It was wonderful to have the opportunity to talk with many of you last week while you
were here for your child‟s report card conference. The staff and I truly appreciate your
support and partnership as we work to provide the very best for your children, both aca-
demically and socially.
While I can hardly believe it, it will soon be time to begin the process of building class
lists for next year. Teachers and our support team work hard to make sure each class-
room has a balance of different types of learners, personalities, and educational needs.
While it appears to have become quite the norm at Atherton Hough for parent teacher
requests to be honored please know that it is not the policy of the district. Each stu-
dent‟s personality, needs and learning style as well as what type of teacher and classroom
structure would suit him or her well are all factors that are considered. While I certain-
ly know that each of you want the best education possible for your child, building a class
is a concerted effort. If you do feel strongly that your child work in a certain classroom
for the next school year please put your request and those reasons in a letter to my at-
tention. All requests will be included and considered in this process, however, will not
be a guarantee of placement. We are fortunate to have such a great partnership between
home and school for our students and your input is valued.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the last day of school is scheduled for Thursday,
June 27, 2013 for students. It will be an early release day.
Please feel free to call, stop in, or email me at [email protected] if
ever you have a question, comment, concern, etc.
~ Robin Moreira , Principal
Bay State Textile Corp is a
Massachusetts based recy-
cling company. Since last
spring, they have been
working with Quincy and
have textile bins located at
each school. Our bin was
consistently overflowing,
so they gave us two bins!
As you begin to plan your
“spring greening” consider
one of the bins at our
school for your unwanted
textiles. These textiles are
recycled into new prod-
ucts so old, worn, ragged,
mismatched items are
gladly accepted! They take
anything as long as it‟s not
wet, mildewed, or has haz-
ardous waste. Spread the
word! The two large
white textile donation bins
are located near the staff
parking lot. The recycler
pays the city $100 per ton
of donated textiles and the
proceeds are shared among the
individual school PTOs. Atherton
Hough continues to have one of the
highest volumes of recycling!
Thanks for your help! You are
helping the environment, the city,
and our community school. A win,
win for everyone!
Have you started your Spring “Greening”?
ATHERTON HOUGH HIGHLIGHTS A P R I L 2 0 1 3
UPCOMING
DATES TO
REMEMBER
Thursday, 4/11
Lifetouch School
Pictures
Monday 4/15
School Vacation
Week
Wednesday 4/17
9:00-12:00
Olindy’s Bowling
Wednesday, 4/24
7:00 pm. PTO
Thursday, 4/25
1:00 p.m. School
Assembly
Wednesday, 5/1
4:00-7:00 p.m.
Louis Fundraiser
Saturday, 5//11
JDRF Citywide
Walk
Tuesday, 5/21
Kindergarten
Screening
Wednesday, 6/5
Spring Concert
P A G E 2
Curriculum Highlights Welcome Spring! The students at Atherton Hough are continuing to make great strides in their learning. The
following are some of the learning activities and events happening at Atherton Hough this month:
Kindergarten – Grade Five Curriculum and Classroom Highlights
Kindergarten students will be visiting the Adams Shore Library this week. Each child will receive their own li-
brary card and will have the opportunity to see all that a public library has to offer. They will also be discussing
the changes in spring and be looking for signs of spring. In literacy, they will be focusing on the letter and
sounds for y, z, and q. They‟ll also be introducing the –ed word family! In math, kindergarteners will be using
manipulatives to represent, count, and write numbers 11-19! Wow!
In first grade, the students are halfway through book four in the Trophies series. They are learning about non-
fiction selections, as well as different forms of fiction such as science fiction, realistic fiction, and fantasy. They
continue to learn many new word wall words and spelling patterns to increase their awareness of written and
spoken words. In math, they will be learning about comparing numbers using the vocabulary of greater than,
less than, and equal to. They‟ll also be exploring the water cycle in science!
Second graders will continue to work on the theme of Neighborhood News in literacy. They‟ll be discussing
their special community, Houghs Neck, and community workers. The students will also be sharing their Mys-
tery Book Reports this month; we are all excited to share these stories from the mystery genre. In math,
they‟ll continue to work on measurement. They‟ve been learning about using non-standard ways to measure
objects such as linking cubes, paper clips, and tiles. First, second, and third graders in Ms. McCarthy‟s class
will be studying weather this month with a focus on the rain, water cycle, and clouds. They‟ll be learning about
time in math.
Third graders have been working hard in mastering their multiplication and division facts. These operations are
sure to help as they begin their unit on measurement and working on conversions and comparing measure-
ments. Fourth and fifth graders are preparing for the Mathematics portion of the MCAS by extending their unit
on fractions.
Fourth graders will also a begin a unit on the Titanic and will be exploring a variety of texts including historical
fiction, realistic fiction and nonfiction passages. Students will complete various variety assignments and respons-
es throughout this unit.
MCAS
Students in grades three, four, and five have been participating in the English Language Arts test sessions of the
MCAS test. All students have been showing great effort and motivation as they work on these assessments.
Thank you for your help in ensuring that your child is prepared, to school on time and ready to learn each and
every day.
The Mathematics test sessions will be administered to the third, fourth, and fifth graders during the beginning of
May. Fifth graders will also be taking the Science, Technology, and Engineering MCAS in May. A testing calen-
dar will the specific dates for each grade level will be sent home in a few weeks. If you have any questions on
the calendar and/or administration of the MCAS please do not hesitate to contact me or your child‟s classroom
teacher.
Atherton Hough PTO—Stay involved!
