Happy New Year from the Principal’s Office!!

It seems amazing to think that we have bid farewell to yet another year in 2015 and

have now welcomed 2016! The thought of a new year always brings hope for new

promises, new plans and new resolutions!

As we move into the New Year, just a few reminders for families as we welcome the

month of January:

Please be sure that your children are dressed appropriately for the winter

weather. ALL children will go outside every day as long as the “feels like”

temperature is 25 degrees or higher. It is important that they have boots, snow

pants, mittens/gloves, hats, and a warm jacket to be able to play in the snow.

If they do not have snow clothes, they will need to remain on the blacktop to

play. It always helps to keep an extra pair of socks in your child’s bag in case

they are needed. Please let us know if your child may be in need of any of

these items.

Please remember that school officially begins at 9:30 each day. Students who

arrive after 9:30 are considered tardy and need to report to the main office

before going to their classroom. Parents should accompany their children to

main office to check them in. Of course, it is always recommended that

students arrive at school between 9:15am and 9:25am in order to be able to

begin the day with their classmates without feeling rushed or anxious.

Unless of an emergency, no changes in dismissals will be made after 3:00pm

each day. Please notify the school in advance of this time so that children can

be appropriately informed. We cannot guarantee that adjustments requested

after 3:00pm will be transmitted to your child in time for dismissal.

If you have a preschool child who will be 5 years old by September 1, 2016,

please be sure that you have pre-registered him/her for Kindergarten for the

next school year. It is important that all students are pre-registered, even if

they have siblings that already attend one of the elementary schools. Please

see the district website for pre-registration information.

As 2016 arrives, please accept my heartfelt wishes for a Happy and Healthy New

Year!! I am excited about what the New Year will bring for our King Community!!

Best Regards,

Kim Taylor

Principal

From the Principal’s Desk

JANUARY

14 STEAM Exhibition;

6:00pm

15 NO SCHOOL

18 NO SCHOOL

22 PTO Movie Night;

6:30pm

29 Elementary Report

Cards

January 2016

This newsletter is provided solely for the benefit of those parents of children attending the George P. King Elementary School in Framingham, MA. The contents are for

informational purposes only

Lion’s

Pride

A newsletter dedicated to communicating the highlights

of our growing school community.

FEBRUARY

11 Early Release; 1:20pm

13-21 February Vacation

January 2016 2 Lion’s Pride

Kindergarten Corner Stacey Adelman, Ashley Deschenes, Sabrina Gravanti, and Jennifer Levitan

SAVE

THE DATE!!

Friday, January 22nd

King PTO Movie Night

6:30pm

The Kindergartners have been very busy experiencing the Engineering design

process! The children were presented with two separate problems they needed to

solve. The first was “How can we get the Gingerbread Man across the river

without the fox?” The second was “Can you build a house the Big Bad Wolf

cannot blow down?” By asking, imagining, planning, creating, and improving

each team of students was able to engineer a solution to both of these problems!

We know the Kindergartners are very excited to share their learning with you all

on our big Exhibition night!

These activities connected with our math unit on 2 dimensional and 3

dimensional shapes. The Kindergartners used their knowledge of shapes when

they were creating their boats or bridges for the Gingerbread Man and the house

for the 4th

Little Pig. They also explored with Geoblocks (3 dimensional

building blocks) in the classroom to build houses and traps for the Gingerbread

man.

The children are excelling and growing their literacy skills in both Reading and

Writing. In Readers workshop, we've been busy learning all about patterns in

books and how they can help us. We have also introduced reading partners and

the children are learning how to work with a partner to help each other read.

Writers Workshop officially launched and the children have been busy learning

the new routines. They all have their own writing folders to keep pieces they are

finished with as well as pieces they are still working on. They are encouraged to

stretch out and sound out words and write every sound they hear. Additionally,

they've been learning how good writers plan out what they want to write about.

It's been incredible to watch their growth in both Reading and Writing. With

January here, we anticipate seeing even greater growth in the coming weeks as

the children become more confident in their literacy skills.

THANK

YOU!!!

Many thanks to all

the students and

families who were

kind enough to give

cards, notes, and

gifts to me for the

holiday season. The

gift cards, wonderful

notes, pictures, and

treats were much

appreciated and

came in handy over

the vacation week!

Thank you again for

your kindness!!

January 2016

Lion’s Pride 3

So much learning is happening at King! This Curriculum Update, I am going to focus on the learning that

is happening in Fundations and Writing Workshop. In Fundations (our district-wide decoding, reading

and spelling program) students are working on tapping and blending words, reviewing letter formation

(both upper and lowercase) and reading and writing grade level sight words.

