Fogarty Memorial School Newsletter
November 2011
Happy November Fogarty Families
The Power of Reading
Hard to believe the first quarter is quickly
coming to a close and that Parent-Teacher
Conferences are right around the corner. If you
haven’t already scheduled your conference for Nov.
10th, please contact your child’s teacher for
conference availability. Report cards will sent home
Wednesday, Nov. 9th.
Our contributors to this month’s newsletter
are our specialists that your child may or may not
work directly with. These specialist include;
Speech/Language, Instructional Coach, Reading
Specialist, Computer Teacher, School Psychologist
and Social Worker. Please take a moment to read how
these specialists support the students at Fogarty.
On November 2nd will we be saying good-bye
and good luck to Mrs. Boudreau our beloved secretary
as she retires. Many of you remember Audrey as your
school secretary when you attended Fogarty.
Honestly where does 39 years go? We are grateful
for her dedicated service to us throughout these
many years and wish her good health and happiness in
her next chapter in her life.
In closing, have a wonderful month ahead and
a very Happy Thanksgiving!
With the start of a new school year there is
no better time to review and practice the many
strategies that are taught to help us become better
readers.
Be a detective and look at picture clues!
Look at the beginning sound of the word.
Look at the structure of the word.
Skip the word and read to the end of the sentence
to gain meaning.
Does it make sense?
Does it sound right?
Does it look right?
If not, read it again!
The power of reading with your child cannot
be over emphasized. Remember to vary the genre
and choose books with rich language to enhance
vocabulary development. Working with your child not
only fosters a love of reading but it also promotes
the home-school connection.
Ms. Bailey
Reading Specialist
Mrs. Mokaba
A Note From
Your School Social Worker
As the school social worker, I collaborate with students, teachers,
and families to assess social-emotional and behavioral issues that impact
student learning. I am here to help with a variety of issues such as bullying,
divorce, anxiety and social skills. I provide individual or small group
counseling and work within the classroom setting. In addition, I help
parents access community resources such as the Glocester food pantry, fuel
assistance and local counseling services. I also make referrals to programs
such as Katie Beckett, Rite Care and the CEDARR Center. My scheduled
days at Fogarty are Tuesday and Thursday, however I am available on other
days if necessary. Please feel free to contact me at school 568-6211 or 5670350 or email me at [email protected].
Jennifer Gaudiana
Parent/Teacher
Conferences
Parent/Teacher Conferences
will be held on Tuesday,
November 10th from 1:00 –
7:00. There will be no school
on that day. If you haven’t
made an appointment with
your child’s teacher please
call the school to arrange one.
News from the Speech and
Language Department
Framing Your Thoughts
What is vocabulary? Perhaps, it is that dreaded
bit of homework that your child frequently brings
home. Many times, students are asked to define words,
to look up their meanings in a dictionary. Another
assignment could be to use the vocabulary words in a
sentence.
Once there was a young girl who told a lie to her
father. When her father discovered that she had fibbed,
he thought of a punishment for her. Yes, there were
consequences for lying! He told her to grab a pencil and
paper and to write 50 times the following sentence: “I
must not prevaricate.”
The girl was not sure what he had said and asked
him to repeat the assignment, which he gladly did for
her. She asked for help with the assignment: but he told
her to use the dictionary. It was quite a formidable task
for the young girl, and luckily she had a dictionary and a
little help from her siblings. She completed the task,
after quite a long time. She handed it to her father. He
thanked her and that was that.
Although the girl did not enjoy this little task,
she still remembers the definition of the word,
prevaricate. Attaching meaning to a vocabulary word is a
task that can be an enjoyable learning experience or a
memorable learning experience or a meaningless
experience. As educators and parents, the more relevant
that we can make vocabulary, the more our children will
be interested in learning new word meanings.
At the dinner table, there are many opportunities
to expand a child’s interest in vocabulary. Once there
was a little girl whose father used to talk about the
length of words. He would give a few examples of long
words such as university or expectorate. Sometimes, he
would wonder if there were any longer words.
Occasionally, he would come up with a word such as
antidisestablishmentarianism. The little girl and her
siblings would always doubt the existence of such a
word. He would simply say that it was a word. After
supper, there was usually a
scramble for the dictionary to
try to prove that Dad was
wrong. That very rarely
happened; but soon a new
challenge was extended to find
a word longer than that one. Let’s just thank Mary
Poppins for the word
Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious!
I am sure that the spelling of that word is correct
and that it is a real word because I am sure that I learned
my lesson about prevarication.
