BOBCAT NEWS

Buckley Elementary School

250 Vernon St., Manchester, CT

Office: 860-647-3302 Absentee Line: 860-647-3344

www.mpspride.org

Principal’s Notes—Mr. Matt Daly, Principal & Julie Tjagvad, Asst. Principal

December 2017

December is here with its cold weather! It seems like it came upon us quickly! The month of December will bring with it lots of exciting activities. Our December activities include our Win-ter Concert, which will be held on December 12th at 2:00 and 4:30. We also have our Holiday Store which will take place on December 15th! We also have a half day (1:17) dismissal on De-cember 6th for Professional Development and on December 22nd, the start of our winter break. As I have done in the past, I would like to again share a few thoughts that may be helpful for your child.

Try and keep a regular routine with school work including homework. I know this may be difficult, but if you keep a regular routine, your child will benefit.

Try and keep a regular bedtime. With so many activities, it is always helpful that regular bedtime will keep all children well rested and ready for school!

I truly understand that December is filled with many exciting activities but a regular routine will prove to be beneficial for all.

I would like to share with everyone two parts of our School Improvement Plan. Please take the time to read it over. (I have attached it to this newsletter.) As we have done in the past, Buck-ley staff worked on this together. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at school. I will provide for you periodic updates for you via email, newsletter articles etc.

With so many activities taking place, I am providing a mini calendar for you.

December 12th (2:00 and 4:30) Winter Concert

December 6th Half Day (1:17) Dismissal

December 15th Holiday Store

December 22 Half Day (1:17 Dismissal)

Winter Vacation December 25th – January 1st

Please note that our winter concert is scheduled for December 12th @ 2:00. Please know that seating is very limited for this showing. Because of the limited seating, I am asking that families have no more than 2 adults attend. Please only attend the 2:00 if you cannot attend the 4:30 pm show. I appreciate your assistance and cooperation regarding

this. (Continued on pg. 2)

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Principal’s Notes (continued)

Once again, I am holding the Parent Advisory Group (B-PACC) meetings which is made up of not only Buckley Staff but also parents/guardians. As a reminder, the purpose of the Parent Advisory Group

Buckley - Parent and Community Committee (B-PACC)

The purpose of the B-PACC is to be a formal voice of the parent community as well as the broader community for Buckley Elementary School. A key goal of the group is to promote pro-ductive dialogue among parents, staff, administration, and the community. The group serves as advocates for student needs and parents’ voice. The group assists school staff and leader-ship in establishing priorities to inform school policy and initiatives. The group comprises of parents, teachers, and administration from Buckley.

Meeting Dates

I want to remind everyone of our security procedures at Buckley. I want to bring to your atten-tion our procedures for visiting classrooms, which must be approved at least 24 hours in ad-vance with the classroom teacher. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Please know that we conduct emergency drills (fire drills and lockdown drills) on a monthly

basis;

Staff are assigned at our doorways on Vernon Street and Barry Road in the morning and

afternoon to ensure that your child is supervised;

All parents/guardians must continue to check in and sign in at the main office when entering the building. If you are visiting a classroom, this must be approved prior to the date of the visit. Once you sign in at the main office, you will receive a visitor’s badge.

All visitors MUST wear a badge when in the building;

Please note that parents/guardians cannot drop off their child or pick up their child in the

classroom;

When picking up your child you may be asked to present identification. Please note that this

is for the safety of your child. (Continued on pg. 3)

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Mrs. Shirley

Finally, I will be having office hours again this school year. I will be holding them on December 8th and 21st. Please see the flyer on the back page of this newsletter.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season! I wish you and your family a happy New Year!

Principal’s Notes (continued)

A few reminders to share:

Please send your children to school dressed for winter weather! Hats, gloves, coats, boot—as I have mentioned, the children go outside for a daily recess throughout the winter. According to the Connecticut State Dept. of Education, as long as it is above 15 degrees, the children will go out!

Parents of K-3 students, please remember to send a snack to school with your child every day. They all eat lunch at or after 12:00, and it can be a long stretch for some children. You know the eating habits of your child best so PLEASE provide them with enough nourishment to get them through. Many students’ instruction time is interrupted due to feeling hungry. If you have any questions or concerns about this, feel free to call or e-mail me.

At the present time, Influenza is still rather sporadic in Connecticut. Continue to work on fre-quent hand washing as this is the #1 defense! - Sore throat, cough, aches, chills- accompa-nied by a fever are your warning signs. Only a “flu swab” can confirm a flu, but please keep your child home if these symptoms present.

