lately at whately - frsu38.org
TRANSCRIPT
NewsletterWhately Elementary School presents… 3/31/2017
Lately At Whately THE MISSION OF THE WHATELY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IS TO PREPARE OUR STUDENTS IN A SUPPORTIVE SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
TO BE CONFIDENT, RESPONSIBLE, LIFE-LONG LEARNERS.
Hello Whately Families! If I started singing: “I’m just a bill, yes, I’m only a bill…” Would you be able to sing the next line? If you know the next line is: “And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill”, then you have at some time in your life tuned into “Schoolhouse Rock”, an educational television cartoon that became popular in the 1970’s and continues to be popular today! How about “Conjunction Junction, what's your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.” And then there’s “Interjections!” and “Interplanet Janet” and “The Great American Melting Pot”. Well, all of these songs and much more await you all and we hope that you will be there when our students perform “Schoolhouse Rock, Jr.”, our first all-school play in many years! And while I know I can’t name everyone who is helping out with the play because so many people are doing so, I want to send a big THANK YOU to Mrs. Apanell, Mr. Damon, and all the students who have been putting in many hours at rehearsals so that they can put on a great show for you! Classroom teachers and Instructional Assistants, our Music Staff and so many others are all chipping in! Thank you all very much! Please join us on May 10th here at WES for a great time and a great show! Thank you, Mr. C
**Crazy Hair Day – April 26th** 6th Grade NYC Fundraiser Please join us for the Spaghetti Supper on Saturday, April 1st . 6th Grade students will be serving dinner at 5:00 & 6:30.
DATE REMINDERS… March 31 .................. Progress Reports sent home. April 1 ...................... Spaghetti Supper – NYC trip fund-raiser
3 ...................... Special Town Meeting at 7:00 WES 3 ...................... District Band Dress Rehearsal at FRS 4 ...................... District Band Concert at 7:00 at FRS 5 ...................... District String Concert at 7:00 at FRS 6 ...................... Pioneer Valley Symphony 3 & 4 Grades 6 ...................... Joint School Committee Mtg.
7, 14 & 28 ......... Parent/Teacher Conferences 7 ...................... Joint School Committee Mtg @ Frontier
8 ...................... Children’s Science Festival at SES @10:30 8 ...................... Girl’s Robotics at DES
10 .................... PTO Meeting at 3:30 17-21 ................ NO SCHOOL – Spring Vacation 25 .................... Whately Annual Town Meeting 26 .................... School Council at 5:30 26 .................... All School Sing at 1:35 -- CRAZY HAIR DAY
May 1 .................... School Committee Meeting at 6:00 4 .................... Advanced Band rehearsal at DES 5:30 10 .................. School Play “Schoolhouse Rock”
MCAS SCHEDULE
3RD GRADE: Session 1 Tuesday, April 11 Session 2 Wednesday, April 12 Session 3 Thursday, April 13
4TH GRADE: Session 1 Wednesday, April 26 Session 2 Thursday, April 27 Session 3 Friday, April 28
5H GRADE: Session 1 Wednesday, April 5 Session 2 Thursday, April 6 Session 3 Friday, April 7
www.frsu38.org/wes 273 Long Plain Road • PO Box 158 ph. 413-665-7826 fax. 413-665-0428 until the moment they leave, our faculty is busy preparing, planning, and teaching. Unexpected interruptions,
particularly in the morning when teachers are getting ready for the day, can be very disruptive.
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
News from the Health Office...
As the snow thaws and we get glimpses of spring, please remember to send your child with appropriate footwear and layers for unexpected rainy and muddy weather.
After an unusually warm winter, we could see a rise in
ticks. It isn’t too early to practice checking for ticks daily with your children and helping to make this a routine activity.
Reminder: 4th Grade Parents Nature’s Classroom begins soon after we return to school in September. Please complete the following forms and return them as soon as possible:
Student Registration Form (including the Medical Permission Slip)
Health Questionnaire
News from Preschool... We have been very busy in preschool, despite our days missed due to New England weather surprises. We continue to begin each day with yoga (www.cosmickidsyoga.com) and despite the snow on the ground, we have been selecting Spring themed yoga stories. We will soon replace our winter tree art with some bright pastel art, made with shaving cream. Spring has arrived and we are celebrating it. For St. Patrick’s day, the children created a leprechaun trap in hopes of catching one. Using streamers, blocks and shiny things they designed a very elaborate trap. However, despite our efforts, the leprechaun was sneaky, and he figured out a way to avoid being trapped. However, to our surprise, there was evidence of his visit on the camera Nancy set up that evening. The photos revealed that he spent a lot of time in our classroom reading books, climbing on things, rocking in the chair, and sneaking out a window. To our surprise, he did leave behind some Golden Good Luck Coins for each of us!! Hopefully we can catch him next year.
