Chester Chronicle
January-February 2014
-Service-
Volunteers Create Library Tree
The Chester community is extremely grateful to local artists Jeri Hamel, Dale Miller, and Sue Racine, who pooled their talents to create a mural of a large, acacia tree in the library of Chester Elementary School. This mural, with the help of decorations created by students, will soon change with the seasons and become a "living" work of art. These three amazing artists will be honored at the Chester school assembly in March.
Learning about Africa
On Friday, December 20th, 2013 the entire school participated in a day of learning and fun focused on Africa. Our morning began with a wildlife presentation, paid for by the Chester PTO. The presentation was focused on animals found in African wildlife. Students were able to see living creatures such as a Madagascan hissing cockroach, a pygmy hedgehog, a tree frog, snake, and several other species - some students were even able to hold and pet these animals. After the spectacular wildlife presentation, our kindergartners performed a choral reading of the book Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle. But this was not the ordinary version of the book! Dressed in animal costumes, the students recited the names of the animals from the story in Swahili. The fun continued on with a presentation from Mrs. Kennedy’s son who is a teacher in Tanzania and donated his time and he shared a slideshow so our students could see photographs of some of the people and places in Africa. Next, the students enjoyed bagged lunches in their classrooms and spent some time with their classmates reading and preparing to share with the whole school a folktale from Africa. After this class time, the students returned to the gymnasium to watch the movie Madagascar and enjoy a traditional African treat, popcorn with cumin and orange slices sprinkled with cinnamon. Our last event included a sharing of each classroom’s selected folktale. Then in closing, we listened to several wintery songs sung by the third and fourth graders.
This fun-packed day would never have been possible without the support of the PTO. Not only did the PTO provide the financial means for this day’s presentations, movie, and food, but they also gave their time - a much needed resource! Members of the PTO shopped for the snack items and spent hours cooking all of the popcorn and cutting the orange slices. Many teachers also donated their time to contribute to making this day a success. A special thanks to Patti Smith Niemiec - without her support and dedication we would not have been able to pull everything together.
Amy Fouracre, PhD
Assistant Principal
Second Grade News
It is truly hard to believe that we are approaching the halfway point in the school year. The students have grown in many ways. Their independence gets stronger every day.
Reading logs were sent home in Friday's red folders. I can not emphasize enough how important daily reading is. The benefits can be seen in so many areas.
In math, we are finishing up our chapter on 2-digit addition. Place value has been a challenge, but the class has worked hard. They have come to understand how important it is to know basic number facts.
Chapter 5 lends itself to 2-digit subtraction. Daily practice at home with addition and subtraction facts is a must.
Our word study involves finding letter patterns in words and then using those patterns to help read and write other words. Our workboard time allows lots of time for practice.
Our new unit in writing will be Informational writing. We will be using lots of nonfiction books to get us started. The children will choose a topic that they will research and write about.
As you can see, there is a lot happening in second grade.
Servicing Second Grade
This month grade 2 would like to honor someone very special. It is Mrs. Doyle. She is a volunteer who is a part of our classroom on a daily basis and is willing to do whatever needs to be done. She is extremely organized and motivated. We certainly miss her when she is not here. Thank you for all you do, Mrs. Doyle.
Third Grade Supports the Soldiers Home
We would like to thank Chester families and the Gateway Community for helping us support the Soldier’s Home. A special thank you to the PTO for their support as well. We collected over 400 items such as backscratchers, tissues, slippers, puzzle books, and much more. A check for $300 was anonymously donated for the purchase of new Bingo cards. The Bingo cards were a special request from the soldiers. It was a great feeling to be able to help the soldiers as they have helped us. It was worth the effort because when we brought the items to the soldiers and sang for them, it put smiles on their faces and that made us feel proud. We would also like to thank the fourth graders for coming with us to sing, our voices were much stronger with your help.
Fourth Graders Help “World’s Toughest Mudder Team”!
Miss Cabral’s fourth grade class provided a community service by making posters to cheer on a running team raising money for charity. Jesse Howes, Miss Cabral’s brother, ran “The World’s Toughest Mudder” to help raise funds for The Wounded Warrior Project. Tough Mudder events around the country have raised over $6 million for the Wounded Warriors.
“The World’s Toughest Mudder” is a mud running course filled with obstacles that challenge strength, endurance, balance, and mental abilities. Teams try and complete as many laps as they can in a 24 hour period.
Many students came in before school and during lunch recess to make posters for each member of the 4 man team which called themselves “BOSTON STRONG”. Jesse’s team ran 60 miles and completed 264 obstacles!
Jesse visited the classroom to say “thank you” on the day before Thanksgiving. He brought donuts for a special snack and showed off all of his different medals and awards he has earned. Students got to take turns wearing his gear and asked many questions. After snack, Jesse took the class to the gym and built them an obstacle course of their own. Students took turns running the course while being timed. Everyone had a great time!
Ms. Cabral
PTO NEWS
Now that we're over the halfway hump with school, we are focused on our spring events and fundraisers. Coming up in March will be the Scholastic Book Fair, held both during school hours for students who would like to shop, as well as during Parent Teacher conferences for parents to peruse. Additionally, we will be having our Family Movie Night this year where families are invited to enjoy a movie in their PJ's at the school, free of charge and the PTO supplies the entertainment and the snacks!
Additionally, we will be having our annual spaghetti dinner and raffle this year. It's a great night out with the family where you can enjoy a hearty meal at a great price and take a chance at winning some of our many, many raffle prizes!
And lastly, we are switching up our spring fundraiser this year and will be holding our first ever event of Cow Pattie Bingo! It will be a fun day for all, with plenty of games, prizes and goodies; and of course, the star of the show, the cow. More information is to come.
As always, the PTO greatly appreciates all the support you, as parents and family members, give throughout the year. Keep sending in those BoxTops, Campbell's Labels for Education (be sure to include the bar codes when you cut out the Labels for Education), Coke rewards points and of course select Chester Elementary as your school of choice when using your rewards cards at BigY, Stop-N-Shop, Price Chopper and Target. The PTO meets the first Monday of each month at the school from 6pm-7pm with child care provided and welcomes new members.
Important Dates to Remember
January 31st Sports Day (Spirit Day) & Assembly
February 4th Gator Grins will be here
February 12th School Committee Meeting-Gateway Library @ 7:30
February 14th Hat Day (Spirit Day) - No Assembly
February 18th School Committee Meeting-Gateway Library @ 7:30
February 17th-21st Winter Break
March 23rd Blue and Yellow (Spirit Day) & Assembly
For up to date information about your child’s classroom, email the teacher or school/district events you can go online at
http://cesgrsd.sharpschool.net/