November 30, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

It was a pleasure meeting with all of you for conferences.  If you have any questions or concerns throughout the year, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  We don’t have to wait for progress reports to go home or for scheduled parent conferences.  We can talk any time!  You should all be very proud of your children.  We have certainly enjoyed the beginning of the year with each of them!

The students have been enjoying several gingerbread stories and gingerbread activities.  They decorated paper gingerbread cookies, made a classbook, and made gingerbread glyphs that tell about themselves.  They made another classbook about their Thanksgiving tables and started a “Can” book about things they can do.

We switched over our December calendar today and the students were excited to see how close we are to our holiday vacation!  I can’t believe 2019 is right around the corner!  We have three full weeks of school in December.  We will continue reading and comparing more gingerbread stories.  We will also be learning a little about Hanukkah and some other holiday traditions we celebrate.  We will not be doing a Nutcracker performance like Kindergarten has done in the past, but our class will be reading the Nutcracker story this coming week and will be doing some Nutcracker projects.

We will also be working on an All About Me Collage on Wednesday.  If you have any pictures you can send in before then, that would be great.  Pictures can include baby/toddler pictures, family pictures, pictures of pets, home, favorite toys etc.  All pictures will be returned but may have tape or glue on them.

A few other reminders:  It is definitely feeling more like winter outside and it is necessary for students to wear warm coats, hats, mittens/gloves, and boots (when there is snow).  It would also be very helpful if they could practice putting these items on and taking them off at home to make preparing for recess and dismissal a little less time-consuming.  Don’t forget to label all clothes items with your child’s name.

Our school’s Scholastic Book Fair was a huge success!  The books are in the process of being packed up but it’s not too late to shop if you didn’t get a chance.  You can shop the book fair online!  It will end on Friday, December 7th.  There is a separate blog post with instructions for the online book fair.  We will have our normal library visit on Wednesday to borrow books.

Have a great weekend!

Melanie Duncan

Online Book Fair

Francis Wyman Online Book Fair

November 19th-December 7th

Use this QR code to shop our online book fair, or log on to
http://www.scholastic.com/bf/franciswymanelementarysch

Items will be delivered to the Francis Wyman Library
and delivered to students in their homerooms.
Please allow 7-10 days for delivery from
the date the online fair ends.

November 16, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We've had another busy week in Room 115!  We have learned a little about Wampanoags and Pilgrims.  We read a story called “Tapenum” about a young Native American.  We also read a story called “Samuel Eaton’s Day” which is about a day in the life of a Pilgrim boy.  We will read a similar one called “Sarah Morton’s Day” which is about a day in the life of a Pilgrim girl.  We talked a lot about the chores Pilgrim boys and girls had to do and I tried to encourage them to be helpful at home too!  Our focus was where we live and the different kinds of homes we live in.  We compared our homes to those of the Native Americans and Pilgrims. 

We read a couple of archived Scholastic Let’s Find Out readers this week about Pilgrims and Wampanoags.  The online version has some great videos that we watched to learn more about what their lives were like.  I would encourage you to watch them at home with your children to further discuss homes, chores, and being thankful. 
The website is:  http://letsfindout.scholastic.com/
The password is:  kindergarten115
You can type “Wampanoags” in where it says “Enter Keyword.”

The students wove placemats, decorated Native American tipis, and started making turkeys in the art area this week.  They completed two class books about where they live and what they are thankful for.  These books will be circulating around to homes along with all of our previous ones.  Please be sure to read the books with your family and send them back to school as soon as possible for others to enjoy.  The students also wrote about the Pilgrim boy we read about and did some more rhyming activities too.  Another writing project included writing facts about the changes that are happening in the fall.  Students wrote about leaves falling, harvesting pumpkins, apples, and potatoes, and how animals (including bears, geese, and chipmunks) prepare for winter.  These will be coming home soon.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving will be a half day of school.  Dismissal will be at 11:15am.  A form went home this past week for you to complete and return that will let us know if children will be riding home on the bus or getting picked up by parents.  Please return the form as soon as possible.  We will not be eating lunch at school on Wednesday.

We will not be going to library next week because of the half day of school.  The Wednesday after Thanksgiving will be our class’s turn to visit the Scholastic Book Fair so we will not be borrowing new books that day either.  Students can either bring money from home to shop at the book fair or they can make a wish list that they can bring home to share with you.  If you would like to buy books from the book fair, you can either purchase them online or visit our school library/book fair on conference day.

I am looking forward to meeting with you for conferences the week after Thanksgiving.  Please be sure to check the schedule and let me know if you can’t make it. 

Have a great weekend!

Melanie Duncan

Also… Please make sure your child brings warm clothes to wear outside for recess now that the weather is getting colder and please help them practice putting all their stuff on too! 

From the Superintendent's Office...
Greetings everyone,
This is a reminder that Parent University will be taking place this Saturday at 8:30 am at BHS.  Our keynote speaker is Dr. Christopher Willard (drchristopherwillard.com) who will be presenting on mindfulness and building resiliency in students. 
Additionally, we will be running two workshop sessions with both faculty and community resources presenting on a variety of topics.  The full list of presenters and the schedule can be found at the website:  https://bpsparentuniversity2018.sched.com/
Registration is still open for parents at:  https://www.burlingtonpublicschools.org/parents/parent-university
Thank you!

November 9, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We had a very short week but were able to do a lot of really neat things!  We continued learning about several American symbols and will finish learning about them next week.  We drew and painted the Statue of Liberty to add to our displays of bald eagles and our giant American flag.