Warming up to school
Early Oral Language Development As indicated in the preschool news, the youngest children in the building are learning to identify characters and settings in stories. Recently, the Hatfield school district offered an opportunity for some of us to attend a Story Grammar Marker training. This curriculum has been around for years, but recent updates have brought it some new life. Developed locally, this has been instrumental in assisting older children with language based learning disabilities. However, the oral language skills that are taught are essential for young children as well. Without early oral language exposure and practice, children are more likely to have challenges with school academics. Oral Language skills are critical in early childhood development. Below are some links for you to learn more about early language skills as well as some activities. Vocabulary development starts at home... And, just when you think that they aren’t listening, here are just some of the spontaneous vocabulary words heard from 3 and 4 year olds at Whately Elementary: adventure, envelope, United States, calculating, Wi-Fi, chop suey, accident, pyramid, healthy, trophy, indigo, violet, mystery, speaking of…, escaped, entrance, impressed, temperature, distract, destroy, routine, seriously, genius, washable, trespassing, torch, evacuate, easel, chrysalis, camouflage, recognize, inappropriate, vehicle, echo, freightliner, beverage, photograph, haul, organize, spatula…….and the list goes on. http://www.earlychildhoodeducationzone.com/understand ing-the-importance-of-language-development/ http://www.pbs.org/wholechild/providers/talk.html https://mindwingconcepts.com/collections/story-grammar- marker
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
NEWS FROM KINDERGARTEN... Kindergarten started March by celebrating Dr.
Seuss’s birthday on March 2nd. Our Second Grade Buddies read Dr. Seuss books to their kindergarten partners and we all had green eggs with ham together. Later in the month kindergarten took a field trip to The North Hadley Sugar Shack where we learned all about making maple syrup, maple cream, and maple sugar candy. We also enjoyed eating pancakes with some of their delicious maple syrup. Thank you to the parents who drove us on our field trip.
We recently turned Drama Area into our own sugar shack/restaurant and the children are enjoying using their imaginations to create scenarios and play different roles. Pretend play helps children develop vocabulary and communication skills, as well as social skills.
During April, as part of our study of spring, we will take walks in the schoolyard to observe the changes in our environment as the world begins to awaken from its winter slumber. We will record our observations using words and pictures in our Schoolyard Habitat Journal. We will also do research about birds that live in our area and create a mural to show what we have learned.
April is poetry month and we will be reading and writing poems in class. We will start by listening to poems written by other people – even other kindergartners. Later the children will start writing their own poems about things that are important to them.
NEWS FROM SECOND GRADE... We began this month by celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday
with our kindergarten buddies. We got together with them to read Dr. Seuss books and share green eggs
and ham. A big thanks to Mrs. Rief and Mrs. Carrier for cooking them up! We also spent time reading Dr.
Seuss books in the classroom. It was interesting to discover that while Dr. Seuss writes funny, rhyming books his books also have a lesson or message in them! The second graders have been using their
knowledge of place value to help them with addition and subtraction of big numbers! They have learned lots of new
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
strategies to add numbers like the tape diagram and the traditional algorithm. We have also begun studying money. The class has been focusing on becoming experts at recognizing the appearance and value of each coin. The big project that we have begun working on this month is our animal research. Each student has selected an animal they wish to know more about. By using a web graphic organizer the students will be reading and recording
information they learn. Mrs. King also helped the students to access information on the internet during our technology time. Students will be
working on writing a report about what they have learned. Everyone is very motivated and
working hard on this exciting project! Please continue to check out the maps and photos
News from Third Grade.. Happy spring, everyone! We made it through another snowy winter and the green grass is slowly emerging. Warmer weather is just around the corner! Yippy! The third graders have been hard at work, completing our informational writing unit. We managed to write 2 pieces in
this area. The first was a "how to" piece on how to make a paint brush using a magnet. This project was based on an engineering and design challenge we completed during our science unit on magnets. Each third grader chose specific informational text
features to create their own unique poster. They looked fantastic hanging on our bulletin board! We are putting the final touches on our second piece, a biography of a historical figure with a connection to Massachusetts. This piece has allowed us to spend a lot of time extracting facts from several informational texts. In addition, we have been reading the following books during our literacy block: Let's Get Moving, If You Lived in the Colonial Period, The Secret Soldier, and Sew What Betsy Ross? Currently, we are reviewing for the upcoming Reading/Language Arts M.C.A.S. test. This year, the test for the Whately Elementary third graders is scheduled for April 11th-April 13th. Furthermore, this year the test will be administered on an electronic device. So, we have been consistently working on becoming more familiar with our school's Chromebooks in addition to the format of the electronic test. More specific information is forthcoming. Stay tuned.....
