Our Classroom Newsletter
November 30, 2009
Dear Families,
Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed the little break for Thanksgiving
and are all rested up for the next holiday season! I would like to thank
everyone for coming to our Parent –Teacher conferences. We had a 100%
attendance! It is so wonderful to work with such loving families!
This week we will be working with strategies of reading ahead in
order to figure out a word or concept as well as comparing and contrasting
ideas. Our phonics component will be working with “ar” words such as: car,
far, bar, farm, alarm, and this week’s “magic word” which is SPARKLE!
In math we will combine strategies to solve problems. We will focus
on doubles, doubles plus one, zero, plus one, minus one, plus two, and minus
two.
Happy Holidays
This holiday season we are offering some ways to help out people in need.
Please do not feel obligated to take part in these events. Only do what is
comfortable or feels right for your family at this time. Our class is
adopting a family of 4 for the holidays. You may send in any items and we
will wrap them here at school with the children.
If you are interested, please feel free to purchase any of the following
items for our family.
6 year old little boy: Pants and shirts size 6/7 Shoes size
13 any games or toys, cars, legos,
transformers, Spiderman
7 year old little girl: Pants and skirts size 7/8 Shoes size
13 any games or toys, dolls, dress up, crafts
Mom and Dad: Gift Cards to GIANT or WALMART
In addition to our “Adopt a Family for the Holidays” event, we would also
like to support the PTA with the Country Christmas Baskets. If you’d like to
help, we will be collecting gift cards of any amounts and to any places that
will decorate a Christmas tree for our “basket” donation. Feel free to send
in a $5.00 or any amount on a gift card to Starbucks, Wawa, Giant,
Blockbuster, or wherever you can think of! If these feels like too much,
please do not feel obligated. I am simply offering ways of supporting our
school and those in need for those who feel comfortable with donating this
year. If you choose to participate, please have gift cards sent in by
December 3rd so that we can arrange them on our tree and have it all set for
Country Christmas on December 5th
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Homework: *Making Words ~ SPARKLE
*Read each night and complete any papers inside your
homework folder
Our Classroom Newsletter
November 23, 2009
Dear Families,
It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already upon us! The
children are very excited about all the upcoming holiday plans! I’d like to
wish each of you a wonderful holiday and very safe travels if you are
planning to go away.
This week we will be attending the Book Fair on Tuesday, November
24th@9:30 in the Little Theater. Feel free to send a check with your child if
you would like them to purchase books. You may also join us to shop if you’d
like!
On Wednesday, November 25th we will be having a Pajama Day in our
classroom. Feel free to bring a stuffed animal along.
There will be no homework this week or over the holiday! Please try
to keep up with reading each night! Share some great books together!
Happy Holidays
This holiday season we are offering some ways to help out people in need.
Please do not feel obligated to take part in these events. Only do what is
comfortable or feels right for your family at this time. Our class is
adopting a family of 4 for the holidays. You may send in any items and we
will wrap them here at school with the children.
If you are interested, please feel free to purchase any of the following
items for our family.
6 year old little boy: Pants and shirts size 6/7 Shoes size
13 any games or toys, cars, legos,
transformers, Spiderman
7 year old little girl: Pants and skirts size 7/8 Shoes size
13 any games or toys, dolls, dress up, crafts
Mom and Dad: Gift Cards to GIANT or WALMART
In addition to our “Adopt a Family for the Holidays” event, we would also
like to support the PTA with the Country Christmas Baskets. If you’d like to
help, we will be collecting gift cards of any amounts and to any places that
will decorate a Christmas tree for our “basket” donation. Feel free to send
in a $5.00 or any amount on a gift card to Starbucks, Wawa, Giant,
Blockbuster, or wherever you can think of! If these feels like too much,
please do not feel obligated. I am simply offering ways of supporting our
school and those in need for those who feel comfortable with donating this
year. If you choose to participate, please have gift cards sent in by
December 3rd so that we can arrange them on our tree and have it all set for
Country Christmas on December 5th.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break! Enjoy your family and friends
and a little time off to relax together!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
November 16, 2009
Dear Families,
It looks like we are in for a few more beautiful fall days this week!
It’s great to see the sunshine!
This week the children will complete animal projects and reports.
They have been doing a wonderful job and they are excited to put them on
display. Your child is welcome to bring in a small baggie of items they might
like to use to embellish the habitat of the animals they made. For example,
some small rocks or twigs, raffia, etc. This is not a requirement~ several
children asked if they could so I wanted to be sure that everyone knew they
could bring in additional accents.
Our class will be working on a non- fiction story this week in
language arts about frogs. Our phonics chunk this week will be the ng ending.
Some examples would include ding, hang, wrong, hung, ring. We will work with
graphic organizers to continue work with main idea and details. We will also
be looking for familiar bits and parts within words.
In math we will work with story problems, combining situations and
share different ways to solve the same problem with using pictures, numbers,
words and discovering patterns.
Making Words: thinking
Reminders and Upcoming Events and Dates
Book Fair: November 24th @ 9:35 Parents are welcome to shop with us. Meet us
in the Little Theater @ 9:35!
Parent Conferences begin this Friday. If you do not know your scheduled time,
please let me know~ everyone has been scheduled!
Early Dismissals begin on Friday, November 20th!
It’s very important that any notes, absent notes, bus passes, etc. are sent
in the purple folder! The blue folders are for homework and newsletters only
and aren’t check until over the weekend.
Have a wonderful week!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
November 9, 2009
Dear Families,
What a beautiful weekend! Hope you were able to get out in the fresh
air and enjoy it!
This week we will be very busy with our PA animal projects in
science, reading all about Mr. Putter and Tabby in language arts, and we will
have a special visitor, Mrs. Clark, come in to teach us a Spanish lesson! In
math we will be working on assessments to help everyone know exactly what
areas each of us need to concentrate on to be the best mathematician
possible! Our focus skills this week will include looking for bits and parts
in words along with predicting outcomes, abbreviations and alphabetical order.
Conference slips have been sent home. If you did not receive your
time, please contact me so that I can send you the needed information for our
conference. I am looking forward to meeting with you to share your child’s
wonderful accomplishments! Please bring along any questions or concerns you
may have it this time. My door is always open. If you have concerns before
our conference, feel free to get in touch! We are a team and when we work
together your child will benefit!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
November 2, 2009
Dear Families,
It’s hard to believe that we are in the month of November already! Where does
the time go? It was nice to catch up on an extra hour of sleep this weekend!
I’d like to thank everyone for making our pumpkin math day and classroom
party a huge success! The children had a wonderful time and I really
appreciate the support that all our families showed by donating time and
supplies for the children! It’s easy for me to see where the children get
such kind little hearts!!! In spite of the weather we had quite a few trick-
or-treaters visit! Thanks for bringing your little ones if you were able! I
love to see them in costumes!!
This week at school I will be working on some assessments to help
give you up to date information on how your child is doing in school. Our
conferences will be scheduled shortly and we will have an opportunity to
discuss your child’s academic and social growth. Please feel free to bring
along any questions or concerns and I will do my best to address them at our
conference.
A few dates to keep in mind…
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd NO SCHOOL
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4th CAMPING DAY Our class earned a special event and
voted for camping day. Your child may bring a sleeping bag or small blanket
to create “tents” in our room for independent reading time. We will share
stories by the “campfire” and will enjoy trail mix and marshmallows as a
special treat. Flashlights are allowed, it’s up to you if you would like to
send one with your child!
HOMEWORK
Please be sure to read each night.
Help your child with any papers in your child’s folder.
Please send in a shoe box by Monday, November 9th for a project we are
doing in school about Pennsylvania animals. Feel free to send in extras if
you have them!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
October 25, 2009
Dear Families,
Can you believe that Halloween is right around the corner? This week
we will be enjoying fun fall activities including pumpkin carving, harvest
day and a classroom rotation filled with fun stories and activities.
I hope everyone had a chance to hear about our new class pet frogs.
They are getting lots of attention and have been named. Fishy, Crystal and of
course, Snail the Mailman are finding their new home at PLE quite exciting!
As we worked on settings last week we took a little fall walk outside to
observe the setting of our nature trail. We found lots of animal habitats
and will use what we observed to help us investigate animals of Pennsylvania
which is our first science unit this year.
In math we will continue to work on strategies to solve addition
problems. We are also playing lots of games to support mathematical thinking.
So far we have worked with doubles, make a ten, doubles plus 1, and the zero
property. This week we will begin working with a ten frame and will solve
problems that include 9. As part of your child’s homework this week they will
teach you how to solve these types of problems. Hope everyone was able to
meet your child’s DOUBLES MONSTER for Fun Friday! Be sure to have them
explain the way we incorporated doubles!
In language arts we will work with the phonics skills that use the
ear sound as we blend words and practice them in our spelling folders at
school. Making words is a great way at home for you to see how successful
your child is becoming with knowledge of letter sounds and blending. If your
child is encountering difficulty, please try to work with just a few words
every night so that they have repetitive practice using the sounds to blend
words.
Our story this week is a non –fiction story about helping out. Your child
will be asked to “help out” this week around the house and record what they
did to help out on a chart. Feel free to help your child with ideas!
Remember that this week we will have Pumpkin Math Day on Thursday! We
are very excited to have you help us out with our special event! There will
be a sign in sheet in the PLE cafeteria and we look forward to seeing you
there at 9:00! On Friday we will celebrate Harvest Day at Penn London! Your
child is invited to dress up like a “farmer” in jeans or overalls, flannel
shirts, pig tails… or whatever you can come up with! Costumes and masks are
not permitted at PLE. We will have a small celebration on Friday afternoon
from 2:00-2:30. Thanks to everyone who volunteered to help out. I will be
sending your information home with our moms on Monday and they will be in
touch if they need your help for Friday. Since we don’t dress up for
Halloween, your child is invited to trick-or –treat at my house if they would
like me to see them in costume and take some pictures! Please find my
address/directions at the bottom of this newsletter!
Have a wonderful week!!! Thanks for sending such adorable little
learners each and every day!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
October 19, 2009
Dear Families,
Hope everyone has dried out after such a cold and rainy weekend! This
week we will be keeping very busy and will begin having parent helpers! The
children are very excited to have moms and dads help out in our room. Please
be sure to check the volunteer letter this week to see if any changes need to
be made.
We are happy to announce that we have two little frogs and one snail
as a part of our classroom family. Everyone is thrilled with our new
additions and look forward to taking care of our classroom pets!
In math we will work with addition and subtraction strategies by
learning new games and working with number strings. Doubles will be our
strong focus with stories and activities to help children understand this
strategy.
In language arts the children will be reading a story about a pet. We
will learn about focus strategies of “taking mental pictures” and also
discuss settings. Our phonics and spelling focus will be bending and spelling
words with the short e sound! In writing the children worked together with
partners to create “spooky settings” and wrote stories to go along with the
settings. They incorporated characters and created wonderful stories that
have been published into a class book. Each child will receive a copy and
will have an opportunity to share their story in the author chair this
week.
We are out of tissues and Clorox wipes in our classroom. Anyone who
might like to donate any of these items we’d love for you to send them in! I
am also sending home a donation sheet for classroom parties. If you are not
interested in helping out by sending in items, please do not send back the
form. I will be sending these papers with phone numbers to our moms who will
be planning the parties. They will call you as they need you for each
party.