Implementation of the Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop model is a focus for all elementary schools in

the district. We have been lucky to have our Teaching and Learning Alliance consultant visit to observe

and present about Writing Workshop. Our focus has been on individual writing conferences with the

students. During these conferences, teachers focus on the writer’s purpose or goal of writing. Students

are also working on making their writing readable (just as we read author’s stories in Reader’s Workshop)

by writing all the sounds they hear in words, adding finger spaces, punctuation and capitalization.

At home, there are many ways that you can inspire your young authors. Encourage your children to write

and draw about what is most important to them. Help them to sound out the words (do not worry about

proper spelling). Model storytelling of your own ideas and brainstorm with them ideas that they can write

about at school.

If you have any curriculum questions, please feel free to email me: abarbary@framingham.k12.ma.us

Mandarin Chinese Serena Chen, Mandarin Teacher

All of the Mandarin classes have been going very well over the past few months. The students are so eager to learn a

new language. We have had a good time learning numbers, families, body parts and colors.

Students at both the Kindergarten and 1st grade level began the school year learning greetings. Everyone knows how

to use “nǐ hǎo你好” to greet me. We learned a greeting song to help remember greetings to end this topic.

Then we moved into our number unit. The kindergarteners learned the numbers from one to ten. They know how to

count in Chinese and read the Chinese characters. They even tried to write the Chinese characters. They also learned

a Chinese number Kongfu exercise. We had a lot of fun doing that.

The 1st graders reviewed and learned the numbers from 1 to 30.

Next, we moved to our family members unit. The Kindergarteners mainly learned the words while 1st graders

reviewed the words and learned some sentences. After that we learned the body parts and colors. We learned the

Chinese words many different ways. We sang songs in Chinese, we used Chinese letters to play games, we did a lot

of coloring and labeling, and we saw some videos and listened to electronic Chinese story books.

We also experienced some Chinese culture, like the Mid-autumn Festival in late September, Face-painting of Peking

Opera and snowman paper-cutting.

Curriculum Update Allison Barbary, Academic Coach

January 2016 4 Lion’s Pride

News from Grade 1 Elise Malkin, Mia Mulvey, Michelle Renna, Christine Tache

Happy 2016 from First Grade!

The conclusion of 2015 brought with it many exciting accomplishments for our first grade students. We have

completed Module 1 in our math curriculum, so our students are successfully finding sums and differences

within 10. We have now moved on to Module 2, in which we are beginning to practice adding and subtracting

within 20.

In Writer’s Workshop, our students have been creating their small moments stories and bringing their

characters to life by adding dialogue, movement, and feeling to their pieces. Readers’ Workshop has also been

moving along quite nicely and so many of our first graders are excited to share their developing reading skills

and new found love of books and being a reader! It is exciting to listen to them and note the great progress that

so many of them of made since the beginning of the school year.

December was also a very exciting month for our S.T.E.A.M projects. Goldilocks, herself, delivered a letter to

our classrooms seeking our help in building a chair that is JUST RIGHT for her! The students have been

eagerly collaborating as they moved through the Engineering & Design process in order to Ask, Imagine, Plan,

Test, and Improve their chairs in their teams. We will proudly be sharing these projects with all of you at our

upcoming S.T.E.A.M Exhibition on Thursday, January 14th! We look forward to seeing you there!!

Artists’ Corner Holly Lafave, Art Teacher

Kindergarteners have been working on making their artwork standout the last 2 months by making Van

Gogh’s sunflowers 3D and popping off the paper. They learned how to cut a square into a circle, transferring

drawing skills to cutting and collage skills, and continued to make secondary colors through exploration of

techniques in color mixing. Artist month allowed our young students to paint within the lines to copy one of

Kandinsky’s most famous circle artwork and conclude with marbling to make the secondary color purple. The

“big deal” however, was the use of clay to make winter owls. The cute batch of textured, bisque fired owls will

be painted in the near future. Until then, we want to show you our festive and playful “catching snowflakes” art

work, coming to our bulletin board soon!

In the recent weeks, King first graders celebrated Artist month by recreating works of artists Keith

Haring and Vincent Van Gogh. Exciting painting, drawing, and disguise work was done to give

the impression that students were the original “Postman.” We spent the end of Fall and beginning of Winter

working with secondary colors for this and other projects, which lead nicely into making color choices on the

collaborative work with the STEAM chairs they created in their classrooms. First graders have symmetry and

drawing to look forward to in art class as they create their own symmetrical shapes turned cartoons!

I want to thank students for the great work on using AAB patterns to make our paper chain, an AB pattern to

make the 3D snowflakes, their artist skills to create various types of snowmen- at night, collaged, group drawn

and built from boxes as well as 2 strong horses, a giant sleigh and the winter wonderland scene for the Winter

Assembly! Their decorations brought the songs to life!

January 2016

Lion’s Pride 5

Library Corner Kate Kennedy, Library/Media Specialist

There has been a flurry of activity in the school library recently, as students prepared for January’s

Community of Mathematicians theme by cutting out symmetrical snowflakes to decorate the room.

