June Newsletter
Tinmouth School Weekly Reminder
06/01/17
Please keep in mind the following when planning for the upcoming week:
June 1st is the Tinmouth School Concert. All are invited. Please come and support our students at 6:00 PM in the Community Center.
Open House for PreK is on June 8th from 2:30 to 3:30. Please remind friends and neighbors with 3 and 4 year old children, of this event.
Our school picnic will be held at Lake St. Catherine on June 15th. PTO is providing burgers and hot dogs. Parents will provide additional items such as condiments, chips, and salads. Children should bring bathing suits and towels for swimming.
The Tinmouth community is also invited to celebrate sixth grade graduation on June 16th at 6:00 PM in the Community Center.
The last day of school is June 19th. Dismissal is at 12:00 PM.
Our field trip to Shelburne Farms went well. Children were greeted and driven from the parking lot to the farm by tractor and then had the opportunity to take care of several animals. The highlight was the hike to view Lake Champlain. Our older students guided the younger students throughout the program and hike.
Our garden is getting a facelift thanks to Meadow Squier, Marshall Squier, and Doug Fontein. By fall we will have boxes, ground cover, and a fence to ward off visiting chickens. Meadow will hold a summer gardening class once the garden is re-constructed.
Until next week…
Warm regards,
Maureen Fitzgerald-Riker
Principal
Calendar of Events:
June 1 – School Concert 6:00 pm
June 8 – Grades 4-5-6 to Stafford
June 15 – School picnic at Lake St Catherine
June 16- Graduation 6:00pm
June 19 – Last student day – Noon Release
Wee Folk News:
ASK ME ABOUT:
Focus Questions:
How do farms work and why are they important?
How can we make healthy food choices?
MEETING TIME
Songs/finger plays-Aikendrum, Old McDonald, I Had a Rooster, The Chicken Dance, The Funky Chicken, When Cats Get up in the Morning
CENTERS
Dramatic Play-farmers market
Toys and Games-farm animal dominoes
Library-Nutrition Books and farm vocabulary picture cards
Discovery-incubating eggs and food group sorting game
Building-barn with farm animals
Art-hungry thing puppet
BOOKS
(These books are connected to our focus questions)
The Milk Makers, It Looked Like Spilt Milk, The Big Red Barn, Hungry Thing, What do Farmers Do? Farming ABC Book
SMALL GROUP
Games/activities included the following areas:
A nature walk, Class Farm book, farm number counting game, flower observation, practice number formations
OTHER THOUGHTS
Our school picnic to Lake St. Catherine is on June 15th. Unfortunately preschoolers need to have a ride since they may not travel by bus. There will be no regular school on that day for preschool. We should be at the lake by 10:00. Students in PreK must be accompanied by a chaperone. Hope to see you there. Let me know if you have any questions.
Happy 4th Birthday to Sawyer!
We had a great trip to Shelburne Farms. Thanks so much for all of your help!
Our eggs are almost ready to hatch-hopefully! Does anyone have any chick food we could have to get us started?
Kindergarten News:
The end of the year is here! The kindergarten class has been a hub of activity. Our plant unit has had a weekly focus on plant parts, pollination and uses of plant materials. We have grown plants to observe first hand the life cycle process and done several experiments using the scientific method. Our extensive reading has furthered our knowledge and enthusiasm. I hope home gardens are part of your summer plans!
In math we are just wrapping up a unit on place value. Kindergarteners are adept at breaking apart and putting together the teen numbers into tens and ones, laying a good foundation for more complex work in first grade. We will finish the year with a short focus on geometry, adding to our work earlier in the year. Keep practicing those basic addition and subtraction facts over the summer!
Wow! What readers these five and six year olds have become! Parents, thank you so much for your help at home. We will do end of year assessments in the coming weeks and I know remarkable growth will result.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the Tinmouth community for 29 (!) tremendous years at TES. It has been a rewarding journey and I feel very privileged to have taught so many children in such a positive and caring environment. This truly is a special place.
Happy summer!
Grades 1/2/3 News:
I’m not sure about you but I don’t know where this year has gone. The spring seems to be flying by. This is our last newsletter of the year. Please look carefully at all of the important dates coming up for June. It is always a busy month.
First things first! The spring concert is tomorrow night. The students have all worked very hard. I hope that you can attend. It will start at 6 pm. Please have your student here by 5:45 and report to Mrs. Wexler’s room. Unfortunately, my third grader has his spring concert tomorrow night as well. There will be lots of music in the air.
