December 4, 2009

Greetings All,

It is hard to believe that it is already December! We had some more wild New England weather this week resulting in a partial power outage on Thursday morning, but the teachers and students didn't miss a beat and we went on with business as usual on our early release day Thursday. Unfortunately we had to cancel our AM and PM Project Early sessions because of the lack of power, which is always a last resort.

Look out for information on a new after school enrichment program we will be offering starting this January. Registration forms will be coming home with students next week. The classes will be taught by teachers on a variety of fun and enriching topics. We hope to success with this new program that was initiated by our Site Council.

Did anyone see the beautiful tree mural with book characters that Mrs. Sedell painted in the hallway recently? Mrs. Sedell has really brightened up our school with her murals, thank you Mrs. Sedell! The are some pictures of the new storybook tree in this week's photo gallery.

Just a reminder that the early release time is always 11:30 for students in full day kindergarten through grade 3. The preThanksgiving early release day is the only super-early 11:00 dismissal time of the year.

We are still hoping that the last few gift tags hanging on the front bulletin board will be taken by people who would like to donate a holiday gift to a child in Norton. There are about 30 tags still available, and gifts should be returned in gift bags by Monday, December 15th. Thank you to the many people who have already taken tags and donated gifts.

Mrs. Wroblewski announced her Spanish Award winners for the month this morning over the intercom. They were Daniel C. in Mrs. Bjork's class and Sarah K. in Miss Carlson's class. Congratulations Spanish Award winners!

Our grade 3 writers of the week are as follows:
Miss Carlson's Class TBA
Mrs. Gallagher's Class Alexa S., Kayla S. and Colten H.
Mrs. Quinn's Class Jeffrey G., and Alana L.
Mrs. Weber's Class Rebecca C., and Taylor S.

The Bucketfillers of the Week are as follows:
Jack I. from Mrs. Sedell's class for making his friend feel better
Joe F. from Mrs. Gallagher's class for helping his friend find his paper
Molly G. from Mrs. Gallagher's class for helping a substitute
Andrew T. from Mrs. Sedell's class for pushing all the chairs in after snack
Jacob M.om Mrs. Walsh and Mrs. Andrade's class for keeping the classroom environment positive

Miss Lassey and Mrs. Giatrelis would like parents to know that the Second Step program parent video will be available for parents to sign out and view at home. The video includes topics to be covered at school as well as strategies to assist children at home. Miss Lassey has posted the Second Step parent brochure on her school counselor Edline page.

Many parents ask me about they can access MCAS information for parents on the complicated Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Website. The DESE website has an entire MCAS section including Test Questions and Student Work/Scoring Guides Samples. I am always happy to meet with parents to talk about MCAS, Study Island, or resources on-line to assist parents working with their children at home.

We enjoyed having our preschool families in for the Project Early Family Feast before Thanksgiving. The students enjoyed making breads and homemade butter to share with their families. There are some pictures of the Family Feast in the photo gallery for this week.

We had another successful Holiday Shoppe this week at school where all of the LGN students are able to shop for holiday gifts for their families. The PTA runs this event and it takes all year for the organizers to shop for the many gifts that are available for the students to choose from at the Holiday Shoppe. We are also looking forward to Breakfast with Santa this Saturday, another PTA event and next week Mrs. Young our reading specialist, has organized a Book Bingo for the students. It should be a lot of fun.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Klingaman

November 20, 2009

Hello Everyone!

We had another great week at L.G. Nourse!

Our first (hopefully) annual MCAS Parent Night was on Tuesday evening and it was a huge success! The third grade teachers and students did a wonderful job preparing for this important night for parents. The intent of the night was for parents to understand exactly what is being asked of the third graders on the ELA and Math MCAS tests. This knowledge will be helpful to parents when they are working with their children on MCAS homework throughout the year. We were so pleased with the attendance, most classes had only 1 or 2 students missing. I would like to thank all of our third grade families for attending. By working together, I know we can make great gains in our MCAS scores this year. Reaching our goals needs to be a consistent group effort!