NEWS FROM FOURTH GRADE... Welcome Spring! We are ready for spring like weather to return again in 4th grade! We are working hard on animal articles for the regions books we are compiling in small groups. We just finished reading The Lions of Little Rock and all agreed that it was one of the best books we have read all year! We are now using ideas from this book to write our first literary essay. We will also begin preparing for the online version of this year's MCAS tests. Please see the weekly notice on the front of your child's Friday folder for a more in depth look at all the discoveries we are making in 4th grade! Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack for the 10:15 snack we have each day. Thank you!
Mrs. Apanell
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! The 4th grade gift basket raffle/fundraiser was a huge success! We could not have put the baskets together without all of the donations from the Whately Elementary School community. The proceeds will benefit our upcoming field trip.
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
NEWS FROM FIFTH GRADE... Dear Fifth Grade Families, What a busy month! In math, we started with a Context Unit called Exploring Parks and Playgrounds. Students worked in groups showing their grit and determination to persevere through our challenging problems. Some of their tasks included: finding out how many miles each runner ran in a
race, and figuring out how long it took runners to run one circuit of a 3-mile course. Now we are applying and extending our understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions. We are also converting measurement units within a given measurement system (like
converting 5 cm to 0.05 m), and showing and interpreting data in a line plot. We have been preparing and practicing test taking skills so we will be ready for MCAS. This year we will be taking the ELA and Math MCAS in the new online format and the Science MCAS on paper. Students should have a healthful breakfast as well as plenty of rest before ELA (English Language Arts) MCAS on April 5, 6, and 7th. Our Math and Science MCAS exams will be in May. In literacy and writing, we are working on informational reading and writing while learning about Westward
Expansion (including Lewis and Clark’s journey, the California Gold Rush, and the people who helped the United States expand westward and the groups who were harmed). Students are very engaged in this unit and should be proud of all the thought-provoking questions they are asking
NEWS FROM SIXTH GRADE... Spaghetti Supper is right around the corner, Saturday, April 1st . We are looking forward to seeing you at our supper. Please come and let us serve you for the night. There are two sittings at 5 & 6:30.
NEWS FROM THE SPEECH-LANGUAGE ROOM... There are so many great resources online to help parents and teachers gather information and share ideas. Here are some I have tapped into lately…. Youtube: Recently, my social thinking groups have watched Kid President clips around social thinking and Second Step themes. There are clips on Everyday Speech that have social scenarios to view and discuss. Typing in SocialThinking on YouTube will bring you to video snippets that examine the social world through the lens of Michele Garcia Winner, a noted and ingenious SLP. Edutopia and Ted Talks: I peruse these sites to see what is new in the scientific world that will inform my practice. The brain based research that is discussed is of particular interest to me. Pinterest: This is a boon for visual learners. I find that many people curious about the same things as me and collect hundreds of pictures, charts, videos and websites on their pages. I love to explore preschool art ideas, social thinking and self-regulation ideas and really practical therapy ideas. See what you can discover if you have a specific topic in mind (Home therapy ideas for R? Picky eater? Using play to expand language skills? Calming strategies for middle
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
News from the Student Council…. The Student Council is Appreciative!
The student council planned a
Teacher Appreciation Breakfast this
at Whately. The students colored
invitations that they designed
banner that you see in this photo. This
annual event means a lot to our
students and they always love to hear
how much the teachers enjoyed it all. This year, the St
Patrick's theme was a hit with teachers and everyone
enjoyed some good food on a Friday morning before
school started.
