Richard Chronicle - Grosse Pointe Public School System

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Mary MacDonald-Barrett, Principal
November 2014
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to our RICHARD FAMILIES!
Dates to Remember:
Dear Père Gabriel Richard families and friends,
11-6 & 7—Richard
Reads Calendar
Turn in.
As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with families and friends during our first
vacation of the 2014 – 2015 school year, our Richard family is thankful for so many
things. We are grateful that our students continue to focus on positive values and respectful social behavior throughout each day.
11-11 –PTO TCBY
Evening– 6:30-10 PM
11-12– Evening Conferences
11-13—NO SCHOOL–
AM/PM Conferences
11-16 - GPPS Open
House 1-3 PM
11-19 - PTO Meeting
7PM
11-21 - 5th grade
“Fun Night”-Richard
Gym
11-25– NO PM
SCHOOL– Records
Day
11-26 to 11-28 Thanksgiving Break
12-9 - Report Cards
sent home via backpack
12-22 to 1-2-15– Winter Break
1-15-15—
Kindergarten Information Night—7:00
PM
The staff at Richard is grateful for the support and generosity of the Richard parents
throughout the year. We see these values reflected in the children that we see each
day in our classrooms. We look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving in our personal
lives, but we also look forward to continuing our rewarding year with our remarkable
students.
Everyday Mathematics, our math program, incorporates a variety of games to help children
practice math facts and commit them to memory. We also continue to use more traditional
methods such as flashcards and timed tests. Practicing the facts at home will help students
master this important skill. Yes, flashcards, computer drill and practice games and timed
tests are still useful, but remember that many games help children increase math skills by
requiring them to plan ahead, reason deductively, think logically, make predictions and increase number sense. There are many commercially manufactured games that can increase
mathematical reasoning and skills. Here is a list of some math/logic games I recommend for
family fun and learning. These are available at toy stores, educational stores, or on-line
stores:
Mancala, Othello, checkers, chess, Sorry, Monopoly, Connect Four, Mastermind,
Rush Hour, SET (http://www.setgame.com/ ), Knock-Out, Fudge, Muggins;
(http://www.mugginsmath.com/) , Gamewright Company games: Rat-a-Tat-Cat, Play
Ball, Alien Hotshots, and more (http://www.gamewright.com/gwintro.html) , Dream
Green games: 1-2-3-OY (my favorite!) and Tic Tac Chec
(http://www.toydirectory.com/DreamGreen/ )
For those families with computers or tablets, there are many free or inexpensive programs and apps. This site can be used for recommendations for these and many other
media for kids: (http://www.commonsensemedia.org/mobile-app-lists/math-apps-andlearning-tools-for-kids)
Of course, any game that requires counting, keeping score, making money transactions, etc. are also valuable opportunities to combine fun and mathematics. Enjoy
your family time together playing games and helping children learn.
Thank you for all you do,
Mary MacDonald-Barrett
For the Month of October:
Golden Note Award Winners:
Golden Shoe Award Winners:
K-1–Mrs. Rabaut
K-2 - Mrs. Murphy
2-3 - Mrs. Briggs
3-5 - Mr. Swansey
4-5 - Mr. Havern
Golden Paintbrush Award Winners:
Golden Book Award Winners:
K-1 - Mrs. Rabaut
K-2 - Mrs. Murphy
2-3 - Mrs. Rourke
3-5 - Mrs. Aldrich & Mr. Stemmler—TIE
4-5 - Mr. Havern
Service Members of the Month:
Spot Awards:
Sophie C.
Mallory B.
Meredith T.
Grace R.
Daniel N.
Buck R.
Winter Advisory
Students need to be dressed appropriately for the colder days
ahead. Please have them dressed in a heavy coat, hat, scarf,
gloves or mittens, snow pants and boots. We see children in
fleece jackets and hooded sweatshirts. These are not warm enough. Our students go outside everyday. We will stay indoors ONLY when the wind chill is
below zero degrees. All students must go outside unless they have a note because of illness.
GUIDELINES to Follow if Your Student is ill
The flu season is upon us. Many students have been out sick or are going
home with flu-like symptoms. If your student is out because of the flu, a
fever, strep throat, cold or cough, runny nose, etc., always follow the 24 hour rule. Students
should be free of any illness for 24 hours before returning to school.
