This monthly newsletter

offers a glimpse of what is

going on here at Crocker

Farm and helps you plan

ahead for upcoming events.

PGO reminds you:

If you would like to submit corrections & updates for the school directory,

please send those details to: CFPGODirectory@gmail.com by October 2nd.

CROCKER CHRONICLES

END OF SEPTEMBER AND EARLY OCTOBER 2017

End of September 2017 Dear Families,

We hope that you will find the monthly “Crocker Chronicles” a helpful tool for your family.

It will give you an overview of what has been happening here at school and also enable you to

plan for upcoming events.

Ask your child(ren) about:

the weekly “Crocker Care Ticket Winners”

what it means to earn a care ticket

The “golden sneaker”

Dates to put on your calendar:

Monday, October 9th—Indigenous Peoples Day—NO SCHOOL

Thursday, October 12th—OPEN HOUSE—This is an evening event for students and

their families. More details to follow in a separate mailing home.

October 18th, 19th, 20th Family & Teacher Conferences (the children get out of

school at 1:20pm on the 18th, Noon on the 19th and 20th)

Best wishes, Derek and Sharri

The kindergarteners were welcomed to the "big" school with orientation sessions so that they and their families could be-

come accustomed to their new school. We are now on day 12 of school and everyone already looks so at home here at

Crocker Farm! We've started right in quickly. We had a very organized fire drill and have made plans for a field trip to

Brookfield Farm in October. Everybody is so excited to learn about growing foods, picking carrots and finding out how a farm

is run. We look forward to sharing all our hard work in the classroom at Open House on Thursday, October 12th - please

bring your children with you - it is a wonderful family affair! See you soon, Mrs. McCloskey and Ms. Newcomb

Ms. McCloskey and Ms. Newcomb

KINDERGARTEN UPDATE

Students are settling into the pace of first grade life and we are excited for the great

potential of fun learning and new experiences this year. First grade writers begin the

year with small moment narratives and in order to provide a shared experience for our

writing, we took a field trip to McCray’s farm in South Hadley. Students practice using

sequencing words by ordering the events of the field trip, using pictures as visual aids.

On our field trip students shared a hayride, picked pumpkins, fed animals and enjoyed an

ice cream. We look forward to our next field trip which will support our numeracy work

in the classroom. Stay tuned!

FIRST GRADERS

Third graders took a fantastic field trip to the Quabbin and

to Cold Spring Orchards in Belchertown, MA

Third Grade

Mattone, Ms. Carson, and Mr. Lefebvre’s classes are all thinking about seeds: how they are dispersed, parts of seeds, and germination. All three classes have also been visiting the garden, talking about weeds and competition for sun, water, nutrients etc. as well as harvesting.

Second graders hiked Bare Mountain in Amherst the other day. From the photos, it looks like everyone had a terrific time exploring their surroundings.

SECOND GRADE FIELD TRIP AND GARDENING

Fourth Grade

Ms. Woods, Ms. Dougherty, Ms. Radtke and

Ms. Moriarty’s classes have been focused

on these awesome things:

Getting to know our new class-

rooms and learning about each

other

Adding and subtracting

Studying trees and plants

Writing personal narratives

Picking and reading just-right

books

Fifth Grade

Ms. Donovan and Ms. Goodwin-

Brown’s classes have been focused

on the following this month:

Organization skills

Study skills

Building community

Perseverance

Word choice

ELA: While having a healthy snack, students read books of their own choosing, on or slightly above their reading level. Then we write in our

journals. Our journal writing currently begins with emotional and physical “inventory” - we log about how we are feeling that day and then

we have some time to free write. We have been reading the story King Arthur aloud together, discussing the many ways this story has been

retold and become part of popular culture, and answering comprehension questions on our Chromebooks. We have been learning strate-

gies to help us become active readers, such as highlighting important parts of text, circling vocabulary words we are unsure of, and writing

short responses about text, including thinking about character, setting, time period, and connections we may have to the text. We also have

begun using an online grammar program called “GrammarFlip.” We have a Google Classroom site that students can log on to at school or at

home. This gives links to assignments and information the students are working on and learning about.

