The school year is off to a great start! The children have adapted to the school easily and are enjoying the new experiences and challenges they meet. It’s wonderful to watch old friendships rekindled and new friendships begin.
Class address and telephone number lists have been sent to everyone via the cubbies. Please let me know if you didn’t get one or if there are any corrections.
Mrs. Stoyle, our wonderful music teacher, is with us again this year. She started last week and will be playing the piano and teaching the children songs every other week throughout the school year. The children always look forward to music days with Mrs. Stoyle.
We are very fortunate to have Theresa Wilkinson on staff to do movement classes with all of the children. Classes start this week and will alternate weeks with music classes throughout the year.
The Campbell Parent Association has been busy planning events and fundraisers. The first coffee hour was held two weeks ago. They will continue throughout the year alternating days of the week so everyone has an opportunity to attend. The “Mixed Bag” fundraiser will continue until October 21st. Many thanks to Jen McNulty for organizing it for us again this year. All monies raised will be put into our “building fund.”
All are welcome to our Parent Social on Friday, October 21st. It’s a nice evening to catch up with old friends and to meet new ones. Please either respond to the evite or let Ann know you are coming.
We have started our lending library in some of the classrooms. Once a week the children choose a book to bring home and share with their families. They can select a new book when the first book is returned. We’ve told them about the importance of taking good care of books and returning them so someone else can enjoy them. By selecting a book in school the children are gaining independence. By reading with your child, they are gaining knowledge.
Since October is Fire Prevention Month, fire fighters will be visiting the school. They will talk with the children about fire safety and let them climb on their fire truck and squirt the hose. We’ll have our first fire drill this month also. It’s important for the children to know how to get out of the building quickly in case of an emergency. Fire drills will continue throughout the year about every other month.
Our Halloween parties will be on Thursday, October 27th, and Friday, October 28th. Watch for a separate notice with all the details.
Our newsletters are now available electronically! Sign up at www.thecampbellschool.com to have them sent to your email address.
Do you have baby equipment you’d like to sell, or are you in need of a service (or provide one)? Would you like to set up a carpool or play group? Post it on our Parents Board. The bulletin board in the entry hall by the playground entrance is available to you for posting notices you think other parents would be interested in. I hope you find it useful.
Children take pride in doing things for themselves. Belts, buckles and buttons can be difficult to manage when it’s time to use the bathroom. Please keep “bathroom friendly” clothes in mind when dressing your child for school. We’d also appreciate your marking your child’s belongings with their names so we know who they belong to in case of doubles.
With flu season upon us we’ve already talked with the children about the importance of washing hands and “catching” their germs in their elbows when they cough or sneeze. We’d appreciate it if you would reinforce it at home. We don’t want anyone to get sick so please keep your child home if he/she shows any signs of not feeling well.
There was an interesting article about free play in the Boston Globe recently. It’s at the end of this newsletter in case you missed it.
As you know there are many staff and handicapped parking spaces in the parking lot. These spaces are primarily used on Sundays during church services. It is o.k. for you to park in these spaces when dropping off or picking up your child.
News from Mrs. Mione and Mrs. Lyon’s Class
The children are adjusting well to our classroom routine. They know after snack they clean up their napkins, recycle their cups and look at a book while their friends finish snack.
The children are learning the Pledge of Allegiance and how to sit quietly for a story. After our story we play various games to reinforce different things such as names, colors and shapes. Two favorites are “Look out, there’s a bug on you” which helps the children learn one another’s names and “1, 2, 3, look and see” which teaches shapes and colors.
Please be sure to check out the whiteboard outside our classroom to find out what book we read that day and the songs, finger plays and games we had fun doing at circle time.
We’re going to have a great year of discovery, learning and most of all, FUN!
A to Z News from Mrs. Zizza and Mrs. Aldrich’s Class
We started the school year with the letter N learning everyone’s name: Alexander, Christopher, Jaden, Jessica, Julianna, Juliette, Libby, Maya, Olle, Rebecca, Sasha and Shannon. It’s been so much fun making new friends. We used just our noses as we smelled lemons, apples, vanilla and fruit snacks.
We read about Those Mean, Nasty, Disgusting but Invisible Germs and did a craft making ourselves using tissues with the saying, “if you cough or sneeze won’t you use a tissue please? We also read Nuts to You by Lois Ehlert and wrote and illustrated our own version of the story.
Next came the letter A and we had fun tasting Apples. We like the Red Delicious and the Gala Apples best. Did you know when you cut open an apple there’s a special star inside? We painted with apples and made apple paperweights. We even did a math paper using apples.
Cooking has been fun too. We made Noodles and A is for Apple cookies.
Some of the other books we’ve enjoyed thus far are:
A Was Once an Apple Pie by Edward Lear
Under the Apple Tree by Steve Metzger
Mouse’s First Day of School by Al Thompson
Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London
Dinosaur Starts School by Pamela Duncan Edwards
What’s My Name? Letter Big Book Series
Mrs. Marlarkey Doesn’t Live in Room 110 by J. Finchler
We can’t wait for October when we will start music and movement classes.
Happy September birthday to Julianna!