Thank you to the families who registered their Stop and Shop cards for the A+ Bonus Bucks program. There are some special bonus bucks items this week. Check them out when you are doing your Thanksgiving holiday shopping.

Bucketfillers of the Week are as follows:
Emma from Miss Grant's class for helping a friend write a sentence!
Sophia from Mrs. O'Hear's class for helping a friend clean up!
Michael from Mrs. O'Hear's class for helping out a friend!
Jasmine from Miss Carlson's class for helping a friend up who banged her head!
Julia from Mrs. Weber's class for helping her friend clean up a mess!
Nicole from Mrs. Sedell's class for always helping her teacher without needing to be asked!

The Third Grade Writer's of the Week were as follows:
Miss Carlson's Class- Timothy T., Timothy T., Kyle M., and Thomas
Mrs. Weber's Class- Kylie M., and Kaitlyn H.
Mrs. Quinn's Class- Nicholas C., and Morgan G.

Check out their writing on the bulletin board near the cafeteria entrance!

I checked in with the second grade teachers about the new happenings in their classrooms:
They have all been working on solving word problems in math and deciding what information is necessary and what information is extra. The 2nd graders all read the Bremantown Musicians play in their reading anthology, and Mrs. Roberts our reading coach has been working with the students on answering open-response answers in writing. Mrs. Bjork shared that her class will be doing a "cranberry taste test" next week.

Mrs. Milton our new math specialist did a great "hands-on" math activity with some of the second graders...BUY YOUR TURKEY PARTS...to practice coin values, addition of coins to $2.00 and making change! The kids and teachers loved it!

Miss Lassey shared some information with me this week after attending a sleep conference recently.

Good Sleep Habits for Children...(according to Dr. Judith Owens and Hasbro Children's Hospital)
-Children should go to bed and get up at approximately the same time each day
-3-5 year-olds need 11-12 hours of sleep per night and 6-12 year-olds need about 10-11 hours of sleep per night
-Set up a regular bedtime routine and stick to it
-Make the last 30-45 minutes before bed a "wind-down time"
-Make bedrooms a "media free zone"
-Avoid using the bed or sleep as a punishment
-If kids are having trouble going to bed by the specified time, gradually move towards that time in 15 minute intervals

Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Danielle Klingaman

November 13, 2009

Greetings from LGN!

Today I have a very special person working with my as a co-principal of the day. Jonathan G. from Miss Carlson's class sold the most Entertainment books in the school for our fall fundraiser and won the prize of being "principal for the day." So far we have had a busy but fun morning doing classroom walk-throughs, preparing materials for MCAS parent night, meeting with teachers, and scheduling an extra recess for the third graders. I interviewed Jonathan today and here are his interview responses:

Favorite Food: Chicken Kiev (this surprised me)
Favorite Snack: Pringles (He can eat the whole can, but his mother doesn't let him.)
Favorite Color: Greenish-bluish
Favorite Sport: Soccer. He plays every fall.
Favorite Animal: Dog. He has two dogs named Sox and Bruin. He also has 2 cats named Dolly and Twister.
Favorite Thing at School: Being principal of the day (I didn't even tell him to say that)
Favorite Thing to Do: Play games, like board games, video games, outdoor games
Brother and Sisters?: 1 brother and 2 sisters
What he wants to be when he grows up: He wants to open a dog kennel where he can watch people's dogs while they are away.
Favorite Movie: Harry Potter
Favorite TV Show: Star Wars the Clone Wars
Favorite Holiday: Christmas and Halloween, actually he likes them all.

Mrs. Weber's class and Mrs. Quinn's class held their special Veteran's Day program on Monday. The area veterans that came in to be interviewed last month were honored by these two classes in a special ceremony. The veterans were very touched and truly appreciated the program by the third graders. The Sun Chronicle came and took some wonderful pictures. Sun Chronicle pictures

Grade 3 Writer's of the Week:
Mrs. Quinn's Class- Jeffrey G., Dawson M.
Mrs. Gallagher's Class- Troy S., Alec W.
Mrs. Weber's Class- Sarah K., Julia M.
Miss Carlson's Class- Katie G., Hayley H., and Brian D.
Great job with the writing, keep up the hard work!

