March 31, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Our focus this past week was on Egyptian art.  I brought in pictures and some artifacts from my trip to Egypt a few years ago and the students made pyramids, mummies, and even wrote their names in hieroglyphs.  They enjoyed learning about animal mummies and Egyptian pharaohs.

We are getting excited to display a lot of our artwork at the Kindergarten Museum on Tuesday, April 11th.  We hope you can visit our museum sometime between 8:30 and 9:15am.

The students practiced their sight words a lot this week.  They made a couple of books using their sight words.  I would encourage you to keep practicing them at home.

We started a new topic in math.  We are now working with numbers up to 100!

I have enjoyed conferencing with many of you this week.  I am looking forward to conferencing with everyone else this coming week.  Please email me if you need a reminder about the date or time.

Have a wonderful snowy first weekend in April!

Melanie

Congratulations Aidan for being selected to spin the Wheel of Wyman to reveal more of our secret prize puzzle!  He was recognized for showing an Act of Kindness!

March 24, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We have been very busy preparing our projects that will be displayed at our Kindergarten Museum on Tuesday, April 11th.  We hope you are able to visit our museum from 8:30-9:15am that day to see some of the children’s amazing artwork!  We have completed most of our Impressionist projects this week.  We finished painting water lilies, decorated flower pots with mosaic designs, and made birch trees out of newspaper.  We also started learning a little about Egypt and will complete some fun Egyptian art projects next week.

We finished learning about all seven continents on Earth.  The students were really interested in all the facts they learned from the continent books.  They completed their own continent books that went home today.  We used interactive writing to write all the facts.  Please ask your child to read their books to you and share what they have learned!

We also made Car Books and Color Flip Flap books.  Both projects required students to use sight words to write whole sentences.  These are all great books for your child to read and reread at home.

I checked students’ addition fluency math facts this week.  They have been making great progress!  Please have your child start working on their subtraction facts and continue practicing their sight words.

I have enjoyed the first few conferences I have had with some of you and I am looking forward to the rest that are coming up over the next couple of weeks.  Please check in with me if you need a reminder about the date or time of your conference.  We’ve already got some artwork on display so you will be able to get a little sneak peek before the actual museum!

Melanie Duncan

PS...We will be going to the library on Wednesday.  Please have your child return his/her book.  Please be sure to return all class books too.  Thanks!

Wheel of Wyman

Our students are earning special SOARs coupons for showing ACTS OF KINDNESS.  When students earn a coupon, their names are put in a bucket in the office.  Mrs. Conley pulls out names every morning and that person gets to spin the "Wheel of Wyman" and add a letter to the puzzle.  The puzzle will reveal the whole-school prize.  Congratulations to Tyler for showing an act of kindness this week!  He added the letter "M" to the puzzle!

March 17, 2017

Dear Parents,

We have been busy working on our art projects for our museum on Tuesday, April 11.  We hope you are able to come to it!  We finished our Picasso pictures and started learning about Impressionist painting.  We even started our own impressions of some famous impressionist paintings, including Monet’s “Waterlilies.”  We also learned about pointillism and made our own paintings out of dots.  It was an impressive amount of work for a short week due to a snow day and a two-hour delay!

Students finished their “All I Am” books and read them to the class before bringing them home.  I would encourage you to encourage your child to read them and their other books often.  We also made a class book called “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” that will start circulating next week.

We went to the library this week and had a chance to explore some different stations.  Ms. Carney, our librarian, and Mrs. Ardizzoni and Mrs. Gennaco, our technology teachers, had some fun activities for the students to try.  We didn’t get a chance to pick out books so we will go again this coming Wednesday.  If you haven’t returned the library book, please try to return it by Wednesday.

We attended an all-school assembly today.  The theme was RESPECT.  We will be focusing on being respectful and demonstrating ACTS OF KINDNESS as part of our SOARS motto.

We started a new topic in math.  We are continuing to work with teen numbers and are talking about groups of tens and ones left over.  The students have been doing very well with this.  I would encourage you to keep practicing the addition fluency facts with your child.  I am in the middle of assessing students on their addition facts and will be getting ready to send home the subtraction fluency facts cards again for students to practice.

We have been doing a lot of work with our sight words in school but I would also encourage you to continue practicing these words with your child at home.  The more he/she sees them and reads them in different contexts, the more familiar the words will become.  I will send a list home with the students this coming week of the words your child knows already.

I will be sending a St. Patrick’s Day assignment home on Monday.  I am asking parents to fill out a paper explaining the different countries their ancestors came from.  We have been learning about the different continents and I thought this would be a fun thing for us to do.  We will locate the countries on a map once most students have returned their papers.

I am looking forward to meeting with all of you at our conference soon.  Please try to be on time so we can stick to the schedule.  If you can’t make it, please let me know and we can reschedule.  If possible, please try to confirm the time I gave through email so I know if you can make it.  Please let me know if you need me to send the date and time again.