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Pumpkin Math Day
Mrs. Broomall’s Class
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29th @ 9:00am
Thanks for volunteering to help out on our Pumpkin Math/Carving Day! The fun
will begin in the PLE cafeteria at 9:00. Please park in the back by the
cafeteria. There will be a sign in sheet as you enter the cafeteria and we
will meet you there!
Please bring along your pumpkin and any carving tools or patterns that you
may have as well as a large bowl/strainer for the seeds. I will bring along
extras as well!
Parents who will be carving:
Tony Borleis Kyra Brown
Cindy Sciotto Harry Metcalfe
Namjoo Kim Mindy Kempista
Elin Green Heidi Yoder
Donations of pumpkins:
Please drop off your pumpkin at any time that works for you at the main
office before pumpkin carving day.
Darlene Clark Karen Curtis
Clemencia Pizzillo Sofia Duran
Any questions or concerns, please contact me! My e-mail has been quite slow
this year and sometimes takes up to three days for me to receive. If you
don’t hear from me the day you e-mail me, please call or send a note with
your child the next day. If I missed you, please let me know and we will add
you to the list!!
Our Classroom Newsletter
October 12, 2009
Dear Families,
What a beautiful fall weekend! Hope you enjoyed it! With a little
chill in the air now, please be sure to send your child to school with a
jacket since they spend a good 40 minutes playing outside each day!
This week we will focus on making predictions while we read and
confirm those predictions after we read with evidence from the text. We will
discuss characters and feelings characters might have throughout the story.
Our spelling chunk this week is “at” and “ate” which is one of the making
words activities I am sending home for homework practice. I am also including
a second making words sheet with last week’s pattern of short o words. These
activities as designed to be a fun way to manipulate sounds and find patterns
in words. Feel free to help your child see that by changing just one
beginning sound he or she can create lots of words! You can also tell a word
and have your child build it! Our magic words this week will be: STOPPING and
WATERFALL.
Be sure to use different nights to practice so that your letters don’t get
mixed up!
Reading is always the best thing you can do each night! It is the
most important homework!!!! Be sure to cuddle up and enjoy some great books
together with your child!
In math we will explore our 100 charts and work on creating a list of
helpful strategies when working on math facts. We have learned some new games
and will be playing them throughout the week.
The children are doing a wonderful job in our room and I am very
pleased with how our classroom is becoming a classroom family. The children
are supporting and encouraging one another beautifully!
This week I will be sending home information about our pumpkin day and
classroom volunteer schedules.
Have a fantastic week and try to keep warm!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
HOMEWORK
Making Words (2 nights)
Read each night
Play: Tens Go Fish (card game)
Our Classroom Newsletter
October 5, 2009
Dear Families,
Welcome back to our first full week of October! This week we will
celebrate Fire Safety Month and will have a visit from our local fire
department as well as practice fire drill safety. Be sure to check with your
child and plan a “meeting spot” at your house in case of an emergency. New
guidelines have been issued that recommend a smoke detector to be placed in
each bedroom of your house!
This week we will focus on making inferences and drawing conclusions as we
read. We will work on comprehension strategies by using graphic organizers
(known as the GO chart to the children) In spelling we will focus on words
using “short o” and review our word wall words. In math we will continue to
work with counting, learn addition/subtraction strategies beginning with
doubles, and learn some new games to help children work with counting money,
items and addition facts!
I will be contacting parents for party planning and volunteering
schedules throughout the next week. We will be celebrating Harvest Day on
October 30th this year. For anyone new to our school, we will not wear
costumes on Halloween to school. We will celebrate with a fall theme and at
the end of the day have a small celebration with a snack and activity. Our
Pumpkin Carving Math Day is coming up soon! If you are interested in helping
out, please let me know by sending in the bottom of this newsletter. I need
to get a count of parents and supplies that we will need for the event! I
hope you can make it! We will carve as many pumpkins as we have donated to
our class. Each child will not have a pumpkin, we will carve in small groups
or partners with adult supervision. All donated pumpkins will be on display
at “Mrs. Broomall’s house” for everyone to see on Halloween night. All
children are welcome to trick-or-treat on Halloween and get a picture with me
or with a favorite pumpkin!
Have a wonderful week!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Homework: Please read each night (no graph this week), complete math papers
and Making Words activity inside homework folders.
Pumpkin Day in Mrs. Broomall’s Room
Thursday, October 29th at 9:00-10:00 am
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pumpkin Day in Mrs. Broomall’s Room
Thursday, October 29th at 9:00-10:00 am
Student Name_______________________________
Parent Name _______________________________
____ I am planning to attend and can bring in the following items with me: a
pumpkin, carving tools, a large plastic bowl or strainer for seeds, a large
spoon for scooping.
_____ I can send in a pumpkin, but I can’t attend the event.
Our Classroom Newsletter
September 29, 2009
Dear Families,
Welcome back after a relaxing 3-day weekend. I hope everyone had
lots of fun and enjoyed
spending a little extra time to spend together!
The children did a wonderful job on taking MAPS tests last week and
are almost finished. We
have one more test scheduled for our youngers on Wednesday for math. Our
olders have completed
both math and reading tests.
This week in language arts we will be working with short e words in
phonics practice and for
spelling, focus skills and strategies that include: narrative elements of
SETTING (where a story takes
place) and rereading to self-correct. As you read with your child this week,
discuss the setting of the
story and check for understanding by stopping every once and a while to ask
questions and discuss
what is taking place. If something doesn’t make sense, encourage your child
to go back and reread
and self correct. During writing workshop the children are writing stories
and illustrating them.
Writing conferences will begin this week to share stories and work on
revising on an individual basis.
These conferences allow each child to set up individual goals to help improve
his or her writing.
In math the children will continue to explore patterns, work with
coins (value, naming and
counting) as well as continue with number of the day, collect data and record
findings on charts and
graphs. We will also include a problem solving activity where children will
use pictures, numbers and
words to solve everyday problems.
In social studies we will finish up our study of the flag and will
discuss the Pledge and learn The
Star Spangled Banner. The children will also have an opportunity to see how
each individual address
fits within a city, state and country. Hopefully you received the post card
your child sent home as we
practiced learning our street address! Our next area of study will be science
as we learn about
animals in Pennsylvania.
In your child’s homework folder you will find a paper about being a
parent helper this year in
our classroom. Please fill out any parts you might be interested in
supporting our classroom and
send it back to school with your child. I will begin organizing helpers over
the weekend and will
begin with volunteers October 19th. I am really looking forward to inviting
everyone in to support our
children!
Have a wonderful week! As always, if you have questions or concerns,
please feel free to get in
touch!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
September 21, 2009
Dear Families,
It’s hard to believe that we are well into the month of September already!
Hopefully routines are beginning to form and everyone is getting into the
school routine.
The children are doing well as a group with building a classroom
community. Everyone enjoyed the works of Eric Carle and is excited to read
and share about books during reading time. Reading is THE most important job
you can do at home to help your child become a life-long learner and avid
reader. Having your child keep track of his or her reading will help with
graphing and counting skills as well as become a good habit for future use of
homework books/calendars. Throughout the school year there will be additional
games and activities you may choose to do with your child at home, but please
know that READING is the best way to spend energy helping at home!
This week we will begin MAPS testing in our classroom. The children
will be working with computers to answer math and reading questions. The
results of this test will help give a current “picture” of where your child
is showing strengths and/or may need additional support or instruction.
Please keep in mind that these are just “snapshots” to help support your
child along with classroom work and observations. The results will be printed
for you at our November conferences. Please be sure that your child gets a
good night’s sleep as well as a healthy breakfast this week!
In our classroom the children have been working on building stamina for their
independent reading time and are becoming a very supportive little group of
helpers. The children worked together on main ideas and created maps or webs
to show main ideas and supporting details to help retell stories in their own
words. We worked with MAKING WORDS and created lots of words with short a
sounds as well as id and ide words. Our “Magic Words” were SPIDER and
SCRATCH. We worked with combinations of making 10, used our estimation
station to estimate how many blocks were in cylinders, and did lots of
patterns and counting. Number of the Day routines are going smoothly as we
create as many number sentences we can to represent the number on our
calendar each day.
This week we will concentrate on short i and review ide, id, and
short a words. We will pay special attention to details as they help support
the main idea within non- fiction texts.
In math we are concentrating on number sense and will introduce money
so that we can continue to build upon everyday skills throughout the entire
school year instead of only one unit. The children are doing a wonderful job
with working on card games with combinations of 10. We will continue to work
on this and then build strategies to help children understand basic facts and
patterns in numbers.
In social studies we will continue to learn about rules and discuss
our country’s flag, learn our national anthem, discuss and share our thoughts
about the pledge of allegiance, and will learn our address and phone number.
In writing we will begin to make our first class book as well as work
on our individual stories! As you can see room 221 is quite a busy place!
Have a wonderful week.
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
HOMEWORK
Read each night for 15 minutes. This reading should include both you reading
to your child and your child reading to you. Your child may bring home any
classroom books they would like to share at home each night.
There are 3 Ways to Read a Book!!!!
1. Read the pictures
2. Read the words
3. Retell the story
Color in the bar graph for each book you read this week. If you are reading
a chapter book you may color in one box for each chapter.
Practice your phone number and address.
Our Classroom Newsletter
September 14, 2009
Dear Families,
Welcome back to our third week of school! The children are adapting
to the early mornings and new routines quite nicely in our classroom. We have
even earned out first classroom celebration for following rules and showing
kindness and respect to one another!
This week we will begin to take part in more academic routines and
begin with what the children are calling “the real learning!” Each day this
week your child will have time to work in reading, writing, math, social
studies and handwriting. In reading we will be working with Eric Carle
stories which will include genres of science and fantasy. We will concentrate
on building background, retelling stories by using a web, and discuss main
ideas in our whole group lessons. For our word work we will practice reading
and writing words with short a, and word families that include id, and ide.
These word families and vowel sounds will be practiced daily in a number of
ways including games, spelling marker boards and with an activity called
making words. The children will have lots of opportunities to practice words
we make within the writing workshop time we have during the day where
children become authors! This will also be a time when we add new “words we
use” to our word wall.
In math we will continue to use manipulatives, 100 charts, patterns,
graphs and a variety of other tools to help us understand the many everyday
uses for math. We will be counting in many different ways~ by 1, 2, 3, 5, and
10! Feel free to count items at home too! A favorite way is to take a handful
of your child’s favorite cereal and allow them to group them into groups of
2, 3, 5, or 10 and have them practice counting. Be sure to do this activity
with your child so that you can be sure they don’t miss any important
numbers. In school we estimate how many we think there are and then count!
This will be our first week of homework! Each night the most important job we
have is reading! There are 3 Ways to Read a Book!!!!
1. Read the pictures
2. Read the words
3. Retell the story
Please be sure that at least 3 nights this week you read and model good
reading to your child. Read with expression and at a nice pace so that they
can follow and enjoy the story. Stop for understanding at times and discuss
what’s happening. Your child can practice reading to his or herself 2 nights
a week by retelling a story you have read to them or one they have read to
you! Each child is different and learns at his or her own pace. Be sure to
adjust reading homework for the needs of your child! Reading for meaning and
understanding is as important and decoding words and learning sight words.
