326 Winthrop Street, Rehoboth, Massachusetts
CALENDAR
FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 3
National Wear Red Day
MONDAY
FEBRUARY 6
School Council
4 PM
TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 7
D-R School Committee
7 PM
DRRHS Media Center
THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 9
Principal’s Book Club
6:30 PM
FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 10
Principal’s Coffee
2:30 PM
TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 14
D-R School Committee
7 PM
DRRHS Media Center
WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 15
Grade Three Banking
9 AM
MONDAY
FEBRUARY 20 thru
FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 24
Winter Recess
School Closed
MONDAY
FEBRUARY 27
thru
FRIDAY
MARCH 2
PTSA Book Fair
TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 28
MARC Bullying
Prevention
Presentation
Nurse’s Office
508-252-5138
508-252-5100
Email: first name initial followed by last name @ drregional.org
CLASSROOM TEACHERS
and SPECIALISTS
Pre-Kindergarten
Room 54 - Nancy Blythe
Room K-1 - Sandra Fleet
Kindergarten
Room K-4 - Erika Augustyn
Room K-5 - Becky Glynn
Room K-3 - Lynn Mason
Room K-2 - Debra Rossi
Grade One
Room 10 - Cara Shibley
Room 12 - Melissa Dembrow
Room 13 - Darcey Maguy
Room 14 - Patricia Pratt
Room 15 - Pat Bergeron
Room 18 - Ellen Deschenes
Grade Two
Room 28 - Sandra Colavope
Room 31 - Ms. Farrell
Room 32 - Paula Fernandes
Room 34 - Lydia Carswell
Room 35 - Mrs. Ormerod
Room 36 - Kendra Farrell
Grade Three
Room 45 - Mrs. Read
Room 47 - Mrs. Bush
Room 49 - Mrs. Salois
Room 50 - Sue Nokes
Room 51 - Christine Pickett
Room 52 - Kate Costantino
Grade Four
Room 39 - Louise Lydon
Room 41 - Sue Bouldry
Room 42 - Paula Janson
Room 43 - Cheryl Gridley
Room 44 - Sandi Klinkhamer
Room 46 - Ellen Stebbings
SPECIALISTS
PE: Barbara Medeiros
ART: Acacia Pappas/Mrs. Hutson
COMPUTER: Laura Schwall,
Mrs. Reilly (AM), Mrs. Muri (PM)
LIBRARY: Brenda Carr
READING: Ms. Grady/Mrs. Sony
MUSIC:
SPECIAL ED
Mrs. Wapenyi
Mrs. Allen
Ms. Cloe
Ms. Coirier
Ms. Conrad
Ms. Dunn
Elise DuBois, Assistant to the Principal
FEBRUARY
NEWS
Preschool
PALMER RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
K thru 4
Linda McSweeney, Principal
Elise DuBois, Asst. to the Principal
MEMORY MAKING
In fourth grade with Mrs. Klinkhamer, the children are embarking on a host of fun and interactive learning experiences that are sure to create increased knowledge and lasting memories. Each of the students will be teaming with a partner to write to a pen pal in South Korea. (There are far less children in a classroom in South Korea.) Mrs. Klinkhamer had the wonderful experience of meeting a Korean family this summer who helped her to establish the classroom connection for this project. This past month, the students were motivated to do some creative descriptive writing as they worked with pumpkins. Mrs. Klinkhamer bought small pumpkins for each child so that they could paint a character face of themselves. The students then wrote about their own “character traits” and what “motivates us to be who we are”. This activity gave the students a great foundation for their future discussions about character development. This year, Mrs. Klinkhamer is planning her annual bulb planting party at the Stone Circle. We have some wonderful flower boxes surrounding our outdoor classroom and she is excited to plant more flower bulbs. (Is it too early to “Think Spring”?)
HAVE YOU SEEN OUR PUMPKINS?
Second grade students with Mrs. Carswell enjoyed a special pumpkin painting lesson hosted by one of our high school students, Rehoboth artist Elizabeth Wilson. Ms. Elizabeth taught the children to incorporate geometric shapes to create different expressions on each pumpkin. (What a fantastic use of everyday math!) The children have displayed their Halloween pumpkins at Rehoboth Town Hall, Gladys L. Hurrell Senior Center, Bristol County Savings Bank, Blanding Public Library, the Fire Stations and at our school. Enjoy Them!
Palmer River Elementary is participating in the FundingFactory Recycling Program.
This fundraiser is FREE and simple because there is nothing to sell, no paperwork to fill out and no deadline. The program runs year-round, accumulating constant income for our efforts.
Please donate your empty printer cartridges and used cell phones to the lobby of Palmer River. Thank You!
The Paper Retriever Program
promotes recycling by placing distinctive green and yellow Paper Retriever bins in highly visible areas.
Palmer River then gets paid for the recyclable paper collected in the ABITIBI bins.
Please help Palmer River by bringing your recyclable paper.
And if you have a business, please contact us if you would like a bin placed on your property. You can recycle instead of paying for disposal and support Palmer River Elementary at the same time!
Leah, Cassidy, Ben Marc, and Ryan help to pack pumpkins for display in Rehoboth businesses.
FOUR TOWN FARM
Kindergarten teachers recently enjoyed the last of the fair Fall weather and took their students on a field trip to Four Town Farm. At the farm, the children took a tractor ride through the fields with “Farmer Bud”. They walked on the farm and learned the names of some vegetables which were ‘not so familiar’ to the children. The students enjoyed a bird caller that actually scared the birds away from the corn fields. The corn maze was awesome....and everyone made it out safely. The children went into the “carrot house” and saw how the carrots are washed and readied for the market. Everyone even bagged their own carrots to take home! To top off the trip, each child picked a sugar pumpkin. “We had such a fun afternoon”, said the kindergarten teachers. A BIG thank you to PTSA for providing the bus transportation to and from the farm.
