Raymond C. LaPerche Elementary School

Ms. Clough’s class played Guess My Number during their Responsive Classroom morning meeting yesterday. A number was written on a sticky note and placed on a student’s back for all to see. The student could ask the class questions to help him determine the number. Does it have a 2 in it? Is it a two digit number? Does it have a three in it? Ms. Clough showed a 100’s chart so the student could use it to think about the possible numbers. After 8 questions, the student guessed the number. Way to go!

Kindergarten celebrated Johnny Appleseeds birthday with a fun filled day of apple activities! Students participated in apple themed Reading, math, and science centers. In Mrs. Caswell’s class, at the literacy center students worked as a team to match upper and lowercase letters. Then they worked to put the apples in alphabetical order. At the art center students created ripped paper apples with colorful construction paper. At the group math activity students worked as a team to sort apples based on the image on each apple. They worked to match the images to the numeral on each apple basket. At the independent math table students worked on dabbing apples on top of animals in response to reading Ten Apples Up on Top. They had to count their “apples” to match the written numeral. Students also enjoyed slicing apples in the morning for our homemade applesauce.

Kindergarten celebrated Johnny Appleseed’s birthday with a fun filled day of apple activities! Students participated in apple themed reading, math, and science centers. In Mrs. Friel’s class, at science center, students cut open an apple horizontally to see the star that is found inside. They then used the apples to paint! At reading and art center, students read and illustrated Johnny Appleseed informational books and created Apple art projects. At math center, students played a math game to see how many apples they had on their head to go along with the book Ten Apples Up on Top. In the afternoon, students tasted their homemade applesauce and participated in an Apple tasting and graphed their results. Mrs. Caswell’s coming next!

Thank you Cardoso Family for the Random Act of Kindness—Delicious calzones for the LaPerche Staff!!

During fifth grade art class today, students worked on adding secret symbols about themselves into their multi media self portraits. Final products coming soon!

Reading Conferences in Fourth Grade- Mr. Medeiros introduces reading conferences to the students and models the process with a student. The teacher and student discuss the student’s short and long term reading goals and then she reads aloud so Mr. Medeiros can hear her fluency. He follows it up with questions to check for understanding. The rest of the class observes the conference and then were asked what did you notice about the conference. The students notice that the student read loud enough for the teacher to hear but quiet enough not to disturb the rest of the class. They notice that she was able to read almost all of the words so it was a just right book. Now everyone is excited for their own reading conferences! Teaching routines specifically allows for more instruction time for all.

Mr. Silvia, Mr. Sweeney, Mr. Serapigla from the American Legion visited with the whole school at Morning Meeting and then spent time with our fifth graders today. In addition to showing the kids the proper way to fold a flag, discussed a variety of topics and shared: *when multiple flags are flown, the American flag must be at the center and at the highest point *if a flag touches a ground, it’s a common misconception that it has to be burned, just dust it off *if a flag needs to be destroyed, bring it to the American legion and they burn it at a ceremony on June 14, Flag Day *if a flag is flown at night, shine a light on it *flags are flown at half mast when certain people pass away *the thirteen stripes are for thirteen colonies and 50 stars for 50 states

PE stations with Second Grade Throwing or striking with opposition and crossing midline; it is often difficult for students to coordinate their opposite arm and foot to work together to hit a target and realize when you should use the same foot and arm as when throwing a frisbee. These stations provide fun opportunities to practice these important life skills.

LaPerche teachers have added flexible seating to every classroom. Flexible seating allows for student choice and increases comfort and movement. Many options allow for more sensory input which in turn may help student focus. Whatever the benefit, LaPerche students all agree they love the new choices!

Come on out to the PTA meeting tonight at 6:30 at LaPerche and help us plan an amazing year for our school! Fifth grade families, please join us for PTA and then stay for the 5th grade committee meeting starting at 7:30! We need you and your ideas!

The telephone provider for several RI schools is experiencing technical issues & our phones at the schools have been periodically affected. Please email your school if you have to contact them about an issue today & we will update you when Cox Communications resolves the issue.

Bus routes throughout the town were reviewed with the bus company in an effort to improve efficiency and equity. While buses had previously gone into some smaller neighborhoods, some stops were moved to the start of the neighborhood so that run times could be improved. All stops fall within the school committee policy for bus riders and walkers. Please review all information provided in the link below relating to bus stop locations and times prior to the start of the school year. 2019-2020 Bus Routes-https://www.smithfield-ps.org/o/smithfield-public-schools/page/transportation--244

New Open House Date--We realized that the high school and elementary schools had scheduled Open House for the same night so we moved ours to Thursday, September 19 from 5:30-7:30. Bring your whole family to LaPerche to visit your child's classroom, meet your child's teacher and other staff members and explore the building. This is a drop in event and families are welcome to attend during any of the two hour block.