Reading is the whole package and should be lots of fun for everyone!!
Mark your calendars!
TUESDAY 9-15 Show and Tell Day~ Please do not send valuable items, glass
things, or large items that can’t fit inside bookbags.
WEDNESDAY 9-16 Picture Day~ Wear your smile =)
FRIDAY 9-18 Homework Folders come to school!
Have a wonderful week and thank you for sending such happy little
learners into my room each morning!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
HOMEWORK
Read each night for 15 minutes. This reading should include both you reading
to your child and your child reading to you. Your child may bring home any
classroom books they would like to share at home each night.
Color in the bar graph for each book you read this week. If you are reading
a chapter book you may color in one box for each chapter.
Mrs. Broomall’s Classroom Newsletter
September 6, 2009
Dear Families,
I hope your child had a wonderful first week of school and that they are
excited to come back for another week of making friends and learning! We
learned about lots of rules and how to be safe while we have fun in the lunch
room, school, recess areas, and in our classroom. We read fun stories, made
self portraits, played games to get to know each other. Our guidance
counselor, Mrs. Ayers, came in for a visit too. The children are doing a
wonderful job getting into the routines of our classroom! Everyone is excited
to use new school supplies and share stories.
I am looking forward to meeting with you about our curriculum for the school
year and to answer any questions you might have. We will be meeting for Our
Back to School Night at 6:30 at the PLE cafeteria on Wednesday, September 8th!
“A Few Things” you might be questioning before we meet…
Please feel free to send in a small snack with your child each day. Please
try to make it a healthy one that also fits within our allergy guidelines so
that each child is safe within our classroom environment. Please avoid
pudding, jello and drinks. Anything that can spill or needs a spoon tends to
get messy and can spill on books and papers. Your child may use the water
fountain in our classroom as often as they need to. We will have an afternoon
snack due to our early lunch.
You may send in a check for lunches so that your child doesn’t need to be
responsible for money on a daily basis. There are also on-line guidelines
that allow you to put money into your child’s account. Please see the Avon
Grove District website for information if you no longer have the papers that
were sent home.
Mrs. Broomall’s Special Schedule
Day 1 Healthy Habits
Day 2 Library (bring books)
Day 3 Music
Day 4 PE ( wear sneakers)
Day 5 Art
Day 6 Creative Movement
Day 7 Computer Workshop
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Please feel free to check my website via the district website.
e-mail lbroomall@avongrove.org
Welcome to the Jungle!
The Journey of Learning awaits you in our Classroom Jungle! This year our
classroom is a “jungle” that is filled with swooping monkeys, slithering
snakes, beautiful butterflies, and lots of flowers and vines to make our
classroom lots of fun to read and learn in!
My name is Mrs. Broomall and I will be your teacher this year! Our classroom
is a multiage room where we have both first and second graders in one room.
We are a classroom family of olders and youngers!
We will have an exciting year together as we make new friends, read wonderful
stories, write and publish our very own books, work with numbers, explore and
investigate science units about weather and animals and so much more!!!!
Our first day of school will be on Monday, August 31st! Be sure to come to
school with a great big smile, a lunch (or lunch money), a schoolbag to carry
papers home and small snack if you would like one, no drinks please! Our
classroom in a “peanut free/dairy free” room, so if you could please be
mindful in packing a healthy snack, that would be great! Some good choices
might be graham crackers, grapes, crackers, pretzels, or gummy snacks. I will
have everything else you need for the first day of school.
Feel free to purchase additional school supplies for your child if you’d
like! Some suggestions : a box of crayons for homework, a glue stick for
home, Twistable crayons (for home or school) and some extra pencils …my
personal favorites are Ticonderoga!
Get ready for lots of fun this year!
I can’t wait to get started!
Mrs. Broomall’s Class
Thanks for Donating for our Special Events!
We appreciate all your support in donating items for our special days to
celebrate the end of the school year!
You can feel free to send the items in as you get them or on the day we will
be having them.
Field Day~ Tuesday, June 9th (RainDate:June 11th)
Heidi Yoder: 25 bottles of water
Da Hughes: a cooler on wheels to borrow for the afternoon with ice
*Parents: Please feel free to send additional water for your child to have
for the afternoon.
Hollywood Day~ Wednesday, June 10th
Dawn Lytle: 25 juice boxes
Kyra Brown: popcorn cups
Kathleen Collins: 1 box natural flavored popcorn
Sharon Hanway: 1 box natural flavored popcorn
Camping Day~ Tuesday, June 16th
Kim Namjoo: 1 box of Teddy Grahams
Sophia Duran: 1 bag of mini marshmallows
Heidi Yoder : 1 bag of mini chocolate chips
Mary Jane Cruciano: 1 bag of mini chocolate chips
Da Hughes: 1 bag of mini marshmallows
Sharon Hanway: 1 box of Teddy Grahams
A few additional items are needed for our classroom play~
Let me know if you can help out!
5 pieces of bamboo for our pandas
4 spray bottles/plant misters for our monkeys
3 pair of orange knee socks for our penguins
Parent Information &
End of the Year Activities
Dear Parents,
Attached you will find a list of our upcoming classroom activities.
Please read through each day. Some of the days your child can dress in
special clothing or may need to bring in certain items.
I could use some volunteers to donate a few items. If you are interested,
please fill out the bottom of this paper and send it back in your child’s
purple folder.
Thanks,
Linda Broomall
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I can help with providing the following items:
_____ Field Day – I need a cooler on wheels that we can bring from activity
to activity filled with ice to keep 25 water bottles cold.
_____ Field Day – I also need a donation of 24 sports top water bottles
for the kids.
_____ Hollywood Day – I can donate a box of natural microwave popcorn.
_____ Hollywood Day – I can donate cups to serve the popcorn in.
_____ Hollywood Day – I can donate juice boxes for the kids.
_____ Camping Day- I can donate a box of Teddy Grahams.
_____ Camping Day- I can donate a bag of chocolate chips.
_____ Camping Day – I can donate a bag of mini marshmallows.
My Name ______________________ My Child’s Name ________________________
My Phone Number _______________________________________________________
Friday, June 6 – Blue Family Spirit Day
Wear a blue shirt to school. Show your support for our last blue family
spirit day.
Monday, June 8 – Our Magic Tree House Animal Adventure
Our Class Production will be tonight! Please have your child arrive to the
music room at 6:30. Our show will begin at 7:00 in the little theater.
Families are welcome! Feel free to video tape the performance and take as
many pictures as you’d like! I have been experiencing technical difficulties
at home with my computer and can’t promise that our DVD slideshow of the year
and/or our play will be a possibility this year. The children have all
expressed an interest in going to Dairy Queen after the show!
Tuesday, June 9 – Field Day
Your child will receive a blue tie-dye T-shirt to wear/ change into for field
day when they arrive at school. Thanks to Mrs. DiVittorio for donating our
shirts along with dying supplies and to Mrs. Zotter and Mrs. Brady for
lending a hand! Remember that we will be outside in the sun. Please put any
sunscreen on your child prior to coming to school. He/she should wear
sneakers and bring a hat.
Wednesday, June 10 – “Hollywood Stars” Day
We will be having a movie theme day in class. Your child may dress up if he
or she chooses. Students will take a walk down the “red carpet,” make their
own Hollywood Walk of Fame, and make and sign autograph books. We will be
watching a movie and eating popcorn. Students may also choose to share a
special talent with the class.
Thursday, June 11 – African Safari Day
• We will be learning about the geography and culture of Africa. We
will also take a safari scavenger hunt around the school looking for African
animals. Students will learn facts about each animal along the way. We will
also be making African masks.
• We will be making binoculars for our safari. Please send in any
empty toilet paper rolls that you have to school. We will need 2 per
student, but if you have any extra that would be much appreciated.
Friday, June 12 – Beach Day
All of our activities will relate to beach fun! Your child may bring a
beach towel this day to sit on. We will also be playing some fun games!
Monday, June 15 – Science Day
We will be heading out to the nature trail. Please make sure your child
brings a change of clothes, so that he or she can wear long pants, sneakers,
long sleeves, and a hat while on the trail. We will be releasing our
tadpoles/frogs into the creek, as well as exploring and observing nature.
Tuesday, June 16 – Camp Day
All our activities will relate to camping. We will “camp out” in our
classroom to read. Your child may bring a sleeping bag, sheet, and/or
flashlight to school, as well as any fun stories to share with their
classmates. We will enjoy a s’more trail mix while we sing camp songs and
write letters to parents about camp.
Wednesday, June 17 – Last Day of School
We will dismiss at 11:45. Reports cards will be sent home. If your child is
not present on the last day, you can pick up any items they left behind in
the office. Have a wonderful summer!
Our Classroom Newsletter
May 18, 2009
Dear Families,
I can’t believe how quickly the time seems to be going this spring!
We are approaching the end of the school year with so much activity it’s hard
to keep track of things at home and school for everybody! It’s exciting to
hear about all the games, recitals and special events that the children
share! We will be finished with homework assignments as of today! I would
like to continue to encourage you to read every night with your child! I will
be sending home some activities and suggestions for summer so that your child
keeps the skills they have mastered sharp for next year!
In language arts we will focus on plots and making inferences as well as
assessments to show specific areas each child has mastered or continues to
need instruction and practice. We will be writing persuasive paragraphs and
stories throughout the week.
We will continue with measurement in math and will also continue with our
review work to help prepare us for MAPS testing. Our class is scheduled to
take tests tomorrow. Please be sure your child has plenty of
rest and a healthy breakfast to help them have the needed energy to do his or
her best work!
We have tadpoles in our classroom and are watching them carefully as
they start to change in to frogs. It’s very exciting!!!
Have a wonderful week! As always if you have questions or concerns, please
feel free to get in touch! Working together is the best way to see to it that
your child gets the BEST education possible.
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
May 11, 2009
Dear Families,
It looks like we might get a little break from the rain! I hope you
enjoyed the Mother’s Day weekend with your little ones! I’d really like to
express my gratitude for such a special Teacher Appreciation Week! I loved
all the handmade cards, pictures and bookmarks as well as my bouquets of
flowers and yummy chocolate treats! I am so blessed to work with such
wonderful children as well as the families that go with them! I truly
appreciate all the kindness you show!
This week at school we will be celebrating Book Week! It’s a fun
time to share about books, meet characters, and meet some new friends to read
with this week. Please be sure to check over the purple newsletter for all
the details and special events planned! It’s sure to be a lot of fun!
In language arts this week we will focus on using the context clues
to discover the meaning of a word, the author’s purpose, and main ideas as we
explore non- fiction texts. Our spelling patterns are “old” words and “ou”
words.
In math we will begin work with measurement. In addition to learning
about different tools for measuring we will construct our own paper rulers to
explore the unit of an inch. Although these topics will be part of our whole
group lessons, we will continue to work in small groups to reach individual
needs in telling time, counting money, and fractional parts. The children
have been doing a super job with learning about fractions this past week. We
learned that a fraction is a part of a whole, and discussed numerators and
denominators as we played pizza games, made our own game with graph papers
and sang the fraction songs.
