Mary Morrisson Newsletter - Groton Public · PDF fileYour part in this ... Dr. Richards – Grade 1 Mrs. Casadei – Grade 2 Mr. Serven – Grade 2 ... the multiplication and division

1

Important reminders for a healthy

and happy child:

December is upon us and the

cold weather is coming.

Please remember to dress your

children in layers as this is

most comfortable. I appreci

ate all of the families compli

ance so far with coming in NO

EARLIER than 8:40. This is

an important safety is

sue. There is no supervision

and class begins at 8:50. Your

child will not be late if they

arrive here at 8:45.

Daily attendance is very

important. If your child will

not be in school for any

reason, a call from you would

certainly be appreciated. Your

time to ensure good

communication is much

appreciated. Absences for

illness, injury, death in the

family, religious observations,

courts appearance and school

sponsored activity is

excused. All other absences

for family vacations are

deemed unexcused.

Reading daily is so

valuable. Please set aside 20

minutes per day to share

reading with your

child. Reading books,

magazines or made up stories

or lists is helpful in the

development of lan

guages. Your part in this

cannot be done without your

help.

Eating a healthy breakfast

every day is important. Many

children are coming to school

without breakfast or

snack. Please help your child

by helping them stay healthy

with healthy food.

Our lunch program will no

longer allow excessive charg

ing of lunches. We will allow

a student only a sandwich

and a milk if payment is not

made in a timely way.

Consider using our online

payment option with MEAL

PAY +. If you have questions,

please contact Mrs. Colleen

Overton our food service man

ager.

My best to you for a healthy and

happy holiday season.

Dr. Franzone

rincipal’s News

Dr. Monica Franzone, Principal Christina Post, Assistant Principal

December 2011

Mary Morrisson Directory

Dr. Franzone Principal

Mrs. Post – Assistant Principal

Mrs. Breau – School Secretary

Mrs. Croxton, R.N. - School Nurse

Mrs. Chmielewski—Preschool

Mrs. Robert—Preschool

Mrs. Baude– Preschool/Kindergarten

Mrs. Spees – Kindergarten

Mrs. Wold – Kindergarten

Mrs. Pope– Grade 1

Mrs. Potts– Grade 1

Dr. Richards – Grade 1

Mrs. Casadei – Grade 2

Mr. Serven – Grade 2

Mrs. Schneider- Grade 2

Mrs. Coogan- Grade 3

Mrs. Roy- Grade 3

Mrs. Effman– Grade 4

Mrs. Murphy– Grade 4

Ms. Donnel – Grade 5

Mrs. Yamiolkowski– Grade 5

Mrs. Hille– Art

Mrs. Monacho – Art

Mrs. Esposito - Health

Mrs.. Olsen - Music

Mr. Hunter - Music

Mr. Chiapetta—Music

Mrs. Hoinsky– Sp. Ed/Resource

Mr. Holmes - Sp. Ed/Resource

Mr. Ribchinsky - Sp. Ed/Resource

Mrs. Chiasson- Reading

Mrs. Tompkins- Reading

Mrs. Beaugrand – Reading

Mrs. Brown- Remedial/Math

Mrs. Sheehan- Librarian

Ms. Ferrari– Phys. Ed.

Mr. Carter– Phys. Ed.

Mrs. Conrad – School Psychologist

Mrs. Elderkin - Speech Therapy

Mr. O’Connell—Custodian

Mary Morrisson Newsletter

A Great Place to Learn!

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We are currently working in unit 2 of

our language arts program (LEAD 21). The fo-

cus is on “The world around me”. During this

unit, we are learning about the

five senses. We are focusing on de-

veloping many of the comprehen-

sion skills we introduced in unit 1,

such as making predictions, com-

paring and contrasting, identify-

ing important information in a

story, using context and picture

clues to find the meaning of un-

known words, and identifying text

structures/patterns. Reading

groups have started and we are

meeting with students on a daily

basis. The children are being in-

troduced to a new fiction and nonfiction text

each week. Your child is receiving individual-

ized instruction at his/her instructional level in

order to target specific skills and areas of con-

cern. We will also be adding more writing to

our drawings and stories as the students be-

come more proficient in letter identi-

fication and sound association, name

writing, building fine motor skills

needed to write properly, and proper

pencil grip. We continue to introduce

new letters each week in the Funda-

tions program as well.

In unit 2 of the math program, we are

focusing on identifying and ordering

numbers 1-10, writing numerals 1-10,

making sets of 1-10, identifying and

continuing patterns, and identifying

and forming 2D shapes. Specifically,

we are reinforcing the 5-group concept in num-

bers greater than 5.

