Dear Parents,
We had a great field trip to Warner's Native American Museum. The guide was very informative and spent a lot of time telling the children about life in the different parts of the country. I was impressed with how well the children listened.
This week the PFT will be sponsoring an ice cream social for all parents and children. It will be on Tuesday evening at 6:30. I hope to see you there. Also, we will be having picture day on Thursday.
We have been taking a little extra time getting to know each other, but this week we will need to work a little faster to get everything in. I will probably have to send some work home if they don't finish on time. Please be looking for unfinished work in your child's folder. Hopefully, the kids will get used to the increased pace, and they won't have extra homework too many times.
Sincerely,
Jackie
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Dear Parents,
It was nice to see so many of you at information night. I appreciate you coming on such a beautiful night, to learn about our class. The ice cream social will be on Sept 27th.
The spelling words this week are the same as last week. After this, we will be getting new words every week.
I gave the children a timed test on their addition and subtraction facts. Only 3 children got 100 or even close to 100%. Please continue to study these facts as it is very important for the children to have this knowledge in order to build on their skills. The children also took a baseline reading test which will help me place them in groups for reading and enrichment. This is only one bit of data that I will use for placement.
We have been practicing for the NECAP exam which will be held during 2 weeks in October.
The children have been working cooperatively, and so far have been very kind and polite to one another.
Have a great week. Call or e-mail if you have any questions or concerns.
Jackie
It was nice to see so many of you at information night. I appreciate you coming on such a beautiful night, to learn about our class. The ice cream social will be on Sept 27th.
The spelling words this week are the same as last week. After this, we will be getting new words every week.
I gave the children a timed test on their addition and subtraction facts. Only 3 children got 100 or even close to 100%. Please continue to study these facts as it is very important for the children to have this knowledge in order to build on their skills. The children also took a baseline reading test which will help me place them in groups for reading and enrichment. This is only one bit of data that I will use for placement.
We have been practicing for the NECAP exam which will be held during 2 weeks in October.
The children have been working cooperatively, and so far have been very kind and polite to one another.
Have a great week. Call or e-mail if you have any questions or concerns.
Jackie
Sunday, September 11, 2011
September 12, 2010
Dear Parents,
It is great to be back at school and to see how excited the children are! They all looked so cute with their new clothes and fresh haircuts. I am ready and eager to start another year in fourth grade!
It seems we have some new children (and parents) to the school this year. To those of you who don’t know me, let me tell you a little bit about myself. This is my fifth year teaching fourth grade, but I have plenty of experience teaching. I taught Reading Recovery for 11 years in Concord before coming to Maple Ave. Here I have taught first grade for 5 years, second grade for one year and now this is my fifth year teaching fourth grade. I have a very strong background in Reading and Writing. I have had experience working with older kids in private school before Concord, and as an Odyssey of the Mind coach. I continue to take graduate courses when I am able. I love teaching fourth grade here at Maple Ave. We have a strong, united fourth grade team.
I am also the proud mother of two grown sons and the grandmother of two precious little boys. The oldest just three and the youngest is six months old. My oldest son (and now a proud daddy) is a State Trooper up North and my youngest son finished his tour in the Peace Corps, is married and is attending law school in New York.
Our new Core Reading program, Reading Street, will be our primary source of instruction for spelling,vocabulary, writing, handwriting and language instruction as well as reading. This, being our second year in the program, should be a little easier for everyone. We now know how to best use the materials and we are all working toward a common goal- fantastic readers and writers. Mrs. Pyszka has designated a ninety minute block in the morning for uninterrupted Math time and another one, in the afternoon for uninterrupted Reading time. We will also have an enrichment block at the end of the day with the support staff helping in the classroom to provide enrichment to all students. During this enrichment block, Mrs. Swank and I will be combining our classes and forming small groups of children with similar needs in order to provide specific instruction to each group of children. Mrs Mistretta will be taking a group also. Each group of students will rotate to another teacher every 6 weeks.
I will be sending home letters that explain our math program. It would be helpful if you would keep this information in a folder at home to refer to as the year progresses. You may need one folder alone for the Everyday math games and chapter letters. I have given the children plastic folders to use to go to and from home. If you have anything that you want me to see, please put it in the folder. The children often lose things in their backpacks. Any envelope, check, or papers should be clearly labeled with your child’s name on it.
Our schedule will include Music on Tuesday, PE on Friday and Art on Monday Please make sure that your child has sneakers for PE. Recess will be at 11:35 followed by lunch. The children will be back in class at 12:25. The dismissal time is the same as last year, 3:00-3:10. Please refrain from dismissing the children early, as this interrupts our enrichment time. We will have snack in the morning, but we won’t be serving milk, so please send a drink. Please send a healthy snack every day. The children are also encouraged to bring sport bottles of water to keep at their desks during the day. I hope you will join me in encouraging them to take care of our environment by using refillable water bottles and reusable containers for snacks. It is usually hot in school and the children need water for good brain functioning, (please no juice, tea or other flavored drinks). We have a water cooler in our room that they can use to fill their sports bottles.
