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R E E D S F E R R Y
Tigger Times
April 2018
A note from the Principals Mrs. Yarlott and Mrs. Schneider
We are finally seeing signs of spring;
flowers are blooming, the weather is warming up and the days are getting
longer! Thank you to those parents who attended parent-teacher conferences. The
teachers always look forward to sharing student progress. There are many upcoming and exciting events happening at
Reeds Ferry School, including Bedtime Story Hour for first grade students and
parents, Visiting Author for kindergarten through fourth grade students and the Art
Show/Ice Cream social! Welcome to our new PFA President,
Brittany Gagnon. With the financial support of our Parent-Faculty Association,
Reeds Ferry students in kindergarten through fourth grade will be treated with a
visit in May from local author, Cynthia Lord! Thank you, parents, for supporting this annual event.
Meet Cynthia Lord
Cynthia’s life as a writer began at age four, writing silly song lyrics in collaboration with her older sister.
Cynthia had great ideas, but she couldn’t actually write, so her sister had to do all the writing!
Throughout her childhood, Cynthia enjoyed songs, music, art and literature. She remembers the first pencil and paper writing she ever did on the
envelope of a birthday card for her grandfather, Ed.
Cynthia grew up next to a lake in rural New
Hampshire. She always enjoyed writing for fun, and in high school, she began writing her own fiction
stories. Cynthia’s teachers encouraged her to take writing courses in college and during that time she published several short stories.
In 2007, Cynthia Lord published her first children’s novel, Rules. Since then she has written several
children’s books including, Hot Rod Hamster, A
Handful of Stars, and the Shelter Pet Squad series.
You can learn more about Cynthia Lord by visiting her website: www.cynthialord.com
Cynthia Lord utilizes animal characters in the Early Reader books that young learners can relate to. In her novels, themes such as friendships and
relationships emerge as children learn to navigate the intricacies of making and maintaining sustainable
friendships and relationships at school.
Reading at home is an essential component of
student’s literacy success! More tips for parents to keep reading alive and interesting at home in this issue of the Tigger Times!
2
Reading Tips for Parents Keep reading lively and interesting with these 7 tips — and learn new ways to support and open up this
new wonderful world to your child.
By Anne Schwartzberg Even if your child is motivated to read, supporting her with a variety of ways and options will keep her
momentum going. Here are 7 tips to open up the wonderful world of reading for your child.
Reading Tip for Parents: What’s “Just Right”? Children feel confident and competent when they read books that are “just right.” But how do you find a “just right” book? Have your child
read the back and front cover, and first page of the book. If there are more than five words that he cannot pronounce or understand in context, the book may be too challenging. Be supportive
about finding a more perfect fit. Choosing the right book will help your little reader feel successful.
Reading Tip for Parents: Map it Out It’s important to provide your child with a variety of fiction and non-fiction reading. A fun way to do this is to get a map and show her the way from your
house to the grocery store or another familiar destination. Have your child write out the directions, street by street, and then read them to you as you walk or drive to the store – like a
living GPS!
Reading Tip for Parents: Card Tricks Do you think effective reading only takes place at libraries
and book stores? Think again! There are reading opportunities everywhere. Go to a greeting card store with your child and read the greeting cards together. Later, vote for the ones whose words
convey the best birthday wish or get-well sentiment.
Reading Tip for Parents: Picture This! During your next outing or gathering, take action-packed photos, then have your child create captions to go with each picture. Assemble the
pictures and captions in a picture book or album, and add speech and thought bubbles to create a personalized – and probably hysterical -- graphic novel.
Reading Tip for Parents: Last Comic Standing Take time to read comic strips together. Share favorites from your own childhood and have your child put his favorites on the fridge. Read them
aloud, and often -- repetition is a great way to build reading skills. Soon, he’ll love looking forward to the “Sunday funnies” each week.
