ATC Principal's Newsletter
February 2015
Geography Bee Champion Crowned!
7th grade
Wolves—Kevin Dorr, Lexi Hester, Caleb Messier
Falcons—Jillian Lerner, Nick Healy
6th grade
Lions—Liliana Napoli
Tigers—Natalia Kirilova
Jaguars—Zachary Boucher
5th grade
Sean Montgomery
Declan Donovan
A big thank you to Mrs. Durkee for organizing the Geo Bee and spending countless hours preparing for the event!
Jillian Lerner - the newest Geo Bee Champ!
These fifth graders were outstanding!
Kevin Dorr (far left) was a close second!
Literacy Initiative
February is "I Love to Read" month
In April, we will be hosting a students vs. teachers basketball game and to be eligible to participate, students must read books or articles and show evidence to their teachers by either taking a Reading Counts quiz (grades 4/5) or a book conference with their teachers (all grades).
Below: Students gathered on Friday to learn the rules and get a taste of the fun ahead!
Snow! Snow! Snow!
Our biggest concern right now has been the lapse in consistency for our students. The winter is typically the time in which student growth is at its highest level. With the lack of instruction, we do ask for parents to help keep the focus on academics at home. As mentioned in an email last week, here are some suggestions to keep the learning going strong:
1. Read! Read! Read! Pick out books with your children and encourage them to read for fun. We just launched our literacy contest which is a great motivator. Twenty to thirty minutes of reading a night as a family is an excellent way to show show how valuable reading time is.
2. Encourage your child to participate in cooperative learning projects such as bridge building, board games, etc... that promote cognitive growth and social interaction.
3. Promote inquiry through reading informational text. One fantastic website teachers have been using in their classrooms is www.wonderopolis.org - this is a great tool to integrate reading and inquiry as it has a "Wonder" of the day with follow-up questions following each article. The students enjoy choosing their own articles as there is a great variety.
4. Allow access to online learning platforms. TenMarks and Khan Academy are two fantastic resources for students to work on math at home. CK-12 also has a science piece. Spending 20-30 minutes on one of these sites has shown to drastically improve math skills if it is targeted to the specific standards the students are covering or used to help them remember prior concepts. Email your child's teacher for specific recommendations or assignments. www.bookadventure.com is another great site we just became aware of that allows students to take quizzes on books from home and create their own reading goals.
5. Creative writing! Encourage your child to spend some time each day with a writing journal. Decorating the writing journal and allowing the students to choose what they are writing about is a terrific way to keep writing skills sharp. Remind students that great writers practice their craft every day.
Dawn Letterie Awarded Educational Excellence Award!
Mrs. Letterie is a teacher that goes above and beyond in many ways. She is solely focused on the students and their growth. Professionally, Mrs. Letterie takes on leadership roles and responsibility for our school by training her fellow teachers on the newest technology, serving on the Instructional Leadership Team, and serving as the lead math teacher in fourth grade. She ran workshops earlier in the year around her teaching methods and is annually selected as an official mentor for new teachers. We are very fortunate to have her on our team!
Budget Presentation
Technology Update
A significant component to this integration of technology is a focus on something we call "Digital Citizenship." When students are first trained on their Google accounts, they are reminded of appropriate online behavior and the fingerprint the leave each time they interact online. Students are taught explicitly that whatever they post and share online is a reflection of who they are as people and could stay with them forever. The students are responding very well to our culture of trust and responsibility. We encourage parents to continue this conversation at home around safe online interactions and building a solid reputation.
Upcoming important dates!
March 24th - MCAS testing window begins (more details to come soon as this may be extended).