Dear Parents,

January is a great month as the students move into studying their topics of interest for Museum. This will be our 50th Museum! If you have extra time to help in the classroom, talk to your child's teacher. The students need help with their research which comes first in their studies.

Note that Museum studies are a time for students to learn and prepare their work themselves. They will receive help in the classroom where all of their work will happen. Please don't do any work for them. The pride on Museum day is when they can proudly share what they did.

On another note, we may be moving into a high level of child and staff illness as our bodies fend off RSV, COVID and the flu - all at once. Take a moment to review our health policy, and especially note when you or your child should stay home. You can find our policy in the Helpful Links section below.

And finally, enjoy all the fun that winter can bring. Let's be positive and look forward to skiing, snowboarding, snow shoeing and just playing in the snow!

Warm regards,

Elaine Kennedy, Head of School & Pauline Nagle, Associate Head of School

Segregation. Injustice. Discrimination. Racism. Protests. Brutality. Assassinations.

It can be difficult for grown-ups to discuss these topics with the children in their lives. If we are to see Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream realized during our children’s lives—equality, freedom, and justice—grown-ups have to have some potentially uncomfortable conversations. Susan Michal, Director of Early Childhood Education at The Children’s Museum, shares some tips to assist grown-ups in starting this dialog. We can work together to continue to make Dr. King’s dream become a reality.

https://www.childrensmuseum.org/blog/helping-kids-honor-legacy-dr-martin-luther-king-jr

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fri 01/13: Spirit Wear and Pizza Lunch

Mon 01/16: No SCHOOL - Martin Luther King Day (no childcare)

Tue 01/24: Community Meet & Greet - required Bylaws vote 6:30p

Thu 02/02: 100% Auction Merchandise and Raffle Tickets DUE

Young children and their grown-ups are invited to frolic this Winter at New Morning School. Me and My Shadow is a toddler and parent program designed around 2 and 3 year olds. The program allows toddlers an opportunity to experience a preschool setting. Our Me & My Shadow classes provide special one-on-one time for parents and children and first steps toward socializing with other children.

Parents and children will enjoy • Music • Finger-play • Art • Readiness • Snack • Story time

Please share with your family and friends that are parents of toddlers! Thanks for spreading the word!

New Morning is a great place for kids and families. Thank you for choosing us to be your school community. We are even greater when wonderful families like you join as well. Please share our Open House dates with families, friends, neighbors, relatives that you think would enjoy our program as much as you do!

Perhaps you've met our new K/1 aide Kristina Guido, or you've seen her in action on the playground or in the classroom with your kiddos! But, did you know that Ms. Kristina also owns her own small business KG Sweets?

If you're looking for that special sweet treat for your next holiday celebration (think Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, Easter, Passover), birthday party, baby or bridal shower, look no further! Kristina's hand decorated sugar cookies are delicious, and so creative, you won't want to eat them (but you will!)

Check out Kristina's Instagram or Facebook page, KG Sweets, for additional photos and to place your order for the perfect treats for every occasion!

NMS families scheduled to clean the school this weekend are the Drake, Blomberg-Moss, Kish, Akinbosede and Opara families. Cleaning checklists will be available on the counter at the front desk Friday afternoon. Thank you for keeping our school sparkling clean!

Preschool Teachers:

Marisa Downs marisa@newmorningschool.com

Danielle Provencher danielle@newmorningschool.com

Preschool News

Thank you from both of us for your generosity, thoughtfulness, and kindness leading up to the holidays. We love working with your children and find it very rewarding. Your gifts and cards on top of that intrinsic joy mean a lot to us and we appreciate it. ~Danielle and Marisa

Welcome back to school and happy 2023! Thursday and Friday were great days to ease into our usual routines. Plus we had guinea pigs to observe! And gosh, they are adorable. Last week we asked ourselves, what should we know about them? One friend said, we need to know their names. Another said we need to know how to keep them safe. We are going to continue asking lots of questions and have fun learning about our new pets! All this learning, doing, and making will culminate on Sunday, February 12, when our school will be transformed into a museum. Preschool picks one topic to study (guinea pigs) and all the older friends in the school each pick their own topic to learn about.