I recently visited the Blue Bunny Bookstore in Dedham Center. This bookshop is owned by the Reynolds family and Peter Reynolds is an award-winning children's author and illustrator. One of his books "The Dot" is featured in our grade 1 anthology. He is an advocate for keeping creativity alive when educating the children of today and he has a website called Fablevision.com where some of his media and interactive technology for students is featured.
While I was at the Blue Bunny, I met a woman who has started a nonprofit organization that promotes volunteerism in preschool and elementary aged children. Catching Joy. Here's what Joy has to say about this non-profit organization.
"Catching Joy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that promotes volunteerism in pre-school and elementary aged children. Our mission is to teach children that “catching joy” means giving to others. We guide children to use their skills and talents and empower them to make a positive change in the world. Catching Joy’s premise is that by supporting young children doing charitable works, we are raising more caring, compassionate, confident and joyful children who grow up to be productive, responsible and happy adults. This counteracts materialism, self-pity, low self-esteem and depression. My hope is that Catching Joy starts in the home and spreads in a ripple effect."

Other happenings at LGN:
Miss Monica's class enjoyed making "Stone Soup" today.
Miss Holly's class has been learning about turkeys, pilgrims, food, and families
Mrs. Walsh's class has been learning about the three things to do when you get stuck on a word (think about what makes sense, look at the picture, think about the sounds).
Mrs. Branco's class has been thinking about what they are thankful for.

Remember that we have our grade 3 MCAS Parent Night on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 from 6:30-8:00 PM. This event is for 3rd graders and their parent(s) and we have babysitting available from the Champions program for siblings. We hope to see you there!



Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Danielle Klingaman

November 6, 2009

Hello LGN Community!

We are finishing up another fun and productive week here at LGN!

Our students in preschool through third grade were thrilled to attend special grade level assemblies with Master Chris Rappold who taught them about the Bullyguard program. Each assembly began with a review of what it means to show respect for others. Master Rappold taught the students the 5 steps to remember if they are being bullied or if they see someone being a bully:
1. Don't talk, walk.
2. Look left and right to see all in sight.
3. No matter what they say, keep walking away.
4. Know that you're right by avoiding a fight.
5. A true Bullyguard knows when to leave making an example for all to see.

We would like to thank our PTA for funding the Bullyguard program again this year. We are looking forward to Master Rappold coming back to see us throughout the year.

We had quite a list of Bucketfillers of the Week! There were many students recognized by their peers and teachers for showing kind and thoughtful behavior.
Andrew K. from Mrs. Andrade and Mrs. Walsh's class sits with friends at lunch if he sees them sitting alone.
Christopher C., Griffin M., & Bruno F. from Mrs. Weber's class- Christopher gave a sincere compliment to a classmate, Griffin gave a classmate a prize when he had won fair and square, and Bruno gave his classmate his snack.
Nicholas H. from Miss Grant's class wrote his teacher a very kind letter.
Helen K. from Mrs. LaConte's class shared her pencil sharpener.
Kevin M. from Miss Carlson's class shared his pencil with a classmate.
Ryan D. from Mrs. Branco's class offered to untwist all of the ties on his friend's lollipops at the class Halloween party.

Great job Bucketfillers!


In third grade, the classes continued their hard work in all areas, especially writing. Our third grade writers of the week were as follows:
Kaleigh H. and Sarah K. and From Miss Carlson's third grade class
Rebecca C. and Matthew A. From Mrs. Weber's third grade class
Olivia S., and Breanna S. From Mrs. Gallagher's third grade class
Brendan M. and Kyle G. From Mrs. Quinn's thid grade class

This morning, Mrs. Wroblewski announced her Spanish Raffle winners for October! Finn M. in grade 2 and Julia S. in grade 3 were the big winners, and I have heard that Mrs. Wroblewski has some really awesome prizes in that prize box of hers!