In science and social studies we are working with maps and life
cycles. We are anxiously awaiting our caterpillars’ arrival so that we can
see firsthand all the stages of the life cycle of a butterfly!
Our play will be here before you know it! The children are very
excited and are really learning the songs very quickly! I would love to have
some helpers to work with small groups of children on creating and designing
props, movements and other special features for our show. If you are
interested in helping out we are planning Friday, May 15th from 2:00-3:00 to
be a day for prop making, organizing lists of materials we might need,
creating movements and helping to write out facts that children will be able
to read about different animals. This will be our first meeting to organize
our thoughts and ideas! If you can make it, please let me know by e-mail or a
note so that we can plan on our groups! Please feel free to bring any ideas
you may have in mind, I am sure your child has mentioned the part they will
be and maybe you’ve had some time to discuss ideas together. We are all very
excited to work together to create a super show!
Have a wonderful week! As always if you have questions or
concerns, please feel free to get in touch! Working together is the best way
to see to it that your child gets the BEST education possible!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
May 4, 2009
Dear Families,
It looks like we are in for a rainy week!! I don’t know about you, but I’ve
had enough after this weekend!!!
In our classroom we’ll try to make it a “sunny” place for lots of fun
learning and planning.
We are working on some exciting stories this week about bears and maps! Our
focus skills and strategies for the week will be: Main Idea, Self-Correcting,
Locating Information, and Decoding. In phonics we will focus on the long I
sound along with oo, ou.
We will also be working on our classroom play as the children help to
gather facts, write songs and design costumes and props. Everyone is very
excited about creating our show.
In math we will work with fractions, money and time. A little bit of
each on a daily basis will allow the children to grow and develop skills in
these areas at his or her own pace. After mini lessons the children will have
opportunities to revisit activities and lessons through small group
instruction and/or games. At home counting coins, making change, reading the
clock, measuring in the kitchen to bake or cook ingredients will all help the
children see the everyday connection math plays in the world.
This is our last week of parent volunteers for morning reading. We
will schedule a day or two for painting, gluing and preparing for the play a
little later in the month.
We are waiting for our caterpillars go be delivered and will continue
our study of life cycles in science. We have been watching our seeds grow and
change and soon our little potted plants will need haircuts!
Have a wonderful week and let’s keep our fingers crossed for some
sunshine!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
April 27, 2009
Dear Families,
What a glorious weekend! A real taste of summer is such a nice treat after so
much chilly rain! I hope you were able to get out and enjoy it!
Last week was an exciting one with Take Your Child to Work Day, Earth Day,
Nature Trail/ habitat study, planting seeds, and lots of fun book clubs and
Literature Circles taking place in our room.
We will be busy again this week and have so many exciting things
happening at PLE! On Tuesday we will meet our visiting author and have a
chance to ask questions and listen to his stories and published books! We
will begin working on songs and parts for our upcoming play. We will be
asking for parent helpers to assist with painting, gluing and creating things
for our play in May. Be on the LOOKOUT for upcoming dates and times where you
might like to work with us!
With May just around the corner, I want to let all reading volunteers
know that Friday, May 8th will be our last day of our morning reading
helpers. There will be opportunities for helpers to come in on special
scheduled days.
This week we will focus on making inferences, finding bits and parts
within words, and cause and effect. In math we will finish up geometry and
work with fractions, facts, and money. We are beginning life cycles in
science and will be hatching our very own butterflies once our caterpillars
arrive!
Have a wonderful week and enjoy the weather! I just want to take a
minute to let you know how blessed I am to work with each and every one of
your children! You are all raising polite and loving little people who will
certainly make this world a better place! Thanks for sharing them with me
each day!!!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
April 20, 2009
Dear Families,
I sure hope you were able to enjoy the beautiful spring weekend and
soaked up some sunshine to hold you over until the next weekend!
This week at school we will be celebrating Earth Day and will head
outside to the nature trail on Wednesday morning! If you have clearances and
are able to join us, please be here by 9:00. All children should come to
school with long pants, long sleeved shirts, hats and shoes that can get a
little muddy!
In the classroom we will work with lots of literature to discover
plots and details. We will work with focus skills including long I, er, and
est. Our stories will be The Story of a Blue Bird and Chinatown. The children
are also working in a variety of book clubs and literature circles during
class. Be sure to ask them about the books they are reading in small groups.
Everyone should be able to share about plots, characters, and details about
the selections they are reading.
We are working very hard on publishing our books and are writing many
new stories each and every day! This class loves writing workshop and working
in our green folders! What creative ideas this class has!
In math we are moving from geometry into fractions and will continue
to reinforce skills with telling time, money, facts, and using a thermometer.
In science we will focus on recycling, reducing and reusing items! We
will plant seeds and discuss the good things we can do for our environment.
Have a wonderful week and enjoy the weather!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
April 13, 2009
Dear Families,
I hope everyone enjoyed time with family and friends over our spring break!
It sounds like everyone had a relaxing and exciting time off from school. The
children shared all the exciting details and adventures of family get-
togethers to amazing vacations!
This week we will get back into the swing of things with some great
non-fiction stories and focus on cause and effect, summarizing, and
decoding/phonics skills. In writing workshop the children are beginning new
stories and continuing the writing process with publishing. In math we will
continue to work with geometry and move into fractions. Continued practice of
math facts and money will also be a daily focus.
We have some important dates to keep in mind!
NATURE TRAIL On April 22, 2009 @ 9:35 we will be headed to the nature trail
for a fun lesson on animal habitats. Anyone with clearances is welcome to
join us. Please have your child dressed for the weather. Hats and long
sleeves/long pants are encouraged. Boots might be a good idea depending on
muddy conditions.
MAPS TESTING DATES When scheduling appointments, please try to keep in mind
that we will be taking our final MAPS tests on the following dates. May
19th, May 28th, May 29th, June 1st
OUR CLASSROOM MUSICAL will be on Monday evening, June 8th @ 7:00, please let
me know if your child will be unable to attend.
FIELD DAY is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9th
Have a wonderful week!
Linda Broomall
Spring Celebration in Mrs. Broomall’s Room!
Our class will be having a small spring celebration on Friday, April 3rd. Any
parent who would like to donate small prizes, filled plastic eggs or any
other items such as stickers, erasers, candies, etc. is welcome to send in
items throughout the week. Please keep in mind that we are “peanut, milk and
egg free” this way everyone can enjoy in the fun!
Our Classroom Newsletter
March 30, 2009
Dear Families,
Where does the time go? I hope you were able to enjoy your weekend,
even if the weather didn’t cooperate!
This week we will be holding our parent teacher conferences on
Tuesday and Wednesday evening as well as Thursday afternoon. I am really
looking forward to sharing your child’s progress, wonderful accomplishments,
and goals!
We have some exciting events happening this week! Our PTA Book Fair
is being held this week in the little theater. Our class will be shopping for
books on Wednesday, April 1st at 9:35. Feel free to join us in the little
theater if you wish to shop with your child. Please send any money or checks
inside a small baggie so that your child doesn’t lose any change or receipts
that may need to make it home. There is no obligation to buy, your child may
enjoy looking and can even make a wish list if you prefer!
We will have no parent volunteers this week due to our early
dismissal schedule and changes in our daily schedule. There will be no
homework this week, but please continue to encourage reading every night!
Have a wonderful week!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom
Newsletter
March 23, 2009
Dear Families,
Welcome SPRING! It’s so nice that we are officially in spring. Let’s
hope the weather begins to cooperate with us!
This past week has been quite exciting. The leprechauns did visit our
classroom and created quite a stir! I am sure you heard all about the little
footprints and handprints that were everywhere! We were quite lucky that
there was true evidence of their existence with hats, gold coins and even
little decks of cards and books left inside our traps!
This week we will enjoy reading realistic fiction stories and fantasy
stories. We will focus on words with multiple meanings, describing words and
alphabetical order.
We will continue to solve double digit math problems, both with and
without regrouping. This is a difficult concept for many children. We are
setting a foundation so that children will have some experience with these
types of problems. I will be sending some problems home for homework
practice. Please try these problems at home and allow your child to explain
the process they use to solve it. Try only one or two problems a night, if it
feels too challenging.
In science and social studies we will continue working with geography
and learning about land forms and bodies of water. We will continue to
explore Pennsylvania and will also begin discussions and begin
experiments/experiences with life cycles.
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
March 16, 2009
Dear Families,
Well…tonight is the big night…We will set our leprechaun traps and on
St. Patrick’s Day we hope to find a leprechaun or at least a piece of gold!
Thank you so much for taking time out to help your child write a creative
story and build a leprechaun trap! They all look wonderful and we are all
very excited about what tomorrow will bring!
We had a super start to the week with a guest reader who brought
everyone a little Clifford dog and even a huge Clifford for our classroom.
The children loved to hear all about Clifford’s good deeds and we will be
making a class book about our own good deeds. In addition to our continued
exploration of mysteries, we will focus on compare/contrast skills,
sequencing, contractions, non -fiction text, and work with categories. The
children will enjoy On the Job with Dr. Martha Smith and Good-Bye Curtis as
our whole group stories for the week.
In math we will work with money and then move into geometry. This is
a perfect time to ask your child to identify names and values of coins.
Emptying our pockets at the end of the day is a great way to help your child
sot them by coins that are alike, count same coins and then mixed amounts. A
little extra practice with “real” money at home will help your child grow
comfortable with counting coins and then our next step of making change.
In science and social studies we are working with geography and
learning about land forms and bodies of water. We will continue to explore
Pennsylvania and will also begin discussions and experiments/experiences with
life cycles.
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
March 9, 2009
Dear Families,
Get ready for spring! I hope everyone remembered to set clocks ahead
and that even the weekend might make it a little harder without the hour of
sleep…we have sunny, longer days ahead!
Thank you for returning conference slips so promptly! I will be
preparing our schedule shortly and look forward to meeting with each of you
to help your child reach their fullest potential! We will be sharing work
samples and report cards at this time. If you have any questions or concerns,
please bring them with you. Feel free to get in touch earlier if you feel
there will be too much to cover during our quick visit of 15 minutes.
Our class had a wonderful day on Dr. Seuss Day (a day late!) and we
had our picture taken for the Avon Grove Sun! They will be publishing it
sometime within the next 2 weeks. I’ll be sure to give everyone the heads up
when it will be in. Everyone was very excited!
Mr. Ruffini (our academy student) said goodbye on Friday and will be
moving on to his next placement to the Charter School. We will miss him, but
wish him all the best in his new school. Speaking of new schools…Ella is all
set in her new school and home .
This week we will continue to complete any assessments. We’ve had
quite a few absences and lots of coughing, and tummy troubles going around
this past week. Hopefully a little spring breeze will help blow these germs
out of here!
We will be enjoying science fiction and mystery genres this week with
a focus on narrative elements (plots, beginning, middle, end) and prefixes.
We will also concentrate on using context to confirm meaning as we read.
In math we will continue to work on strategies, problem solving and double
digit addition/subtraction. Due to some scheduling conflicts the children
have not had the opportunity to practice the math fact program on a regular
basis for the past 2 weeks. We will be back on track with daily practice and
awards coming home as they reach new sets and goals. The children have been
working on addition and subtraction practice on a daily basis, it just hasn’t
been within the Mastering Math Facts program. The children do seem to be
making good progress in the strategies they are using and are accurately
using them! Keep up the practice and great work at home!!!
