Donald Ross School Newsletter
October 2016
The Ross Report
Contents
The Ross Report
1
Dear Parents and Guardians
1
Upcoming Events
2
Parking and Safety
2
Cultural Arts
2
A Message from:
Mrs. Brady and Ms. Romeo 3
Mrs. Machado
3
Ms. Martin
3
A note from Nurse Olsen
4
Grade One News
5
Grade Two News
5
Grade Three News
6
Grade Four News
7
Grade Five News
8
Upcoming Events
Halloween at Ross
8
Pumpkin Fest
9
Early Release Days
9
Thank you Neighbors
9
Frank McGourty, Principal
[email protected]
On October 19, Ross School will have a school share. Each month, we gather
to celebrate the learning that takes place in our classrooms. Sometimes
individual students share their work; other times, whole classes will present a
poem or song they have learned. The shares are informal and scheduled for
2:10, but parents and guardians have a standing invitation to attend if they
wish.
At each share, we recognize individual students with the Ross School Student
Aspiration Awards. These certificates acknowledge students who aspire to
achieve more at school by showing the characteristics below. Students may
receive one of these awards:
 Belonging - Students who ensure that others feel welcome, valued and
safe at school.
 Heroes - Students who are role models for others
 Sense of Accomplishment - Students who try their best and are
successful in ways that are not typically recognized.
 Fun and Excitement - Students who are engaged in learning and share
their enthusiasm with others.
 Curiosity and Creativity - Students who are inquisitive enough to ask
"why?" and imaginative enough to ask "why not?"
 Spirit of Adventure - Students who are willing to take a chance and
push their boundaries to succeed.
 Leadership and Responsibility - Students who are not afraid to make
decisions and accept responsibility for their choices.
 Confidence to Take Action - Students who set goals and are taking the
necessary steps to reach those goals.
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We appreciated seeing the parents and guardians who attended the
two Curriculum Nights and grade one Open House at Ross in September.
The presentations by the classroom teachers gave a broad overview of the
year’s curriculum, and it’s important that parents and guardians have an
understanding of the expectations for the year.
The PTO officers gave a summary of the important role the organization
plays at Ross and urged them to become involved. This year the PTO will not
distribute catalogs for fundraising. Parents were asked to support the many
fun, family activities planned for the year.
The PTO supports our school generously with their time and funds. They
provide financial support for programs and materials which otherwise would
not be funded. The first PTO meeting of the year is Tuesday, October 11 at
7:00 pm in the school gym. Our officers will talk about upcoming events, and
Our fifth grade leaders provide babysitting for school-aged children during the
meeting. Please make an effort to attend; the meetings are informative and a
wonderful way to build community spirit.
Sincerely,
Frank McGourty
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Upcoming Events
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Oct. 6 – Trailside
Owls Program, Gr. 4
Oct. 5 – Early
Dismissal: AM
Kindergarten @
10:30a.m.; No PM
Kindergarten; Grades
K-5 @ 12:10
Oct. 10 - Columbus
Day, No School
Oct. 11 - PTO
Meeting 7:00;
Babysitting available
Oct. 14 – School
Share, 2:10pm
Oct.26 - SEPAC “The
Special Organizer”
Thayer Public Library
6:30-8:30 pm
Oct. 23 – Family
Portraits, 11am-2pm
Oct. 24 -School
Committee Meeting –
Flaherty @ 7:00 pm
Oct. 28 Halloween
Dance
6:00 – 7:00 pm
grades 1 and 2
7:00-8:00 pm,
Grades 3, 4 and 5
Ross Gym – Ross
Students and
younger siblings only
Oct 28 - Halloween
students may wear
costumes (no toy
weapons)
Nov. 8 – Election
Day, NO SCHOOL
Donald Ross School Newsletter
Parking and Safety Reminder
At dismissal, please be considerate of our neighboring homes and
businesses when picking up your children.
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Please do not park in front of driveway entrances.
Parking lots at Paul J. Rogan Co. and Hayward Market are not available
for Ross parents for pick up purposes. Please be respectful of these
private businesses.
Do not park in the parking lot belonging to the condominiums located
behind Hayward Market.
It is very concerning to see families and children crossing the street in
front of Hayward Market. The few moments saved flouting safety rules
send a dangerous message to our students. Please model safe behavior
for your children, they watch and emulate all that you do. The town of
Braintree has two crossing guards at dismissal to ensure safety of
pedestrians and to direct traffic as families parked in our lot exit the
school grounds. While not ideal, this process is smoother than in
previous years. I encourage parents to use the crosswalk at Hayward
St. and Commercial St. even if they plan to walk east on Hayward.
Taking the extra time to model safe habits will make it more likely that
your children will make safe choices when they are not with you.