Mrs. Cavanagh
We are piloting a Written Expression Program
in Fourth Grade called Framing Your Thoughts by
Language Circle Enterprises. The program uses a
multi-sensory instructional approach to teach written
language sequentially and systematically. First, we
worked on writing “Barebone Sentences” that
consisted of a subject and a predicate. Now, we are
expanding our sentences using predicate expanders.
The students answer a where and/or how question
about the predicate in their “Barebone sentence” to
expand their sentence.
The poems below began with “Barebone
Sentences” and after using predicate expanders,
they now have details that provide us with visual
images that enhance the mood of the poem.
By Karen Luth
Halloween
By Colton Mousseau
Halloween scares at night.
Vampires bite sharply into skin.
Ghosts fly in the night and disappear beyond space.
People listen behind bushes and scream between
houses.
Flashlights glare in the night and blink toward houses.
Halloween
By Katie Mooney
Kids run wildly near the abandoned house.
Scissors tear rapidly across the cloth.
Candy bars break freely in a kid’s hands.
Children roam noisily around the neighborhood.
Halloween Happenings
By Hannah Simoneau
The night shimmers like the moon itself in the sky.
Pumpkins stare spookily into the stars.
Witches concoct potions secretly in their hideout.
Ghosts lurk unexpectedly through the dark.
Dates To
Remember
Nov. 9 – Report cards go home
Nov. 10 – Parent Teacher Conferences
Nov. 11 – Veteran’s Day, No School
From the School Psychologist
Research has shown that people who experience
gratitude have more overall positive emotions, such as joy,
love, and happiness; have fewer negative emotions, such as
bitterness, envy, and resentment; have increased feelings of
connectedness and improved relationships; experience
greater satisfaction with school and improved academic
achievement; and even have better physical health than
people who don’t take the time to notice and appreciate
the good things in their lives.
Caregivers can help their children to develop the
attitude of gratitude through a variety of simple, everyday
acts and activities:
1. Model practicing gratitude. Express thanks to
your families, friends, and neighbors. Let your
children see you behaving gratefully.
2. Encourage “gratitude” thinking. For example,
if your child does well on a big project, or finds
their way to success in a challenging homework
assignment, help him or her to consider those
people who helped along the way. Suggest a
“thank you”, in person or by writing a note, to the
parent, sibling, friend, or teacher who lent the
extra hand. Teachers love to hear those two
words!
3. Share gratitude daily. Make time in the morning,
or at dinner, for the family to share at least one
thing for which each person is grateful.
Gratefulness reinforces positive connections--and
highlights resources.
Thank you all for the warm welcome I have received
from the students, staff, families, and administrators of our
wonderful school. It is a pleasure to be a part of this
vibrant learning community.
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duncan,
School Psychologist
Learning to Make
Computers Work for Us
The average young American now spends practically
every waking minute — except for the time in school — using
a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device,
according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Those ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half
hours a day with such devices, compared with less than six
and a half hours five years ago, when the study was last
conducted. And that does not count the hour and a half that
youths spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their
cellphones.
And because so many of them are multitasking —
say, surfing the Internet while listening to music — they pack
on average nearly 11 hours of media content into that seven
and a half hours.
The New York Times, January 20, 2010
These amazing facts even stunned the
researchers doing the study. Computer devices have
taken over our lives, for better or worse. In
Glocester we are trying to harness the power of
computer devices for better. My goal, as the
technology integration specialist (computer teacher),
is to harness the power of these devices and teach
the students and staff how to make the computer a
tool for learning. Children need to know that
computers can work for them to help them learn and
to make their lives easier.
When the students come to computer class
every other week, we have been focusing on computer
applications/websites that will help them with their
learning. One of the main things
that we will be working on in
grades 3-5 is keyboarding. We
are using a program called Type
to Learn that teaches the user
proper keyboarding skills. Every lesson teaches them
to type 2 new letters through instruction and fun
activities that help them practice what they have
learned. We started out with the F, J and spacebar.
Ask your child what letters they have learned!
Another technology skill we have been
focusing on is using the internet as a tool to do
research. Students need to know how to find
websites that are safe and age appropriate and will
give them the information they are looking for. I
have bookmarked a number of sites on our web page
under Student Bookmarks that the students can use.
World Book Encyclopedia is also available to students
outside of school by going to www.askri.org.
Teachers have also been incorporating new
technology devices in their classrooms to stimulate
the learning process. A number of our classrooms now
have Promethean interactive white boards in them.
These boards have expanded the learning
opportunities in the classrooms. The teachers have
been presenting lessons that the students can
go up to the board and interact with.
It is so exciting for the students
and a great motivator for learning.
Mrs. Adams