message from the principal - home - gales ferry / juliet w....
TRANSCRIPT
Message from the Principal
Dear Parents and Friends of GF/JWL,
Over the course of the next few months, we will
be offering several workshops geared toward
parents/caregivers of students in grades K-4.
You are welcome to attend one or all of the
workshops. The first in the series, “Finding
special time with your child” presented by Kate
Sikorski from Ledyard Youth Services, will be
held on February 11 at 5:00 p.m. in the GFS
Library. Coffee and light refreshments as well as
childcare will be provided. Please RSVP to the
school office. A flyer with a full workshop
schedule is posted on the school website.
Our February All School Meeting will be held on
Friday, February 5 at 2:00 p.m. The “Right
Thing” will be featured! First grade students will
be sharing information about Presidents Day,
Dental Health month, and being respectful.
Visitors are always welcome to attend!
Sincerely,
Anne Hogsten
Principal
Upcoming Events
2/4- D.A.R.E. lessons start in 5th grade
2/5- All School Meeting, 2:00
2/8- Spirit Day- Favorite Team Day
2/9- PTO meeting, 7:00 p.m.
2/12- Shortened Session- PD
2/12- National Honor Society students will read
to our students
2/15-2/16- February Break
2/19- Coast Guard Brass Quintet, 9:00 (K-2) and
10:00 (3-6)
News From The Nurses
GFS-Casandra Allen 464-2458
JWL-Erin Bustamante 464-6929
Please enjoy viewing this funny video
illustrating how best to cover a sneeze.
https://youtu.be/KXKD74XJ100 "Why Don't We Do
It In Our Sleeves?"
Art News
Ms. Holly David
Mrs. Alicia Smith
We learned so much about collaging, drawing
and painting snow this month that the snow
finally came to have a look at what we've been
Gales Ferry /Juliet W. Long
School
2016
doing. Check out Artsonia early this month to
see what the students have been up to in Art
class. If you haven't visited our school sites go
to Artsonia.com, follow the school gallery link
near the bottom of the page, type in our zip
code and our galleries are listed.
GFS students are making spiders in Eric Carle's
Very Hungry Caterpillar book style as well as
learning about careers in the visual arts.
JWL students have been studying perspective
(worm's eye and bird's eye views) and
positive/negative space including
tessellations. They're doing collages while
studying fractions. Grades 5 and 6 are
beginning a printmaking project.
The art room could use:
• Newspaper-mostly the full size sections
as the smaller inserts aren't as useful
for sending home clay projects.
• Small yogurt or snack cups are always
helpful.
• Gallon zip lock bags
Donations may be left at the front office or
brought to the Art room.
Sensory Tip of the Month
Homework:
Review your child's assignments together and
help prioritize as needed.
Ask your child to write a to-do list (or parents
can write one for a younger child) and then
check off items when finished.
Provide a crunchy snack. Chewing is a great
stress reducer and concentration tool.
Instrumental Music News
Mr. Ian Robinson
Band students at JWL are doing a fantastic job
continuing with their studies. Fifth grade students will be switching from reading music
notation in solfege (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do)
to reading on letter names (ABCDEFG). They will
continue learning shorter songs from Tradition
of Excellence in addition to being introduced to
longer, full band music as we approach the end
of February.
Sixth grade band students are learning a variety
of new things! They are being introduced to
more advanced rhythms, the B flat major scale,
and how to build musical chords. In addition,
they are playing their first full length band piece
of the year "Alpha Squadron" in full band. They
will continue learning new band pieces over the
next several months.
I have noticed a number of instruments left in
the hallway overnight. There are new signs by
the fifth/sixth grade classrooms instructing
students not to "park" their instruments in the
hall, except on Wednesday and Friday. Violators
will be ticketed and must play Hot Cross Buns
for me 15 times, with perfect posture and a
pulse outside of class time. Please make sure
that your children are remembering to bring
their instruments home.
As always, if you have any questions or your
child needs additional help/guided practice
time, feel free to email me. Students are always
welcome to practice during lunch and recess in
my office on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Select band students from JWL recently
performed at the winter concert at LHS.
Music News Mrs. Andrea Barbour
Sixteen JWL students were selected to
participate in the Singing Festival held on
January 26. Students spent the day working
with guest conductor, Mr. Jim Papoulis, and
then performed a concert at LHS that evening.