Reading Tip for Parents: Become a Fan Your reader will soon develop a love for particular
authors and illustrators. Nurture her fan-ship by helping her write a letter to her favorite author. Many authors have their own websites with contact information. You can also contact the book’s publisher, the mailing address for which can often be found on the back of the title page or on the
publisher’s web site.
Reading Tip for Parents: Labels of Love Word recognition and vocabulary are important parts of reading. On a rainy day, get some paper and tape and start labeling everything in your home --
from furniture to small knick-knacks. Reading these labels repeatedly will build your child’s mental word bank. If your family is bilingual, create labels in both languages.
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REEDS FERRY TIGGER TIMES APRIL 2018
When you think of spring, what do you think? Do you remember the saying March comes in like a lion,
and out like a lamb? Or, what about April shower bring May flowers? Both of these saying started as short
poems back in the 19th Century. While one may recall the sayings handed down by generations,
poetry itself is often forgotten. April celebrates Poetry.
The Academy of American Poets established National Poetry Month in 1996. Its goals are to encourage the reading of poems, assist teachers in bringing poetry into classrooms, and increase the attention given to poetry (for more information visit https://www.poets.org/national-poetry-
month/national-poetry-month-faq).
In the library, we have many books written by popular and favorite poets such as Shel Silverstein, Bruce Lansky, and Ken Nesbitt. If you don’t have a poetry book at home, try this fun website:
http://www.poetry4kids.com/. It has a variety of poems and games designed for children. Another entertaining and child friendly site is http://www.gigglepoetry.com/. Poetry can be fun and engaging! Give it a try!
Eureka!
By Jack Prelutsky
Eureka! At last I’ve succeeded, my experiment’s finally done.
I’ve made an incredible creature,
the only one under the sun.
There’s never been anything like it,
part puppy, part kitten, part mouse –
and now I must learn how to stop it from chasing itself through the house.
Keep A Poem In Your Pocket By Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
Keep a poem in your pocket
And a picture in your head And you'll never feel lonely
At night when you're in bed.
The little poem will sing to you
The little picture bring to you A dozen dreams to dance to you
At night when you're in bed.
So - - Keep a picture in your pocket
And a poem in your head
And you'll never feel lonely At night when you're in bed.
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The Kindergarten children had a wonderful visit this month from the Merrimack Police
Department! The police officers read some of our favorite spring books out loud to the children, and they told us some very important things about their job. One of our favorite things Officer
Milligan taught us is, "My job as a police officer is to help others, not hurt others." We are very grateful to all of the police officers who work for the Merrimack Police Department, keeping Merrimack safe and helping people every single day. Thank you MPD for making time to visit Room 1, 3 and 5 at Reeds Ferry School!
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During the month of March, we learned about states of matter. As of the time of writing this, first
grade classes were beginning to go to the SEE Science Center to learn more about the states of matter. They also got to explore various other science activities (electricity, bubbles, forces and
motion, etc.) on their field trip.
This month we will work on plant life cycles.
First grade is looking forward to Bed Time Story Hour on April 18th. More information will be sent home soon. We wish you a happy spring! Have a wonderful April vacation!
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Second graders have been working hard on writing all about books. To show they are experts, each
of the students has chosen a topic they know a lot about. In order to help their readers learn more about their subject, students are learning how to make a table of contents, organize their chapters, and
use a variety of text features. Once they have completed this unit, second graders will work on writing opinion pieces about their favorite books.
In reading, students have continued to use different comprehension strategies to help them understand a text. In the Making Meaning program we have been focusing on wondering with non-
fiction books. Students have been reading and wondering using different books about insects. In the upcoming weeks, we will focus more on making connections and using text features in non-fiction
texts.
We have also been focusing on Africa this month. Students have learned about the climate, landforms, landmarks, people and animals of the continent. Second graders will each be researching a different animal from Africa and learning about its predator and prey. Each class will then create a
giant African food chain. Students will be able to have a better understanding how the transfer of energy works and which animals are at the top and bottom of the food chain.
