Washington Street

Elementary Newsletter

November 2012

Washington Street Elementary School

500 W. Earl Court

(732) 505-5910

Principal: Mrs. J. MacIntosh

Supervisor: Mrs. M. Brito

Newsletter Editor: Mrs. K. Rettino

November Dates To Remember 11/2 School Spirit Day

11/6 School closed for students

Staff Professional Day

Election Day

11/8 School closed for NJ Teachers Convention

11/9 School closed for NJ Teachers Convention

11/12 Wear Red, White, and Blue in honor of

Veterans Day

11/13 Early dismissal—Conferences

PTO Executive Board Meeting 7 PM

11/14 Early dismissal—Night Conferences

11/15 Early dismissal–

Conferences

11/20 Make Up Picture Day

11/21 School Store

11/23 School Closed– Happy

Thanksgiving

11/24 School Closed

11/30 School Spirit Day– wear school colors!

From the Principal’s Desk

Dear Parents/Guardians,

November marks the month for our annual Parent-

Teacher Conferences taking place on November 13, 14, and 15,

2012. Every parent will receive a designated 15 minute

conference time either during the day or at night. During this

scheduled time with your child’s teacher you will be able to

review the first marking period report card and discuss your

child’s educational needs. It is our hope that we see all of our

students’ parents/guardians during this week. Please call the

school office if you have any questions after your receive your

child’s designated appointment time and date.

Thank you to all who supported our PTO by coming to

the Fall Festival on October 18th. The students and staff also

enjoyed the Raptor assembly on October 24th, sponsored by the

PTO.

May you and your family enjoy the fall weather and the

upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday!

Sincerely,

Mrs. J. MacIntosh

PTO News Thank you to all who helped and came to the Fall Festival. It was a huge success! Look for information to come home with your child about the Emery Pie sale and McDonalds’ Night!

December Dates to Remember 12/6 PTO Holiday Shop

12/7 PTO Holiday Shop

12/11 PTO Executive Board Meeting 7PM

12/12 School Store

12/13 Chorus Concert ― Holidays Around the World:

2:00 and 7:00 PM.

12/14 School Spirit Day– wear school colors

12/24-28 School closed for winter break

School REOPENS on January 2, 2013!

Students are well into another school year and are

already learning many new and exciting things in and out of the

classroom. The second graders have just started the second

marking period and are looking forward to Thanksgiving.

We’ve spent math lessons studying time, money, place

value, and numbers. Next, we’re going to solve addition and

subtraction stories, figure out frames-and-arrows, and write fact

families, among other topics.

We’ve read and discussed personal stories of kindness,

courage, and hard work in the first unit and will read about the

natural world in the next. Every week we work on usage,

grammar, and mechanics to help form sentences and construct

paragraphs. Please review the weekly spelling lists, as well as

vocabulary and word meanings. The additional practice will help

strengthen these concepts. The boys and girls shouldn’t forget to

work on their printing and read aloud to family members.

We’ve studied nature and trees in science and are

learning about maps and geography in social studies. Have your

second grader point out some places on a map.

We invite any family member to join us for CARE

reading on Thursday afternoons. Please remember to save those

Box Tops and send them in. The teachers are looking forward to

meeting the parents at November Conferences. November also

brings Election Day on the 6 th and remembers veterans on the

11th. Take your second grader to vote with you and attend the

Parade downtown if possible. Until then, enjoy these crisp,

colorful autumn days.

Ms. Denzler, Mrs. Mauro, and Mr. Osborn

Fall is a busy time in our kindergarten classrooms, as

we learn to follow our kindergarten routine, listen and sit correctly to directions and make new friends in school.

Our reading program is focusing on poems, listening to stories and decodable books that help your child to learn

about recalling details, sequence of events and the concept

of "first" and "last". In Math, we continue to work on counting and

recognizing numbers a long with making patterns, and knowing all our

shapes. We are looking forward to making and discussing

the season Fall and Thanksgiving activities. At home, review home address and telephone numbers with your children.

Remember to read to your child each night. We look forward to meeting with everyone at Parent

Conferences.

Mrs. Applegate and Mrs. Phillip

October was a blast for the first graders . We

enjoyed picking pumpkins and in class we weighed

and measured the girth of our pumpkins and finally the

students painted their pumpkins. The Halloween

parade and parties were also fun. Now we are in

November and are as busy as ever!

We are beginning the 3rd Unit in our Reading

program. As you can see by the core books coming

home our work is becoming more challenging. There

are many high frequency words introduced in this unit.

It is important that they are reviewed each night and

this will help your budding reader. Your child is

becoming an author! We have launched our new

writing program and the students are excited about the

writing process. Thanks for the pictures for their

writing folders. The students will always have

something to write about.

In addition to our curriculum, the first graders

are busy learning poems and songs for our

Thanksgiving program. The actual date will be sent

home soon – we hope you can come and enjoy the

songs of Thanksgiving.

The first grade teachers are looking forward to

meeting with you at conference time.

Mrs. Coles, Ms. DeMarco, and Miss

Silvestri

Our 1st and 2nd place finishers in the Run for Life accepting the First Place Participation Award for the 6th straight year! :) Congratulations to all those who participated!