This week at our Discovery tables, we’ll learn about foods guinea pigs eat using really cool digital microscopes. Observing ordinary objects through a microscope is fascinating. We’ll study lettuce, kale, red pepper, timothy hay, and guinea pig pellets magnified. Similarly, how a microscope makes small things look big, we’ll play with size, and practice sorting guinea pigs images from smallest to largest. For Art, we’ll complete January portfolio work which of course is guinea pig themed, and create art based on the book, Philomena’s New Glasses. It’s one of our many library books featuring guinea pigs. We also hope to narrow down and begin voting on names for the girls. We’ll have popcorn and field corn in our sensory tables.

Our teachers for the letter “J” are Ryan and Mabel in Danielle’s room and Chimamanda and Jackson in Marisa’s.

Happy birthday to Muyiwa and Ruth! Both have birthdays this month.

Winter in preschool means getting dressed in all the gear, snow pants, boots, coats, hats, and mittens. Please make sure your child is equipped with the above labeled items. On snowy days, friends may sled if they have one at school (please write their name on it). Unfortunately, friends may not share sleds. If the “feels like” temp is under 20, we don’t go outside and will be in the gym for recess. Lastly, if Plymouth-Canton schools have a weather-related closure, so do we.

Teacher: Pauline Nagle pauline@newmorningschool.com

K-1 Lead Aide: Shelley Blakeney

Dear Parents,

It was such a joy to return back from break and spend time with your children this week. Lots of smiles and laughs were shared and it felt great to be together! With me being the new one to the group, we decided to do some activities that will help us get to know each other. We started a Morning Meeting routine with some activities including Coseeki and This or That. We also began to think about our creating our Vision Boards.

Vision Boards are a fun way to celebrate our likes and joys, as well as think about goals or new things we want to try. Feel free to check in with your child and talk about what they are planning to put on their board. If you are able, please print a picture of your family to be placed on the board to send to school on Monday or Tuesday.

One item I'll be sharing each week is our daily read-aloud, which I refer to as our Classroom-Book-A-Day (CBAD). We use the read-aloud to promote critical thinking and comprehension, plus it's just fun to listen to stories! This month we'll focus in on the ideas of "dreaming big" and "ideas that change the world". My purpose in sharing these with you is for you to have a reference of what we are discussing and you can chime in with a follow-up conversation at home if you would like.

We are headed into Museum season. THANK YOU for sending in shoe-sized boxes. We can use more, so keep them coming. We'll keep taking newspaper too as we prepare for paper mache' projects.

In your Friday Folders, you should have found a "Mystery Bag." We will be using them this week to learn more about each other in a fun way. Please have your child bring their Mystery Bag back to school on Monday or Tuesday.

A special thank you to the parent-aides and Ms. Shelley for making my debut in the Primary class so EASY. Thank you to all of you for your support as well. Being with your kids each day is the best. Ms. Lucy sends her love. She is making a guest appearance on Monday to do some Jolly Phonics and I'm sure the kids will be so happy to see her!

Feel free to reach out with any questions, needs or concerns as they arise. Email, text, or catch me at school any time.

My best,

Ms. Pauline

Teachers:

Hannah Diaz hannah@newmorningschool.com

Christine Jansen christine@newmorningschool.com
Cynthia Weber cynthia@newmorningschool.com

EL Lead Aide: Karen Staples

Museum 2023

We have started one of the fun parts of our museum, coming up with questions with each scholar that they are curious about their topics! Using the books that were brought to school the scholars explore their topic. If you haven't sent in books from the library yet, please do so, we will continue to work on questions and begin the process of researching the answers this week. The goal is to have the rough drafts of the answers done by Friday, January 20.

We won't need the display boards until the end of the month. Please be sure to get a 4'x3' trifold board. You can bring them into the class whenever it is convenient for you, we just ask you to put your child's name on it.

