June 2018

Noah Wallace News

From the Principal’s Desk …

Dear Noah Wallace Families,

I would like to take a moment to thank all of the Noah Wallace community for their dedication to our children this year. Thank you to the PTO, including our co-presidents, Amy Walsdorf and Kelly Sardinas, for spending countless hours planning events, traditions, and opportunities for our children. As a parent myself, I under-stand the efforts that parents, grandparents, guardians, and caretakers go through to make sure that children are nourished, well-rested, and engaged in a variety of meaningful activities throughout the school year. Amazingly, summer is already here and it is time to plan our summer fun as well as activities that will keep the learning moving forward for the next several months.

One favorite tradition in my family is to take a trip to the store on the first day of summer vacation and pur-chase a new writer’s notebook for each of us to capture the most memorable moments of the summer. Together, we decorate our notebooks using magazine clippings, photos, and stickers. This annual routine gets us ready to write throughout the summer. In our house, summer writing is a fun activity and one that we en-gage in at least 3 times per week. We love to share our entries at night before we settle into bed.

Experts agree that children who read and write during the summer gain reading and writing skills, while those who do not often experience “summer slide.” This is true for all aspects of learning. There are many different ways to engage young minds in fun and interesting ways during summer vacation. Here are some ideas for en-gaging your children in various learning opportunities throughout the summer months:

Take a visit to the new Farmington Summer Links page, where you will find an ample amount of carefully chosen resources to help your young learner keep their skills fresh and current. This site was created by the district library media specialist team, along with our literacy and math specialists teams. Here you will find interactive and fun links for everything from summer reading lists to movie making and Spanish! In addition, this site has a link that takes you directly to our district's K-6 math website!

We encourage all elementary students to participate in the Farmington Public Library Summer Reading Program, “Libraries Rock!” We encourage you to visit our local libraries this summer and participate in the many activities offered. If your child participates in this program, your child does not need to return a reading journal/log to his or her teacher during the first week of school of the 2018-2019 school year. Please return the log that is posted on our webpage only if your child does not participate in “Libraries Rock.” Please click on this link for more information and to register your child for the summer library pro-gram. Please remember to help us with our long-standing tradition of participating in Connecticut Reads: The 2018 Governor’s Summer Reading Challenge.

Take advantage of summer adventures to inspire your young writers. Encourage your child to keep a writ-er’s notebook to write observations of wildlife they see, or a poem about a spectacular sunset, or a log about events that happened on a trip. You might even choose to create a photo journal with captions!

This past school year, our students have deepened their understanding of many mathematical topics and have learned new skills and concepts. In order to maintain these skills, it is important that students have opportunities to refresh and practice math throughout the summer weeks. The most authentic way to do this is to introduce your child into your everyday mathematical life; ask questions such as: how much will it cost to go to the zoo (let them use the website to find an estimate), how much pizza should we order, how long will it take to get there, etc. A variety of math websites are available on our school webpage so that students may also review, enrich, and challenge their math skills and concepts.

Educational Excellence Since 1904

From the Principal’s Desk … continued

The State of Connecticut has just announced a Summer Math Challenge as an excellent skills maintenance program called “Solving the Mystery of Math”. Math education is a priority for CSDE and the Commission-er’s Summer Math Challenge is designed to assist students in retaining math learning during the summer. Students in grades 1 through 8 will be able to take advantage of the Summer Math Challenge, sponsored by Metametics. This is a FREE math skills maintenance program based on grade-level standards that help pre-pare students for college and careers. The program is targeted to students who have just completed grades 1 through 8 and is designed to help them retain math skills learned during the previous school year. All information and printable materials (e.g., math log, registration information, and information for parents and students) for the Commissioner’s Summer Math Challenge can be found on the CSDE’s website http://portal.ct.gov/SDE/Math/Summer-Math-Challenge.

Encourage your child to be a maker! Summer is the perfect time to embrace the maker movement by build-ing an elaborate sandcastle, fairy house, go-cart, or fort. Visit some maker websites, like makezine.com or maker-kid.com. Take a maker class at the Farmington Library.

Remember to snap a picture of your child reading in some interesting place this summer. We will continue our tradition of hanging pictures of students on a summer reading bulletin board. When students come back to school, they can look for their picture on the “Every Hero Has a Story … Read” bulletin board.

Join Dr. Huber for outside story hour this summer on the upper field of Noah Wallace on Tuesday, July 31 at 12:00 noon.

Wishing you a safe and fun-filled summer!

Message Board

MANDATORY STUDENT INFORMATION UPDATE 2018-2019—Farmington Public Schools is again conduct-ing our online Student Registration and Information Update for the upcoming school year. The online process, powered by InfoSnap, is mandatory. An email was sent on or around June 1 (from: registration@fpsct.org) with instructions for updating your current (or incoming) students' information. If you have any questions, call the school office.

2018-2019 STUDENT TRANSPORTATION—All transportation information for the new year is updated ONLY by your requests through the Student Information Update email (from: registration@fpsct.org) you have re-ceived. To ensure correct transportation for 2018-2019, complete this information. Attached is a paper form that can be sent into the office as a backup for the first day of school. All current information is deleted 6/16/18.

