May 2013 Together We Can Make a World of Difference
Edgewood Connections --- Page 1
Principal's Message
Edgewood Talent Show
Our many Edgewood students showed off their incredible talents at the 2nd annual “Edgewood’s Got Talent” show held at Chippens Hill Middle School on April 26th. Thank you to all the parents for helping and allowing your children to prepare for this great event. A huge thanks to Mrs. Rivoira for organizing the show. Edgewood has LOTS of talent! Look on page 4 to see some highlights of the show!
Kindergarten Orientation
We are now accepting registrations for next year’s Kindergarten class. Orientation will be held on Thursday, May 30th from 4:00-5:00 PM.
PBIS Silver Stars!
As students earn signatures, they complete different colored cards and earn Eagle rewards. The following students have already filled ALL their cards this year and are exemplary, model Edgewood students.
A great big congratulations to Lucy and Lili in Mrs. Prentiss' class, Luke and Dorian in Mr. Hayes' class, Sierra and Peyton in Mrs. Dehey's class, Victoria in Mrs. Diehl's class, and Abby, Owen, Emily, and Luke L. in Mrs. Bartucca's class!
Relay for Life Donations
It's not too late to donate to American Cancer Society through our Relay for Life event. Flyers are in the main office and will also be sent home this week. Thanks for your support in helping Edgewood fight cancer.
Did your child forget lunch, homework, an instrument, sneakers for gym...?
In our ongoing efforts to minimize classroom interruptions and help students take responsibility for themselves, office staff will NOT be calling into classrooms to notify teachers of items dropped off after the start of school. Please encourage your child to ask their teacher to check the main office at a convenient time to see if someone dropped off an item for them. Teachers also stop into the office three times a day minimally (before school, lunch, after school). Thanks for your help!
2012-2013 School Year Closing Schedule
Tuesday, June 25th is the last day of school. The last three days of school (June 21, 24 & 25) are shortened days. School will be dismissed at 1:10 PM. There will be no lunches served.
The Kindergarten schedule for shortened days will be as follows:
9:05-11:00 AM and 11:15-1:10 PM.
April Eagle Town Meeting
Lili, Mackenzie, and Katie perform a dance for our students.
Dylan, grade 5, treats the audience to some amazing beat-boxing.
Kindergarten
On April 12th, we attended Indian Rock Nature Center. We saw a pig, sheep, a cow, chickens, rabbits, a horse, and watched a sheep being sheared. We learned many facts about each animal and had the opportunity to pet most of them! Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to chaperone for this field trip.
In Math, we completed our unit on subtraction. The students learned about subtraction and used their problem solving skills. Please continue to practice identifying numbers to 30 and adding and subtracting at home!
On June 5th, the kindergarteners will be taking a field trip to the Bristol Public Library. They will listen to a story and sing songs. We look forward to learning about all the books the library has to offer!
SAVE THE DATE: We are excited to announce that our Kindergarten Ceremony will be held on Monday, June 24th at 9:30 am for both the AM and PM classes. This is a half day. The AM AND PM class will both attend school from 8:55-11:00. The children will be dismissed with their parents immediately following the ceremony, or they can take the bus as usual. We will have a dress rehearsal the Friday before. That will be held on Friday, June 21st (this is also a half day). BOTH AM AND PM CLASSES WILL ATTEND IN THE MORNING FOR THE REHEARSAL FROM 8:55-11:00.
First Grade
Lights, Camera, Action!
On April 8th the first graders performed “The Friendship Garden” in front of a standing room only audience. The children took on the roles of flowers, narrators, elements of weather, and several garden critters. Through songs and narration, the story of true friendship unfolded. The play introduced the inhabitants of the garden, including three butterflies. When the weather became rainy, the butterflies searched for a place to dry themselves. Unfortunately, the flowerbeds where they wished to rest were not very accepting of the different butterflies. The three butterflies refused to split up and continued on, cold and discouraged. In the end, the sun noticed the value of the loyalty shared between the butterflies and led the rest of the garden to see the error of its ways. The flower garden came to appreciate the beauty in the diversity of the different colored butterflies and decided to make a rainbow with their colors, too!
The first graders enjoyed learning the songs, practicing their parts, and especially performing for their friends and family. Thanks to all of you who attended our day and evening performances! The students were so excited to see your faces and get your support.
Second Grade
Do you know the difference between plane and solid shapes? Can you describe the attributes of hexagons, trapezoids, and parallelograms? Can you find the faces, edges, and vertices of a cube? If you can do all these things, you are probably a second grade student in Bristol! This May students have been studying geometry, a concept that many were already familiar with - they just didn't know it. Ice cream cones, dice, and rubber balls, all are objects students know about. That made understanding geometric concepts more agreeable and fun for most students.
