Mary R. Fisher Elementary

NEWSLETTER Editor: Mrs. Carol Rossetti

Fall Greetings to Our MRFES Families!

Our year is off to a wonderful start and you have all contributed to it’s success by attend-ing our September Open House! Meeting families, teachers, and classrooms helps every-one feel more comfortable as we open valuable lines of communication. Practicing our Tiger Code in September also sets the tone of positive expectations for our students to be "Respectful, Responsible and Safe" in all areas of the school campus including transporta-tion. New personnel were welcomed to our MRFES 'Family': Ryan Jennings- Physical Edu-cation, Polly Dean and Steve DiFormato- both Special Education teachers transferring from the Middle School. Brittany Pelligrino, Brandy Murphy and Francesca Cicareli have joined our para professional team and we are overjoyed that the BOE has approved our kindergarten paraprofessionals to work full time in our classrooms. September is also a time to set goals for the school year: district, school, administration and teachers' goals need to align so a focused effort of improvement is tracked in attendance, academic achievement and school climate throughout the year.

October began with our annual education of Fire Prevention and Safety. Once again, many of our Thompson Fire Stations were able to spend the day teaching students through live demonstrations at the fire trucks and ambulance. The Lions Club, repre-sentative Tom Kohl, over a two- day period with Nurse Kathy Elloian, performed vision screenings for over 300 children! The vision screening technology provides parents valu-able information to obtain further evaluation as needed.

Through a generous grant from Mystic Aquarium our grade 4 students have taken part in a full day Field Coast Study at Bluff Point Park in Groton to catch, identify and study a vari-ety of sea life, and also test the PH of the water. This experience combined with "Squid Night" hosted by East Bay Collaborative has provided wonderful hands-on science explo-ration! Grade 4 will also travel to Mystic Aquarium as part of the grant. We are also so thankful for the grant from International Paper plus winning the Box Tops for Education Sweepstakes. Combined they provided the needed funds to bring interactive whiteboard technology to all the kindergarten classrooms for the start of the school year!

Our school will be piloting a new program, also funded through a grant that will provide breakfast to all students preschool to grade 4! By providing breakfast all children will start their day with good energy for the morning classes and also my hope to see all stu-dents arrive to get breakfast in the classroom by 8:32am. We would like to thank Lisa Durand for all the planning and our teaching staff for their support!

Our MRFES PTO, a vital part of our elementary school, continues to provide funds for field trips for all grades throughout the year. I am pleased to announce that one member, Erica Poplawski, was nominated and recently chosen for the 2017 Community Parent Award. This award will be presented at the Capital in Hartford this November! Congratu-lations and thank you for your time and dedication!

We look forward to sharing our student successes as we will meet together during the November 15 & 16 Parent Conferences. Thank you for all your support through attending each event, keeping in contact with your child's teachers, and improving attendance –together let's make 'Every Minute Count'!

Happy fall, Ms. Noveline Beltram

What’s inside….

Art Studio, Pre K………………………....pg. 2

First Grade, Fourth Grade, Music…pg. 3

Reading Specialists, Second Grade, Kindergarten………………………………..pg.4

Computers, Speech, Third Grade….pg. 5

Media Center, Physical Education..pg. 6

Principal: Ms. Noveline Beltram Assistant Principal: Mr. Laurence Prentiss

Important

dates…

11/6 and 12/4 Pre K – Trip to Library

11/8 1st gr. Field Trip to Ecotarium

Veteran’s Day Assembly 11/9 9:30 am -Early Release Day

Veterans Day 11/10 No school

BOOK FAIR– 11/13-11/17

Wild, Wild West-Saddle up and Read!

Report cards 11/14

Parent Conferences– November 15/16 Wed. 11/15- 1:15-3:00 / 5:00-7:00 Thurs. 11/16—1:15-3:00

11/20 Performance-”The Gottabees” School assembly

Thanksgiving Recess 11/22-11/26

12/5 - 2nd gr. to Hyde Auditorium

12/19 MRFES Holiday Concerts

9:00 / 1:30 (12/20 snow date)

November 2017

Themes and Lessons

What we did last month: We completed our unit about

Friendship, Fire Safety & Pumpkins. The kids enjoyed

our trip to the Turkey Farm! Lastly, we learned about

spiders, owls and bats.

Where we are going… During the month of November,

children will learn about different kinds of food, where

food comes from, and how food changes when you cook

it. We will practice setting a table and cleaning up. Our

five senses will be incorporated. We will be transform-

ing our dramatic play center into a grocery store so

please save your empty food boxes and containers. We

will also be having our “Celebration of Colors”. The chil-

dren will be asked to wear the color of the day and try

some great snacks. I will need donations for special

snacks related to the color of the day. The children

will love to mix primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) to

create new colors. We will be using color tubes, col-

ored water, finger-painting, and using the story Mouse

Paint to learn about color mixing.