Mrs. Gallagher's class was the big winner for bringing the most Box Tops to school in October. They earned an extra recess for bringing in the most Box Tops and Campbell Soup labels. Remember, when you see your relatives over Thanksgiving, ask them to save Box Tops and Campbell's Soup labels for LGN!

Don't forget that there is no school next Wednesday 11/11 in observance of Veteran's Day. We are looking forward to the special Veteran's Day assembly on Monday with Mrs. Weber's and Mrs. Quinn's third grade classes.
Have a great weekend and week ahead!

Mrs. Danielle Klingaman

October 30, 2009

Hello LGN Community!

Today was a busy and fun day at LGN! We enjoyed our annual grade 1 Horribles parade. The first graders looked wonderful in their costumes. The third grade writer's of the week were thrilled to lead the first graders around the playground. It is always so much fun to watch the first graders proudly march around showing off their Halloween costumes. We were happy to see many parents and other Norton residents at this annual LGN event!

Our writer's of the week for third grade were as follows:
Mrs. Quinn's Class- Trinity W. & Hannah K.
Mrs. Gallagher's Class- Alex L. & Julia S.
Miss Carlson's Class- Kylie R. & Jasmine H.
Mrs. Weber's Class- Emily T., John C., and Griffin M.

Great job third graders!

Our Bucketfillers of the Week were as follows:
Jillian is Miss Grant's class who helped a friend pick up their crayons
Isabella in Mrs. Branco's class helped a classmate when Mrs. Branco was busy

Congratulations Bucketfillers!


This week, Mrs. Charpentier's class completed their special paper mache jack-o-lanterns. Mrs. Charpentier said, "Mrs. Charpentier's First Graders have been using pumpkins to learn about life cycles, sequencing steps in a process, social skills and descriptive writing. Everyone enjoyed making their paper mache pumpkins and the activities that accompanied them!" Take a look at their pumpkins in our blog slide show pictures from this week.

Mrs. Walsh and Miss Carlson's first and third grade classes did a writing activity together where they wrote about their favorite fall treat from their own perspective as well as the perspective of the pigeon in our hallway. They plan to do more interactive writing using the storybook characters that Mrs. Sedell painted throughout the school.

In Mrs. Bjork's class, all of the students needed to work for their Halloween treats this afternoon. They built spiders out of marshmallows and pretzels, popcorn monster hands, and created their own spooky cookies with frosting and sprinkles.

Mrs. Quinn and Mrs. Weber's classes worked on their project boards for their Veteran's Day interviews this past Wednesday. The students enjoyed decorating their boards and showcasing the memorabilia that was shared with the students by the veterans when they came in for an interview. We are looking forward to the Veteran's Day assembly on Monday, November 9th.

Happy birthday to all of our staff who had October birthdays; Mrs. LaCivita, Mrs. Pell, Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Young, Dr. Pummell, Mrs. Walsh, and Mrs. Sedell!

Wishing all of the LGN students and families a fabulous and safe Halloween! Don't forget to turn back your clocks when Daylight Savings Time ends on Saturday night.

Mrs. Danielle Klingaman

October 23, 2009

Hi Everyone!

I am updating our blog a little bit early this week and I will again update on Monday with some of the fun things that we have going on at school tomorrow.

Our grade 3 "Writers of the Week" are as follows:
Miss Carlson's Class- Sean B., Brian D., and Thomas W.
Mrs. Weber's Class- Kimberly H., and Jacob P.
Mrs. Gallagher's Class- Molly G., and Aidan M.
Mrs. Quinn's Class- Brendan L., and Michael C.

Keep up the awesome grade 3 writing! I have been very impressed with the writing samples I have seen so far from grade 3.

GRADE 3 PARENTS- Save the Date for our special MCAS Parent/Child Curriculum Night. We are going to be holding an interactive parent night for the third graders on Thursday, November 18, 2009 from 6:30-8:00 PM. We will have prizes and raffles and are hoping to have 100% attendance.

