Families, welcome to another week! Hopefully, your family is enjoying the weekend snow fall! I have told my students they are welcome to wear snow boots and bring a change of shoes in case they don’t want to wear them all day; that way, they will have them for recess and after school as well. We certainly try to avoid wet socks and feet all day!
Reminder: there is no school on January 15 (Monday) for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and then beginning Tuesday, January 16, we will start middle-of-the-year testing. The students will complete their acadience test (reading) as well as IReady placement assessments. If you have any questions at all, please let me know.
Dates to note:
Jan 15 – No School (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
Jan 16 to 19 – Middle of the Year Testing
Jan 26 – Dollar Dress Down
Jan 31 – Parent-Teacher conferences and Early-out (1:10)
Feb 1 – Parent-Teacher conferences and Early-out (1:10)
Families, I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season! I just can’t believe we are about halfway through the school year and already into 2024. I appreciate all the lovely gifts I received! I can safely say I’ve used each and every one of them already! I’m looking forward to starting school tomorrow and hearing about everyone’s time off!
Note that Middle of the Year (MOY) acadience testing will start on January 16th. They have been working so hard, and I can’t wait to see how much they have improved since the beginning of the year. As always, the best thing to strengthen their reading skills is to read at home daily.
We are off school Monday, January 1st, and will start fresh and ready to go Tuesday! In math, we are continuing to work with multiplying fractions. In ELA we will start a new unit (Unit 4) and will be discussing and reading about what people can do to bring about positive change.
We are on the countdown to Christmas break, with lots of learning and fun along the way! A few items to note: Friday is a PAJAMA day, and we will have our holiday party then, too! I’m still looking for parent volunteers to help that day; please let me know if you are available.
Please check the lost and found by Friday for any outerwear (box in the main foyer) and lost water bottles (in the lunchroom). Any items not claimed will be disposed of/donated over the break.
Lastly, your students are absolutely amazing and wonderful! I’m so grateful to be their teacher.
The time has come for us to select a yearbook cover for our 2023-24 elementary yearbook. We will be holding a Yearbook Cover Contest to select two students whose artwork will be featured on the front and back cover of the yearbook. This year, students can choose to do artwork that is created digitally or hand-drawn. Each entry must be brought in on a white 8 ½ X 11” paper, and include the school name along with the student’s first and last name in one corner. We will be looking for entries that represent this years theme which is “BE GREAT!”
Entries are due by Friday, January 5, at 8:30 am.
List of digital art programs suitable for children: Adobe Fresco, Gimp, Krita, Artweaver Free, ArtRange, Sketchpad, Astropad Studio, Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, Vectr, FireAlpaca, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Paint, Procreate, Tux Paint, Drawing for Children.
Can you believe there are ONLY two more weeks of school this year? The time has flown by! We will be having a Winter Party on December 15th. Please find the signup link below if you can help!
This week in class we will be reviewing everything we have learned so far this year in math, including all decimal operations, powers of 10, and long division and multi-digit multiplication using the standard algorithm. We will also be taking our first Rise Benchmark test. This test is formative in nature and is in preparation for the summative testing we will complete at the end of the school year. In science, we are learning about properties of matter. In ELA, we will be practicing summarizing and determining the theme of a text while asking what we can learn from different cultures. Please let me know if you have any questions about the benchmark testing or any other class happenings.
This is to inform you that we will be participating in RISE benchmark testing in the coming weeks. These tests are formative in nature, meaning they will let me know how your student comprehends everything we are working on, identify any potential learning gaps, and familiarize them with the RISE testing format. They are not as intensive as the end-of-the-year RISE testing. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for your support,
Happy Parent-Teacher conference week!! Conferences are on Wednesday and Thursday from 1:30-8pm, please note these are also early out days for students. Please make sure you have reserved a time, I will be unable to see you if you pop in without making an appointment prior. I look forward to meeting you to discuss your amazing 5th grader! Signup link below if you have not done so yet.
The Halloween parade will be on October 31st, beginning at 9:00 a.m. The route is in the email sent by the administration last week. Make sure you and your child are also aware of the costume guidelines below:
Costumes should be modest and without blood or gore. Students are welcome to paint their faces and wear Halloween masks, but masks will only be worn when directed to do so by the classroom teacher (e.g. during the parade, when a class picture is taken, etc). No one should enter the school wearing a mask. Weapons and anything that depicts violence are not allowed on school property (knives, guns, swords, spears, etc.). If you have questions about costume accessories, please contact us. Just to reiterate, no blood or gore, either depicted on the costume or in makeup, is allowed.
The last thing I want to have to do on a fun Halloween day is to have a student have to call home, or make changes to their costumes. I do ask for your support with this.
Our class Halloween party will begin just after morning recess at 10:40 with games and activities until 12:00. Then cartoons, snacks, and clean up from 12:00 – 12:20. At 12:20 the students will go to recess and lunch and early out at 1:10pm. Please let me know if you have any questions. If you would like to volunteer there is a spot still open.
There is a teacher work day (no school for students) on 1 November.
Our plans for ELA and math are attached below, as always please let me know if you have any questions at all.
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Posted by Sara Beal