Curriculum Goals CT Early Learning & Development

Standards:

Social and Emotional Development: Social relationships

Physical Development & Health: Feeding Routines/

Nutrition, Dressing & Hygiene, Physical Activity &

Healthy Behaviors

Language & Literacy: Interest and Engagement with

books

PRE –K Art Studio News

Greetings from the Elementary Art Studio/Puppet Workshop!

This year, the students and I are exploring the Art of Puppetry! This exciting journey will take us through the history, cultures and traditions of this incredible art form that incorporates every aspect of the arts, from drawing, design, sculpture, painting, set construction, engineering, theater, dra-ma, dance, musicianship, language arts, writing, storytelling, plot and character de-velopment, communication, and perfor-mance, to engage the senses, and enrich the imagination!

Throughout the year we will be learning about, and making our own, finger puppets, hand puppets, rod puppets, marionettes, toy theaters, shadow puppets, crankies, water puppets, glove puppets, giant puppets (for our school-wide Giant Puppet Parade), creating our own sets and scenery, and putting on monthly performances.

Our annual Art Show on May 4th, will show-case our year of achievements in Puppetry, while still fulfilling all of our Elementary Art Curriculum goals, and Implementing our new philosophy of TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior) and student centered learning.

As always, we thank you for your support of the Arts, and all of our wonderful young artists and puppeteers!

Truly Yours, Mrs. Connolly

*We are currently collecting egg cartons, tubes, tissue boxes, bottle caps, newspa-per, buttons, fabric, and yarn – Thanks!

First graders have been very busy! In October, we enjoyed a visit from the town fire departments and learned a lot about how to stay safe in a fire emergency. Did your family plan a home escape route? First graders talked about this and decided that it would be an important thing for all families to do.

We are looking forward to our November 8th field trip to the Ecotarium. Students will have a chance to view a variety of animals in their habitats. At the Ecotarium we will expand our study of space with a planetarium show, The Secret of The Cardboard Rocket. Thanks very much to the PTO for making this trip possible.

The first grade teachers would also like to remind families that homework has begun. Children are very excited to take home their books Monday-Thursday. Family support for math flashcards and wordlists is very helpful.

From the Music Room….

In October, students enjoyed singing and drama-

tizing some seasonal favorites while focusing on

what is it that makes music sound happy or scary.

Beginning in November, students will be learning

and rehearsing a variety of Patriotic songs in

preparation for our Veteran’s Day Assembly on

Thursday, November 9th. In addition, Fortezza

will be singing their rendition of “God Bless

America” for the first time!

The MRFES Holiday Concert will be on

Tuesday, December 19th at 9:00am and 1:30pm

(Snow Date - December 20th)

There are a lot of exciting things happening in

grade four! In mathematics, we recently started

our unit on Multi-Digit Multiplication and Early

Division. Your child will be working on; multiply-

ing by 10, 100, and 1,000, multiplying by 2-digit

numbers, representing multiplication with arrays

and ratio tables, dividing with and without re-

mainders, and solving multiplication and division

story problems. For the next few weeks in read-

ing students will practice citing evidence from

text, determining theme, and asking and answer-

ing questions. We are excited to announce that

the fourth grade will be taking a trip to Mystic

Aquarium on November 17th. Be on the lookout

for the permission slip. Just a reminder, home-

work is assigned Monday through Thursday. So,

please check your child’s homework folder/

agenda on a nightly basis.

FOURTH GRADE’S NEWS

FIRST GRADE NEWS

From the Reading Specialist… Mrs. Exarhoulias and Mrs. Weaver

Thank you families for supporting summer reading!

The Governor's Reading Challenge results are in and they are impressive! Drum roll please… Mary R. Fisher students have read 3,037 books over summer vacation. This is an increase of 1,779 books from the 2016 Summer Challenge!

Let's keep the reading rolling with our new PAWS challenge. We have just completed the October PAWS Challenge. Be on the look out for next challenge running December-January and our final challenge in March-May.

Happy Reading!

Second Grade

Second grade is off to a great start this year! The math that we are working on is all about strategies. We are presently exploring strategies for solving one-digit addi-tion problems, along with base ten concepts and models using a variety of tools. We will measure, compare and total using non-standard units. Open number lines will be used as students break numbers into their place value parts to add and subtract.

As part of our science curriculum, second graders learned about the different way seeds are dispersed. The students then worked in small groups to design, create, test, and revise their own seeds. We are excited about incorpo-rating more STEM activities into our science lessons.

We are continuing to work on writing mechanics along with learning about different types of writing. The kids have written friendly letters to a friend, as well as re-sponded to stories through writing prompts.

Keep up the great work

second graders!

KINDERGARTEN

Our Kindergarten students have been very busy exploring the world around them.

As part of our curriculum we spend time discussing the changes in the seasons as

well as life cycles of both plants and animals. We talk about the changes in the

trees, plants, and environment. We read books, make crafts, and go on field trips

and nature walks.