Kindergarten News – Mrs. Baude, Mrs. Spees and Mrs. Wold

Great Place to Learn Mary Morrisson Newsletter

Preschool – Mrs. Chmielewski, Mrs. Robert

uring the month of December, the preschoolers will be reading different versions of the Gin-

gerbread Man. They will make text to text and text to self connections. We will compare and

contrast the differences and similarities in the stories. We will also be discussing stranger dan-

ger as there is a sneaky fox in our story.

December is a month full of holidays and we will learn a little about each one. If any families

have any special traditions that they would like to share with us please let us know.

Before we leave on our holiday break, it has been a tradition at Mary Morrisson School that

the preschoolers and kindergarten students get together for a sing- a- long to celebrate the

many traditions and celebrations at this time. The sing- a- long is scheduled for Tuesday De-

cember 20, 2011. We are sure you will be hearing your children singing at home in preparations

for this special day. We will let you know what time your child will be singing. After the sing a

long, all parents will be invited back to their child’s room for a holiday get together.

3

In math, children are working on addition

and subtraction within a story problem. We

are continuing to review coin value.

We are looking forward to our field trip to

the Nutcracker at the Garde Art Center on

Friday, December 9th. We will be learning

about the Nutcracker story and whaling in

the 1800’s during an assembly hosted by

the Eastern Connecticut Ballet.

plain their thinking. In Science, students had

so much fun experimenting with solids and liq-

uids. We learned so much! In our new Funda-

tions unit, students are learning to spell words

with suffixes. Please remember to practice the

Fundation trick words at home with your

child. Thank you in advance! Just for your in-

formation, the Fundation materials can al-

ways be found on the classroom webpage.

Children are working on writing skills in-

cluding elaboration and details. We are

stressing fluency with our sight/trick

words. Please practice these high frequen-

cy words with your child’s homework. In

addition to sight words to practice, home-

work will include books to share together

and a practice skill sheet. .

As part of our literacy lessons we are also

working on reading comprehension and

discussion skills. We are reading stories on

communities and neighborhoods.

Grade Two News – Mrs. Casadei, Mr. Serven, Mrs. Schneider

Grade One News – Mrs. Pope, Mrs. Potts, Dr. Richards

schedule that Mr. Hunter has pro-

vided. The days change from week

to week so following the schedule

will ensure that your child brings

his or her instrument on the cor-

rect days.

We ask parents to continue to

check your child’s home/school

folder daily, monitor your child’s

homework activities and sign

homework.

Students in the third grade are

continuing lessons from the se-

cond unit in our reading pro-

gram, Science at Play. Students

are receiving instruction on iden-

tifying text structures in nonfic-

tion material, such as description

and problem/solution. The third

graders are introduced to these

lessons through modeled instruc-

tion from teachers. They then

receive guided practice as they

read nonfiction text and work on

activities to reinforce text struc-

ture skills.

Students have completed the

first geometry unit in math. The

classes are moving into a new

unit with focus on solving word

problems. Additionally, students

are receiving instruction and

practice on additional math skills

to prepare them for the Connecti-

cut Mastery Test. Such skills in-

clude discrete math, extending

number patterns, and ordering

numbers. Students are using the

Fastt Math computer program to

increase their fluency with basic

math facts.

We ask that parents of strings

students be sure to check the

Grade Three News – Mrs. Coogan, Mrs. Roy

A Great Place to Learn Mary Morrisson Newsletter

2nd graders collectively earned over 1700 Box

Tops for our school in just 5 weeks! Thank you

for helping us reach our goal. We are begin-

ning a new unit in our reading program. The

theme is: Science and Technology in Our Com-

munity. We also began a new unit in math.

Students are learning to solve a variety of sto-

ry problems, to show their work through proof

drawings and to use math vocabulary to ex-

4

We have completed our Science unit on Magnetism and Electricity. Representative form

CL&P did a presentation on electrical safety for the classes.

We had our introduction to Mystic Aquarium. Teachers from the Aquarium visited fourth

grade to prepare us for field trip. They presented a formal lesson and then the children had

creatures of the sea to touch and examine.

In math we are beginning the study of quadrilaterals, (finding area and perimeter), lines,

rays and line segments.

We will continue our study of areas of the U.S. Study of

colonies which has fit in nicely with Thanksgiving material.

We are working on the suspense, mystery portion of narra-

tive triangle

Writing: The students have been evalu-

ating their writing to develop goals for

improvement for their future writing

pieces. There is a special focus on details

and elaboration and the use of transi-

tions in their writing. This will be a con-

tinual process assessed frequently

through writing prompts.

Reading: As always, we continue to do

shared reading in small groups and guid-

ed reading at instructional levels. Re-

cently, all students were reassessed to

determine their current independent and

instructional level of reading using

LEAD21. This afforded us the infor-

mation to regroup where needed in order

to target students’ individual needs as

indicated by their evaluation.

