Raymond C. LaPerche Elementary School

Joyful! Smithfield High School's chorus & Sentinel Singers performed a rich assortment of music from around the world last night. We are so proud of our singers! @SmithfieldSchls @SmithfieldSuper

In fourth grade math today, students converted improper fractions to mixed numbers in order to plot them on a number line. They used their strategies and tools to figure out the answer and discussed the problem with their tables. Teamwork!

In kindergarten today students played heart word tic tac toe. Mrs. Friel and a partner modeled how to play the game and then the students buddied up and practiced. They had a blast and little did they know they were practicing how to read their words. So fun!

Students in third grade were working in text clubs today. In a text club, each student has a role or a job to do during the club. There is a discussion leader, caring connector, gist guru/summarizer and clarifier/word wizard. Working in a text club gives students an opportunity to learn from each other and act in a leadership role. Every student had the opportunity to work in each role. Text clubs are a powerful way to increase engagement and deepen understandings.

Students in fourth grade were practicing how to subtract a mixed number from a mixed number. They worked on the problem individually and then shared their strategies with their table. Strategies used included the arrow way, drawing a model, decomposing numbers, using a number line and more. As students shared answers they discussed strategies used and the importance of showing their work! Let's go, fourth grade!

Smithfield's Teacher of the Year, Torie Caldarone, spent the day at the RI Department of Education as a part of the District Teacher of the Year program. Torie has spent the year working with teachers of the year from other districts including the 2024 State Teacher of the Year, Aimee Couto.

The March Town Meeting was a big hit! Miss Day, Ms. Clough, and Mrs. Harrison's classes rocked the house with stories, poems and songs. LaPerche fourth graders, under the direction of Mrs. Shafer, demonstrated their recorder skills. One fourth grader, Liliana, wowed us with Ode to Joy and Amazing Grace on the recorder! 16 members of the fifth grade student council ran the show and performed skits reminding us to Choose to Include everyone and to Try Everything especially things that are tough for us!

To celebrate national breakfast week, Chef Reece and Chef Will from Chartwells visited LaPerche and cooked individualized omelettes, and scrambled eggs for LaPerche students and staff. There were a variety of fresh local ingredients that the students could choose from. The cafeteria was packed and the students went to class with full bellies. Thank you to Chartwells and all of our local partners for the delicious treat!

Rhode Island College practicum students visited LaPerche and worked with third grade. The lesson was about composing quadrilaterals, specifically squares and rectangles, that have specific areas. The third graders were hands-on, using tetrominoes! A tetromino is a geometric shape composed of four squares, orthogonally. Think Tetris without technology!

Join us for a FREE screening of Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age on March 14th at 6 PM in the SHS auditorium! The hour-long film will be followed by a panel discussion regarding social media and its impact on students. Register here: https://forms.gle/qqrbDex8UtPozdte6

Congratulations to LaPerche 4th grader Arianna for winning the Smithfield Public School District's Spelling Bee! Arianna will go on to the state spelling bee competition. @SmithfieldSchls @SmithfieldSuper #spellingbee

Tuesday, Feb. 13, will be a Virtual Learning Day for Smithfield. Please follow school or teacher direction for virtual learning. The schools and district office buildings will be closed due to the intensity of the storm forecast. There will be no after school activities tomorrow.

Our fabulous fifth graders hosted the annual pasta dinner at Smithfield High School on January 26. They were hosts, servers, and bussers for over 300 guests. With the generous support of their families and many businesses and individuals, they raised $6,020 for the fifth-grade class! We are so thankful for the LaPerche community who came out to support the fifth graders. Thank you to the fifth-grade parent committee who planned and organized such a fun event and to the fifth-grade team at LaPerche for getting the kids' restaurant ready! Take a look at the photos to see the business that supported us. When you visit their establishment, let them know how thankful we are for their support! Check out the rest of the photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7mrrGXXpkVWzY82n8

Eight fourth and fifth graders from LaPerche battled it out for 15 rounds during the school spelling bee on Thursday, February 1. In the end, two spellers remained who will represent LaPerche in the district spelling bee on Friday, February 9. The kids cheered each other on through the highs and lows of the spelling bee. The audience attempted to spell more than 70 words on paper as the spellers spoke the letters aloud. Congratulations to all of our classroom spelling bee winners and to Neil and Arianna who will represent us on Friday. Check out the photo album for more photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7N1sW91XSmjubWdS6

In first grade today, during fundations, students were working on a variety of skills. The teacher read the sentence and the students wrote a line to represent each word. The kids do this to help them understand how many words are in the sentence and to put spaces between the words. Then they tapped out the words to build the sentence focusing on spelling, capitals and lowercase letters and punctuation. First graders are hard workers!!

The winter concert at LaPerche was a big hit! Students in kindergarten through grade 5 sang their hearts out. Students in grade 3 and 4 provided a taste of the recorder and students in grade 5 played their first song together as a band. The whole event was so joyful and impressive! Our wonderful music teacher, Jenn Shafer, worked tirelessly to get all students performance ready. Thank you, Mrs. Shafer!

In first grade, the students are learning about how to act as good classroom citizens. They read the stories, Fine, Fine School, and The Recess Queen and discussed how good school citizens act. Today they are writing their own opinion paragraph about how a good citizen should act. These first graders think good citizens are responsible, kind, and respectful to others. They should be nice to others.

It's writing time in kindergarten. After reading the book The Four Seasons, the students are writing their own book about the four seasons. The kindergarten teachers model with their own writing, and the students are writing one page at a time. Today they were writing about spring. The students tapped out the words and drew pictures to match what they wanted to share. In the spring, they find Easter eggs, play baseball, and it rains a lot. Kindergarten kids are learning how to read and write!

Every fifth grader at LaPerche serves on the student council. The November student council did a great job speaking in front of the whole school and making announcements over the intercom. Way to go November student council!

On Friday, the second graders at LaPerche were on a field trip so the first graders stopped up as the Cafeteria Rangers. First grades were leaders and did an amazing job helping kindergarten students sort their items into recycling, composting, and landfill. LaPerche rockstars!