CLEVELAND ELEMENTARY/FEBRUARY 2016/VOLUME 5

CLEVELAND CONNECTION“Do Your Best, Be the Best”

Principal’s CornerHope this finds everyone rested after our winter break. It seemed longer than usual due to the two extra snow days. We certainly had

our share of snow and cold!

Over the vacation, the extreme cold took its’ toll on our school by freezing three pipes in the third and fourth grade wing. A number of teachers lost many personal items, curriculum materials, and samples of student work. Our amazing custodial staff worked day and night to clean up the spill and have our school ready for our first day back. It was no easy task! Parent conferences will be held on March 10 th and we ask your understanding if your child’s work is not available. Unfortunately, some writing and reading projects were lost. However, all grade books were salvaged.

Other events in February included the Talent Show (check out the pictures on our school website!), Grade Four shared their “X” Marks the Spot project with parents and peers alike, and we announced our new book for the “Share Our Book Program”, which is Because of Winn Dixie. Everyone in the school, from cafeteria staff to custodians, will be reading the book to share their thoughts about the story as it progresses. Also, French students from Norwood High School came and spoke to our fifth graders about the French language and culture. To end the month, thanks to our PTA, we had Eshu Bumpus, an African Storyteller and a fun and successful Trivia Night fundraiser.

Just a few reminders, if you need to change your child’s dismissal procedure, please let the office know before 1:00 PM. We prefer not to interrupt classroom instruction with changes. Also, you may soon be receiving a letter if your child has an excessive number of absences/tardies. Regular attendance and not missing class time is essential to ensure academic progress. Thanks for your assistance with this.

March will be a busy month starting with Voting Day on March 1st. Our Math and Science Night is scheduled for March 11th and our fifth graders will be sponsoring their Cleveland Café on March 23rd. All proceeds from these events go directly back to your children in the form of enrichment activities. We appreciate your continued support. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Mar 9 Parent/Teacher Conferences, 6 – 8 pm Mar 10 12:30 Dismissal

Parent/Teacher Conferences, 1 – 3 pm Mar 11 PTA Math and Science Night, 6:30 pm Mar 23 Cleveland Café Pizza Night, 5:30 pm Mar 25 No School – Good Friday

IMPORTANT DATES PAT ON THE BACKThis month’s “Pat on the Back” goes to Mrs. Bamber and Mr. Gomes! Mrs. Bamber came in during the Winter Break to paint some doors in the kitchen and spruce up the Cafeteria. Mr. Gomes, our Cleveland Custodian, has been working so hard to keep our school in tip-top shape. He oiled all of the tables and seats in our cafeteria and washed all the windows in our building!

We are thrilled that almost our entire staff is now CPR certified! Firefighter Paul Ronco held a training session at the Cleveland after school on Thursday, January 21st.

PTA Corner In February, the PTA had a very successful Trivia night at the Elks where the biggest hit was the “Lucky Looper” Auction prize. One lucky parent won that prize and has the priviledge to skip the loop line for the rest of the year!

Also, the PTA was proud to sponsor February's Enrichment program that featured Eshu Bumpus, who captivated students with his multicultural folktales and storytelling. March’s program will include a visit from the MSPCA and April’s Enrichment program will feature Poetry in Motion. The PTA is pleased to report a very successful launch of the after school enrichment programs! Coming up in March is Math and Science Night on Friday, March 11th at 6:30 in the Cleveland Cafeteria and the Cleveland Café pizza night on Wednesday, March 23rd at 5:30 pm. Also, the PTA will be starting a new fundraiser with a Paint Night at Jake and Joe’s on Wed, April 13th at 7pm. $15 of every ticket goes right to the PTA! Buy your tickets before March 30th at http://paintnite.com/pages/events/view/boston/1055785. The next PTA meeting is on Tuesday, March 22nd at 7pm in the School Café – all are welcome so please come join us and follow our Facebook page for more info: www.facebook.com/faclevelandschoolpta/.

