September 2016

ESM News @ Mary Hooker

Ms. Thompson

Greetings ESM Family! It has been an eventful first month of school at ESM! Continuing with my mission to lead by listening, I have spent most of my time observing classrooms and getting to know our students over the last month. One of my favorite times of the day is student lunch time! In the cafeteria I have many opportunities to get to know your student(s) and talk with them about what they are learning in their classes. What creative, intelligent, kind, inquisitive, students we have at ESM!

This year, we will send out a month school newsletter to keep you updated on what is happening in all of the classrooms here at ESM. Please enjoy reading about the amazing things happening along with all the action captured in the pictures! Have a wonderful day,

PreKindergarten

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF PRE-K!

The pre-kindergarteners at ESM have been very busy this

month! They have been meeting new friends, learning how to

be HAWKS and finding out all about how wonderful their new

school is! This month the pre-k classes were introduced to four

members of the InvestiGator Club. They met Dilly Gator, the

founder of the InvestiGator Club, and J.T. her brother. They also

met Great Auntie Lu, who is and artist and storyteller, as well as

Rosalita Sausalita who loves to speak Spanish and use

technology. The pre-k has also investigated the outdoors. They

have visited the chicken coop

as well as the gardens. They

tasted yummy basil and kale

and saw lots of different

fruits, flowers and vegetables.

Next month the pre-k will

meet more InvestiGators and

everyone will get to join the

InvestiGator Club! We can’t

wait!!!

Kindergarten Kindergarten is off to a great start! We have finished our opening ELA unit, Step Into School. “What do families do together?” That is the Big Question we are exploring in our next unit, My Family. To answer it, we are reading, writing, and talking about family members and family traditions. We are working on learning our letters and sounds, as well as, identifying the parts of a book, the author's name and job, and the illustrator's name and job. In math, we are working on identifying and writing the numbers 0 to 5, and different ways to make sets of 0-5. In science, we are exploring the world around us using our five senses. We have visited the chickens and the school gardens! Please continue to help your child at home by completing homework, reading and practicing the sight words! Happy Autumn!

1st Grade First grade has been busy these first weeks of school. We have been enjoying outside time with our scientists studying the changes in the garden, caterpillars and shadows. We have been reading great books and looking at character traits. We have read Lilly and the Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes. Ask your children about Lilly and the problems she faced. We have been studying number decomposition in math and will be continuing number study in the next weeks. In writing we are working on writing simple and compound statements and using transition words in our stories. We are also looking at finding inspiration for our writing in the world around us by creating “Windows and Doors”. Ask your children about what inspires them as a writer! Please remember to have children read for 20 minutes every night!

We can’t wait to see you at conferences!

2nd Grade It’s hard to believe that we have already completed our first month of second grade! Our students have been busy learning about so many new things. We have spent time reviewing in math as well as learning how to add and subtract multiples of ten. Be sure to practice these concepts at home! Our first unit in ELA focuses on story structure (beginning, middle, end) and also core values such as responsibility, leadership, citizenship, and courage. It would be helpful to have your child tell you the events that happened in a story they recently read. Additionally, ask your child how they show each core value in everyday life. In Science, we have already had some great learning experiences! We have been working with Mr. Clark to help improve our knowledge about plants and how they change with the seasons. Each classroom has chosen a tree around campus to observe every week in order to track changes throughout the year. Second graders have also been observing in the outdoor gardens as well as in the Vivarium. We have had an amazing start to the school year and we look forward to many more educational adventures!

3rd Grade

Welcome back students and families. We

are excited to start another school year.

Third grade is going to be a fun and exciting

year for our students. The students are

already busy exploring and researching the

many birds of the Northeast. They were

treated to a presentation by Ms. Hays from

her African Safari. The amazing videos and

pictures she took were used to start the

students learning and understanding of adaptations, which is our main

focus of the first Science unit.

In reading third graders are discovering the power of reading and how

different people access books and obtain knowledge around the world.

We have read about a school in Africa where the students have to build

their school before the start of the school year. And we read about a

young girl in Afghanistan who has to go to a secret school because girls

are not allowed to go to school. Ask your child what reading means to

them.

This year we are using the Eureka math program in third grade. Students

will have weekly homework to practice the new concepts they are

learning. If you need any assistance in helping your child, please feel free

to ask one of us. We can send home a homework helper. It is important

for students to practice their multiplication facts. Fluency will help them

as we progress in the program.

It is going to be a great year and we look forward to working with this

great bunch of students and their families.

4th Grade The students in the 4th grade community have been busy at work this school year. They have gone on a journey with a character named Jack from "Love That Dog" by Sharron Creech. in this text, the students have been citing evidence, writing paragraphs all while learning to love poetry just like Jack. The fourth grade students now have a solid understanding of many styles of poetry such as free verse, concrete and narrative poems. When thinking about numeracy, students have been looking at everything from standard and expanded form of numbers. Students have also been working in math congresses to share their thinking on ways to show numbers that are ten times greater. Science has engaged just as busy with lessons from Mrs. Hayes learning about macroinvertebrates living in the stream along school to biomes and food webs. We will learn more about the crab population on our field trip to Hammonasset State Park in late October.