On October 10th, the Kindergarten classes took a field trip to Buttonwood Farm in

Griswold. We had a beautiful fall day for our trip. The children enjoyed a variety

of activities at the farm, including the hay mountain, cow train, corn pit, rubber

ducky race, and the corn maze. We also had a picnic lunch at the farm. A fun time

was had by all!

COMPUTERS with Mrs. Godzik

Hello MRFES Families,

Now that our school year is in full swing, I would like to take a moment to welcome everyone back! As I continue to bring my love of technology and my passion for teaching together for your students, we will be ex-ploring some new programs and activities this year.

The biggest change happens in our 4th grade. With the addition of the Enrichment day our 4th graders will be experiencing more STEM activities. It is my hope that through the hard work of our Enrichment groups that we can build lessons to bring to other grades and classes in the future.

During Computer class, we will continue to look at basic functions in ap-

plication programs like Paint, Word, & Power Point, as well as build-

ing on our Web Navigation Skills and Curriculum reinforcement through

Study Island. New this year is a typing program called Typing Club; grades 2 thru 4 will use this program

throughout the year. Another new activity this year will be Coding. All groups, K-4 work on coding in a vari-

ety of ways. In addition to all the exciting things happening in Computer this year, 3rd & 4th graders will also be participating in a Digital Citizenship program through Common Sense Media. This group is dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology and to teaching them how to use it wisely. Study Is-land, the Typing Club, and Code programs will be available to students at home later in the year. My goal is to have students better prepared for the expectations of middle school and beyond, reducing frustration when it comes to their computer expectations. I am looking forward to another new and exciting year. At any time if you have any questions please feel free to email me at agodzik@thompsonpublicschools.org.

SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY by Mrs. Errichetti

The students receiving Speech-Language sessions are off to a great start this year! The SLPs have been in communica-tion with the classroom teachers and have started incorporating exercises from the “Wonders” and “Wonder Works” programs. New lessons and creative ac-tivities have also been introduced to fur-ther enhance communication skills (e.g., discussing science projects within the classroom, sharing vacation itineraries, describing favorite super heroes, and role playing characters within short stories).

Third Grade News It’s hard to believe we are beginning our third month of school,

and the cold weather is on its way. We have been busy practic-

ing a variety of strategies to add and subtract numbers. We have

also started to look at the concept of multiplication. We are ex-

ploring numerous strategies to solve multiplication equations,

such as creating equal size groups and using repeated addition.

In reading, we have studied communities and the influence of

different cultures on our communities. We have also looked at

how we can use teamwork to solve problems, as well as how we

as individuals can make our government work. We have been

looking at characters and character motivation, visualization, the

author’s message, and the author’s point of view. We are also

emphasizing the importance of using text evidence to support our

opinions and points of view.

Just a reminder to encourage your student to read, practice math

facts daily, as well as complete homework on time. Thank you

for your continued support!

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We are excited to announce that the Scholastic Book Fair will be at MRFES the week of Novem-

ber 13-17, 2017. The theme of the book fair is “Wild, Wild West: Saddle Up and Read!” The

book fair will be held in the Media Center, and the fair is open during school hours. The book

fair will be open during parent-teacher conferences. The book fair will close at 11:00 a.m. on

November 17, 2017.

All of the children will be participating in grade level coloring contests to help decorate for the

book fair. Two children from each grade will be rewarded for their coloring efforts, and they

will receive a five dollar gift card to the book fair. On November 14, 2017, we will have an op-

tional “wild, wild west” staff and student dress up day. Children are encouraged to come to

school dressed in western attire. We will look for creative and fun outfits, and two children

from each grade will be rewarded for dress up efforts with a five dollar gift card to the book

fair. In addition, Second, Third and Fourth graders will have the opportunity to participate on

an optional writing contest, and Preschool, Kindergarten and First graders will have the oppor-

tunity to participate in an additional optional coloring contest. We will choose two children

from each grade and they will receive a five dollar gift card to the book fair for their writing or

coloring efforts. The directions for the optional writing and coloring contests will be sent home

in the Friday folders.

Volunteers are critical to making the book fair a success. If you are interested in volunteering

at the book fair, please return the book fair volunteer form to your child’s teacher. The chil-

dren are very excited about the book fair, and the corresponding contests. We have been

reading “western” books and laughing at “western” riddles as we count down the days to the

book fair. Please join us at the book fair as it is a wonderful opportunity to purchase quality,

affordable books for your home libraries. We hope to see you there!

MEDIA CENTER NEWS….with Mrs. Glode

Physical Education

Hello families! It’s Mr. Jennings here, the Physical

Education teacher at Mary R. Fisher Elementary

School. With big things planned this school year in

physical education, this month we are going to be

having our Mary R. Fisher Elementary School Mile

Run Challenge. The top runners from 3rd and 4th

grade compete along with teachers to see who will

be crowned the mile run champions! It is a fun and

exciting event that takes place with the whole

school in attendance.

Continue to check out future PE articles in our MRFES newsletters for new

events as well as healthy activities and tips for students and their families!