And as always, I am looking for any clothing donations for the health office. Especially needed are socks, boys underwear and elastic waist pants. Winter coats are always useful too! Thank you and be well!

Jennah Shirley- School Nurse

jshirley@mpspride.org

860-647-3303

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Miss Adams, Mrs. Hoffman, Mrs. Miner, Mrs. Martin

Mrs. Bourcier, Miss Lavallee, Miss Rivers, Ms. Seaha

November was a busy month for us in kindergarten. We were practicing our letters and sounds. We have started to use our “sound and say” strategy to read new words. We are also learning new sight words every week. We are learning how to apply our knowledge of letter sounds to our reading and writing. In math, we are finishing up our unit on num-

bers 0-10. Next, we will begin our unit on addition. The children will be introduced to the con-cept of joining numbers together. Please practice number identification and counting with your child at home.

December will also be a busy month for us. We will be learning about families, and focusing on generosity. The students are looking forward to their holiday parties. Please be sure to check your child’s folder daily. There are many upcoming events in December.

We enjoyed meeting with you for Report Card Conferences to share your child’s progress. The students have done a great job adjusting to kindergarten, and we were so happy to share their accomplishments with you!

Happy Holidays! We hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends over the Thanksgiving break. We have been working very hard to build our reading fluency and comprehension. Your child has been learn-ing to decode words with long vowel sounds. They are also learning how

to spell words with patterns. Please take time to continue to read with your child during this busy season. The best way to grow as a reader is to READ!

We have been working on writing small moment stories. We want them to write with some description about places they have been or about something interesting that has happened to them.

In math we have been working on building addition and subtraction strategies. We have also been working on problem solving. Please continue to practice your math facts at home. We are truly grateful for all you do!

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Miss Seaha, Ms. Strickland, Mrs. Adinolfi

Miss Rollins, Mr. Sweetland

The second graders of Buckley have been working very hard to demonstrate positive Buckley Bobcat behavior! This month, the stu-dents will be focusing their studies on nonfiction texts. Be sure to ask your child if he or she can identify text features and monitor their com-prehension during their reading.

In writing, we are shifting our instruction from composing “small moment” narratives to informa-tional pieces! Students will continue to practice utilizing the writing process as they craft nonfic-tion pieces.

This past month, the students have been gearing up for our two and three digit addition/subtraction unit through practicing place value concepts. This upcoming month, you will see your child utilizing a variety of strategies (open number line, break apart, traditional algorithm method, etc.) Students are encouraged to represent their mathematical thinking in multiple ways through using these strategies. You can practice this at home with your child by asking him or her to solve equations such as 45+69=___. Challenge your child to explain his/her math thinking.

In social emotional learning, we will continue to use our brains and our eyes to show others that we are thinking about them. Ask your child what it means to keep their “bodies in the group.”

Thank you for your continued supports in partnering with the second grade teachers in ensur-ing that your child has the best educational experience here at Buckley School!

It’s hard to believe that it is December already! In reading, we will start to develop our understanding of nonfiction texts. We will be learning different strategies to help us understand the main idea of an article. We will also be reading multiple different texts and comparing and contrasting those texts. The students will be able to identify the different features that are presented

in a nonfiction article like the title, table of contents, index, and glossary. Please continue to read at home with your child!

We will continue diving more deeply into division focusing on the relationship it has with multi-plication as well as solving division word problems. For multiplication, we will focus on using multiplication to find the areas of various rectangles and squares. The students will also begin to work on solving multi step word problems involving multiplication. Fact fluency lessons will continue to occur in order to help students build their fact fluency for multiplication, specifically for factors 6, 7, 8, and 9.

In writing, our unit on personal narratives will continue to focus on organization and structure, descriptive language, elaborated main events, and reflective endings.

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Ms. Kay, Miss Taylor, Miss Walker

Ms. Brahm, Mrs. Jodoin

It was a pleasure meeting with all of you during conferences, and discuss-ing the amazing work your children have done so far this year. Wow! We are so impressed with all of the effort and dedication that they have been putting into their work and each other.

This month in math, we are continuing our journey through multi-digit multiplication! It is ex-tremely important that all students are using all strategies in order to deepen their math knowledge. After this we get to use our strong foundational multiplication understanding to di-ve into division. In division, we will also be learning multiple strategies, please look out for our weekly newsletters for more information about these. Please continue to work with your chil-dren on their math facts!

