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Monday, October 6                                                        Picture Day

                                                                                    Pelham PTO, 7 PM

Monday,  October 13                                                    No School

Wednesday,  October 15                                                1st Grade Field Trip

                                                                                    3^rd Grade Field Trip

Thursday,  October 16                                                    Second Grade Stream Study

                                                                                    Pelham School Committee, 7 PM

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From the Principal:

Tuesday, the student in grades 2 -6 heard a presentation from the State Treasurer’s Office and Angela Hucles, member of the gold medal winning, US Women’s Olympic Soccer Team.  Andrew Chalfant and Marshall O’Leary modeled her two gold medals, while Mrs. Quinlan and Mr. Shaw demonstrated their soccer skills.

The Monarch Butterfly release on Monday afternoon let us know that summer was at an end and fall was really here.  After a few turns in the wrong direction and a few stops at nearby flowers, most of the Monarch began migrating south cheered on by the first grade class.   Although a few remain on the beautiful purple asters near the school office, I am sure all of the Monarchs will be leaving over the new few days.

Finally, we were all saddened by the tragic bus accident involving a toddler, Abrahim Espinoza, from the Marks Meadow School Community.  This is every parent’s and bus driver’s nightmare, and it reminds all of us to take extra safety precautions around buses, trucks, and other large vehicles.  Deb King and I have visited every classroom to help students understand these tragic events and to emphasize the safety concerns in and around buses.  Our hearts go out to the toddler’s parents and extended family.  We also offer support to the bus driver and his extended family.  Once again, I am encouraged by the overwhelming community support for these families .                                                                     Rena Moore

 

REMINDER:  IMPORTANT CALENDAR CHANGE:  Parents, please note that there has been a major calendar change at the elementary level.  Students will be dismissed at 1:20 PM on October 21, October 22, and October 23, so teachers can hold their fall parent teacher conferences. 

 

A BETTER CHANCE FALL FOLIAGE WALK OCTOBER 18, 2008

The Amherst A Better Chance Fall Foliage Walk will return this year on Saturday, October 18th with all of the fitness fun it has provided for the past 40 years, but with a new, accessible 5K Anniversary route.  A tradition in Amherst, the Walk is the ABC program’s most important fundraiser.  People of all ages and from all parts of the community come out to support the scholars who are seeking better educational opportunities at Amherst Regional High School.  Registration will begin at the Mill Amherst Town Common at 10 AM and ends with an After Walk Party on the Common at noon featuring the Charles Neville Quartet. It’s OK if you don’t do the whole Walk; even if you can’t walk at ALL on that day you CAN still participate by seeking pledges for an alternative activity.  Pledge forms will be available to Pelham students and families from Meg Gallagher after permission slips go home.  To learn more about the A.B.C. Program, go to amherstabetterchance.org or to the national website, abetterchance.org. 

 

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Savings Makes Sense began yesterday

and will continue every Wednesday for the rest of the year.  It is not too late to sign up.

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	Enchanted Forest Creatures of the Forest
The Hitchcock Center, Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25, 5:00 – 8:30 Don’t miss the Hitchcock Center’s Enchanted Forest!  This non-scary Halloween family event takes place Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25 from 5-8:30p.m.  Adults and children of all ages will enjoy meeting our magical “Creatures of the Forest” as you are guided along the pumpkin-lit trail.  Walks leave the Center every 15 minutes and last 45 minutes.  Enjoy crafts, games, and snacks for sale.  Pre-registration required. Register early as this event fills fast!  Call 413-256-6006.

 

Parents, please observe the speed limit on South Valley Road.  There are many students who walk on this street, and there are no sidewalks.  Please drive carefully and watch for children

 

Mr. Lipman’s Class

 

Umass Entomology Field Trip  On Wednesday, October 15, we will travel by school bus to the Entomology Department at Umass where we will learn more about insects.  They have live organisms for children to touch and handle, displays of insects from around the world, and a working beehive behind glass to observe.  If the weather permits we will visit a nearby greenhouse and have a picnic lunch at Mill River Conservation Area.  Feel free to join us for all or part of the trip.  The bus will leave at 9 AM and be back in time for the 1:20 dismissal

Monarch Butterfly Release Party and Parade  On Monday, September 29 we celebrated the release of our monarch butterflies with a party, parade and release ceremony.  Party blower proboscises and butterfly masks were donned as we paraded from classroom to classroom singing “It’s time to let our monarchs go, they’re flying south to Mexico.”  An outdoor release ceremony followed which was documented by the Amherst Bulletin (watch for us in an upcoming issue!), and we ended with a butterfly themed party including proboscis nectar straws, insect snacks and a beautiful butterfly cake.  Thank you to all of the parents who helped to make this a memorable experience!