We Choose Respect
The first Cultural Arts program of the year featured Jedlie Productions
and a “We Choose Respect” program. The presentation is designed to
motivate students to wake up every morning and make a choice to
respect everyone (including themselves), every day and everywhere.
Jedlie combined storytelling, comedy and illusions in an interactive
program with students sharing they were thankful for family, friends,
sports and love. Several students were active participants in skits
interspersed with jaw dropping illusions and a positive message.
Thank you to the Ross PTO and Cultural Arts Coordinators Valerie Fink
and Lauren Crook for supporting engaging programs for Ross students.
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Donald Ross School Newsletter
A Message from Mrs. Brady and Mrs. Romeo
It has been a busy start to the 2016-2017 school year at Ross School! We were excited to
acknowledge the many students who completed their Summer Reading Bingo Boards at the first
school share. We were very impressed to hear about all of the summer reading that Ross students
did!
We hope that all parents received the letter about RTI (Response to Intervention), which explains
our service model. We have seen some temporary groups since the first week of school and we will
begin to see new groups after some benchmark testing that will take place the end of September.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us!
Danielle Romeo (voicemail ext. 6723)
Claire Brady (voicemail ext. 6706)
A Message from Mrs. Machado
Math Game Nights
This fall Ross is offering Math Game Nights for both First and Second Grade! Math Game Night is a
wonderful opportunity for parents and guardians to develop an understanding of the skills we value in
class. This is a low stress event where students play and enjoy math games with their parents or
guardians. Please mark these dates on your calendar and look for a notice regarding this event to come
home soon.
First Grade Math Game Night is now scheduled for Monday, October 24th
Second Grade Math Game Night is now scheduled for Thursday, October 13th
Heather Machado, Math Specialist
A Message from Ms. Martin
Music News
Students in grades one, two, and three have been experimenting with their singing voices,
learning proper posture for singing, and singing Patriotic songs and American folk songs.
Grade Four students are excited to begin the study of flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet,
trombone, violin, viola, and cello. Fifth graders are continuing their instrumental lessons,
and will soon be preparing to sing in the fifth grade chorus.
Please save the information below for future reference:
Instrument rental, Goulet and Company, 781-829-2282
After School Conservatory(private lessons) www.braintreeadulted.com
South Shore Children's Chorus 781-428-4894 [email protected]
Mrs. Martin, Elementary Vocal Specialist [email protected]
Mr. Rebrovic, Elementary Instrumental Music [email protected]
Have a great musical year!
Mrs. Martin
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Donald Ross School Newsletter
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Donald Ross School Newsletter
A Note from Nurse Olson
I hope everyone has settled in to the new school year!
Donald Ross School
20 Hayward Street
Braintree, MA 02184
Phone:
(781) 380-0240
Fax:
(781) 380-0243
E-mail:
[email protected]
Visit the PTO
Facebook Page!
http://www.facebook.com
/donaldrosspto
Hearing (K-3) and Vision (K-5) screenings will be ongoing throughout the month
of October. If you have any concerns regarding your child’s hearing or vision
please contact me. Only those students who fail their screenings will receive
notifications. “No news is good news!”
Fourth grade parents/guardians: MA state law mandates that a student have
a physical exam (dated within one year of Sept 7, 2016) on file at the nurse
office. Please send in a copy of your fourth grade student’s most recent
physical. Thank you!
The fluoride program will begin in November for students in grades 3, 4, & 5.
Permission slips will go home the first week of October. Please return your
permission slip with a yes or no reply. Fluoride is the most effective way to
reduce the incidence of tooth decay. Mouth rinsing with a fluoride solution in
school has proven to be both effective and economical.
I will be conducting hand washing classes for the kindergarten, first and second
grade classes. Hand washing is the best defense against germs. This is
important as the cold and flu season will be upon us soon!
We’re on the Web!
www.donaldrossschool.org
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
for the Ross School
Community
Show respect for
people and property.
Act responsibly.
Keep yourself and
others safe.
Do your best.
Kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2 have morning recess and snack. Please
remember to send in a healthy nut free snack and drink with your child. They
have snack at 10:15 am. Their small bodies need that recharging as their next
opportunity for nourishment is not until lunch at 12:10 and 12:30. If you are
unable for any reason to provide a snack please call me at 781-380-0240 ext.
6530. No child will be left hungry.
When should I keep my child home from school?
1. When your child has a temperature of 100 degrees or above.
2. When your child has a contagious illness such as chicken pox, strep
throat, or the flu.
3. If your child has a skin rash, or condition not yet diagnosed by a doctor.
4. When your child is vomiting or has diarrhea.
5. When your child has conjunctivitis, with red, itchy, draining eyes.
Also, please remember that your child should be fever free (temperature below
100.4) without fever reducing medication for 24 hours before returning to
school. School policy requires a note from your child’s doctor for any absence
of 5 days or more due to illness, or if your child needs to miss gym class or
recess due to illness or injury.
