|
|
 |
|
News From Our Teachers |
 |
Kindergarten |
Ms. Abrames , Ms. Noble, Ms. Daniels
We began our year by establishing routines, getting
to know each other and learning about what good
readers and writers do. This year, we are introducing
a new reading program called Imagine It. It will
help us teach the children to hear the letter sounds
and parts of words first , and then we’ll teach the
students how the sounds are spelled with letters. It’s
a rigorous curriculum that includes science and social
studies concepts, as well. In math, we started
the year with a variety of counting activities, such
as the number of children in class, how many are
here and not here, how many girls and how many
boys, and the number of objects in a “counting jar.”
The children are learning how to use a calendar to
keep track of time and
events, Right now, we are
doing a study of patterns.
We use a lot of manipulative
objects like color tiles,
cubes, pattern blocks and geoblocks to help us.
We are also working on self-help skills: zipping,
buttoning, putting on shoes. Please take time to help
you child at home with these important tasks.
School is much easier when everyone can manage
their own clothing. We all spent a wonderful Halloween
day at 4-Town Farm in Barrington. Many
thanks to all the chaperones who came along! We
are looking forward to an exciting year as we become
a community of happy learners! |
Grade One |
Mrs. Cowen, Mrs. Alves, Ms. Corrente, Mr. Allen
The first grade classes are learning about the concepts of responsibility
and being responsible. What we discuss in class provides opportunities
for you to talk about with your children at home. Are they responsible for
doing chores at home? How are they responsible
students in school? In math the children need to
know combinations of numbers, adding and subtracting
whole numbers. They are also counting by
2s 5s and 10s. Reading at home is very important.
Have your children reread their decodable books for
fluency!
Mr. Allen adds: Room 20 recently went on a trip
to Phantom Farm. Students enjoyed seeing how apples
are peeled by machine. We went on a hayride and had a chance to go
through a burlap maze. We are working on perfect attendance. We have attained
seven days of perfect attendance since we began keeping track in mid October.
We are also working on building an atmosphere of respect. |
Grade Two |
Ms. Buchanan, Ms. Rebelo, Ms. Bento, Mr. Eichner
Grade 2 spent a wonderful morning at Phantom Farm on October 23! The children
learned about all aspects of an apple orchard, from picking apples to making cider.
In Language Arts, we are completing our unit on kindness and are about to begin our
next unit entitled “Let’s Explore.” Some books that you and your child may find in
your local library to support this unit are: Sky Trees by Thomas Locker, Our Stars
by Anne Rockwell, Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins, and Under One
Rock: Bug, Slugs, and Other Ughs by Anthony D. Fredericks. |
Grade Three |
Ms. Larsen, Ms. Sullivan
We have started a new reading series this year called “Imagine It.” We have just completed a unit with the theme of friendship. The current theme is animals and their habitats. The children are enjoying many different genres. The new reading series keeps us very busy as we study vocabulary, phonics, spelling, fluency, and comprehension skills as well as grammar, usage and mechanics.
We have started a new program in mathematics as well . We are using the new Investigations in number, data and space program. The units we are studying include Trading Stickers, Combining Coins, a unit about addition, subtraction and the number system 1: Surveys and Line plots, a unit about data, travel stories, and a second unit about addition and subtraction.
We have started our study of water in science and recently visited the
Biomes Marine Biology Venter, a hands on center for marine science
education. We are also fortunate to have a Dean and graduate students from Brown University work with our students in science.
Our students had a visit from a National Park Service Ranger just before
Thanksgiving. The park ranger did an interactive presentationwith the students on Native Americans in Rhode Island at the time of Roger Williams. The students
were also lucky to have a special ballet experience—they were invited to the WORLD PREMIERE of Viktor Plotnikov’s “Cinderella” at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium Arts & Cultural Center.
As you are able, please remember that it is important to talk with your child at home about what they are learning in school. Please practice skip counting, as well as addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts with your child. It is also important that you also read and write with yourchild, as your individual attention does make a great deal of difference. |
Grade Four |
Mrs. Sanger, Mrs. Stoddard, Mrs. Quirk and Mrs. Kennaway
Initially we’d like to thank so many parents for their interest and cooperation in their child’s education. We met so many of you at the November Open House and Parent Conferences. Their attendance is incredible. The majority of the students complete and return homework regularly. Please keep up the hard work. It sends such a positive message to your children that you believe education is important.
Secondly , we’d like to thank the PTO for their continued generosity. All of the children thoroughly enjoyed our fall field trip to Chepachet Farms. The Festival of Ballet presented “Cinderella” at the Veterans Auditorium. We can’t wait to see Mikaela Dalton (Room18) dance in “The Nutcracker” at the Providence Performing Arts Center. Once again, the PTO subsized
the buses and Aubrey Dalton, Michaela’s mom, was able to provide free tickets from the Festival.
We are fortunate to have Mr. Justin Seil, a PhD candidate from Brown University, twice a week for Science. Through hands-on experiments and the Science Notebook, the students will be well-prepared for the NECAP science test in the spring. |
Grade Five |
Ms. Riojas, Ms. Ayres, Ms. Desrosiers, and Ms. Luffborough
In Room 21, we’ve been learning about the three branches of government. After a visit to the R.I. State House, we thought it was important to learn about the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government in Washington, D.C. and Rhode Island. We’re very grateful to R.I. Representative
Gordon D. Fox for allowing the students from King to visit the House chamber and vote on selected issues.
We’ve also been working with Leslie Shelton from Brown University on building LCD screens and motors. She taught us how LCD screens are used in televisions and cell phones. Using batteries, magnets and wires, we learned how to make simple motors. We’re also learning from Leslie the importance of scientific work in today’s world.
