Inside this issue:
Principal’s Message
1
Classroom News
2
Reading and Specials
3
Parent Resources and
Links
4
Calendar
4
March/April 2011
Franklin Elementary School, Stratford, CT (203)385-4190
http://franklin.stratfordk12.org
Principal’s Message
Franklin’s Finest
The Franklin's Finest Committee
is proud to announce the March
honorees:
Kindergarten Mrs Hoag - James
Duhancik, Ms. Hojdich: Elyssa
Torres
Grade One Mrs. Fagan: Niko
Tsamos, Miss Farrell: Jada Colavita-Jean, Mrs. McMellon:
Natalie Miguel
Grade Two Miss Massicotte:
Bianca Plachi, Mrs. Paradis:
[name withheld], Miss Takacs:
Jenna Garcia
Grade Three Mrs. Arcuri:
Kariana Marrero, Mrs. Marchetti:
Rachel Rivera, Miss Solazzi:
Kayla Kelley
Grade Four Miss Perez/Mrs.
King: Preston Debose, Mrs. Recupero: Mateo Patino
Grade Five Ms. Tedesco: [name
withheld], Miss Wills: Zachary La
Puglia
Grade Six: Mrs. Stewart: Raquel
Juarez, Mrs. Gorton: Tayliah
Quiles-Sisk, Mrs. Liebowitz:
Chrisaine Bailey
Art Ms. Delorenzo: Margarita
Jaime
PE Mr. Rosenberg: [name withheld]
Library Mrs. Kaluzynski:
Prashant Haley
WANTED!
Your child and Mrs. K. would love
to have you as a Parent Volunteer
in the Library. Spend time with
your child in a different way!
Please contact Mrs. Kaluzynski if
you are available!
Franklin Families,
Spring is in the AIR!! As the weather continues to warm up, it is important to reinforce appropriate behavior, appropriate dress code, and consistently putting forth
100% effort with our boys and girls. You can help us by reinforcing this at home.
Your support and effort has the most influential impact on your child’s behavior
and attitude about school.
There are a few important dates to remember during the month of April. Please
mark your calendars:
• Town PUBLIC HEARING regarding the BUDGET-April 13, 2011 from 7:009:00 p.m. at Bunnell High School
• Town PUBLIC HEARING regarding the BUDGET-April 14,
2011 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Stratford High School
• Eat, Read, ENJOY-Our Spring Reading Night/Pasta NightApril 14, 2011 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Franklin School
• Please attend the Town Public Hearing on April 13h so you can
make our Spring Reading Night on April 14th.
• School is in session on Monday, April 18, 2011 due to the
enormous amount of snow days we have had. The rest of the week of April 18th is
Spring Vacation.
• Our last Make Your Day Parent Workshop-April 26, 2011 from 3:30-4:30.
You will be entered into a raffle if you sign the Make Your Day Commitment
Pledge.
• BREAKFAST will be served until 8:45 a.m. Students that are tardy may not
access breakfast after the tardy bell rings. If you would like your child to receive
breakfast, they must be in the building between 8:30-8:45 a.m.
Students should not enter through the RAMP door in the mornings. Students must
enter through their grade assigned door. The RAMP door will now be locked at
8:30 a.m. due to SAFETY REGULATIONS.
Thank you for all that you do to help and support our school! Please remember we
are a team and we all want what is best for our children! You may contact me if
you have any questions or concerns.
Lea Ann Bradford
Principal, Franklin Elementary School
1895 Barnum Avenue, Stratford, CT 06614
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: (203) 385-4190 Fax: (203) 385-4116
Page 2
March/April 2011
Classroom News!
Kindergarten
Grade 1
The kindergarten students are
ready for Spring! They have been
writing books in class, as well as using their senses to appreciate Nature. Their natural curiosity and inquisitiveness makes them wonderful
scientists!
All About Me
“All About You”,
We’re Learning,“
How-To” Writing,
And Poetry too.
How Do you Grow,
A Plant From a Seed?,
Air, Water, Light,
Are Some Things That You Need.
