GES Grey Wolf Gazette

Dear GES Families and Friends,

How is it June already! My goodness the last few months have certainly flown by quickly! We are in the final weeks of school with only 10 days left! GES teachers and students have been working hard to squeeze in as much learning in as possible before the end of the year. All our students have done a great job on the Spring Benchmark Assessments. Student reports will be sent home with report cards on the last day of school.

We will have a few new faces at GES next year. Please join me in wishing our first grade teacher Mrs. Amelia Barnes a fond farewell as she moves to a new position as a Reading Specialist in Amherst. We are sad to see her go, but we all know that literacy and reading are her true passion and she has worked hard to become certified as a Reading Specialist. We wish her well in her new job!

I'm happy to share that Ms. Jessica Harrington will be joining GES as the new first grade teacher next year. She's been teaching grade 1 at HES for the last 5 years. She's excited to come to GES! She'll be visiting the school and meeting our kindergarten students on Monday. She and Mrs. Hodgen will work closely together with our K/1 students next year.

Additionally, Mrs. Diane Burnett is retiring at the end of this year! We hope that retirement is full of good books, sunny days for gardening and golfing and some well deserved rest and relaxation! Lastly, Ms. Renee Lavoie has accepted a new position in the district and will be supporting students across different schools. We wish her well in this new adventure! Mrs. Colleen Bouchard will be taking her place supporting students in 2nd grade.

Lots of changes at GES next year! I'm going to miss you all, but I know that GES will be in good hands and continue to be a wonderful place for children to learn and grow! I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce Shawne Hilliard as the new principal/instructional coach at GES for next year. I've included a note from her so you can begin to get to know her. I know she'll be scheduling a meet and greet for families later in the summer, so be on the lookout for that invitation.

A note from Mrs. Hilliard:

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as I have the privilege of becoming the principal/instructional coach at GES next year. I have lived in NH my entire life and am married to my high school sweetheart. We enjoy spending time with our children and grandchildren (who all live in NH!) and also love to travel. My favorite places are all on or around water, and I spend many hours reading and gardening.

I have been in public education for a number of years as a reading interventionist, an elementary teacher and an administrator. I came to ConVal this past year after 7 years as the principal in Weare NH helping to educate students in 4th through 8th grade. While I loved that community, I am enjoying the opportunity to work in much smaller settings making daily connections with students and educators.

I know that Colleen Roy will be greatly missed, but I have already felt welcomed by the students and staff I have met at GES and look forward to a wonderful 2023/2024 school year! Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions. You can always reach me via email at shilliard@conval.edu. Have a wonderful summer!

UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES-PLEASE CHECK AND ADD TO YOUR CALENDAR!

6/5-6/9/23: Special of the Week: Art with Mr. Shapiro

6/6/23: Grade 4 Field Trip to Boston Museum of Science! We will depart from GES at 8:00am and return by 4:00pm!

6/12-6/16/23: Special of the Week: PE/Health with Mrs. Parker

6/14/23: 4TH GRADE CELEBRATION AND PLAY PERFORMANCE AT 6:00PM. Details coming soon!

6/15/23: GES Field Day! Details coming soon!

6/16/23: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! This is a half day and dismissal will be at noon!

First Friends 1:

In First Friends 1 we have finished our NH bird study. We learned about 30 birds native to NH and how they differ and adapt to their needs. We have been comparing frogs to toads and frogs to turtles. We have talked about the life cycle of frogs and hope to find some eggs or tadpoles for the classroom. We sprouted bean seeds and watched the roots go down and the plant go up! Our marigold seeds are growing well in our sunny window.

The afternoon students have finished their alphabet posters and are working on rhyming. A very different skill than alliterative sounds. We learn how to make and write music with our handbells and practice handwriting in our individual books.

The whole class went to the library for a special book and project with Mrs. Aborn. She read a dinosaur book and we did a dinosaur project. It has been a fun spring!

First Friends 2:

Here in First Friends 2 we have been talking about the planets and the sun and water animals. We have talked about recycling and picking up our trash to keep our planet Earth clean. We worked together with Ms. Tracy to make a mural in our hallway with flowers, trees, birds, bugs, and sky using different textures and colors like Eric Carle's books.

Preschoolers went to the library with Ms. Sandy and talked about dinosaurs and watched “dinosaur eggs” (raisins) jump in seltzer water.

Ms. Sue came in and talked to us some more about soil, flowers, and worms. The afternoon students are working on their numbers and writing them along with adding two numbers together! We finished our alphabet and we will continue to practice so we don't forget!

We are now writing our first and last names everyday in preschool. We also planted pussy willows in our garden outside our window. As always we continue to work on using our words, sharing, and being kind.

• Math: We started the week with an outdoor geometric scavenger hunt. Students had to find shapes, angles and lines in the world around them. We spend time identifying equivalent fractions on the number line. We also spent time sorting data using line plots.

• Literacy: Students have been working on National park research projects and creating visitor magazines. This has been a student led project, and they have done a really great job implementing the research and writing skills that they have learned throughout the year. The class spent a great deal of time practicing Pirates of Grammar Island and are doing an excellent job!!

• Science: We explored dinosaur fossils with Mystery Science, created unique dinosaur statues and dinosaur suncatchers.

• SEL:With NWEA testing this week we have talked a lot about positive affirmations, and how the things we think and say to ourselves can influence how we approach a challenge.

• Read aloud: Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

• Math: We had a lot of fun with dinosaur themed math this week! We used our knowledge of geometry to solve the Mystery of Jurassic Fart! We also built our own imaginary dinosaur park! Each student needed to use their budget of $1,000 to buy the dinosaurs they wanted in their parks. The T-Rex was very expensive and very popular!

