Fredericktown Elementary School
Newsletter - October Edition
Elementary Curriculum Coordination
Familiar Face in a New Role
Mrs. Reynolds has rejoined our staff in a new capacity. After teaching children for 39 years, her new focus is teaching adults. For the first time ever, Fredericktown School has an elementary curriculum coordinator. In this new job, Mrs. Reynolds is helping teachers to better meet the needs of the students in the development of reading skills. This aligns with our state movement to implement the Science of Reading. This movement focuses on the processes going on in the brain when a person is learning how to read. It takes the student from hearing words and sounds to transitioning to the letters that make these sounds then blending the sounds into the words of our written language. Writing is becoming an even bigger part of the learning process as well. Using many of our senses helps the brain understand words, sentences, and other passages to solidify the understanding of written language. This knowledge is improving our ability to help students make meaningful connections to text.
There are many new pieces of information about teaching reading. Having Mrs. Reynolds to help in this transition is critical to making us successful in supporting our teachers in this journey.
Grandparents Day, Family Fun Night and Visiting Author
We had an incredible week as we started learning, laughter, fun and togetherness for the month of October. Our students got to show off their skills in the classroom and on stage for their grandparents on October 3rd, 4th and 5th. Students started off the event each day with a song prepared special for our grandparents and guests. From there, students toured their classrooms, enjoyed a beverage, visited the book fair and topped it off with a photo with their special guest. Thank you grandparents and guest for making this a truly memorable event for our kids.
Family Fun Night was held for the first time in several years on October 4 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. This event was host by Fredericktown Education Association and included; dinner, crafts, activities and shopping through the book fair store. It was wonderful to see so many family attend this event and enjoy the activities.
We we very honored to have visiting author Keith Syler vist and read to our students. The following is a copy of his bio sent out prior to his visit on October 6.
Keith Syler is very pleased to come home to Fredericktown for readings at Fredericktown schools of his new children's books, "When a Lobster Whistles," and "It's Raining, It's Pouring." Both books showcase idioms across languages, with vivid illustrations. We may say "when pigs fly" to express that something will never happen, where other languages invoke chickens with teeth, hairy frogs, and lobsters that whistle. Similarly, we say "It's raining cats and dogs" to express a downpour, where other languages capture the idea with ropes, lady trolls, wheelbarrows, and even dog poo.
Keith was born in Mount Vernon in 1968 and grew up in Fredericktown. His father, Roger Syler, was an excavator-contractor and his mother, Carolyn, worked at Ward/Kraft Forms. Keith grew up digging ditches and basements with his dad, while sometimes cleaning printing presses at Ward/Kraft. He rode bus number 8, along with Luke Perry and a host of other Freddies, and bus driver Judy Moore. He graduated from FHS in 1986 and went on to study business and journalism at Malone College in Canton.
When the Berlin Wall fell down, Keith flew off to then-Czechoslovakia to teach English. He learned more Czech than anyone learned English, but made great friends. His path later would take him to Florida for training in agriculture and health, to West Michigan to work with homeless men, to Quebec for language study, and then to West Africa where he worked with World Renew to translate for UNICEF vaccination teams.
Keith returned in 1998 and studied law at the University of Cincinnati, became a lawyer, and served in many capacities in Cincinnati, but mostly as a law clerk to the late federal judge, S. Arthur Spiegel.
In 2018, Keith moved to Baltimore, where he currently volunteers to help new immigrants, he sometimes works alongside teachers in Baltimore County Schools, and he works with other Presbyterians to partner with Cuban churches. He also sometimes lifeguards with Madi Minutelli, an elementary school teacher, who stars as the U.S. citizen in both of his books.
He is very pleased to return to Fredericktown and his hope is to help other Freddies see that they can do it too! We can all take chances to see and discover the world, even as we always know, "it can be done in a small town," like our hometown, Fredericktown.
Important Dates
October 16 - No school for students, teacher work day
October 24 and 26 - Parent Teacher Conferences - 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
October 27 - No school