Support Soars Program

SUPPORT SOARS 

Soars is asking all SMS students to bring in granola bars to End 68 Hours of Hunger.  (End 68 Hours of Hunger is a private, nonprofit, effort to confront the approximately 68 hours of hunger that some school children experience between the free lunch they receive in school on Friday afternoon and the free breakfast they receive in school on Monday morning.)

Welcome to Camp Sea Star!

The kids named their tents this morning before lunch!

Here are the puppy campers!

Here are the Camper Cats!

Here is the Color Tent Kids!

Introducing The Golden Eagle Guys!

Playing Spit and Working on our Text Sets

1, 2, 3 Fun Run

The PTO is hosting a 1,2,3 Run on Friday, May 16 in the evening starting at 6:00pm. This is a family fun event in which people come to the school to run. The running course is a 1 mile cross country loop which participants can choose to run 1,2 or 3 times. 

We hope to see you there!

KIDBLOGS-Your Kids Will Soon Be Professional Bloggers

The Starfish will soon be official bloggers! Next Tuesday, with the help from Ms. O'Connor, they will get their introduction to blogging. The site we will be using is called called Kidblogs. Blogging allows students to publish their work for an authentic audience.

Furthermore, students can explore other Kidblogs and respond with comments or questions. You should know that our Kidblog site is completely moderated by me. No post or comment will show up on the site unless I have personally previewed and approved it. An equally important thing for parents to know is that because of the moderation set up, our Kidblog site is visible to everyone. Our students will have a real worldwide audience, and I am sure that comments will be coming in from everywhere. 

Lastly, the students are well aware of their responsibility and safety on the Internet. Tomorrow we will have a discussion about internet safety and the importance of using only their first name and to not give out any personal information in their blog posts.  Again, I will approve all posts and comments for appropriateness and user safety.

If you would like to view the site now, click here
Students can login here (passwords will be coming home tomorrow in your child's blue folder!)

If you would like to check out my kidblog site from last year, click here

The students are so excited to have their very own place to write and have it be read. Please spread the word about our blogs to friends and relatives from across the country. This is an opportunity to connect people from all over the world!

The kids have been really excited about the opportunity to Blog. While looking at some of the other classroom kidblogs and my classroom page from last year, we noticed that the kids wrote about things that happen outside of school (ex: soccer games, dance recitals, favorite new toys, April vacation, etc.) I'm hoping that we can carry over the blog posts to the summer so it will be a fun way for the kids to stay connected and a place where we can share exciting parts of our summer vacation!

Wellness Walk Wednesday

It was such a beautiful afternoon to walk together as a school! We even had time to enjoy some birthday extra recess at the end of the day! 

Happy Birthday!

The month of May we have a lot to celebrate in the starfish classroom! We are wishing 5 special friends a happy 7th Birthday!

Aidan on May 3rd

Oliver on May 5th 

Alex on May 7th

Kiera on May 11th 

Anna on May 29th 

Costumes for Musical

Tonight in your child's blue folder, you will find an important notice regarding costumes for our upcoming show. When talking with the kids, a lot shared that they have costumes to share with other kids. We would appreciate any costume sharing. Just make sure your name is labeled in each costume item so we can make sure it makes it home to the right family! Thank you! 

Telling time is fun!

Starfish Gazette May 5, 2014

Hi Starfish Families,

 I just can't believe we have reached the month of May.  Each day seems to fly by faster than the day before. 

  We have been busy working on the movements and songs for our Musical, Friendly Neighborhood Helpers!  We are very excited for our performance on May 20th.  We will be performing at 9:00 A.M. for the primary grades and 6:30 P.M. for the family performance in the Cafe.  The kids have been working so hard and are very excited to be on stage!

The Starfish Cast for Friendly Neighborhood Helpers

Narrators: Hayden Bergeron and Hailey O'Kane
Crossing Guards: Madison Pethybridge and Charles Currier 
Fire Fighters: Thoren Kersten-Guiler, Caelum Forgy, Brody McRae, and Anna Gunn
Mail Carrier: Brayden Ream
Plumber: Alex Tull
Chefs: Kiera Roberts, Grace Weed, and Maggie Meckel
Garbage Truck Fans: Taylor Gunnell, Andrew Halepis, and Aidan Shaw
Grocer: Lhana Richard
Dentists: Oliver Sharrocks, Maya Learner, and Eleanor Currier

 We are learning about:

• adding three numbers
• learning the -igh pattern in our reading and writing
• Telling time to the hour and half hour
• Add expression into our voice and movements for our musical
• what 2nd grade readers look like and sound like
• Reading across genres about one topic
• adding multiples of tens
• practicing our sight words in our writing 
• weather
• plants
• writing non fiction All About Books
• how Scientists write about their experiments

Note about Telling Time: We are reviewing both analog and digital clocks this week to the hour and half hour. I do expose them to understanding the minute hand beyond the half hour.  I encourage your child to work on the IXL time sections for homework this week and for the remainder of the school year.  Telling time can be a challenging concept and often needs a lot of practice to build confidence and mastery.  The kindergarten section of time is most appropriate for the starfish.  I recommend choosing that tab first to practice telling time.  Anytime you can incorporate talking about time with your child, both on analog and digital clocks would be helpful.  Talk about your daily routines and the times you normally do things around the house.  (Eating dinner, bedtime, waking up, getting off the school bus).

The last 6 weeks of school are a sprint to the finish.  Please mark your calendars with these important dates. 

Upcoming Events

• SMS Wellness Walk on Wednesday, May 7th at 1:30 pm  (You are welcome to join us!)

• SMS Bike to school day Wednesday May 7

• Early Release on Wednesday, May 14th at 12:50 (Teacher In-Service)

• Starfish Perform Friendly Neighborhood Helpers (9:00 A.M School Performance and 6:30 P.M. Family Performance)

• Volunteer Appreciation - Thursday, May 22nd (An invitation will be sent home.)

• May 23 SPCA visits our class

• No School on Monday, May 26th (Memorial Day)

• Grandparents Luncheon/Author's Share on Monday, June 2nd

• Field Day - Thursday, June 5th VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

• Last Day of School - Tuesday, June17th

   

   

   

  Upcoming Starfish Volunteers:

   

  Mystery Reader: 

   May 7th Mr. Bergeron @ 11:10

  May 9-Mr and Mrs. Goodrich @ 11:10

  May 13- Mrs. Gunnell @ 2:30

  May 21- Mr. Learner @ 2:30

  May 28th- Mr. Gunn @2:30

  *if you have not had a chance to volunteer to be a mystery reader or would like another chance before the end of the school year, please email me @ mrochford@sau16.org.  We can try to fit you in! 

   

  Center Volunteers:

  May 12th Mrs. Bergeron @ 1:30

  May 13th Mrs. Shaw @ 1:30