In our reading nonfiction unit, we will get to work on amazing projects to display the research that we have been compiling. By looking at the main idea of a text and the most important sup-porting details, students can show their expert knowledge of their topics! This research unit will really allow students to be creative with their projects and work together.

Our narrative writing unit is coming to a close. Students have worked very hard to develop their stories using dialogue, action, and details to show and not tell. After this, we will begin our opinion writing unit where students will choose a topic, make a claim, and work on support-ing their claim using thoughtful details!

We are looking forward to their continued growth and progress in fourth grade!

Our last year at Buckley is passing very quickly, and the fifth graders are keeping busy. Thank you for continuing to support your child’s learning by providing a time and place for daily reading. As always, all assignments are written in the planners on a daily basis.

New this semester, Ms. Brahm is going to have a 15-minute homework club Monday through Thursdays. This is a perfect time for your child to ask questions and receive extra help in math. In reading, we are going to wrap up our unit on theme at the end of the month. Ask your child what book they’re reading and see if you can spark some conversations about themes. Books have more than one theme, and the goal is to have your child identify at least two themes and support it with textual evidence. It was a pleasure to meet so many of you during conference time. Thank you for your contin-ued support. Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, holiday season.

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Mrs. Leonard, Mrs. Fuller

Mr.s. Lake, Mrs. Samborski

We are quickly approaching the most hectic time of the year. How ever your family celebrates this special season, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish eve-rything you feel you need to do. So what am I doing is suggesting that you put aside all your tasks and sit down with your children to share with them what this season means to you. Both Buckley Library and the Manchester Public Libraries have a collection of books, which you can read with your children. Titles such as : A Certain Small Shepherd, The Polar Express, A Kwanzaa Miracle, The Chanukah Guest, The Three Muslim Festivals and The After Christmas Tree give you a chance to slow down and enjoy this season as a family.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a Happy New Year.

Greetings from music class! Classes are all working hard on music for the Winter Concert on December 12th. Students in grades K-5 will perform for their fellow students at 2:00, and the 5th grade Band, Choir, and Orchestra will be performing at 4:30 for parents. We hope to see you at this performance! Kindergarten has begun learning the motions to 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", while First Grade is keeping warm with "Mittens and Gloves." Second Graders are enjoying a "Winter Fantasy" and Third Grade would like more "Friends Like You." Fourth Graders don't want to turn into a "Couch Potato", while 5th Grade works on their four choir songs - "Jazz Round," "Music is Always There", "Unsung Heroes", and "Ringing, Ringing". Keep singing, everybody!

*****Reminder*****

Half Day

December 6, 2017

1:17 p.m. dismissal

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Miss Patrylak, Miss Curtin

Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Rapp

It is so hard to believe we are moving into December. I hope you enjoyed the turkeys that came home with Kindergarten students. We had a lot of fun creating them out of paper and experimenting with different paper techniques. In first grade, we learned how to draw a tiger and then painted our tigers with orange paint. Our next step was to paint over yellow, blue, and green lines resembling long grass in a jungle to create a crayon-resist. We glued our tiger to our background and overlapped strips of green grass. Second grade just finished creating a castle and sponge printing the castle with silver paint to resemble the texture of the castle walls.

Third graders explored geometric and organic shapes. Our first lesson was to fill our page with overlapping geometric shapes. We had to think about the concept of overlapping and which shapes were in front of or behind other shapes. Next, we drew objects like gourds, apples, pears and added a cornucopia, fruit bowl, or basket to hold our shapes. We call this kind of art a still-life because the objects we drew were not moving. We used a material called Payons to add color. We colored it on like a crayon and then brushed over it with a little bit of water which turned the colors into a paint.

After finishing their Fire Prevention posters, fourth grade moved into creating an Optical Art Illusion. We drew curved lines going over and under. We then added two contrasting colors and colored light and dark areas. Our goal was to trick the eye.

Fifth graders finished their Sugar Skull collage designs. This week, we are starting our Manda-la designs. It’s a lot of fun using a ruler and a compass and having students see the connec-tions between art and math. We are continuing to work on “Making the Most of Art Time”. Treasure the holiday season with your families!

Buckley students have been using inquiry-based learning in STEM since our program was started in 2015. We’ve seen huge growths in their scientific thought process and understand-ing. Inquiry-based learning uses a central question to frame a curriculum unit. Students an-swer this central question for themselves, discovering and learning through a series of guided discussions, experiments, and hands-on activities over several class periods. As our first marking term comes to an end, please remember to ask your child what they’ve been “hands on” with!