As always, if you have questions or any concerns, please feel free to get in
touch!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Homework
READ each night
Practice math facts
Spelling Practice (Test will be on Friday)
Leprechaun trap and story due on Monday, 3-16!
Our Classroom Newsletter
Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss!
March 2, 2009
Dear Families,
What an exciting week we have coming up! Today we celebrate reading
with Dr. Seuss Day and prepare for lots of fun learning and reading together
in our classroom family.
In language arts we will enjoy fiction and non- fiction materials as
we explore Emperor penguins. We will work on alphabetical order, word
families, and practice making predictions and confirming them as we read. We
will also enjoy stories pertaining to all the wonderful aspects of the month
of March. Leprechauns, lions and lambs, windy days and of course Dr. Seuss
celebrations are some of the exciting things we will discuss and enjoy
reading and writing about.
In math we will continue to work with our 100 chart, problem solving
activities and our basic facts. Double digit addition and subtraction
problems will be incorporated into everyday situations.
For homework this week and next week your child will be given an
opportunity to create a leprechaun trap and write a story predicting what
would happen if they caught a real leprechaun. The children have been so
excited in making predictions about leprechauns and have decided they are
only about 10 centimeters tall! Please refer to the St. Patrick’s Day project
sheet and website inside your child’s homework folder. Since this project
will require extra time at home, homework will consist of spelling practice,
fact practice and this special assignment. There will be no additional
assignments so that you and your child can have additional time to work
together on this fun assignment. Have fun!
Please be sure to send in conference forms so that I can prepare a
time that fits your schedule. If you did not get your conference slip on
Thursday, please let me know and I’ll send home a new one.
Have a wonderful week!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Let’s Get Ready to Celebrate!
On Monday, March 2nd our class will celebrate Dr. Seuss’s Happy Birthday !
Please help your child to prepare for our special day. Feel free to choose
from any of the suggestions below:
• Dress up as your favorite Dr. Seuss character from any book.
• Wear black and white clothing to school. We will make hats, tails and
add noses, bows and whiskers to dress like the cat in the hat!
• Bring in a stuffed animal from a Dr. Seuss book.
• Bring in your favorite Dr. Seuss book.
Our Classroom Newsletter
February 23, 2009
Dear Families,
Get ready for a blustery week! I’m not sure about you, but I am
certainly looking forward to spring! This week we will have a short week due
to the teacher in-service day on Friday!
This week I will be working one –one -one with the children to assess
reading and math. We will focus on our writing skills and prepare samples of
our writing by creating short stories and poems.
Our focus this week will be on antonyms, classifying and organizing
information, and spelling patterns with e and es. Our stories will be At Home
Around the World and Cool Ali. We will incorporate social studies and
science activities about maps and weather with these two stories with some
fun projects and an experiment.
We will begin to put together our Adventures of Flat Stanley next
week. If your child hasn’t received information yet, please contact the
person you sent him to so that we can include everyone in this project.
Thanks for your support!
Last week we had an opportunity to work with Mrs. Howard during math
class. The children worked with double digit regrouping using dimes, pennies
and other math manipulatives to set the stage for solving double digit
addition and subtraction problems on paper. These problems will be
incorporated within story problems and problem solving activities throughout
the week.
We are sad to say that Ella’s last day was a tearful one, however we
know she will enjoy her new home and school. The Thompson’s left this weekend
and will be in touch with us through e-mails once they are settled in! We are
happy to say that Tommy is recovering nicely from his recent surgery and
everyone had a chance to “shout” hello when we called him from school last
week. We expect him to return to school shortly!
Have a wonderful week and I hope you enjoy the 3-day weekend! As
always, if you have questions or any concerns, please feel free to get in
touch!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Homework
READ each night
Practice math facts
Complete any papers
Spelling Practice (Test will be on Thursday)
Our Classroom Newsletter
February 17, 2009
Dear Families,
Well I sure hope you enjoyed the 3 -day weekend! It looks like our
springtime weather was short-lived! Please be sure that your child has a warm
coat for recess.
This week we will be busy working with lots of fun and interesting
themes within our reading material! We will learn about whales, maps, and
presidents! How’s that for a combination? The children will focus on making
inferences, and reading ahead to look for clues about what they are reading.
We will also be working with maps and will explore non- fiction materials.
This week we have some classroom updates and news to share. Tommy had
his tonsils out on Monday and we all wish him a speedy recovery! Ella is
moving to Louisiana with her family and will surely be missed. We Ella and
her family all the best as they move into their new home and school. We also
have a high school student, Chris Ruffini, helping out in our classroom for 3
afternoons each week through March. He is planning to become a teacher and is
part of the Teacher Academy offered by our high school. He is outgoing and
friendly and our children are really enjoying the experience.
Have a super week!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Homework
READ each night
Practice math facts
Complete any papers
Spelling Practice
We are working on a special project for Ella this week. If you have a picture
of your child that we may use for her scrapbook page, please send one in
before Friday. Thank you!
Our Classroom Newsletter
February 9, 2009
Dear Families,
Well I sure hope you enjoyed the spring-like weekend! I spent it
camping with the girl scouts and it was a perfect weekend for walks in the
woods and enjoying the great outdoors.
This week we have lots of excitement with the 100th Day Celebration
tomorrow and a week full of fun math activities, great literature and lots
of learning! I lucked out on jury duty for today and will see what happens
for tomorrow. In either case, please have your child bring in his or her 100
day collection tomorrow. We will be sharing them for a few days.
Your child will be bringing home several papers and activities we
have been working on over the past week. Please take a little time to go
over these papers and ask your child to explain them to you. The more
children can explain or “teach you” what they know, the better they
understand and comprehend the new skills or strategies.
This week we will focus on math strategies that you will find inside
your child’s homework folder. These strategy lists are for you as a parent
to help explain when to use a strategy or the correct way to explain how a
strategy might work. Please use this only as a tool to help your child when
completing math fact practice at home. It is not something that your child
needs to memorize and not all children will be able to use each and every
strategy. It is meant to be a helpful tool, and may be kept at home. This
week we will continue story problems with subtraction and then move into
choosing between addition and subtraction problems with double digit and
regrouping situations. Please go over the story problem booklet with your
child and ask them to explain magic math words that will tell you to combine
or add to get the answer.
Our reading skills and strategies this week will focus on making
inferences, cause and effect, and alphabetizing. We will enjoy poems and
related stories about summer vacations and pets as we work on these skills.
As our chapter read aloud the children are enjoying Baby. Be sure to ask
them about the wonderful novel by Patricia MacLachlan.
In our classroom we have new bookshelves to create a very cozy book
nook in our classroom. The children worked very hard to organize our books
within categories and were allowed to take some books home as we “cleaned
out” our library. If your child tells you that they were given some books,
it is true! Enjoy a few new books for reading at home.
On the note of cleaning out…we have new nametags and have cleaned
out our desks to get better organized. In doing so, many of the children
have very limited supplies. Please check with your child to see how they are
doing with crayons or twistables. Many children are out of the basic colors
and might appreciate a new set and or some new pencils. I have glue sticks
at this point, but we are low on crayons and pencils. In addition, if you’d
like to send a box of tissues or a container of Clorox wipes it would be a
great help!
Have a super week!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Homework
READ each night
Practice math facts
Complete any papers
Spelling Practice
100 day collection due tomorrow
OPTIONAL: Feel free to dress up the way you think you will look when you are
100 years old!
Our Classroom Newsletter
February 2, 2009
Dear Families,
I hope you enjoyed the Super Bowl Weekend and especially the taste of spring
on Sunday!
Our classroom will be a busy place this month with Valentine’s Day, the
100th Day of School, Dental Hygiene Month, President’s Day, and of course
today, Groundhog Day!
We will be working on focus skills and strategies dealing with cause and
effect as well as making and confirming predictions. The olders will not
have a spelling list this week. We will have a review of the words we have
learned in the past. There will be no homework for spelling for the olders.
The youngers will continue with spelling in our normal routine.
The children have been working very hard on writing
complete sentences and responding about books we are reading together as
well as independently.
In math we are working on story problems and the children are
creating and solving their very own problems. Special word clues we are
looking for are: altogether, how many in all, total, and sum. Our problems
are addition stories this week we will introduce subtraction stories by the
end of this week and into next week.
In social studies we have been discovering many places on the map.
The children are becoming experts at finding many states, continents, and
locating specific places within Pennsylvania.
This week for homework your child should continue to read each
night. I have talked with the children about “taking charge of their own
learning” and explained that everyone needs to begin to read by themselves a
little each night. It is very important that each child sees themselves as a
capable learner. Many children who are experiencing difficulty with reading
at this time need to gain a little independence and become accountable for
their work. They can do it with encouragement and praise! Small steps at
rereading an easier book will help them review sight words and gain fluency.
Reading is the KEY!
If all goes well with the weather this week we will be celebrating
the 100th Day on Tuesday, February 10th. It just so happens that I may have
jury duty on the 10th! We are planning a small celebration with special
activities all based around 100! If we have a snow day in the mix it will
alter our 100th day…so here’s the plan. I would like to celebrate with the
children the following day if it falls on my jury duty day. On the 100th day
we will have fun activities planned including a homework assignment of
bringing in a collection of 100 items. Some ideas children have done in the
past are: paper clips, pennies, small candies, buttons, stickers, legos,
army men, etc. Be creative and have fun. Your child needs to count them out
before bringing them to school. We will have a 100 day museum and creatively
display our items on our desks. Some children have made posters where they
have glued the items down and others bring in a plastic baggie with the
items and display them on their desk once they come to school. Either way is
fine!!
Our Valentine’s Day party is all set and hopefully your child is
working a little each night on their cards! Anyone who needs cards, please
let me know. I will be sure your child brings home a box.
Have a wonderful week!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
HOMEWORK
READ each night
Practice math sets
Complete any papers inside your homework folder
Youngers: spelling paper
Our Classroom Newsletter
January 26, 2009
Dear Families,
We are off to a very cold week and the possibility of snow in the
air is very exciting for the children! Last week we had a wonderful time at
our Inaugural Ball! Thank you for your support with food, decorations and
helping you child to choose formal attire for the day. The children all
seemed to have a great time. They used proper manners, learned the box step,
enjoyed fruit, pound cake and candy sushi with little toothpicks. Everyone
also seemed to have fun serving up lemonade punch out of a fancy punchbowl!
It was a perfect way to end an exciting week. The children will be coming
home with packets and information about President Obama and the
inauguration. These packets may not be complete since children were allowed
to work on them during independent time. Each child may work at a different
pace. We read over and discussed all the information together in class and
then the children could pick and choose what pages they were interested in
working on. Feel free to use this information as a conversation starter or
to see if your child was able to grasp the concepts we discussed.
This week we have a short week and a possible snow forecast! On
Wednesday you child has a day off due to the teacher in-service day
scheduled by the district. Our skills and strategies this week will include
working with nouns, fact vs. fiction, rereading materials in order to be
able to explain what was read using their “own words.”
For homework there are worksheets to be completed, spelling practice, and
reading each night. The children will also work on math sets on an every
night basis. This practice should be oral and for only about 5 minutes.
