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February 19-23
Winter Break
Friday, March 1
Roadrunner Day, 12:00 dismissal
Monday, March 4
PTA Meeting, 7PM
Tuesday, March 5
Town Meeting Day, No School
Friday, March 8
Second Trimester Ends
Friday, March 15
Roadrunner Day, 12:00 dismissal
March 26 - 28
Student-Led Conferences
March 29
In Service, No School
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Kindergarten
Ms. Kicza
Last week, the students finished up their writing about The Snowy Day. Several visitors came to the classroom to help and hear them read their writing projects--from other teachers, to older students, to administrators--and everyone enjoyed their good writing and illustrating. The students learned a little about the author/illustrator of The Snowy Day and why his book was important; saw how other artists and writers were inspired by it; and then each painted their own pictures from the book.
This week, we began a new author/illustrator study with books by Grace Lin, starting with reading aloud Bringing in the New Year and Red is a Dragon, then watching a video of her reading her book A Big Mooncake for Little Star. We talked about the characters, settings, and illustrations. Her books have a lot to do with family and traditions, which has already led to good connections and discussions. We will hear more of her books next week.
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First Grade
Ms. Fisk
Finally, the sun has started shining! First grade has taken advantage of it and learned outside for the majority of the week.
First grade just started our next unit for learning. We are now beginning to learn about birds and their bodies. During Math, we have begun to work with open number lines.
Outdoor Education finally had some sunshine, and traced our shadows to see if they would move when we checked back later on in the day.
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Second Grade
Ms. Giampietro
This week in second grade, students are continuing to measure distances while making connections to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.
In module, students are learning about different paleontologists and how fossils are formed. They made “impressions” using playdoh, and practiced making observations and inferences about these impressions. Students are reading an informational text called “Fossils,” to help them learn about nonfiction text features and how to define unknown words. During Outdoor Ed, 2nd graders practiced being paleontologists by digging for fossils in the snow!
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3/4 ELA & Social Studies
Ms. Denney
As a class, third graders wrote a Pourquoi tale to answer the question: why do polliwogs wiggle? We focused on writing a high quality piece that follows the narrative structure. Students are finishing up their own Pourquoi tales this week. Ask your child what question they are answering in their writing!
Fourth graders are continuing to research animals and their defenses. This week we are focusing on what makes a quality summary by summarizing texts we've read and diagrams we've analyzed. Soon, fourth graders will choose their own animal to be the focus of their research and informational writing.
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Spanish
Profe Katie
¡Hola familias!
Middle School Spanish has been working on a super exciting new thing--pen pals! Profe Katie has been in contact with a school in Guatemala, and we've started a pen pal program for the rest of the school year! Each student has been matched up with a pen pal based on similar interests. Newton students will be writing their letters in Spanish, while their pen pal will be writing back in English. We are just wrapping up writing our first letter! It is very difficult to express yourself in a new language, especially since students are still at the beginning level in Spanish. Please encourage them and ask them about their pen pal! Letters will be sent to their pen pal before we leave for February break.
Elementary Spanish has been working on connecting our animals vocabulary to colors vocabulary. Here are the words we're working on! (side note - there are different words in Spanish for several colors of the rainbow. These are the ones we're learning, but if you know other terms, feel free to teach them those as well!):
rojo, amarillo, verde, azul, rosado, morado, naranja, marrón, negro, blanco, gris
Students have been learning these words through the songs Rojo Amarillo Verde Azul and Rosado Morado Naranja Marrón
Saludos,
Profe Katie
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Pathways
Ms. Katie
Sixth grade Pathways has been working on lessons surrounding confidence, strengths, weaknesses, and personal power. These lessons are meant to build more awareness of students' agency as they go about their lives in and out of school.
Seventh and 8th grade Pathways has been continuing career exploration research. It is so important for students to explore what they like and are interested in from a young age. This will help them navigate high school and beyond in accordance with what they want to do!
We are continuing to look for people who would be interested in having a 7th or 8th grader shadow them for a day. Students are interested in a variety of interests, so any field is welcome! If you'd be interested, please let me know at kmilligan@wrvsu.org.
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Green Mountain Conservation Camp
It's that time of year again! Fifty years ago Peggy Thorp (one of Strafford’s Treasures) started a program to send Strafford children to Green Mountain Conservation Camp free of charge.
This program continues today. Local organizations generously sponsor Strafford children to attend camp.
The only ask is that a thank you letter is sent to your child’s sponsor.
I spoke to the Newton Middle School yesterday and gave forms to all that at were interested. (Children must be 12 at the time they attend camp)
If you need forms or more information please see the attached link. My email is potterjosh4@gmail.com or feel free to call me at 802-356-1617.
Please return your forms no later than Friday, February 16, 2024.
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