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Mr. Kolze, Ms. Falkowski

Mr. Webster

The 3rd-5th grade students have been participating in a Corn Hole competition in gym class. It has been so much fun to learn the game, how to score and then complete a mini tournament. We do not have real Corn Hole equipment at Buckley, but we made some modifications with 5 gallon buckets, bean bags and some old aerobic steppers.

Students in K-2 have practiced their overhand and underhand throwing in a game called Pirate Ship. They also had to protect the Pirate’s Treasure. Ask them to share the details of this game with you. It was very exciting and there was so much ACTION!!!!

The days leading up to our Thanksgiving break were filled with a game we call Turkeys in the Corn Crib and Farmers in the Pumpkin Patch. The skills of running, dodging, throwing and striking were all included in this fun filled game.

More news: The 4th grade has completed fitness testing and the 5th grade has completed their Health and Wellness curriculum for the year. Yahoo!!!!!!!!

Hello Buckley Bobcats,

Wow! November was a busy month! Because of that we only hosted two days of Lunch Bunch, so the FRC will host four days of Lunch Bunch in December. Lunch Bunch will be of-fered on December 4th, 5th, 18th, and, 19th. Lunch Bunch invites parents, guardians, and adult family members with students in grades Kindergarten - 3rd into the school to eat with their student and participate in age-appropriate reading and activities. You can check online at www.mpsfcp.com/buckley for the all of the Lunch Bunch dates this year.

The Fall Adult Ed ELL class has wound down, but Adult Ed and the FRC will be offering a spe-cial winter session for adults interesting in improving their English skills. The classes are ex-pected to start mid-December and end in early March. If you are interested in attending class, please contact the FRC.

I know that the winter time can be difficult, so I just want to remind everyone that the FRC is here to support all families at Buckley. Please feel free to contact me with any questions/concerns, if you are in need or if you're looking for information on specific resources in town, and I will do all I can to help support you, your student, and your family. I can be reached by phone @ 860-645-4825 *21202 or by email @ swebster@mpspride.org. You can also check the Buckley FRC calendar at http://mpsfcp.com/buckley for information on things taking place at Buckley and in town.

Thanks so much!

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Mrs. Schuetz, Mrs. Solito

It's hard to believe we’re almost to the end of 2017. It’s important to keep your body nour-ished with healthy meals and snacks, and of course, always remember to drink plenty of wa-ter, juices or maybe some yummy hot chocolate.

Please note: If a parent, or anyone else, is sending cash or a check for the meals for our stu-dents, please include all information on the supplied envelope. If you use a plain envelope or a baggy, be sure to include the student’s first and last name and ID#. Also, be sure the enve-lope or baggy is sealed.

Julie and I would like to wish all of you a Happy Holiday and a safe and healthy New Year. Enjoy the season, and we’ll see you in 2018.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns feel free to stop by or call us at 860-645-4818. We are available from 8:00 am – 10:30 am, or after we serve lunch, from 1:45 pm – 2:15 pm. You can also call the Office of Food and Nutrition at 860-647-3462. The office is open from 8 am – 4:00 pm every school day.

Please note: If you want to stop by the kitchen, you need to go to the school office to get a visitors pass. All of us at Buckley School are working to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Our Lost and Found table is

overflowing! Please take a mo-

ment to check and see if your

child has any coats, hats, bags,

or anything else that has gone

missing. It might be here! Our

Lost and Found table is in the

cafeteria. We encourage you to

check it frequently.

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MANCHESTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS NON-DISCRIMINATION NOTICE Manchester Public Schools does not discriminate in any employment practice, education program, or educational activity on the basis of race, color, religious creed, sex, age, national origin, ancestry, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability (including, but not limited to, intellectual disability, past or present history of mental disorder, physical disability or learning disability), genetic information, or any other basis prohibited by Connecticut state and/or federal nondiscrimination laws. Manchester Public Schools does not unlawfully dis-criminate in employment and licensing against qualified persons with a prior criminal convic-tion. Manchester Public Schools is committed to a policy of equal opportunity/affirmative ac-tion for all qualified persons and equal access to Boy Scouts of America and other designated youth groups. Inquiries regarding Manchester Public Schools nondiscrimination policies and practices should be directed to: Terri Smith, Human Resources Specialist/Title IX Coordinator Manchester Public Schools 45 North School Street Manchester, CT 06042 860-647-3595 or Marney Reardon, Coordinator of School Health Services Section 504 Co-Coordinator Man-chester Public Schools 45 North School Street Manchester, CT 06042 860-647-3324