Electronic Report Cards--You will need to log into Apsen!

Report Cards

Our first of three grading terms for students in grades 1-5 ends in the beginning of December.  Kindergarten students are graded on 2 terms and their first term ends in mid January.  All students in grades K-5 will have their report cards distributed home electronically on December 16.  The reports will be available to you through Aspen, our student management system.  Parents and guardians of students in grades 6-12 already receive student progress information through an Aspen parent login.  You will now be able to see your elementary student’s report card through your existing Aspen account.  All children in a family will be viewed under a single login.

If you do not currently have an Aspen parent account, you will receive a letter from the Cutler School Office. The letters went home today in your child's backpack.  Please let me know if you did not receive a log in letter for your family.

Did you know we have a new phone sysytem?

Phone System Update
We transitioned last week to our new phone system. While the main office number remains the same, the nurse's direct line is now 978-626-8545, Safe Arrival remains the same 978-468-8472. We are still troubleshooting the final glitches and having difficulty with the main office's voice mail; please call us any time in the main office at 468-5330 when in doubt and thanks for your patience!

Math Games

Here is a link to some fun math games to try at home

http://www.mathsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/winwin_mathgames.pdf

Official Homework Begins This Week

On Monday, the children will bring home a sheet with the homework listed for the week. Each night, the children are asked to complete a paper and some math or reading work on IXL or Raz Kids. Also, the current trick words are listed for nightly practice. Please let me know if you have any questions. The goal of homework this year is to begin to help your child learn how to schedule homework time and be responsible to return completed homework on time. Please encourage your child to complete his/her work in pencil.

CURRENT TRICK WORDS

against

knew

know

always

often 

once

Mrs. Perkus' Dad

 On Wednesday, Mrs. Perkus' dad visited our classroom and read us his original fable. Mrs. Bailey and Anna Morelli (a third grader) also came. Mrs. Bailey and Anna created the illustrations for the book. Mr. Perkus shared how he thought of the story and answered questions about his work. After, we spent some time playing checkers.

All School Meeting

On Wednesday, we enjoyed the All School Meeting. The fifth graders shared about two community service projects. We are collecting toys for Toys For Tots and collecting coins for Unicef. The kindergarteners were so excited to share their Thanksgiving poem. The 5th grade environmental club reminded us about recycling. Harry did a wonderful job playing the piano. The meeting ended with a reminder to be a bucket filler and fill other people's buckets with acts of kindness.

Our Special Visitor

Last week, the children were delighted to play with Mrs. Anderson's daughter, Aslin. Mrs. Anderson was visiting with her 4th graders. Everyone was so gentle and caring!

Origami

We had a wonderful time in Art practicing our Origami skills. Our thanks to Mrs. Howell and Mrs. D'Arrigio for the extra helping hands.  The children learned how to fold an owl with Mrs. Beane and then practiced folding a whale, fox and dog.

Mystery Readers

  In the months of December and January, we will be focusing on the genre of mystery. As part of our study, the 2nd grade teachers are inviting "mystery readers" to come and read a favorite story to the class. The selected book does not have to be a mystery but the day and time of your reading is to be kept a secret. The children will try to guess who the mystery reader is based on clues in our morning message.  We will be able to have mystery readers visit any time between 10:30 to 11:30 and  1:30 to 2:45. Please let me know a day or days you are available and what 20 minute time slot works within those time ranges. If those times do not work for your schedule, please let me know a day and time that does work for you and I will try to accommodate your schedule.
Remember to keep the swell secret...SHHHHHHH!!!!!

Math-Fractions

In math, we are working with fractions. We will think about halves. thirds and fourths. The children are using a variety of manipulative. This week, we will create our own fraction flags with 2 dimensional shape details.

Olweus-Perception

This week, our discussion focused on perception. We thought about how each person might view a situation differently.  We read the book, That's Good, That's Bad and then reviewed our lesson on
How Big Is Your Problem?

Is your problem the size of a pebble, rock or boulder? The children worked in pairs to think of an example for each problem type. These were shared and discussed.

IXL focus- Fractions

Fractions

1. U.1Equal parts
2. U.2Halves, thirds, and fourths
3. U.3Identify the fraction
4. U.4Which shape illustrates the fraction?
5. U.5Parts of a group
6. U.6Fraction word problems
7. U.7Compare fractions using models
8. U.8Order fractions with like numerators
9. U.9Fraction models equivalent to whole numbers
10. U.10Fractions equivalent to whole numbers

Soup and Smoothie Lunch

My thanks to everyone who sent in supplies and came in to the classroom to be prep chefs and servers. The lunch was fantastic! The children had a wonderful time celebrating our study of nutrition and healthy habits. We enjoyed sitting together and trying our smoothies and soup!