Download May, 2014 - South Windsor Public Schools

May
PAWPRINTS
Respect, responsibility, caring
Principal’s Message
May, 2014
Dear PRS Community,
Thank you to all who came out for parent/teacher
conferences this month. It is a great time of year to
reflect on progress, plan and set goals for the
remaining two months of school. In addition, it was
so great to see so many families taking advantage of
the Muffins for Moms and Buy One Get One Free
Scholastic Book Fair!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the PRS
PTO for their amazing work during the 2013-2014
school year. The PTO has organized and coordinated
many projects over the course of the year to support
our students and enhance our school. Thank you to
the PTO Board, all the volunteers and members for
doing such an outstanding job this year. I truly
appreciate your efforts.
Kindergarten Registration is underway. Please send
all your friends to register if they will have an
incoming Kindergartener!!
I am looking forward to the next couple of
months and seeing everyone at the upcoming
PRS spring events!
Fondly, Michelle Dixon
NOTES FROM KINDERGARTEN
Kindergarteners have been very busy learning! In
reading, students are learning about exaggerated fiction
stories. We read silly stories such as Pinkalicious and
The Loose Tooth to learn about how authors sometimes
write silly and exaggerated solutions to a problem in a
fiction book. Then, in writing students are writing their
own stories with a problem and silly solution. It is a lot
of fun! In math we are becoming fluent problem solvers
in addition and subtraction problems. We use many
strategies to solve these problems and show our
thinking!
First Grade News
Calling all weather watchers! Students have been
exploring the changes in the weather and the season.
Our scientists are learning how to be observant about
the world around them. We’ve delved into different
types of plants, the water cycle and clouds. Did you
know that clouds can predict the weather?
Ask your 1st grader:
What are the different types of clouds and what
does it mean when you see them?
Second Grade
Second graders are currently learning about balance
and weight. This hands-on Science unit has the
students estimating and comparing the sizes and
weights of different objects. Students are exploring
different ways to balance objects and examining
different strategies for comparing those objects.
Tools include a beam balance and then an equal-arm
balance to discover the importance of the fulcrum
(the support). Through a number of activities
students are describing their ideas about how the
amount and position of weight has an important role
in balance. Second graders are enjoying being
scientists!
Third Grade Explorers
Third graders have been busy learning about early
explorers like Christopher Columbus, Jacques Cartier
and John Cabot. As part of this unit, students chose
an explorer from long ago or today to research and
write a biography about. Some of the explorers they
learned about are Ponce de Leon, Sacagawea, Jacques
Cousteau and Sally Ride. On April 15th, third grade
presented a Living Explorers’ Museum, where
students dressed up as their explorer, and came to
life to teach family members and friends about their
explorer’s life and adventures.
Fractions Are All Around Us In Grade Four!
The month of April has been filled with fraction fun!
Students are learning how to add fractions with like
and unlike denominators, and subtract fractions with
common denominators. They are also exploring mixed
numbers and their relationship to improper fractions.
In fact, you can ask your child how to multiply a
fraction by a whole number!
Students are visualizing and thinking about fractions
in all sorts of practical and realistic settings such as
realizing how much pizza would be left if there were
three pizzas that only ¼ of each remained at the end
of a party! See if you can find a way to work fraction
fun into your April Vacation!
Bon Appetit!
Fifth Grade News
By: Leidi Clark, Evan Crusha, Allison Petkis and James
Pile
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers! What?
Do you know what this is? It’s called alliteration, the
repeating of beginning sounds in two or more words
or syllables. It’s what the 5th graders have been
learning about in their study of figurative language.
