinking about gratitude. They have thought about what they are grateful for, and are striving to understand some of the sacrifices others make on their behalf. This understanding led the third grade to work with kindergarten to select a project collecting candy for service people who are away from their loved ones. We have learned that it is important to show our gratitude with acts of kindness.
FOURTH GRADE
MRS. WHITE
Fourth grade writers are creating personal narratives based on small moments in their lives. We focused on creating pictures in the readers' minds by elaborating setting and character descriptions with sensory details, specific word choice, and dialogue. Students utilized figurative language techniques to enhance their pieces. Finally, writers worked in revision groups and to give specific feedback and suggestions which led to students to make more changes to their pieces.
FIFTH GRADE MRS. ROTUNDA In math this past month fifth graders created a river trail to determine fractional points and their equivalent distances along the trail. We have also been using a money and clock model to create common denominators for adding and subtracting fractions. In writing, we are busy redrafting and revising our narratives. We have learned skills to elaborate and to use author's craft to help the reader experience the story. In our book clubs we are busy writing, talking, and debating to develop rich conversations related to the theme.
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AN
ATTITUDE
OF GRATTITUDE
Every day something GOOD happens to each of us. Help your child discover the good in each day and to reflect on how others were purposefully involved. Encourage your child to communicate gratitude toward these individuals. Research shows that children who notice the good in their lives become more grateful and optimistic.
Focus children on why good things happen to them and on the people responsible for making the good things happen. - Jeffrey Froh Throughout the month of October, students practiced how to express GRATITUDE. Students regularly stopped and jotted what makes them grateful. Each class graphed and analyzed their ideas. Classes discovered that they can be grateful for many things, people, places, nature and activities. Students learned the difference between needs and wants, and intentions and cost. Students were challenged to look deeper at gratitude and to practice not only saying, “thank you” to others but to thank them for what they had to give up to show kind and helping acts. For example, “Thank you for helping me with an assignment. I know that took you away from your favorite activity. I appreciate the help.” In addition, each class extended their gratitude practice by writing a class letter of gratitude to someone in the school community.
GRADE 5 TRACK MEET
WASHINGTON VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT VISIT
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We have a new classroom at WPS!
MAKERSPACE
INTRODUCING…..
At the core of the Makerspace room is the learner, posing questions, experimenting and developing ideas. At WPS, learners will be encouraged to develop their own questions and consider projects, experiments and explorations that can help them reach conclusions, create solutions and/or convey ideas. people, places, things and activities in your life.
Modern stools with dry-erase brainstorming tabletop
Yes, that’s a 3D printer!
Inspirational Guides
“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” - John Dewey To begin this journey, students viewed a Rube Goldberg video highlighting perseverance, generated safety expectations, and engaged in challenges to build cooperative skills, imagination, early design skills and perseverance. Building the tallest cup tower or a covered bridge with clay and toothpicks for toy vehicles were examples of activities used to set the stage for learners to see this space as a space for “young makers”. See our YOUTUBE video on our website: Makerspace: Take One
Every Child A Maker!
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INTRODUCING THE 2017
WPS
TRUNK
STUDENT COUNCIL
OR TRE
AT
PRESIDENT: Alondra Artieda VICE PRESIDENT: Micayla Aleksandrowicz TREASURER: Griffin Konik SECRETARY: Maggie Vincent Third Grade Class Reps: Maggie O’Hara and Bridget Brown Fourth Grade Class Rep: Reagan Evans, James Kersten, Ben Churyk Fifth Grade Class Rep: Gavin Abdella and Nicolo Colangelo
RY DANBSUCENTER N’ WOME
TIPS FOR PARENTS
SAVE THE DATE
Is a HOMEWORK a tricky time for you and your child?
PARENT VISITATION DAY is on NOVEMBER 15th
Need ideas on how to grow sustainable WORK HABITS ?
Check the Refrigerator Door for details!
Check out Get Into the Homework Habit from the Tips for Parents link on the WPS website.
WPs
MISSION STATEMENT
Washington Primary School is a learning community dedicated to educating and inspiring children. We foster engagement and collaboration to achieve high expectations. In partnership with families and our community, we prepare children to be respectful, caring, and contributing citizens who will lead us into the future. 6