5th Grade 5th Grade is officially underway! Lockers are organized, students are rotating to their different subject blocks, and academic instruction is in full-swing. In English Language Arts, students are working with different texts, specifically the Declaration of Human Rights, to learn more about equality and each individual’s rights. In Math, students mastered place value and are moving on to adding and subtracting whole numbers and decimals. In Science, students have begun their Energy unit, and have conducted experiments to help prove that light is a form of energy. The 5th grade team is looking forward to our week long camping trip to The Discovery Center. In addition to camp games, camp fires and S’mores, students learn about the importance of diversity, working together, equity and accepting each other for who they are. The 5th grade is off to an amazing start to the year!

6th Grade

In math, students have been inspired and engaged with the ratios module. Currently, we are solving problems by comparing different ratios using two or more ratios tables. By the end of October, we will be finished with the ratios and moved forward with arithmetic operations.

In ELA students are intrigued by our first novel choice "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief". They have been working on supporting their thoughts and inferences about the book with evidence from the text. We have also been working on writing complete and clear sentences that contain exact "quotes" from the text!

Our Sixth Grade Scientists have been enthusiastically investigating, recording, and analyzing results of different labs on water properties and water use. We have worked closely with Mrs. Hays to simulate, study, and connect the effects

of pollution on our watershed. We are HAWKS in Science; we work positively in lab groups, we are respectful towards our lab partners, we keep safe in class using materials, and we soar to success together. We are excited about our upcoming Project Oceanology boat trip with Mrs. Hays (dates to be determined) in Groton and learning more about Connecticut's largest and most important natural resource: Long Island Sound.

7th Grade

Hello 7th grade families!

On Wednesday, September 21st, a group of passionate 7th grade students participated in an after-school activity to help our local environment. Led by Ms. O’Connor, Mr. Cappaert, Ms. Simpson and Mr. Johnson students worked together to remove trash from our nature trail. Students walked through Cemetery Creek and dug out tires, basketballs, plastic bottles, shoes, and much more. This work is a part of a continued effort to make the ESM Nature Trail a useable resource for our school and community. Please be on the lookout for future service learning events!

8th Grade Hello 8th grade families!

As students in the 8th grade continue to grow in their ELA, Math, and Social Studies classes, the teachers would like to invite you to a couple of events coming up in October. Throughout the first week of October, students will be hosting student led conferences with their advisers. This is a great opportunity to set goals, learn what is happening in class, and ask any questions. On Tuesday, October 11th the 8th grade team will host a Washington D.C. information night from 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm. In this meeting, families will get a detailed explanation of the Washington D.C. trip including information on the itinerary, lodging, safety, price, and much more. We would love to see you at these events!

Resident Scientists Fall weather has finally reached ESM and we are excited for the break in temperature. With cooler days and nights come fresh crops such as lettuce and kale as well as harvesting of the last tomatoes and winter squash. Students in grades 4 and 6 are currently taking environmental science with Mr. Cappaert & Mr. Clark. Grade 4 is learning the names and stories plants in our natural areas. Any student will be able to name goldenrod, pokeweed, vetch … 20+ common species. While grade 6 is following up from last year's projects on square footage gardening and landscape design and also diving into dendrology (the study of trees) with Mr. Clark.

Fall is high season for caterpillars, with the monarch population higher than it has been in 5 years. One reason we see a lot of butterflies: we have established lots of host and nectar plants in ESM gardens.

Even though the weather is getting chilly, the conditions for fishing are still great. The ESM pond in the lobby is looking empty, right? If you plan on going fishing on any upcoming weekends, please see Mrs. Hays for a Fish Wish List and fish transport supplies. Mrs. Hays will pay students 5 Talon Tokens or 1 hour of service learning for each fish brought in! This is one of many great excuses to get outside and spend some quality time outside this fall.

Unified Arts: Physical Education

The month of September in Physical Education has added to our exciting curriculum of Project Adventure with new equipment and activities in which our students are having fun and working together for a common purpose. Some 8th grade students have had the opportunity to try the new high elements in the gym and a high climbing cluster will begin next week. Students in grades 4-8 are in the process of completing the State of Connecticut Physical fitness testing. The tests are the curl up, push up, mil run and sit and reach.

Upcoming events: Hartford Fit Kids Marathon with 8th graders on October 25.

PBIS: HAWKS Rule! Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to establish behavioral supports for all students in Pk-8. The PBIS program has been off to a great start this school year. Students have been honored with ESM Feather of Honor every Friday. A ESM feather is in recognition of that students outstanding behavior in the classroom or during Unified Arts. Every Monday some of the feather winners are acknowledged during morning announcements and the feathers are displayed in the front entrance. Hawk of the month celebrations have just begun with one student representative from each class. This Hawk of the month is determined by attendance rates, referrals and they must be a feather holder during that month. Hawk of the month celebrations are a great way to reward the exceptional behaved students with a pizza party and chance to win great prizes! Enjoy some of the pictures of the students!