SRES Eagle Times

Inspire, Create and Grow a Community of Lifelong Learners

Happy Friday SRES Families!

Well, this week certainly had its weather challenges. The good news is, we have some new snow for outdoor play!

Winter Outerwear

• Many students have not been prepared for recess and therefore cannot fully participate and enjoy the snow.
• Please be sure to pack a winter jacket, snow pants, winter boots, a hat, and warm mittens/gloves every day.

MAP assessment

• begins Monday, January 30th; please encourage your student to do their best work.
• Monday = math assessment
• Thursday = reading assessment

Winter Sports: Tuesday, January 31st

• Swimmers: eat at SRES, leave at 11:30, leave Edgar May at 1:45; label and bring suit, towel, and plastic bag.
• Skaters: (as of now at Okemo), eat at SRES, leave at 11:30, leave rink at 1:45, return to SRES before 3pm. BRING winter outerwear and warm socks.
• Skiers/Snowboarders: eat at SRES, leave at 11:30, volunteers to meet bus at end of tunnel at 12:15pm, Okemo lessons at 12:30 (instructors to participate); leave Okemo no later than 2:15 to return to SRES before 3pm. Drop off labeled equipment in AM (students to bring helmet/boots inside), bring: winter outerwear, WARM/waterproof mittens/gloves.

Looking ahead:

• February 7th: Winter Sports
• February 8th: Early Release Day, 11:45am dismissal
• February 14th: Winter Sports
• February 17th: Dress Your Best Day!
• February 20-24: No School; February break
• February 28th: Last Winter Sports Day

It looks like Saturday will be a great day for sledding or a winter hike...and, of course, hot cocoa afterward! Enjoy!!

Your partner in education,

Laura Hazard

laura.hazard@wnesu.com

K-2

Students continue to learn about the Zones of Regulation and are now learning about the Red Zone. Students learned the Anger Rules (see image) and brainstormed tools to help them in the Red Zone that follow the anger rules. I encourage you to keep this discussion going with your child and have them practice tools and strategies when they are calm and regulated. Then when they are in the yellow or red zone they can be reminded of the tools in their emotional tool box!

3rd and 4th

Students learned about stress and how stress can be helpful and harmful to our bodies. Students watched a short video about stress that included ways to combat stress (sleep, exercise, music, talking with someone, breathing, and joy and laughter). Students reviewed the Anger Rules and will be creating a "coping cupcake" with strategies to help them when they are not in the green zone.

Girls on the Run

Girls on the Run is back for another season. Participant registration opens February 22, 2023. Please be on the lookout for info on how to register your 3rd or 4th grade girl. Please email Jennifer.vaughan@wnesu.com with any questions.

Communication

It is now easier than ever to communicate with Nurse Jenn. Visit https://www.remind.com/join/sreshe to join the SRES Health Office.

COVID-19

As a courtesy, please notify the school (nurse Jenn) if your child tests positive for COVID-19. This will help us monitor for the virus better. Please self report any positives to the Vermont Department of Health at:

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6507748/Vermont-COVID-19-Self-Test-Result-Reporting-Form

COVID-19 Tests Available

If you need COVID-19 tests, please contact Nurse Jenn. Please keep in mind that the original expiration date has been extended. Please visit the following websites to check the extended expiration dates for the tests that you have.

https://ihealthlabs.com/pages/news#expiration

https://www.letsongo.com/product-updates-ongo

https://www.lucirahealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Notice_of_Shelf_Life_Extension_Rev_H.pdf

**Please keep your child home from school when they are sick**

Water Bottles

Every student should be bringing a water bottle to school every day. Water is the only beverage that should be in a water bottle. We ask that all other drinks be saved for lunch or snack time. Please refrain from sending your child in with beverages high in sugar.

**IMPORTANT**

It is expected that all students come to school with proper winter gear. Proper winter gear includes:

• Winter jacket

• Snow Pants (when there is snow on the ground)

• Boots (for snow and mud)

• Hat

• Gloves or mittens

We have resources available for those who don’t have proper winter gear. Please reach out to Nurse Jenn or Mrs. Fuller if you need assistance. Students who do not have proper winter gear may be asked to stay inside or may need to stay on the black top on the playground (which is no fun!!!). Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.

Need Health Insurance?

Visit www.vermonthealthconnect.gov or call 1-855-899-9600

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child's health.

Phone: 802-869-2637 or Email: jennifer.vaughan@wnesu.com

What a busy couple of weeks. The kindergarten has really enjoyed the new snow. A reminder that if students do not have the appropriate winter gear....

