The Lothrop News Lothrop Elementary School

JUNE 2011

Pittsford, Vermont 05763

A Letter from the Principal Congratulations to our Lothrop Class of 2011. They have worked hard all year in the preparation for what lies ahead for them at Otter Valley and beyond. I have been proud of their team approach this year and have seen great growth, both academically and socially. We know academic and social experiences have created memories of Lothrop and taught valuable lessons that will guide them through their years at Otter Valley. Thanks to our parent volunteers who spend countless hours in helping make Lothrop Elementary the unique school that it is. Without the dedication of our volunteers, many opportunities such as PTO, Four Winds Science, and extra curricular activities might not be possible. It takes the support of our entire community to educate our children. We are fortunate for the support and time given to our school. It is easy to see that we have a “community” school. The faculty and staff dedicate considerable time and energy to assure that your child has been challenged and enriched by experiences that have made them well-rounded students. We appreciate the extra effort put forth each day to make Lothrop the special place it is year after year. Our staff and students continue to strive to make Lothrop an even better place. We have several staff members who will be leaving at the end of this year: Tracy Bryant, Diane Kenyon, Sara LaRouche, Kyra Raymond, John Bourne, Levi de Castro, Chris Greco, and Vivienne Munch. We wish them the best of luck in their future plans and thank them for their dedication to Lothrop students. The summer is a great time to relax, unwind, and reflect on the past school year. However, please help make sure your child does not “check out” completely from the school mode. Take time and talk about the books your family is reading. Use the town library for access to great books and take advantage of some wonderful programs there. Many of your children have taken part in the mileage club all year. While it is important to exercise the mind, it is also important to exercise the body. Please take the opportunity to use the playground for fun and exercise. I hope everyone has a calm and enjoyable summer. Please stop by the school and say “hello.” I look forward to seeing you all again on August 31st at 7:55. Enjoy your vacation! Gregory West

The Lothrop News

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WE ROSE TO THE CHALLENGE! This year's DCF Challenge was a HUGE success! Students from Barstow, Leicester, Lothrop, Neshobe, Otter Valley and Whiting gathered to watch and compete in the annual "quiz bowl" style competition, answering questions based on the 30 Dorothy Canfield Fisher books from this year. Twenty students were chosen from six schools to compete. Students were randomly assigned to one of the four teams; Red, Yellow, Blue or Green. The morning is traditionally spent getting to know your teammates, which is great practice for when they will be classmates at OV! This year the teams came up with their team names, created poems using only the words from the titles of the DCF books and made YooHoo boats (from the book The Small Adventures of Popeye and Elvis). There was a short break for lunch, Fiery Dragon's Breath Pizza! (from the book Killer Pizza), and then it was off to the stage to get the show started. This year’s pre-challenge entertainment was Dr. Helene Lang. Dr. Lang is a former Children's Literature Professor at UVM, and travels the state performing as Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Beatrix Potter and many other famous female authors. She was so convincing that several students had to “double check” to make sure she wasn’t the real thing! Although we do keep track of points, all of our contestants receive the same prizes at the end of the day. Bragging rights this year however went to the yellow team. Congratulations to all the students who read the books and participated in the challenge. We’ll see you again next year! Participating team members were: From Barstow: Alisha A., Kaeleigh B., Shannon D. and Katja S. From Leicester: Tyson C., Kayleigh D. and Courtney L.. From Lothrop: Brigid E., Angelo M., Margo N. and Hannah R.. From Neshobe: Ali L., Julia L., Adrianna M. and Annie W. From Otter Valley: Keegan L., Colin N. and Jacob S. From Whiting: Kira S. and Dalton W.

THE “KING OF CLEAN”

by Stan O.

This Year’s “King of Clean” winners are Mrs. Pat Quenneville’s third grade. This classroom had a very clean room all year. Second place, and close all year, was Mrs. Corliss’ sixth grade. Great job! Our “Outstanding Recyclers” were Mrs. Alicia Quenneville’s fourth grade. It was hard to keep their bin emptied! Mrs. Quenneville’s third grade enjoyed a pizza party on June 7. Mrs. Quenneville’s fourth grade and Mrs. Corliss’ sixth grade will be having root beer floats. Lothrop as a whole was very clean and the recycling was a great success. Way to go! Thank you for another clean and green school year.

