GES Grey Wolf Gazette
October 14, 2022
End 68 Hours of Hunger Program Information
Happy October!
Dear Greenfield Families and Friends,
What a glorious weekend here in NH! I spent all day outside in my gardens on Saturday and enjoyed an evening around the firepit to relax. Sunday was spent doing errands and hanging out with our grandson. We really can't ask for better weather in October!
We managed to pack a whole lot of learning into our 4 day week last week! Check out the details below. Classes will begin decorating their pumpkins for the Pumpkin Palooza raffle this week. I can't wait to see the creations they come up with! We will be sending home information about ordering pizza for the Pizza Pumpkin Palooza. Families will need to pre-order pizzas prior to the event.
Please refer to the ConVal School Nurse Newsletter for information regarding COVID-19 exposures, school attendance after an exposure or testing for your child. You can find the newsletter here: https://www.smore.com/18ae4. Mrs. Slocomb is available during school hours to answer any questions you may have after reading the guidance.
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES-PLEASE CHECK AND ADD TO YOUR CALENDAR!
10/17-10-21/22: Special: Library with Mrs. Aborn
10/19/22: Kindergarten walking field trip to Stephenson Memorial Library at 9:30am
10/24-10/28/22: Special: Health/PE with Mrs. Parker-don't forget your sneakers!
10/28/22: PIZZA PUMPKIN PALOOZA IS BACK! We are excited to welcome families back for our first all school event of the year! Details coming soon, but mark your calendar for 5:00-7:00pm for this exciting event now!
10/31/22: Annual Halloween Costume Parade to the Meeting House. Details will be sent home soon.
10/31-11/4/22: Special: Music with guest teacher Mrs. K!
11/2/22: GES PTO Meeting at 5:30 in the Library. **Childcare will be available for those who need it!*
11/7-11/11/22: Special: Library with Mrs. Aborn
11/8/22: NO SCHOOL! Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held today. Teachers will be sending home information about signing up for conference soon.
11/11/22: NO SCHOOL! Veteran's Day
11/14-11/18/22: Special: Library with Mrs. Aborn
11/21-11/22/22: Special: Health/PE with Mrs. Parker. Don't forget your sneakers!
11/22/22: STEAM DAY! Mr. Jeremy Griffus joins us again for a day of experimenting and fun! Ms. Jeannie Connolly will also be here to help students create lanterns they can bring to the Peterborough Lantern Walk in December! We will need volunteers to help with set up, supervision and support during activities and clean up! If you're interested in volunteering please email Karen Paul at kpaul@conval.edu.
11/23-11/25/22: NO SCHOOL! Thanksgiving Break
11/28-12/2/22: Special: Health/PE with Mrs. Parker. Don't forget your sneakers!
12/5-12/9/22: Special: Art with Mr. Shapiro
12/7/22: GES PTO Meeting at 5:30 in the Library. **Childcare will be available for those who need it!*
12/12-12/16/22: Special: Library with Mrs. Aborn
12/19-12/23/22: Special: Health/PE with Mrs. Parker. Don't forget your sneakers!
12/22/22: Solstice Day!
12/26/22-1/2/23: Holiday Break!
S.E.L Family Corner
Resources of the Week:
- Smart But Scattered Kids - Dr. Peg Dawson (from New Hampshire!) is a leading expert in executive functioning and supporting students so that they can be more successful. On her website, she has several free resources, and also talks about the books she has written, which are fantastic at helping students both in and out of school. I have all of her books and would be happy to lend them out to anyone interested!
Article of the Week:
- Executive Functioning Skills Practice at Home - This article breaks down different skills that can be practiced at home and how, with many ideas, as well as links to learn more about executive functioning. These activities can directly support students' organization and other skills while at school.
Family Activity:
- Family Dinner - instead of a specific activity, this week I encourage you to pick a night to have dinner together as a family and do something together around the same time. Whether you have time for a board game together after dinner or only time to do an activity together over dinner, I encourage you to give it a try. Research has shown that students who are able to sit down and have dinner together as a family, are much more likely to be successful in school. (It can be super hard with work and after school activities, but even once a week is GREAT!). One easy game to play - tell a story around the table - each person shares one sentence, adding to the story as you take turns going around the table. Stories can become silly and fun!
Please reach out to Mrs. Styren at kstyren@seresc.net or Mrs. Lofstedt at vlofstedt@conval.edu if you have any questions!
Fall Fun in First Friends Preschool!