WRITING TAKES MANY SHAPES
In second grade, with Mrs. Augusta, students just finished their first set of friendly letters to their pen pals in second grade at the Robinson School in Mansfield, MA. Students practiced using adjectives in their writing to describe themselves to their pen pal. In the past, this has served as a wonderful tool for building writing skills and establishing friendships. We are hopeful that the students will be able to eventually spend a day visiting at school with their pen pals to share, play and learn together.
HAPPENINGS IN THE LIBRARY
Thank you Fire Fighter Randy and Fire Fighter Jeremy for visiting the school library and presenting Fire Prevention information to our 4th grade students. We learned that Stop, Drop, and Roll includes covering your face with your hands, changing the clock means changing the batteries on our smoke detectors, and many other helpful fire prevention tips. If you are in our building, please take time to view the sensational Fire Safety artwork that is on display in honor of fire safety. The students have creatively communicated some important messages.
The K and 1st grade students are completing their Eric Carle scrapbooks and will be taking them home shortly. The next author they will study will be Tomie DePaola. The 2nd – 3rd grade students have completed a Fiction and Nonfiction comparison T chart and have been acting out Folk Tales, Fables, and Fairy Tales. This work will help the students learn the collection locations and excite them to learn more about different literature.
Classrooms are about to gather around the “flameless” campfire for scary stories read by Mrs. Carr. Stories that will be told include:
You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together, by Mary Ann Hoberman,
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything ,by Linda Williams,
Hallowilloween Nefarious Silliness, by Calef Brown
Room on the Broom, by Julia Donaldson
HEALTH SNACKS PROMOTE LEARNING
There have been many studies over the years that show that snacking during the school day has a positive effect on children’s learning. Snacks sent to school should be small in size but pack a big nutritional punch without adding a lot of empty calories to your child’s diet. This is the perfect opportunity to provide fruits, veggies, and whole grains that are known to be lacking in the average American child’s diet. Chocolate, candy, chips and other snacks that are high in calories, fat, sugar and salt should be avoided. Many nutritionists believe that poor choices at snack time can contribute lack of focus, stomachaches, headaches and long term problems with weight.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE
By now you have likely seen or heard that we at Palmer River are using a new bus dismissal routine this year. While it looks very different than what has been done in the past, there are some great benefits to the new dismissal procedure. Our Rehoboth police report that dismissing all of the busses at once is far safer that trying to merge and exit each bus individually onto Route 44. All students that are picked up by a parent or guardian are dismissed prior to busses exiting assuring that a child does not mistakenly get on a bus instead of meeting their parent. Having all students walked by their teachers to their busses also assures that a child will not miss his bus. Thus far, we have been pleased with the new procedure and find that it works effectively. Families continue to be challenged with parking at dismissal time. To minimize traffic at dismissal, we encourage you to have your child utilize the bus transportation whenever it is feasible. Our campus was not designed with parking enough to serve our growing population of students. At times, you may find it easier to park at neighboring Beckwith School and walk over to Palmer River. At this time of year the field (in between the schools) is clear and dry and serves as a heart-healthy option. Please know, if your child has turned in a note to be dismissed, they will be held until you arrive. As always, we thank you for your coming forward to share your questions and concerns about dismissal in general. We continually seek to improve the efficiency and safety at dismissal time for all our children.
THANK YOU TARGET!
We would like thank TARGET for a reading grant given to the students of Palmer River entitled, “Hooray for Reading!” As a result of a teamed effort between Mrs. Carr and Rehoboth resident, Tanya Twirango, Target has given our school the “Books for School Award” worth $500.00 in books for our school library. This award is part of Target’s national giving plan on track to read $1 billion for education and reading by the end of 2015. We are grateful to benefit from such generosity.
Students from the kindergarten enjoy an opportunity to enjoy our new books.
MRS. PAPPAS’ ART CORNER
In the Art room, the fourth graders at Palmer River are learning all about how to draw a still life! They are drawing pumpkins from life using oil pastels. Line, shape, color, value, form, and space are all Elements of Art that they are incorporating into their drawings. We hope you have enjoyed their hard work! Palmer River artwork was on display at the Dighton Arts Festival on Saturday, November 6.
Pumpkin Art for the Dighton Arts Festival.
NOVEMBER IN FAMILY LITERACY MONTH
Governor Deval Patrick declaredthe month of November, “Family Literacy Month” in the Commonwealth. Family literacy has been defined as:
•The way parents, children, and extended family members use literacy at home and in their community.
•The passing of knowledge from one generation to another.
The proclamation states, “Families benefit from learning together and being involved in literacy and educational activities, . . .” so read together, create a family play from a story, or visit your local library as a family.
Suggested Literacy Activities for Families :
•Set aside time each day for literacy related activities, i.e., reading for 20 to 30 minutes
•When you watch a video or movie, read the book version and discuss the story
•Share and discuss current news, sports, cultural, or school events
•Host a reading, science, art, dance, or music activity at your home and ask neighbors to take turns as hosts
•Create family portfolios reflecting pictures, stories, poems, and drawings with captions
•Support schools in coordinating family literacy/learning hours before and/or after school
•Develop a family action plan for wellness, i.e., nutrition, stress management, exercise, etc.
•Make regular visits to the library
•Use everyday activities to incorporate literacy, i.e., develop shopping lists, read signs and labels at the grocery store, count money, measure and read recipes when cooking, count and read street signs when traveling, etc.
Developed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education family learning staff team in collaboration with the Children's Trust Fund and family literacy practitioners (1996)
Celebrate reading and literacy in a special way all month long!
is a publication of Image Communications, Copyright 2012
