Torringford Tigers

Dear Torringford Families,

Happy New Year! We hope this message finds you in great spirits and enjoying the start of 2025! It's been wonderful to see the smiling faces of our students, teachers, and staff back at school after a well-deserved winter break.

As we welcome the new year, we kindly remind everyone to help keep our students warm and prepared for the colder months. Please make sure your children are dressed appropriately with coats, hats, mittens or gloves, and boots for outdoor recess. Their safety and comfort are always our top priorities, and your support in ensuring this is greatly appreciated.

Looking ahead, we are excited for the learning, growth, and fun that this new year will bring. As always, we encourage you to reach out with any questions, concerns, or suggestions. Open communication is key to fostering a strong partnership, and we are here to support you in every way possible.

Wishing you and your family a year filled with joy, success, and good health. Thank you for being an integral part of the Torringford School community.

In partnership,

Mrs. Galullo (Principal) & Mrs. Austin (Assistant Principal)

We love having your children at school!

This is the time of year when winter weather takes a toll on school attendance. Snow can make it hard to get your children to school. So can illnesses such as colds, flu, fevers, and earaches.

These absences, even if they are excused, break the routine of daily attendance that contributes to students feeling connected and engaged in learning. Please consider these steps to keep your children healthy and in school this winter.

• Develop back up plans for getting your children to school. Check who can give your children a ride if they miss the bus or you can’t bring them.
• If your children get sick or you are concerned about the flu or other health issues, talk to your child’s medical provider or the school nurse for advice.
• Stomach pain and headaches can be signs of anxiety and may not be reasons for keeping a child home. If you feel that anxiety or stress is playing a role, talk to your child’s teacher, the school nurse or your medical provider about how best to support your child.
• Encourage children to wash their hands before and after eating and after using the restroom.
• Avoid sharing cups and utensils with other individuals.
• Dress your children for the cold weather. If you need help with winter clothing, call the school.
• Encourage healthy habits such as getting enough sleep, eating healthy foods, drinking fluids and getting exercise.
• If your children need to stay home please be sure to report the absence by calling the school 860-489-2300 (option 1) before 9:00 AM and following up with a note upon their return.
• Let us know how we can help you. If you’re having trouble, need resources or advice, please call us at 860.489.2300 and ask to speak with Georgia Austin or Deb Mordecai.

In December, 247 Pawsome cards were awarded. Congratulations to the following Torringford Tigers:

Torringford’s staff and students, along with Superintendent Wilson and Assistant Superintendent Fergusson, came together for an afternoon of Winter Wonderland-themed games!

As we welcome 2025, we’re excited to continue partnering with you to support your child’s health and well-being. With winter in full swing, please remind your little ones to bundle up for the chilly weather, stay hydrated, and wash their hands regularly to stay healthy.

If your child isn’t feeling well, we’re here to provide care and keep them comfortable while at school. Together, we can ensure a safe and healthy start to the new year!

Wishing you and your family a happy, healthy, and wonderful year ahead,

Your School Nurses 🩺❄️

Nurse Allison and Nurse Denise

• January 16: Early Dismissal (1:30); PLC
• January 20: Martin Luther King Day; NO School
• January 31: PTO Sponsored Winter Wonderland Festival; RSVP Required
• February 17: President's Day; NO School
  
• February 18: Teacher Professional Development; NO School
• February 20: Early Dismissal (1:30); PLC

PreK is using what we know about numbers and quantities to solve addition problems!

PreK is also getting a lot of practice writing the letters we are learning!

Using different materials for letter formation helps builds our brains by engaging all of our senses!

Math learning can occur outside of curriculum and in everyday life! We collected coins for CT Children’s Foundation and used our ten frames to count our daily collections of coins.

We are starting our geometry unit in kindergarten. We used play-doh to create shapes such as circles and spheres as we explore the difference between 2-D and 3-D shapes.

In ELA, we’ve been working on opinion writing. We’re learning how to state our opinion and provide supporting reasons.

Through small group instruction, we are applying our phonics skills to read decodable texts with increased independence and fluency.

Learning to read is fun! It’s a favorite choice, even during play time!

We work on written responses to reading independently and collaboratively every day. Check out these students writing sentences about our decodable Benchmark stories. We’re applying phonics encoding skills, high-frequency word knowledge, and concepts of print.

Kindergarteners are learning to visualize. We created mental images of the ending of the story, Wolf Cub’s Song. Students illustrated their visualization and discussed with their Turn and Talk partner.

In Kindergarten, we respond to text by talking about it, drawing about it, and/or writing about it . This helps us understand what has been read.

Students enjoy exploring their STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) skills through collaborative building activities.

Our holiday cookie bakery center was a big hit last month. Dramatic play activities allow students to practice social skills, develop their vocabularies, and become stronger problem solvers.

Students have been independently choosing to use their free time to write and illustrate their own books. They love reading their stories to the class.

Outside play develops our large muscles, social skills, language development, and problem solving. Look at our progression of a snowman!

We participated in CT Children’s Foundation fundraising, culminating with PJ Day! .

In December, we studied several different winter holidays. First we learned about Kwanzaa. We talked about the colors of the candles on a kinara and made our own.

Next, we read about Hanukkah and the menorah. We learned that people often play the dreidel game to celebrate Hanukkah.

Then, we explored Christmas traditions such as singing carols and decorating trees. We noticed similarities and differences between the holidays we studied. For example, all three holidays involved giving gifts and spending time with loved ones.

Snowmen at Night: Fine Motor Fun

Patterns are EVERYWHERE!

Students took a dive into patterns and turned their learning into Candy Canes!

Students in Mrs. Prichard’s class are working to problem solve and show their thinking on vertical boards.

