Chestnut Street Parent Newsletter

The West Hempstead Union Free School District recognizes the unique value of each student. It is dedicated to the success of each student based on the highest standards of excellence in education. Each student will be challenged to achieve mastery in all subject areas in an educational atmosphere that strives to build positive self-esteem, mutual respect for others, and a life-long quest for learning.

#RamPride #RamFam #RamCulture

• School is CLOSED on Wednesday, October 5th, and Monday, October 10th.
• There will be a parent information meeting held on Wednesday, October 12th at 7:00 PM in the Cornwell Avenue cafeteria to review the new elementary report cards. Immediately following SEPTA will host its first meeting of the year. See below for more information.
• Picture Day is Friday, October 14th! This is a PTA-sponsored event. Questions should be directed to the PTA. See below for more information.
• Red Ribbon Week is Monday, October 24th through Friday, October 28th. See below for more details.
• Your child will visit a special pop-up pumpkin patch at Chestnut Street on Thursday, October 27th courtesy of the PTA. We will also host our annual Fall Festival that day so please dress your child for outdoor fun!
• Our first School Spirit Day of the year will take place on Friday, October 28th! Be sure to purchase your Chestnut Street shirt through the PTA link below!
• Our annual Chestnut Street parade will take place on Monday, October 31st at 9:30 am in the front parking lot. Parents are invited to view the parade. Students are invited to dress in a costume if they choose.
• Please be sure to send a full change of clothes in a Ziplock bag labeled with your child's name on it.

• If your child will be absent, please call Nurse Angela before 8:30 AM at 516-390-3155

• If there will be a change in your child's afternoon transportation, please write a note or email to the teacher. For last-minute changes, please call Mrs. Ventura or Mrs. White before 2:00 PM. 516-390-3150
• Please select your child's daily lunch order on the printed menu by circling or highlighting the choices and return it to school ASAP. The link for the menus is below. Please note, at times the item listed on the menu may not be available and your child will be offered an alternative option.

As you talk to your child about their day, consider asking him or her to explain more about what they learned, why it is important for them to know, and how they know they have mastered it. These questions are part of our Visible Learning work.

• Paper Plate Toss: Write sight words on paper plates. Use a coin to toss on the plate and ask your child to read the word that the coin lands on.

• Tic –Tac-Toe: Write words in the tic-tac-toe spaces. Take turns selecting a space to read. If read correctly, an X or O is placed on the space until someone wins.

Please be sure to read at home with your child every night in whatever language you are comfortable with.

We will continue our We Are Readers Unit and Interactive Read Alouds will model and reinforce good reading habits, concepts of print, and academic vocabulary development.

Guided Reading groups will begin and your child will come home with books to read with you. Please be sure to practice reading those books with your child and then return them to school.

The paper books from Reading A-Z from our weekly Sight Word study can remain in your home. Practice reading and rereading those as well!

Use RazKids or Epic to find a digital library of age-appropriate books for your child to read at home! The links to both are below.

Some strategies to try at home when you are reading with your child:

Fiction - Retell the story in sequence- beginning, middle, and end. Include characters, setting, problem, and solution.

Non-Fiction - Discuss what you learned from the text. Look at pictures, labeled diagrams, maps, bold words, captions, table of contents, and/or the glossary.

• Use a Reader Finger - Point to words and pictures with your finger.
• Read from left to right.
• Use picture clues.
• Make a picture in your head.
• Make predictions about what will happen next.
• Identify letters and sight words you know.
• Find a little word or chunks of letters to make a sound in your bigger words.
• Blend the sounds to figure out an unknown word.
• Get your mouth ready to make the first sound.
• Read it again.
• Find sentence patterns.
• Look at punctuation marks.

From mid-October through December we will officially launch Writer's Workshop and begin our List/Label Unit! Students will begin to put pencil to paper and use their knowledge of letter sounds to begin to label illustrations! Please be patient with your child! Encourage them to listen for the beginning sound of the word they want to write. They are not expected to spell words correctly. Phonemic awareness is the goal- matching letters to their sounds.

Some of the 'Non-Negotiables' that you can expect from your child's writing in Quarter 1 include:

• Use more than one color when drawing

• Use real-life, appropriate colors

• Figures have shapes for body

• Sketch matches the “label” (word, letter, etc.)

From mid-October through the end of November we are exploring Counting Quantities, Comparing Lengths, and Measurement.

Students will answer the essential questions below. Be sure to ask your child these questions!

• What is counting and how can it be used?
• How do we measure things?
• Why do we measure things?

Students will work on the following skills:

• Counting and representing quantities
• Comparing and ordering quantities
• Understanding length

We are also using ST Math to support deep conceptual understanding via personalized learning. You must use ClassLink to access ST Math. The link is below.