If your child is going to be absent from school for any reason please call the
Absentee Line at 781-380 -0240.
Braintree Public Schools is currently looking for substitute nurses. Please
contact the Director of Nurses, Mrs. Laurie Melchionda at Braintree High School
(781-848-4000 ext. 7840) for further information.
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Donald Ross School Newsletter
Donald Ross School Newsletter
Grade One News
Your first graders have settled into a comfortable routine and are…
Off to a great start
Concentrating on good work habits
Together we share stories
Observing and learning about Christopher Columbus
Becoming independent learners
Enthusiastically building word families
Reading and writing numbers
We’re looking forward to another exciting month.
Mrs. Monteiro, Ms. Swanson, Mrs. Wells
Grade Two News
Second grade is off to a great start! We have been very busy already! So far, some of the skills and
concepts we’ve been working on include:
Ms.comparing
Murphy, numbers,
Mrs. Swanson
- Addition strategies, odd and Mrs.
even Monteiro,
numbers, and
and part-part-whole
- Using character, setting, main ideas and details to show an understanding of what we have read
- Short vowels, long vowels and consonant blends
- Writing a personal narrative
- Reading a compass rose, locating and recognizing the seven continents and four oceans
- Discovering the properties of air
Please remember that your child should be reading for 15 minutes every day. This daily practice will
help your child become a better reader! Hopefully students have started practicing Xtra Math at home
as this will help them to automatically know their facts. This will give students a solid foundation for
addition and subtraction practice! Please let us know if you have any questions about this.
It was great to see so many of you during Curriculum Night! Thank you for taking the time out of your
busy schedules to join us.
We appreciate your support!
Mrs. Joseph, Mrs. Malcolmson & Ms. Gavrailov
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Donald Ross School Newsletter
Grade Three News
Math
Third graders have learned so much in math already this year! Using our Stepping Stones program we
reviewed place value. Students were exposed to reading, writing, comparing, ordering and rounding three
digit numbers. We will be working on addition strategies in the upcoming month.
English Language Arts
We have begun our first unit using our reading street anthologies. Our big question for Unit 1 is; Which
skills help us make our way in the world? In our first unit students will be reading a narrative poem, fable,
tall tale, expository text and realistic fiction. Each week students are introduced to a new phonics skill
that is reinforced using the weekly spelling words. Students will also be introduced to a weekly
comprehension skill and strategy, along with grammar and vocabulary reinforcement. Look for the Family
Times newsletter each Monday which explains what your child will be learning each week during English
Language Arts.
Social Studies
In Social Studies, third graders are learning all about what defines history, and how we study history. We
discussed studying history by using biographies, artifacts, historic sites, and asking questions.
As we continue in Social Studies we will focus on our local history, the history of Massachusetts! Students
will learn about the towns, land and people of our state. In upcoming weeks, we will be beginning a unit
on the Wampanoag, the first people of Massachusetts.
Science
Our first Science unit is the Sun, Moon, and Stars. Students will head out doors to track the movement of
the sun as it travels across the sky. We will discuss how shadows are formed and what they can tell us
about the movement of the sun. Our outside observations depend on sunny days so we are hoping the
weather cooperates!
Mrs. Almada, Ms. Fitzgerald & Mrs. Hoelscher
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Donald Ross School Newsletter
Grade Four News
Reading
Currently, all fourth grade students are reading Owls in the Family, a realistic fiction trade
book of a boy and his spirited pet owls. This is a fun read for all students and lends itself to a
great deal of interdisciplinary instruction, as well as exciting activities and projects.
Math
September’s math curriculum is a basic review of third grade concepts with added challenges.
The concepts include place value, rounding, time, and advanced addition and subtraction. We
will continue to use alternative algorithms for addition and subtraction based on place value as
well as the standard algorithms.
Science
We are currently studying a unit on Weather and Climate, focusing on the air around us,
observing weather, weather patterns, and seasons and climate. The students are actively
investigating the characteristics of air, temperature, and weather.
Social Studies
To start off the year students reviewed basic geography skills, such as identifying the major
differences between a map and a globe, recognizing the seven continents and four oceans, and
knowing the key elements of a map. We will move onto elements of our government after map
skills and then slide right into Canada.
Writing Skills
All fourth grade students at Ross are participating in an American Legion essay contest.
Students are required to write a three-paragraph essay entitled “What the Flag Means to Me.”
Students have begun to learn about the American flag and what it symbolizes through texts,
photos, and videos.
Special Reminders:
Each night your child should complete the assigned reading and fill out their reading log, to be
signed by a parent/guardian. Please make sure to check your child’s assignment notebook each
night for their nightly homework and make sure all assignments listed have been completed.