We have talked a lot about things we like this week.  It turns out that we all like pizza and ice cream but that there are a lot of other things that some of us like and others don’t!  Students wrote about things they like to do with their families in their November journals.  They also completed an individual book about things they like.  Please encourage your child to reread the books they bring home (point to the words and especially look for the word “like”).

We enjoyed a Veterans Day Assembly in the gym earlier today and welcomed several veterans that are related to Francis Wyman families.  We said the Pledge of Allegiance, listened to several patriotic songs, and learned some neat facts about the flag and veterans.  The Kindergarten classes even sang a little poem about our flag.  You will have to see if your children remember it!

We have almost finished Topic 3 in math.  We will start a new topic next week about comparing numbers 1-10.  I would encourage students to continue practicing number and letter formations at home.  There certainly has been a lot of improvement! 

The first Francis Wyman Used Book Store will be this coming Wednesday.  I sent a note home yesterday with more information.  Students can either bring a quarter or a book from home to trade, although it is optional.  These are different than library books because students get to keep their books from the Used Book Store.  You can tell the two books apart because library books have a barcode on the back that says “Francis Wyman Library.”  We will be visiting the library on the same day as the Used Book Store.

We will start learning about the Wampanoags and Pilgrims during the next couple of weeks before Thanksgiving.  I hope the students will be able to comprehend a little about how different it was to live 400 years ago.  We will start the unit by reading a book by Kate Waters entitled, "Tapenaum, the Story of an Indian Boy".  This book has accurate information and photos taken from the Wampanoag village at Plimouth Plantation.  It is a book that depicts the lives of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags in the 1620's.  We try to emphasize how different their lives were from ours, but that family was then, and is now, very important.  Hopefully they will come away from this unit with a tiny bit of understanding and thankfulness for all we have today.

I sent home a paper explaining the early dismissal for our half day of school on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  Please fill it out and return it as soon as possible.  Thank you!

The students added a post to their Seesaw accounts today.  If you haven’t signed up for it yet, please do!  I’m sure you will enjoy seeing your child’s work and hearing them talk about what they learned!  Let me know if you need the instructions again.

I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!  No school on Monday.  Happy Veterans Day to all the men and women who have served and are currently serving our country.  Thank you for your service!

Melanie Duncan

PS...Please be sure to send in hats, mittens, warmer jackets, etc. for your children now that the temperatures are dropping more...and don’t forget to LABEL EVERYTHING and have your child practice putting it all on and taking it all off.  Thank you!

Cloud Show

Mr. Musselman from the Burlington Science Center visited our classroom today to teach us about clouds.  We learned about different kinds of clouds and different kinds of weather and Mr. Musselman even made a cloud right in our classroom!  He encouraged students to try making a cloud at home...with parent help of course!  The ingredients are water, heat, cold air, and dust/smoke.  It's very similar to turning the hot water on in the shower.

Readers Theater

We have been practicing our Readers Theater for the past two or three weeks.  Students each picked an animal, made a mask, and researched their animal.  Students were even a part of writing the script, which was similar to Bill Martin, Jr.'s Polar Bear, Polar Bear book.  They enjoyed performing it for Mrs. McDonald and Mr. D. this afternoon.  They did awesome!  Click on the links below to watch!

Group 1

Group 2

November 2, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Parents,
                               
We had a busy week in Room 115!  We spent most of the week talking about our families and how families are different.  The students created large collages of their families and labeled each family member.  This was a huge project and the students put a lot of effort into them.  They look amazing on display in our classroom.

The students worked very hard on animal research reports this week!  We started by learning about bald eagles.  The students drew pictures and wrote about what they eat and where they live.  Then students did their own research about an animal they picked!  They looked at pictures in non-fiction books and listened to me read small excerpts.  We certainly learned a lot of neat facts about animals!

The students enjoyed learning about some American symbols.  We will continue learning more about them next week as we approach Veterans Day.  We made a giant flag and bald eagles using hand prints.  We also made a book on American symbols that went home today.  The students were excited to share what they already knew about all the symbols!

We have been practicing our Readers Theater for the past two or three weeks.  Students picked an animal, made a mask, and researched their animal.  Students were even a part of writing the script, which was similar to Bill Martin, Jr.’s Polar Bear, Polar Bear book.  We performed it for a final time today and invited our principals, Mrs. McDonald and Mr. Doiron to watch.  They loved it!  The students did a great job and should be very proud of all their hard work!  Check out my Readers Theater blog post so you can enjoy it too!

We will continue talking about our our families and homes during the month of November.  Please help your child learn his/her address and phone number.  Both are important pieces of information for them to know.

The students have been working hard in math. We are still working on writing our numbers, one-to-one correspondence, and different math language (i.e. which is more or fewer, etc.).  Please take a careful look at the math papers coming home and ask your child to explain what they learned for extra reinforcement.  The number formation practice papers we have been sending home for homework will be completed this coming week but I would still encourage students to continue practicing them at home.

The students homework for this weekend and for the next couple of weeks is to practice putting jackets/sweatshirts on and taking them off all by themselves.  This also includes fixing sleeves, turning sleeves right-side-out, and zipping/buttoning.  We have been working on it at school but extra practice would be helpful!

The Scholastic Book Club flyer went home today.  We will send another one home the beginning of December as well.  If you are interested in buying books for any of the upcoming holidays and don’t want your child to see the books, please let us know.  We can hold the books for you and arrange a time for you to pick them up.  The order form that went home today is due on Thursday, November 8th.  Information for online ordering is on the back of the flyer.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Melanie Duncan

PS...Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour for Daylight Savings this weekend!

And...there is no school for students on Monday, November 5 (Teacher Professional Development Day) and Tuesday, November 6 (Election Day).