Do you know how to insert line breaks into poetry? Can you see the world through the lens of a poet rather than a scientist? Grade Two poets have been learning there is more to poetry than just rhymes. Poetry can appear in many forms, such as haiku or limericks, but it is also just a way to use lush, descriptive language. Spring is the most inspirational time of year to undertake a study of poetry, because nature is in full bloom. Speaking of which, students have been studying soil and plant life, and even expect a visit from an expert scientist from High Touch High Tech, courtesy of the PTO. In class, we are planting flowers and are providing the conditions for them to live and prosper. Soon the results of this experiment will come home.
Third Grade
On Friday, April 5, 2013 the third graders visited the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk Connecticut. The students enjoyed watching seals getting fed their lunch by a marine biologist. During the feeding she introduced the seals to us and described their various personalities. Other popular exhibits were the Nerf Shark and Ray Touch Pool where students had the chance to touch rays and sharks as they swam by. In the Meerkat Exhibit students learned that meerkats are members of the mongoose family and were able to go into a bubble to observe the meerkats in their habitat from a meerkat point of view. Thank you to the many chaperones who donated their time to this class adventure!
In the classroom the third graders became archeologists for a day by excavating fossils from a cookie and creating the three different kinds of rocks through edible hands on activities. Students also had the opportunity to become horticulturists due to the generosity of the Burlington/Bristol Health Department who donated an Earth Box. Students learned about planting seeds and the importance of eating natural foods. We hope this sparks a desire for students to develop healthy eating habits and look forward to trying our own lettuce, radishes, and swiss chard which we will have grown from seed.
Fourth Grade
In Writer’s Workshop, the students are learning strategies for generating topics for feature articles. This writing unit consisted of students becoming “experts” on a particular subject of interest to them. The purpose of publishing a feature article is to inform readers about something complex and interesting. Our last unit of the year will focus on writing memoirs.
In science, the fourth graders are continuing their study of force and motion. Our last unit will focus on electricity and magnetism. We have some fun and exciting experiments in store for our eager fourth graders! In math, we have been focusing on solving measurement problems. We have been learning the importance of solving real world perimeter, area, capacity and money problems. The students also plotted fractional data points on a line plot. Another important component of the measurement topic was converting customary and metric units. Our last topic of the year will focus on geometry with a concentration on lines, angles, and shapes.
We are looking forward to our upcoming field trip to Roaring Brook Nature Center on May 30th. We will learn about animal’s habitats. Our final field trip of the year will be to Essex Steam Train and Riverboat! We will take a trip along the Connecticut River on a steam train and then board a riverboat to sail up and down the Connecticut River. We will explore the history of Connecticut and see some famous sights on the trip.
The fourth grade classes had a wonderful time on their field trip to the state capitol! Our tour began inside of the Old State house. We participated in a mock trial and learned about the voting process in Connecticut. We then went to the legislative office building. Our trip ended as we traveled to the state capitol where we received a guided tour. We met Representatives Wright, Nicastro, and Betts and Mayor Ward who talked to us about government and how laws are made. Thank you to all parents who chaperoned.
Fifth Grade
The fifth grade students had a good visit with the Chippens Hill Middle School administration last month. The students asked many questions about what to expect in middle school. They are going to see for themselves when they visit the middle school on Monday, May 13. They will even eat lunch there and get a good preview of what to expect!
Another exciting field trip will be to the Connecticut Science Center on Monday, May 6th. The students will see the 3-D movie “SUN.” This will kick off our Solar System unit in Science. This is always a favorite as the students learn about planets and stars in our solar system.
In Readers Workshop, the students continue to conference with their teachers and meet to discuss their book club reading. It is fun to watch the children in animated discussions over their reading. Our hope is that they become life-long readers and view reading as a genuine joy.
Our Poetry unit has been an enormous success. Who knew we had such creative, talented poets! Moms should look for a “special” present with the poetry the students have written.
Our students are finishing up fractions in math. Encourage the children to look for opportunities to use their fraction knowledge. For example, ask them to determine amounts in recipes when doubling or decreasing a recipe.
The end of year is quickly approaching. We have many fun activities planned for the 5th grade students. It is more important than ever that students remain on SILVER so they won’t miss out on any of the fun!
Music Notes
The Edgewood School Spring Concert will be held at Bristol Eastern High School on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. Mrs. Niver’s performing groups will present a concert at Edgewood School that same day. Mrs. Cannata’s bands will present a concert at Edgewood School on Tuesday, May 14th.
The featured performers are Beginner Band, Advanced Band, Orff ensembles, recorder group, and fifth grade Chorus.
We look forward to entertaining you at our Spring Concert.
Talent Show
Jennica Valdes & Lili Morneault
Rebecca Bender & Brooke Dorsio
Joseph Dorsio
Sophia Circosta
Jason Kosciukiewica & Kyle Cyr
Edgewood Staff
Luke Ricciardone
Olivia Marin
Alyssa Valentine, Taigan Parent,
Katie Wasta, & Katelynn Furniss
Christina Tomack & Treva Wishart
Encore
Edgewood Connections --- Page 1