These show partnerships working to take turns, listen, explain and respectfully work together to turn a box into something else!

Mrs. Prichard’s class has been working hard to show Respect, Responsibility and Safety in school.

They earned an bonus “PJ & Stuffy Day!” Woo hoo!

Spirit Days in Mrs. Hagymasi’s classroom!

Mrs. Nilsson’s class was learning about Communities in Benchmark and made Gingerbread Communities!

Mrs. Campbell’s Class Hooray for PJ Day

Spirit Week- Sweater Day/Pajama Day

Mrs. Campbell’s Class with their Book Buddy Stuffies

We love to read with our buddies.

What is your favorite book?

It is the best to hang out and just read!

Miss Mattiello’s Class on White Out Wednesday!

Spelling words in “snow” was so much fun on White Out day!

Spirit Days!

Tree Topper Hair!

Making a fun and yummy snack before break!

We got so creative!

The kids made 15 snowballs. Using these snowballs, the kids made some snowmen. Each snowman was made of 2 or 3 snowballs. How many snowmen could the kids have made?

Mrs. Giampaolo’s second graders are learning that different materials have different properties such as flexibility, texture and absorbency. We applied our knowledge by creating hats made for someone who might be stranded on a tropical Island.

Materials, Properties & Engineering!

Also as a part of the Material Magic Science Unit, we learned about insulators and conductors and learned that different materials have different melting points.

Science: Mrs. Deloy’s and Mrs’s Henry’s classes made The Grinch’s small heart grown by performing an experiment.

Ms. Schone’s class enjoyed winter STEM centers before winter break. Students got to explore magnetism, design simple circuits and build candy/toothpick towers.

Mrs. Deloy’s, Mrs. Lorentzen’s, Mrs. Henry’s, Mrs. Poklemba’s, and Mrs. Giampaolo’s classes designed and constructed Gingerbread Houses during our very own Gingerbread Workshop! Special Thanks to all of our parents and guardians who made this project possible by donating all of the “buliding blocks” a.k.a. Candy!

Mrs. Deloy’s students took phonics to a WNL (whole new level)!!!!! We practiced our new spelling pattern with shaving cream! Did you know that or, ore, and oar all sound the same??? We are quickly learning that if we use multi-modalities when learning - we learn it faster and more efficiently! In shaving cream spelling we learn by seeing, hearing, writing, and saying each word! Our classroom spelled so good and we had fun!

Currently, we are in Unit 4 in Benchmark. Unit 4 is all about comparing points of view.

For the last several days, we have compared the points of view (perspective) in the story, “Rabbit and Coyote.”

The students in the first two pictures are working together to read a reader’s theatre (play) titled, “The Trial of Rabbit.” They then have taken what they know about rabbit and coyote as they write a first-personal journal entry from the perspective of coyote.

Before the journal entries were written or typed, students were tasked with jotting down notes, including emotions & dialog, of the interactions between coyote and rabbit. They then wrote or typed their journal entries.

Please click HERE for a parent letter from Benchmark explaining this week’s unit & goals in more detail.

In Kindergarten, First Grade and Second Grade, we have been working on our 4 voices (whisper, talk, shout & sing), steady beat vs rhythm and high vs low. We have been singing, playing instruments, dancing and playing fun music games like “Apple Tree” and “Chase the Squirrel”.

We’ve also incorporated items like scarves and stretchy bands. With scarves, we pretended to be a scarf on a very windy day as it floated, danced and swirled tge air with “Blowing In The Wind”. With the stretchy band, we worked together to keep the beat and to create movements to both “The Stretchy Band Song” and “Trepak” from the Nutcracker. Check out pictures of Ms. Mattiello’s first grade class with the stretchy band!

In 3rd Grade, we have been working on a little solfege (do-re-mi-fa-sol) or as the kids like to sing “Mommy made me mash my M&Ms”, steady beat vs rhythm as well as the importance of listening, following directions and teamwork.

We have been singing, playing instruments, dancing and playing fun music games like “Pumpkin, You Must Wander”, “Chase the Squirrel” and “Detective” (a.k.a. Who’s the Chief?).

The last few weeks of December, the students had the chance to play the Boomwhackers and the resonator bells. Take a look at Ms. Shaggy’s class with their resonator bells. You should’ve heard them play. It was awesome!

In the coming months, we will begin our preparation for our Recorder Unit. Students have been asking since the beginning of the year and seem very excited to begin. I’m looking forward to it too!

Drop in with your family to enjoy a fun evening filled with winter-themed activities and treats!

❄️ From crafts to games and delicious snacks, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

We can’t wait to celebrate the season with you!

📅 Date: Friday, January 31st
🕒 Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
📍 Location: Torringford Elementary Gymnasium

RSVP is required by January 29th. Please let us know if you’ll be joining us so we can plan accordingly!

🌟 https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F49AEA92FAAFE3-54301424-torringfords

See you there for a magical winter evening!

A $5 DONATION PER FAMILY, UPON ENTRY, IS RECOMMENDED

(NOT REQUIRED) TO HELP OFFSET COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE EVENT.

Click HERE for English Flyer

Click HERE for Spanish Flyer

Torringford School is a safe and welcoming community where we take care of people and foster positive relationships. Our team spirit supports and acknowledges everyone. Optimists persist to meet challenges with the flexibility and empathy to create healthy, enthusiastic, life-long learners.

Educate. Explore. Inspire.

Email: gaustin@torrington.org
Website: http://torringtontorringford.ss16.sharpschool.com
Location: 800 Charles Street, Torrington, CT, USA
Phone: (860)489-2300
Facebook: facebook.com/TorringfordTigers