PTA ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS

From the Speech Room: by Adrienne Fine MS, CCC-SLP

From birth, infants begin developing speech sounds, by cooing and babbling. This play with sounds ultimately shapes the sounds into words which are then used to communicate. Speech refers to the motor process required for the vocal tract to produce these speech sounds. It is an extremely complicated act- producing speech sounds involves sequencing respiration (breathing), phonation (producing sound at the vocal folds), and articulation (using the structures of the vocal tract to shape that sound into speech sounds.) It’s amazing to think about how many tiny movements need to fall into place correctly to produce speech sounds! When a child or adult has a breakdown in one part of the chain of sequencing speech sounds they may not produce one or more speech sounds correctly and become difficult to understand. It’s important to note that a child’s development of correct speech occurs up to age eight but if you are ever concerned about your child’s speech do not hesitate to discuss these sounds with your child’s teacher or pediatrician.

3rd GradersIf your third grader has had a recent physical, please send a copy to the

school nurse’s office. This is required for the start of 4th grade.

NOTES FROM THE NURSE

Frequent VisitorsHandwashing Classes did not start this month due to the high volume of students visiting the nurse’s office.

There are times when it is necessary and important to be evaluated in the Nurse’s Office. Because no teacher or school nurse wants to prevent a child from getting help when necessary, there is a tendency to be lenient and err on the side of caution. Time learning and receiving instruction is so important for the academic growth of our students. Good attendance and being in class on time promotes lifelong habits for the success of each individual. Nursing research has shown a correlation between repetitive tardiness and high absenteeism during the early grades and poor academic growth and students not connecting to school in a meaningful way whether through music, sports, arts, or another group. Promoting resiliency and coping strategies is so important for students. I encourage you to have a conversation with your child, your child’s teacher during conferences, or the Nurse regarding visits to the school nurse. Visiting the nurse without a documented diagnosis five times a month is considered frequent. Does your child visit frequently, is there a pattern to his/her visits, for example always in the afternoon or during math class? Is your child able to ask for help with a conflict or social dilemma?

The classroom teachers have been working with students to help them jointly determine: is this trip to the nurse necessary right now or can students wait until a break? Does every injury at recess require a trip to the nurse? New injuries that are bleeding, or a bruise with swelling, or head bumps, all warrant an assessment by the nurse. But, otherwise, students should be waiting to see if the discomfort improves with time. Encourage him/her to think; what would my parent say if I had this same injury at home or during a sporting event? Is this issue that is bothering him/her something that can wait until he/she goes home? If students have a stomach ache, have they visited the restroom to have a bowel movement? Did they get a drink of water, have

they had this stomach ache for 20 minutes? Feel free to call with any questions or concerns.

Seasonal AllergiesAs spring weather approaches, parents should consider these helpful steps for yourselves or your children who

suffer from seasonal allergies:

1. Consider starting preventative medication before pollen counts rise. You can go to: http://weather.com/forecast/pollen

2. Pollen count is highest early in the morning and on dry, breezy days. It can be lower on chilly, wet days.

3. Consider keeping your child indoors in the morning if they have severe symptoms (send a note to the teacher/ school nurse)

4. Keep the doors and windows of your home and car closed to decrease pollen in the home and car. Shower and remove clothing before going into the bedroom to help alleviate symptoms.

5. Have students wash their hands after playing outdoors so they do not accidently rub pollen in their eyes.

FIRST GRADE HAPPENINGS

The Magic Seed: Hydroponics in the ClassroomThis fall, Charlie Haffey and Mary Brigham applied and received a grant provided by The Blue Hills Bank Charitable Foundation. The project that they have initiated is to have students grow plants in a hydroponic growing system called “The Tower Garden.” This product allows plants to grow in a soil free environment. Having a tower garden in the classroom allows Mrs. Brigham to utilize motivating, hands-on materials to instruct her students. It will allow her to move away from an abstract worksheet or even a video, to an actual product that the children will make and use all year. Mrs. Brigham will provide an interesting long term class project exploring the fruits and flowers of the plants involving many of the science and math standards. Students will benefit greatly from the use of the fascinating hydroponic tower garden. They will use an inquiry-based plant unit in which they can explore actual plants as living things. They will take ownership of their learning by actually planting their own seeds, taking their own measurements of a live product, as opposed to a worksheet. Students are naturally curious by nature and will benefit from the wonder and excitement found with experimenting with what plants need to live and grow.

