milk) and carbohydrates (fruit, oatmeal, toast). (3)
IF your child has testing anxiety, reassure them that
we only expect them to do their best because the
testing is meant to show what they have learned!
February PAWPRINTS
BUILD RELATIONSHIPS, QUALITY
INSTRUCTION, HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Principal’s Message
February, 2016
Dear PRS Community,
The weeks following the New Year and the end of
February always prove to be extremely busy as the
teachers and I take stock through analysis of data
and individual meetings so we can look at where we
were at the beginning of the school year with
students and the progress to date. This provides the
reflection necessary to make sure that our students
are on track to meet end of the year goals and
benchmarks.
This March will be our Third Annual March Madness
Raffle sponsored by the PRS PTO. It is always a fun
month long event that excites the students and
parents. Consider supporting this fundraiser and
best of luck!!
Smarter Balanced assessments will be administered
after the April vacation this year. The plan is to
conduct practice testing the week of April 18th and
then the week of April 25th we will begin official
testing. SBAC is only for our grade 3-5 students.
Testing is approximately 45-60 minutes, four times
per week, for two weeks.
The Science CMT which is only for our 5th graders is
approximately 60 minutes and is scheduled for March
22nd.
Here are some helpful tips to help prepare your child
for standardized testing: (1) Get a good night sleep
the night before. Limit activities the night before
testing. (2) Give your child an energy boosting
breakfast. Try to include both protein (eggs, yogurt,
You probably will not believe this (I know I don’t!) but
next month’s Paw Prints newsletter will likely share
about the process for class placement as we start
soliciting parent input around April. So be on the
lookout for that information.
Fondly,
Michelle Dixon, Principal
NOTES FROM KINDERGARTEN
Kindergarten students have just begun a new reading
and writing unit. They will be reading informational
books about animals. Then, they will use this
information to write their own informational books
about animals. This unit is so much fun because
students become researchers! Students will use
computers and books to find out all about an animal of
their choice. Students will report about what their
animal looks like, what they eat, where they live, and
a few fun facts! When we are done, look for our
books in the PRS library!
All-Star First Graders
Spring is upon us and there are so many wonderful
things for us to celebrate! First grade has been on a
roller coaster of learning! Here are some of our
exciting upcoming teaching points:
 Opinion writing! Convince me, persuade me,
The reading lessons from this unit will be
integrated into Writing Workshop. Students will
write a fictional story which may include a moral or
lesson. They will also be incorporating the Literary
Devices/Figurative Language taught in the previous
Reading/Writing Unit. Specific writing lessons will
focus on utilizing narrative graphic organizers before
writing, elaborating events, revising and editing. On
Thursday, May 11th, students will be going to Lincoln
Theater in Hartford to attend a wonderful puppet
performance titled, Aesop’s Fables.
Third Grade
and make me want to change! Everyone has
one! Support your ideas with evidence!

Book recommendations: what makes a good
book recommendation? How does the author
make the book exciting to read? Share your
thinking and support with facts from the
text.

Can you tell time to the hour and the half?