This will help to stop the spread of viruses to other students and our staff. Call in all absences to our 24 hour absence line 432-4901. Also, call our school office (432-4900), if your child
is sick with a contagious disease, ex. strep throat, conjunctivitis (pink eye), impetigo, etc..
We then send notices home to parents so that they can watch for these particular symptoms.
Questions we heard in the office:
Q. What time does the first bell ring?
A. Mondays (Late Start) - First Bell is 9:05 AM. School begins at 9:10 AM (Tardy Bell).
Tuesday– Friday—First Bell is at 8:20 AM. School begins at 8:25 AM. (Tardy Bell).
Q. What is the best way to talk with my child’s teacher?
A. Most of the staff prefer an e-mail. It is the easiest form of communication. However, if
you call their voicemail or drop off a handwritten note, they will get back to you!
Q. What happens if my child falls in a puddle and gets soaked or spills chocolate milk on
himself or herself? Does the school office have extra clothing in the office?
A. No, our office does not have much extra clothing when an accident happens. We suggest
that you bring in an extra pair of sweatpants, a shirt, and extra socks and underwear to
keep in your student’s locker.
Q. Where do I pick up my son?
A. This depends on what grade your son is in. The Kindergarten and Grade 1 students exit
the main door on McKinley Ave.. If you pick up your students, please remind them to come
to the car as quickly as possible and leave. This helps the traffic moving. Grades 2,3,4, and
5 students exit the playground door.
Richard School Policy
It is important to Richard School that we provide a safe environment for our children; however, we would like to retain a warm, inviting atmosphere for our parents. We want to encourage parents to volunteer in our school, while at the same
time, keeping track of all our visitors to our building. To meet both objectives, we
have formulated a visitor policy. Please help us by following these guidelines:
 All doors are locked, please use the buzzer system at the back door to enter
building.
 All visitors to the school must check in at the school office. This includes parent volunteers, and other
service personnel.
 If you need to deliver items to your child, such as lunches, homework, musical instruments, etc.,
please deliver to the office. We want to keep classroom interruptions to a minimum. All messages
will be delivered at 11:40 or 3:20 on Monday and 11:20 or 3:20 Tuesday through Friday.
 When your child has an early dismissal, please come directly to the office. Teachers have been in-
structed not release students directly from the classroom, but wait for a call from the office.
On November 16th, from 1-3 p.m., the Grosse Pointe Public School System is hosting
an Open House for the entire Grosse Pointe school community. The purpose is for all of
our residents to experience what the Grosse Pointe public schools have to offer. Our
school system offers a world class education. Whether it is our strong curriculum, special activities, or support services, we have it all. From parents, supporting staff, administrators, and teachers, all the way to our surrounding businesses, there is always
someone putting in the extra effort to make students’ days full of learning and fun. We
know many Grosse Pointe families see this daily, but we also realize some choose to go a different
route in education, and some have children that graduated from the system years ago.
Please consider being a GPPSS ambassador by reaching out to a neighbor who doesn't currently have a
child attending our public schools. Bring them to the open house so they can see today’s schools,
schools we are proud to call our own.
On November 16th, parents, students, and staff will be available to help the public learn about the wonderful services and programs available in our district. All GPPSS schools will be open from 1-3 p.m.
In addition to new families, current Grosse Pointe students and their parents are encouraged to visit
schools they will soon transition into. We'd love to see preschoolers and their parents and guardians at
the elementary schools, fifth grade families at the middle schools, and eighth grade families at the high
schools. The Board of Realtors will also be hosting Open Houses at dozens of homes that day. Together
with the Chamber of Commerce, we’ll show why we “live, learn and play” in Grosse Pointe.
Thank you for all you do for our school community.
RICHARD PTO
November 2014
Can you believe it is already November? The PTO has had two very busy months and
we are slowing down in the coming months. The 5th Grade Boosters are hosting a
“Fun Night” for all 5th Graders in the school gym on November 21st from 6:30-8:30.
The boosters strive to make this last year at Richard memorable for our outgoing students. Noontime Enrichment is also starting this month, Colors and Clay will start
Monday, Nov. 10th during lunch. Team Reach will be collecting coats and boots the
week of November 17th. A box will be outside the office for your donations. Finally,
remember to keep reading with your children and practicing math facts with them.
Happy Thanksgiving!