We are looking forward to a good showing for our
pajama day on Wednesday. Look for photos for next
month. The Book Character day was especially fun as
many teachers and students dressed as favorite
characters.
members brought this fundraiser idea to us and the
students wanted to participate. His mother had a
medical service trip to Guatemala this year and brought
back many pictures and stories which impacted our
students. We sent the supplies off with an organization
working in Guatemala in poverty areas.
Soon, we will be contacting you about our annual
plant sale before Mother's Day. We sell the plants
from Mill River Farm in order to raise money towards
projects for our Tanzanian sister schools. The students
are enriched by our connection and partnership. Watch
for the order forms in two weeks!
Paula King and Terri Anderson
Notes from Strings…. Our Spring String & Sing Concert is almost here! An exciting night for all! Parents: Please take note of our rehearsal and concert times at Frontier. Monday, April 3 - Frontier Regional High School Auditorium
Notes from the Music Room…. “As your body grows bigger, your mind grows flowers. It's great to learn, cause knowledge is power,” sings the theme song of Schoolhouse Rock. All WES students have been introduced to Schoolhouse Rock, Live, Jr., which will be presented on May 10, 2017. Along with the cast of leads, all classes have been grouped together to sing some songs. PreK-1, 2-4, 5-6 are the groups. Schoolhouse Rock, Live, Jr. ends with a roaring chorus by everybody, of one of the series’ favorites. Yes, “everybody” includes YOU! Mark your calendars - May 10, 2017. “Darn, that’s the end!” "Chord"ially Yours, Steve Damon
News from the Art Room….
Hello from our creative art room! We just finished a wonderful lesson on John James Audubon. Not only did I learn something new while teaching this lesson, the students also learned a little bit about American history. The students did a lot of hard work using observation to complete their beautiful birds. The older students will start working on props for the upcoming school play, School House Rock. How exciting! We also had our first community visitor for Art. His name is Jonathon Khorman and he is resident of Whately. He shared his journey and career as a full-time artist with a wonderful presentation for fourth, fifth and sixth grade. Thank you to those who helped arrange this and make it happen! The younger students have been busy with seasoned themed projects. We used marshmallows to print shamrocks. We used oil pastels and created beautiful pussy willows. With spring finally here, we listened to some spring jazz music while we made our busy crayon nest and birds. The students enjoyed moving their crayons in a fast circular motion to the music. Mrs. Meyer
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
April Vacation Camp 4/18-4/21 Want to find something fun for your children over April Vacation? Come join the Out of School Time Program's April Vacation Camp! Our Theme for the week is "Time Warp -- 1950s – 1980s". Campers will engage in fun hands-on activities throughout the week.
Registration for April Vacation Camp 2017 has begun!
To ensure appropriate staff/student ratios, adequate snack and activity supplies, and a quality program experience for all please note the following:
Enrollment is first come first serve and space is limited
Registration forms are due on or before Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Late registrations only accepted through Friday, April 7, 2016 with $10 late fee
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation! We look forward to spending a fun filled week with your
children!! For more information contact Dot Spadola at 665-6674
Join us for another Exciting Summer of Friends, Fun and Sun at
River Valley Day Camp
Children ages 5 – 12
Located at: Deerfield Elementary
For more information please call
Janet Seredejko at 413-665-1155 X730
FRONTIER REGIONAL CFCE PLAYGROUP
Come join the playgroup for an informal morning of play, interactive literacy activities and conversations
with other families.
Where: Sunderland Elementary School
665-8928 or [email protected]
WHATELY LIBRARY Celebrate Easter & Spring! Bunnies, Stories, Egg Hunt Saturday, April 8, 2017 - 10:00am to 12:00pm • REAL bunnies from Hoppinhill Farm! • Storytime featuring bunnies! • Egg Hunt inside and outside the library! Whately Library Book Club: The April book club will be held at the Whately Congregational Church at 177 Chestnut Plain Road in Whately, MA
My GrandmotherAsked Me to Tell You She's Sorry By Fredrik Backman Saturday, April 15, 11:00
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
A charming, warmhearted novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller A Man Called Ove. Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the- balcony-firing-paintball guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend.
When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.
Sunderland Elementary School Library
Are you a parent of a child with special needs?
Would you like to join a supportive group of parents and educators to discuss topics of
interest and learn about community resources?
Call Karen Green, PAC Liaison 665-1151 Ext 44 or [email protected].