November is a special time to "fall" into

learning!

In social studies, students learn about the

election process and participate in a mock election,

casting a vote for their favorite "CANDYdate.‖

A "sweet" time is had by all.

Honoring our Veterans is also important this

month. Third graders express their appreciation by

completing a coloring task that salutes these brave

Americans.

Please visit the website Studyisland.com with

your child to help prepare him or her for the NJASK

given in May. This educational site allows your child

to practice important math, reading, and language skills

while earning blue ribbons. The class with the most

blue ribbons will be rewarded with an ice cream sundae

party. Mrs. Meyh currently leads with three consecutive

wins!!

Being thankful and kind are two acts third-

graders are working on. ―Being a Friend‖ matters, and

students are reminded to be kind to one another on a

daily basis.

At this time of Thanksgiving, we would like to

thank you, parents, for all your help at home to insure

that your child is prepared for school. We appreciate all

you do to help make your child successful!

Please encourage your child to increase the

amount of reading time at home. This habit will enable

your third grader to read for a sustained period of thirty

minutes by the end of the year.

The third grade teachers would like to extend a

very Happy Thanksgiving to all families.!

Mrs. Meyh, Mrs. Rutter, and Mrs. Yorke

As the holidays approach, we are talking in Speech Class about the importance of tradition, family, and friends. To carryover good speech and language skills at home, talk to your children about these ideals. Model appropriate language for your children at home and use positive reinforcements when your kids follow through with good speech. When doing school homework together with your kids, have them explain to you how they come up with their answers. Critical thinking is a great way to engage children in their language development. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Cookson

¡Hola, Washington Street! In fourth grade, we are studying fruits. We will be playing various games and writing about our favorite fruit. Soon we will be studying vegetables, as well as a unit on Mexican food. Our focus will be on Mexico this year in fourth grade. We will learn about some Mexican traditions and holidays throughout the year.

In fifth grade, we will be learning how to tell time in Spanish. We will also be learning the names for different modes of transportation. Our theme this year is “Pasaporte”, so we will periodically be “traveling” to certain Spanish-speaking countries. We’ll actually be learning some points of interest about those countries. Our first two countries are Argentina and Peru.

In 3rd

grade, we will be learning our color words, numbers 1-20, adjectives that describe Goldilocks and the Three Bears and names of various members of the family in Spanish. I’m looking forward to a great year!

Mrs. DeNardo

The school year is off to a great start. The students are

working very hard to do their best. Please be sure to check their planners for upcoming test, quizzes, and special events.

In grades 2,3,4,and 5 in the area of reading the students are

tested weekly on the story comprehension, vocabulary, language, and spelling in grades 2,4,and 5th grade.

Reviewing with your child certainly helps prepare them for their tests. Thank you for your support.

Ms. Stahl

Welcome back to all of the returning band members

and welcome to all of our new members! Music lessons are in

full swing and all of the students have been doing a great job in

their lessons!

Please remember to take special care of your

instruments. The cool fall and winter air can take a toll on your

instruments so it is important that you keep them inside and not

leave them in the car or store them in the garage. If you have

any issues with your instrument, please bring it to me or to a

music store as soon as possible so that the issue can be resolved

quickly!

I am looking forward to a fun and musical year! As

always, please remember to be prepared at your lessons with

your instruments, lesson books, concert music, pencils and

practice logs. Keep up the great work and ….

Keep practicing!

Mrs. Caratini

We’re off to a great start! The OMNI program, for fourth and fifth graders, has two components: The General Academic program, which meets for 80 minutes a week, and the Specific Academic program which meets for 40 minutes a week. General Academic Omni students started the year by researching Gardiner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, and discovering their own particular learning preferences. Our main theme this year is Legends of the Sea. We will be focusing primarily on learning about thing on and under the ocean. The Specific Academic OMNI program is broken up into three trimesters: one each for math, language arts, and science/social studies. The first trimester is language arts, and the fourth grade will be exploring Greek Mythology, while the fifth grade will be tackling a unit on William Shakespeare. The Discovery program, for students in Kindergarten through third grade, is an enrichment program designed to present higher level thinking skills. This year, the third grade will have three separate sessions, one each for math, language arts and science/social studies. Kindergarten and first grade classes will participate in whole-class enrichment units which will be held, on a rotating basis, throughout the course of the year.

Mrs. Bailey

Character Education counts at

Washington Street Elementary School!

Congratulations to the following students for being selected to receive the Character Education

award for September: “Cooperation.” Each student received a certificate and pencil.

Sean Bradley, Gabriella Ramales, Olivia

Dietrich, Rhiannon Asch, Alyssa Kulzy,

Julianna Montgomery, Ella Demand,

Manouso Vasilakis, Joseph Zamudio, Ella

Gilmore, Joshua Russo, Rene Mendoza,

Hayley O’Neill, Robert Zonin, Ashlyn

Szcypinski, Bane Ryan, Thomas Roth, Scott

Downie, Anthony Prieto, and Erick

Goodfriend