Volunteers

We are in need of a few volunteers to help with recess coverage to help monitor/play to support students engaged in healthy play. Our recess time is from 11:40-12:40. If you are interested, please call the school office at 674-2332.
                                     

Custodian Auction

The Annual Custodian Auction is March 14. Snow date March 15. If you are interested in donating an item, please contact Eric Liimatta, our custodian. If you plan to attend, it will be held at OHCHS in the cafeteria. The event is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  They will put tickets in the bag and drawing starts 1 p.m.
                                   

Mrs. Clarke

Happy Friday! We are working hard on our winter playground essentials and would love some volunteers to support positive play from 11:40 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. Please let me know if you can help any day of the week.
Students are in the midst of STAR reading and math online testing this week and we are seeing lots of engagement and perseverance in our classrooms.
We are in the process of ordering snowshoes as part of our gear lending library and will let you know when they become available for weekend use. In the meantime, we have ice skates available. The Norway ice rink is open.
Beth

Classrooms

PreK – This week Pre-K has been exploring water wheels at the sensory table, using different methods to make them turn. At the art table, we experimented with markers and water. After drawing a picture, friends had a choice to spray water on it to watch it bleed or to use a tiny eye dropper.
We have been working really hard on our letter recognition and writing our own names.. I am so happy to see how much everyone has grown so far this year.
Thank you to everyone who came to family fun night on Tuesday. It is amazing to see how much support we have. I cannot wait until next month’s meeting. Have a great weekend.
Ms. Larracey

Kindergarten – No news this week.
Mrs. Biggers

Grade One – In first grade this week, we have been engaged with all things nonfiction! We are continuing to write our teaching books in writing workshop. Some of our topics include, bunnies, Minecraft, deer, kittens, and snakes. This has been a seamless transition from our “How To” writing unit before December break.
In reading workshop, we are continuing our work with nonfiction. We’ve been learning strategies for becoming “ super smart” about nonfiction books. Students take sneak peeks at their books to learn all they can about their topic, take an educated guess about what comes on the following page, and chatting with partners about what we learn.
Our math workshop has moved into adding with multiple addends and learning about the commutative property.
Mrs. Chafin

Grade Two – Second grade has had a busy week despite our snow day.  We started taking our STAR tests with one of the reading assessments. Next week we will be doing the math test and then the second reading test. Each student understands the importance of the STAR assessment and tried their hardest. I am very proud of them.
In phonics we have begun a new mini-unit that will focus on mastering the spelling of some very important but tricky words.
Second graders continue to use place value to help solve story problems in math as we begin our last bend of our unit three.
In writing we are beginning one of two opinion units that second grade does. This class is full of opinions and I look forward to them expressing them all in their writing.
Mrs. Puiia

Grade Three – Have you heard about the 21 essentials for classroom learning? Third graders have been focusing in on what it takes to be a student. They have identified specific goals and have been doing a great job working towards them. Living and learning in a shared space throughout the day involves respect and responsibility. These concepts take time and practice to develop fully.
In math, we are working with number lines and place value to better support our learning about 3 digit computation strategies.
We began a new routine called Article A Day in reading, where students read an informational article and then record notes. This acts as a companion skill for the informational books they are writing. We all look forward to our next Writing Celebration, where students will share their knowledge.
Mrs. Cooper

Grade Four – We have completed our opinion writing pieces and are moving on to researching Extreme Weather.  We will be reading and writing about weather and how it impacts the world. Mrs. Chafin will be joining us as a coach starting next week and we are so excited about it!
We are halfway through Unit 3 of math and it involves 3 digits divided by 1 digit, such as 114 divided by 6. In this case they need to guess and check by calculating 6 X 10 = 60, 6 X 9 =54, then adding 10 + 9 to get 19…..so 114 divided by 6 = 19. Challenging but fun! They are beginning to understand the concept and hopefully can apply it independently as time goes on.
We finished our Native American studies of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The students studied the Maliseet, Micmak,
Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Abenaki, and Wampanoag tribes. We are looking forward to studying the Explorers of Maine and learn how they affected the Native American tribes.
Mrs. Toita

Grade Five  –  The book talks are rolling in!  It’s so nice to start our day hearing about a good book that’s been enjoyed by one of our classmates. These fifth graders are reading up a storm!
In math we’ve begun a new unit on multiplying using the standard algorithm. The beauty is that previous methods we’ve used to multiply larger numbers have prepared us to understand what we’re doing when we use the standard algorithm and why it works.
Plans are beginning to take shape for our grade 5 & 6 field trip to Boston; we’ll unveil the specifics soon!
Mrs. Timm

Grade Six – Argumentative Writing is at its close. I suspect, though, that our writers will see this work again before their time here at Agnes comes to an end.
Next week we start Informative Writing. This is timed well as our learners have just gotten into some great reading work on Non-Fiction.
I must reiterate the importance of our learners Writing About Reading (WAR) journals 3-4 (preferably 7) nights a week. This involves 30 minutes of reading followed by guided writing in those journals (10 minutes-ish). Their anchors help to facilitate that. These W.A.R journals are vital to improving reading comprehension. This is a skill that transcends into all subjects.
Good work this week, 6th grade team.
Mr. Onofrio                     

Upcoming Events

Friday, January 24 – All School Gathering, 8:45 a.m. in the gym
Monday, January 27 – All School Gathering, 8:45 a.m. in the gym

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