Long and Short Vowels,
Digraphs and Blends,
We Can Read Words,
To Share With our Friends.
Counting Tens and Ones,
Ten More and Ten Less,
Sorting and Graphs,
In Math we address.
Grade 4
Grade 3
We worked diligently during the
month of March and did our very best
on the CMTs. We are now exercising
our creativity in our poetry unit.
Come take a look at our "Poet Trees".
We are also hard at work learning
about recycling and how we can help
our planet. We will be taking a field
trip to the Garbage Museum soon! In
reading we are learning about biographies. We're reading about Harry
Houdini and might even have our own
magic show.
Fabulous Fourth Graders are
happy to move onto springtime learning! We have begun our land and water Science unit and are busy making stream tables. Each team
needs to learn the meaning
of cooperation in order to
get their work done. We have
also begun expository writing. This week we will learn
the structure of expository
paragraphs and choose a
topic to write about. We will
be working toward creating
a speech for our annual
Speak Loud, Speak Proud
contest.
Grade 6
The stupendous sixth graders are proud of all of their hard
work and effort on the Connecticut Mastery Test. The students are very excited to begin a new genre of math, Statistics. They have been collecting and analyzing class data. The
sixth graders will learn how to create several kinds of graphs
and then analyze the graphs!
Grade 2
The Super Second Graders are excited
about Spring! We have just started our
Plants Life Cycle in Science and the children are looking forward to watching their
Wisconsin Fast Plants grow and to working
on other plant and seed experiments. The
children have been living "once upon a time"
and "happily ever after" as they learn
about fairy tales, fables and other traditional tales during their literacy time. In
math, the children have been learning all
about time, especially elapsed time- ask
them how many hours it is from dinner
time until bedtime, we're sure they can tell
you! Also, in Writer's Workshop, the children are learning how to write about nonfiction topics that interest them. Finally,
we would like to say how proud we are of
our Franklin's Finest students: Bianca,
[name withheld], , Jenna and Prashant as
well as the rest of the second graders for
always doing their best each and every day!
Grade 5
In fifth grade, in science, the students
are studying the solar system. We are
discovering so many interesting facts
about all of our planets. Each child is
also responsible for looking at the
moon every night for a month and
learn about the various phases of the
moon. In Social Studies, we are
learning what it was like to live in
Colonial America. We even will get
to write with ink and feather pens. In
writing, we are working on creating
our own personal memoirs. We hope
to have a memoir presentation day
and invite our parents and some special guests. We are creating a beautiful book of our life's experiences.
Page 3
March/April 2011
Specialists
Spanish—Espanol (Maestra Wallace)
¡Hola! Students in Kindergarten are learning the sounds of the
letters of the Spanish alphabet through the implementation of the
Zoophonics program. With the incorporation of Zoophonics, each
letter sound is paired with an animal friend. For example, students
will learn the sound of the letter “S” with their friend “Sami Serpiente”. So far, the children have reviewed the sounds of the letters
M, S, F, T, P, and L in Spanish. First graders are reviewing the
Spanish Alphabet and creating a “Mi Alfabeto” booklet. First
grade students have create pages for letters A-P. The Estrellitas
literacy program has been implemented in all second grade classes.
Currently, the second grade students are reading the book Mamá,
Papá y Ana. This book reinforces Spanish words that contain the
letter “A”. Third graders are study los animales (animals). At the
conclusion of this unit, students will be able to recognize various
animals in Spanish. They will also be able to identify different animal habitats and which animals are carnívoros(carnivores), omnívoros (omnivores), and herbívoros (herbivores). During the second Spanish class, third grade students will be reading and illustrating their Hugo y la urraca book from the Estrellitas reading series. Through the incorporation of preposiciones (prepositions)
fourth graders will learn how to identify where items are located
in the Spanish language. In order to review Spanish prepositions,
students are creating their own version of the book “El Paseo de
Rosita”. During our second meeting, fourth grade students will
participate in centers and independently read short Spanish stories
to the teacher. They will also be provided the opportunity to read
articles from the Scholatic News en Español magazine. Please
refer to the world language website for a list of vocabulary words.
