Anna Parrill, Principal June, 2008

The end of the school year approaches quickly. Looking back, it has been a great school year and we have shared so many events -Welcome Back Picnic, Meet the Teacher Night, Fitness Fundraiser, Grandparent/Special Friend Day, Pizza Bingo, Chorus Concerts, Cocoa with Santa, Basketball with Mr. Peters, Cultural Events, Holiday Parties, Movie Night, Talent Show, Book Fair, Ice Cream Social, Earth Day Clean-up, Read-a-Thon, and Band Performances. It is exciting to look back on all these exciting events.

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy summer. Enjoy the warm days to rest, read, and spend time with your children. The last day of school is Wednesday, June 18^th with a dismissal at 12:00. School will resume on Wednesday, August 27^th.

We say goodbye to some old friends and send good luck wishes as they move on to their new adventures. You will be missed. Best wishes to:

Mrs. List

Ms. Bayrouty

Ms. Malek

We welcome to the Soule School Staff, Jennie Marshal, who will be our new Reading Specialist. We are excited to have her join our Soule School Family.

The Student Leadership assembly will be on June 11^th for grades 1-4. These leadership roles have proven to be very successful this year and we want to encourage even more participation next year. These opportunities give the students more ownership in their school, the climate and their academics as well as teach responsibility and respect. This assembly is designed to inform students of the requirements, promote student leadership and get them excited about the programs. The following is a list of the opportunities and requirements.

W.S.O.U.L.E. – is an opportunity for fifth graders to DJ the morning announcements to the Soule School listening audience. Three creative individuals who are trustworthy, responsible, and dedicated will work as a team three days a week. These individuals must be on time every school day to prepare and present the morning announcements. Students will hold a position for half a year. Applications will be collected in the Spring and Fall with a teacher recommendation is required.

Mrs. Pappalardo, Mrs. Johnson

WEE Deliver – is our Soule School Post Office. Postal workers process and deliver all school mail. To be chosen as a postal worker, you must be responsible and reliable, as the mail must be delivered every day. Third graders may apply to be cancellers, 4th graders are sorters, and 5th graders are eligible to be the postmaster and/or mail carriers.
At the beginning of each session, new workers are announced and are trained to do their jobs. Whether it is sunny, windy, rainy, or snowy the WEE Deliver Team delivers! Mrs. Smeltzer and Mrs. Pappalardo

RECYCLING – Third graders are eligible – three from each class. Once a week, students collect recycling bins from all classrooms and bring them to the recycling dumpster outside. This usually takes about 20 minutes. Students who are responsible and like to work hard are chosen. Students will hold this position for two semesters.

Mrs. Ramsey & Mrs. Cahill

RAK – Soule School will be continuing our “Random Act of Kindness” (RAK) program to promote respect and kindness throughout our school community. Staff and students can submit “RAK” slips to the office when they observe a kind act, or someone being respectful. The student will be recognized during our daily announcements. Mrs. Bailey

RECESS RANGERS - This will be a group of trained students from Grades 3-5 that will run organized activities and games at recess. Students will be taught safety, games, rules, tournaments and dealing with others. A Recess Ranger should be dependable, assertive, organized, always on time, and good at organizing people without being bossy. We will train six to eight students at each grade level. Recess Rangers will be a full year commitment but the students will only work on assigned days each week.

Ms. Parrill, Mrs. Breen, Mrs. Metcalf

STUDENT COUNCIL - The Student Council had a very successful year!  The role of the student council is to support and promote students and the school community.  In addition, we do volunteer work to support community organizations.  This year we participated in Toys for Tots, the Santa Fund, and Pennies for Patients.  For Read Across America Week, we read to the all the classes in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday.  We also sponsored two spirit weeks.  Next year, we will look again for FOURTH AND FIFTH grade students who are responsible, creative, and are good team players.  We hope you apply!

FRIENDS OF SOULE - In an effort to enrich the Soule School environment, we are reaching out to the elders of Salem. Our goal is to make contact with the local chapter of Caregivers, under the direction of Dick O'Shaughnessy, to include elders as spectators at our assemblies, or readers in our classrooms. We will seek out students to become greeters and movers of our elder guests, perhaps having them meet and greet their vehicles at the bus port, holding open the doors, pushing wheelchairs to the multi-purpose room or classroom. Students will be enriched by the interaction with these folks who possess a wealth of life experiences. Elders are sure to be enriched by the interaction with our precious children. It's certainly a win-win situation! In the past, Mrs. Minkle has taken our chorus to entertain residents of Salemhaven. Perhaps we can continue this practice or use it as a jumping off point to have students visit elders, bring works of art as gifts to decorate the rooms of Salemhaven, and/or participate in a beautification project to help enhance
the grounds of their "home." Mrs. Whiting, Mrs. Buck, Mrs. Annicelli

Physical Education-Miss Keegan

In May the children completed the Physical Best Fitness Test. The children that passed all four tests will receive a fitness award at the final assembly.

This year Field Day will be held on Monday, June 9^th. The rain date is Monday, June 16^th. We will need parent volunteers to help run the morning games. If you would like to help, please send in a note with your child if you have not already done so. We will meet in the cafeteria at 8:45 to go over the assignments. The morning games will be over by 11:45. This is a fun day and your help is greatly appreciated. The three teams for field day are red, white and blue. The children should try to wear their team color that day.

Summertime is a great season for getting and staying in shape. Exercise as a family. Hike, bike, swim and take walks. Limit the amount of time that your child spends watching T.V. or playing video games. Don’t let your child turn into a couch or mouse potato this summer. Enjoy!

Have a happy, healthy and safe summer.

Active Reading is Active Thinking

“If I can’t picture it, I can’t understand it.” Albert Einstein

Throughout the year teachers have been teaching and demonstrating research-based reading and thinking skills to help students increase their understanding of text.

The comprehension strategy for this month is “Creating Mental Images.” As Albert Einstein said, “If I can’t picture it, I can’t understand it.” Creating pictures in our head of the text helps us to better understand and remember the text.

Some teachers have introduced this strategy by reading a short passage to students and then having the students describe and/or draw the picture they created in their mind based on the text. For example:

Students may have talked about the mental images they created in their heads by using such words as

“From those words, I pictured …, imagined …” or

“By creating mental images in my head about those words,

I could practically feel …, see …, smell …, taste …, hear ….”

Students may have drawn a picture depicting the images they had in their head from the text; if they read a passage about a spider web, they might draw something like this:

When I read (heard) these words, I created a mental picture in my head.

Here’s a drawing of the picture I made in my head about these words.

Summer Tip: Listening to books on tape helps pass the time during a car ride and it helps children develop the comprehension strategy of creating pictures in their mind.