Hat

Gloves/mittens

Jacket

Snow pants

Boots

...then they must stay on the pavement. If you wish to have them leave a space set of snow pants and or sneakers at school I am happy to keep them here.

In Math we have been learning about ten frames, tally marks and practicing addition. They are also working hard on subitizing. This means looking at an amount of items and know that number without counting.

In ELA we are perfecting our writing skills. We have been practicing writing our letters. These Kindergarteners are doing great with identifying beginning sounds and are working on ending sounds. They have also begun tapping CVC words.

Our latest Science Unit is on hibernation. We are learning about what it means to hibernate and what animals do and how.

☆ Reading: During Reader’s Workshop time we have continued our nonfiction deep dive. We have been learning about what the main idea is of nonfiction books using the details from the story. We will next be introduced to nonfiction text features that give us more information about the story, and students will choose their own topic to research about!

☆ Fundations: In Fundations time, we have wrapped up our learning about the glued sounds: -am and -an. We also learned how to read and spell new trick words: from, have, do, does. Ask your child to spell these words and have them show you which is the part they need to know by heart!

☆ Math: The first grade mathematicians have been learning about telling time to the half hour and hour. We learned about how to tell time to half hour and hour on a digital clock and an analog clock. We learned new games “Tick Tock Four in a Row” and “Roll and Color the Hour”. Practice telling time to the half hour and hour with your child at home!

☆ Writing: Students have continued to work on “how to” writing stories by writing steps for how to teach something that they already know how to do really well to their readers. We worked on adding more details to our how-to pieces. We also wrote thank you letters to our community helpers, such as our snow plow drivers and linemen, who have helped to keep our community safe over this busy snow-filled week!

☆ Science: During our science time, we did Mystery Science lessons about sound. We learned about how sound is energy made of vibrations and how there are high pitches and low pitches.

☆ Friendly Reminders: If you have any spare empty toilet paper rolls or small boxes that you would like to donate for this project, please send them in with your first grader! Another friendly reminder to please have your child bring all their proper winter gear (snow pants, coats, gloves, etc.) and a water bottle to school each day. Thank you!

Reading

• Second Grade Readers started looking at characters in fiction books and how to describe their traits and how they feel and act in our stories. They will be doing a project looking at a character in their own books and learning about their traits.

Writing

• This week writers practiced letter writing and wrote thank you letters to our community who helped plow our roads, restore our power and kept our school safe.

Phonics

• Second graders are learning how to read and write words with multiple syllables.

• Students are also practicing being able to read and spell the following trick words: against, know, knew.

Math

• Second Grade Mathematicians are becoming pros at identifying fractions and fractional parts.

Theme

• Second Grader Scientists are continuing to explore different materials and their properties through Mystery Science experiments. They used different materials to see what conducts heat and what’s insulated to prevent feeling the heat.

REMINDERS

• Please remember to have students bring a water bottle every day and make sure they have a healthy snack!

Math: The third grade students have studied the area and perimeter of rectangles and squares. They have learned that the perimeter of a shape is the outline of a shape whereas the area covers the space within a shape. They have used tiles, repeated addition and multiplication to solve area problems.

Reading: The students continued to study prefixes and suffixes. They learned about how different affixes change the meaning of base words. They have studied the prefixes, “Un-, Dis-, Re-, Mis-, and Pre-.” They have studied the suffixes, “-able, -ful, and -less.”

Writing: The third grade students completed a unit on folk tales by writing their own “Just So Stories.” Some of the topics that students chose to write about included, “How the Panda Became Black and White,” “ How Tiger Got Its Stripes,” and “How the Sloth Became Slow.” The students developed their skills in self-editing, peer editing and in technology.

Science: The third graders continued to study weather. They learned about clouds and how they are formed. Ironically, due to the many snowstorms which resulted in school cancellations, the students had limited opportunity to study weather over the last couple of weeks.

Hello From Fourth Grade!

• In math, we are reviewing the area and perimeter of rectangular arrays. We have explored the area and perimeter by building with blocks, graph paper, and Cheez-Its©! Many students are beginning to make connections between rectangular arrays vs other regular polygons. Next week will be completing the winter Math MAPS benchmark and beginning a unit on geography.

• In our reader’s workshop, we are continuing our book buddy unit. We graphed vocabulary, summarized, engaged in thoughtful dialogue, and illustrated chapters using a comic strip. Running records and other mid-year assessments have also taken place. Next week we will complete the winter Reading MAPS benchmark.

• This week in writing we took some time to write thank you letters to the Rockingham Highway Department, Green Mountain Power, and Burt for their hard work during the storms that rolled through. This has been our first attempt at friendly letter writing, but will certainly not be our last.

