Greetings ESM Students, Parents/Guardians, & Families

Environmental Sciences Magnet School at Mary Hooker | October 2014 1

Greetings ESM Students, Parents/Guardians, & Families!

Please take time to review the many amazing and unique things that our students are

doing throughout the building at the start of our new school year.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten is in full swing! Our literacy theme is My Family and Me. Within that

topic we are learning about letters,

spelling new sight words,

producing rhyming words,

sequencing and making

predictions. In math, we are

learning how to count and write

the numbers from 0-5, as well as

order and compare amounts

between 0 and 5. If you have not

done so already, please send in 100

of an item in a Ziplock bag. Please

label it with your child’s name,

too. We will be using this to practice counting to 100 by 1s, 5s, and 10s. It could be

pennies, paper clips, or any other household objects. In science we are studying our 5

senses. We are utilizing the Aquatics Lab, Greenhouse, Vivarium, and ESM Gardens to

explore the world around us. Enrichment

Clusters begin on Friday, October 3rd

and we

are very excited! Keep a look out for more

information from your child’s teacher. Also,

please make sure you turn in the required

reading logs – students who make the highest

gains are usually those who are reading

regularly at home. If you have not done so

already, please send your child to school with

an extra set of clothes that they can keep at

school. Accidents do happen! We are looking

forward to seeing you at your child’s October conference! Thank you for your

continued support!

First Grade

It’s that time of year again! First graders

begin their unit on the life cycles of a

butterfly. We are excited about rearing

Monarch caterpillars and are anxiously

observing their transformation into beautiful

butterflies. Our caterpillars are growing

quickly and will soon become chrysalises in

front of our eyes! We will begin working on

our service learning project in January,

protecting and preserving the Monarch

butterfly. Please take part in our exciting

adventure by having your child share the latest developments. In math we are learning

how to add and subtract to 20. Our new reading program by National Geographic is


well underway! We have been working on previewing and setting a purpose before

reading text. When reading with your child, have them read the title and preview

pictures before reading to develop good reading habits. Spelling and Reading tests will

take place weekly. We are looking forward to a big surprise, details to follow!

Second Grade

It’s hard to believe that we have

already completed our first month of

second grade. Our second graders

have been busy learning about so

many new things. We have spent

time reviewing in math as well as

learning new strategies for addition

and subtraction. Be sure to ask us

about how to make 10’s when

adding! We love our new reading

program. Our first unit has been

focusing on communities. It would

be fun to go for a walk around your

neighborhood and make a map of

where you live. This would be a

great share during morning meeting.

We have done so much learning

about plants and how they change

with the seasons. We even started

our second grade phenology. Ask us more about this and the trees that our classrooms

are watching.

Third Grade

By: Alexander Lambert, Ariman Anbu, and Jaden Loitz

We have been learning about birds from the start.

We even had Horizon Wings Raptor Rehabilitation

visit with three types of birds. We learned place

value in math. We have awesome pets in our

classroom; frogs turtles and a hedgehog! We read

‘’Rain School’’ and ‘’Nasreen’s Secret School’’.

We have MAP testing to grade our scores in reading

and math. We have special places like the gym,

music room, gardens, greenhouse, library, aquarium,

and school even goes from pre-k 4 to 8th

grade!

Sometimes we even go to plant the garden or we see

if there are some food growing on the plant. We

have many types of fish. We also have drills like

code red, code yellow, code blue and code green.

3rd

grade always gets a reading packet every week

for homework. We have 3 classrooms of each

grade. We have lots of different places to go for our

field trips. Third grade is pretty cool so far!


Fourth Grade

Our first month of

school was filled with

learning routines and

lots of other things

too. In science we’ve

been learning about

biotic/abiotic factors

and producers,

consumers, and

decomposers that are

found in various

ecosystems. This

month, we will be

focusing on

ecosystems of

Connecticut,

including the stream

by our school. We will be identifying macro-invertebrates and we will also be visiting

Hammonasset Beach to learn more about beach ecosystems and erosion. We are so

excited! In Reading we’ve been studying poetry. We now know how to identify stanzas

and lines and we can use imagery, onomatopoeia, and repetition when we write poetry.

