GES Grey Wolf Gazette
October 7, 2022
End 68 Hours of Hunger Program Information
Happy October!
Dear Greenfield Families and Friends,
Happy Friday!
We are a week into October already! The leaves are changing quickly and my drive to school gets more beautiful and colorful every day! Fall is my favorite season by far and I especially love being outside in the cool, crisp air! Students enjoyed a visit from the Greenfield Fire Department this week to learn about Fire Safety. The Ladder Truck was a big hit!
We listened to a podcast written and produced by kids for kids in 4th grade this week to get an idea about how we might set ours up. We will listen to a few more next week and begin writing our scripts. The children have LOTS of great ideas for podcast guests and topics and we are excited to get started!
K-4 students will be walking to the Stephenson Memorial Library over the next two weeks-check the events listing below. Parents are welcome to join us on our walk and visit. Please let your child's teacher know if you are planning to join them. The children's librarian Ella Cademartori has asked children to bring a picture of a wild or domestic animal to add to a collage when they visit.
Please refer to the ConVal School Nurse Newsletter for information regarding COVID-19 exposures, school attendance after an exposure or testing for your child. You can find the newsletter here: https://www.smore.com/18ae4. Mrs. Slocomb is available during school hours to answer any questions you may have after reading the guidance.
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES-PLEASE CHECK AND ADD TO YOUR CALENDAR
10/10/22: NO SCHOOL! Teacher PD Day.
10/11-10/14/22: Special: Art with Mr. Shapiro!
10/12/22: 3rd grade walking field trip to Stephenson Memorial Library at 9:30am
10/12/22: 1st grade walking field trip to Stephenson Memorial Library at 1:45pm
10/14/22: 4th grade walking field trip to Stephenson Memorial Library at 10:30am
10/14/122: 2nd grade walking field trip to Stephenson Memorial Library at 1:45pm
10/17-10-21/22: Special: Library with Mrs. Aborn
10/19/22: Kindergarten walking field trip to Stephenson Memorial Library at 9:30am
10/24-10/28/22: Special: Health/PE with Mrs. Parker-don't forget your sneakers!
10/28/22: PIZZA PUMPKIN PALOOZA IS BACK! We are excited to welcome families back for our first all school event of the year! Details coming soon, but mark your calendar for 5:00-7:00pm for this exciting event now!
10/31/22: Annual Halloween Costume Parade to the Meeting House. Details will be sent home soon.
10/31-11/4/22: Special: Music with guest teacher Mrs. K!
11/2/22: GES PTO Meeting at 5:30 in the Library. **Childcare will be available for those who need it!*
11/7-11/11/22: Special: Library with Mrs. Aborn
11/8/22: NO SCHOOL! Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held today. Teachers will be sending home information about signing up for conference soon.
11/11/22: NO SCHOOL! Veteran's Day
11/14-11/18/22: Special: Library with Mrs. Aborn
11/21-11/22/22: Special: Health/PE with Mrs. Parker. Don't forget your sneakers!
11/22/22: STEAM DAY! Mr. Jeremy Griffus joins us again for a day of experimenting and fun! Ms. Jeannie Connolly will also be here to help students create lanterns they can bring to the Lantern Walk in December! We will need volunteers to help with set up, supervision and support during activities and clean up! If you're interested in volunteering please email Karen Paul at kpaul@conval.edu.
11/23-11/25/22: NO SCHOOL! Thanksgiving Break
11/28-12/2/22: Special: Health/PE with Mrs. Parker. Don't forget your sneakers!
12/5-12/9/22: Special: Art with Mr. Shapiro
12/7/22: GES PTO Meeting at 5:30 in the Library. **Childcare will be available for those who need it!*
12/12-12/16/22: Special: Library with Mrs. Aborn
12/19-12/23/22: Special: Health/PE with Mrs. Parker. Don't forget your sneakers!
12/22/22: Solstice Day!
12/26/22-1/2/23: Holiday Break!
S.E.L Family Corner
Resources of the Week:
- Flusterclux Anxiety Podcast with Lynn Lyons: Access this podcast from this link or from wherever you are able to listen to podcasts (phone app, etc.). Here you'll find dozens of episodes on supporting your child, whether or not they currently experience challenges with anxiety.
Article of the Week:
How and When to Limit Kids' Tech Use by Melanie Pinola
This article illustrates well how there are so many different approaches to parenting in the world of technology. Regardless of how you do, here are some great tips for what is most important and a great reminder that we are role models for our children, even when we don't realize it. And ultimately, just continuing to do the best you can do - you're likely doing better than you think!
Family Activity:
Fly a Kite! Embrace the brisk fall wind by going outside as a family and flying a kite. Don't have a kit? Make one together! Check out this tutorial at PBS Kids: https://www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-and-experiments/take-flight-with-a-diy-kite
How to Make a Newspaper Kite | DIY Kite |… | PBS KIDS for Parents
1. Carefully carve a small notch into both ends of each wooden stick for your child. The notches must be cut in the same direction.