Happy Holidays,

Mrs. Yamiolkowski & Ms. Donnel

We hope that you enjoyed your Thanks-

giving Break. We are looking forward to

our early December field trip to Lyman

Allyn Museum with our Circle Of

Friends buddies. We are eager with an-

ticipation for our students’ opportunity

to demonstrate what they have learned

in Strings, Band, and Chorus. Be sure to

look for future information about this

assembly, you won’t want to miss it!

Math: We have been routinely using

the computer lab to practice our math

facts with the FASTT MATH program.

We encourage our students to continue

practicing/strengthening their addition/

subtraction facts in order to move on to

the multiplication and division facts re-

quired for fifth grade math. In Math Ex-

pressions, we are finishing up Unit 2 on

Area & Perimeter and beginning Unit 3

Place value (extending from billions to

billionths), whole and decimal computa-

tion, analyzing data and graphs, and re-

al-world problem solving.

Grade Five News – Mrs. Donnel, Mrs, Yamilkowski


Grade Four News - Mrs. Effman, Mrs. Murphy

5


Check out MM’s website! The website is

pretty user friendly and is updated to give our students and families lots of links to

on-line sites for kids!

Bookmark this address! ht tp: //www.groton.k12.c t .us

Then Se lect a School

Mary Morr isson

Student Resources

Fourth graders have completed their fitness tests. They did a great job! Thank you to all stu-

dents!!

All students have completed some dance routines to music. They have been listening to fitness

music and following the steps. Older students are learning to keep up with the music/beat and

younger students are learning the counts. These songs also help students with vocabulary as

they learn words such as: right, left, up, down and new fitness terms including lunge, stomp,

jog, slide, etc. We had a lot of fun!

All students now are working on interdisciplinary activities. We are combining classroom topics

into our PE lessons. We are doing fitness relays combining spelling and math. Students are al-

so working together in groups/teams to complete the relay. They must answer math questions

correctly and read words to complete the race. Kindergarten students are also doing these re-

lays with number and letter recognition.

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The Reading Place – Mrs. Chaisson, Mrs. Thompkins


Looking for the Good During the holidays, we can all get caught up in the errands

we need to run and the list of things we need to do. Some-

times, it helps to stop and think for a moment about all the

things we have to be grateful for. A local artist, Anne Kubitsky is putting together a

worthwhile activity called “Look for the Good Project”. She is asking for people to tell

her what they are grateful for on a postcard. The postcards that are received will be

posted and displayed as part of an art show at the Customs House Maritime Gallery in

New London. For more information you can go the website: lookforthegoodproject.org

I am looking for the good here at MM. I know that I am grateful for such a wonderful

learning community. I am grateful for children who come to school and want to learn. I

am so thankful for the parents who work hard to support their beginning learners. And

I’m always grateful for chocolate! I want to hear what the students at MM are grateful

for. Blank index cards and directions explaining the project have been distributed to all

students. Students who would like to participate can bring me their postcard by Dec.

8th. Feel free to encourage your chid’s creativity- they can use words, pictures, or draw-

ings to express themselves. I will forward the entries to Ms. Kubitsky. Looking forward

to building an attitude of gratitude!

Fundations Parent Workshop Dec. 16th from 9-9:30

Please join us for a brief informational meeting to learn more about the Phonics pro-

gram Fundations that grades K-2 are using here at MM. This workshop will explain the

philosophy behind this program and provide parents/guardians with practical ways to

help reinforce the skills that children are learning. Any questions please forward them

to [email protected]. Hope to see you then!

mailto:[email protected]

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A Time for Giving

The holiday season is a busy and special time of

year. It is a time to be enjoyed with friends and

family. It is also a time for giving. Teaching chil-

dren the personal value of sharing with others is

an important life lesson. Encourage your child to

give something to another person. It might be a

homemade card or an offer to help a neighbor. It

might be asking someone new over to play. It

might be sending a drawing to a relative. It

might be sharing a game or a toy or even a smile

with a sibling. As a family it is important to re-

member that kindness toward others is a gift that

keeps on giving.

Counseling Corner – Dr. Conrad


Library News – Mrs. Sheehan

First grade students will be reading Caldecott books. A children’s picture book

with outstanding illustrations is selected yearly to receive the golden Caldecott Medal.

The honor books, or runners up, receive a silver medal. Some of our favorites: Officer

Buckle and Gloria, Lon Po Po, and The Lion and the Mouse.

This holiday season consider giving your child a book that you can read or discuss

together. Here are a few new publications:

Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney - for the Wimpy Kid fans

If You Give a Dog a Donut by Laura Numeroff - Dog now joins Mouse, Moose, and Pig

Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney – What is the real gift of Christmas?

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg – A new “classic” and a Caldecott

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan - for the Percy Jackson fans

Wonder Struck by Brian Selznick - the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret

A Great Place to Learn

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Veteran’s Day Fun!

