It is amazing to think that we are already closing in on Thanksgiving Break and 1^st trimester grades.  Grades will be sent out in December 8th for the first trimester. We hope that you found mid-semester conferences helpful in congratulating or assisting your child on areas that they need to work on before the end of the trimester.

Cold weather is fast approaching. Students need to come to school appropriately dressed. On cold days students who are not appropriately dressed may not be allowed to go out to recess. We would like all students to have the ability to go out to recess. This is an important part of their day.

We would like to remind parents that have not been to visit the school for a while to please come to an event or activity. There are a lot of great activities happening at Chelsea School!

** Parents, we would like to remind you that Chelsea School does not have anyone on duty in the mornings before 7:50 a.m. We would ask that parents not send in their children before 7:50 a.m.  Although teachers are in the building before that time they are preparing for their school day and not on duty to supervise.  Thank you

**Parents, we are in desperate need for boxes of tissues for the classrooms. These products greatly reduce the spread of flu and cold symptoms. Thank you for anything you can provide!!

Mr. Doiron

In social studies and science, we learned about the forest and fire safety. We even got a special visit from the Chelsea fire department!

In social studies and science we are wrapping up our desert unit. We have enjoyed our worldly travels exploring different kinds of deserts. We are finishing our desert unit by making cactus shaped fact books. We are beginning a unit on Colonial America. 

In math, we are finishing up our graphing unit. Students have learned to tally graph, pictograph, and bar graph. We have been busy graphing different classroom manipulatives.

In reading, we have been working on co-operative learning in pairs. This has been very successful.

Our Grandparent Tea will be on November 3 from 1:45 to 2:50 in the Chelsea gym.  We have completed our stories and we are practicing reading them in front of the microphone.  It is an exciting time and 4th graders are anxious to tell their grandparents how special they are.

In math we are learning our multiplication facts.  We emphasize the 6 through 12 tables.  Please encourage your 4th grader to learn these. We have completed our place value unit and we are working on graphs.

It was wonderful to see so many parents at conference time.  Thank you.

In Math the students have done very well with an 89 average for all quizzes. They are learning about place, value, exponents, estimating, distributive, commutative and associative properties. We are also learning about the formulas for volume, perimeter, mpg and mean. 

In Reading we are reading Hatchet and having a lot of fun. We have also been studying about main ideas and supporting details and conclusions and inference.

In writing we are writing expository essays after learning about super beginnings, body and endings. We have been learning grammar with daily “mug shots”.

We enjoyed meeting all of the parents who made it to the parent/teacher conferences this week.  The first trimester ends on December 1^st, so there is plenty of time to get those grades where they need to be.  Remind your students to use their daily planner and to come to teachers for extra help during tutorial!  These are opportunities we’ve put in place to help your student achieve success. 

Students received their laptops recently, and the excitement on the team is palpable!  The new computers are wonderful tools and will be used often in the classroom.  Mr. Gammon and Mrs. Perry went to a workshop Monday and Tuesday to learn about one of the programs available on the laptop.  It is called “Noteshare” and it is a truly amazing program.  We will use it to create “notebooks” for the students to place in their computers.  The notebook allows us to organize and share information.  When students begin to bring their laptops home, they will only need to bring the laptop, because all of the material they need, handouts, worksheets, textbooks, etc. will already be in the computer.  We even can copy a website for students who do not have Internet access at home.

There are a lot of exciting things going on at school…be sure to ask for an update from your student.

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni (2005Is There really a Human Race? by Jamie Le Curtis Coretta Scott King Award Winner)

Gossamer by Lois Lowry

Junie B., First Grader Aloha-ha-ha! by Barbara Park

Dictionary of Idioms by Marvin Terban

Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young

The school visit by Maine author and illustrator, Chris Van Dusen was received well by all. Mr. Van Dusen was generous with his time and talents, mingling with students even on his lunch break in the cafeteria. Thank you to the Chelsea Parent Teacher Association for their support and sponsorship.

7th and 8th graders will be invited to join the Yearbook team during the first week in November. Anyone interested in using their computer skills will be especially valuable!