HAVE YOU MOVED?—If you will be leaving Noah Wallace to enroll in another school, please send a note to the office or give us a call as soon as possible.

NOAH WALLACE SCHOOL SUMMER OFFICE HOURS—Call before you visit, 860-677-1659, to be sure the of-fice is open, as vacation schedules vary. If you receive a voicemail, the office is closed. Please leave a message.

LOST CLOTHING??—Be sure to check the cafeteria lost and found for any clothing that your child may have left behind. All left over clothing will be donated to a local charity on Monday, June 18th.

REPORT CARDS!—FPS will distribute report cards via parent/guardian email on the last day of school June 15th. We will not record the names of next year’s teachers on the final report card. In mid August, all Farming-ton elementary schools will be sent an email containing the FPS Transportation Booklet and District Infor-mation. Within this email will be the name of your child’s new teacher along with bus information, FPS policies and procedures and information pertaining to FPS lunch program. Keep a look-out for this important information as you must access the links within, accept and submit.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2018-2019—August 27 is the first day of school.

From: registration@fpsct.org

To: parent email

Subject: Student Information

Update for Student_?_ (18-19

Kindergarten News Mrs. Gingras, Mrs. MacDermott, Ms. Nelson

This month in Reading Workshop Kindergarten students will: Become avid readers of fiction books, nonfiction books, and poetry. Build their reading stamina and comprehension. Apply reading strategies to more difficult texts.

This month in Writing Workshop Kindergarten students will: Write songs and poetry. Become more conscious of the crafting and language decisions writers

make.

This month in Math Kindergarten students will: Learn how to create addition sentences from addition stories. Learn and practice addition facts to 5. Learn how to create subtraction sentences from subtraction stories. Compare sets with one-to-one correspondence and write the subtrac-

tion sentence to match the problem. Learn and practice subtraction facts to 5.

This month in Explorations Kindergarten students will: Become Dendrologists and study trees. Ask and answer questions about trees. Draw pictures to explain what they have discov-

ered. Draw like a scientist and create realistic sketches of

trees and leaves.

First Grade News Mr. Abraham, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Rodrigues, Mrs. Zygiel

This month in our Organisms integrated unit of literacy and science First Grade students will: Observe and learn about the structure and function of frogs, plants, guppies, snails, pillbugs, and millipedes. Read about science topics to become experts and write like scientists.

This month in Math First Grade students will: Learn about the calendar and how to tell time Learn to count, compare, and order numbers to 100 Learn to add and subtract numbers to 100 Ms. Ross Hickey, Reading Recovery teacher, has shared a link to the benefits of Reading Out Loud to Children. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/well/family/reading-aloud-to-young-children-has-benefits-for-behavior-and-attention.html

First grade classes reading and giving feedback on their realistic fiction series books.

Our Kindergarten Dendrologists!

Second Grade News Mrs. Ayers, Mrs. Stepanishen, Ms. Dooley, Mrs. Larrubia

This month in Reading Workshop Second Grade students will: Explore characters more deeply in different Series Chapter Books. Continue to read a variety of just-right non-fiction texts as well as explore poetry.

Try This at Home! Find a just right series to get into and hold a conversation regarding the main character or other important characters in the book. Also, encourage your child to stop and jot after each page to help keep track of their thinking.

This month in Writing Workshop Second Grade students will: Write opinion pieces about personal favorites or other opinions as well as write opinions through book re-

views and recommendations .

Try This at Home! Discuss opinions about any topic with a focus on giving reasons and using examples to ex-plain evidence.

This month in Math Second Grade students will:

Learn about fractions. Solve problems involving telling time.

Try This at Home! Discuss fractions with cooking, eating, putting away toys etc...Also discuss telling time with

your child as it pertains to their daily life. Also, solidify their ability to skip count by 5’s.

In Science Second Grade students will: Begin our Life Cycles/Butterflies Unit!

Third Grade News Mrs. Collins, Ms. Dillaway, Mrs. Gilligan

Second graders collaborating on their roller coaster

engineering project.

2nd grade students performed at their

first strings concert!

Grade 3 students are beginning a unit titled “When Cultures Collide!” Students will research about Native Americans and Colonists and

then compare the two groups using their persuasive skills.

Third graders have complet-

ed a writing

unit all about Fractured Fairy Tales!

Some are even published and waiting to be read at Naples Pizza!

Fourth Grade News Ms. Gallo, Mr. O’Donoghue, Ms. Palm, Mr. Williams

Fourth graders thoroughly

enjoyed the book Number

the Stars. They learned how

to be careful to not make

assumptions and get to

know other people’s per-

spectives. You should ask

them about the main char-

acter and what happened

during the time period.

Third graders worked collaboratively in book club groups! They studied characters and compared their traits and lessons across texts. Ask you child

what books they have been reading in their book clubs!

In math, fourth graders have just finished their unit on squares and rectangles. They are now applying that knowledge to help them find the area and perimeter of squares and rectangles! Students in Miss. Palm’s class worked together to estimate the area of a swimming pool.