Lately At Whately THE MISSION OF THE WHATELY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IS TO PREPARE OUR STUDENTS IN A SUPPORTIVE SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
TO BE CONFIDENT, RESPONSIBLE, LIFE-LONG LEARNERS.
Hello Whately Families! If I started singing: “I’m just a bill, yes, I’m only a bill…” Would you be able to sing the next line? If you know the next line is: “And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill”, then you have at some time in your life tuned into “Schoolhouse Rock”, an educational television cartoon that became popular in the 1970’s and continues to be popular today! How about “Conjunction Junction, what's your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.” And then there’s “Interjections!” and “Interplanet Janet” and “The Great American Melting Pot”. Well, all of these songs and much more await you all and we hope that you will be there when our students perform “Schoolhouse Rock, Jr.”, our first all-school play in many years! And while I know I can’t name everyone who is helping out with the play because so many people are doing so, I want to send a big THANK YOU to Mrs. Apanell, Mr. Damon, and all the students who have been putting in many hours at rehearsals so that they can put on a great show for you! Classroom teachers and Instructional Assistants, our Music Staff and so many others are all chipping in! Thank you all very much! Please join us on May 10th here at WES for a great time and a great show! Thank you, Mr. C
**Crazy Hair Day – April 26th** 6th Grade NYC Fundraiser Please join us for the Spaghetti Supper on Saturday, April 1st . 6th Grade students will be serving dinner at 5:00 & 6:30.
DATE REMINDERS… March 31 .................. Progress Reports sent home. April 1 ...................... Spaghetti Supper – NYC trip fund-raiser
3 ...................... Special Town Meeting at 7:00 WES 3 ...................... District Band Dress Rehearsal at FRS 4 ...................... District Band Concert at 7:00 at FRS 5 ...................... District String Concert at 7:00 at FRS 6 ...................... Pioneer Valley Symphony 3 & 4 Grades 6 ...................... Joint School Committee Mtg.
7, 14 & 28 ......... Parent/Teacher Conferences 7 ...................... Joint School Committee Mtg @ Frontier
8 ...................... Children’s Science Festival at SES @10:30 8 ...................... Girl’s Robotics at DES
10 .................... PTO Meeting at 3:30 17-21 ................ NO SCHOOL – Spring Vacation 25 .................... Whately Annual Town Meeting 26 .................... School Council at 5:30 26 .................... All School Sing at 1:35 -- CRAZY HAIR DAY
May 1 .................... School Committee Meeting at 6:00 4 .................... Advanced Band rehearsal at DES 5:30 10 .................. School Play “Schoolhouse Rock”
MCAS SCHEDULE
3RD GRADE: Session 1 Tuesday, April 11 Session 2 Wednesday, April 12 Session 3 Thursday, April 13
4TH GRADE: Session 1 Wednesday, April 26 Session 2 Thursday, April 27 Session 3 Friday, April 28
5H GRADE: Session 1 Wednesday, April 5 Session 2 Thursday, April 6 Session 3 Friday, April 7
www.frsu38.org/wes 273 Long Plain Road • PO Box 158 ph. 413-665-7826 fax. 413-665-0428 until the moment they leave, our faculty is busy preparing, planning, and teaching. Unexpected interruptions,
particularly in the morning when teachers are getting ready for the day, can be very disruptive.
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
News from the Health Office...
As the snow thaws and we get glimpses of spring, please remember to send your child with appropriate footwear and layers for unexpected rainy and muddy weather.
After an unusually warm winter, we could see a rise in
ticks. It isn’t too early to practice checking for ticks daily with your children and helping to make this a routine activity.
Reminder: 4th Grade Parents Nature’s Classroom begins soon after we return to school in September. Please complete the following forms and return them as soon as possible:
Student Registration Form (including the Medical Permission Slip)
Health Questionnaire
News from Preschool... We have been very busy in preschool, despite our days missed due to New England weather surprises. We continue to begin each day with yoga (www.cosmickidsyoga.com) and despite the snow on the ground, we have been selecting Spring themed yoga stories. We will soon replace our winter tree art with some bright pastel art, made with shaving cream. Spring has arrived and we are celebrating it. For St. Patrick’s day, the children created a leprechaun trap in hopes of catching one. Using streamers, blocks and shiny things they designed a very elaborate trap. However, despite our efforts, the leprechaun was sneaky, and he figured out a way to avoid being trapped. However, to our surprise, there was evidence of his visit on the camera Nancy set up that evening. The photos revealed that he spent a lot of time in our classroom reading books, climbing on things, rocking in the chair, and sneaking out a window. To our surprise, he did leave behind some Golden Good Luck Coins for each of us!! Hopefully we can catch him next year.