The month of February flew by with our 100 Day celebrations, Valentine’s Day, Winter Break, and not to forget, Presidents’ Day. We learned many interesting facts about President’s Day. We read biographies about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s lives. We discussed their influence on America and what traits made them great presidents.

During February, our Math program covered collecting and understanding different ways data can be shown. We also have been counting with a number grid, which was a great follow-up to the 100 Day celebrations. Students are beginning to build their understanding of numbers to 120 and are learning to show place value. They have been focusing on counting by 1s and 10s. We will continue to work on fact families, telling time and counting money.

We’ve also been working on nonfiction in Reading and Writing. We learned that nonfiction stories are true and teach us about something. We have been looking at some of the features of nonfiction such as the table of contents, labels, bold faced words and glossaries. Students are writing responses to nonfiction texts to show what they have learned.

In Science, our students had opportunities to observe and touch many fossils. This follows their study of “mini ponds” where sedimentary rock and fossils form. We hope to make our own “fossils” in the next few weeks.

A special thanks to all of the room parents for helping make our Valentine’s Day parties so successful!March will be a busy and exciting month!

Our Tower Garden was supported in part by a

donation from the Blue Hills Bank Charitable Foundation.

SECOND GRADE UPDATESSecond Grade is “springing” into action! Our Character Day was a huge success! Thank you, parents, for your support and enthusiasm. Your care and attention was certainly reflected in your child’s presentation.

In Reading, we are studying the genre of nonfiction. The students have discovered that nonfiction is used to give us information. Along with the reading of biographies, the students are exploring scientific nonfiction texts to study animals and their environments. Writing is being interpreted with the reading texts as the students take notes on their animals and write their animal reports.

Math continues to explore multi-step problems and decision making. The students will also be completing a unit on money and time. Parents can help their child master these skills by having your child work with counting change and telling you the time at home.

This year the cold season has seemed to go on forever. If you have a spare box of tissues you could donate to the classroom, we would truly appreciate it!

We want to take a moment to let you know how fortunate we feel to be your child’s teacher. We all look forward to coming to school each and every day!

Character DayIt was another successful Character Day for our grade two students! Families and friends had the opportunity to meet

and talk with Gooney Bird Greene, Mr. Putter, Judy Moody, Owen, Fly Guy, Pete the Cat and many more beloved fictional characters. As part of our study of fiction stories, students chose a favorite character and designed a poster, created a costume and presented their information during Character Day.

Students have worked extremely hard throughout the school year to identify and understand the key elements of fiction: character, setting and plot. In particular, they have completed many activities and had numerous discussions with teachers and peers about the traits these characters possess. In addition, through read alouds and guided reading group work, students now have a solid understanding of how characters develop throughout a story.

The final products for this big event were amazing! Anyone who stopped by the cafeteria would have thought they were stepping into a book. A big thank you to family members for supporting their child by helping him/her with their project and by attending Character Day. Your participation shows the students that you care about their learning and especially reading! We are so proud of our students!

**To view photos from this day please go to the Cleveland School website.

ENERGIZED IN GRADE 3In Science, the third graders have been energized, and have enjoyed learning more about electricity by doing

experiments such as making series circuits, observing a Van De Graaff Generator, using an electric motor and wheel, making electrostatic whirligigs, and making a switch.

In Social Studies, the students have learned and memorized the six New England states, and have continued to learn about the early history of Massachusetts. Each class will soon be learning about colonial times and the events leading up to the American Revolution.

In Reader’s Workshop, everyone really enjoyed listening to the nonfiction book reports, and the three third grade classes are looking forward to listening to the Black History biography reports at the end of the month. In Writing, third graders have worked on narrative and fiction writing, as well as writing responses to prompts and questions. One emphasis has been for students to “kickback” the question, when writing a response. This strategy not only gives the reader an idea of what the question was, it helps the writer stay focused as he/she is writing a response. Another emphasis in Writer’s Workshop has been for third graders to proofread and edit their own writing, as well as peer edit. By this time of the school year, each third grader should be able to go back and reread his/her own writing in order to edit a rough draft. This skill takes a lot of practice, but just like riding a bike, the more practice, the easier it will become.