In Math we have been working on strategies for patterns and multiplication. In writing

we are working on informative/explanatory writing pieces. We’re organizing our

thoughts in graphic organizers and providing details to defend our thinking. We can’t

wait for parent/teacher conferences.

Fifth Grade

5th

Grade is officially underway! Lockers are organized, students are rotating to their

different subject blocks, and academic instruction is in full-swing. In English Language

Arts, students are working with different

texts, specifically the Declaration of

Human Rights, to learn more about

equality and each individual’s rights. In

Math, students mastered place value and

are moving on to adding and subtracting

whole numbers and decimals, then

advancing to multiplying and dividing

whole numbers and decimals. In

Science, students have begun their

Energy unit, and have conducted

experiments to help prove that light is a

form of energy. During the last week of

September, the 5th

grade took a week long camping trip to The Discovery Center. In

addition to camp games, camp fires and S’mores, students learned about the importance

of diversity, working together, and accepting each other for who they are. The 5th

grade

is off to an amazing start to the year!


Students work together to arrange

themselves by birth year on a balance

beam at The Discovery Center.

Sixth Grade

In English Language Arts (ELA) students

have begun reading and analyzing the

popular Rick Riordan novel, "The

Lighting Thief". We are working on

strategies that help us read closely and

think deeply. Students are learning to cite

evidence from the text to prove their thinking; they are also learning to make inferences

about the main character, Percy, based on how he responds to challenges.

In Math students have begun the Prime Time Unit. September focused on strategies for

finding factors and multiples. In October the students will begin to recognize and use

prime factorization and recognize which situations call for common factors, common

multiples, the least common multiple, or the greatest common factor. Additionally

students will continue to use factors and multiples to solve problems, and explain some

numerical facts of everyday life.

Science: Students are investigating

water usage, the role of waste water

treatment plants & septic systems, and

finally providing possible

solutions/designs to prevent future

problems. Students will also be

working on Explore Learning.com

using the GIZMOS to investigate and

complete a simulation lab on density of water

to increase our understanding of concepts of

Properties of Water.

Seventh Grade

In 7th

grade, we are working with positive and

negative numbers to solve real world problems

such as shopping excursions and football

problems. We’ve also been doing a lot of

team challenges such as the paper chain

challenge. In science, we’ve been

experimenting with plate tectonics. Close

reading and analyzing texts has become our

normal day in ELA. Middle school is more

complicated than last year. We’re excited for


clusters and all the new after school activities that are starting. In advisory, we have

been planning service projects and getting to know our groups. Some of our advisory

team names include the Pink Spartan Muffins.

Eighth Grade

Student-Written Newsletter Articles

This year in 8th

grade, students are going to write the newsletter articles. This month,

Darien Velasquez had the winning submission!

Flag football Team: In October, the ESM flag football team is going against the

Kennelly flag football team. I can’t wait! You should really go to the game and cheer

them on. I really hope they win.

Civil Rights Art Show: In October, 8th

grade students are going to be creating art

pieces for the Civil Rights Art Show. The show will be in the LGI and will be held in

November. Look out for information in the next newsletter.

Haunted House: There is also a Haunted House which will be on October 25th

. You

should go, last year it was really fun!

Middle School ADVISORY Advisory is fun. We learned about our power

animals and about high school. We play a lot

of games together and we made a poster

board today. The board was a collage from

magazines of goals and we will look back on

it to see if we’ve changed for the better. In

October, we’ll learn more about high schools

for next year and practice for our

conferences. –Isaiah Shorter, 8th

grade

Art We have already started on our ceramic bowls with a difference to prepare for our

Empty Bowls ceremony on

Dec. 18th

. Some of us are

trying to make our bowls on

the potter’s wheel this time.