Volunteer Training--Tuesday, August 20 at 9:30--Every adult who plans to volunteer at LaPerche must complete volunteer training ONCE during their child’s career at LaPerche. BCI’s must be completed yearly. Visit https://rles.smithfield-ps.org/o/smithfield-public-schools/page/school-volunteer-bci for BCI information New Student School Tour--Tuesday, August 20 at 10:00--Are you a new student at LaPerche? No need to register, simply join us at LaPerche to see your classroom, meet the school secretary and tour the school!

LaPerche is excited to announce some changes and a new face you will see at LaPerche Elementary during the upcoming school year. Mr. Plante has joined the team at Gallagher and will be teaching art at the middle school. While we will miss Mr. Plante, we are thrilled our students will have a familiar face when they enter Gallagher. We will miss you, Mr. Plante! At LaPerche, we are welcoming Miss Miller as our new art teacher. From Miss Miller: Hello Families! My name is Casey Miller and I am very excited to begin teaching Art at LaPerche and McCabe during this coming school year. I look forward to getting to know all the students and families this fall but for now here a little bit about me! I am a recent graduate of Rhode Island School of Designs Masters Program of Arts in Education. Previously I worked as a K-6 art teacher for Utica City School District, a Teaching Artist for Project Open Door at Shea High School and a counselor for the Kelberman Center which supports individuals with Autism and their families. My studio practice is generally photo based art but I have experience in a large variety of mediums which I can't wait to share. I look forward to joining the Smithfield community! Casey Miller

June 19, 2019 Summer is here! Enjoy the time with your family and friends. Events are being added to the 2019-2020 school calendar every day! As always, please visit the school calendar for all upcoming events. School Website https://rles.smithfield-ps.org/o/raymond-c-laperche-elementary All students have made tremendous academic progress. Now, it is up to the families to keep those beautiful brains active all summer! Please visit our Summer Learning Guide for all of the expectations and suggestions for summer learning and for the verification form that needs to be submitted by September 13. All students who complete their summer learning are invited to an Outdoor Fun Festival in September! https://rles.smithfield-ps.org/o/raymond-c-laperche-elementary/page/summer-learning--10 Your child should have brought home his/her report card on the last day of school. Inside the report cards was a supply list for next year. We have removed many general items from the lists that the school will be providing. One area we hope to grow in as a school is that every student will come to school everyday with a reusable water bottle. We would love to reduce the use of single use water bottles and help preserve the earth! We are also offering a service where you can order the supply lists and it will be delivered to the school labeled with your child’s name. Please visit the LaPerche PTA facebook site for the details and to order your kit. They must be ordered by JUNE 30. Of course, you are always welcome to shop for the items with your child. You can find all supply lists here. https://rles.smithfield-ps.org/o/raymond-c-laperche-elementary/page/school-supplies--20 Please be reminded of the district calendar for 2019-2020. Since we have February and April vacation off from school as well as long weekends and Christmas break, we ask that you schedule all school vacations when school is not in session. Thank you! https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/310537/2019-2020_School_Calendar.pdf See you on August 27 for the first day of school for first through fifth graders! All kindergarten students will receive their screening appointment this summer and will come for the first day on Friday, August 30 arriving at 9:30 with a family member. If you have not registered your incoming kindergarten child for a screening appointment, please complete this form. https://forms.gle/XxX56xAZEjVjzKcF7 Enjoy the summer, Julie

Did you know that at Fort Getty in Jamestown, RI there is geological proof that R.I. was once attached to Africa? Well it’s true! Fourth grade students at LaPerche also learned about all the biodiversity located on our shore line. Children had a blast collecting, sorting and learning about different kinds of marine life found in tide pools and rock formations on this awesome field trip!It was a cool day in many ways!!

Second graders stepped up to teach the first graders all about analog clocks and how to tell time. Then they challenged the first graders to “show” a specific time. Teaching opportunities are so important to help develop leadership skills.

Fresh water from the Blackstone River and salt water from Narragansett Bay combine together to form the area we visited today. The fifth graders had the opportunity to take a river cruise and test the water and air temperature as well as test the water clarity. On the shore, they scooped the stream to search for creatures and found fish and plankton. A great time was had by all.

The kindergarten students in Mrs. Friel’s class were excited to learn the new word and sound being introduced. Mrs. Friel shared it was a first grade sound and asked who was ready for it? Every hand was up immediately! Ask your k student about the new word (soon) and how many words they brainstormed that made the same sound.