Math: We have starting working in our Big Ideas textbooks and workbooks. This curriculum is a middle school curriculum, unlike the Every-

day Math curriculum the students used in Kindergarten through Fifth Grades. We have been reviewing the four basic operations and are

learning about Greatest Common Factor and Least Common Multiple. We will have our first chapter test soon. Students can log on at

school and at home to our Google Classroom site. This has vocabulary listed for all chapters, some links to helpful online videos, and some

practice quizzes.

Social Studies: We have started our unit on geography and mapping skills. Students are reviewing/ learning how to use a scale and compass

rose to tell where locations are on a map and to approximate distances . We will learn how to read latitude and longitude coordinates and

how to locate places using the coordinates. We will continue our geography unit by studying thematic maps and analyzing the information

they contain.

Science: We have started our small group work to try to come up with a solution to the following problem: A textbook needs to be able to

be held open at exactly three inches above a table using only index cards, rubber bands, and paper clips to hold it up. Students have been

working on trying to build this while recording their iterations (or attempts) as a group. They are learning how to work together and how to

use the scientific process.

Academic Focus: We have been focusing on the four basic operations in math. We are working on using the standard algorithm and quickly

recalling our multiplication facts.

6TH GRADE NEWS TIDBITS TO SHARE

WELCOME NEW STAFF!

Hello Crocker Farm Family! My name is Kori-Lin Alohalani Torres. Some

of you may know me as I subbed in 5th grade at the end of last year. Well,

now I'm back and officially joining the Farm as a 3rd grade teacher. Since

I'm making Crocker Farm my home too, I thought I would share a bit

about myself with all of you! I'm a 90's baby who was born on the beauti-

ful island of Maui in Hawai'i. I'm mixed plate of Native Hawaiian, Native

American, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Irish, English,

Scottish, and German. I've been dancing hula and playing the ukulele since

I was 4 years old. Growing up if I wasn't at home or school, you could find

me across the street swimming in the ocean. When I graduated from

Kamehameha Schools, I traded my slippers (or "flip flops" as you Main

Landers call it) for boots and moved to Massachusetts! I was 18 years old

when I first saw snow and 22 when I built my first snowman. Now,

I've been on the East Coast for 9 years and have loved every moment of it!

I am the first in my family to attend college where I studied Astrophys-

ics, Astronomy, and Education at UMass Amherst. I have a younger broth-

er who just graduated high school, a brother in 6th grade, and a sister in

5th grade; they all still live in Hawai'i.

My favorite color is pink. I have two cats, Popoki and Moo. I love play-

ing video games, reading, and crafting. But most of all, I love being apart

of Crocker Farm! Thank you all for welcoming me into this wonderful

school community!

Hello, my name is Jennifer Bennett. I

have been a teacher since before I knew I

was a teacher. I have tons of experience

with formal and informal classrooms. My

career began with a licensed day care less

than a mile from Crocker Farm. It feels

terrific to be a part of this learning com-

munity. This year I am teaching in grades

K, 1, 2, and 5. It has been an amazing

experience to meet community members

and see the wide scope of learning that

happens here at Crocker Farm.

For the past thirteen years I have lived

in a very old farm house in Deerfield with

my husband and three kids. I look for-

ward to meeting families at Open House

this fall.

Jennifer Bennett

Special Education Teacher

Kori-Lin Torres 3rd grade teacher

New Staff Biographies

Waleska Santiago, Librarian

Favorite Book: My Name is Gabito, Monica Brown

I have been a teacher since 1994

Favorite place to read: inside of a library

Favorite dessert: crème brulee

Marirene Reyes, English Language Learners

I've been teaching for 27 years. 18 of those in the Amherst schools

and 5 in Holyoke and 4 in Puerto Rico, both private and public

sectors.