November Happenings
Candy Collection
11/3-7
Richard Reads
Calendar turn-in
At lunch
11/6 and 11/7
Noontime Enrichment 11/10
Colors and Clay
11/17
Lunchtime
11/24
TCBY Evening
3-10pm
11/11
Evening Conferences
11/12
Conferences No School 11/13
Flowers of the Month
Coming home
(Fundraiser)
11/14
District Open House
11/16
PTO Meeting 7pm
11/19
5th Grade Fun Night
5:30-8:30pm
11/21
Team Reach
Coat/Boot Collection
11/17-21
1/2 Day of School
11/25
No School
11/26-28
Kristen Stovall
Richard PTO President
Many Thanks!
~ To Christina Deveroux and Mindy Ulrich our Family Functions team for organizing the most successful Pumpkin Fest!
The carnival games were a huge hit among the kids as were all
the pre-carved pumpkins. Haunted Garage had the perfect
night for all those who came out for a frightening scare.
~ To all the staff/family members who donated a “fun-kin” to be
raffled off, they were all so beautiful!
~ To Tricia Bower for organizing the Richard family Directory.
~To Suzette Baasch and Laura Wholihan for hosting another fun
filled Book Fair. This is such a fun event for the kids and it all
went on without a hitch!
~To all the 5th Grade Boosters who had very successful bake
sales through out the month of October.
~To Tara Burdick for all the decorations around Richard from
the beginning of school to the wonderful pumpkins at the entrances of the school.
~To Tracy Harper for collecting candy for the troops.
Kroger Card
As the holidays approach, don’t forget to register your Kroger
card and earn money for Richard with each purchase. We have
already collected over $2,000 in rewards this school year.
Please visit www.krogercommunityrewards.com and choose the
NPO number 82527 to designate Richard as your school of
choice. Thanks for your support! Any questions, please contact
Lanna Young at younglanna@sbcglobal.net
Richard Families have created a Facebook page called “Richard Families”. The PTO along with current families
often posts about upcoming events. Feel free to invite your friends into this group.
**This page is NOT supported by Grosse Pointe Public Schools**
Hello families of Richard!
We have been very busy in the Richard art room this past month! Many of our projects involved a
pumpkin! The kindergarten has just finished a great mixed media project, creating a cornstalk collage
from torn paper and painted paper. Next is a winter clay project. First grade learned about warm and
cool colors and created beautiful paintings of warm fall leaves with cool backgrounds. They also have
started their clay project. Clay turkey bowls will be sent home soon! The second grade just started a
unit on shading, starting with shaded cupcakes inspired by Wayne Thiebaud and shaded apples inspired
by Paul Cezanne. Third grade is learning about Claude Monet and have created a mixed media series of
autumn trees, using tape, paint, and oil pastel. Fourth grade has been working very hard on contour
line self-portraits. The fifth grade did an amazing job creating a two-point perspective pumpkin patch
using glue and watercolor paint and are now moving on to clay coil mugs!
I will be available for conferences. If there are any questions or concerns, please email me
at Jane.Bartley@gpschools.org to make a conference appointment. Thank you!
Jane Bartley
Richard Art Teacher
New projects in the art room….
Differentiation Instructional
Philosophy
Cluster Grouping in Math,
Language Arts or Both
Differentiated instruction is the philosophy of the Grosse
Pointe School District. This means children have the right
to learn material at a rate, format, and depth that maximizes
their learning. Differentiation is just one of many teaching
practices used in our district. It can be subtle or very
visible – that often depends on the needs of the individual
learners and the goals for the group.
All students
experience some degree of differentiation in their
classroom.
It is not an accelerated program or a
remediation of material – it is a constantly changing blend
of the two based on the professionalism of the educator and
the individual needs of the student.
Cluster grouping is a formalized process for
guaranteeing differentiation for our most capable
learners. The Grosse Pointe Schools offer formal
cluster grouping for grades 2-5 in Math and Language
Arts. Cluster grouping will look different in each
teacher’s classroom. Typically a clustered student is
ready to move at a more rapid pace once they have the
base knowledge of the concept(s) being taught.
Teachers may use different instructional strategies to
meet the needs of these students within their
homeroom. Clustering could be a small group of
learners who already have mastered a concept
accepting a more challenging problem to solve
collectively, with a learning partner, or alone. Cluster
grouping is not increasing the quantity of the work
produced or changing the grade level of the
curriculum being explored. It impacts the complexity
of their grade level assignments and their curriculum.