The Lothrop News

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P.T.O. NEWS Thank you!! The PTO extends a big ”thank you“ to everyone who attended our events, participated in our fundraisers, and volunteered to help out. We couldn't do it without you! Commitment to your children and your school is so important. Our fundraisers supported many school events and programs. We purchased snowshoes for the Kindergarten classes, bought the new risers for the gym for when we host concerts, and we recently purchased the volleyball net to be installed over the summer. The PTO funds the Four Winds nature program, the 6th grade partnership, GEO BEE, the Mileage Club and other outside playground equipment. In addition, we raised money to help fund the “Three Cups of Tea” play and the 6th grade French class trip to Stafford Technical Center. At the beginning of the year, we sent out a letter asking for donations. We also hosted the Spaghetti dinner as a fund raiser, and we sold candy bars. Other events and fundraisers include Movie Night, Halloween Cake Walk, Teacher Appreciation breakfast and Grandfriends Tea. The PTO holds monthly meetings at 7 p.m. in the school Library on the second Monday of the month and we need you there (yes, you)! We want you to share your thoughts, give ideas and support our cause: the children. Over the summer we hope you will seriously consider attending these meetings. If you cannot attend the meetings, that’s okay. You can volunteer your time instead.

The PTO elections were held at our May meeting. President: Vicky Falco

Vice President: Lori Pinkowski

Secretary: Laurie Pelkey

Treasurer: Tammy LaGrange

Upper Grade Representatives: Emily McCullough and Lynn Silloway Lower Grade Representatives: Jill Blanchard and Becky Chapin Public Relations: Becky Chapin Don't forget to keep collecting your Box Tops this summer. Prizes will be awarded to students in each class who collect the most Box Tops over the summer. Box Tops generate money that is used to purchase supplies for the school.

6th GRADE SCIENCE CORNER

by Mr. Westcott

We are completing our ocean unit during the first week in June. The students did an excellent job on their self-chosen marine biology topics. We completed a temperature experiment, did a tide demonstration, examined the on-going Japan nuclear disaster, found the ratio of ice above and below the water and completed a very wet study of water waves. On June 8 we released our Atlantic salmon, raised from eggs in our classroom, for their long swim to Long Island Sound and beyond.

The Lothrop News

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SUMMER READING What happens when we learn a new skill like knitting, riding a bike, or swimming, and then we don’t have a chance to practice that skill for months or years? If you are like most of us, you almost have to start all over from scratch. That’s why we want our children to continue to practice reading over the summer. The reading should be easy enough for them to read and understand, but most importantly it should be something they enjoy so they will want to read. Here are some ways parents can help: 1. When you are watching TV, turn on the captioning feature. This way while watching nearly any program, children will see the printed form of words while listening to them being spoken. 2. Library books are wonderful, but we can also have children practice and talk with us about a daily poem or other short text. Many poems can be photocopied or sent electronically to you – FREE (see www.storyit.com). 3. You can keep a “dialogue journal” with your youngster. In this journal you each document and share summer experiences. (see: www.ericdigests.org/pre-926/journals.htm). 4. We can play word games with our children, too. One of the best is “Twenty Questions”. It can be played in the car. It’s fun and encourages lots of good thinking and vocabulary words. Other games for the car include finding and listing where you were when you spotted license plates from other states. Also play the alphabet game where you find each letter of the alphabet as you travel. If you Google “word games for children” you will find many websites offering free online word games. 5. There are also websites that provide online versions of popular books with accompanying readalouds (see: www.storylineonline.net). Adapted by Sue Teats, Literacy Teacher Leader, RNESU; From N. Padak and T. Rasinski; The Reading Teacher, May 2011

MILEAGE CLUB This school year we did something different for the Mileage Club awards. We gave out tshirts to students who walked a total of 50 miles! Proudly showing off their new shirts in the picture are Gavin P., Gunnar B., Brigid E., Grace E., and of course, me. These students walked every day this school year to accomplish the 50 mile goal. They even walked in the winter months. It was a long winter for them, but they didn’t let that stop them. Congratulations!

by Mrs. Shortsleeves

The Lothrop News

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The following information was passed on to me by Bill Bonsignore, our Student Assistant Professional. I thought it was good summer time information that we all need to be aware of with our children who use the internet. …………. By Tim Rand, School Counselor TOP 10 THINGS ADULTS CAN DO TO PROTECT CHILDREN WHEN USING THE INTERNET OR OTHER TECHNOLOGY 1.