Our theme in art this year is:

“What is Your Story?” Some

stories we nurture from our

daily experience, and some we

discover along the way even

while using clay, crayon, paint

and musical sounds. We write

our stories or even present

them orally to peers. Middle

schoolers also express their

story line through poetry, song,

drawing, and batik, the process

of wax resist dyeing on cloth.


Computer Education

Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year. Boy did the

summer fly by. I hope many of you practiced your

keyboarding skills. This year we will continue to use our

Edu-typing program in grades 1-8. Most of this will be

independent work. I am sending home your login codes

and passwords. Please try to get on a computer and

practice as much as

you can. I will monitor your progress and the time

spent on the typing lessons. Any 1st through 4

th

grader who can log 400 minutes of typing by May

14th

2015 will receive an award and certificate. 5th

through 8th

grade will need to reach 750 minutes

in order to get their reward.

I look forward to working with an entirely new

schedule of classes. This year promises to be

exciting and challenging. Please be prepared to do

some great work and have some fun along the way.

Engineering

As we zoom into our second year with LEGO Engineering

at ESM our junior engineers have hit the ground running!

Students in grade K-6 are working in small groups and

continue to use LEGO Education Kits to build simple

models and discover key physical science concepts such as

pulleys, levers, gears, wheels and axles through

observation, reasoning, prediction and critical thinking.

Our 7th

and 8th

grade students are researching, creating and

testing Rube

Goldberg machines.

If you have played

the game Mouse

Trap you know

what a Rube Goldberg machine is. The room is

filled with tubes, marbles, dominos, tape, glue

and more! Our creations are amazing! The room

is a bit messy, but that’s OK. We are having fun

and learning a ton! Excitement is exploding this

year in the LEGO Engineering Lab!

Environmental Sciences

Aquatics Lab

The school year started with students bringing back our classroom critters that had been

fostered by our ESM families over the summer. Leopard geckos, turtles, fish, hermit

crabs or frogs can be found in over 20 classrooms at ESM this year!


As fourth grade studies ecosystems, they are

evaluating the population of

macroinvertebrates in the nearby stream

through experiments that they developed.

Each class is exploring how one

environmental factor could change the

number and type of life in our stream. If

you don’t know what a macroinvertebrate

is, ask any 4th

grader! Next month they will

study different habitats at the Long Island Sound shoreline as they make their annual

fall trip to Hammonasset State Park.

6th

grade made their fall trip to Long Island Sound

aboard Project Oceanology’s two research vessels last

week. Each trip yielded a different catch in our net.

One day we caught sea robins, kingfish, porgy and

three different types of flounder. Another day we

caught lots more porgy, a 36cm (big!) clearnose skate,

and spider crabs. Both groups also got to experience

catching subtropical species normally found much

further south, but got caught in the Gulf Stream current

that brings warm water up the east coast.


Library

It has been a busy beginning of the new school year. Kindergarten classes are great

listeners and learners. They are enjoying story time and learning the proper care of

books. Later this year they will be learning the responsibility of borrowing a library

book.

First graders are eager to come to the library to hear stories. They are able to choose a

book of their choice to bring home and share it with their families. They are learning to

be responsible citizens and take proper care of their book.

All second, third and fourth graders are now visiting the library on a weekly basis to

borrow two books of their choice. Ask your child what book they are reading and

details of the story.

Fifth grade classes are being exposed to academic research. They are successfully

finding books on the shelf using the online catalog and doing research using Britannica

Encyclopedia on-line database.

The library is humming every morning with many students stopping by to return and

pick out a new book. Please feel free to stop by the library

Quick facts: Since August 26, 504 books have been checked out of the library.

Top titles for September are Diary of a Wimpy

Kid, Lunch Lady and the graphic novel series,

Amulet.

