Highlights of the Week 10-2-15

Dear families,

It was so wonderful seeing so many of you at Open House last night. Thanks for joining us to see what your child has been up to so far. I hope that you learned a lot about your child's school routines and projects they have been doing. If you were not able to attend the school directory, Hopes and Dreams, our First Week Flip Book, and a "Just Right" Book bookmark will be coming home in today's mail.

This week some Literacy groups began. I meet with small groups of children during our Literacy Block. In these groups we work on reading strategies about decoding words, comprehending our reading, and responding to reading orally and in writing. Groups of children working together sometimes read the same books but not always. However each group is working on similar goals.

We continued stretching out our small moment stories this week, retelling the 5 parts using pictures and the 5 digits of one hand. Then we added some keywords to help us retell the important parts and finally we began writing and illustrating each part on a page in our writing packet. We always write rough drafts first. Next week we'll begin to look at how to improve our writing by editing.

We were excited to begin our first science unit this week: Matter and its Interactions. We talked about what we already knew about matter and questions we had. We learned that matter is everywhere! Matter is anything that takes up space. Groups began to brainstorm examples of the 3 states of matter: solid, liquid, gas. In the coming weeks I'd like to do some experiments with the class to show how matter interacts and changes. Do you have any of these supplies at home you could send in for experiments: 1 box of stove-top jello, or 5 antacid tablets?

I continue to be impressed by this community of learners. On Monday we welcomed a new first grader to our class and a new second grader to Ben's class (and the 2nd grade math class). Our Rumney kids are so friendly and kind in helping our new students feel welcome and comfortable while they learn so many new names and routines.

I am still looking for parent volunteers to help Honi with our 4 Winds program one Tuesday afternoon a month (2:00-3:15). Honi Bean Barrett has volunteered to coordinate for us so please send me a note/email or email her if you are interested in helping or need more information before making this commitement! ( honibean@hotmail.com )


Dates to Remember:
Thursday October 8: Picture Re-Takes
Monday October 12: Columbus Day --  NO SCHOOL
Tuesday October 13: Teacher Inservice -- NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS


In other news...
Harvest Dinner

Please help us FILL the donation boxes in the lobby for the Middlesex Food Shelf! Our goal is to bring in 600 items. That’s only 3items per student/staff member.

We have a list of most helpful items from Dave Carkeet, the director of the food shelf. We’ve broken down the wish list by classroom to keep from getting 600 cans of tuna. This is just a general guideline. Please note that every and all donations are appreciated! 

PreK/K – Breakfast cereal, both hot and cold. Nut butters, jams, jellies. 

1^st/2^nd grades – Pasta, beans, canned soups.

3^rd/4th grades – Tuna, canned meats (such as beef stew, sausage, ravioli), canned veggies.

5^th/6^th grades – Convenience food (mac and cheese, other boxed foods), condiments (mayo, spices, salad dressings).

Rumney staff – Toiletries, soaps, paper products such as toilet paper.