Students are asked to master their time’s table up through the tens in grade 3 and up through
the twelves in grade 4. Hopefully students are fluent in their 0’s, 1’s, 2’s, 5’s and 10’s, and can
begin to practice some of the harder tables such as 7’s, 8’s, 9’s, and 12’s. We will of course, as
the year unwinds give students many strategies to work around facts they have difficulty with,
but practice does help.
We’re off to a great start!
Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Eddy, and Mr. Keaney
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Donald Ross School Newsletter
Grade Five News
Reading - We are off to a great start in reading! Students have begun their reading of Number
the Stars. Along with the novel, we have been reading short texts to support our understanding
of the Holocaust in an age appropriate manner. Students are able to compare various characters
and their challenges during this time period throughout our readings. We will continue to use
our context clues to help us understand important vocabulary in the story. Please remind
students to complete their reading logs each time they read independently at home as well as
keeping track of their weekly journals to me!
Social Studies - All fifth grade classes will soon be learning about Early American Cultures. Our
focus will be to understand how the Maya, Aztecs, and Inca created a life for themselves
politically, how religion played a role in their decisions, and how they created a way of living.
Although these cultures have many differences from our lives today, we will learn a great deal
from their early advances (i.e. roads, mathematics).
Writing Workshop- Our first writing assignment of the year will be on what, “America, the Land
of the Free” means to our students. This will be a town-wide essay contest. Students will
generate ideas in the classroom and focus on the writing process to produce their final drafts for
the contest.
Science- Science classes are up and growing. We’ve planted our Wisconsin Fast Plants and
believe it or not they started germinating in two days. Everyone is observing, measuring and
taking notes about the progress of their plants. Ask how tall the plants are now! We are totally
surprised every time we come to class. Science this year involves many hands-on
activities. Cooperative learning groups and lots of discussion help the students prepare for
middle school activities
Math – We have been working hard in math! We kicked off the year by introducing decimal place
value into the place value system. Students learned how to read, write (standard, word, and
expanded form), and compare decimals up to the thousandths place. We will be moving on to
study place value in more detail and understanding that the digit in one place represents 10
times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10th of what it represents in the
place to its left. We will then finish off September by learning about exponents. In October we
will be moving onto multiplication using the standard algorithm.
Mrs. Avellino, Ms. Connolly, Ma. Kilduff
Halloween at Ross School
On Friday, October 28, students are invited to wear costumes to school. Please dress in costumes that
will be comfortable for the entire day, and be aware that some students have Art or Gym that day.
Students are not allowed to bring knives, swords, pitchforks, guns, or any weapon or weapon-like
articles with their costume.
The PTO will host a Halloween Dance in the Ross School gym on Friday, October 28 from 6:00-7:00
(kindergarten through grade 2) and 7:00-8:00 pm (grades 3-5). Ross students and younger siblings are
invited to come in their Halloween costumes. This is not a drop off event, parents should expect to
stay and help to supervise the activities.
Because of the number of children expected, no older siblings (grade 6 and up) may attend the
dance.
We hope to see you there!
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Pumpkin Fest and Family Day
The Friends of Pond Meadow Park will hold a Family Day and Pumpkin Festival on Saturday,
October 15th from 11:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the park.
Hayrides, face-painting, games, pumpkins and decorations and food will be available. Come,
decorate your pumpkin and enjoy the beauty of the park as a family.
Additional parking is available at the Morrison School with direct access to a path leading to
the park. Contact Pond Meadow Park for any further information at 781-843-7663.
Early Release Days
The following are early release days, with dismissal at 12:10 for students in grades K-5. There is
no afternoon kindergarten.
Breakfast will be served on these days but lunch will not.
Wednesday, October 5
Wednesday, November 23
Tuesday, February 7
Thursday, March 23
A Thank You to Our Neighbors
I would like to take a moment to thank some neighbors and friends of Ross School. Skinner Overlook, a
full service landscaping company regularly provides labor and materials to spruce up Braintree Schools
as a pro-bono service to the town. Ten years ago, Frank Sullivan, owner and President of Skinner
Overlook opened the Potting Bench, a full service residential and commercial florist. On September 20,
The Potting Bench opened in a spacious and stunning new location at 494 Quincy Ave. There was a
ribbon cutting with many family and friends in attendance. Several Braintree school administrators and
town officials were there to support the Grand Opening. We hope you visit the new showroom, I bought
fall mums to decorate my front steps at home.
Mike Mather, the manager of the Dunkin Donuts at 421 Quincy Ave contacted me with a promotional
idea. The store wanted to support local school so Mr. Mather provided discounts to customers who
donated school supplies to Ross School. Our school was presented with supplies ranging from
notebooks, pencils, crayons, markers and more. Teachers were able to access the materials and
provide them to classrooms or students as needed. The store also provided coupons to staff for teacher
appreciation week.
Thank you to these neighbors and others who continue to support our school community.