Please reach out to Mrs. Styren at kstyren@seresc.net or Mrs. Lofstedt at vlofstedt@conval.edu if you have any questions!
What's Up in Mrs. Hodgen's Kindergarten Class?
We worked on writing and breaking apart numbers 1-5 in Math this week. We learned more about hidden partners and what a number sentence looks like. We are halfway through the first math module of Eureka and students are doing great!
Our work in Literacy focused on identifying the beginning sounds in words. We spent time in LetterLand learning about the letter Cc with Clever Cat and sorting words by their beginning sounds. We are working to name and order all capital letters. We are beginning to focus on naming the lowercase letters of the alphabet, starting with those letters we find in our names.
This week we read The Apple Pie Tree, Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie, Welcome Fall: Apples, Cozy, How do apples grow? We are still reading Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business.
This week in Science was all about apples. We did apple experiments, learned about the life cycle and labeled an apple picture. We also did an apple taste test and made a graph to find our favorite kind.
SEL: We continued our work with the Zones of Regulation and focused on the "zones in me". We talked more about what we might feel like in different situations and what zone that might put us in, and how to help get us back to the green zone.
Have a fabulous weekend.
Mrs. Hodgen
First Grade Fun with Mrs. Barnes
We finished up NWEA testing and I am so proud of all of the effort each student put into doing their best!
This week in Math we worked with different strategies to help us count on when solving an addition equation. This included using our fingers, using a good math drawing, and even some mental math. The last thing that we looked at this week is finding equal number sentences. For example if 5+1=4+3 is not true, how can we make it a true number sentence? See if your Mathematician can tell you!
This week in Literacy we continued to learn about story elements like characters and setting. We focused on reading and spelling words from the -an and -am families. Did you know that the letters n and m are nasal sounds and they make the short “a” sound whiny?
We enjoyed reading Manners Mash Up, Be Kind, Our Class is a Family, All Are Welcome, and Each Kindness. We are in chapter 10 of The Mouse and the Motorcycle! The boy made Ralph his very own crash helmet for the motorcycle.
This week in Science we continued to learn about seasonal changes and patterns for plants and animals. We also enjoyed a visit from the Greenfield Fire Department to learn about fire prevention and safety.
We've been learning how we can create a safe, fun, and positive learning environment for ourselves and our peers. We created a class contract together to document all the ways we can work together to help everyone learn and have fun this year!
If you have any questions, please reach out at abarnes@conval.edu.
Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs. Barnes
Mrs. Goodspeed's Second Grade is Seriously Super!
This week during Literacy our spelling focus was all about the FLOSS rule! If a word is one syllable, has a short vowel sound, and ends in /f/, /l/, /s/ or /z/, we double the last consonant. We had to be on the lookout for some of those rule breaker words though like bus, quiz, is, or yes. Students also completed descriptive paragraphs about a fall tree that they illustrated using crayon and watercolors. I am so impressed with everyone’s creativity and dedication! We also are working on our independent reading stamina. Our goal is for everyone to be reading without getting up or losing focus for 10 minutes. We ended our week by making some Enemy Pie!
This week we read Enemy Pie, Perfect, A Tale of Two Beasts, and Charlotte’s Web.
Science: We did not have Cornucopia this week due to the rain. We watched a Mystery Doug that answered the question, “Do any plants eat animals?” We continue to monitor our plants that are growing (one in the dark closet and one in the window sill) but this week, we decided to experiment and see how the plants would grow if we switched them. We put the healthy window plant in the closet and the long sick looking plant in the window. Both plants are doing okay so far!
We spent time talking about the importance of including others and thinking about another person's perspective (what do others feel, think, and say when my behavior is unexpected?)
If you have any questions please reach out at egoodspeed@conval.edu.
Have a super weekend!
Mrs. Goodspeed
Overheard in Third with Ms. Heard!
This week we finally finished up our NWEA testing! Everyone worked hard and did their best!
During Math we finished up our first multiplication module! We practiced using an array and a number bond to model the distributive property of multiplication. We will do some review next week and take our first topic assessment.
Our work in Literacy was about the importance of nonfiction text features and how they help us be more efficient readers.
This week in Science we made our own rain clouds out of shaving cream to model what happens when a cloud has too much condensation in it.
As a class, we talked about why we have rules and read That Rule Doesn’t Apply to Me. We learned that we have rules at school so that everyone feels safe and comfortable. We also talked about how unexpected behaviors affect the way others feel and what they think about us.
We finished up our first chapter book, Fenway and Hattie. We just started Roald Dahl’s The Witches.
Feel free to reach out with any questions at rheard@conval.edu.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Heard
What's Cookin' in Mrs. Cook's Fourth Grade?
Students used what they know about our place value chart to understand when bundling and sliding groups of 10 or 100 was necessary, and were able to identify the place value of all digits within the given problems. We also continue to practice our multiplication facts and I encourage them to practice at home whenever they have a chance.
