New Garden Parent Communication

Dear New Garden Families,

What a wonderful October we had at New Garden! As we say goodbye to a month filled with excitement, laughter, learning, and unforgettable memories, I want to thank our amazing students, families, staff, and PTO for making it so special! From the smiles and excitement of our Halloween festivities to our fantastic Buddy’s Boo Bash, October was truly a celebration of the joy, spirit, and sense of community that make New Garden such an extraordinary place. Seeing our students having fun, making memories, and simply enjoying being kids is what makes these moments so meaningful!

A very special THANK YOU to our incredible New Garden families for your overwhelming generosity and support of our Buddy’s Boo Bash, our school's biggest fundraiser of the year! We are so grateful to our families the enthusiasm and school spirit made this event such a wonderful success! Your generosity makes a meaningful difference for our students and helps create the special experiences and opportunities that make New Garden such an amazing place to learn and grow. We are truly fortunate to have such a supportive and giving school community. Thank you to our amazing PTO for all the time, energy, creativity, and hard work that went into making Buddy’s Boo Bash an unforgettable event!

As we welcome November, we look forward to another wonderful month filled with learning, growth, gratitude, and opportunities to come together. November is a special time to reflect on all that we are thankful for, and I am especially grateful for our incredible New Garden community and the partnerships we share.

We are also looking forward to welcoming our families for Parent-Teacher Conferences in just a few weeks! Conferences are such a valuable opportunity to celebrate your child's successes, discuss their growth, and strengthen the home-school partnership that is so important to student success. We can't wait to connect with you and share all the great things happening in our classrooms!

As we head into this season of gratitude, I want to thank you for your continued support, enthusiasm, and partnership. There is so much to be proud of at New Garden, and even more to look forward to as we continue making memories and growing together in our beautiful new school!

Here's to a November filled with kindness, gratitude, learning, and all the wonderful things that make New Garden such a special place to be!

With gratitude, Elizabeth

Picture Retake Day is Thursday November 12! Please see below for a few pointers from Barksdale:

• Any student wishing to have a retake should bring their original picture package to exchange for the retake image
• All picture retake orders will be placed online. When an order is placed online, the parent/guardian will receive a camera pass via email. This can be printed and brought to the photographer, if a student is not able to print their camera pass, that is not a problem. Barksdale is able to match up the student to their online order.
• The picture portal will remain open to accommodate any additional orders for 24 hours following picture retake day

Please click below to access Barksdale's picture portal. The event ID for New Garden is 11518

KCSD is excited to introduce Stopfinder, a new app that gives families real-time information about their child’s school bus. Once registered, you can view bus schedules, track trips, and manage transportation information for all your children in one convenient place.

Check your October 26 email for registration details and go the transportation section at kcsd.org to learn more about Stopfinder.

During November and December, our schoolwide character trait is empathy. During morning meetings, students will explore what empathy means and how they can put it into practice. Teachers will help students understand how empathy fosters a positive classroom environment where everyone feels seen, heard, and understood. Throughout the school day, students will have opportunities to practice empathy in their interactions with others. By developing this important skill, we can strengthen our relationships and continue to build a caring, connected school community.

We had a great October in first grade! In reading, we learned all the short vowel sounds and are reading and spelling CVC words. We are reading stories and discussing story elements, such as characters, setting, problem, and solution. In math, we have been using ten frames, number bonds, and fact family equations to solve the missing number. We had a fabulous fall discovery day where we were able to use our new learning lab. The students rotated through six stations of fall activities. The kids had a great time writing about what their teacher should be for Halloween, and were so excited to dress up on the 30th. In November, we are going to learn about the history of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and design our own balloons.

We have been keeping busy in 2nd grade and having lots of fun along the way! We had a great time at the BOO Bash and have been working hard in the classroom. In Reading, we have been learning all about fiction, and in Math, we have been practicing our two-digit addition skills.

One of the highlights this month has been participating in Stockings for Soldiers! As we learned about writing letters, each student had the chance to write a special letter to a soldier. We also made a little gift called “Snowman Soup” to send along with the letters. These special treats will be sent to military members serving around the world during the holidays. It was so nice to see the students take part in a project that reminds us how important it is to think of others and spread kindness.

We have so much to look forward to! We are especially excited about our upcoming field trip to Winterthur later this month. We can't wait for another fun month of learning and making memories together!

Third grade has been full of fall fun and exciting learning! Students loved showing off their costumes in the Halloween parade and becoming mathematicians during our hands-on Pumpkin Math activities. We practiced estimating, measuring, counting, and working together while exploring our pumpkins! In writing, we’re learning to express our opinions clearly and support them with strong reasons and examples. We also reviewed the parts of speech to help us build stronger sentences and make our writing more descriptive. In reading, we’re exploring fiction using the plot mountain strategy to identify the characters, setting, problem, rising action, climax, and resolution. This helps us understand how a character’s actions influence the events in a story. In math, we’re building our understanding of multiplication through equal groups, arrays, and repeated addition. Students are practicing different ways to represent multiplication and explain their thinking as they become more confident problem solvers!