If you are able to come in to help read and summarize information for our scholars, please let us know, It is always appreciated.

This week we will be collecting words related to our museum topics to use for our spelling and vocabulary lists as we delve deeper into our topics. We'll also begin to research the answers to our questions. Fifth graders will be taking the first steps to gathering their research for their papers. It's an exciting time!

In reading groups this month we will have Museum on our minds. We will be working on comprehension strategies they have learned to research about our museum topics. They are making sure to read all text features and how to use them to research. An example is how to read a map, chart, diagram, graph, captions, looking at photos, and using the table of contents and glossary in books. We are talking about why using text features to research is important and how they can help us learn. They will create some of these features when presenting and putting together their boards for museum. We are talking about how to research, and how to use informational text verse fictional text when researching. They will need to sight their sources when writing about their topics. We are using books, articles, the internet, videos, and audio books to help us learn about the different topics. Each scholar will be showing what they know by answering questions they want to know, creating a graph, a diagram or map if appropriate, or a chart. This is our main focus this month, but they will be completing other assignments as well. This week they have an assignment to read and answer questions about Martin Luther King Jr.

Math Update

Moving forward with math, Ms. Pauline has purchased the Singapore Math curriculum for us to use in the future. Over the next few weeks I will be doing placement tests with our scholars and we will be getting aquintanited with it.

Have a great week,

Christine, Hannah and Cynthia

Teachers:

Linda Hyde linda@newmorningschool.com

Nicole Matoian nicolem@newmorningschool.com

Happy New Year Middle School parents! We hope you enjoyed the holidays with your families.

Last Thursday, we hit the ground running as far as our deep dive into Museum is concerned. Students returned with books and resources on their chosen topics as we requested so they were prepared to review the Museum Planning Sheet and make plans for this week where they will construct research questions and plan ways to conduct their research. The first five pages of their planning sheet (which is on google classroom), are due by Friday (January 13th) of this week. Students were also shown how to record their sources on an online database that allows them to properly format and keep track of their sources as they find them so they can be properly cited while they write their research papers.

While we are working on Museum, I will suspend the normal Language Arts curriculum, and instead, this week, focus on individualized instruction regarding constructing and organizing research questions, how to read for meaning, and the skill of note-taking. This year students will record their notes digitally instead of writing out note cards, and their notes will be organized around their research questions, all skills students will need to write an effective research paper. Also this week, across all levels, I will focus on using transitional words and phrases in their writing. Although students will continue to read 50 minutes a day, their reading will focus on their Museum topics, and their vocabulary study will target finding and defining vocabulary related to their topics.

This week in Social Studies, students will work individually on answering assessment questions about what they've learned thus far this year about the Renaissance Period. There is a different assessment for the 6th graders than the one given to 7th and 8th graders. Students are free to use their notes to complete the assessment. Students will be given plenty of class time to complete this assessment, and it is not expected that students will take this home for homework. The assessment is due next Wednesday, January 18th.

In Math, all three math groups have started new units of study. Math Group A is working on multiplying and dividing fractions. We will focus on converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa. We’ll also be reviewing how to simplify a fraction. Group B is learning how to calculate the circumference and area of circles. We’ll be identifying the relationship between the diameter, circumference, and pi so students are able to calculate any value when they are given the other two values. Group C is focusing on linear equations and linear systems. We’ll be building on our knowledge from the last unit which focused on equations with one variable, and begin solving equations with 2 and 3 variables.

Finally, once students have gathered enough information and compiled notes on their Museum topics, I’ll be working with each student to help them determine what data can be used to create a chart or graph and assist them in using Google Sheets to create them.

Enjoy the week!

Ms. Linda and Ms. Nicole

Office Phone: 734.420.3331

Email: nms@newmorningschool.com

Elaine Kennedy, Head of School elaine@newmorningschool.com

Pauline Nagle, Associate Head of School pauline@newmorningschool.com

Joan Barrett, Admissions Director joan@newmorningschool.com

Kit Zrull, Administrative Assistant nms@newmorningschool.com