Take Note Lower School News Week of October 6-10, 2008

Dear Students and Families,

SHHH!! Parents working! With the help of your Box Tops contributions, the LS has been able to purchase several IPODS for classroom use. IPODS open many educational opportunities for students. Here, some parents of 1st graders are learning to use Garage Band, a Macintosh recording program, to record storybooks which will later be used for reading and listening in the classroom. Thanks to Mr. Ted MacDonald, LS/MS technology director, for helping to coordinate this pilot program in the LS.

On Wednesday, October 8th, Grade 3 students will travel to Goddard Park as part of their field work in Science. Mr. Eric Wyzga, LS Science teacher, will use the many habitats found in the park to help students learn more about plant life there. The class will leave at 8:15 AM and will return by 10:30 AM.

Please note that Wednesday, October 8th is an Early Dismissal Day for Lower School . Students will be dismissed at 12:45 PM so that teachers can participate in professional development. Extended Day is available on that afternoon but pre-registration is essential and spots are filling quickly. If interested please e-mail Miss Kathy Majkut at kmajkut@rockyhill.org by Monday, Oct. 6th to secure a spot.

After School Program: After another successful week of After School activities, we are pleased to announce that classes in guitar and violin will be added to the offerings of the After School Enrichment Program. Student in grades K-2 may sign up for Suzuki Violin Lessons. Group Guitar is reserved for students in grades 3 -5. Classes, taught by Mr. Eric Christensen, will be held on Tuesdays, beginning Oct.14th. Space is limited! Sign up sheets should be returned to classroom teachers by Oct.6th. If you have questions regarding this new offering, please contact Mrs. O. or email Miss Kathy Majkut at kmajkut@rockyhill.org .

September VIPs: The VIP program in Lower School got off to a rousing start this week. The following students were nominated by their teachers and peers for VIP recognition by displaying qualities of good citizenship, scholarship and sportsmanship in school. Recognized at Thursday's assembly were: Pascal Burnett (Gr. 1), Christopher Cyr (K), Braeden Cannon (Gr. 2), Jamie Frost (Gr. 4), J.P. Santos and Hannah Lawson (Gr. 3), Julia Janikies and Coleman Maguire (Gr. 5). Missing from our photo, but not forgotten, was Sinead Burnett from Kindergarten.

School will not be in session on Thursday, October 9, in observance of Yom Kippur.

PreSchool will travel to Schartner Farm in North Kingstown on Friday, Oct. 10th to tour the farm and pumpkin patch. Students and parents will leave campus at 9:00 and will return by 11:30 AM.

The Secret Lives of Box Tops: Did you know there are Box Tops hiding on the bottom of some of your Kleenex boxes as well as on the side of the plastic packaging for Cottonelle toilet paper? These guys are sneaky, so keep a lookout for them! For a complete list of participating products, visit: http://www.boxtops4education.com/AboutBoxTops/Products.aspx

If you have any questions or know of other secret hiding places for Box Tops, please contact Tracie Seed at tracie_seed@yahoo.com .

Afterschool Activities:

Next week (all classes 3:15-4:15 PM unless noted):

Tuesday:   Karate – MS Commons   

Wednesday: Soccer – Amphitheater – 1:00-2:30 PM

Chinese Culture – 1:00-1:45

Thursday:   No School