Can you add and subtract sufficiently with
facts up to 20? Are you double checking your
work?
Please check in with your child! Do not forget Reading
nightly is essential to your child’s continued growth!
Second Grade
What does chocolate have to do with multiplication?
Third graders are working in Muffle's Truffles Shop
to organize his chocolate truffles into boxes of 10.
What happens when Muffle's assistant Patricio
mistakenly wraps up the truffle boxes without
labeling them? Students work to determine the area
of the boxes using 5 X 2 arrays or by determining
the dimensions of the wrapped boxes. They
discovered three important properties within this
unit: The Commutative Property (8 X 10 = 10 X 8),
The Associative Property (5 X 2 X 3 = 2 X 3 X 5), and
The Distributive Property (12 X 4 = 10 X 4 + 2 X 4)!
Fourth Grade
Second graders are learning about the
characteristics of folktales, fairytales and fables. In
this unit, the students will learn how to determine
the message, lesson or moral of a story. They will
also learn how to recognize a character’s point of
view by comparing two versions of the same story.
During Library, the students will have the opportunity
to become actors and actresses through readers’
theater performing one of Aesop’s Fables.
Grade four has been busy at work, learning all about
fractions in math. We investigated two real word
situations where we needed to divide subway
sandwiches and a bicycle trail. We have learned that
fractions are all around us, and are used in real life
every day. We also learn about fraction equivalences!
Our new Social Studies unit has begun and is helping
us to understand what life was like during the
Revolutionary War Period. We are creating friezes
that show what Colonial Boston looked like and we are
making our own families! Mary is in the Duncan
family, and that family are the ship makers. They
have a very important job.
her Shoshone family provided horses for the Corps
to continue their excursion.
A furry, loyal, strong, and helpful dog named
Seaman was also a member of the expedition. Our class
has been reading, Lewis, Clark and Me. It tells us about
the Lewis and Clark expedition- but from Seaman’s
perspective! We renamed all of the chapters and
inferred upcoming events in Lewis, Clark and Me.
All fourth grade students have finished their fantasy
stories, and they were full of creativity and fun. If
your child hasn’t shown it to you yet, ask about it!
Happy Almost Spring!!!!
After Lewis and Clark discovered territory out
west, early pioneers ventured out to live on this new
land. Do you know what life was like in the early 1800’s?
Well, on February 19th, we will take an exciting field
trip to Old Sturbridge Village and experience that time
period where people relied on their farms to supply
them food, and we will learn what we would need to
pack to go on the expedition. Our class will be learning
about the early pioneers traveling on the Oregon Trail,
we will pretend to pack a wagon. The field trip will help
us imagine this time period in history.
Recently, we have been learning different
strategies for multiplying fractions. We have
used the “box” way lately. For
example:
Fifth Grade
By: Alyssa Xu and Sophie Viar
Have you ever thought about what it would
feel like to go explore a place that you didn't know
about? Well, that’s what Meriwether Lewis, William
Clark, and about 30 other men called the Corps of
Discovery went to do: go on an expedition to explore
the Louisiana Territory in the west. We have been
learning about the difficult exploration that doubled
the size of the USA
Throughout the journey, the Corps of
Discovery (COD) tried to accomplish President
Thomas Jefferson’s goals. Thomas Jefferson hoped
that Lewis and Clark would be able to find a direct
water route to the Pacific Ocean, make maps of the
new land, and to make connections with the Native
American tribes. Although the Corps didn’t reach all
of their goals, they still accomplished a lot from this
journey.
Did you know that a teenager also
accompanied the Corps on their expedition?
Sacagawea, who was from the Shoshone, a Native
American Tribe. We discovered that Sacagawea was a
very important member of the expedition because
she was very helpful in some occasions. She
translated the Shoshone language spoken by the
tribe, picked edible plants for the crew to eat, and
We also learned the traditional way- simply by
multiplying both numerators and denominators
together and getting the product of the two
fractions.
For example:
ART MUSINGS
by Lynsey Desmond
Many, many students have risen to the challenges
of entering several art contests this school year. We
have dealt with four very different contests. The
latest two are going on right now:
- The Google Doodle Scholarship contest - winners
will be announced in March. They have had over
100,000 entries from all over the USA.
- The Long Island Sound Conservation contest
entries are due in to me on March 29th, no later. I
have the entry art paper that the work needs to be
done on for each student who wants to enter this
contest.
Student artists are currently working on
a variety of study units.
Grade K is working with the basics of color theory.
Grade 1 is going to work with patterning and texture
work, then move in to space using perspective sizing
techniques. Grade 2 will soon be designing clay ducks
in earthenware clay. Grade 3 is finishing up their 2D
snow-globe collages and will then begin work with
Japanese Guyataku printmaking. Grade 4 is working on
their mythology unit designing a clay slab relief
sculpture. Grade 5 is finishing up a city skyline pastel
piece and will then move in to creating a Civil War era
related "Ugly Jug". Grades 4 & 5 Art Enrichment
students have been building challenging 3D wire
sculptures.
This week Grade 5 Art Excel portfolio entries
have been submitted to the Art teachers at TEMS
for their consideration.
The PRS PTO has generously given six beautiful
ceiling light tiles to the Art studio. Stop in to the
studio some time if you are in the area and take a
look "up". They really inspire student imaginations.
Helpful Hints from the Intervention Team
Julie Ratajczak
Math Coach/Intervention Teacher
Play Your Math
Since winter decided to surprise us all of a
sudden, one thing you can do with your children while
you are staying inside warming up from those low
temps outside, is to play some fun board games!
Board games are a great way to teach and reinforce
math skills. They are fun so they keep the children
engaged, which is half the battle. Games are also
another way to see different concepts and
understand how they are related to real world
situations.
Here are some you might enjoy. For counting
skills, number identification, addition, and subtraction
are Chutes and Ladders, Sorry!, Uno, Candy Land, and
Pay Day. A few that are great to work on patterns
and attributes are Crazy Eights, Guess Who?, and
Rummikub. Checkers, Chess, Clue, Yahtzee,
Battleship, Memory, and Othello are to practice
strategy, reasoning, and special perception.
The goal for children is that they will master
the math skills at their grade level. Board games
provide motivation for mastery, because children like
to win at games and this yearning to win gives them a
reason for wanting to achieving mastery. Most
importantly, have fun playing with your child!
Reading Corner
Kelly Burke, Reading Consultant
March 2, 2016 is Read Across America Day!!!
Research tells us that a child’s ability to read has a
direct effect on their future success. Reading with
your child helps to increase their vocabulary and
improves their reading fluency and comprehension.
Read Across America began in 1998 by the National
Education Association as a way to celebrate the
legacy of Dr. Seuss and to encourage all children to
read. Since its creation, educators, parents,
caregivers and students have embraced Read Across
America and helped to turn it into the largest reading
celebration. On March 2, we encourage EVERYONE to
pick up a book and read with your child. So, whether
it’s your favorite Dr. Seuss book or something new
and exciting, we encourage you to grab a book, find a
comfy place and read with your child!!!
Healthy Reminders from the Health Room
ALL 2ND graders are required to have a
Physical!
Principal
Secretary
Clerk
Nurse
Main Number
Michelle Dixon
Lisa Lovett
Carol Scheuing
Colleen Heneghan
648-5025
Visit our Website
http://www.swindsor.k12.ct.us/Schools/prs/prsmith.h
tml
Important Dates
March 16 – Progress Reports Distributed
March 25 – Good Friday (no school)
March 28 – Professional Development Day
(no school)
March 30 – Start of Early Dismissal
Wednesdays – 12:45
March 30, April 6, April 20 – ParentTeacher Conferences