Preschool 1 with Ms. Trish: We have had fun learning all about the changes that happen in the fall. We have decorated our room with colored leaves and painted with primary colors to make the secondary colors. The nice weather allowed us to set up an obstacle course outside and we took a walk in our woods to collect leaves for projects. We have learned about the different shapes of leaves and different trees we have in New Hampshire. We are making puppets with the zones of regulation faces and playing cooperative games. The firefighters taught us not to be afraid of them if they have to help us in a fire and we loved seeing the fire truck with the long ladder. We played with our pretend fire station and also pretended outside with our fire hats on. The afternoon students are working hard with Ms. Tracy to learn the sounds of letters, the Letterland characters and to identify numerals and do addition with apples and pumpkins. If you have any questions please email me at pfletcher@conval.edu.
Preschool 2 with Ms. Colleen: Preschool 2 kiddos are settling in nicely and learning the routines of our classroom. We have been learning about butterflies, apples, fall colors, and changing leaves. We made applesauce which was a lot of fun! We have been practicing counting to 20, singing the days of the week, and our ABC’s. We learned new songs: 5 Little Monkeys, Leaves are Falling, and 5 Green Speckled Frogs. We have been practicing holding scissors and learned a song about how to hold scissors. Preschoolers, after snack time, love a good dance party to get their wiggles out. Our favorites are Shake Your Sillies Out, Freeze Dance, The Floor is Lava, The Wheels on the Bus, and the Trolls song. In science we did an activity using milk, dawn dish detergent, food coloring and a cotton ball. The kids loved seeing all the colors move! We went on a nature walk and collected leaves and pine cones and watched a video on why leaves change. Preschoolers worked with their 2nd grade reading buddies today, read a pumpkin story, and painted a pumpkin ornament. Last week we had the Greenfield Fire Station come and talk to us and show us their truck. Our 4 year olds have been working on patterns, puzzles, and learning about the letters A, B, C and D. We are having so much fun! Please reach out with any questions at csangster@conval.edu.
The four year olds are enjoying lunch, learning and playing together in the afternoons. It's fun to make new friends!
What's Up in Mrs. Hodgen's Kindergarten Class?
Our Literacy work focused on identifying and comparing the beginning sounds in words this week. We are getting really good at sorting words by their beginning sounds. We spent time in LetterLand learning about the letter Ii with Impy Ink. We started matching capital and lowercase case letter shapes on our own this week too!
Science & Social Studies: We finished up our unit on apples by making applesauce on Tuesday. It was delicious! We are now learning about community helpers.
We have been talking about different situations that we might be in and how they would make us feel. On Friday, we also started talking about what we need in class to be our best learners and about how something that works for someone else might not work for everyone. Similarly we also have been talking about how if something feels easy for you it might not feel easy for everyone and that is OK!
We read The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon, Even Firefighters Hug Their Moms, and Officer Buckle and Gloria. We finished Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business.
Have a fabulous weekend.
Mrs. Hodgen
First Grade Fun with Mrs. Barnes
We had a beautiful day for our walking field trip to the Stephenson Memorial Library!
We focused on reading and spelling words with short vowels that end in -ck. You only use -ck at the end of a one syllable word when the /k/ sound comes right after the short vowel. They are tricky words to spell so we will need lots of practice! We began to look for the problem and solution in stories we read this week.
This week we read My Mouth is a Volcano, Decibella and her Six Inch Voice, Lacey Walker Non-Stop Talker, and Wordy Birdy. We are in chapter 12 of The Mouse and the Motorcycle! The boy got very sick and Ralph had to go on a search for aspirin to help with his fever!
Science & Social Studies: We talked about seasonal changes and our observations of plants and animals. We talked about what animals do to get ready for winter.
Our class has been learning about what strategies we can use when our body or words feel out of control. We talked about how it's ok to feel that way sometimes and it is important to ask for help when we need it!
If you have any questions, please reach out at abarnes@conval.edu.
Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs. Barnes
Mrs. Goodspeed's Second Grade is Seriously Super!
In Literacy we practiced spelling words with the ending -ng. We also talked about -ing as a suffix for verbs meaning present tense. It was cool hearing second graders point out “jumping, I-N-G, he’s jumping right now!” while reading different texts. We also have been discussing and noticing different character traits. In writing, I introduced our opinion paragraph planner. We worked in groups to take apart a piece of writing and find all the parts of a second grade opinion paragraph. We also brainstormed and planned a paragraph together. Next week students will put all the pieces together and write their own paragraphs.
Science & Social Studies: This week during Cornucopia we learned about how to make compost. We pulled dead plants out of our garden and added them to the compost bin. We also took a trip to our community library in town. Second grade had a great time reading books, coloring, and building with Lego while there.
As a class, we are working on encouraging others, ignoring unexpected behaviors, and understanding that everyone’s brain works differently and that’s okay!
Books we enjoyed this week included Can I Play Too?, It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse, Bad Kitty: Scaredy Cat, Last to Finish: The Smartest Boy in Math Class, and Charlotte’s Web.
