It was wonderful to have the opportunity to talk with many of you last week while you

were here for your child‟s report card conference. The staff and I truly appreciate your

support and partnership as we work to provide the very best for your children, both aca-

demically and socially.

While I can hardly believe it, it will soon be time to begin the process of building class

lists for next year. Teachers and our support team work hard to make sure each class-

room has a balance of different types of learners, personalities, and educational needs.

While it appears to have become quite the norm at Atherton Hough for parent teacher

requests to be honored please know that it is not the policy of the district. Each stu-

dent‟s personality, needs and learning style as well as what type of teacher and classroom

structure would suit him or her well are all factors that are considered. While I certain-

ly know that each of you want the best education possible for your child, building a class

is a concerted effort. If you do feel strongly that your child work in a certain classroom

for the next school year please put your request and those reasons in a letter to my at-

tention. All requests will be included and considered in this process, however, will not

be a guarantee of placement. We are fortunate to have such a great partnership between

home and school for our students and your input is valued.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the last day of school is scheduled for Thursday,

June 27, 2013 for students. It will be an early release day.

Please feel free to call, stop in, or email me at robinmoreira@quincypublicschools.com if

ever you have a question, comment, concern, etc.

~ Robin Moreira , Principal

Bay State Textile Corp is a

Massachusetts based recy-

cling company. Since last

spring, they have been

working with Quincy and

have textile bins located at

each school. Our bin was

consistently overflowing,

so they gave us two bins!

As you begin to plan your

“spring greening” consider

one of the bins at our

school for your unwanted

textiles. These textiles are

recycled into new prod-

ucts so old, worn, ragged,

mismatched items are

gladly accepted! They take

anything as long as it‟s not

wet, mildewed, or has haz-

ardous waste. Spread the

word! The two large

white textile donation bins

are located near the staff

parking lot. The recycler

pays the city $100 per ton

of donated textiles and the

proceeds are shared among the

individual school PTOs. Atherton

Hough continues to have one of the

highest volumes of recycling!

Thanks for your help! You are

helping the environment, the city,

and our community school. A win,

win for everyone!

Have you started your Spring “Greening”?

ATHERTON HOUGH HIGHLIGHTS A P R I L 2 0 1 3

UPCOMING

DATES TO

REMEMBER

Thursday, 4/11

Lifetouch School

Pictures

Monday 4/15

School Vacation

Week

Wednesday 4/17

9:00-12:00

Olindy’s Bowling

Wednesday, 4/24

7:00 pm. PTO

Thursday, 4/25

1:00 p.m. School

Assembly

Wednesday, 5/1

4:00-7:00 p.m.

Louis Fundraiser

Saturday, 5//11

JDRF Citywide

Walk

Tuesday, 5/21

Kindergarten

Screening

Wednesday, 6/5

Spring Concert

P A G E 2

Curriculum Highlights Welcome Spring! The students at Atherton Hough are continuing to make great strides in their learning. The

following are some of the learning activities and events happening at Atherton Hough this month:

Kindergarten – Grade Five Curriculum and Classroom Highlights

Kindergarten students will be visiting the Adams Shore Library this week. Each child will receive their own li-

brary card and will have the opportunity to see all that a public library has to offer. They will also be discussing

the changes in spring and be looking for signs of spring. In literacy, they will be focusing on the letter and

sounds for y, z, and q. They‟ll also be introducing the –ed word family! In math, kindergarteners will be using

manipulatives to represent, count, and write numbers 11-19! Wow!

In first grade, the students are halfway through book four in the Trophies series. They are learning about non-

fiction selections, as well as different forms of fiction such as science fiction, realistic fiction, and fantasy. They

continue to learn many new word wall words and spelling patterns to increase their awareness of written and

spoken words. In math, they will be learning about comparing numbers using the vocabulary of greater than,

less than, and equal to. They‟ll also be exploring the water cycle in science!

Second graders will continue to work on the theme of Neighborhood News in literacy. They‟ll be discussing

their special community, Houghs Neck, and community workers. The students will also be sharing their Mys-

tery Book Reports this month; we are all excited to share these stories from the mystery genre. In math,

they‟ll continue to work on measurement. They‟ve been learning about using non-standard ways to measure

objects such as linking cubes, paper clips, and tiles. First, second, and third graders in Ms. McCarthy‟s class

will be studying weather this month with a focus on the rain, water cycle, and clouds. They‟ll be learning about

time in math.

Third graders have been working hard in mastering their multiplication and division facts. These operations are

sure to help as they begin their unit on measurement and working on conversions and comparing measure-

ments. Fourth and fifth graders are preparing for the Mathematics portion of the MCAS by extending their unit

on fractions.

Fourth graders will also a begin a unit on the Titanic and will be exploring a variety of texts including historical

fiction, realistic fiction and nonfiction passages. Students will complete various variety assignments and respons-

es throughout this unit.

MCAS

Students in grades three, four, and five have been participating in the English Language Arts test sessions of the

MCAS test. All students have been showing great effort and motivation as they work on these assessments.

Thank you for your help in ensuring that your child is prepared, to school on time and ready to learn each and

every day.

The Mathematics test sessions will be administered to the third, fourth, and fifth graders during the beginning of

May. Fifth graders will also be taking the Science, Technology, and Engineering MCAS in May. A testing calen-

dar will the specific dates for each grade level will be sent home in a few weeks. If you have any questions on

the calendar and/or administration of the MCAS please do not hesitate to contact me or your child‟s classroom

teacher.

Atherton Hough PTO—Stay involved!

