Student Assembly Today
Thanks to the generosity of our PTO, Winsor students were treated to an amazing assembly. Rob Surette, a master artist that works for Disney, provided our students with a riveting, inspirational performance this morning. The theme of the show was "Be Somebody", providing our girls and boys with affirming messages that inspired kindness, self-esteem, and a sense of giving. Please talk to your student about today's event!
Keeping Up With Kindergarten
It was great to be back in our regular routine after a fun filled Reading Week before vacation! Thank you to all the families that joined in the fun on Teaching and Learning night!
This week during Reader’s Workshop, Mrs. Lakeway’s and Ms. Staruch’s class started/continued their unit on Fairytales. We reviewed the elements in a fairytale and practiced identifying them in our stories. We even used a graphic organizer to help us map them out.
When we returned from April break, students were so excited to tell us about their vacations. The class had the opportunity to brainstorm ideas, use a graphic organizer, and write a personal narrative about their vacations. It sounds like everyone had fun; family trips, egg hunts, visits to the movie theater and sleepovers! We ended our week with our Trimester 3 Formative Writing Assessment. We will use these to help us drive our writing groups and instruction through the end of the year.
“Cubes, cylinders, spheres- Oh my!” You guessed it-We have begun talking about 3D shapes in Math! We began the week exploring the differences between 2D and 3D shapes. We went on a shape hunt around the room and classified the objects that we found. We also did some sorting and lots of sketches of our shapes!
This Week’s and Last Week’s Sight Words: here, too, please, but, four, run
Learning and Fun in Grade One!
We hope everyone had a restful and relaxing vacation. Our first graders have already gotten back into the swing of our routines for the final stretch of first grade.
In Fundations, we are continuing to learn how to syllabicate two syllable words. Many of these words are compound words like sunset, catfish, etc. These compound words are two CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. Our trick words for this past week are “people” and “month”. Be sure your child can read and write them easily.
One of the highlights of our week before vacation was viewing the newborn chicks in grade three. Students held, petted, and learned so much about how chicks are born from our third grade friends. We even held Rhode Island’s state bird, the Rhode Island Red and another type of chick called the Dominique. And guess what, they were different colors– yellow, brown, and black with white!! Ask about the egg tooth and what it is used for.
We would like to thank all our parent guest readers for joining us and making Reading Week so special. Our “books in a can” were a huge success and the children enjoyed presenting them to their classmates. We thank you all for joining us on “Teaching and Learning Night”. It’s always so impressive to see how much our students have progressed!
We are also going to begin first grade’s “ABC Countdown to the End of the Year” on Monday, May 6th (it’s just around the corner!). It’s hard to believe that the year is coming to an end – time certainly flies in grade one!!!
FYI: On May 30th, first graders will be attending the performance of Pete the Cat (a beloved storybook character) at the Veterans Auditorium. More information and permission slips to follow.
*All chaperones must be BCI checked.
It looks as though Spring has finally arrived!!! Everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather this past week – hopefully, it will stay that way! Have a wonderful weekend.
What's New In Grade 2
Due to our amazing PTO, we were able to experience the inspirational art show by Rob Surette!
During his presentation, he taught us many life lessons.
We would like to share some of the messages that we found particularly inspirational.
*Try to make new adventures every day. ~Michael
*To believe that I can do anything. ~Edward
*Help others including homeless people. ~Will H.
*If you believe it so much and dream it so much you can become it! ~Macie
*Never give up even if you think it's impossible. ~Violet
*Turn the worst days into the best days! ~Adrienne
*Believe in my dreams and make them possible. ~Mei Li
*Work really hard even when it's hard. ~Julianna
*Never give up when stuff is hard. ~Henry
*If someone says I can't do it, well I CAN! ~Addilyn
*Be kind to homeless people and help them in small ways. ~Sophia
*If something happens that might change you, don't ever give up. ~Louie
*You never give up even if things get really hard you always need to persevere. ~Kaia
*Your energy can change the world. ~ Will L.
