What a great week we had here at AES! Despite the rainy start…. We are enjoying the fall weather yesterday and today! Have a great weekend everyone!
We have quite the week ahead:
Upcoming Dates:
October 31 - Halloween Costume Party
FLYER: Fall Harvest/Halloween Parade
November 1 - No school for students
November 3: FUN RUN Flyer click here.
November 8 - PTO meeting 7:00 p.m. AES Cafeteria
November 11 - Veterans Day - NO school
November 23 to November 25th - Thanksgiving Break
Another amazing week here at Assawompset! We had our School Wide Morning Assembly on Friday where the grade 3 teachers focused on:
Penny Purple taught us how to be a purple person. A person who finds common ground with others while celebrating what makes them unique! Now Penny and her pals will put their purple skills into action in their very favorite place -- their classroom! How do you make a purple school? It will take curiosity, sharing, hard work, and lots of laughs!
A look into our classrooms:
Art:
Kindergarten students are learning drawing strategies. This week, they used the letters O, C, and L to make caterpillars.
Grade one students learned about Pop artist Wayne Thiebaud, making gumball machines.
Grade two students continue to work on their Jeff Koons balloon animal paintings.
Grade three students are knocking Ms. T.’s socks off with their observation drawings/paintings of a bull’s skull.
Music:
K: This week in K we are using a Halloween poem to work on keeping a rhythm and using unpitched percussion instruments to speak the words. The children are also beginning to look at and hear rhythm patterns using halloween props in place of music notation.
1st: This week in 1st grade, we are singing a Halloween song and keeping a beat on unpitched percussion instruments. We also played Ghost Tic-Tac-Toe!
2nd: The second graders are talking about emotions in music and how when we listen to certain types of music, we feel different things. They are describing what it is they feel and think when listening to various types of music; energetic music, relaxing music, spooky music and sad music. They were given a piece of paper to draw what they were feeling when they heard a certain type of music and shared with their classmates what their creation was and why they drew it.
3rd: The third graders are working on their Christmas music for our big concert which will be on December 14, 2022 @ 10:00am. They also had a chance to play Haunted Rhythms and identify different rhythm patterns.
Library:
This week kindergarten and first graders are listening to the story of Creepy Carrots and making their own to hide in the library to “scare” the big kids! Our 2nd and 3rd graders are listening to Creepy Pair of Underwear and all students in grades 1, 2 and 3 are also taking a survey about their feelings about recess.
The storybook pumpkins look amazing and are a pleasure to have on display in our hallway!
PE
This week in PE we are finishing our mini golf/engineering mini unit. Students are first working together to create a blueprint for their golf courses. After building the course students are testing it and making any necessary adjustments. Lastly students are getting to practice on another group's course.
In order to get some physical exercise before breaking a mental sweat, classes started with a Super Mario Halloween run that I would recommend for a fun at home way to exercise indoors.
Kindergarten
We have had a very busy and fun week in Kindergarten! We enjoyed learning Halloween songs, poems, and we made Halloween crafts. We also continued with our third week of the Wonders program focusing on the essential question, “What can you do?” This led to discussions, drawings,and writings of what we can do now that we are in kindergarten. We are learning the letters Aa and Gg and continuing to work on the sight words, can and I. In Math,, we are learning how to make different combinations of the numbers 3,4, and 5.
Grade 1
The students in first grade are settling in well to their new routine with the new Reading Program, Wonders. This week, students answered the question, "What makes a pet special?" and read the story, "Cool Dog, School Dog". We have been building on phonics reading skills by focusing on cvc words and consonant blends. The trick words that the students are studying are, "the, and, is, his, of, a". In Math, students are exploring various concepts around adding and subtracting within 10. They are also starting to explore how to solve word problems. In Social Studies, students are exploring mapping skills and learning how to locate continents and oceans.
Grade 2
How are families around the world the same and different? The second graders are exploring answers to this question this week. They are reading a variety of realistic fiction texts to learn more about the different cultures and celebrations around the world. As they read, the students will also practice a variety of reading strategies and language skills. In social studies, the students have been learning about maps and globes. The prior knowledge of continents and countries supports the students as they read about many different cultures around the world.
Grade 3
In reading we continue to explore our new reading program, Wonders. This week we will look more deeply into cultures and traditions from around the world and our own backyards. This dovetails nicely with our social studies this week, where we are learning about the First People of this area, the Wampanoag. In math we have wrapped up Unit One on patterns, multiplication and division, and we are diving into Unit Two, which includes place value, number sense, and solving problems using four operations. In science we wrapped up our STEM week with a force and motion project, constructing a vessel for a turkey to survive a trip down a zipline and escape becoming Thanksgiving dinner. The kids did a great job designing and building their turkey transports, troubleshooting any issues after a trial run, and finally watching and enjoying their successes and cheering for their friends and classmates.
Counselor’s Corner:
What is the difference between worrying and anxiety?
Many of us are aware that since the COVID pandemic, anxiety has been on the rise; this has been true for many children at AES. However, we must be careful in recognizing the differences between “worries” and “anxiety” as both can cause uncertainty and stress.
Here are five key differences between worries and anxiety.
Worries tend to reside in our minds. Anxiety affects both body and mind.
Worries are everyday thoughts while anxiety can cause headaches, stomachaches, shortness of breath or digestive issues.
Worries are specific. Anxiety is more generalized. Worries can be identified while anxiety is generally vague. When you can’t identify what you're really anxious about, that can make problem-solving difficult.
Worries are typically real and concrete. Anxiety is marked by catastrophic thinking. Worries are logical and fears make sense, such as washing your hands so you don’t become sick. Anxiety overestimates what risks could actually be. For example, individuals with anxiety may anticipate negative responses to situations 80% of the time when in actuality negative responses may occur closer to 10% of the time..
Worries are temporary. Anxiety is longstanding. Worries are usually short term until you are able to utilize problem solving strategies to resolve the situation. Anxiety is persistent, and may impact your ability to function in certain areas.
Worries do not impair function. Anxiety does. Worrying does not cause individuals to miss activities such as school or work, however, because anxiety affects the mind and body, individuals may find it difficult to focus or complete typical daily tasks or activities.
Worrying and having anxiety are not entirely bad because they can motivate change in individuals. The important factor is developing appropriate problem solving and coping strategies to manage the anxiety. Counseling that includes the child and parents is typically most effective for children. Your pediatrician or health insurance company can provide a list of counselors who can support the family.
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Thank you! Have a great weekend.
Bethany Pineault
Principal