We finished reading the first section of our book Winn-Dixie. We continue to discuss the character traits of our main characters, as well as the plot, and sequence of events so far. Students did a great job with a dictionary exploration assignment, where they were given vocabulary from our book and they learned the skills of finding the words and writing the definition followed by using those words within a sentence.
Science: We learned about Volcanoes and the different types of lava and why there are different shapes of volcanoes as a result of the consistency of the lava. We did an experiment where students tested the consistency of two liquids, one thin and one thick and then explained what they noticed.
We worked on identifying the size of the problem when we are frustrated or having a hard time, and what it means to be flexible.
We finished reading Wild Robot! Roz had to go back to the factory because she needed major repairs, but she promised to return to the Wild island and all her friends and family. It was a great book, enjoyed by most! There is a second book that I encourage students to read.
If you have any questions, please reach out at mcook@conval.edu.
Have a stupendous weekend!
Mrs. Cook
This Week in Wellness with Mrs. Parker
This week in Wellness students reviewed throwing, tossing and rolling. They were focusing on throwing the ball overhand or underhand with correct form. Some were learning how to throw, toss, and roll for the first time and others were practicing how to do the skills correctly. The goal is always to be able to complete the skill correctly so they are able to participate in a variety of games and activities with confidence. When students feel confident in their abilities they are more likely to try new activities. We had fun with many stations - including bowling, throwing a football through a hoop, hula hoop corn hole, throwing to an inflatable target, self toss and catch, and 'skee ball'.
Students also identified strategies to use when they are too silly, upset, stressed, or angry. We talked about how our feelings might impact our behavior and what to do about it so we are able to get back into the green zone. These strategies can be used at home as well.
Stay healthy and active,
Mrs. Parker
Classroom Counseling with Mrs. Lofstedt
For more information about my counseling program, please visit my website at https://sites.google.com/conval.edu/lofstedt/home
Kindergarten: Our focus this week was using self-talk for staying on task. After reviewing listening skills and the importance of focusing and ignoring distractions, we learned about self-talk as a strategy for ignoring distractions and staying focused. Students practiced using listening skills, focus, and self-talk to remember directions to complete a fall coloring page that required students to follow verbal directions while ignoring many distracting objects on the page.
1st Grade: This week first graders learned about using self-talk as a learning skill. After reviewing listening skills and the importance of focusing and ignoring distractions, we learned about self-talk as a strategy for ignoring distractions, staying focused, remembering information, and completing work. Students practiced using listening skills, focus, and self-talk to remember directions to complete a fall coloring page that required students to follow verbal directions while ignoring many distracting objects on the page.
2nd Grade: This week we talked about the learning skills of focusing attention and listening. Students practiced these skills with a partner by sharing a favorite food or animal and reasons why and their partner shared with the class.
3rd Grade: In third grade we finished the first unit of our social skills curriculum by learning about being assertive. We talked about the communication styles of passive, assertive, and aggressive and students worked with a partner to role play assertive communication with school-based scenarios.
4th Grade: We talked about the communication styles of passive, assertive, and aggressive and students worked with a partner to role play assertive communication with school-based scenarios.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me via email at vlofstedt@conval.edu.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Lofstedt
Local Events and Activities
COMING SOON!
News from the Souhegan Valley Boys and Girls Club!
We regret to inform families that the SVBGC Before and After School program is not available at this time. The club is actively seeking staff for all their locations, including Greenfield and Antrim, but like many other employers in the region they have been unable to fill these positions. If you are interested in the program, you can place your child on a waitlist. If enough students enroll AND the club can secure staffing, the program may be able to reopen at the Greenfield location. Registration information can be found on the Club’s website www.svbgc.org If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Catherine Kendall at ckendall@svgbc.org.
2022-2023 Calendar
Resources
Where to find ConVal District and GES News!
GES has a facebook page! You can find the link here:
https://www.facebook.com/Greenfield-Elementary-School-532738607668635
The ConVal School District has news blog to serve as a hub for the latest updates, information and news about the district’s schools, students, faculty, events and accomplishments.
The blog, ConValNews.com is integrated into the schools and District’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and will automatically broadcast news blog content onto these platforms, connecting directly with the district community.
With a clean, user-friendly and mobile responsive layout, the news blog allows for easy navigation throughout. It can be accessed on computers, cell phones and tablets. Community members can subscribe and be notified by email when new posts are published.
Parents/guardians, students, staff, and community members should still utilize the district’s main website, Convalsd.net, to access the District-wide calendar of events, contact information, school committee meeting notices and minutes, important documents and notices and to view general information about the district and its schools.
Connect with us!
Email: croy@conval.edu
Website: https://ges.convalsd.net/
Location: 860 Forest Road, Greenfield, NH 03047, USA
Phone: 603-547-3334
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Greenfield-Elementary-School-532738607668635
Twitter: @ges_royc