• Literacy: This week in literacy we worked hard to finish up NWEA testing! We are officially done with 3rd grade assessments! In between assessments, we read about different dinosaurs and fossils.

• Science & Social Studies: In science we celebrated dinosaur week with crafts and activities. Our favorite activity was making fossil dinosaur eggs and then cracking them open to reveal the little dinosaur inside!

• SEL: This week we focused on using positive self talk to help us be successful test takers!

• Read Aloud: No Talking

• Math: Second grade wrapped up NWEA math testing this week. Everyone worked really hard and gave a best effort to show what they’ve learned this year. I saw HUGE growth in math scores and I couldn’t be more proud! We ended the week by doing some dinosaur math involving measuring, adding, and creating a bar graph.

• Literacy: In literacy this week we reviewed fact and opinion while reading a nonfiction book about dinosaurs. We compared and contrasted dinosaurs and reptiles. We are working on a narrative story with Mrs. LaChan eve and are looking forward to finishing our final copies next week.

• Science & Social Studies: Canyons, erosion, Pangea, fossils

• SEL: teamwork and apologizing

• Math: Our final math module of first grade has been working more on place value to 120 and addition and subtraction to 100. On Friday we solved a math mystery called “The Case of the Dino Digger!”

• Literacy: The last two weeks we have learned about common vowel teams like ee, ea, ie, igh, oa, and ow. We also spent some time on our end of year assessments! NWEA and Aimsweb show how hard we worked this year learning to read.

• Read Aloud: Danny and the Dinosaur, Dinosaur Lady, When Sue Found Sue, Tiny T.Rex and the Very Dark Dark, Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug, How to Catch a Dinosaur, Emma Ren: Junior Paleontologist, Dad and the Dinosaur, The Girl and the Dinosaur, and When Sue Found Sue.

• Science & Social Studies: This week we learned about the six parts of a plant and spent some time in the garden with Ms. Olivia and Mr. Mike from Cornucopia. We’ve also learned a lot about dinosaurs, fossils, and rocks this week during Dinosaur Week!

• SEL: We are working on being independent and being flexible thinkers with classmates and friends.

• Math: As we wrap up the school year, our kindergarten math curriculum ends with us talking about shapes. We are learning how to build and draw 2D (flat) and 3D (solid) shapes.

• Literacy: Kindergarten is spending lots of time putting all of our phonics patterns together reading sentences and stories. We have learned all of the common consonant sounds, short vowel sounds, digraphs (ch, th, sh, wh), and beginning blends in words! We also spent some time on our end of year assessments! NWEA and Aimsweb show how hard we worked this year learning to read.

• Science & Social Studies: We just finished up our science unit on forces and motion. Now as we countdown to the end of the year we are talking all about dinosaurs!

• SEL: Working on being our best learner in the classroom, making good choices that help our learning, and working through assessments to show our best work and what to do if we don’t know the answer.

• Read Aloud: Danny and the Dinosaur, Dinosaur Lady, When Sue Found Sue, Tiny T.Rex and the Very Dark Dark, Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug, How to Catch a Dinosaur, The Day the Babies Crawled Away, and Who, said Sue, said Whoo? We also finished another chapter book, The Magic Tree House #5: Night of the Ninjas.

Wellness with Mrs. Parker

This week in Wellness we've been busy practicing and reviewing the skills we learned throughout the year. Students have focused on dodging, fleeing, and moving safely in dinosaur tag. They have practiced throwing skills- overhand, underhand, and rolling during games - clean your cave, pin knockdown, stinky feet. Students also refined their rock-paper-scissors skills (egg-chicken-dinosaur and regular) while combining it with a giant connect four game. We are always talking about sportsmanship and how to be a team player. Losing a game is difficult for some students but we are practicing ways to make it less difficult and students are helping each other when they become frustrated. Additionally, we talked about the importance of staying hydrated and drinking water- especially when it is so hot outside. It has been a fun week!

Kindergarten: We continued our bullying prevention curriculum with a lesson about refusing bullying. After reviewing the definition of bullying and how to report bullying students watched a video of a student refusing bullying. We reviewed what it means to be assertive and students worked with a partner to practice refusing bullying using a variety of scenarios.

1st Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child learned and practiced ways to make amends to start to solve a problem. If disagreements or hurt feelings occur at home between siblings or family members, help your child think of a way to make amends, help others feel good, and start to solve the problem.

2nd Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child learned that after causing a problem accidentally, besides saying sorry they can do something to make the situation better for the other person. Encourage your child to think of ways to make amends or do more than say sorry after an accident.

3rd Grade: In this week’s lesson your child learned to pick a solution to a problem by either finding a compromise or by showing kindness. Ask your child to explain what a compromise is.

4th Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child learned how to successfully solve an interpersonal problem by picking a solution that’s safe, respectful, and can work for everyone involved. Talk with your child about a time when they were able to solve a problem with a safe and respectful solution that worked for everyone involved. Describe a time when you did the same. Point out that solving problems may not always be easy, but it’s worth the effort.

Have you ever thought about substitute teaching? We'd love to have you come sub at GES! You can apply online here: https://www.applitrack.com/cvsd/onlineapp/default.aspx?Category=Substitute#

Email: croy@conval.edu
Website: https://ges.convalsd.net/
Location: 860 Forest Road, Greenfield, NH 03047, USA
Phone: 603-547-3334
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Greenfield-Elementary-School-532738607668635
Twitter: @ges_royc

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