P A G E 3 A P R I L 2 0 1 3

This school year the PTO has

funded a schoolwide Magic

Reading show, 4 laptops, 4

mimio teach bars, transporta-

tion for 3 field trips, books for

each classroom library and

much more! Thank you for

your generous time, money,

and enthuasiasm in making our

fundraising events possible!

Our first Louis pizza night was a

success. We will hold this

event next month and Louis will

offer a revised menu just for

Atherton Hough customers.

This will surely help with the

speed of the service and be a

great time! More information

to follow but save the date of

Wednesday, May 1st for dinner!

Please also watch for infor-

mation on Atherton Hough‟s

first bowl-a-thon! It will take

place on Wednesday, April 17

during school vacation at

Olindys! Please join us!

The PTO offices for the

2013-2014 school year are

available for consideration;

President, Vice-President,

Secretary, Treasurer, and

Fundraising Chairperson.

Please talk with a current

officer or me, if you have

any questions, and may be

considering working toward

one of these roles. It is a

great way to stay involved

and active in our PTO.

Teamwork is working together

to complete a task. Students

are encouraged to think of

themselves working in their

class as working on a team.

Learning how to trust each oth-

er, support each other and de-

velop good team spirit. By

working together, sharing solu-

tions, and problem solving to-

gether makes anything easier…

and more fun! It‟s much better to

do something as a team rather

than on your own. Students dis-

playing good signs of team spirit

will be recognized at our next

assembly, April 25th. Please join

us!

For the month of February and

March teachers and staff have

focused on the character trait,

responsibility Students show-

ing good signs of being respon-

sible were recognized last week

at our monthly school assem-

bly. See below! Throughout

April we will be working with

the character trait, teamwork.

Great Atherton Hough Citizens

The following students were recognized at our March assembly for being responsible!

Kindergarten– Joshua Dunne, Mya Gray, Madilyn Glynn, Zoe Luggelle, Riley Sullivan

Grade One– Lito Breslin, Nathaniel Campbell, Sofia Hurley and Kate Lyons

Grade Two– Kyle DeBoer, Cameron Griffin, Brynn Toler and Max VanTassell

Grade Three– Jania Astacio, Sophie Cerone, Henry Dang, Maggie Fay and Chase Quigley

Grade Four– Brianna Bueler, Kylee Flemming, Ryan Laroche, Megan MacNeil, Andrew Peterson,

and Kaylie Sullivan,

Grade Five– Megan Beck, Candace Chan, Charles Culata, Kaitlyn Fox, Vinny Joyce, Will McMillen,

and Amber Tran

Sam and Jack Schaaf were

surprised to see Mrs. Qualter

deliver their pizza!

Read Across America

Throughout the month of March in celebration of Read Across America, students in grades K-5 have been work-

ing together trying to „Read Across America.” Students have been looking for connections in the books they

read to one of the states. They‟ve been reading in their class, at lunch, in the library, at home… everywhere!

Our large U.S. map is filled with different colored pushpin signifying the states we‟ve “read!” by grade level. Stu-

dent Council members are happy to report that we have covered the map! This has been a great way to support

reading at all grade levels as we attempt to cover the country!

Another fun way we celebrated reading in

March was having classes work together and

decorate their exterior classroom door based

on a favorite Dr. Suess story. Students then

had guided “walking tours” through our

school to see all of the Dr. Suess inspired

masterpieces! They look so good we don‟t

want to take the displays down! Here are

some of the students favorites… Based on

the Dr. Suess book, The Lorax. Miss Pinch‟s

fourth and fifth grade door on the left and the

students in Mrs. April‟s third grade class

chose Horton Hears a Who! as their

inspiration!

We did it! We read across the United States of America!

Meet our fifth grade team; Kenneth Reichel and Teresa Quinton. Ms. Quinton is the math focus teacher while

Mr. Reichel focuses on English Language Arts and Science. Ms. Teresa Quinton has been teaching for over twenty

years. Before coming to Quincy Public Schools, she had worked in Weymouth and Hanover schools as well as

for the Science Museum, MWRA, and Quincy Historical Society. Her favorite part about teaching fifth grade is

working as a team. Seeing the students all pull together in their learning makes her proud to be a “learning

coach.” When not with her team at Atherton Hough, she enjoys her time with her son, Paul, and their dog, Ru-

by! She loves to travel, garden, and cheer for the Red Sox!

This is Mr. Reichel‟s eighth year teaching. He began his teaching career in Quincy as a long term substitute for

Kim April! His favorite thing about teaching at Atherton Hough is reading with his class and sharing all of the ad-

ventures a great book can take a reader on. He is looking forward to the start of the Red Sox baseball season.

He also enjoys playing guitar and reading.

Miss Katie Pinch also teaches fifth grade at Atherton Hough. She is the

classroom teacher for the LDC II citywide special education program.

She was featured with the fourth grade staff in our February newsletter.

We are fortunate to have a great team working with our fifth grade

scholars!

Robin Moreira, Principal

Katie Connolly, Assistant Principal

Jeanne DeBoer, Secretary

Phone: 617-984-8797

Fax: 617-984-8653

robinmoreira@quincypublicschools.com

Thank you for your help as we continue to

keep safety a priority at Atherton Hough.

When at the front door please be prepared

to state your name and purpose for being at

the school. Once you have signed the

“Visitor Log” you will be given a visitor

badge. Please be sure to wear this badge

and keep it visible at all times. When signing

out, be sure to return the badge to the of-

fice. Thank you again for your cooperation!

ATHERTON HOUGH

SCHOOL

GRADE FIVE IN THE SPOTLIGHT!