We continue to work very hard in both Reading and Math. First graders will be starting geometry for the last month of school and second graders will be working on geometry and equal groups which lays the foundation for multiplication which is a big goal for their third grade year. Geometry seems to be the theme of June because third grade will be working on that as well. Don’t forget to practice your multiplication facts over the summer.
The best way to keep your student from having the summer slide is to have them read to you at least 4 – 5 times a week. He/she will love to hear you read to them as well. I know read aloud is one of our favorite times of the day.
We have been learning about the power of water. Ask your student about the cool experiments that we have done.
We have thirteen days of school left and they are all packed with learning and fun. We will be doing lots of schoolwork and special events so keep your eyes peeled for the dates and continue to get lots of sleep and be ready to work.
I look forward to seeing all of you at the picnic and sixth grade graduation.
-Mrs. Coupe J
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grade News
Another month has flown by here at Tinmouth Elementary School. The students spent many days testing during the month of May. They are now finished with both the SBAC and the NWEA (MAPS) testing for the year. Everyone worked hard on the tests. The results of the tests will be used to inform us on where your child needs more practice. I am anxiously waiting to see their scores.
May also seemed to be the month for various outings away from school. We started off the month attending the Eco Expo at Green Mountain College in Poultney on May 3rd. The students really enjoyed learning about their environment and what roles they can play in keeping Vermont sustainable. We would like to thank Mrs. Karen Eaton for spending the day with us.
On May 4th, we attended "Simple Gifts," a show with marionettes at Castleton University. It was amazing to watch the marionettes come to life as the skillful couple made them perform.
Our last field trip for May was on the 24th. We spent the day as a TES community visiting Shelburne Farms. The students enjoyed seeing the various farm animals and taking a short hike up to an overview area of Lake Champlain. The lake and mountains are so beautiful in Vermont. We are truly blessed to live in such an amazing place.
Fourth graders are wrapping up the year working with decimal fractions and conversion of measurements. Knowing multiplication and division facts will be extremely important in fifth grade math. Working on computer math practice games over the summer can help students maintain their skills.
Fifth graders are finishing up their unit working with fractions. They have learned to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions using models.
Sixth graders are busy working on using variables to write expressions to solve everyday problems. They are creating tables with ratios to solve problems.
On May 17th, the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders held a wax museum in the gym at Tinmouth Elementary School. The following historical figures were present for the other students, Wee Ones through third grade, to learn about through one-minute speeches. Our figures present were: Jimmy Barrett as Jack Mandelbaum, Sierra Bryant as Anne Frank, Jermaine Buffum as Albert Einstein, Bryce Cook as Jackie Robinson, Seth Eaton as Orville Wright, Benjamin Gynan as Benjamin Franklin, Lamont Jones as Davy Crockett, Leah Majorell as Amelia Earhart, Torleif Majorell as Ulysses S. Grant, Taylor Patch as Abraham Lincoln, Caiden Rochon as Harry Houdini, and Lilly Sheldon as Gabby Douglas. In addition to preparing and performing their speeches, the students wrote essays and created posters about their heroes. The class appreciated the community members and parents who were able to come. Thank you.
For Memorial Day, the class created an American flag poster using bottle caps. Everyone enjoyed painting to prepare the caps for the display. The students also researched various Memorial Day poems and each of them picked one that really touched them in some way to use as part of their poster design. At our Friday Round Up, they had the opportunity to share them with the rest of the student body.
Grant Reynolds surprised the entire class with a gift of his newly published book, A Short History of Tinmouth, Vermont. The students were very excited to receive a copy and many of them are already reading the book. Thank you, Grant. Your generosity is greatly appreciated by the students and me.
June starts off with a music concert showcasing the multi musical talents of our student body on the 1st. The classes have been working hard preparing for their performances. I know that I am looking forward to seeing them on stage.
The end of the school year is approaching quickly. Here are some dates that you may want to keep in mind. Information will be forthcoming when the time comes closer.
June 8th: Stafford Technical Center trip
June 15th: School picnic at St. Catherine's
June 16th: Graduation at 6:00 P.M. in the Tinmouth Community Center
June 19th: Last day of school -- Half-day early dismissal schedule
I would like to thank my students and their parents for making my second year at Tinmouth Elementary School so enjoyable. Thank you so much. I hope everyone enjoys their summer, and I look forward to seeing many of you next August.
Gayle Wetzler