I am also including a class list for those who might like to begin
to write out Valentine’s Day cards. Some children might feel better writing
a few each night instead of the whole class at one time. If your child
chooses to hand out Valentine’s Day cards, they must include every member of
our class. If you need cards and can’t afford them, please let me know and I
will be happy to supply your child with a box. The cards will be handed out
on February 13th during our morning activities. You may send them in on or
before Friday.
As always, if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to
get in touch. I will be conducting some assessments and looking over the
data we have collected from the most recent MAPS tests throughout the week.
I will be in touch with you if I have concerns at this point and feel that
your child is not making the progress I think he or she should be making at
this point in the year.
Have a super week! Keep warm and enjoy the extra day this week with
your little
one!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
January 20, 2009
Inauguration Day!
Dear Families,
What a weekend! I hope you enjoyed the football games, presidential
events, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the SNOW!
The children were excited about all the weekend happenings and
really enjoyed our special tribute to the Inauguration today. On Friday
afternoon our class is planning our own Inaugural ball. We will celebrate
with punch and “fancy” snacks. The children are welcome to “dress up” for
the event and if you’d like to provide a snack, please let me know! More
information will follow with our formal invitations for the children.
This week we will work with the following skills and strategies:
nouns, settings, predicting outcomes and self corrections. We will be taking
a school wide reading assessment tomorrow and we finished up the MAPS
testing today! That should wrap things up on the assessment piece! (at least
for a little while)
For homework this week… please read each night and complete any
papers inside your child’s homework folder. In addition to reading this week
your child will be drawing a setting from one of the books they choose to
read at home. The plain paper in your folder is for the illustration, but
any paper will do just fine! Please feel free to borrow any classroom
books if you need some new materials. Take a look at the book orders if you
are interested and please send them in by January 22nd if you are ordering
this month.
Have a great week and take some time to walk or play in the snow!!!
It’s a magical time of the year!!!!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
January 12, 2009
Dear Families,
I hope everyone is back to the routine of work and school! Things
are busy at PLE with MAPS testing, publishing, and our regular work each day
we are managing to keep up!
This week we are excited to share the news of our classroom
additions! Jake has brought in fish for our tank. So with Jack and Jake
helping us out with fish and a tank, we all are keeping our fingers crossed
that they stay alive! It has been an exciting Monday!
We will be reading a biography this week and will focus on the
following skills and strategies: characters, abbreviations, making
inferences, sequencing, and nouns. In math we will be working with fact
families and story problems. Your child will bring home a paper with math
facts. Your child has a set number and goal that has been established by a
timed test for writing and answering number sentences correctly. Attached
you will find a sample letter that will guide you along with additional
practice at home. Our children have a race track to color in instead of
a “rocket chart” This is an exciting time for most children, yet can cause
anxiety in some if the practice time is stressful or if they are not feeling
successful with moving up sets. Please keep in touch with me if you are
experiencing problems at home with oral practice. The papers that come home
each night will show you where your child is doing well and/or which facts
might be giving him or her a little trouble. Please review the answers each
night with your child. Check to see that what they have completed is correct
and support them by reviewing for a few minutes each and every night!
Have a wonderful week and thanks for your support in creating a
wonderful opportunity for your child to be a successful learner!
Homework:
Read each night
Math Fact practice each night
Complete papers inside homework folder
Spelling Practice
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
January 5, 2009
Dear Families,
Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed the long
winter break and had some time to relax and enjoy a little time together.
Here at school we will be off to a busy, but fun New Year of
learning! One of the things we will be working on is measuring the air
temperature on a thermometer and recording the temperatures for the chilly
month of January. We worked with degrees and counting by two.
Our stories this week will include a non -fiction piece about trees
and a short play. Our skills and strategies will involve settings, fact vs.
fiction, r controlled vowels, and looking for bits and parts within words.
In writing we will work on our pieces for publishing and will
closely look at editing our work with a concentration on making sure there
is an appropriate sequence and adding adjectives to make our stories come
alive.
In math we will continue work with taking surveys and
creating/reading graphs and begin story problems and number games. We will
continue our daily practice of math facts and will begin nightly assignments
at home next week to practice accuracy and speed for learning our addition
and subtraction facts.
Our Flat Stanley project is really taking off! We have already
received several letter and e-mails and will mark the towns he has visited
on our PA map. Thank you so much for your support with this project.
Have a wonderful week! I know how hard it is to get back to the
routine so our homework for this week is spelling practice and nightly
reading. Next we will begin to add more assignments and hopefully everyone
will be back into the swing of things!!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
December 15, 2008
Dear Families,
It's unbelievable how quickly the holidays are approaching! I hope
you
are managing to keep your sanity!!! The children are thrilled with all the
visiting family and special events that have been going on. What lucky
little ones to share in so many special traditions!!!
Here at school we are still plugging away! In reading this week we
will focus on non-fiction materials about butterflies and trees. We will
discuss life cycles and look for supporting facts and details in what we
read. In spelling we will work with “ch” digraphs with our youngers and r
blends with our olders. During writing workshop we will learn how to write a
friendly letter. The children will put these writing skills to good use as
they write letters to Santa! I told the children I would make copies of the
letters so they could show you how beautifully they printed each word! We
are all hoping that Santa’s elves will write us back shortly!!!
We are also continuing with the works of Tomie dePaola and have
enjoyed his series of Strega Nona stories. In any extra time that we have
we are fitting in some holiday stories and crafts! It certainly is a magical
time of year!
In math we will continue to work with graphing. We have worked with
bar graphs, tally graphs and picto-graphs. This week we will explore
coordinates on graphs.
Our classroom party is planned for Monday, December 22nd at 10:00
am. Our parents helpers have everything ready to go and our children are
very excited to celebrate!
Have a wonderful week…Happy wrapping and shopping!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
December 8, 2008
Dear Families,
I hope you had a festive and fun weekend! It sounded like many
families were getting trees, attending parties and shopping this weekend!
The children are certainly in the holiday spirit!
Last week we had fun with lemonade graphs, stories and enjoyed a cup
of lemonade while we worked on Friday! It was a great way to connect our
math and literature together for a neat learning experience. We are graphing
results of experiments with floating and sinking objects, survey questions
and will continue to work on collecting data and graphing skills in math.
This week we will continue our study of Tomie dePaola in writing
workshop, and write stories for publishing. We will focus on adding on more
details to make our stories grow and become more exciting!
In reading we will be working with details and creating mental
images while we read. Our story will be in a play format about Johnny
Appleseed. We will also read other stories about Paul Bunyun and Daniel
Boone. Children will continue to choose just right books for independent
reading and will participate in small group instruction.
Our spelling words will continue to reinforce r controlled vowels
for our olders and will reinforce “sh” diagraphs for our youngers. All
children will participate in the making words activities and lessons to
become familiar with reading and writing these sounds.
Our classroom was very lucky to have a visit from Autumn (Zachary
Brown’s little hamster) for a few days. Everyone enjoyed working at their
table while she visited them throughout the day. Thanks for sharing her,
Zach!!!
Have a great week! Thanks so much for your help with donations for
our Country Christmas basket and a very special thank you to Heather Porter
and Julie DiVittorio for shopping and putting it together for us!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
December 2, 2008
Dear Families,
Well…it’s official! The holiday season is upon us! I hope everyone was able
to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and is getting excited to celebrate all
the joys of the fast approaching holidays in December!
This month will be busy for everyone. Schedules become hectic as we
plan way too many things to do in such a short time period, our children are
excited, overtired and become quite sensitive at this time of year. For the
month of December I would like to ask that reading each night remain a
priority for homework. Spelling will be the only additional written homework
your child will have this month. Please feel free to visit the Avon Grove
Website or our classroom website for math games and activities to review
skills in a fun way. Hopefully with a light amount of homework this month,
your child can get to bed early and you will have a little more time to
enjoy a good book together!
I really enjoyed meeting with everyone at our conferences! We had
100% participation! It’s a joy to work with such wonderful families in
providing your child a positive start on the journey of learning! I am truly
blessed to work with such loving children each and every day!
This week we will be concentrating on characters in stories and will
work with BOSSY R words. The children will also work with comparing and
contrasting as a focus skill. Our whole class stories are Lemonade for Sale
and Try Your Best. We will continue to grow on our own individual levels and
read and respond on a daily basis.
In math we will begin working with graphing, estimating and continued
practice with math facts and strategies. Playing board games, rolling dice
and recognizing the number of dots without counting them, is another way you
can reinforce these skills. Playing games is a really great way to see how
your child chooses strategies, counts and thinks ahead mathematically! Many
parents shared that they played games with their children at home and I
highly recommend it!!!
In addition to our academic studies for the month of December, we
will also manage to have some fun! The children are excited to wear Santa
hats all month long to help keep them working as hard as the elves this
holiday! They look adorable and seem to be enjoying the festive spirit in
the room. Our class will have a holiday party planned by Audrey Borleis,
Kyra Brown, and Julie Wickwire. These moms will be in touch if they need
help in planning treats and activities. Our class will not be having a gift
exchange instead each member of the class may choose or choose not to
participate in buying a game for the classroom. This gift could be as small
as a deck of cards or a board game. You and your child can wrap it up and
sign their name on the gift card. Your child will place it under our tree
and they will open the gift they got for the class and show everyone. These
games will become part of our choice time and indoor recess when we are in
our room during cold winter days. Please do not feel obligated!!! I realize
this year is really tough on many families and I do not want to place a
burden on anyone!!!!
Mark your calendars!
Book Orders Due Friday, December5th
I can hold any book orders you might like as a Christmas gift for you to
pick up in the office. Please just attach a note and I’ll give you a call as
soon as they arrive!
Our Christmas Party Monday, December 22nd
School wide Pajama Day Tuesday, December 23rd
Have a great week! Keep warm!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
November 18, 2008
Dear Families,
Thank you so much for your patience with my e-mail and computer issues this
past week. I think we finally have things all worked out!
I am excited to share all the exciting things going on in our classroom and
upcoming events! Our Parent teacher conferences will begin on Friday.
Everyone was scheduled a time, if you do not have yours, please let me know
and I can let you know when we are meeting. I look forward to sharing all
the wonderful accomplishments and goals of your child at our conference. We
will be going to the book fair on Wednesday, November 19th at 1:35 in the
PLE Little Theater. If you would like to shop with your child you may meet
us there. Please understand that there is no obligation to purchase books.
This is a PTA fundraiser and all money raised will support our school. They
have some wonderful selections and some of the beautiful hard back books
might make great Christmas gifts! The book fair will also be opened at
evening conferences.
We are also supporting the PTA by taking part in the Country
Christmas Basket Raffle. Classroom baskets of all kinds will be raffled off
at Country Christmas. Our class would like to create a Magic Tree House
Basket. They voted on this theme and would like to get some kind of “tree
house” and fill it with books (including the Magic Tree House collection) to
donate. If there are any moms or dads out there who might like to organize
this effort, I would really appreciate it. We would ask for donations of
books and/or a tree house or basket/container shaped like a tree house from
the families in our class. It can be as simple or extravagant as we choose
to make it. Please let me know if you are interested in helping out!!!