Have a great weekend!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Melanie Duncan

PS...Students should plan to continue bringing snowpants, boots, hats, mittens, etc., especially if they plan to play in the snow at recess next week.  It looks like it might stick around for a little while!

First Place Prize for Carnival Cake Decorating!

Tyler took home first place for the cake decorating at the FW Carnival on Saturday!  He made a St. Patrick's Day cake.  Nice work Tyler!

March 10, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We have had a very busy week in Room 115!  The children continue to create wonderful artifacts for our museum. We have spent most of the week learning about modern/contemporary art.  We’ve learned about hot and cold colors, painted with kitchen gadgets and marbles, made Kandinsky trees with brightly colored circles, and even made Picasso pictures!  The students have really enjoyed learning about this kind of artwork!

We will be transitioning to Impressionist paintings during the next couple of weeks and will be learning about some of the famous Impressionist painters.  Students also finished painting their portraits of a friend!  All of our portraits and self-portraits are currently displayed on our back wall.  They look awesome!  We hope you are all able to visit our Kindergarten Museum on Tuesday, April 11th to see all the students’ hard work!  It will be from 8:30-9:15am.

The students are almost done with their All I Am books and will bring them home next week.  It's great when they have to think of all the things they are and what they want to be.  We've got very talented children!

The students have also been very busy writing this week. They have been working hard in their journals. We talked about different sight words and working on spelling them correctly in their writing. They are doing a great job!  I would continue practicing these sight words at home with your child to help them learn them even better.

We finished our topic in math about teen numbers.  They did a great job counting and writing the numbers.  We quickly reviewed our addition math facts this week.  I would encourage them to keep practicing at home!

We enjoyed watching another snake feeding this week.  We also started learning more about the seven continents.  We have read books and written facts in our continent books about Africa, Australia, and Antarctica and will learn about the rest during the next couple of weeks.

Progress reports for grades 1-5 will go home on Monday.  Kindergarten won’t have another progress report until the end of the year.  I will be scheduling conferences that will take place during the end of March and beginning of April.  There isn’t a specific day set aside for conferences so I will be scheduling some after school and will try to do some for classroom volunteers while students are at recess.  I will send the schedule home next week.  If you can’t make it at that time, please let me know and we can reschedule.  If it is easier too, we could talk over the phone, although it is nice to meet in person and look at student work in the classroom.  I do feel that it is important for us to meet to discuss your child’s progress before the end of the year.

Don’t forget that the Francis Wyman Family Carnival is tomorrow from 10am-2pm.  I plan to be there and would love to see you all there too!  There are a lot of fun things to do and a bunch of really nice raffles!

We are going to the library on Wednesday.  Please return library books and all class books too.

Have a great weekend!

Melanie Duncan

PS….Don’t forget to change your clocks this weekend...and get your shovels ready too!

March 3, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

As I'm sure you have observed from the paint some of your children have worn home, we have started our fine arts unit!  The children have finished painting self-portraits and will be painting portraits of their friends next week.  They have also been experimenting with various forms of modern art and expressing feelings and ideas through different colors.  Our Kindergarten Museum is set for Tuesday, April 11th.  You won’t want to miss it!

The children started All I Am books.  They have been writing about who they are and what they would like to be when they grow up. They continue to write in their journals and illustrate poems in their poetry books.

We have started a new topic in math and have been working on teen numbers.  Please continue to work with your child on their addition fluency facts.  I will be testing them during the next couple of weeks to see if they can say each one in less than three seconds.

We celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday on Thursday, which was “Read Across America Day.”  Mr. Doiron (Mr. D.) was our special guest reader.  Mrs. Sullivan and I also read a couple of special Dr. Seuss books.  The students really seemed to enjoy all the fun stories!

The Burlington Science Center did a presentation on electricity this morning.  The students enjoyed learning about circuits, conductors, insulators, protons, neutrons, atoms, and other cool things!  We even watched them make lightning right on the stage in our auditorium!

One of the most exciting parts of the week was that our class pet arrived from the Burlington Science Center! We even watched Maisey, the Corn Snake, eat a mouse yesterday morning!  It is a lot of fun watching science and nature take place right in our classroom!

Don’t forget the Francis Wyman Carnival is next Saturday, the 11th! They have some great raffle prizes and some fun things to do! If you are able to volunteer in any way, that would be great! I’m planning to be there and hope to see you all there too!

Please check to see if any of the class books we have been circulating are still at your house.  These are the books with a class list on the back and they should be returned to school the day after they are brought home so other students can bring them home too!

Have a great weekend.  Stay warm!  Several students need a reminder to bring warmer winter clothes for recess.  I think the warmer weather over vacation spoiled us a little too early!

Melanie

Wishlist items:  shoe boxes, cotton balls, Q-tips, newspaper, magazines.   ….Thanks!