Greetings from your PGO! Here are some highlights from the first weeks of school. Back-to-School Picnic: The back-to-school picnic was a blast! Last year we ordered 22 pizzas—we repeated the same order this year, ran out, ordered an additional 20, and ran out again. Next time we will be ready! School Directory: One of our missions is to help families make community connections. With that in mind, we recently emailed families the school directory. A few notes on the directory:

If you wish to be included but missed the deadline, fill out a directory form and hand it into the front office by October 2nd, available on our blog at http://pgocrockerfarm.com.

If you wish to NOT be included, we ask that you hand in a form as well. This let's us keep track of overall participation.

If you have corrections, email us at cfpgodirectory@gmail.com.

We want to extend a humongous thanks to Amanda Robertson who stepped up to take the lead on the di-rectory, taking over from Tracy Zafian and Ian Camara. Thank you to Tracy and Ian for all of their hard work in past years. We will update the directory mid-October and once again in the Spring. Classroom Parents: Paula Lima Jones, our classroom parent coordinator, is looking for classroom parents for grades kindergar-ten (Ms. Newcomb) and grades 2-6. We hope to have a class parent roster that draws on the diversity (racial, ethnic, linguistic, etc) of the Crocker Farm community. There can be several class parents in each classroom—this is a fun volunteer role that often includes tasks that can be done at home. If interested contact Paula at limajones1981@gmail.com

Upcoming dates October 12: Open House October 13: Co-operative Field Day October 27: Coffee with the principal (3:30-4:30pm)

From your PGO co-chairs,

Hallie Hughes and Jessica Sidman

P.S. You could be sending out this letter next year! If you are interested in chairing the PGO after we step

down at the end of the year, please let us know.

Meeting Mabel Loomis Todd. Amherst: 1880's

Come one, come all, to a time-travelling adventure through Amherst! Join Winnie, the new girl in town, as she is accidentally sent back to the 1800’s! Her journey takes a turn when she meets the remarkable Mabel Loomis Todd, and learns just how much of an impact one woman can have on her town. The play takes place at the Strong House, a relic of Amherst History preserved with Mabel’s help, and a testament to how she shaped the Amherst we know today!

Saturday October 7, 2:00 pm & 3:00 pm

Strong House, 67 Amity Street in Amherst

Please call the Crocker Farm

absence line

413-362-1659

Before 9am

on a day when your child is going to

miss school due to illness

UPCOMING VACATION DAYS

October 10th—No School—Indigenous People’s Day

October 18th-1:20pm dismissal

October 19th—Noon dismissal

October 20th—Noon dismissal

November 10th—No School—Veteran’s Day

November 22—24th—No School—Thanksgiving Vacation

December 13th—1:20pm dismissal

December 22nd—1:20 dismissal // December 25—January 1st—Winter Vacation—School opens 1/2/2018

Is your child getting enough sleep?

Our lives are so busy...as are those of our students! We’ve been noticing that children are in-creasingly sleepy at school. Sometimes their fatigue is so severe they are falling asleep in class at their desks. Naps in the health room have been more common since our return to the school year schedule. All of this means that they are missing important learning time at school.

How much sleep is enough?

We looked at three sites regarding the recommended hours of sleep for school age children.

Both, the CDC (the Center for Disease Control) and the NIMH (National Institute for Mental Health) recommend “at least ten hours each night for school age children.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics, through their parenting website, Healthy Chil-dren.Org recommends 9-12 hrs per twenty four hours for 6-12 year olds.

Do these numbers surprise you? Are you sending your child to bed early enough?

From talking to a number of children it sounds like many of our students are not getting enough hours of sleep per night. It is important to make sure that children get enough sleep to be alert and productive in school.

It might be helpful to have a conversation with your child(ren) about how important rest is for doing your best in school. If your child has difficulty falling asleep, before bed routines can sometimes help. Healthy Children.Org has some tips on creating a sleep supportive environ-ment.

If you’d like to read more about this subject yourself, you can use the following links/URL ad-dresses.

https://www.cdc.gov/features/sleep/

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/howmuch

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/sleep/Pages/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-How-Many-Hours-Does-Your-Child-Need.aspx