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Mary Morrisson Newsletter Great Place to Learn A Great Place to Learn

Happy Birthday

Mary Morrisson

10

Vocal Music News:

Our chorus winter concert is only one week

away. On Tuesday, December 6, 2011 the Mary

Morrison chorus will be

performing. The orchestra

and some band members

will also be performing that

evening. The concert be-

gins at 6:30 pm. You don’t

want to miss this wonderful

event. It will be vide-

otaped for Channel 19.

All music students are

working on music stand-

ards in their clas-

ses. Third grade students

have begun their study of

the recorder. Fourth grade students are study-

ing instruments of the orchestra and fifth grade

students are studying composers. All other

classes are working on the first standard

which is singing songs. Second graders have

learned about time signatures and how to

follow music in a music

book. Pre K and

K students are singing,

dancing, moving, and play-

ing instruments. First

grade students are also

singing and they are learn-

ing simple rhythms.

Everyone is working very

hard in vocal music this

term.

Vocal Music News – Mrs. Olsen


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PTO Updates

Mary Morrisson Newsletter Great Place to Learn A Great Place to Learn

Our children in band,

strings, and chorus will

be putting on a Winter

Concert on December 6

at 6:30 pm. Come listen

to all their hard work

and some wonderful

entertainment!

Holiday Spirit Grams are coming!

You will be receiving your spirit

gram forms to fill out soon. The

children will be receiving a fun

little prize and a candy cane

along with your message. Holi-

day Grams will be $1.00 each and

will be handed out just before

the holiday break.

Family Movie Night

Our latest family night is coming up on December 16. We will be having a Pizza & Movie night. You can be a part of this fun family night by voting for the movie you would like to watch that night. The choices are Cars 2, the Smurfs, or Despicable Me. You can vote by bringing in your loose change (we take paper money too) and putting it in the buck-

et of the movie of your choice. The movie we watch on the 16th will be the one that collects the most money. Voting begins on December 2, 2011 and will end on December 14th. The buckets will be in the office. So, start bringing in your votes

and make sure your favorite movie wins!!

12

Art to Remember and Otis Spunk-

meyer orders will be in soon.

Watch for flyers to come home

about pick-up dates and times.

This will be especially important for

the Otis Spunkmeyer orders be-

cause they will be bring a refriger-

ated truck for only a few hours one

day to pass out the frozen cookie

dough. Thank you to our Mary

Morrisson family for all the hard

work you did on these two fundrais-

ers. You helped earn almost three

thousand dollars for our school

events!! Great work!

Groton Parent Council will be meeting at Mary Morrisson on December 13 from 5:30- 6:30

pm. The Groton Parent Council is a coming together of repre-

sentatives from all the PTO’s and the School Board of the Groton school district. Please come out and show the rest of the district

how we support our school!

Box Tops

Mrs. Richard’s class was our October winner. They celebrated all their box tops with a popcorn party!

Our second grade classes challenged themselves to

collect 1500 box tops during the month of November and we want to say Congratulations, You did it!! Good Job to Mrs. Casadei, Mrs. Schneider,

and Mr. Serven’s classes

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Happy Holidays!! The PTO would like to wish our

Mary Morrisson family warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a very

Happy New Year.

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MARY MORRISSON ELEMENTARY

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES/INTEREST

Please fill out completely and check all volunteer opportunities that apply.

Tell us about yourself:

Name:

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Phone - day: ______________________________Phone - Evening: ___________________________________

Email:__________________________________________________________________________________________

I check my mail ____daily ____weekly ____do not check regularly)

Would you be willing to volunteer for a teacher other than your child's? _____ yes _____ no

Do you have talents you could share with the school (ie. scrapbooking, playing an instrument):

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Children's Names: Grade: Teacher:

______________________ ___________ ____________________

_______________________ ___________ ____________________

School Activities:

О Sign lettering (add messages to the sign by the street) О Events calendar

О Birthday bulletin board О Birthday buttons

О Library Helpers О Fall Festival

О Field Day О School Improvement Team

Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) Committees:

О Family Fun Night Activities

О Fundraising

О Fall Fundraiser О Spirit Grams О Spring Fundraiser О Dinner Nights О

Basket Bash

О Yearbook

О Boxtops for Education

О Scholastic Book Fair

О Teacher Appreciation Week

Can we call/email you to help with other activities if the need arises? _____ yes _____

no

All volunteers must attend a one-time Volunteer Orientation.

_____ I have already attended Orientation. _____ I need to attend Orientation.

Questions or Comments? Contact your Volunteer Coordinator:

Deanna Dunn by phone (860-449-1168) or via email ([email protected])

Documents

Mary Morrisson Newsletter - Groton Public · PDF fileYour part in this ... Dr. Richards – Grade 1 Mrs. Casadei – Grade 2 Mr. Serven – Grade 2 ... the multiplication and division