Pelham Press Vol. 20,  No. 12    November 12, 2009 http://www.arps.org./pe/

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Friday,  November 13                                                     Field Trip, grades 2 and 6

Tuesday,  November 17                                                  Field Trip, grades 2 and 5

Thursday, November 19                                      `           Pelham School Committee, 7:00 PM, Pelham Art Room

                                                                                    Middle School Parent Talk, 7 – 8:30 PM, ARMS

Friday, November 20                                                   NO SCHOOL

Saturday, November 21                                                  Family Concert at the Pelham Library, 10:30 PM

Monday, November 23                                                    Principal Open Office Hour, 5 – 6 PM

Wednesday,  November 25                                             School dismissed at 1:20 PM, No homework club

            Thursday, November 26 and Friday, November 27                  NO SCHOOL

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

From the Principal: 

The weather is predicted to turn cooler this weekend, which reminds all of us that winter is around the corner.  I have included the Cancellation and Delay information in this week’s Press to make sure everyone is prepared.  Also, at the beginning of the year each family filled out an “Emergency School Closing” form, which asked parents to list the names of two children whose parents had agreed to take your child home if school staff were unable to contact you or your other designated contacts before the school closes.  We will follow your instructions on this form if Pelham School students are dismissed early due to snow or other emergencies.  Parents, you may want to stop by the school office to check this form and make any necessary changes or additions.                 Rena Moore

SNOW DAY INFORMATION:  In the event of storms or changing weather, the Superintendent will notify local radio and TV stations.  Please tune in to the following for possible changes in dismissal or school closing:

Television:          Channel 22-WWLP, or  www.wwlp.com   Channel 40-WGGB, or  www.wggb.com

Radio:  AM  1400, 1430        FM  93.1, 99.3

The Amherst-Pelham system also has a Newsline (362-1898)  and a website at , which will carry announcements of school closings and/or delays due to poor weather.  PLEASE CALL THIS NUMBER OR LOOK ON THE WEBSITE FOR CANCELLATION AND DELAY INFORMATION.  PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE SCHOOL TO SEE IF SCHOOL IS CANCELLED OR DISMISSED EARLY.  If we must cancel school during the school day, we will need all available phone lines to call you and let you know that school is dismissing early. 

Parents, it is vital that you or your designee be available if we need to contact you at any time during the school year.  Therefore, please notify the school if any information has changed on your child’s emergency card. 

 

SNOW DAY/DELAY REMINDER FOR THE BEFORE SCHOOL PROGRAM:  If Pelham School is cancelled for the day, both the Before School and After School Programs are cancelled.  In the event of a delay, the Before School Program will open one hour before the delayed opening of school.  Thus, if there is a 2-hour delay in the opening of school, school will open at 10:40 AM and the before school program will open at 9:30 AM.  School delays and closings are announced on local radio stations and TV channels 40 and 22.  Lennie Ware will make the decision to cancel or close early the After School Program, and she will let you know.

 

 

 

 

Drum Set for Sale. Pearl Export Series 5 piece, maroon with silver trim. Great for beginners and experienced players. Please call Lisa Chasan-Tabor   (Adina's mom - 3rd grade) at 586-7871.

 

 

Middle School Talk:  The Counselors at ARMS will be presenting an educational talk/discussion session for the benefit of parents of middle school students. The topic of the first talk will be on the social-emotional development in early adolescence and will be given on Thursday, November 19 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm in the Middle School Library. The material for discussion will include social skills, parenting, keeping students safe in cyberspace, typical development, etc. This is a great way to understand the metamorphosis taking place in your adolescent child and how to deal with it. If you would like specific items to be discussed, please send your request to the FSP Co-Chair, Rama Janaswamy (email doctor_jey2000@yahoo.com), and he will make sure to pass them on to the Counselors ahead of the talk. All parents and families, including those of prospective middle-schoolers, are welcome

 

 

 

Pelham School Committee Update:  On November 19^th, the Pelham School Committee will begin their review of the FY11 Pelham School Budget and the Pelham Principal Transition Process. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quinlan’s Quill

 

            The cold weather is here, it is getting dark earlier, and fifth grade is beginning a new unit.  We have wrapped up our Lewis and Clark and Rivers Unit and are now moving on to the American Revolution.  Students will learn the causes of the war, the events leading up to the war, the war itself and the results of the war. 

            Along with studying the Revolutionary War, we will be reading books based on that time period.  Students will be reading Johnny Tremain,  Fighting Ground, or Tolliver’s Secret .  Along with reading the books and discussing the literature, a major focus of the reading groups is writing.  Writing a complete, thorough answer based on facts from the book is not easy for many students.  Our expectations have increased now that we are in November, and students will be held to a higher standard.  

            Writing is an area where many students struggle.  We are still working on creating well-developed paragraphs with a topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence.  Some students will move on to multi-paragraph essays and others will stay at the paragraph level. 

            We have begun our new unit of math—long division.  Students are following the process and are eager to learn.  We will continue long division through December, and we will be adding the concept of double-digit divisors which is always a challenge.  There are so many steps and so many places to make a mistake; accuracy is critical in long division.

            I am happy to note, that the fifth grade seems healthy.  Maybe I shouldn’t say it because I could jinx myself, but it is wonderful to have everyone back and to have no coughing in the room.  We are being vigilant about the hand sanitizer, and I hope that is helping.  I also hope that we are through the worse of the flu season.

Thank you for all your support and if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to stop by.

Suzanne Quinlan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sixth Grade News

 

Sixth graders have been learning about the Earth in our Maps and Globes unit. We started the unit considering the size of the Universe and have come through the Solar System to planet Earth. This week we finished our study of plate tectonics, and next we’ll study various systems humans have devised to describe our location, such as cardinal directions, and latitude/longitude.

In Language Arts, we’ve added in the last pieces of our curriculum to the schedule: weekly practice with conventions in writing (capitalization rules this week), and reading skills (identifying time sequence). In writing, the personal narratives are finished, and we’re working on various descriptive paragraphs. The first one was about your child’s shoe.  Next, we’ll describe a personified object, and finally, use multiple paragraphs to describe an important person in our lives.  In reading, we started a study of folklore this week, and over the next few weeks will learn about the purposes, types, and elements of folklore. I want to remind you that on short weeks, we don’t have Wordly Wise.  We often have a spelling rule that we study together as a 6^th grade (not in our usual spelling groups), but we didn’t have time this week.

Our math unit on measurement will wind up in a few weeks, and we should have the test before Thanksgiving break. We have found area and perimeter formulas for rectangles, parallelograms, triangles, trapezoids, and circles. We have a few problem solving strategies to practice, and then we’ll start our extensive review for the unit test.

Thank you for your donations of Kleenex and granola bars, and for your continued support!

Margaret Light

 

 

              Up (2009)

 

                               PTO Family Movie Night

                             Thursday Nov 19^th  6:30

                             Pelham Gym/Cafeteria

 

                        Movie is Free, popcorn and baked goods for sale

 

                                   Bring pillows and blankets

 

By tying thousands of balloons to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

 

Rated PG for some mild action and peril.             http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/

moorer@arps.org

Back to Principal's Page

Back to Pelham Home Page