WL Miller Newsletter
September 20-21
Kindergarten
Welcome to kindergarten! We were so excited to welcome our new students to the school. During the month of September we will continue to practice routines and norms of building a classroom community. We will also be encouraging creativity through drawing and writing. Students are learning how to draw a person and an animal.
1st Grade
Welcome to 1st grade! We are so excited to be back in school and to get to know each and every one of our students.
We have been very busy learning routines, getting to know each other and having fun!
We have been writing about ourselves and our families, we have been reading and talking about our school community. In math we are working on identifying and composing numbers.
2nd Grade
Welcome to 2nd grade! To start our year, we are working on place value in math, personal narratives, writing conventions and phonics in reading and writing and so much more. In our classrooms, we are learning to support each other, build our classroom communities and get along.
Mrs. Calkins Room 108
Mrs. Nickerson Room 103
Ms. Workman Room 102
Miss Griffin Room 101
3rd Grade
The third grade teachers are really excited to be back at school with all of our students! We are looking forward to having a great year and ready to take on all of the challenges and changes that the year has to bring. We are so pleased to have Mrs. Nawri as the remote third grade teacher.
We are taking advantage of the outdoor learning spaces around the school. As the weather gets cooler, please make sure your child has a sweater or jacket.
Please have your child bring their water bottle and snack each day. Our lunch is at 12:40pm, we get hungry because we are working so hard!
4th Grade
Fourth grade is happy to be back in school. In ELA class students have started with practice in figurative language, close reading, and story elements. Students are enjoying their virtual libraries in Epic, Scholastic News, and Story Works.
In science class Mrs. Bierly has started the school year with introducing measurement tools, classification, and the use of dichotomous keys.
The fourth grade teachers are proud of and thankful for the teamwork between students, parents, and teachers that has lead to a comfortable start to the year.
5th Grade
Mathematicians in fifth grade are enjoying memorizing their Multiplication Facts at FactMonster.com. It is our collective goal to reach Level 7 by the end of the school year. We are currently learning to round and compare decimal numbers. Fifth graders will soon be adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimal numbers.
Mrs. Krotzer
Fifth grade readers are sharpening their close reading skills to analyze themes and author claims in various texts. Then they are learning how to use their writing skills to cite evidence that supports the author's ideas.
Mrs. Eglesia 5th graders are putting their science skills to the test by observing, asking questions and arriving at solutions to problems. We will plan, design and test our brainstorms by using cooperation and teamwork skills. At the end of the month we will learn the metric system and the corresponding science tool. Mrs. Route
6th grade
Welcome to 6th grade!
Our classes have been full of new learning. We have done our usual in person work, but have gained some online time. This new model is allowing us to explore some wonders in everyday learning through the google classroom.
To start the year in math class, we have been working with ratios and proportions. It is quickly turning to fall weather, so Mrs. Smith is excited. Since we cannot make my annual applesauce as one of our proportions projects in class, I want to share the recipe we normally use so anyone can make it at home.
Music
Welcome back to school and to music class! It is so wonderful to be back in school.
I am enjoying bringing my music cart into the different classrooms every day! We have been busy reviewing what we did in the Spring and learning some new things along the way.
K-1 have met some new and old friends, Arpeggio the Copycat and Shelly the Crab. They are doing a great job singing while doing the sign language for our hello songs and have been showing me some really awesome dance moves!
2-3 have been reviewing our rhythms and music notes and learned how to “decode” our new poem, Ickle Ockle, into quarter notes (du), eighth notes (du-de) and rests! Incredible!
Mrs. Bierly’s 4th grade classes have learned a body percussion routine and started ukulele! They can play 2 chords so far, know the history of the ukulele and the different parts of the instrument. We have had fun reviewing what we know with a friendly game of Kahoot!
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at anytime. I will respond as soon as I can.
Best wishes,
Miss Thomas
Art
Here are some samples of the perspective drawings that 5th grade has been doing. We are learning valuable skills and new artistic concepts everyday. Each grade level has a focus and is connected to learning in other subjects as much as possible.
Getting art from a cart has made art class a little different this year. One of the big changes is that artworks will not be kept in school, but sent home right away! So look for your child’s artwork and opportunities to talk to them about what they have been learning!
Feel free to contact me at tohnmeiss@southerntioga.org with any questions you may have throughout the year. Thank you for support!
LIBRARY
Welcome back to school! The library certainly looks different this year, but it is no less exciting. Students will have the opportunity to check out new books each week from a large selection on my portable library cart. Books are due every other library class, but students may turn them in early if they choose. In order to renew a book, students need to bring their book back to me and ask.
K-3 will have new themes every month for our read-alouds. This month we will read books about school, apples, football, and kindness.
4-6 are learning about Digital Citizenship, being safe online, this trimester. This is an important topic right now, with all of our students spending at least some portion of their school hours online. Students in these grades can fill out a Google Form on Google Classroom or SeeSaw to request new books at any time; these will be delivered to home rooms once a week.
You can contact me any time with questions or concerns at cwood@southertioga.org
Mrs. Wood
Physical Education
Welcome back to a new school year. Physical Education classes will be held outside as much as possible throughout the year. Please remind your child to wear active clothing and sneakers when they have P.E. This year we will focus on personal fitness, locomotor, non-locomotor and balancing activities. As the school year progresses and the weather turns colder, students may want to bring a jacket or sweatshirt as well. Remote lessons will also be available through both Google Classroom and Seesaw periodically. Please contact me at ksmith@southerntioga.org if you need anything throughout the school year. Have a great year!
Title I
Take time for a story! Want to spend time with your child/ children, help build their reading and listening skills & help grow their love of books? Do all of these by following these suggestions:
Read regularly ~ try reading with your child 10 - 15 minutes every day maybe as a bedtime routine as you read to the child. Or curl up together and you read a page, they read a page.
Take turns choosing books. Your child may want to read or hear favorites again & again. That is just fine. Also, try to add a variety of fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
Let your child participate. Younger children can help by turning pages. They can finish sentences that rhyme or fill in words they know.
Be playful. Use different voices for different characters. (A high squeaky voice for a mouse or a booming voice for a horse, for example.)
Note: You don’t have to be an expert reader - your child will love it when you read aloud because it’s YOU!
Fall Picture schedule
These days are for students who need re-takes or for any student who missed the original picture days at the beginning of September.