Fourth graders published their literary essays about Save Me A Seat. They are now working on a second literary essay. They are choosing a mentor text that they love and will write another literary essay. Fourth graders put forth their best effort during the annual Smarter Balanced Assess-ments. We are so proud of the persis-tence, determina-tion, and grit they showed while work-ing through 4 days of testing.

Third Grade News Mrs. Collins, Ms. Dillaway, Mrs. Gilligan

Third graders did a wonderful job during our 2nd and 3rd grade strings concert! They have learned and so much this year from Ms. Mattie and Mr. Shugart!

Library News Ms. Jusseaume

I want to give a ’shout out’ to our library volunteers for all the help they gave me this year.

Thanks to all who visited our Scholastic Book Fair and stocked up for their summer reading. Visit

our Virtual Friday Folder for summer reading information.

Physical Education News Mr. Fantl, Mr. Deitz

We celebrated our American Heart Association Fundraiser by completing 3 days of Jump Rope for Heart. On these 3 days we participated in a variety of fun jumping stations to celebrate the $2,500 Noah Wallace fundraised for the American Heart Association. Great job and thank you for your efforts!

Our lacrosse unit has begun. Lacrosse is one of our favorite sports to teach and the students

have done amazingly well with it! We are currently playing small sided games where students

are using the skills of cradling, scooping, throwing and catching in game like situations.

Music, Chorus and Strings News Mrs. Kenyon, Ms. Mattie, Ms. Marsan, Mr. Shugart

The year has gone by so quickly, filled with many wonderful musical moments and memories. We are proud of all of our classes, the Noah Wallace Chorus and Orchestra, and of the many accomplishments the students have made this year. We would like to say “Goodbye” to our fourth grade students and wish them well at West Woods Upper Elementary School. They were a great group to work with and we will miss them. We hope that they stay in-volved with their musical activities and performance groups. Please drop by and say “Hello” when you come back to visit Noah Wallace.

All string players are invited to attend the Farmington Summer Strings Academy String Camp. The dates are July 9-27, 2018. The camp takes place at the air-conditioned West Woods Upper Elementary School from 8:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. You can register your child on line at fpsct.org/fce. Click on Continuing Education, and then click on Summer Learning Academy.

Our best wishes to all students and parents for a happy, healthy, and musical summer!

Art News Ms. Uryase

It has been my pleasure working with your

artists my first year here at Noah Wallace

School. I am very impressed with the stu-

dent’s skills and creativity. It was amazing

celebrating all the artists and meeting the fam-

ilies of Noah Wallace for my first Arts Fest.

Thank you all who visited with our wonderful

artists.

Hola Familias Spanish News from Señora Tagg

Kindergarten Spanish Program: In May Kindergarten students were assessed in a one on one interview with Sra. Tagg. Students were asked about what they like or don’t like in their backyard or local park. Students also had the opportunity to say and describe what they see in the springtime.

First Grade Spanish Program: First grade students also participated in an oral proficiency interview with Sra. Tagg. Students were asked several questions and given scenarios to act out about shopping for food in a Spanish speaking country. Students then began a unit about organisms.

Second and Third Grade Spanish Program: Second and third graders recently completed oral proficiency interview talking about their virtual trips to Mexico. They started a new unit on pollinators and the life cycles of plants and animals. Second grade students are participat-ing in an international activity called “The Journey North-A Symbolic Butterfly Migration.” https://www.learner.org/jnorth/symbolic-migration. Students decorated symbolic paper monarchs in art class and mailed them to Mexico in the fall to represent the actual migration. We just received symbolic monarchs from around the US, Canada and Mexi-co to complete the migration cycle! Students learned about the students and school in Mexico that cared for their but-terflies all winter.

Fourth Grade Spanish Program: Students are completing a unit about a virtual shopping trip to a mall in Spain. They created their own paper bag stores with products to sell with prices in euros. They will perform skits to practice saying where they are shopping, what they want to buy, and how much things cost.

Summer Spanish Opportunity: Please consider signing up for this summer read and play Spanish program. It’s free! You will get Spanish learning suggestions all summer long! https://www.spanishplayground.net/summer-reading-program-

registration/

You know we can’t do it without you!

Thank you to all of our volunteers who help our teachers , who direct our NWS PTO committees, and who read to

our children. We know that you choose to be a part of our community and we feel such appreciation for the time

you have committed to us. Thank you to our families who have participated in fundraising efforts throughout

the year. Our PTO provides funding towards field trips, which correspond with grade level curriculums, that

our students are so fortunate to partake in. Some of the events our PTO plans: New Student Ice Cream Social,

Kindergarten Orientation Meet & Greet, Nature’s Open House, Square Art and Lyman Pie Sale, Fall Family Festi-

val, Festival of Lights, Paul Cryan Photos, Bi-Annual Auction, Taste of Noah Wallace, End of Year Family Picnic,

Field Day, Cultural Assemblies, Room Parents, Library and Book Fair Assistance and Field Trip Chaperones.

Again, we can’t do it without you!