Saugatuck Congregational Church Thanksgiving Feast

On Friday during Community Time, the Coleytown staff and students made cards for the annual Saugatuck Congregational Church Thanksgiving Feast.  This is the 17th year that the CES community has made cards and decorations for this event.  Buddy classes worked together to create creative cards.  It's a wonderful way for the CES community to make a difference in our larger community.  Below are some photos of the buddies creating their masterpieces!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING COLEYTOWN!

Literacy Buddies

Today we welcomed students from Staples High School to Coleytown Elementary School.  These high school students are enrolled in a Children's Literature class and will be acting as "literacy buddies" for the CES students this semester. These buddies will engage in a variety of literacy activities with each other. 

Why do we have these literacy buddies?  For the high school students, they will have an opportunity to share their understanding of early childhood literacy with an audience.  In addition, they will be able to provide feedback to the second graders about their reading and writing.  For our second grade students, they will be have an authentic audience for their own reading and writing.  

In October, the high school students wrote introduction letters to their second grade buddies.  The second graders were so excited to receive these letters and write back!  

Today, the high school students came to CES to read to Mrs. Boyle's class.  Students brought different picture books to read aloud to their buddies.  They asked questions throughout to prompt discussion with the second graders.  Second graders also read from their book boxes to their high school buddies.  All of the children were engaged and happy to be reading with each other.

High school students will be visiting the other second grade classes next week.

Check out some pictures from the day!

Under Your Nose

We were very excited to welcome Mrs. Shandley McMurray, CES parent and author, to CES today for a special visit!  Shandley read her book Under Your Nose: A Book About Nature's Gifts to the students in kindergarten, first and second grade.  This story is about two children who go to a cottage for a week without their digital devices.  They adventure into the woods and realize there are so many wonderful gifts and experiences "right under their noses!"  With the help of their grandfather, they come to realize the importance of protecting our environment.

Shandley read this story to the children and answered many questions about being an author and how we can take care of our environment.  The students shared wonderful ideas such as cleaning up garbage and recycling.  The students were excited to hear about how Shandley gets inspiration for her stories and how she uses real life experiences with her own children when writing her books.

After the reading and discussion, Mr. Alfano (CES Science Coach) met the students at the playground.  The task for the students was to look for "gifts from nature" just as the two children had done in the story.  The students were scientists outside, observing and sketching their discoveries.  Students were amazed to find baby acorns, feathers, sticks, insects, and many other "gifts" from nature.  

Thank you so much to Shandley McMurray for visiting CES today.  I encourage all CES families to go outside in this beautiful weather and look for the beauty in nature "right under our noses."

To learn more about Shandley and her books, please visit her website at:

http://www.shandleymcmurray.com/

Spirit Week at Coleytown

The snowy weather and changes in schedules didn't damper our Coleytown spirit!  Last week the CES community participated in our annual Spirit Week celebration, hosted by the fifth grade Student Leadership Council.  We celebrated Crazy Hair Day, Career Day, Country Day, Color Day, and "Paw"jama day in honor of our book fair.  Students also had an opportunity to participate in a Read to Rover event on Thursday evening.  We hosted five therapy dogs in the Coleytown gymnasium and many students read favorite books to them.  Enjoy some photos from this amazing week!

Career Day 

Career Day

Color Day-5th graders in blue

Color Day-3rd graders in green

Country Day

Country Day

Crazy Hair Day

Crazy Hair Day

Crazy Hair Day

"Paw"jama Day

"Paw"jama Day

"Paw"jama Day

Read to Rover event

Read to Rover event

Read to Rover event

Pi Day Celebration

Coleytown celebrated Pi Day!

We had a school spirit day where all members of the community wore clothing with numbers on it.  Mrs. Toth and Mrs. Carroll created a school wide scavenger hunt for each grade.  Students looked for different numbers around the building.  First graders looked for multiples of 5, third graders looked for multiples of 6, 7, and 8, and fourth and fifth graders looked for prime numbers. We had fun celebrating math all day long!

Read Across America Day 2018

“You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and

you may, I say.”

Do you recognize this quote?  

It’s from the Dr. Seuss classic Green Eggs and Ham!

On Friday, Coleytown students and staff also tried to identify famous quotes from

Dr. Seuss books as part of our Read Across America Day celebration. Read Across

America Day is a nationwide reading celebration that takes place annually on March

2—Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, and

community centers celebrate reading on this day.  At Coleytown, we celebrated Read

Across America Day with our Town Hall Meeting and special read alouds after

the meeting.  

The meeting began with a game called Guess that Quote.  Students and staff tried to

identify famous quotes from Dr. Seuss books.  

Mrs. Toth & Mrs. Kearney read Dr. Seuss quotes.

After, students and staff members recommended favorite books to the Coleytown community.

A Kindergarten student recommended a favorite book.

Mrs. Boyle’s class read a wonderful story titled One Smile to the entire CES community.

Mrs. Boyle's second graders read One Smile.

Finally, we found out the title for our One Book, One School event.  On the TV studio

this week, the anchors have been giving clues to the title of the book. Please watch the

video link to see how we introduced the book to the community.

One School, One Book Introduction Video

At the end of the video, Coley ran into the gym to introduce the book to the community.  

The children were very excited to learn the title!

After the meeting, all classrooms had special read alouds.  Teachers switched classrooms

to read to new students.

Mrs. Clarke and Mrs. Vergato read to Mrs. Love’s class.

Mr. Kopp read to Mrs. Garard’s class.  Mrs. Cummings’ preschool class joined them.

It was a fantastic day to celebrate reading!  We look forward to continuing this celebration

with our One Book, One School event in March.