Miss Stryker's students are learning about force and motion in science. This week they learned about the force of magnetism through hands-on investigations. At different stations, they saw how forces like pushes and pulls can act without touching objects. They observed how a magnet can make a compass needle move, experimented with ring magnets on a pole to create a pushing force that keeps them separated, explored magnetic field patterns using an iron sand board, and tested how a magnet’s pull can change when different materials are placed in between. These activities are helping students build a clear understanding of how forces affect motion in the world around them.
Fifth grade ELA classes are busy pulling together all their reading and writing skills to get ready for SBAC testing. We’ve been talking strategy & vocabulary, as well as building our reading stamina. Today, students participated in stations that included a synonym game. In this activity, students discussed with partners how different words that they may see in aspect questions are connected, and which ones may mean the exact same, or similar, thing. For example, many students put words like theme, lesson, central message, and main idea in the same category. They enjoyed doing an activity with no wrong answers, and sharing their thinking with teammates.
-Megan Proto
Grade 5 ELA Teacher
-Megan Proto
Grade 5 ELA Teacher
A message from our Literacy Instructional Coach, Ms. Piotrowski:
During Module 5, "Art Everywhere" in the fourth grade ELA curriculum, students read a variety of texts that presented them with information about the arts. Throughout the module, students focused on answering, "What impact can artists have on the world?"
In music, students learned the history of the Beatles and listened to many of their songs.
During art, students learned about the artists Peter Max and Heinz Edelman, who worked with the Beatles on a variety of artworks including the animation of The Yellow Submarine movie. Students then made their own mixed media watercolor paintings of underwater creatures and the yellow submarine.
During Module 5, "Art Everywhere" in the fourth grade ELA curriculum, students read a variety of texts that presented them with information about the arts. Throughout the module, students focused on answering, "What impact can artists have on the world?"
In music, students learned the history of the Beatles and listened to many of their songs.
During art, students learned about the artists Peter Max and Heinz Edelman, who worked with the Beatles on a variety of artworks including the animation of The Yellow Submarine movie. Students then made their own mixed media watercolor paintings of underwater creatures and the yellow submarine.
Students in Math Intervention are working very hard on Math fact fluency with Mrs. Pestana. Did you know that by the end of 3rd grade, students should have mastered not only addition and subtraction fact fluency, but also have all their multiplication facts memorized. These are very important for 4th and 5th grade skills.
A message from Dr. MacDonald, our School Psychologist:
Hello everybody,
My name is Ms. Lozada, and I am a special education teacher at Wells Road. I wanted to share a quick update about one of my reading groups.
We are currently learning how the silent e can appear in different parts of a multisyllabic word. Students have been practicing dividing words into syllables and identifying where the silent e is located. This helps them better understand vowel patterns and improves their decoding skills when reading longer words.
I am proud of the effort they are putting into this work!
My name is Ms. Lozada, and I am a special education teacher at Wells Road. I wanted to share a quick update about one of my reading groups.
We are currently learning how the silent e can appear in different parts of a multisyllabic word. Students have been practicing dividing words into syllables and identifying where the silent e is located. This helps them better understand vowel patterns and improves their decoding skills when reading longer words.
I am proud of the effort they are putting into this work!
In Mrs. Levasseur's 4th Grade classroom, students are creating trading cards and social media profiles for their "Extraordinary People". In Module 5, students were tasked with researching "People who are Extraordinary". They wrote expository essays and showed their creativity by thinking about what a social media profile might look like for that person or a trading card. Throughout this writing unit, students worked hard to discover what made their person extraordinary and how their person impacted society in a positive way. The students loved adding a visual element to their essays.
Mrs. Lecco’s students welcomed a new student by writing persuasive essays explaining why they would make a good friend. Students included three reasons and elaborated on those reasons using examples. We have so many great qualities to share!
Our Math/Science Instructional Coach, Mrs. LaPointe, says:
"Students in Mrs. Levasseur’s fourth grade class work in partnerships to solve multiplicative comparison problems."
"Students in Mrs. Levasseur’s fourth grade class work in partnerships to solve multiplicative comparison problems."
Students in Mrs. Kuhlman’s and Mrs. Lagano’s classes are engaged in interpretive book clubs, where they analyze character development and explore multiple themes across two texts. This work is building a strong foundation for writing their first literary essay.
Mrs. Janssen and Ms. Brothers' fifth-grade classes are actively participating in their Book Club unit. During this unit, students choose a fictional story, analyze characters, and explore the literary themes that drive the plot. They also engage in discussions about the author’s craft moves, such as word choice and structure, and analyze character development with their partners, supporting strong comprehension and collaborative discussion skills.
Students in Mrs. Jackson's groups started the year coming up with group expectations/rules they felt important to adhere to during their time together. They also bonded over coming up with a group name & images. Here is one that we have worked on.