Warming up to school
Early Oral Language Development As indicated in the preschool news, the youngest children in the building are learning to identify characters and settings in stories. Recently, the Hatfield school district offered an opportunity for some of us to attend a Story Grammar Marker training. This curriculum has been around for years, but recent updates have brought it some new life. Developed locally, this has been instrumental in assisting older children with language based learning disabilities. However, the oral language skills that are taught are essential for young children as well. Without early oral language exposure and practice, children are more likely to have challenges with school academics. Oral Language skills are critical in early childhood development. Below are some links for you to learn more about early language skills as well as some activities. Vocabulary development starts at home... And, just when you think that they aren’t listening, here are just some of the spontaneous vocabulary words heard from 3 and 4 year olds at Whately Elementary: adventure, envelope, United States, calculating, Wi-Fi, chop suey, accident, pyramid, healthy, trophy, indigo, violet, mystery, speaking of…, escaped, entrance, impressed, temperature, distract, destroy, routine, seriously, genius, washable, trespassing, torch, evacuate, easel, chrysalis, camouflage, recognize, inappropriate, vehicle, echo, freightliner, beverage, photograph, haul, organize, spatula…….and the list goes on. http://www.earlychildhoodeducationzone.com/understand ing-the-importance-of-language-development/ http://www.pbs.org/wholechild/providers/talk.html https://mindwingconcepts.com/collections/story-grammar- marker
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
NEWS FROM KINDERGARTEN... Kindergarten started March by celebrating Dr.
Seuss’s birthday on March 2nd. Our Second Grade Buddies read Dr. Seuss books to their kindergarten partners and we all had green eggs with ham together. Later in the month kindergarten took a field trip to The North Hadley Sugar Shack where we learned all about making maple syrup, maple cream, and maple sugar candy. We also enjoyed eating pancakes with some of their delicious maple syrup. Thank you to the parents who drove us on our field trip.
We recently turned Drama Area into our own sugar shack/restaurant and the children are enjoying using their imaginations to create scenarios and play different roles. Pretend play helps children develop vocabulary and communication skills, as well as social skills.
During April, as part of our study of spring, we will take walks in the schoolyard to observe the changes in our environment as the world begins to awaken from its winter slumber. We will record our observations using words and pictures in our Schoolyard Habitat Journal. We will also do research about birds that live in our area and create a mural to show what we have learned.
April is poetry month and we will be reading and writing poems in class. We will start by listening to poems written by other people – even other kindergartners. Later the children will start writing their own poems about things that are important to them.
NEWS FROM SECOND GRADE... We began this month by celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday
with our kindergarten buddies. We got together with them to read Dr. Seuss books and share green eggs
and ham. A big thanks to Mrs. Rief and Mrs. Carrier for cooking them up! We also spent time reading Dr.
Seuss books in the classroom. It was interesting to discover that while Dr. Seuss writes funny, rhyming books his books also have a lesson or message in them! The second graders have been using their
knowledge of place value to help them with addition and subtraction of big numbers! They have learned lots of new
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
strategies to add numbers like the tape diagram and the traditional algorithm. We have also begun studying money. The class has been focusing on becoming experts at recognizing the appearance and value of each coin. The big project that we have begun working on this month is our animal research. Each student has selected an animal they wish to know more about. By using a web graphic organizer the students will be reading and recording
information they learn. Mrs. King also helped the students to access information on the internet during our technology time. Students will be
working on writing a report about what they have learned. Everyone is very motivated and
working hard on this exciting project! Please continue to check out the maps and photos
News from Third Grade.. Happy spring, everyone! We made it through another snowy winter and the green grass is slowly emerging. Warmer weather is just around the corner! Yippy! The third graders have been hard at work, completing our informational writing unit. We managed to write 2 pieces in
this area. The first was a "how to" piece on how to make a paint brush using a magnet. This project was based on an engineering and design challenge we completed during our science unit on magnets. Each third grader chose specific informational text
features to create their own unique poster. They looked fantastic hanging on our bulletin board! We are putting the final touches on our second piece, a biography of a historical figure with a connection to Massachusetts. This piece has allowed us to spend a lot of time extracting facts from several informational texts. In addition, we have been reading the following books during our literacy block: Let's Get Moving, If You Lived in the Colonial Period, The Secret Soldier, and Sew What Betsy Ross? Currently, we are reviewing for the upcoming Reading/Language Arts M.C.A.S. test. This year, the test for the Whately Elementary third graders is scheduled for April 11th-April 13th. Furthermore, this year the test will be administered on an electronic device. So, we have been consistently working on becoming more familiar with our school's Chromebooks in addition to the format of the electronic test. More specific information is forthcoming. Stay tuned.....