This list can be used to enhance your child’s learning of another
language.
Stratford Library
Children's Programs
Please register for special programs by calling 203.385.4165 or
stop by the Children’s Department.
Decorative Arts: Make Pysanky Eggs (Ages 7-12)
Saturday, April 9, 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Learn this Eastern European decorating technique.
Aspiring Authors (Ages 8-12)
Monday, April 11, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
For children who love to write. Bring a notebook.
SNAPSHOT DAY Wednesday, April 13
All over Connecticut, people celebrate their libraries today.
4:00 p.m. Spring Art (Ages 5-12) (Please register)
Read to Therapy Dogs
Thursday, April 14, 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Read to Siena & Drago our therapy dogs. All ages
Movie Making Workshop (ages 9-12)
Thursday, April 21, 1-4 p.m.
Help make a summer reading movie for the Library! Design the script and costumes, plan the dialogue, or be an
actor!
Reading (Mrs. Gallagher)
Students of all ages enjoy books
that include humor. Two authors
who write humorous books are
James Marshall, especially the
Fox series, and
Herman Parish
whose books
include the Amelia Bedelia
series.
Library (Mrs. Kaluzynski)
Like to read? Like to talk?
Like to have friends over?
Like to eat snacks?
Form a book club with your friends!
Ask your parents, and then
look at these websites for ideas:
http://kidsbookclubbook.com/
http://www.kidsreads.com/
Art (Mrs. Cooper)
In Mrs. Cooper's art class Kindergarten has
been practicing their rainbow order. First
grade has just completed the cutest Neutral
Color Teddy Bears anyone could hope to see!
Second and Third Grade are working on color
mixing their tertiary colors with some boldly
colored parrot paintings. Fourth grade could
tell you some interesting things about artist
Henri Rousseau’s jungle paintings. Meanwhile,
5th and 6th are both learning about fantasy art
and cultural myths about different types of
Dragons from around the world!
Resources and Links
•
Franklin website home page
http://franklin.stratfordk12.org
•
Make Your Day Parent Site
http://www.makeyourdayparents.com
•
Stratford Public Library
http://stratfordlibrary.com
•
Study Island
http://www.studyisland.com
•
Destiny Card Catalog
http://boe-destiny.stratfordk12.org
•
Parent Portal ( gr. 4-6—must be signed up )
https: boe-ps-app2.stratfordk12.org/public
Calendar of Events
Early Dismissal
Professional Dev.
1:30 pm
Thurs.
4/7
Spring Photos
Fri. 4/8
Town Public Hearing
regarding Budget
7:00-9:PM
Bunnell HS
Wed.
4/13
Town Public Hearing
regarding Budget
7:00-9:PM
Stratford HS
Thurs.
4/14
Reading Night/
Thurs.
4/14
Make Your Day
parent meeting
3:30-4:30
Spring Concert
1:30
Pasta Night
Tues.
4/26
Wed.
5/25
Sixth Grade Awards
Thurs.
6/14
Early Dismissal
last three days of
school—1:30pm
6/226/24?
Last Day of School
6/24?
6-8pm
Mon.
Dress Down
Donations benefit Earth- 4/18
quake and Tsunami victims
Spring Vacation
4/19–
4/22
Resiliency
Resiliency is essential in youngsters ability to successfully overcome adverse life experiences. This important trait allows children to thrive no matter what negative experiences they could encounter. The seven ingredients of resiliency include: emotional awareness /control, impulse control, realistic optimism, flexible
thinking, empathy, self-confidence or self-efficacy, and reaching out to others when in need of assistance
(NASP, 2011). As parents and educators it is necessary to provide instruction regarding how these ingredients apply to children. If you have questions on how you might instruct your child, please feel free to contact
the Franklin school psychologist and social worker.
NASP Optimism and Resilience Resources: http://www.nasponline.org/families/optimism.aspx
Lori DiBlasi-School Social Worker
Second-graders
from Miss Takacs’
class created:
Primary
And
Secondary
Fish
Joanna Procaccini-School Psychologist
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