Cluster groupings yield deeper, richer experiences
that challenge all students at their individual learning
level.
The Grosse Pointe Public School District believes that
providing differentiated learning opportunities to all
students is a critical component of our educational system.
It is a teaching strategy and one tool that all of our teaching
professionals use daily with students to guarantee their
personal and academic growth. It is challenging and
informal; it is flexible and makes learning fun.
How will I know when Differentiated Instruction is
happening in my child’s classroom?
Differentiation provides all students formal and informal
opportunities to stretch and learn. This philosophy stresses
teachers focus on individuals - we guide their individual
learning and celebrate their individual success.
By
focusing on student strengths, we bring forth their best.
Differentiated learning opportunities may be clear when
the child discusses how they worked in a small group on a
different learning task while other students in the
classroom worked on their different learning task.
Differentiation learning opportunities may be less obvious
through a teacher’s questioning technique, or by having
different expectations for a student’s writing progress.
Differentiation could also occur in math instruction through
learning opportunities to explore a topic further or the
need for additional support and practice. Our teachers
make thoughtful and meaningful decisions for all of their
students using differentiated instruction throughout their
teaching day.
If you have further questions regarding differentiated
instruction, please consult your child’s teacher.
Is Cluster Grouping always formal?
No, Cluster Grouping can occur as the product of
formal and informal identification. A student may be
nominated by parents, teachers and/or the Child Study
Committee and that process will be influenced by a
combination of observation, work product and formal
/informal assessment. Cluster groups may be based
on ability, interest, learning styles, etc. Our teaching
professionals are adept at identifying the individual
needs of our learners and will cluster them
appropriately so that each and every child shows
growth.
If you have further questions regarding cluster
grouping, please consult your child’s teacher.
Volume 2, Issue 7
November 2014
Digital Picks
From your School Library
Media Specialist
Please enjoy this month’s educational, informational, and entertaining websites and apps...our
“digital picks” reviewed and suggested by your Elementary School Media Specialists. We hope
you find our reviews helpful and we welcome your comments and suggestions.
WEBSITE: www.mel.org
Click on the “kids” button, then click on “Homework Helpers” which reveals a list of great websites for kids from Scholastic
Bookflix to Michigana, to Sirs (for magazine and newspaper articles), and World Book Encyclopedia. This is a great resource
that the whole family can use. For: Elementary, Middle School, High School.
APP: Duolingo
Platform: ios
Free
For: Upper Elementary through High School students. This app offers a different, more interactive and engaging way to
learn another language. It starts with the basics and tests hearing, memory and speaking skills.
APP: Barefoot World Atlas
Platform: ipad and iphone
$4.99
For: Ages 9-11. Puts the world at your children’s fingertips! With this incredible app, anyone can fly around the magical interactive 3D globe and discover the rich wonders of our planet.
Media Specialists
Jeanne Dolson
Poupard
Amy Hermon
Maire, Mason, Monteith, Trombly
Sherry Martin
Ferry, Mason, Poupard
Anne Maurer
Kerby, Mason, Richard
Cheryl Quinlan
Defer, Monteith
Rachel Walpole
Richard, Trombly
GREEN TEAM NEWS
Thank you too everyone who participated in the International Walk and Bike to
School Day. We had over half of the school walk or ride their bikes that day. This
greatly helps relieve the traffic congestion at pick up and drop off as well as
reducing pollution from car exhaust. It’s just good healthy way to start your day
too!!
Keep walking and riding all year. You never know when the Green Team will be
out passing out raffle tickets. A big thank you to TCBY for their donations to last
month’s drawing and also to Jerry’s Party Store for their donation to the
upcoming drawing. Ummm Slushies!!
Recycling Update: Please bring in your empty juice pouches, used glue sticks and
ink cartridges. To date we have received over $2400 from TerraCycle by recycling
these items. We use this money to help fund all of our green initiatives in the
school. This is how we paid for the Richard Recycles bags every family received
last year and also paid for our large rolling curbside recycling bins. We put out
nine bins for recycling every week.
Thank you to all of our Green Team members for all of their efforts in making
Richard a greener school and for helping to improve our planet.
Go Green and Blue!!
Halloween Fun!
More Halloween Fun!
Even More Halloween Fun