Students also created mirror-image drawings and dot art to further explore the concept of symmetry. At

the computer center this month, groups are playing math games focused around counting, adding, and

logic. These games are also available through the King Elementary Library website, available at

kingschoollibrary.weebly.com, or through the “School Library” link on the King homepage. Try playing

the games at home with your child to help support their learning!

Books, of course, remain a major focus during library time. Students now have more choices, thanks to an

order of more than 200 books that arrived shortly before the winter break. The new titles include many

non-fiction books, including a science series, some books about crafts and origami, a few fairy tale

collections, and some biographies. In fiction, we have more picture books by popular authors such as

Drew Daywalt (The Day the Crayons Quit) and David Shannon (No, David!) as well as some chapter

books to challenge enthusiastic readers.

In addition to encouraging a love of reading and supporting the academic curriculum, we will be working

this month and for the rest of the school year on developing the five core values of King Elementary: Be

Caring, Be Cooperative, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe. We began the new year by

discussing the value of caring, looking for examples in books, and brainstorming ways to show caring in

the school library. Students who are “caught caring” during library time have been receiving certificates

and bookmarks as rewards to bring home. We are also working hard to learn how to take care of the

school library. Each week, library helpers assist during book checkout time by scanning library cards and

books. They also straighten shelves and perform other tasks to help keep the library running smoothly.

Speaking of which, it is very important that your child remembers to return his or her book on library day

so he or she can borrow a new book. If a book is lost, it will be assessed a fine so we can replace it.

The new year is off to a great start! A special thank you to parents who donated books through the

Scholastic Book Fair. If you would like to contribute to the library, please consider volunteering to help

out during your child’s library class or at another time. I can be reached at

kkennedy@framingham.k12.ma.us.

January 2016 6 Lion’s Pride

Nurse’s Notes

Mrs. Linda Renault, School Nurse

When to Keep Your Child Home

Parents are often faced with a decision: should they keep their sick child at home or send them

off to school. The following guidelines should be considered when making the decision:

Fever: A child should stay at home with a fever of 100 degrees or higher. They may return

to school after they have been fever free for 24 hours (without taking fever reducing medicine

like Tylenol or Motrin).

Diarrhea/Vomiting: A child should be without vomiting for 24 hours and be able to eat at

least bland food and keep down fluids before they return to school.

Communicable Diseases: A child should receive 24 hours of antibiotics and be fever free

before returning to school with strep throat, conjunctivitis, or other communicable diseases.

Rashes: Common infectious diseases with rashes are most contagious in the early stages. A

child with a suspicious rash should return to school only after a healthcare provider has made a

diagnosis and authorized the child’s return to school.

Colds: Children may have several colds during the school year. If your child does not have a

fever and has enough energy to make it through the day they may attend school. Extra fluids

and rest will help their bodies fight infection. Students may carry a good supply of Kleenex

and a water bottle to help them feel more comfortable during the day.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Your School Nurse,

Linda Renault

508-782-7595

lrenault@framingham.k12.ma.us

January 2016

Lion’s Pride 7

PTO News

The King community came together in a big way in December to help raise funds to benefit our students. We completed four separate fundraisers - our popcorn drive, the 2nd annual King book fair , the Kelly’s Dine-Our Night, and the new King sweatshirts. In total, we raised over $4,130 with over $1,300 going directly to helping expand our library. This is an amazing result and a testament to the strength of the King community. Thanks to all the parents who have contributed via these events. A special thanks must go out to all the volunteers at these events - they simply don't happen without that help! Next King Elementary PTO Meeting - February 3rd, 7pm King PTO meetings continue to have great turnout from the King community. Please join us in the King cafeteria on February 3rd at 7pm to discuss current plans, curriculum and a wide range of topics. Movie Night! - January 22nd We're excited to announce our second Movie Night (postponed from November) following up on the tremendous success from our first one. Bring your sleeping bag and pillows and join us on January 22nd for a movie and popcorn! King Elementary is on Shoparoo! Imagine that you could scan your store receipts and automatically get a percentage of your bill donated to King Elementary. Shoparoo makes it easy for you help King - just download the app to your phone and scan your receipts! To sign up, just head over to www.shoparoo.com. Monthly Spotlight - Meet your PTO It has been exciting for the PTO to watch King Elementary grow and expand - but it also means that many people may not know the members of PTO Board. To help with this, each month, we’ll highlight a different PTO board member. Steve Ross. Co-Vice President Steve is a senior project engineer for Essilor working in Dudley, MA. Steve has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Lowell in Plastics Engineering. Steve's daughter Alexis is in Ms. Mulvey's 1st grade class. Remember you can always reach the King PTO via email - ptokingelementary@gmail.com or on our Facebook page!

January 2016 8 Lion’s Pride

King Fun Photos!!!