In Math, it’s hard to believe that we have already moved on to Volume II, and are working on Topic 9 which is about fluently adding and subtracting within 1,000. At this time, the third grade teachers would like to remind all third graders that math fact fluency for addition and subtraction, as well as multiplication and division, remains important. It is still beneficial for all third graders to play online math games or use math flash cards during free time.

As always, thank you for your support and help with homework and with the completion of the monthly at-home reading projects.

FOURTH GRADE HAPPENINGSEven though we had two snow days we were finally able to celebrate the 100th Day of School on February 12th along with Valentine’s Day. Throughout the day we did several fun filled, curriculum-based activities. Students also had the opportunity to dress up like a 100-year-old citizen. They certainly looked the part! As a community service project we organized a food drive for the Norwood Food Pantry. Our goal was to collect 100 items of non-perishable food. Thanks to the generosity of the Cleveland families we collected 198 non-perishable food items. Thanks to Ms. Butters for taking our food to the Food Pantry. We appreciate it!! Way to go Fourth Grade – we are so proud of you! As part of the Cleveland School’s community outreach initiative we made Valentine cards for the residents of Charwell House Nursing Home and Skilled Nursing Facility in Norwood. These cards were delivered on Valentine’s Day.

We enjoyed our “X” Marks the Spot enrichment program in Social Studies. The fifth graders were able to read the fourth graders’ maps as they searched for and found the treasure chests. As a reward for successful map reading, the fourth graders shared their bounty! We had a magical time on our island that day. This year was the first time that we invited parents to visit our island after school and we were so happy with all the parents who were able to attend and share in this experience. Please visit the Cleveland School website, under events, Smilebox, for pictures of X Marks the Spot.

In Math, we learned all about factors and multiples. We also learned the difference between prime and composite numbers. Now, we are exploring the world of fractions. We will learn many new skills including reviewing fractions as part of a whole, ordering fractions, comparing fractions, making equivalent fractions and modeling fractions.  We will also be learning how to add and subtract fractions.

In Science, we just completed our unit on Forces. We enjoyed learning all about simple machines. We are now starting our new unit on Energy.

Our Vocabulary Tree is growing!  Each week our students learn new character trait vocabulary words and once they master them they put a leaf on our tree.  Each class is represented by a different color; Barry’s are yellow, Kilduff’s are orange, and Wesley’s are red.  By the time summer comes we’ll be in full bloom!  Visit the Fourth Grade Wing to see this impressive tree!

February has quickly come and gone and as always, fifth grade was busy! We knew this group was a fun bunch, but we had no idea how talented they are!! WOW! The Talent Show was a great way for the fifth graders to showcase what they are good at. There were dances, songs, comedy acts, behind the scenes, MC of the show, musical numbers, just to name a few. Great job, everyone! Congratulations to Madisyn Chaisson for her top 3 finish!

We were lucky enough to be invited to the X Marks the Spot with the fourth graders. Cartographers (fifth grade students) were paired up with pirates (fourth graders) and they went on a journey to find the bounty of the pirates. Using map skills, each team followed the coordinates to find the treasure located on the map. Everyone was then able to enjoy their bounty!

Valentine’s Day and Friendship Day are always fun in fifth grade. Each student was excited to be given a collage that was secretly created for them by another fifth grade student. These were creatively done and everyone enjoyed receiving a collage that represented all the things that they love! I’m sure they will keep these for a long time.

We just recently finished our Science unit on forces. The students were able to use hands on materials to understand how an object, or force, is moved by the load. They used ramps, levers, pulleys, and even Legos to manipulate and discover.

All fifth graders are really enjoying the read aloud for our town’s book share, Because of Winn Dixie. Be sure to ask your child to tell you about it.

FIFTH GRADE NEWS