Music

Students in Pre-K, First grade, and Third Grade

General Music have begun the school year

exploring steady beat and rhythm through body

percussion and instrumental playing. Students

have also explored movement through singing activities with large and small groups. In

addition, students in Fifth Grade have focused on basic note reading using fractions.

Enrichment Clusters begin on Friday, October

3rd

. I will be collaborating with Ms. Lehr

(Second Grade Teacher) for the mini-musical Go

Fish.

The ESM instrumental program has begun for

students in Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth grade.

Students

meet once a

week and

have signed up for the following instruments:

drums, flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, and trumpet.

Congratulations to Pre-K (Mrs. Hammond), First

Grade (Mrs. Clavette), Third Grade (Mrs. Gray),

and our Eighth Grade student participants for their

two assembly performances on September 19th

to

celebrate the fall equinox.


Physical Education/Health

The first month of Physical Education has been an exciting start to the school year. The

ESM Physical Education department has begun the Project Adventure curriculum for

grades 4-8.

In the upcoming months, we will

be adding more and more Project

Adventure activities that will

include: hanging ropes, island

pallets and much more equipment

to enhance student fun and

personal achievement.

Students in grades 4-8 will be

finishing up the Connecticut

fitness testing this week. Please

have your children practice the

time tested exercises of: push-

ups, ab-curl-ups, mile-run and

hamstring stretches. These

exercises are crucial for a children’s foundation of personal fitness. The exercises of

push-ups, abcurl-up should be done every other day. While running a mile should be

done the days in between.

Upcoming events: ING race October 7th at Rentschler Field grades 7 and 8.

Spanish

¿Cómo estás? ¿De dónde eres? How

do we find our place in the world?

What are the benefits of speaking

several languages? In Spanish UA

classes, 5th and 6th grade students

acted out dialogues preparing for a

trip overseas! Spain and Ecuador

were the focus as we figured out what

to expect when we travel abroad, and

how to communicate through basic

introductions and expressions. 7th

grade took on the challenge of

identifying major geographical

features in South America while 8th graders acted out cultural folklore from Cuenca

and Quito, Ecuador. ¡Nos vemos!

Literacy Highlights

Book Fair-We have had such a great start to this school year! Our Fall Book fair was

incredibly successful- not only did make it possible for students and teachers to refresh

their book collections, but also raised a substantial amount of money that will allow us

to continue to purchase books and materials for everyone to enjoy. Look for these new

titles in your class and at upcoming family events. Our next book fair will occur in the

spring and features the “Buy One Get One Free” deal!


Book Donations- This summer

ESM donated hundred s of books

to students in parts of South

Africa. As we have made shifts

to implement new standards our

curriculum needs have changed,

and after providing classrooms

with new materials, we had a

surplus of our old anthologies and

student resources that we could

share. We partnered with the

United States- African Children’s

fellowship and were able to send

our supplies to independent

teacher library centers in South Africa.

Book Recommendations- This month I want to highlight two books that were available

at our Book Fair. Please see Ms. Irwin if you are interested in borrowing a copy of

these or other new favorites!

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown: Jasper Rabbit loves

carrots—especially Crackenhopper Field carrots. He eats them on the way to school.

He eats them going to Little League. He eats them walking home. Until the day the

carrots start following him...or are

they? Celebrated artist Peter

Brown’s stylish illustrations pair

perfectly with Aaron Reynold’s

text in this hilarious picture book

that shows it’s all fun and

games…until you get too greedy.

Sisters by Raina Telgemeier: The

companion to Raina Telgemeier's

#1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling

and Eisner Award-winning graphic

memoir, SMILE.

Raina can't wait to be a big sister.

But once Amara is born, things

aren't quite how she expected them

to be. Amara is cute, but she's also a

cranky, grouchy baby, and mostly

prefers to play by herself. Their

relationship doesn't improve much

over the years, but when a baby

brother enters the picture and later,

something doesn't seem right between their parents, they realize they must figure out

how to get along. They are sisters, after all.

Documents

Greetings ESM Students, Parents/Guardians, & Families