This week at school we have adopted two little fire belly toads. We
are working on fish (not too much success yet with keeping them alive!)A
special thank you goes out to Jack and his family for donating the supplies
and fish tank to our room. These pets will help us learn about
responsibility and will make it lots of fun to observe and research in a
scientific way each and every day! We had a wonderful visit from Mr. Brian
Marini who works with NASA on developing the space suits used in the current
space missions. We got to try on a space helmet, see the food, gloves, and
yes even diapers that the astronauts use in space. The children saw a short
film and had an opportunity to ask all kinds of questions. It was a great
way to start the week. A special thanks goes out to Sal’s dad for arranging
the presentation for us!
Our skills and strategies this week are working with synonyms and
making inferences. Our stories are Hedgehog Bakes a Cake and Where Do Frogs
Come From? We are also using the works of Tomie dePoala to assist us with
our writing workshop time as well as an author study. Tomie is a well known
children’s author and his stories and illustrations seem to appeal to all
students! Be sure to ask your child about his books and discuss characters,
settings, problems, goals, and sequence of events!
In math we are working on addition and strategies through lots of math games
and work with the 100 chart. Counting by 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 are part of the
standards we are working on. Olders will create these number pattern to
1,000 and youngers to 100 by the end of the school year. Seeing the patterns
in numbers will build a strong base for future mathematical concepts. We are
also working on estimation skills this week. Our classroom and school
websites offer lots of fun computer games that reinforce these concepts and
skills. You might like to share them at home with your child at home.
I look forward to meeting with each of you for our conference. Please feel
free to bring any questions or concerns with you. If you feel that we may
need more time to talk, feel free to send an email or note and we can also
schedule a visit after Thanksgiving.
Have a wonderful week and please be sure your child has a warm coat
for recess. They will be going out each day and it has been chilly out
there! (Brrr! It’s a little too early to be this chilly for me!)
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
November 10, 2008
Dear Families,
This week we will be very busy with assessments in our
classroom. The children will be working on reading selections
and answering comprehension and vocabulary questions about
different stories throughout the week. Our main focus will be
on cause and effect as we work on fantasy stories this week in
our Harcourt series.
In math we will continue to work on counting patterns, the
100 chart and addition/subtration strategies. We will have an assessment of
basic facts, graphing,
and problem solving activities.
Have a great week!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
November 3, 2008
Dear Families,
It’s hard to believe that we are now beginning the month of
November! We have been quite busy and many of you have helped to make
October a memorable time for all of the children in our classroom. Pumpkin
Math day was a huge success. Our class carved 10 amazing pumpkins, counted
seeds, measured and weighed them with the help of lots of moms and dads! On
Halloween night we had lots of visitors to see the wonderful carvings and
get a Halloween picture taken! Thanks so much for bringing your children to
s ee me on such a busy night! I love to see them in their costumes… and
everyone looked fabulous!
This week at school we will focus on main idea and decoding skills.
We will be using a non- fiction text entitled, Helping Out as well as many
other fiction stories and poems throughout the week. The children will
continue to work on personal narrative stories in writing workshop.
On Wednesday the children have a wonderful opportunity to meet one
of our parents, Mr. Ruta, who will share his knowledge of animals with us.
It will be a great experience for us to write a class story that we will put
our strategies and skills to good work!
He children will continue strategies and games in math along with
graphing and problem solving techniques. I will also be assessing children
on basic counting and calendar skills this week.
REMINDER: ELECTION DAY
NO SCHOOL ON TUESDAY, NOV. 4th
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom News
Multiage Magic Tree House Room 221
October 27, 2008
Dear Families,
Can you believe the end of October is right around
the corner? This school year is flying by! This week we
have many exciting things happening! Monday is Pumpkin
Math Carving Day and on Wednesday we have a special visitor,
Mr. Joe coming in to take part in science experiments.
Parent helpers can have Wednesday morning off since we
won’t be reading at that time. On Friday we will be celebrating
Harvest Day at Penn London. Remember, no official costumes are permitted for
children, but they
can wear jeans and dress up as farmers for our celebrations.
Last week we had a wonderful experience at Ashland Nature Center. We
learned about pond and
stream critters that help us determine if the water is healthy. The children
had nets and caught little
fish and stoneflies. We explored the meadow and forest and discovered
habitats for the animals that
live in these areas. Touching a snake, turtle, and toad was a huge highlight
of the trip. A special
thanks to the moms who came along and braved the elements with us! Our class
was also busy
adopting baby pumpkins and creating a booklet about them. The children have
named them and
have been writing little stories about them. We put our measuring skills to
the test as everyone made
a little ghost for Fun Friday out of salt and flour clay. We wrote a
language experience story about
them and read poetry about ghosts too! In math we put our skill of the
doubles strategies and
number strings to the test with haunted house problem solving drawings.
This week we will be reading and writing about corn. In honor of
Harvest Day, we will be
concentrating on fall and farm stories as well as a few Halloween stories
for fun! We will have a
Halloween Party on Friday afternoon…a special thanks goes out to Dawn Lytle,
Erin Varriale and Julie
DiVittorio for planning our special event.
Have a fabulous week! If you need to reach me please feel free to
contact me my e-mail, a note,
or phone call. Be sure to look for our conference schedule in your child’s
purple folder coming home
today!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
October 20, 2008
Dear Families,
What another beautiful weekend! The chill is definitely in the
air! I hope you were able to enjoy the season of fall this
weekend.
We have an exciting week here at school with our class
trip on Tuesday, and a special baby pumpkin adoption event on
Wednesday. We will also be reading stories, songs and poems about pumpkins!
In language arts we will be working with narrative elements with a
focus on characters. We will
identify characters as well as characters’ feelings. As we read we will
continue to work on making
and confirming predictions as we read.
In math this week we will continue with addition and subtraction
strategies, including zero, plus
1, minus 1, and doubles. We will also concentrate on counting in different
ways. We will play some
new games including Close to Twenty and Five in a Row! Once the children are
confident in the rules
and how to play, I will send home materials so that you can play at home too!
In social studies/ science we will continue to investigate soil
rocks, pebbles, and sand. The
children have a hands -on study of streams, meadows, and wetlands as we
explore at the Ashland
Nature Center. We are also working with maps and identification of the 7
continents.
Reminder… Our class trip to Ashland Nature Center is approaching
quickly! On Tuesday
(tomorrow…October 21st) we will be going to Ashland Nature Center. Please be
sure to dress your
child for the weather. We will be outdoors all daylong. Comfortable sneakers
or boots are a must!
Each child needs to bring a bag lunch and drink to take along.
Have a fabulous week! If you need to reach me please feel free to
contact me my e-mail, a
note, or phone call.
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
PUMPKIN DAY MATH INFORMATION
SHEET
Here is some information about our Pumpkin Math Day. If you are interested
in helping out please
send in the attached volunteer sheet. We are all looking forward to our
special learning event. Please
plan to be in the cafeteria at PLE at 9:00 on Monday morning, October 27th.
Please plan to bring the following items with you.
• a pumpkin
• a large plastic bowl
• carving tools (if you have some. I will also bring some in)
• a large spoon (heavy plastic or wooden) to scrape out the pumpkins
• a kitchen knife wrapped in a towel or with a safety cover
• anything else that you can think of that might be helpful: patterns,
pumpkin decorations, etc.
I will bring extras of as many bowls, carving tools and patterns that I
already have. I will also bring
tea light candles so that we can light up our masterpieces when we are
finished carving.
You will be working with a small group of children to carve one pumpkin per
group. You will be the
“main carver” of the group, but can assist children individually to help
out. You will be helping
children learn and discover the circumference and weight of their pumpkin as
well as work with
estimates and actual counting of the seeds they find inside their pumpkin.
Get ready for a great day of learning fun!
Thanks so much,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom News
Multiage Magic Tree House Room 221
October 13, 2008
Dear Families,
What another beautiful weekend! I am so
happy to be back in the classroom and am
beginning to feel much better! I am sorry
to report that one of our classmates, Brandon,
has moved to Delaware and will no longer be a
part of our classroom family. He will certainly be missed!
In our classroom we are planning lots of exciting events for
October. Today we had an
opportunity to meet firefighters from the West Grove Fire Department and to
get a look at the fire
trucks too! October is fire safety month, so remember to check your
batteries in your smoke
detectors and plan a family meeting spot so that you are always prepared in
case of an emergency!
On Tuesday our class will be visiting the nature trail behind PLE.
Please have your child dress
appropriately for this event. We will be investigating soils from different
locations near and away
from water sources. Boots or old shoes would be perfect. Feel free to send a
good pair of shoes to
change into after our hike. We will be going in the morning, so a jacket or
warm sweatshirt may be a
good idea. Be sure to check your child from head to toe for ticks on Tuesday
night!
For homework this week your child will have spelling words to
practice. Please try different ways
each week to see what fits your child’s learning style. Read each night.
More and more studies show
that the more you read with your child, the better reader they will become!
So… cozy up and have
fun with books!!! Please remember blue homework folder is for homework only.
Please do not place
absent notes, pick up notes, lunch money or other important papers inside
this folder. Any papers
directly related to PLE should be placed inside your child’s purple folder.
The purple folder will house
all day -to -day work and communication from home and school.
This week we will focus on sequencing and predicting strategies in
reading. We will continue to
practice building words with the Making Words program and you will have an
opportunity to try it at
home this week too! This is a great way to help your child understand
patterns within words and to
support the use of beginning/ending sounds and vowels. This week you will
also get your child’s
spelling test back from last week. Since I out for several days, the
children did not have an
opportunity to check to see how they did and what words they may like
additional practice with at
home. If there was a golden slip and list of words attached, this indicates
that your child might
benefit from a little extra practice on some words or patterns. They will
have an opportunity to try
the words they missed any day this week when they first arrive at school I
will make an
announcement for anyone who might like to try words again. Please do not
feel an overload of
spelling words. Your child will continue to work with these patterns
throughout the year. Please
understand that the most important part of our spelling program is not for a
100% on the test but
the ability to use a new pattern, spell the words correctly when they are
using them in sentences and
in some cases begin to read and locate these words in books. We all learn
and develop at different
times and rates, so please be supportive!
In math this week we will continue with addition and subtraction
strategies, including zero, plus
1, minus 1, and doubles. These will be applied to lessons with number
strings. Number strings are
longer number sentences which allow children to use strategies and apply
them to solving or
“breaking down” more challenging problems.
In social studies/ science we will begin to investigate soil and
conduct experiments. We will
collect and analyze soil samples from the nature trail and conduct
experiments. We will also learn
about fire safety and develop a plan in the event of an emergency at home
and at school.
As you can see, we are quite busy in our classroom. I have
organized our parent helper
schedule and am looking forward to having lots of volunteers this year! I am
sending home a
schedule for parents who volunteered on a regular basis. Anyone who may like
to come in for a visit
on a monthly basis to read to students or share a special talent should
contact me a few days before
and we will set up your special date and time to come into the classroom. If
you have not received a
note from me today and would like to come in on a regular basis, please let
me know and we’ll add
you to the list. I am sorry for any oversights that I may have made! Please
understand that you MUST
have clearances in order to come into school as a volunteer. The
information to apply for clearances
is available on the Avon Grove web site.