Supervise, supervise, supervise! Just as we would want to physically know where our children are and what they are doing, we need to know where they are going on the internet and who they are meeting there. The safest thing to do is use the internet with your child.

2. Create family rules together about technology usage. What’s allowed and what’s not allowed? Review them with your children every few months and see if anything should be changed. Children sometimes hear about new tricks or dangers online before adults do. 3. Talk frequently about messages that young people are receiving from different kinds of media (music, television, magazines, internet). Counteract these messages with what YOU want them to know about different issues. 4. Keep the computer in a common room. Children who have computers with internet access in their bedrooms are much more likely to find trouble online. 5. Become a tech-savvy adult! Look for community classes on computers and software. Enlist your child as your teacher! Adults are often intimidated by how much they do not know about computers, but our children need us to learn in order to better protect them. 6. Look into filtering and monitoring software. These can help ensure that your child does not inadvertently run into pornography while doing a search on the internet. However, these software programs are not a substitute for adult supervision of internet activities. Very sophisticated young people can find ways around even the best filtering and monitoring software. 7. Check your computer’s website history and cookie files. This will tell you what websites have been visited in the recent past. However, many children and adolescents know how to clear a browser history or delete records of certain websites. Fewer children will clear cookie files. 8. Explain to your child that once they have put something out on the internet there is no way to ever “take it back”. Even e-mails that they write, intending to be private, could be posted all over school the next day. It’s best to never write something online that they wouldn’t want the whole world to see or know about them. 9. It’s not spying if it’s out there for the world to see. “Google” your child now and then. Let your child know you’d like to see their online profile if they have one. Perhaps tomorrow? This can give them a chance to take a look at their profile and think about its content. Checking up on a child online for their safety is very different from snooping in their room for their private diary. 10. Recognize that it is our responsibility to ensure our children’s safety, both online and in “real life”. If your child refuses to disclose information about their internet use or you feel that they might be in danger, it is up to you to find out what is going on. If you are concerned about a child’s internet activities, you are not alone. Please consult a professional who can help you and your child. You can call 1-800-CHILDREN for support and resources.

The Lothrop News

CLASS OF 2011 THANKS THE P.T.O.

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by Collin P.

The Lothrop 6th grade had a great time visiting the Stafford Technical School in Rutland, and they would like to thank the Lothrop P.T.O. for sponsoring our trip. Everybody loved it. The food prepared by the culinary students was great, and we all learned much more about the culinary program. After our tour of the many other options for study, a lot of people said that they wanted to study food if they went there. Others said they would like to study electronics, mechanics or plumbing and electrical wiring. We want to thank the P.T.O. for giving our class the money to go, and thank Stafford for finding time in their schedule to let us in.

FOUR WINDS NATURE INSTITUTE Spring is finally in full swing! In Four Winds, we have been studying two sure signs of spring: Bird Songs and Dandelions. In April, we learned to match birds with their songs through a slide show and playing bingo. We learned which birds sing at what time of the morning and we played a noisy game in which the students sang the different bird songs at the appropriate time of day. Another noisy game helped the students learn to listen for other birds of their "species". For those classes who were able to avoid the April showers. We went outside and mapped out where they heard different birds singing. In May, we studied the amazingly adaptable dandelion. We discussed how the dandelion is so hardy because of its long roots and ability to spread. We dissected dandelion heads and identified the parts of the individual floret. The students learned the different stages of the dandelion and then collected dandelions in their different stages. This has been a wonderful year of learning in Four Winds. Next year we will be studying Structure and Function in nature. If you would like to join your child in this unique learning experience, contact Becky Chapin (483-2241) or Margaret Daly (483-2408).

