Brown School Buzz
January 9, 2024
Dear Families,
Happy New Year and Welcome Back! January is an exciting time in an elementary school. As we reflect on the first four months of hard work of staff, students, and families, we recognize that there has been some wonderful student progress to celebrate. As we look forward to the next 5 months of learning, we know we have built a strong foundation of routines, procedures, expectations as well as a culture of risk taking in the classroom. Students are comfortable, ripe and ready to be challenged and take the leaps necessary for good growth. As students work their way through the "meat" of the curricula, students are challenged, and we acknowledge that it can sometimes be uncomfortable. While we never want students to feel frustrated about their learning, a little discomfort is ok. So don't be afraid to set higher expectations and/or goals with your children regarding their learning. Having grit and a growth mindset are critical characteristics for life long learners.
WE LOVE HOW OUR KIDS WORK TOGETHER AT RECESS TIME!
Let it Snow!
The blanket of snow on the playground this week was a welcomed sight for most of our students!
Here are some things to keep in mind when sending children to school for a snowy winter:
-The rule for playing in the snow is that students must be wearing boots and snow pants. This is so students are not sitting in wet clothing and shoes for the afternoon.
-Feel free to send in extra winter wear to keep at school. (just make sure it fits in the locker. :-)
-Because the surface under the playground equipment is rubberized, it can not be salted or cleared of the snow. The basketball court and the tar area near the gardens are cleared of the snow. This means after it snows, most of the playground is covered with snow, so without boots and snow pants, the recess options are limited.
-If you need assistance with warm clothing, snow pants or boots for your child, please reach out to me or the school counselor and we will quietly assure your child has what he/she needs.
Third Grade Fun!
Snow Covered Brown School Playground at Recess Time!
More fun!
One More time.....Dismissal and Parking Lot Reminders
Parking Lot Safety: Please, please, please move slowly through the parking lot at all times and be sure to STOP at the Stop signs. We have many neighborhood walkers, and on more than a few occasions a vehicle has not stopped when a student was ready to cross. The snow and the sun glare only make things more challenging. Please take your time. Thanks so much.
Kindergarten/PK Drop Off Area: The drop off/pick up area outside of the PK classrooms and Kinder classrooms adjacent to Baldwin Road are only for quick drop off and pick up. There are not many spaces, but when it keeps moving, it works quite well. If you need to come into the building or talk to the teacher, please park in the parking lot to keep those spaces free for others to utilize and keep the traffic moving.
Carline Reminder: Just as mentioned with the Kinder drop off pick up area, the Carline is a moving area. Please do not park and/or get out of your vehicle if you are in the carline. If your children need assistance, please park and pick them up at the front door.
Creating Dismissal Understanding
We are extremely proud that we are able to dismiss 446 children safely at the end of the day without incident. While it can be a challenge, communication is key-and the earlier the better, especially when a change needs to be made. Consider this.....On any given day, we dismiss students to the YMCA program, the JCC Program/bus, Rec programs in the gym and the classrooms, Girl Scouts, Island Roots Program/Bus, The Van Run, The Downtown Bus Run, the Neck Bus Run, Front Door walkers, carline students, and neighborhood walkers. When a change is made, we can easily guarantee the change early in the day or even early in the afternoon. When a dismissal change is made later in the day, it can be challenging for everyone involved to receive the information in a timely manner and assure the student is where s/he needs to be. This could include office personnel, the classroom teacher, a program supervisor, the carline supervisor, etc...
**If you need to make a change in your child's dismissal plan, whenever possible, please notify the teacher AND the office by 1:00 PM. We understand life happens, appointments are secured with short notice, and emergencies occur, and we will always be here to help in those situations.
Brown School Dismissal does run fairly smoothly when we all communicate and work together. Thanks so much for your help.
EDU-SPEAK this week-PHONICS and FUNDATIONS
The research regarding how we learn to read and how the brain works is always evolving. New technology, advanced science, longitudinal studies, and peer reviewed articles are constantly helping us understand how children learn to read and comprehend. And though the literature helps us understand that not all children learn exactly the same way, it is widely accepted that there are 5 critical components of literacy instruction: Phonemic Awareness , Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, Comprehension. At the Brown School our Reading Instruction includes all 5 components of literacy instruction. While we utilize a couple of programs and a host of Instructional approaches, Fundations is the program we implement to teach the phonics component for grades K-3.
Phonics is matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters. Teaching children to blend the sounds of letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out. For example, when a child is taught the sounds for the letters t, p, a and s, they can start to build up the words: “tap”, “taps”, “pat”, “pats” and “sat”. Written language can be compared to a code, so knowing the sounds of individual letters and how those letters sound when they’re combined helps children decode words as they read. Understanding phonics also helps children know which letters to use when they are writing words.
Fundations (yes, that's spelled correctly :-), is a comprehensive phonics program that helps students understand sound/letter relationships, how we blend sounds to make words, and all the rules we use to help us read and spell words.
Fundations is designed as a whole-class, general education program used for all students' primary phonics instruction (Tier 1). Students who do not achieve at least 80% on a Fundations Unit assessment receive additional support from the classroom teacher or tutor in a small group or 1:1 setting for intervention (Tier 2).
During the instruction, students are presented with concepts and skills in a cumulative manner from unit to unit and year to year which include: Letter formation, Phonological and phonemic awareness (understanding sounds) Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Word Study as well as Irregular (trick) word instruction
Here's a video a teacher made to help parents understand what Fundations looks like in a First Grade Classroom
There is an abundance of information available regarding the Science of Reading. I found THIS DOCUMENT published by Indiana Dept of Ed. to be both comprehensive and fairly succinct.
As always, please reach out anytime you would like further understanding about any part of our curricula, instruction or assessment.
Jan. 4-Jan. 19-Mid year Math and Reading i-Ready Assessments
Monday, January 15-MLK Day-No School
Thursday, January 18-School Committee Meeting -LINK HERE
L & J Brown School
Email: maxfield.mary@marbleheadschools.org
Website: https://www.marbleheadschools.org
Location: 40-42 Baldwin Road, Marblehead, MA, USA
Phone: 7816393112