For the first few weeks I will be concentrating on teaching the children how to work cooperatively. I expect that they will learn to listen to me when they hear my voice, they will share with others, be respectful of others and wait their turn to talk. Since they are fourth graders now, I am planning on them contributing to our classroom rules and procedures. I would like them to take on more responsibility this year for getting their work done on time and getting their homework in daily, our job is to get them ready for middle school.
My Newsletters will be on-line. Just go to the Goffstown school website, then go to Maple Avenue, then teachers. There you will find a link to my website. I will update it every two weeks.
I am sure you have lots of questions, some of which, hopefully, I addressed here. If your questions are still not answered please call me at school or e-mail me at Jhamilton@goffstown.k12.nh.us I will get back to you as soon as I can. Would you please send me your e-mail address? I find that e-mail is the easiest way for me to contact you. I hope you will come to Parent Information night on Thursday.
Sincerely,
Jackie Hamilton
Dear Parents,
It is great to be back at school and to see how excited the children are! They all looked so cute with their new clothes and fresh haircuts. I am ready and eager to start another year in fourth grade!
It seems we have some new children (and parents) to the school this year. To those of you who don’t know me, let me tell you a little bit about myself. This is my fifth year teaching fourth grade, but I have plenty of experience teaching. I taught Reading Recovery for 11 years in Concord before coming to Maple Ave. Here I have taught first grade for 5 years, second grade for one year and now this is my fifth year teaching fourth grade. I have a very strong background in Reading and Writing. I have had experience working with older kids in private school before Concord, and as an Odyssey of the Mind coach. I continue to take graduate courses when I am able. I love teaching fourth grade here at Maple Ave. We have a strong, united fourth grade team.
I am also the proud mother of two grown sons and the grandmother of two precious little boys. The oldest just three and the youngest is six months old. My oldest son (and now a proud daddy) is a State Trooper up North and my youngest son finished his tour in the Peace Corps, is married and is attending law school in New York.
Our new Core Reading program, Reading Street, will be our primary source of instruction for spelling,vocabulary, writing, handwriting and language instruction as well as reading. This, being our second year in the program, should be a little easier for everyone. We now know how to best use the materials and we are all working toward a common goal- fantastic readers and writers. Mrs. Pyszka has designated a ninety minute block in the morning for uninterrupted Math time and another one, in the afternoon for uninterrupted Reading time. We will also have an enrichment block at the end of the day with the support staff helping in the classroom to provide enrichment to all students. During this enrichment block, Mrs. Swank and I will be combining our classes and forming small groups of children with similar needs in order to provide specific instruction to each group of children. Mrs Mistretta will be taking a group also. Each group of students will rotate to another teacher every 6 weeks.
I will be sending home letters that explain our math program. It would be helpful if you would keep this information in a folder at home to refer to as the year progresses. You may need one folder alone for the Everyday math games and chapter letters. I have given the children plastic folders to use to go to and from home. If you have anything that you want me to see, please put it in the folder. The children often lose things in their backpacks. Any envelope, check, or papers should be clearly labeled with your child’s name on it.
Our schedule will include Music on Tuesday, PE on Friday and Art on Monday Please make sure that your child has sneakers for PE. Recess will be at 11:35 followed by lunch. The children will be back in class at 12:25. The dismissal time is the same as last year, 3:00-3:10. Please refrain from dismissing the children early, as this interrupts our enrichment time. We will have snack in the morning, but we won’t be serving milk, so please send a drink. Please send a healthy snack every day. The children are also encouraged to bring sport bottles of water to keep at their desks during the day. I hope you will join me in encouraging them to take care of our environment by using refillable water bottles and reusable containers for snacks. It is usually hot in school and the children need water for good brain functioning, (please no juice, tea or other flavored drinks). We have a water cooler in our room that they can use to fill their sports bottles.
For the first few weeks I will be concentrating on teaching the children how to work cooperatively. I expect that they will learn to listen to me when they hear my voice, they will share with others, be respectful of others and wait their turn to talk. Since they are fourth graders now, I am planning on them contributing to our classroom rules and procedures. I would like them to take on more responsibility this year for getting their work done on time and getting their homework in daily, our job is to get them ready for middle school.
My Newsletters will be on-line. Just go to the Goffstown school website, then go to Maple Avenue, then teachers. There you will find a link to my website. I will update it every two weeks.
I am sure you have lots of questions, some of which, hopefully, I addressed here. If your questions are still not answered please call me at school or e-mail me at Jhamilton@goffstown.k12.nh.us I will get back to you as soon as I can. Would you please send me your e-mail address? I find that e-mail is the easiest way for me to contact you. I hope you will come to Parent Information night on Thursday.
Sincerely,
Jackie Hamilton
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Dear Parents,
Welcome to a new school year! I have been busy preparing the classroom for the children and learning about your child. This blog will be where I publish important information about our class, their spelling words and the class schedule. Please check it weekly to see what your son or daughter is doing in school. I look forward to meeting you and the children on Tuesday morning!
Welcome to a new school year! I have been busy preparing the classroom for the children and learning about your child. This blog will be where I publish important information about our class, their spelling words and the class schedule. Please check it weekly to see what your son or daughter is doing in school. I look forward to meeting you and the children on Tuesday morning!
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