The Lothrop News

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2011-2012 SCHOOL SUPPLY LIST Grade 1 Ms. Alberico and Mrs. Pinson: 1 plastic pocket folder, 10-15 glue sticks, 4 wipe off markers, 1 box of #2 pencils. Optional: scissors, colored pencils, crayons, and markers. Grade 2 Mrs. P. Quenneville and Mrs. Blanchard: Pencil box (8x4x2), 5 sharpened pencils, small scissors, 2 block erasers, 5 pencil-top erasers, 16 count box of crayons, colored pencils, highlighter, 5 glue sticks, small pencil sharpener, thin markers-8 basic colors, thick markers –8 basic colors, hand sanitizer, pocket folders: green-reading, red-math, blue-writing, and purple-science, and 1” binder to be used for homework. Please write your name on all of your supplies. Grade 3 Mr. Hazen: 5 pencils, 2 block erasers, box of crayons-16 count, thin markers-8 basic colors, thick markers-8 basic colors, pocket folders: purple-science, blue-poetry, music, fluency, red-math, yellowsocial studies, green-writing, white-reading, 1 plastic pocket folder with 2 pockets to be used for homework, 5 glue sticks, small pencil sharpener, small scissors, hand sanitizer, and a box of tissues. Please write your name on all of your supplies. Grade 4 Mrs. A. Quenneville and Mr. Duggan: 1 small handheld pencil sharpener, 1 plastic pencil box (for inside your desk), 24 pencils (Yellow #2 Ticonderoga pencils only!), pencil end erasers or large erasers, 1 box of 16 crayons or colored pencils, 1 box of 8 markers, 1 pair of student size scissors, 4 glue sticks, 2 dry erase markers, 2 highlighters, 7 two-pocket folders (Red-Homework, White-Reading Group, Blue-Math Facts, Yellow-Handwriting, Green-Writing and then a purple and an orange left blank), 1 regular one subject notebook, 1 regular 2” Binder, 10 binder dividers, 1 individual pack of yellow Post-It notes, 1 package of lined paper, 1 small size hand sanitizer (with a top that shuts and can fit inside desks). Classroom Donations: Ziploc Bags (any size), tissues, hand sanitizer, plastic silverware, paper plates, paper cups. Grade 5 Mrs. Allaire and Ms. Clark: Pencil box, 2 dozen #2 pencils, pencil sharpener, 24 cap erasers, 1 box 24-count crayons, 1 box magic markers, (2) 12 count colored pencils, 1 box, 6 highlighters, 6-12 glue sticks, scissors, ruler, protractor, calculator, scotch tape, 3 spiral notebooks, 1-1/2” 3-ring binder, loose leaf paper for binder, subject dividers, 10 pocket folders, dictionary. Optional: water bottle and drawing pad. Grade 6: Mrs. Corliss: 3 plain 1” binders, loose leaf paper with holes for binders, 1 package divider pages for the binder, 4 dozen pencils, calculator for problem solving in math and science, scissors, glue stick, colored pencils, protractor, markers, 5 pens, ruler with metric and standard measurement, highlighters, 4 pocket folders, 2 spiral bound notebooks, box of tissues, hand cleaner. Grade 6: Mr. Westcott: (3) 1” 3-ring binders (for science, social studies, math), 4 dozen pencils (keep most at home), colored pencils for graphs, scissors, protractor 1/2” circle, Markers: keep at home for projects, plastic inch/centimeter ruler, 12 blue or black pens, 2 spiral notebooks (30-50 pages), water bottle, a few small bottles of “white out”, a calculator—solar with button. Memorize the multiplication tables if you have not yet done so! French Class: Students entering 4th Grade French should bring a simple new 1-inch 3-ring binder, not larger than 1-inch. Notebook paper, 3 dividers and a package of reinforcements for the notebook paper would be useful. This notebook will become your personal dictionary and textbook for the next three years in French class. Music Class: All students in Grades 2-4 will need a pocket folder.