Mr. Papoulis composes in many genres and is
known for work that combines contemporary,
classical, and world sounds. Students from JWL
included: Mariana Beane, Sara Cox, Lucas
Crowe, Henry Denton, Eli Diette, Jordan Foster,
Justin Grenger, Shevis Hankins, Katelyn Hughes,
Isabelle Hutchins, Jolie Isenburg, Payten
Kneeland, Cody Kuss, Zachary Robinson, and
Abrielle Suarez.
PE News Ms. Paula Bousquet
Mr. Mark Farnsworth
On January 22, JWL held its 10th annual Girls
Night Out. A group of sixth grade girls lead by
Emma Gillette formed a committee to plan the
activities that the girls, their mothers and older
female siblings would participate in that
evening.
The girls selected a carnival theme, with an
emphasis on Mardi Gras. The evening
culminated with a mother/daughter dodgeball
game.
Special thanks to Mrs. Sandra Hall for taking
multiple pictures of mother/ daughter groups
and printing copies for everyone to remember
this great event and Mrs. Angela Cassidy for her
financial support and for popping the popcorn!
News From the GFS/JWL Library
Media Center Ms. Bonnie Vangieri [email protected] A MakerSpace is an area that provides hands-
on, creative ways for students to design,
experiment, and invent as they engage in
science, engineering, and tinkering. We would
like to create a modest makerspace in the Gales
Ferry School Media Center for students to use
after they check out books . There will be small,
flexible, modular projects that students can
create based on their own interests, ability, and
available equipment.
Providing A MakerSpace in our school will...
• Allow for students to embrace failure as a
means for heading toward success
• Allow students to collaborate and learn from
one another
• Foster creative thinking
• Create ways for students to ask real
questions to drive their exploration
• Encourage students to pursue existing
passions or seek out new passions
• Ignite excitement and a joy for learning
• Promote multiple ways to solve problems
• Allow students to practice perseverance in
day to day learning
• Create thinkers
Your donation to our MakerSpace would
provide opportunities for the students to
explore new and existing passions that they
have. Items might include:
• Cardboard tubes
• Plastic bottles
• Craft supplies
• Styrofoam
• Collage materials
• Rainbow loom
• Knitting and crochet supplies
• Legos
• Tinker Toys
• Lincoln Logs
• K'Nex
• Puzzles
• Rubber bands
• Wood blocks
Jaret Kulmann Food Locker
Kung Hei Fat Choy!
Chinese New Year is the most important of the
Chinese holidays. It is a 15-day holiday,
beginning on the first day of a new moon and
ending with the full moon on the day of the
Lantern Festival. The Chinese celebrate and
wish one another ABUNDANCE, LUCK and
HAPPINESS for the year.
Please support these principles in February by
donating RICE, TUNA (the word for fish is the
same as abundance in Chinese) and fresh or
canned ORANGES (oranges are a traditional gift)
and fruit. The Food Locker and families thank
you!
Kids in a Park
Fourth grade students have the opportunity to
register for a free pass to national parks
throughout our country. Here are two
informational links:
Information:
http://www.nationalparks.org/ook/every-kid-
in-a-park
Rules:
https://www.everykidinapark.gov/rules/
Science Fair News
The JWL Science Fair will be held on Thursday,
May 12. Applications are due on Monday,
March 7. An informational packet and
application are located on the school website.
All students in grades 3-6 are invited to
participate.
Random Acts of Kindness
At the January All School Meeting, students and
staff learned about the importance of kindness
and were challenged to do Random Acts of
Kindness. These acts will be recorded and
placed on a bulletin board in each building. By
February 14, we should have two large
rainbows of kindness!
Heifer International
Heifer International is a charity organization
working to end poverty and hunger around the
world by providing livestock and training to
families in need. Families who receive the gift
become donors as they pass on the gift to other
families in their community.
In keeping with our social responsibility goal,
students have set a goal of purchasing 5 goats
costing $120.00 each for a total of $600.00. In
order to do this, we will have a Penny
Competition from February 8-12. Each grade
level will have a bucket for collecting coins or
dollar bills. The value of any pennies collected
by the grade level will count positively toward
that group's point total, while the value of other
coins or dollar bills put in its bucket by other
grade levels will be subtracted. The grade level
with the highest point total in their bucket by
the end of the competition will win the “Golden
Goat Award.”
Students will listen to a recording of the book
Beatrice’s Goat. The book demonstrates how
giving a goat to someone is truly a gift that has
the potential to keep on giving.
100th Day of School