P A G E 3 A P R I L 2 0 1 3
This school year the PTO has
funded a schoolwide Magic
Reading show, 4 laptops, 4
mimio teach bars, transporta-
tion for 3 field trips, books for
each classroom library and
much more! Thank you for
your generous time, money,
and enthuasiasm in making our
fundraising events possible!
Our first Louis pizza night was a
success. We will hold this
event next month and Louis will
offer a revised menu just for
Atherton Hough customers.
This will surely help with the
speed of the service and be a
great time! More information
to follow but save the date of
Wednesday, May 1st for dinner!
Please also watch for infor-
mation on Atherton Hough‟s
first bowl-a-thon! It will take
place on Wednesday, April 17
during school vacation at
Olindys! Please join us!
The PTO offices for the
2013-2014 school year are
available for consideration;
President, Vice-President,
Secretary, Treasurer, and
Fundraising Chairperson.
Please talk with a current
officer or me, if you have
any questions, and may be
considering working toward
one of these roles. It is a
great way to stay involved
and active in our PTO.
Teamwork is working together
to complete a task. Students
are encouraged to think of
themselves working in their
class as working on a team.
Learning how to trust each oth-
er, support each other and de-
velop good team spirit. By
working together, sharing solu-
tions, and problem solving to-
gether makes anything easier…
and more fun! It‟s much better to
do something as a team rather
than on your own. Students dis-
playing good signs of team spirit
will be recognized at our next
assembly, April 25th. Please join
us!
For the month of February and
March teachers and staff have
focused on the character trait,
responsibility Students show-
ing good signs of being respon-
sible were recognized last week
at our monthly school assem-
bly. See below! Throughout
April we will be working with
the character trait, teamwork.
Great Atherton Hough Citizens
The following students were recognized at our March assembly for being responsible!
Kindergarten– Joshua Dunne, Mya Gray, Madilyn Glynn, Zoe Luggelle, Riley Sullivan
Grade One– Lito Breslin, Nathaniel Campbell, Sofia Hurley and Kate Lyons
Grade Two– Kyle DeBoer, Cameron Griffin, Brynn Toler and Max VanTassell
Grade Three– Jania Astacio, Sophie Cerone, Henry Dang, Maggie Fay and Chase Quigley
Grade Four– Brianna Bueler, Kylee Flemming, Ryan Laroche, Megan MacNeil, Andrew Peterson,
and Kaylie Sullivan,
Grade Five– Megan Beck, Candace Chan, Charles Culata, Kaitlyn Fox, Vinny Joyce, Will McMillen,
and Amber Tran
Sam and Jack Schaaf were
surprised to see Mrs. Qualter
deliver their pizza!
Read Across America
Throughout the month of March in celebration of Read Across America, students in grades K-5 have been work-
ing together trying to „Read Across America.” Students have been looking for connections in the books they
read to one of the states. They‟ve been reading in their class, at lunch, in the library, at home… everywhere!
Our large U.S. map is filled with different colored pushpin signifying the states we‟ve “read!” by grade level. Stu-
dent Council members are happy to report that we have covered the map! This has been a great way to support
reading at all grade levels as we attempt to cover the country!
Another fun way we celebrated reading in
March was having classes work together and
decorate their exterior classroom door based
on a favorite Dr. Suess story. Students then
had guided “walking tours” through our
school to see all of the Dr. Suess inspired
masterpieces! They look so good we don‟t
want to take the displays down! Here are
some of the students favorites… Based on
the Dr. Suess book, The Lorax. Miss Pinch‟s
fourth and fifth grade door on the left and the
students in Mrs. April‟s third grade class
chose Horton Hears a Who! as their
inspiration!
We did it! We read across the United States of America!
Meet our fifth grade team; Kenneth Reichel and Teresa Quinton. Ms. Quinton is the math focus teacher while
Mr. Reichel focuses on English Language Arts and Science. Ms. Teresa Quinton has been teaching for over twenty
years. Before coming to Quincy Public Schools, she had worked in Weymouth and Hanover schools as well as
for the Science Museum, MWRA, and Quincy Historical Society. Her favorite part about teaching fifth grade is
working as a team. Seeing the students all pull together in their learning makes her proud to be a “learning
coach.” When not with her team at Atherton Hough, she enjoys her time with her son, Paul, and their dog, Ru-
by! She loves to travel, garden, and cheer for the Red Sox!
This is Mr. Reichel‟s eighth year teaching. He began his teaching career in Quincy as a long term substitute for
Kim April! His favorite thing about teaching at Atherton Hough is reading with his class and sharing all of the ad-
ventures a great book can take a reader on. He is looking forward to the start of the Red Sox baseball season.
He also enjoys playing guitar and reading.
Miss Katie Pinch also teaches fifth grade at Atherton Hough. She is the
classroom teacher for the LDC II citywide special education program.
She was featured with the fourth grade staff in our February newsletter.
We are fortunate to have a great team working with our fifth grade
scholars!
Robin Moreira, Principal
Katie Connolly, Assistant Principal
Jeanne DeBoer, Secretary
Phone: 617-984-8797
Fax: 617-984-8653
Thank you for your help as we continue to
keep safety a priority at Atherton Hough.
When at the front door please be prepared
to state your name and purpose for being at
the school. Once you have signed the
“Visitor Log” you will be given a visitor
badge. Please be sure to wear this badge
and keep it visible at all times. When signing
out, be sure to return the badge to the of-
fice. Thank you again for your cooperation!
ATHERTON HOUGH
SCHOOL
GRADE FIVE IN THE SPOTLIGHT!