SPECIAL EVENT! Mark your calendars! Anyone with clearances who may
like to join us for our
annual Pumpkin Carving Day is welcome on MONDAY, October 27th @ 9:00-10:00.
More information
to follow!
Reminder !!! Our class trip to Ashland Nature Center is approaching
fast! Please be sure to send
your permission slips and checks in soon. If you have a concern about the
cost of the trip, please let
me know and I will help to cover the cost! It’s a great trip and I don’t
want anyone to miss it!! Parent
chaperones will be chosen on Tuesday to give more parents a chance to send
in slips if they are
interested in helping out.
Have a fabulous week! If you need to reach me please feel free to
contact me my e-mail, a note,
or phone call.
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
lbroomall@avongrove.org
Homework
Place assignments inside your blue homework folder and bring to school on
Friday, October 17th!
Read each night!!!!
Complete any papers inside your folder.
Practice spelling words
Our Classroom News
Multiage Magic Tree House Room 221
September 29, 2008
Dear Families,
I sure hope everyone was able to dodge
The raindrops this weekend! Let’s hope that we
will see the sunshine this week!
We have a busy and exciting week planned
in our classroom with wonderful stories,
activities, and mini lessons to help every student become a more successful
writer and reader. We
will focus on the “ck” digraph along with “ick” and “ink” phonograms as we
blend words by both
reading and writing them. We will work with the “ed” suffix and take part in
making words activities
throughout the week to reinforce these phonics skills. Our focus skills and
strategies will include
placing story events in the proper sequence, making predictions, identifying
and describing the
setting, and using self correction strategies if a word doesn’t make sense.
Our main story this week
is Henry and Mudge Under the Yellow Moon. We will continue reading leveled
stories to match each
child’s individual needs as well as listen to chapter books and read aloud
picture books to teach this
weeks skills, strategies, and concepts. Everyone has been really enjoying
our daily adventures with
Jack and Annie from the Magic Tree House collection. We will continue
reading the 2nd book of the
series that takes place during times with knights and castles.
In writing workshop we are planning out our stories with maps and
organizers to keep us on
track and on the same topic throughout the entire story. Everyone is really
enjoying our Author Share
time when we listen to our own classroom authors read stories they have
written.
In math this week we will be working with the 100’s chart and
counting. We will apply patterning
to counting by 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10. We will complete a baseline for problem
solving strategies as well
as work with addition and subtraction strategies in concrete ways along with
writing number
sentences.
HOMEWORK DUE ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3rd
This week for homework your child should complete any papers inside
his or her blue folder.
One part of homework is a tally chart and bar graph. We have been working on
taking surveys and
collecting data in class. This assignment is to see if your child can apply
what he or she has learned
at school. If your child has difficulty, please just put a note on the
assignment and we will work on it
at school.
Please send in any book orders this week!
SPELLING
If there was a golden slip and list of words attached, this indicates that
your child might benefit from
a little extra practice on some words or patterns. They will have an
opportunity to try the words they
missed when they return to school on Monday. Please understand that the most
important part of
our spelling program is not for a 100% on the test but the ability to use a
new pattern, spell the
words correctly when they are using them in sentences and in some cases
begin to read and locate
these words in books. We all learn and develop at different times and rates,
so please be supportive!
Parent volunteers will be coming home soon. We are looking forward to having
you in the classroom.
Please be sure to apply for clearances if you would like to participate in
our classroom activities. If
you are a volunteer who would like to help out on a once a month basis,
please let me know when
you’d like to come in and we will set up your visit!
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
lbroomall@avongrove.org
Our Classroom News
Multiage Magic Tree House Room 221
September 22, 2008
Dear Families,
What a beautiful weekend and beginning
of the fall season! I hope you were able
to enjoy the outdoors this weekend with
your family and friends!
In our classroom wonderful things are
happening! I am so amazed at how well our olders and youngers are working
and learning together.
The rules and routines are becoming established and the children are eager
to take part in all
learning activities throughout the day.
Each week I will update you on what we are learning and any special
happenings that are going
on in our classroom. You will have a blue homework folder with my newsletter
and any assignments
for your child to complete throughout the week. The blue homework folder is
for homework only.
Please do not place absent notes, pick up notes, lunch money or other
important papers inside this
folder. (I usually don’t get to check them over until I am at home on the
weekend.) All day- to- day
business or information directly related to PLE should be placed inside your
child’s purple folder. The
purple folder will house all day -to -day work and communication from home
and school.
This week we have been working on ways to practice our spelling
words. We have been clapping
them, finding them in books or on our word wall, writing them in our
classroom workbook and will
be learning new techniques this week. I am enclosing a paper with many
different ways for your child
to practice words at home. Please feel free to try any of the options at
home to see what works well
for your child. Keep in mind that these techniques are important ways for
your child to discover what
way of studying works best for them. This will be a huge help as they
continue on their journey of
learning through all grades!
Your child brought home his or her 1st spelling test on Friday. If there was
a golden slip and list of
words attached, this indicates that your child might benefit from a little
extra practice on some
words or patterns. They will have an opportunity to try the words they
missed when they return to
school on Monday. Please understand that the most important part of our
spelling program is not for
a 100% on the test but the ability to use a new pattern, spell the words
correctly when they are using
them in sentences and in some cases begin to read and locate these words in
books. We all learn and
develop at different times and rates, so please be supportive!
This week your child will be taking part in our MAPS testing
program. All olders and yougers
will take a reading and writing test on a computer. The information we
collect about each student
will serve as a base line so that we can create an individual program to
suit your child’s needs in
reading and writing. Although these tests are helpful for us in creating
instructional tools, they are
still only a “snapshot” of your child at this particular moment. Please help
your child by providing a
healthy breakfast each day and a good night’s sleep so that they have energy
and a positive attitude
to his or her best work.
Because of testing we will not be sending written homework this
week. I would encourage you to
read each evening and find the “perfect spot” for doing homework. Some
children like to work at the
kitchen or dining room table, while others like to work on the floor or at a
desk. A consistent spot
can make completing homework much easier on a regular basis. You might even
like to put a
homework box together for next week. I suggest having some sharpened
pencils, crayons, scissors
and tape or a glue stick. When you have a spot and supplies ready to go
there are less distractions
and that allows the job to get done in an efficient manner!
When we’re not testing we will be working with some wonderful
literature. Fiction and non-
fiction materials will be used this week. Our focus skill will be locating
details. Details can help
readers “picture “in their minds what is going on in the story and leads to
deeper comprehension.
Our focus strategy will be using decoding and phonics skills to sound out
words and to blend sounds
together to create words.
In math this week we will continue to take a global look at what
math really is. We will continue
to explore collecting data by taking surveys and how to represent that data
by creating graphs. We
will begin using and naming different strategies for solving basic
computation problems.
In social studies/ science we will work with citizenship and
continue discussion about
Constitution Day and laws/ rules of our school, community, and country. We
will also discuss the
changing season and create a list that includes “details” about the fall
season.
As you can see, we are quite busy in our classroom. I look forward
to organizing our helpers
and will begin to work on our schedule next week. If you haven’t turned in
the volunteer sheet, it’s
not too late! I love having parents take part in our learning adventure and
hope you’re looking
forward to it too!
Have a fabulous week! If you need to reach me please feel free to
contact me my e-mail, a note,
or phone call.
Respectfully,
Linda Broomall
Our Classroom Newsletter
September 15, 2008
Dear Families,
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed what might be
our last little taste of summer!
I am so happy to be back in the classroom with your children and
want you to know what an amazing group of children we have in our classroom
family! Thank you for sending in such respectful and loving little ones each
day! We have already earned a special event in our room and the children are
so excited to share the good news with you. We will be having a pajama party
on Wednesday, September 17th and everyone can come to school dressed in
their favorite pj’s. Everyone will still need to wear shoes or sneakers. (No
Slippers, Please!) We are planning a fire drill at some point this week, and
I need everyone to have shoes on, just in case we have on Wednesday!
I am looking forward to sharing our classroom routines and schedules
as well as our curriculum plans for the school year. If you have any
questions you would like me to address before we meet, feel free to send an
e-mail, or note. If you prefer to talk on the phone, please call my home
number. The school system is not always a reliable way to reach me. If you
do not hear back from me on the same day, I did not get your message. Please
try again. I do have two teenagers at home and messages don’t always find
their way to me on the same day! Our Back to School Night will begin at 6:30
in the PLE cafeteria. We will head up to the classroom after introductions
and greetings from our principal. I will have information about
volunteering, classroom events and parties, snack time, homework procedures,
and other information I hope you will find helpful.
I hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable evening and I hope to see
you tomorrow night!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
September 8, 2008
Come in to the
Multiage Magic Tree House ...
Where EVERYDAY becomes a learning adventure!
Welcome to our Magic Tree House classroom, located in the enchanted
forest of the blue family,
room 221! This year will be filled with lots of exciting learning
adventures for everyone! As our year
begins, we will be working on routines and rules of our school and classroom
in a fun way with
songs, games, and projects. We will get to know one another by taking part
in a variety of activities
that foster a safe environment for taking risks in our learning this year as
well as help build our
classroom community.
I am looking forward to working together with each of you this year
to develop good work
habits, foster a love for learning and a sense of pride and accomplishment
for each one of our
students.
I believe that parent-teacher communication is an important key to a
successful school year.
Each week I will send you a newsletter inside your child’s homework folder.
This letter will give
updates on what we are learning in the classroom, dates and times of
upcoming events, and other
important information you may need to know for the week. I will also post
this newsletter on our
web site along with homework assignments, a calendar of events, and other
helpful information.
On our Back to School Night I will be reviewing our curriculum,
answering any questions you
may have, including collecting information about parent involvement and
classroom volunteers.
Please mark your calendars and plan to attend on Tuesday, September 16th!
Please meet in the
cafeteria to meet with our principals and staff at 6:30.
Your child may bring a small healthy snack to school each day. We do
have a list of healthy
snack options that we suggest in order to maintain a healthy environment for
all of our students.
Our classroom is a peanut and milk free room this year. Thank you for your
support in keeping our
classroom a safe place for everyone.
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
Feel free to reach me by note, e-mail, or phone if you have questions or
concerns before back to
school night.
lbroomall@avongrove.org 610-869-9803
e-mail
school
Welcome to the Enchanted Forest of the
Magic Tree House Classroom
This year will be a magical learning adventure! We will read lots of
fantastic stories, explore the
world around us, conduct experiments, work with numbers, and write stories
of our very own!
As we take our magical leap into learning, you might like to have some
of your very own supplies.
I recommend having a plastic pencil box to organize crayons, pencils, glue
sticks, markers, and
scissors.
Our class will be provided with a community sharing station this year,
however, your child might like
to have his or her own personal supplies.
Get ready for a wonderful school year as we work, learn, and have lots of
fun together making new
friends.
If you have questions or concerns before Sneak a Peek or our Back to
School Night, feel free to
send an e-mail or call. I’ll be glad to help if you or your little one is
worried about our first day.
I look forward to working together in making this school year a
positive learning experience for
you and your child!
Warmly,
Linda Broomall
E-mail lbroomall@avongrove.org
Suggested Items:
twistable crayons
Ticondaroga brand pencils (these sharpen the BEST!)
a glue stick
1 pack of thin markers
You may wish to have a supply of items at home for homework too!