*A little happiness can change the world. ~Samaya
*Never misjudge anyone. ~Laura
*Chase your dreams. ~Michael
*Your brain has no limits. ~Sean
*You are smarter than you think you are. ~Aaron
*Try your best! Don't give up! ~Gabriel
THRILLS IN THIRD
All of our wonderful third graders returned from vacation refreshed and ready to work hard and learn! In Math we reviewed basic fraction concepts and began working on several more complex tasks. Students are responsible for understanding how to identify fractions, use number lines to represent fractions, make equivalent fractions, compare fractions and solve fraction word problems. Students have made very good progress with all of these challenging skills. Our focus for writing this week has been utilizing informational text to develop arguments for opinion writing. Students have enjoyed giving their opinions about the type of school schedule they would prefer and whether dodgeball should be permitted in physical education class. They have been working hard to incorporate text evidence to support their opinions. In Reading we have begun working on our final projects for our ARC nonfiction unit on natural disasters. Students are learning how to make Google Slide presentations to share their learning. We are also enjoying reading another novel from the “I Survived” series. Finally, it has been very exciting to begin a new Science investigation on magnetism. Our budding scientists have been very enthusiastic while exploring this topic. Have a wonderful weekend!
Learning More in Grade 4!
Students came back from vacation refreshed and ready to learn! We have begun to study biographies in reading. The students will learn how they are written, and the type of people they are written about. They will each choose a person to research and will “become” that person for our Wax Museum. The person they pick should be someone who has made a difference in the world. We are encouraging students to pick someone they would like to learn about that has made an impact in some way. This will take place some time in May. More details will be coming soon!!!
We have been doubling up our math instruction this week. We will continue to do this until Math RICAS. In the morning, we have been learning about fractions and decimals. In the afternoon, we have been exploring geometry. They have learned about points, lines, rays, segments, and angles. They will definitely be ready by test time.!
Your child should have brought information home about our next field trip. We will be going to the Rhode Island State House for a special program about RI’s history. This is slightly different from the program we have seen in the past, so we are excited to attend! The date for our trip is Friday, May 3rd. Please return the permission slips as soon as possible!
The Fabulous Five
It was so impressive to observe the wonderful job that our fifth graders did presenting their Project Based Learning, Run a Taco Truck, during Teaching and Learning Night. We hope you enjoyed learning about their business model and how they incorporated their design, math, health, ELA, and technology skills into building their taco truck business.
On another note, it was an exciting week for our fifth graders as Michael Cerra 5-R and Austin Joyce 5-P were “The Teacher for the Day” in their fifth grade classes. The boys presented their lessons to both fifth grade classes on a topic of their choice. Michael taught about the history of Greek Mythology. Students were fascinated to learn about the Greek gods such as Zeus, Poseidon, and Kronos. Michael explicitly explained that there were twelve main gods known as the Olympians who made their home on Mt.Olympus. It was also believed that the ancient people built beautiful temples for the gods and goddesses to live in when they visited Earth. As an activity,each student participated in making their family tree and shared about their heritage.
Austin taught his lesson on hiking and cliff jumping. We learned about the supplies that you should pack for safety and unpredictable weather, and how to climb through rough terrain. Austin showed many photos of his hiking adventures explaining his experience of climbing various mountains in the northeast. Students were amazed that he climbed Mt.Willard in just one day! This summer, Austin will be conquering Mt.Washington with his family and his goal is to climb it in one day! Michael and Austin also added some extra perks and gave their classes extra recess, chromebook time, word search time, extra snack time, and nap time, of course. Thank you to Michael and Austin for doing a great job. It was such a fun filled day!!
Music with Ms. Reece
Grade 3,4,and 5 students...please remember to bring your recorder and music book to class each week. We are practicing for the Carnegie Hall Orchestra Moves fieldtrip which is at the end of May.
Vacation on Mars- School Play
Please review the videos and practice your lines at home. We hope all students will have their part memorized by next Monday.