These AMAZING fourth graders in Ms. Higgins’s class, collaborated to create murals which represent key elements of an autobiographical fiction text titled, “My Diary From Here to There”, by Amanda Irma Pérez.
The students created titles for their murals such as:
Look To The Future,
Amanda’s New Home,
A Walk in the Park,
Immigration Emotion,
and The Butterfly Messenger.
Then, by taking a gallery walk to explore each other’s murals, they made connections between these visual representations of the text, the mural titles, and the original text itself. The students noted their connections by annotating with statements such as, “I notice the way that the heart you painted in your mural called “Immigration Emotion”, changes colors to show how the character’s feelings change from the beginning to the end of the story.” Other examples of these notations include, “I think this mural represents the event on page 210, because the character is writing in her diary about her big move to another country.”
They learned that this literary genre blends elements of autobiography and fiction. The author of this particular text blended real events in her own life with fictional details in order to create a compelling story to captivate the reader.
This author has certainly captivated these fourth graders readers!
The students created titles for their murals such as:
Look To The Future,
Amanda’s New Home,
A Walk in the Park,
Immigration Emotion,
and The Butterfly Messenger.
Then, by taking a gallery walk to explore each other’s murals, they made connections between these visual representations of the text, the mural titles, and the original text itself. The students noted their connections by annotating with statements such as, “I notice the way that the heart you painted in your mural called “Immigration Emotion”, changes colors to show how the character’s feelings change from the beginning to the end of the story.” Other examples of these notations include, “I think this mural represents the event on page 210, because the character is writing in her diary about her big move to another country.”
They learned that this literary genre blends elements of autobiography and fiction. The author of this particular text blended real events in her own life with fictional details in order to create a compelling story to captivate the reader.
This author has certainly captivated these fourth graders readers!
This group of students practices taking a moment for gratitude each day. As they prepare for Thanksgiving break today, the students spent a little extra moment outside to notice and write about the beauty around Wells Road School. These students made nearly one hundred different “observations of gratitude”, based on the sights, sounds and other observations that they are grateful for today at Wells Road School.
Happy Thanksgiving to you from a very thankful bunch!
-Ms. Higgins
Happy Thanksgiving to you from a very thankful bunch!
-Ms. Higgins
Students in Miss Garfield's fourth grade class are practicing their math skills by playing multiplication, division, and fraction card games!
Students in Mrs. DiNuzzo's class explored how solid rock breaks apart into smaller pieces through a process called weathering. In the activity, Sugar Shake, students used sugar cubes as a model for rocks. They performed an experiment with this model to understand the process of weathering and how this process explains why rocks at the tops of mountains are jagged, while those at the bottom are rounded.
Hello Families!
In the Grade 3 Resource Room, students are developing reading fluency using Dr. Jan Hasbrouck’s AAA: Accuracy, Automaticity, and Access to meaning. They are using the highly effective and efficient Direct Instruction reading programs to say the letter sounds in sequence without stopping between sounds, then “say it fast.” The pictures below show some of the programs being used. It is exciting to watch the light go on when students learn new letters, letter patterns, and words!
This past week was Bus Safety Week.
On Thursday we met with students to talk about bus safety and conducted a bus safety drill.
The three biggest rules for the bus:
1. No standing while the bus is moving.
2. No shouting or yelling.
3. No eating or drinking on the bus.
The main goal for the bus is to get everyone to and from school safely!
-Ms. Busbey
On Thursday we met with students to talk about bus safety and conducted a bus safety drill.
The three biggest rules for the bus:
1. No standing while the bus is moving.
2. No shouting or yelling.
3. No eating or drinking on the bus.
The main goal for the bus is to get everyone to and from school safely!
-Ms. Busbey
The fifth-grade social studies classes have been studying Colonial America and the various trades that helped early communities thrive. On Friday, they had the opportunity to see history come to life during a field trip to Old Sturbridge Village. Students explored the daily life of a New England colony, visiting blacksmiths, cobblers, and other tradespeople hard at work. They were fascinated by the demonstrations, asked thoughtful questions, and enjoyed comparing colonial life to the world they know today. It was a memorable day filled with hands-on learning, curiosity, and a deeper appreciation for our country’s early history.
Hello Families and Staff!
In Miss Beyer’s Fourth Grade class, we’ve been working hard in Social Studies! Students are independently engaging with an interactive Linktivity website through Google Classroom, using their Chromebooks to explore and learn in a fun and meaningful way.
Check out these photos of our students making great progress—we're so proud of their focus and enthusiasm!
Thank you for your continued support in helping our learners grow!
In Miss Beyer’s Fourth Grade class, we’ve been working hard in Social Studies! Students are independently engaging with an interactive Linktivity website through Google Classroom, using their Chromebooks to explore and learn in a fun and meaningful way.
Check out these photos of our students making great progress—we're so proud of their focus and enthusiasm!
Thank you for your continued support in helping our learners grow!