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic  You may have guessed that our integrated monarch butterfly unit has included the 3 R’s but you may not know that your children have begun formal study in language arts and mathematics.  Children have begun to learn new sight words, are writing in journals, and are accumulating books at their specific reading levels in a plastic Ziploc book bag.  These books are introduced and practiced, and have already started going home in homework folders for you to hear.  Please call me right away if you have questions or problems with homework folders.  In math, we have been doing lots of counting, graphing and data analysis as we have snuck into every classroom to find out how many students are there.  We have waited until a class is off to lunch, recess or specials and then we snuck in to count things like desks, chairs, charts, mailboxes and cubbies.  We then made an educated guess as to how many children were there and delivered that number of cookies as a “Thank You” for letting us snoop.  The math program is both exciting and engaging as children experience concepts through real world problem solving and hands-on activities.  Children also practice basic skills through practice sheets in their individual math packets.

Open House  Thank you for making time during your busy week to attend last week’s open house.  I really enjoyed sharing glimpses of your child’s day and spending time chatting and answering questions.  I learn so much more about your child through our communications and I hope to learn even more at our upcoming parent conference.

Paul Lipman  

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Second Grade News

 

September has seemed to fly by.  It was good to see and talk with you last week at Curriculum Night. As you know we have been busy Bubbleoglogists.  The big idea of this unit was to learn how to use the 5 steps of the Scientific Method while having fun with bubbles. The children designed some very interesting experiments and did a great job recording results and drawing a conclusion. The children and adults had a great time during Bubble Extravaganza Day, the conclusion of our unit. A BIG thanks to all the parents and grandparents who came to help and enjoy!! I think the weather was perfect. We had some wonderful bubble making.

Science/Social Studies: In our next unit we will study forest and wetlands. We will talk about animal habitats, how animals adapt to their environment, study from where rivers come, and finally explore a stream near our school. In conjunction with the Harvard Institute, the children will collect data on the stream throughout the year. The children will need old shoes or rubber boots in the next few weeks.  October 9^th was on the October schedule, but that date has been changed to October 16.  I could use a parent volunteer to help with the stream study.

Reading:  We have just finished up the last of the reading assessments this week.  We have been using this time to learn about the story structure—finding the characters, setting, problem, events, and solution of a story. We have also been reviewing our letter sounds and building words.  This week we began assigned reading books for small group instruction.

Math: We have started up some new classroom routines which use the clock, number lines, and the hundreds chart.  Our main focus has been to develop strategies for accurately counting a set of objects by ones and in groups and to develop an understanding of the sequence of numbers to 100.

 

 

“So What is the PTO’s Purpose?”

 

 

In case you’ve been wondering this same thing, we wanted to tell you a little bit about the Pelham PTO, what we do and what we’re for.

 

The PTO’s official mission is:

To help parents, guardians, and the town community to understand and
support the mission of the school; to encourage participation in the life
of the school; to create a sense of community amongst children, parents,
guardians, teachers and the town; to create events and experiences for our
children so they may have happy memories of their time at Pelham School.

 

Here are some examples of what we do towards that mission: 

 

Every year we organize and fund the Ice cream social, the upcoming Halloween Party, school dances, movie nights and a Spring Fair;

 

In the past few years  PTO fundraising and volunteer efforts have helped pay for a new piano for our school’s music program as well as that new playground equipment that your children play on;

 

PTO volunteers and money started the Spanish Language program that has been incorporated into our children’s weekly academic schedule.  We also support our school’s Computer Club and Chess Club; and

 

Last week PTO volunteers raised over $1,000 from within the school community at another successful Book Fair.  These funds will go directly to our children’s Pelham School Library for more books!

 

The Pelham PTO does a lot, but we cannot continue to reach our goals or meet new needs unless more of us participate by donating some of our time and effort. 

 

Please join us for our next meeting this coming Monday, Oct. 6 at 7 pm.   The agenda is on the back.

 

If you are unable to attend meetings but you want to contribute an idea or volunteer on some limited basis, please contact Elaine Fronhofer (253-6381 or fronlaw@yahoo.com).   Also contact Elaine if a lack of childcare is keeping you from attending a meeting.

 

One way or another, please share your new ideas and energy!  We all benefit from your involvement.

 

Updates

 

Principal’s Report – Rena

Treasurer’s Report – Diana (breakdown analysis of past events with Anna R.)

School Committee Report ?

 

Ongoing Business

 

Book Fair review – Ellen

Ice Cream Social review – CherylNina

Halloween Party – Diana

Student volunteer recruitment for party – Kathy

Costume weapons policy

Savings Makes Sense – Diana

Coffee Sale - Amy

Gift wrap – Debbie

Arts Project – Linda

6^th Grade trip/ PTO involvement – Laura/Kathy

Upcoming Event Review

 

New Business

 

      Parent Volunteers

       Election Day Bake Sale

 

 

 

Contributions in Memory of Abrahim Espinoza

 

 

A fund has been established at Florence Savings Bank for those who wish to contribute to the family of Abrahim Espinoza.  Checks should be made payable to:

 

Abrahim Espinoza Memorial Fund

 

 

Contributions can be dropped off at any Florence Savings Bank branch, the Mark’s Meadow Principal’s Office or mailed to:

 

Shannon Borrell

164 Montague Road

Amherst, MA  01002

Attention: Abrahim Espinoza Memorial Fund

 

moorer@arps.org

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