NEWS FROM FOURTH GRADE... Welcome Spring! We are ready for spring like weather to return again in 4th grade! We are working hard on animal articles for the regions books we are compiling in small groups. We just finished reading The Lions of Little Rock and all agreed that it was one of the best books we have read all year! We are now using ideas from this book to write our first literary essay. We will also begin preparing for the online version of this year's MCAS tests. Please see the weekly notice on the front of your child's Friday folder for a more in depth look at all the discoveries we are making in 4th grade! Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack for the 10:15 snack we have each day. Thank you!
Mrs. Apanell
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! The 4th grade gift basket raffle/fundraiser was a huge success! We could not have put the baskets together without all of the donations from the Whately Elementary School community. The proceeds will benefit our upcoming field trip.
______________________________________________________________ ~LATELY AT WHATELY~
NEWS FROM FIFTH GRADE... Dear Fifth Grade Families, What a busy month! In math, we started with a Context Unit called Exploring Parks and Playgrounds. Students worked in groups showing their grit and determination to persevere through our challenging problems. Some of their tasks included: finding out how many miles each runner ran in a
race, and figuring out how long it took runners to run one circuit of a 3-mile course. Now we are applying and extending our understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions. We are also converting measurement units within a given measurement system (like
converting 5 cm to 0.05 m), and showing and interpreting data in a line plot. We have been preparing and practicing test taking skills so we will be ready for MCAS. This year we will be taking the ELA and Math MCAS in the new online format and the Science MCAS on paper. Students should have a healthful breakfast as well as plenty of rest before ELA (English Language Arts) MCAS on April 5, 6, and 7th. Our Math and Science MCAS exams will be in May. In literacy and writing, we are working on informational reading and writing while learning about Westward
Expansion (including Lewis and Clark’s journey, the California Gold Rush, and the people who helped the United States expand westward and the groups who were harmed). Students are very engaged in this unit and should be proud of all the thought-provoking questions they are asking
NEWS FROM SIXTH GRADE... Spaghetti Supper is right around the corner, Saturday, April 1st . We are looking forward to seeing you at our supper. Please come and let us serve you for the night. There are two sittings at 5 & 6:30.
NEWS FROM THE SPEECH-LANGUAGE ROOM... There are so many great resources online to help parents and teachers gather information and share ideas. Here are some I have tapped into lately…. Youtube: Recently, my social thinking groups have watched Kid President clips around social thinking and Second Step themes. There are clips on Everyday Speech that have social scenarios to view and discuss. Typing in SocialThinking on YouTube will bring you to video snippets that examine the social world through the lens of Michele Garcia Winner, a noted and ingenious SLP. Edutopia and Ted Talks: I peruse these sites to see what is new in the scientific world that will inform my practice. The brain based research that is discussed is of particular interest to me. Pinterest: This is a boon for visual learners. I find that many people curious about the same things as me and collect hundreds of pictures, charts, videos and websites on their pages. I love to explore preschool art ideas, social thinking and self-regulation ideas and really practical therapy ideas. See what you can discover if you have a specific topic in mind (Home therapy ideas for R? Picky eater? Using play to expand language skills? Calming strategies for middle
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News from the Student Council…. The Student Council is Appreciative!
The student council planned a
Teacher Appreciation Breakfast this
at Whately. The students colored
invitations that they designed
banner that you see in this photo. This
annual event means a lot to our
students and they always love to hear
how much the teachers enjoyed it all. This year, the St
Patrick's theme was a hit with teachers and everyone
enjoyed some good food on a Friday morning before
school started.
