Dear Pumpkin Delight Families,

I was so happy to see the great

turn out we had for Open House

as well as PTA Move Night! I know

as a parent it was always so excit-

ing to visit my children’s class-

rooms and imagine a “day in the

life” of my son or daughter. Dur-

ing my parent address I spent

some time sharing the ways our

school staff is committed to de-

veloping a growth mindset in our

students. If you have a growth

mindset, you believe that

with work, practice, and perse-

verance, you can improve –

whether it’s your academic per-

formance, or any other skill.

The way parents talk about ability

and learning can have a powerful

influence on their children. Here

are three ways parents can instill

a growth mindset. And remember,

developing a growth mindset is a

process that takes time. Have a

growth mindset about developing

a growth mindset!

Recognize your own mindset: Be

mindful of your own thinking and

of the messages you send with

your words and actions.

Praise the process: Praising kids

for being smart suggests that

innate talent is the reason for

success, while focusing on the

process helps them see how

their effort leads to success.

Model learning from failure:

When parents talk positively

about making mistakes, kids

start to think of mistakes as a

natural part of the learning pro-

cess. Enjoy the fall season!

Sincerely,

A Message from the Principal

October 2016

Home of the Pumpkin Delight

Panthers

The Pumpkin Patch

Milford Public Schools

Upcoming Dates:

October 3: No

School Rosh

Hashanah

October 4: PTA

meeting at 6:30

October 5-7:

Early dismissal for

Parent/Teacher

Conferences @

1:15

October 12: Yom

Kippur

October 21:

Cultural Arts

Assembly

October 26: Early

dismissal @1:35

October 28: All

School Gathering;

Spirit Day PJ Day

October 31:

Halloween Parade

Conference dismissal

times (1:15) are differ-

ent from regular early

dismissal times (1:35)

Dear PDS Families,

Welcome Autumn! I am pleased

to announce the formation of our 2016-

2017 Student Leadership Team! Stu-

dents were selected based on qualities

such as organization, decision making

skills, leadership styles, etc. Please join

me in congratulating the following stu-

dents:

Ashley Borecki-Grade 5

Antonio Salati-Grade 5

Caden Simpson-Grade 5

Aubrey Buglione-Grade 4

Avery Granger-Grade 4

Keira McKeand-Grade 4

Ms. Wrigley and I look forward to work-

ing with these stu-

dent leaders in order to make our

school, community, and world a better

place!

October is national Bullying

Prevention Month. Our staff has

many educational lessons and activi-

ties planned to help promote kindness

in our school. Please ask your child

about their learning!

It was wonderful to see so

many families at Open House. Com-

munication is key – please contact me

should you have any concerns, ques-

tions, or comments. Enjoy the fall sea-

son!

Miss Ramey Teacher Leader/School Assistant

Reminders From Mrs. Green

“There are

many little ways

to enlarge your

world. Love of

books is the

best of all.”

-Jacqueline

Kennedy

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The Pumpkin Patch

10/28 - Spirit Day - PJ Day

10/3 - No School (Rosh Hashanah).

10/4 - PTA Meeting in Media Center 6:30-7:30

10/5, 10/6, 10/7 - Parent Teacher Conferences.

10/12 - No School (Yom Kippur)

10/11 - PTA Pie fundraiser Due

10/26 Early Dismissal @ 1:35pm

Hello Pumpkin Delight families!

I have an important reminder for the month of October:

Flu Shots

This year, flu shots are being strongly encouraged for both children and adults. Speak with your doctor and/or watch for any Immunization Clinic announcements. It’s important that our students are attending school and not missing a week or more because of the flu!

The next Adult and Child Immunization Clinic is scheduled for October 11th from 2:30pm-4:30pm at the Milford Health Department. No appointment is necessary and flu shots are pro-vided.

If your child is in the Ready to Learn Program, a flu shot is required in order comply with state policy and remain in school. I will be sending home a letter to those students who still need their shot, so please be on the look-out!

It is beneficial to the entire school community that at home you are reminding your child to al-ways cover a cough or a sneeze with an elbow and to frequently wash his/her hands with warm water & soap. Little reinforcements like this can truly help to prevent the spread of illness.

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

Mary Fowler, RN, BSN

Hello Pumpkin Families,

Kara Sinski

Notes from the Nurse

The Artist’s Corner

Page 3

Home of the Pumpkin Delight Panthers

Don’t forget

to clip Box

Tops for our

school!

For the month of October we will be finishing up our unit on Line and moving into Shape as an art element. Lines create all kinds of geometric and organic shapes on a two dimensional plane. We will be finding shapes in different works of art and design. We will be incorporating art from different cultures throughout history as well as some mathematics into our lessons. Be sure to talk with your children about Shape. We will be collecting cardboard, paper egg cartons, newspapers and paper towel rolls for 2-D sculpture so in-stead of throwing those items away be sure to send them in with your children.

Words from the Reading Room “Spotlight Students”

Recognizing the Power of Perseverance

As part of our work in helping our students to develop a growth mindset we have added a “Spotlight Student” segment to our All School Gatherings. Each month teachers will select students who have shown perseverance in their daily work. A flashlight will be passed from teacher to teach-er and as the light shines upon the selected student, the teacher will praise the child for rising to a challenge or learning from a mistake. Students at today’s gathering were praised for rising to the challenge of figuring out tricky words and learning from mistakes made during a math lesson. In ad-dition, students in our fifth grade classes shared strategies they are using to increase their reading stamina. The message to our students is to focus on what they can do already, and set goals to accomplish what they aren’t able to do yet. Here’s tip #2 for how you can foster a growth mindset at home.

