TRS would like to welcome our new staff members! We are so lucky to have them on our team.

Mr. Dennis, Special Education Aide

Ms. Formanek, Grade 5 Special Education

Ms. Kane, Grade 4 Math

Mrs. Navarro, Teacher Aide

Ms. Tekin, Grade 3 Language Arts

Ms. Menendez, Grade 4 Special Education

Mr. Rocco, Grade 6 Special Education

Mr. Ingersoll, Music

Not Pictured:

Mrs. Kappock, School Social Worker

Ms. Arana, Grade 6 Special Education

October

28th: Book Fair: Family Night

28- 11/1: Book Fair during Library classes

31st: Halloween Parade at Louisa Park (weather permitting)

November

5th: School Closed for Students: Professional Day for Staff

7th & 8th: School Closed/Teacher's Convention

11th: School Closed/Veteran's Day

13th: School pictures

25th & 26th: Parent Conferences (must be scheduled in advance through the office)

27th: Half day for Staff and Students

28th & 29th: School Closed/ Happy Thanksgiving!

This month the spotlight is on our Writing classes. Look at the exciting things our students are doing!

Third grade students are becoming skilled writers! For the month of October, third grade students are writing a Personal Narrative about an important part of their lives. They have been showing off their creative thinking by: brainstorming writing ideas in their Writer’s Notebook, writing drafts with sensory details, and revising and editing their pieces in preparation to publish.

This month, the students have had experiences providing their peers feedback on their writing pieces in the form of peer revisions, and peer editing. Additionally, students will share their work in the “author’s chair”. The class will listen, and respond to their writing with a compliment, or positive constructive feedback.

During the month of October, 4th grade writers have been working hard to learn new planning strategies for their realistic fiction stories. Students first used T-Charts to create interesting characters who go on realistic adventures! After learning that story mountains and timelines are tools to help writers plan their story’s plot, students used these tools to help them plan multiple realistic fiction stories. In the last few days, students have also practiced retelling their stories in partner shares!

Our word study this month focused on words with the “Long A” sound. Students completed partner word sorts, grouped words with common spelling patterns, and even drew picture representations for their spelling words. During one of our movement days, students had a blast on their “Long A Scavenger Hunt” where they searched for “Long A” words throughout the classroom.

Fifth Graders Take Action on Issues: Fifth graders are learning what it means to take action on issues they feel strongly about. As a grade, we renamed the unit: Fifth Graders Do Something About a Problem They Feel Strongly/Passionately About. We are doing this by immersing (reading, reading, and more reading) ourselves in articles, videos and TedTalks. We are looking at how writers take a strong stance on a topic and share their opinion in the hopes to persuade the reader to think like them. We have been examining whether or not animals should be placed and kept in zoos. Writers will continue to examine the works of other writers as well as begin to generate ideas that spark a variety of opinions and choose their stance on an issue.

Have you ever stopped to consider your ‘Writing Type’? That’s exactly what’s happening in 6th Grade Language Arts and Writer’s Workshop! We are ‘launching’ our year by discovering our writing passions. Perhaps a student loves writing poetry, or a student might enjoy persuading an audience. All different types of writers are welcome!

Here are some strategies to help answer the question, “What type of writer are you?” :

Read Alouds: In Language Arts, stories are often used to spotlight examples of great writing. These read-alouds are called ‘mentor texts’ and provide a guiding example for students. So far, our favorite story this year was ‘Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow,’ a biography about the late great musician, Jimi Hendrex!

Flash Drafts: Ready...set...GO! Students have only five minutes to craft a response to a prompt. These quick writing pieces may be messy and imperfect, but they often lead to great ideas for writing pieces.

Painting Pictures with Words: Similes, personification, onomatopoeia - oh my! All of these techniques are used to add vivid descriptions to writing. We are crafting stories like true authors, and breathing life into our rough drafts.

We can’t wait to show you our finished pieces! Let’s continue to make it a great year in Language Arts!