We are looking forward to a good showing for our
pajama day on Wednesday. Look for photos for next
month. The Book Character day was especially fun as
many teachers and students dressed as favorite
characters.
members brought this fundraiser idea to us and the
students wanted to participate. His mother had a
medical service trip to Guatemala this year and brought
back many pictures and stories which impacted our
students. We sent the supplies off with an organization
working in Guatemala in poverty areas.
Soon, we will be contacting you about our annual
plant sale before Mother's Day. We sell the plants
from Mill River Farm in order to raise money towards
projects for our Tanzanian sister schools. The students
are enriched by our connection and partnership. Watch
for the order forms in two weeks!
Paula King and Terri Anderson
Notes from Strings…. Our Spring String & Sing Concert is almost here! An exciting night for all! Parents: Please take note of our rehearsal and concert times at Frontier. Monday, April 3 - Frontier Regional High School Auditorium
Notes from the Music Room…. “As your body grows bigger, your mind grows flowers. It's great to learn, cause knowledge is power,” sings the theme song of Schoolhouse Rock. All WES students have been introduced to Schoolhouse Rock, Live, Jr., which will be presented on May 10, 2017. Along with the cast of leads, all classes have been grouped together to sing some songs. PreK-1, 2-4, 5-6 are the groups. Schoolhouse Rock, Live, Jr. ends with a roaring chorus by everybody, of one of the series’ favorites. Yes, “everybody” includes YOU! Mark your calendars - May 10, 2017. “Darn, that’s the end!” "Chord"ially Yours, Steve Damon
News from the Art Room….
Hello from our creative art room! We just finished a wonderful lesson on John James Audubon. Not only did I learn something new while teaching this lesson, the students also learned a little bit about American history. The students did a lot of hard work using observation to complete their beautiful birds. The older students will start working on props for the upcoming school play, School House Rock. How exciting! We also had our first community visitor for Art. His name is Jonathon Khorman and he is resident of Whately. He shared his journey and career as a full-time artist with a wonderful presentation for fourth, fifth and sixth grade. Thank you to those who helped arrange this and make it happen! The younger students have been busy with seasoned themed projects. We used marshmallows to print shamrocks. We used oil pastels and created beautiful pussy willows. With spring finally here, we listened to some spring jazz music while we made our busy crayon nest and birds. The students enjoyed moving their crayons in a fast circular motion to the music. Mrs. Meyer
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April Vacation Camp 4/18-4/21 Want to find something fun for your children over April Vacation? Come join the Out of School Time Program's April Vacation Camp! Our Theme for the week is "Time Warp -- 1950s – 1980s". Campers will engage in fun hands-on activities throughout the week.
Registration for April Vacation Camp 2017 has begun!
To ensure appropriate staff/student ratios, adequate snack and activity supplies, and a quality program experience for all please note the following:
Enrollment is first come first serve and space is limited
Registration forms are due on or before Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Late registrations only accepted through Friday, April 7, 2016 with $10 late fee
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation! We look forward to spending a fun filled week with your
children!! For more information contact Dot Spadola at 665-6674
Join us for another Exciting Summer of Friends, Fun and Sun at
River Valley Day Camp
Children ages 5 – 12
Located at: Deerfield Elementary
For more information please call
Janet Seredejko at 413-665-1155 X730
FRONTIER REGIONAL CFCE PLAYGROUP
Come join the playgroup for an informal morning of play, interactive literacy activities and conversations
with other families.
Where: Sunderland Elementary School
665-8928 or [email protected]
WHATELY LIBRARY Celebrate Easter & Spring! Bunnies, Stories, Egg Hunt Saturday, April 8, 2017 - 10:00am to 12:00pm • REAL bunnies from Hoppinhill Farm! • Storytime featuring bunnies! • Egg Hunt inside and outside the library! Whately Library Book Club: The April book club will be held at the Whately Congregational Church at 177 Chestnut Plain Road in Whately, MA
My GrandmotherAsked Me to Tell You She's Sorry By Fredrik Backman Saturday, April 15, 11:00
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A charming, warmhearted novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller A Man Called Ove. Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the- balcony-firing-paintball guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend.
When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.
Sunderland Elementary School Library
Are you a parent of a child with special needs?
Would you like to join a supportive group of parents and educators to discuss topics of
interest and learn about community resources?
Call Karen Green, PAC Liaison 665-1151 Ext 44 or [email protected].