If you have any questions please reach out at egoodspeed@conval.edu.
Have a super weekend!
Mrs. Goodspeed
Overheard in Third with Ms. Heard!
In Literacy we are reading a nonfiction text and using it to identify nonfiction text features. We also reviewed character traits and worked to identify traits of different characters. In writing, we completed our Picturing Writing Project! The kids painted beautiful watercolors of a tree and then used their tree to write a descriptive paragraph with strong adjectives.
During Science we continued our study of weather. We learned about 4 different types of clouds and how clouds can help us predict the weather.
We took a walk up to the Stephenson Memorial Library together and learned all about where to find books! It was a beautiful day for a walk!
We enjoyed reading The Witches by Roald Dahl, Puffins, Birds of Prey, The Very Last Leaf, and The Worst Day of My Life Ever.
Feel free to reach out with any questions at rheard@conval.edu.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Heard
What's Cookin' in Mrs. Cook's Fourth Grade?
During Literacy we summarized the first 5 chapters of Winn-Dixie, and talked about the characters that we have met so far. We made some inferences about what we think might happen next. We reviewed story elements and talked about what the plot of the story is, all the elements. This will be key as we continue to read Winn-Dixie and our discussions about the conflicts and resolutions in the story.
In Science this week we explored the beautiful foliage a little and created a fall leaf window hanging. Students also learned about erosion and how rocks can turn from jagged pieces to smooth by tumbling down mountains. We conducted an experiment using sugar cubes to see how they break down when they are shaken. It was a lively activity!
Students are talking about how our feelings differ from one another, and how being able to recognize this helps us to have empathy for each other and understand how we can better get along. We also continue to talk about what it means to be role models for the younger students in our school.
We have started our next read aloud, Holes by Louis Sachar.
If you have any questions, please reach out at mcook@conval.edu.
Have a stupendous weekend!
Mrs. Cook
Classroom Counseling with Mrs. Lofstedt
For more information about my counseling program, please visit my website at https://sites.google.com/conval.edu/lofstedt/home
It was a Zig-Zag week for me this week so I didn't get to see all the classes this week. We will catch up next week!
1st Grade: Students learned what it means to be assertive and why it is an important skill to use when asking for help. Students identified situations when they may need to ask for help and practiced asking for help in an assertive way.
2nd Grade: Our focus this week was using self-talk for staying on task. After reviewing listening skills and the importance of focusing and ignoring distractions, we learned about self-talk as a strategy for ignoring distractions and staying focused. Students practiced using listening skills, focus, and self-talk to remember directions to complete a fall coloring page that required students to follow verbal directions while ignoring many distracting objects on the page.
4th Grade: We talked about people often having different feelings about the same situations and the importance of respecting the feelings of others, whether they be the same or different. We read “A Little Spot of Feelings: Emotion Detective” and then students identified how they would feel in a variety of situations. Students then worked in small groups to compare their own feelings with those of their classmates and talked about the similarities and differences in their feelings.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me via email at vlofstedt@conval.edu.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Lofstedt
Local Events and Activities
News from the Souhegan Valley Boys and Girls Club!
We regret to inform families that the SVBGC Before and After School program is not available at this time. The club is actively seeking staff for all their locations, including Greenfield and Antrim, but like many other employers in the region they have been unable to fill these positions. If you are interested in the program, you can place your child on a waitlist. If enough students enroll AND the club can secure staffing, the program may be able to reopen at the Greenfield location. Registration information can be found on the Club’s website www.svbgc.org If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Catherine Kendall at ckendall@svgbc.org.
2022-2023 Calendar
Resources
Where to find ConVal District and GES News!
GES has a facebook page! You can find the link here:
https://www.facebook.com/Greenfield-Elementary-School-532738607668635
The ConVal School District has news blog to serve as a hub for the latest updates, information and news about the district’s schools, students, faculty, events and accomplishments.
The blog, ConValNews.com is integrated into the schools and District’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and will automatically broadcast news blog content onto these platforms, connecting directly with the district community.
With a clean, user-friendly and mobile responsive layout, the news blog allows for easy navigation throughout. It can be accessed on computers, cell phones and tablets. Community members can subscribe and be notified by email when new posts are published.
Parents/guardians, students, staff, and community members should still utilize the district’s main website, Convalsd.net, to access the District-wide calendar of events, contact information, school committee meeting notices and minutes, important documents and notices and to view general information about the district and its schools.
Connect with us!
Email: croy@conval.edu
Website: https://ges.convalsd.net/
Location: 860 Forest Road, Greenfield, NH 03047, USA
Phone: 603-547-3334
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Greenfield-Elementary-School-532738607668635
Twitter: @ges_royc