• In science, we are continuing to build foam roller coasters to study height energy and how potential and kinetic energy is stored and used. Our task has us creating a “bumper coaster” in which we need to be thinking about the transfer of energy from one marble to the next.

• This morning the 4th-grade students ran our All School Meeting. This was rescheduled FOUR times due to snowstorms. They did an amazing job sharing two excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech (see the video at the top of the newsletter).

• 1/30: Math MAPS

• 1/31: Winter Sports

• 2/2: Reading MAPS

Fluency is one of the main components of reading that supports comprehension. Fluency is the ability to read text accurately, quickly and with expression. At SRES we measure fluency using an assessment called DIBELS. This assessment is completed three times a year for all of the students in grades K to 4. The students are assessed on a variety of skills that vary with each grade level. They might include: Letter Naming Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense Word Fluency, Word Reading Fluency, or Oral Reading Fluency. Here are some activities you can do at home to help build your child’s oral reading fluency.

• Choose the right books: Help your child choose the right book. The "five-finger test" is a good guideline. As your child reads, count the number of words they cannot read per page. In general, there should be five words or fewer that give them trouble on each page.
  
  
• Reread favorite books: Building fluency takes a lot of practice! Keep a collection of books that your child can read quickly and easily. Encourage your child to reread favorite books.
  
  
• Record it: Another fun way to practice reading and build fluency is to have your child create their own audio books. This can be done with a tape recorder or audio recording feature or app on your phone. Your child might need a few "takes" to get the reading just right.
  
  
• Choral reading: Choose a book at your child's reading level and read a page or passage together in unison. Slow your reading down a little to keep pace, but don’t slow down too much. Encourage your child to copy your pace and expression.

The library is a great place to learn about literacy and cultural traditions around the world.

Today we combined the two by learning about the traditions of the Lunar New Year, celebrated around the world and in most Asian countries, and then reading a Kamishibai called How the Years Were Named.

Kamishibai is a Japanese storytelling art where the pictures for the story are presented within a small wooden theater. This particular tale tells the Lunar New Year origin story of the race between the 12 animals associated with the 12 years of each Lunar New Year cycle. The story sets the order that each animal occupies in the 12 year cycle. The students were very excited to figure out which was their animal, based on the year that they were born.

In case you were wondering- Rabbit came in 4th place in the original race. And 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit.

Students learned how to volley balloons in P.E. It may be easy to hit the balloon, but there is patience and skill involved in volleying with a partner. Students are working towards the ability to hit a volleyball with control to each other, with hand-eye coordination as one of the keys to success.

Kindergarten, First and Second Grades continue to sing, move and create every music class. All classes are on week 7 of our second term of First Steps In Music.

Kindergarten: Ask your student to perform "Chip Chop" for you. I bet they can teach you how to say the "chip chop" part of the song! Also, have them sing "Frosty Weather" for you. It is perfectly appropriate for the winter storms we have experienced lately!

First Grade: I am so impressed with this class and their singing. Nearly 100% of students are now singing on pitch. Awesome! Have your student perform "Chopping Firewood" for you, or have them sing "Grizzly Bear" for you (and maybe you can say the "growl" at the end)!

Second Grade: This class is very creative! We have been singing songs about winter pictures. Ask them to sing a "scene" for you. Have your student sing "Little Snowflake" for you as the snow comes down outside!

Third and Fourth Grades have been talking a lot about the songs and activities they may want to perform for you at our spring concert. They have been singing songs "We Will Build This House", "Red, Red, Robin", "Sun Inside Us", "My Roots Go Down" and a few new selections. Both classes continue to perform "move-its" (teaching phrasing through rote movement) and are playing the boomwhackers. They are getting great at following along to color coded notes and are working on playing on "cue". Third Grade is now on the "reading" portion of their rhythm study and Fourth is nearly finished with the last step of "writing" in their rhythm study. They will begin a new unit soon.

Mark your calendars for Thursday March 30 for our spring concert at Bellows Falls Union High School at 6:30. More information to follow. We are very excited to finally be able to have a live, in person concert!

Here are some pictures of the Kindergarten working on the "Movement Exploration" portion of class. We were working on an activity called "Do what I do". Students would watch Mrs. D. move. When she stopped, students would move like she did until she moved again with a new movement. Much fun was had, as you can see by their faces!

Hello artists! I look forward to being back at SRES for Art! Due to the weather, power outages, and holidays we have missed our art times together. When we return to Art we will continue our works in progress! Keep up the great work and keep creating!

Email: laura.hazard@wnesu.com
Website: https://sres.wnesu.org/
Location: 15 School Street, Saxtons River, VT, USA
Phone: (802) 869-2637
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sresvt