Kindergarten News – Mrs. Sweeney and Mrs. Keady’s Class
The focus in the Kindergarten during the first month of school has been on team building. We are learning to take turns, listen respectively, solve problems and share. We have also been working on establishing classroom routines and good work habits. We have gotten to know our teammates by “student of the day” activities and reading our “Meet the Kindergarten Team” book. We are well on our way to becoming a close, caring community!
Our literacy activities this month have centered on Mother Goose. We are using nursery rhymes to develop many pre-reading and reading skills. We are testing our phonemic awareness with Hickory Dickory Dock, honing our rhyming skills with Little Miss Muffet, learning sight words from Jack and Jill, and doing some creative thinking with Humpty Dumpty. We will write and illustrate our own versions to post on our “Kinder-Goose” wall. Be sure to check them out!
Math activities have been so much fun! We have used a multitude of manipulatives to work on patterning. We are making color patterns, shape patterns, size patterns, animal patterns, verbal patterns and rhythm patterns. Some of our patterns are quite complicated!
We are looking forward to our field trip to Ward’s Berry Farm. We are very busy in the Kindergarten!
Notes From Mrs. Flaherty and Mrs. Truax’s Class
These are some of our favorite books we read this month:
I Am Too Absolutely Small For School by Lauren Child
Wimberley Worried by Stephen Henkes
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Yes We Can! By Sam McBratney
Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington
One Red Apple by Harriet Ziefert
Apple Trouble by Ragnhild Scamell
10 Little Apples by Pat Hutchins
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Johnny Appleseed by David Harrison
Night Noises by Mem Fox
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola
Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells
We enjoyed our first month of school and illustrated what we liked to do at school. We laced September schoolhouses for eye-hand coordination, visual perception and tracking. We beaded necklaces and bracelets to build finger dexterity for physical activity. We agreed on classroom rules to develop group goals and discuss responsibility, choice and leadership in age-appropriate ways. We also described and illustrated something we can do.
We began the month by meeting letter A for all things apples. We peeled and cut apples for applesauce and apple cookies to develop eye-hand coordination. We glued strips to form awesome apple A for reading & literature to develop familiarity with the forms of alphabet letters, awareness of print, and letterforms. We taste tested green, yellow, and red apples and charted which apple we liked the best. We repeated an AB pattern/sequence with red, green, or yellow beads to develop math patterns and relations. We combined ingredients to make apple sauce. We measured, mixed and baked the ingredients for apple cookies. And of course, we taste tested a few. We counted apples for number sense and illustrated and copied the word “apple” for our wordbook to create an original book that describes some of the vocabulary words we heard this year. We illustrated the seasonal changes to an apple tree (hand/arm) to demonstrate the different characteristics of the seasons and we celebrated Johnny Appleseed’s birthday by cutting, assembling and decorating “pot hats”.
Then we met letter N. We glued strips to form nice neat N’s for reading & literature to develop familiarity with the forms of alphabet letters, awareness of print, and letterforms. We made noise with lummi sticks and followed music cues to imitate simple rhythmic patterns. We laced and counted noodles for physical development to build finger dexterity and to develop number sense. We cooked and ate noodles to predict, discuss and demonstrate what happens to uncooked noodles when you put them into boiling water. We illustrated our self-portraits to create artwork from our memory and our imagination. We decorated and wrote our “All About Me Book” to create an original book that describes our experience in our own words or illustrations and to tell about us. We illustrated and copied the word “name” for our wordbook to create an original book that describes some of the vocabulary words we heard this year. We ended the month by sponge painting “noisy Noras” for physical development to strengthen hand grasp and flexibility with primary colors and discovered secondary colors by combining paints. And we illustrated what we dream about at night to tell an imaginative story. We were very busy in September!
Happy Birthday to Mae and Ila who celebrated their birthdays in September!
In October we will prepare for our Halloween celebration – don’t forget to wear your costume on Friday October 29 for our school parade. We will be meeting letters W, P, and H. We will also begin our music sessions with Mrs. Stoyle and movement with Mrs. Wilkinson.
What’s Happening in Mrs. McArdle and Mrs. Wilkinson’s Class
We are having a great time here in our classroom. The children have settled in nicely and are getting along.
The boys and girls have been in school for one month, and have already adjusted to our class schedule.
Everyday the children walk into class and get right into playing with their friends. They have enjoyed playing with puzzles, painting, reading books, building with blocks, racing cars, playing in the housekeeping area, and they love to color too! From Circle time to work time and out door time the children have kept busy and are having fun.
The school year began with a nice story called The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. We hope you enjoyed your child’s tracing of his or her hand from the first day of school.
From Wheels on the Bus to Blueberries for Sal, and all of the stories in between! Your child has learned a cute little song, an important lesson on life or the appreciation of nature and growth.
We are currently working on colors. Your children will enjoy a fun magic color show to teach them what primary and secondary colors are. We will also have them paint what they see with a surprise famous artist’s work. You’ll have to guess who the original artist is when you see it!
Every day your child practices writing his or her name. We look forward to celebrating Community Helpers this month and a visit from our local fire department. Your child will be allowed to check out a book from our class library!
If any of you would like to be a Mystery Reader, let me know! We’ll sign you up on our super secret sign up sheet. On that special day you will surprise the class and read to them. When you walk through that door your child will be so surprised.
Our Halloween Party will be on Friday AM October 28th. Please dress them up. All of the teachers will be dressed up too!
Happy October birthday to Delia!