Julie Aliberti Literacy Coach Adapted from: https://www.oxfordlearning.com/growth-mindset-tips-for-parents/

Tip #2 - Pay attention and verbally praise kids for skills that don’t sound prede-termined: hard work, persistence, rising to a challenge, learning from a mistake, etc., rather than being “smart”, “brilliant” or “gifted”. Recently my son and his friend shared a song they had written together for a school project. They told me that they had to revise it ten times to get it right. I made sure to tell them I was just as proud of their persistence as I would have been if the song had been perfect the first time.

Happy Fall, Happy October!

We have had a great start to the new school

year. I am pleased to say that we have had

some “Star Spangled Soloists” during the

month of September. Congratulations to all

who performed our National Anthem as a solo

during Music class. There will be many oppor-

tunities for students who have not done it…

yet!!!

We are all working on Music Literacy decoding

Rhythm patterns and Melody from the staff.

Your children are doing an amazing job.

RECORDER ORDERS (Grades 3,4 and 5)

should be in. I will continue to accept

them until October 7. It is helpful for stu-

dents to have their own instruments to

play. I thank you for your support!

Have a great month!

Jean Kovacs

A Musical Memo

Prideful Panthers

Pg. 5

Coach Gruber’s Gym Shorts

Students in grade 4 will be participating in the Ct. Fitness Test this upcoming month. We

will be practicing for the tests in our scheduled physical education classes and I strongly

encourage the students to practice at home as well with the skills they learned in physical

education class thus far. The Ct. Fitness Test has 4 different components, each measuring

their respective muscle(s). They will perform the P.A.C.E.R. (cardiovascular fitness), sit and

reach (flexibility), push-ups (upper body strength) and curl-ups (abdominal strength).

There are both health and challenge levels that each student will be striving to accom-

plish. The goals that each student is trying to achieve will differ depending on age and

gender. The results from the tests go to the Connecticut Department of Education to be

compared with recent years and other students throughout the year.

Benefits of physical activity; Helps build healthy muscles, bones and joints.

Other grades will be learning soccer skills such as passing, dribbling and

shooting and are using these skills in cooperative games geared around soccer.

Media Central

The Pumpkin Patch

Here is an overview of what might be in store!

Kindergarten students will focus on an author study with Kevin Henkes. We

will read some of his books and talk about how illustrations play an integral

part to the whole story.

Grade One will spend time talking about the parts of a book, as well as

reading some ever popular Anansi stories!

Grade Two will spend some computer time looking at and learning about

some real cool sites and databases….PEBBLEGO and ABCYA.

Grades Three, Four and Five will utilize the library catalog for books and

websites (Webpath express) on DESTINY, as well as

being introduced to some interesting databases as

BRAIN POP.

Best Regards!

Ms. Wrigley

Numbers in the News One of the greatest things about working in classrooms at all levels is the chance to see how skills and strategies develop from Kindergarten to 5th grade. It’s amazing to see how your children develop their math skills and build upon their knowledge to work with num-bers in incredible ways. For example, at several grade levels, there is an activity students engage in called “Today’s Number”. In second grade, Today’s Number involves generating different equa-tions using familiar numbers and combinations. They begin to notice patterns in those combinations and grow more sophisticated in their use of strategies and in the equations they develop. The activity continues in third grade as students are encouraged to be flexible in their use of arithmetic skills and need to follow a few “rules” when writing their equations. By fourth grade, students write several different expressions but need to follow “rules” that limit the numbers or operations that can be used. Today’s number in 2nd Grade :25 Students might begin with 10 + 10 + 5 and then adjust the numbers to form a new expression, 9 + 11 + 5. Today’s number in 3rd grade: 79 They must use one 3-digit number and subtraction only in each expression they create.

For example: 179 − 100 = 79, and 125 − 25 − 21 = 79. Today’s number in 4th grade: Broken Calculator: 2,400 Students write five expressions that equal 2,400. They must use either subtraction or addition in their ex-pressions. The 2 and 4 keys are broken.

For example: 3,000 − 600 = 2,400 or 1,563 + 837 = 2,400

Mrs. Onofreo, Math Coach

Counseling Connection October is National Bully Prevention month. PDS will celebrate by teaching chil-

dren about what bullying is and, ways to stop it and what to do when they see it.

The following are some tips for parents to help their child.

Let them know they are not alone.

Make sure that your child understands that there is nothing wrong with him

or her.

Work out a strategy together for dealing with bullying.

Help your child understand reasons why people bully.

Encourage them to avoid toxic friendships.

Encourage your child to talk to their teacher or another adult at school.

Talk to the school yourself if needed.

Check out anti-bullying sites such as Stopbullying.com for more

help and ideas. Donna Pinsince

Prideful Panthers

Panther Pals

Page 7

The Pumpkin Patch

Please use this section of our monthly newsletter to talk with your

children about how to handle difficult social situations.

If You Experience Mean Behavior:

Stick with friends. There is safety in numbers. Your friends can help

stick up for you too!

Be assertive and confident. Stand up for yourself. Use body language to

show you are not afraid. Stand up straight and make eye contact.

Ignore the mean behavior. Walk away. Don’t respond. Get out of the sit-

uation.

Don’t seek revenge. Remember that using violence to solve problems only

makes things worse.

Get help. If you are being bullied, don’t keep it a secret. Ask friends or

adults for help. Report all bullying incidents.

Did you enjoy the

first All School

Gathering? What

did the 5th graders

present?

Have you seen Patrick

the Panther around

school?

What are you working

on in the computer lab?

Did you

and your

classmates

enjoy Hat

Day?

Tell me about the

October Cultural

Arts program

(African American

storyteller).

Have you earned a Prideful

Panther ticket? Why? How

many lunch room awards have

you earned?

Page 8

The Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Delight

September 2016

All School Gathering