We had a surprise guest in our classroom in December. Sharon Robinson is an author of children’s and adult books She read a chapter from her book Safe at Home. She’s also the daughter of a famous baseball player, Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in baseball. Sharon Robinson reminded us that it takes perseverance and courage to overcome obstacles in life.
Soon, we’ll be studying how culture plays a role in art. We plan to find out how artists have represented their culture and background in their work. After working on our heritage projects, we saw the similarities and differences in the cultures represented in Room 21. While sharing our projects, we decided that all of our cultures are beautiful and important.
Finally, Room 21 would like to welcome Mr. Shelov from Johnson & Wales University, who is student teaching in our classroom. He will be working with us until the end of March 2008. Welcome, Mr. Shelov. -Ms. Riojas
Room 25 has just finished the first unit in our new “Imagine It” reading series. We just completed“Heritage,” in which we learned about other cultures and found that we have much in common. We are now working on “Energy at Work” and are just as excited about this unit. In Science, we are studying electricity, building circuits that run motors and light bulbs. Who
knew that electricity could be so much fun? We look forward to our holiday break and when we come back to school in the new year, our
“batteries” will be “recharged!” -Ms. Ayres |
From the Nurse |
Ms. Wittels
As parents, we are always trying to do whatever we can keep our children healthy. During the winter months, this becomes
even more of a challenge. It is impossible to prevent our children from being exposed to viruses that cause colds and the flu. There are some very simple measures that can help decrease the chances that your child will become sick from these viruses or spread their germs to others. These include:
• COVERING THE NOSE AND MOUTH WITH THE UPPER ARM RATHER THAN THE
HAND WHEN COUGHING OR SNEEZING
• KEEPING TISSUES HANDY TO USE WHEN NEEDED AND BEING SURE TO THROW THEM AWAY AFTER
USE
• NOT SHARING DRINKS, GLASSES, OR STRAWS WITH THEIR FRIENDS EVEN IF THEY DO NOT APPEAR
TO BE SICK
• GOOD HANDWASHING WITH EITHER SOAP AND WATER OR A HAND SANITIZER
Children need to be reminded of these measures frequently. Every classroom has a flier posted about these healthyhabits and the teachers try very hard to remind the children to follow these rules. Reinforcing these practices at home
with your children will increase the likelihood that they will become a good habit.
- Rosemary Wittels, R.N., MLK School Nurse |
Mathematics Intervention Specialist |
Dear Parents, Students, and Teachers
I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the MLK school community. My name is Ms. Carnevale and I’m thrilled to be working here at MLK as a new Mathematics Intervention Specialist. Everyone has been so kind and supportive during my transition. I am very impressed by the high expectations and work ethic teachers, parents and students have for teaching and learning.
I had the pleasure of speaking with some parents at the October PTO meeting
about mathematics curriculum and really felt a strong connection with many of
them. Their concern and advocacy for their children’s education was a joy to hearand see. I’m delighted to share their passion and concern for education and lookforward to working with the children here at MLK.
Since I’ve been at MLK, we’ve rolled out the new Investigations Mathematics
program. Teachers seem to really like it and find there’s more opportunity for
needed practice with skills and facts. As we continue to implement the new program and provide school based workshops, teachers will become more familiar with the content and how the program is structured. We have also started intervention math groups with students needing extra help in math. It is our goal at MLK to help support a small group of students from each classroom at each grade level through out the year. With this extra help, student
proficiency and confidence in math will increase.
Lastly, as parents and teachers we need to model a positive attitude toward mathematics and together support our children in math. Math is all around us; banking, shopping, cooking, and even doing laundry. By taking ten minutes each night to do some kind of math activity with your child, counting money, telling time, measuring,and simple flash cards, you will help increase their understanding of math.
Please feel free to contact me at school or drop a note in my box if you have any
questions or concerns. Again it’s a pleasure to be here at MLK!
Sincerely,
Ms. Linda Carnevale, Mathematics Intervention Specialist
|
Librarian |
Pre-K: We have been listening to books about bears and llamas, in stories and in nonfiction books. We also learned how Goldilocks finally owned up to baby bear! We also heard
Kindergarten: From Actual Size by Steve Jenkins, we learned about and measured many kinds of animals,including a 2 foot giant walking stick, a 2 foot alligator head, and a giant 12 inch squid eyeball!
1st Grade: We read lots of Robert Munsch books this quarter, such as Something Good, Andrew’s LooseTooth, and Fire Station. Fun stuff! Now we are looking at bats with StellaLuna (Starmoon) and books aboutbats. We are also talking about location of books on the library shelves.
2nd Grade: In second grade, we have been traveling around the world with A Life Like Mine: How Children Live Around the World. This book describes children’s basic needs, and how they are beingmet (or not) around the world. We are also looking at a PowerPoint slide show which shows peoples’ diets, food budgets, and their locations on the planet.
3rd Grade: We have been reading Minty, a story about young Harriet Tubman. We’ve learned how to find the North Star, about some of Harriet Tubman’s childhood experiences, and about herdetermination to escape slavery.
4th Grade: In fourth grade, we have been looking at several books in American history, including Journeys in Time, Kids Make History, Places in Time, and Journeys for Freedom. These books depict in highly visual and creative ways events in American History. We are working to put our research on these books into a cumulative project as well.
5th Grade: In fifth grade, we have been studying and writing about our neighborhood, city and state, and will also be looking at several other maps for a nonfiction research project. We are also reading Sadako and the
Thousand Paper Cranes, a story about a Japanese girl living at the time of World War Two and how she was affected by the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.
6th Grade: In sixth grade, we read Crossing Bok Chitto, a moving story about the life among the Choctaw Indians and slaves in Mississippi. We have also been working with Mrs. Luffborough on the Hammurabic Code, Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt.
- Mr. James Barrett, MLK Librarian |
|
|
|
|
