February 16, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

I can't believe that winter break is already upon us!  The last month and a half went by very fast!

We had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine’s Day on Wednesday.  We have enjoyed making our special Valentines projects and everyone certainly enjoyed opening all the valentines.  Thank you for all the valentines!

We celebrated our 100th day of school today.  We did a lot of counting!  We made 100th day hats with 100 dots and did some math activities with a hundreds chart.  We also wrote a class book about what we would do with $100.  The students have accomplished so much in 100 days and should be very proud of how far they have come!

After vacation we will begin our fine arts unit where the children will creatively paint, draw, sculpt, and build works of art for our Kindergarten Museum.  Our Museum will be open for parents to visit on Tuesday, April 10th.  You won’t want to miss it!  More information will be going home later on but I want to make sure you mark it on your calendars!  I think you will be amazed at the artwork your children will produce!

The students spent a lot of time during the past couple of weeks learning about persuasive writing.  I put all their persuasive writing together and sent it home in their blue folders today.  Included are the letters they wrote to Ms. P. about getting a class pet and the letters they wrote to you along with a few other things!  I would encourage you to sit down with your children and have them read their writing to you.  They worked very hard on it and should be proud of their work!  

We will be transitioning to narrative writing after the break.  Students will be writing about themselves and things/events that have happened in their lives (birthdays, field trips, new experiences, etc.).  I am anxious to see how their writing will evolve over the next couple of months!

I would also encourage you to continue working on the sight words and addition fluency facts with your children.  We will be checking on their progress in the coming weeks after vacation.

Have a wonderful winter break!

Melanie Duncan

P.S...Please be sure to check the students’ backpacks and folders.  Vacation is a great time to clean them all out! 

February 9, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We have been doing A LOT of writing this week!  The students finished writing their persuasive letters to Ms. P. at the Burlington Science Center.  They are hoping to persuade her to give us a snake for a class pet!  We have been learning a lot about animal needs so we can also let Ms. P. know that we will be able to take good care of a class pet.  The students also have started writing persuasive letters to their parents!  Just to give you a heads up….some students are writing to persuade parents to go on a special trip, get a pet, buy a new house, or buy a new toy.  They are doing very well.  I will try to make sure they realize before the letters go home, that they may not get what they are asking for!

We’ve also been doing a lot of decomposing numbers in math and writing number sentences for numbers up to ten.  We have been making “Magic Bean” books to help us do this.  The students really seem to enjoy making these and have been doing a great job writing the equations and symbols.  Students are also excited that we have completed 55% of the ST Math program so far.  They are welcome to use ST Math at home.  If they do, please make sure older siblings and parents aren’t helping.  It should be an independent activity. 

Our 100th day of school should be on Friday, February 16th, unless we have a snow day before then.  We have some fun 100th day activities we will do on that day.  I would like to encourage students to bring in a collection of 100 non-edible items that we can use to practice counting to 100 on our 100th day.  Collections could be made from toothpicks, buttons, pennies, crayons, or other small items.  They should be counted at home and put in a labeled baggie with the student’s name on it.  These will be returned afterwards.

We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Wednesday, February 14th.  Students are welcome to bring an extra snack to eat while we open our valentines.  Just a reminder...Valentine’s need to be food/candy free.  Stickers, tattoos, pencils, etc. make nice alternatives.  Students are welcome to bring their valentines in any time next week up until Wednesday.

I just want to remind everyone to talk with their children about washing hands really well and keeping fingers and hands away from their faces.  The nurse told me again today that there is a lot of sickness going around.  I’m hoping we all are healthy going into February vacation!

Other reminders:

February vacation will be February 19-23.

Please don’t forget to return the blue progress report folder if you haven’t already.

Please let us know if you want your child to bring home any winter gear they have been leaving at school before vacation.

Have a great weekend!

Melanie Duncan

FW Family Math Night

Francis Wyman is trying something new for our Math Night this year!  It is sure to be a fun night full of fun games and giveaways!  I hope you will consider attending!

Francis Wyman Carnival Info

The Francis Wyman 17th Annual Carnival is coming!!
Saturday, March 10, 2018
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
 

Starting Monday 2/5 there will be collection bins in the office for items that can go into a raffle basket. You are able to donate to ANY basket but each grade does have a theme (listed below). If you have any questions please email raffles@franciswymanpto.org.

K- Arts and Crafts
1- Game Night
2- Movie Night
3- Books
4- Coffee and Tea
5- Baking

We are also looking for family raffle donations and gift baskets, no donation is too small!
If you can help or have any questions please contact FWoodbury@FrancisWymanPTO.org

 

Please contact carnival@franciswymanpto.org with any other questions.

We greatly appreciate all of your help and generosity!

February 2, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We had a wonderful and exciting, fun-filled and very “fishy” week!  We started the week with a fact-filled presentation from the Science Center called Superfish.  Then on Wednesday, students enjoyed visiting all the different Kindergarten classrooms to complete various fish projects for our Fish Day, and we had a lot of fun at the Aquarium on Thursday!  Make sure you check out my previous blog posts to see some exciting pictures from all three of those special “fishy” days!  The students stayed busy the rest of the week writing persuasive letters, making a class book about birthdays, practicing sight words, and exploring more addition and subtraction in math.

Our school had been working on a school wide puzzle where classes could earn SOAR coupons for demonstrating outstanding effort.  The Kindergarten class contributed several pieces to the puzzle, which revealed a special prize that we had today!  We got to watch the movie “Homeward Bound” on the big screen in the auditorium!  The students enjoyed this movie about three pets showing an incredible amount of outstanding effort to get back to their family.

We have been working a lot with uppercase letters in Fundations as well as tapping out words.  I have also been teaching the students how to sign each letter with sign language.  We have learned letters A-H so far.  You will have to see if your child remembers any of the signs!

We have started a unit on persuasive writing.  Next week we will be writing letters to Miss P. from the Science Center trying to persuade her to give us a class pet!  Students have also been learning the difference between facts and opinions and have been sharing their opinions about whether or not parents should let them stay up late, which animals make better pets, what foods are the best, etc.  It has been fun listening to their opinions and reasons why they believe certain things!  The students will eventually be writing persuasive letter to their parents about a topic of their choice!  Get ready!

The students finished their House for Hermit Crab books and have started reading them out loud to their classmates.  These books will go home after they have been read to the class.  We use the book to reinforce the months of the year and several sight words, including in, the, saw, and a.  Please have your child read his/her book to you when it comes home and frequently even after that, pointing to the words as he/she goes.

The list of students’ names for Valentine’s Day went home last week.  We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Wednesday, February 14th by opening our valentines and having an extra snack.  Students are invited to bring two snacks from home that day, one for the morning and one for the afternoon, both need to be nut-free.

A few reminders:

Don’t forget that Winter Vacation will be February 19-23.

Also, don’t forget to keep collecting Box Tops!  More info about the collection went home today.

Please don’t forget to return the blue progress report folder.

Keep working on sight words and addition fluency facts.  I just did a quick assessment to see how students are doing.  They are making progress but still need practice!

Have a great weekend!

Melanie Duncan

Groundhog Head Bands 

New England Aquarium

We had a wonderful trip to the New England Aquarium!  It was fun to see a lot of the sea creatures we have been learning so much about!  We want to say a special thank you to Mrs. Tedesco, Mrs. Nambooze, and Mr. Boossarangsi for joining us!