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The Third Graders have begun Topic 12 in math, which focuses on understanding that fractions are numbers that can represent a portion of a whole or a point on the number line. Topic 13 will
follow and will focus on using models and number sense to understand fraction equivalence and comparison. We would like to remind all Third Graders that it is important to continue practicing
your math facts for 5 to 10 minutes each night.
In Making Meaning, we have focused on using text features, including the back cover summary, table of contents, labeled diagrams, photographs, captions, etc., to assist us in better understanding the information in expository (nonfiction) texts. We continue to utilize reading community
discussions within the classroom, along with our response journals, to strengthen our reading comprehension.
In writing, we are beginning a Persuasive/Opinion Writing Unit, in which Third Graders will find
topics they feel passionately about, state their opinion, support their claims with evidence, and be prepared to respond to counterclaims.
Lastly, the Third Graders are starting reading to begin learning about the Solar System. We are looking forward to our upcoming field trip in April to the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center.
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In reading, students have been focusing on the history of New Hampshire and various other non-fiction, informative texts.
Students are continuing their study of fractions. Unit 9 focused on the adding and subtracting of both fractions and mixed numbers with common denominators. Doubling or
halving recipes at home is a fantastic way to practice equivalent fractions!
Students have demonstrated their growth in persuasive writing with their post-prompts and have moved onto the final writing genre of the year, informative writing. Students will select a topic from US history (or NH more specifically) to research and write about.
A few odd and ends:
We will be starting our science unit on the various forms of energy in the upcoming
weeks.
Chorus may have ended, but students are continuing on with their recorders.
Please note that the field trip to the Acton Discovery Museum was moved to May
21st.
The Fire Muster is April 13th at JMUES at 8:45. Don’t forget to send in your
permission slip!
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President: Brittany Gagnon
Vice-President: Jennifer Szela ReedsPFAVicePresident@Gmail
Secretary: John Doubleday
Treasurer: Melissa Hebert [email protected]
Board Member at Large: Shannon Rand [email protected]
Volunteer Coordinators:
Angela Peterson
Jennifer Barr [email protected]
Tigger Times Newspaper Editor: Karen Bruce
Reeds Ferry School
15 Lyons Road Merrimack, NH 03054
Phone: (603) 424-6215
Fax:
(603) 424-6238
On the Web: http://www.merrimack.k12.nh.us/Reedsferry.cfm
The PFA (Parent Faculty Association) is a volunteer organization dedicated to the support and
enrichment of education at Reeds Ferry Elementary School. Our goal is to provide enrichment to
both the faculty and students by establishing the means to offer additional programs, field trips and
materials to the school. All faculty, staff and parents of students at RFS are members of the PFA
and are always welcome at the general meetings. It is with the continuing support of our members
that we are able to offer all of the enrichment programs. It is the unselfish giving of time and effort
by our many volunteers that have allowed our children the benefit of these extra resources. Please
help us continue our goal by actively supporting the PFA in any way you can.
We are always looking for volunteers to help make the many programs and activities at Reeds Ferry a success! Check the Volunteer Page on our website often for the latest opportunities or contact our
volunteer coordinators with any questions or comments about volunteer opportunities at Reeds Ferry.
Reeds Ferry Needs……
Wipes of all kinds!! ALL our Reeds Ferry classrooms are in need of: anti-bacterial HAND
WIPES, Baby Wipes, and Clorox Disinfecting Wipes (or any brand for wiping down surfaces).
ATTENTION VOLUNTEERS: Don’t forget to record your volunteer hours and send in with your child.
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Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1 2 3 4 5
6 7
8 9 10 11 3rd Gr. Field Trip
12 -3rd Gr. Field Trip
-Art Club
13
14
15 16 17 18 -PFA Meeting
-1st Gr. Bedtime Story Hour
19 Art Club
20 21
22 23 Spring Recess
24 Spring Recess
25 Spring Recess
26 Spring Recess
27 Spring Recess
28
29 30
Please save the date of Thursday, June 14th, from 5-7pm for our annual Family Fun Night. More information will be sent out in late May.