But alliteration isn’t the only one, there are many
more kinds of figurative language. Hyperbole is using
big exaggeration, usually to be funny, “I ate a milehigh ice cream cone”. Idioms are when what you mean
is different from what the literal words mean, “It’s
raining cats and dogs”. A metaphor is when you
compare two things that are usually not alike, “The
ocean is a playground for whales”. Onomatopoeia is a
thing or action that imitates a sound, “buzz, hiss,
woof”. Personification is when a writer gives human
qualities to something that is not human, “The leaves
danced to the ground in the soft breeze”. A simile is
when you compare two unlike things by using as or
like, “The sun is like a yellow ball of fire in the sky”.
We learned to use figurative language in our writing
to give our writing depth, imagination and to make it
more alive and interesting to the reader. We learned
to understand how the authors of our books use
figurative language to make their writing more
engaging for readers.
Mileage Club
Now that spring has arrived, the mileage club is back.
On Tuesday and Thursday all students have an
opportunity to participate, if they would like. During
recess on these days, students can walk and/or run
large laps around the entire recess area. When the
students finish 28 laps (which will take multiple
recesses to complete) they have completed 5 MILES
of exercise. When that milestone arrives, they will
receive a "toe token". A "Toe Token" is a key chain
they can use to show off the mileage club success.
The mileage club was extremely successful in the fall.
As a school we walked/ran 1062 miles, with an
average of 5.44 miles completed a week. There are
tons of "Toe Tokens" being worn all over PRS, so let's
get moving and add many more "Toe Tokens” to the
PRS community in the spring.
Helpful Hints from the Intervention Team
This May, and every May since 1927, the American
Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has
used the May is Better Hearing and Speech Month
(BHSM) celebration to provide parents with
information about communication disorders to help
ensure that they do not seriously affect their
children's ability to learn, socialize with others, and
be successful in school.
Speech and language problems can occur at any time
in a child's life and can include:
Stuttering
Articulation problems ("wabbit" instead of "rabbit")
Language disorders such as the slow development of
vocabulary, concepts, and grammar.
Voice disorders (nasal, breathy, or hoarse voice and
speech that is too high or low)
Parents who suspect their child has a communication
disorder should see an ASHA-certified speechlanguage pathologist. These professionals identify,
assess, and treat speech and language problems
including swallowing disorders. Speech-language
pathologists work in schools, private practice,
hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, health
departments, research laboratories, and other health
education settings.
Meanwhile, hearing loss, like speech and language
problems, can have a negative impact on a child's
social and academic development. Communication
disorders like hearing loss in children can occur at
birth or as a child grows older due to chronic ear
infections or exposure to noise. The earlier hearing
loss occurs in a child's life, the more serious the
effects have on the child's development.
Typical signs of a hearing loss in children include:
Inconsistently responding to sound
Delayed language and speech development
Unclear speech
Sound is turned up on electronic equipment
(radio, TV, CD player, etc.)
Does not follow directions
Often says "Huh?"
Does not respond when called
Frequently misunderstands what is said and
wants things repeated
As a first step, people who think their child is
displaying many of these warning signs and think they
may have hearing loss or other hearing disorders
should see a certified audiologist. These
professionals specialize in preventing, identifying,
assessing, and treating hearing disorders. Also, they
provide treatment for hearing loss including fitting
hearing aids and other assistive listening devices, and
they can teach children with hearing loss how to
concentrate on hearing all sounds.
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and
credentialing association for more than 130,000
audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and
speech, language, and hearing scientists. For free
information visit http://www.asha.org/.
Submitted by: Lori Glass, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Principal
Michelle Dixon
Secretary
Lisa Lovett
Clerk
Carol Scheuing
Nurse
Colleen Heneghan
Main Number
648-5025
Visit our Website
http://www.swindsor.k12.ct.us/Schools/prs/prsmith.h
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IMPORTANT DATES
May 7
Gr. 5 Parent meeting with TE
counselors, 8 AM @ PRS Library
May 9
Grade 1 field trip
May 15
Gr. 5 students visit TE
May 16
Civil War Encampment
May 19
Spring Concert, 7 PM @ TE
May 26
Memorial Day-No School
May 30
PTO Carnival, 5 PM
June 24
Last day of school (currently)