Miss Lassey, our school adjustment counselor has done a "Bucketfiller" lesson in every K-3 classroom. Next wee we will start selecting our "Bucketfiller's of the Week". We are looking for students who are good friends to others, who demonstrate kind deeds, and generally show "Bucketfilling" behavior. CLick Bucketfiller for more information on this book and program.

Also, most students have completed the first two Second Step lessons. Parents, please look out for the take home letters that accompany the lessons in this anti-bullying, violence prevention program.

Tomorrow, we are looking forward to the "Barn Babies" visiting our AM preschool students. We are grateful that our PTA funded this fun and educational event for the AM Project Early students. The PM Project Early students will enjoy a different special activity later in the school year.

This evening (Thursday), our kindergarten staff is holding a special Kindergarten Curriculum Night for K students and their parents. There will be many activities for the kindergarten students to share with their parents. Look back on Monday for some pictures from this event. The event will begin at 6:00 PM.

Did you hear about the school in Attleboro that won 8 new computers for their school because of the Patriots blowout over the Tennessee Titans last Sunday? If you haven't entered us already, please visit Touchdowns for Technology sponsored by Kaspersky Labs to enter the L.G. Nourse School to win computers when the Patiots score touchdowns this year.

Thanks for reading and check back on Monday, October 26th!

October 16, 2009

Hello Everyone!

We had an eventful week at L.G. Nourse. This week I was visited by Shelley, the granddaughter of Laurence G. Nourse whom our school is named after. Shelley and her husband Dave travelled down to Norton from New Hampshire to bring us the beautiful handmade certificate that L.G. Nourse received at the testimonial banquet of his retirement back in 1958. It is signed by many of the prominent Norton residents and school officials who attended his banquet. They also brought us some newspaper articles, programs, and pictures that were handed down to her from her grandfather. I will be contacting the Norton Historical Society to share these wonderful artifacts. Shelley and Dave enjoyed touring around the school for the first time. It was very nice to meet them and to learn about the former Norton superintendent that our school in named after. One important fact that I learned is that the correct pronunciation of "Nourse" is "nurse".

Mrs. Weber's third grade class and Mrs. Quinn's third grade class welcomed many area veterans to the school on Thursday as part of a special Veteran's Day project. The third graders in these classes interviewed a veteran and will be putting together project boards with the information they learned about their special veteran. The veterans will be invited back in for a special Veteran's Day assembly in November where the student project boards will be on display and the students in the 2 classes will honor the veterans for their service to our country.

We are very thankful to our PTA for purchasing the Study Island program for our second and third grade students to use at school and at home. Study Island is a web-based program offering students practice opportunities in math and English/Language Arts based on the Massachusetts state standards. Study Island is fun and motivating for the students, and they are eager to try to set state records on the games in the program. All second grade and third grade students brought home a parent letter with their username and password this week. Study Island is a great way for parents to work with their children at home. Visit Study Island to login and for more information.

Today I enrolled our school in the Stop & Shop A+ Bonus Bucks program. This program gives money back to your school just for using your Stop and Shop card when purchasing groceries at your local Stop and Shop. Click here to join the program yourself A+ Bonus Bucks
or stop by the main office with your Stop and Shop card and we will be happy to enroll you in the program. All proceeds will be deposited into the LGN Unrestricted Gift Account which is used to make instructional purchases for the students. We hope that you will take advantage of this simple program that will provide important funds to our school. I already enrolled LGN as my A+ school, and my family goes through a lot of groceries!

Finally, last night many Norton school employees past and present, former students, families, relatives, and friends paid tribute to Mrs. Mary E. Rezendes Brown who served the Norton Public Schools for 42 years. Last June, Mrs. Brown retired after serving as the principal of the JCS elementary school for 18 years. Mrs. Brown was a dedicated educator who made Norton Public Schools a better place due to her charisma, hard work, and dedication to the students. The planning committee from JCS did a fantastic job planning this special event.

I will be updating our blog with the third grade writer's of the week on Monday October 19th. Have a great week!