There’s never a dull moment in fourth grade! October brought new learning, exciting discoveries, and plenty of opportunities to grow. From exploring plants at Longwood Gardens to tackling new challenges in math and reading, our fourth graders have been busy learning, thinking, and making connections. Here’s a peek at what we’ve been working on and what’s ahead in November!

Throughout October, students worked hard to strengthen their place value skills in Math. We practiced comparing and rounding numbers, as well as adding and subtracting using the standard algorithm. Students also continued building their multiplication fact fluency through engaging games, songs, and flash cards. We recently began Unit 2, and we will continue exploring these concepts throughout November. Students are learning about factors and multiples through hands-on manipulatives and engaging learning activities. We are also focusing on using mathematical vocabulary to explain our thinking, communicate our strategies, and justify our answers.

In reading, students explored a variety of texts, including picture books, short stories, and essays. We focused on identifying the theme of a text and using text evidence to support our thinking. Students practiced looking closely at what characters learn, how they change, and what message the author wants readers to understand. We have also begun diving into nonfiction texts, where students are learning to identify the main idea and supporting details.

In November, we will continue working with nonfiction texts to identify main ideas and supporting details. Students will use this information to write clear, concise summaries that capture the most important information.

Fourth grade had a wonderful visit to Longwood Gardens on October 7th. Students participated in interactive discovery activities as they explored how plants grow, function, and survive. They observed a variety of plants, learned about plant structures and their functions, and made meaningful connections to the concepts we have been studying in science. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to explore the natural world and bring their classroom learning to life!

In November, we will turn our attention to Pennsylvania! Students will learn more about our state's history, geography, and unique features as they complete a research project. We will practice finding and gathering information from a variety of sources, identifying important facts, and organizing our research to share what we learn. We are excited to see students grow as curious researchers and develop their information-gathering skills!

We’re proud of the effort, curiosity, and growth our fourth graders continue to show each day. We look forward to another month of learning, discovery, and new challenges!

October has been a busy and exciting month in fifth grade! We have started helping with our school’s morning announcements, and we may have some future broadcasters in the making! We also have been busy earning BARK bucks and getting to shop on the BARK cart each week!

In math, we wrapped up our first unit and are now diving into decimal place value. In reading, we finished learning how characters develop throughout a story and are beginning a new informational unit about cultivating natural resources. Be sure to ask your child about the parts of a corn plant and how they work together, you might just learn something new! Our 40 Book Challenge is off to a great start, with several students already reaching their first goal of 10 books. Keep up the fantastic reading! In science, we explored how matter moves through ecosystems and played “Eat or Be Eaten” to learn more about food chains and food webs.

As we head into November, we are excited for our first field trip of the year to the Stroud Water Research Center! We will have the opportunity to explore and interact with our local watershed while learning more about the importance of water and our environment.

Families, we invite you to be part of the learning! Take a few minutes each evening to ask your fifth grader what they learned that day, listen to them share something interesting from their reading, or encourage them to talk about our upcoming watershed adventure. We look forward to another month of growing, exploring, and making memories together.

As we begin the school year in Physical Education, students have been learning about the importance of sportsmanship, being positive role models, and treating others with kindness and respect. We have also been discussing the many health benefits of regular physical activity and how staying active helps keep our bodies healthy and strong. Throughout the year, we will continue to build teamwork, cooperation, confidence, and healthy habits through a variety of activities and games. **Please remember that students must wear sneakers to participate safely in Physical Education class. Crocs, slides, sandals, and other shoes that are not appropriate for physical activity are not acceptable footwear.** Thank you for your support in helping your child stay safe, active, and ready to learn!

Our Tier 1 classroom counseling lessons have focused on building healthy friendships and teaching students how to be upstanders when they see unkind behavior. Students are learning four important ways to be an upstander: being a buddy and staying with a friend, interrupting the behavior by inviting someone to play or redirecting the situation, speaking up by saying “stop” or explaining that the behavior is unkind, and telling a trusted adult. We are also using Wayfinder Tier 2 lessons to reinforce these important skills and provide additional support. We are excited to see our students putting these lessons into practice by using kind words, respecting personal space, helping others, and including everyone. Together, we are building a positive, welcoming school community where every student feels safe, supported, and valued!

This month, we have been learning about Día de los Muertos! We have been practicing how to find the main idea and key details in an informational passage. We have also been learning new vocabulary words and organizing important information. Next, we will use what we have learned to write an informational essay all about Día de los Muertos.