Parents,

Don't forget we have a field trip Friday, March 22nd.  We are headed to Wakefield High School for a performance of Alice in Wonderland.  We will be back at school around lunch time.  Please make sure your child arrives on time to school so they don't miss the field trip.

Thanks so much!  

Happy Track in!!!

Welcome back,

I hope everyone enjoyed their time off and stayed healthy and safe during our track out.  Today we exchanged Valentines but it was not required.

We have a busy and exciting week ahead. Wednesday we have a Cultural Arts program, Thursday morning we have the creators of our Positivity Project Curriculum visiting to talk to the 3rd-5th grades, Thursday evening we have the Science Fair, and then Friday is our in-house Science is Fun field trip.

In ELA we continue to read from an adapted Peter Pan.  This unit we will be comparing an earlier work from J.M. Barrie to the Peter Pan we are reading.  

In Math we are starting our unit on Area and Perimeter.  We will be relating area to multiplication so continue to work on their multiplication facts at home!  the order for the facts are as follows: 0/1, 10, 5, 2, 4, 8, 3, 6, 9, 7, 11, 12, mixed facts.

We have a quick unit in Science on Force and Motion.  Next Wednesday they will switch to Social Studies with Mrs. Olynick.

You may have noticed that we have started cursive writing.  Please only practice with them the letters that you have seen come home in a small packet.  We currently have only learned the Rockin' Round Letters a, d, g, q, c.  We  will be moving into the next set of letters the Climb and Slide letters this week, l, u, w, t.

I am loving the volunteers for ALL Block Centers in the afternoons.  Tuesdays we have ALL Block from 2:05-3:05 and Thursdays from 1:00-2:00.  Look in your email for a Sign Up Genius from Laura McIlvaine for dates needed.

Thanks so much and have a great week!

Sincerely,
Anne Simmons

Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday!

We will be practicing our writing skills the week of January 22nd with some assignments from the book Martin's Big Words.  You can view the story on a read aloud from Youtube linked below if you need to reread it with your child to better complete the homework.  

Martin's Big Words

Mark your calendars now for this event on Thursday, Feb 21st at 6-7:30pm.  The Extravaganza is a great opportunity for junior scientists and mathematicians to be creative, experience the scientific process and learn something that interests them. This is not a judged event and is open to all grade levels.  Registration should be completed completed online (preferred) or the paper form returned to the PTA mailbox (located in the school lobby) through Friday, Feb 8th. Please refer to the paper form for the full list of rules and guidelines. New this year: The class with the highest percentage of registered students displaying at the event will receive a FREE PIZZA PARTY, sponsored by the PTA M&SE Team!!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed their break and stayed healthy over the holidays.  We only have three and a half weeks before we track out and we will be working right up to the end.  Because of all the weather dates we missed we are still finishing our EL Frog Units from Quarter 2.  It is a mad dash to get that finished this week so we can complete the first unit of Quarter 3 before we track out.  

Report cards will be going home next week.  If you have not sent in your report card envelope from first quarter, please send it in so I can securely send home the new report card.  

January 16th is Spirit night at City BBQ.  You will need a print out with the bar code on it to participate and raise money for the PTA.  Look for that paper in the Wednesday folder next week.

We are starting cursive now!  There is an order to what letter we will be working on each week.  They start with the Rockin' Round letters a, d, g, q, c.  We will try to finish those letters by next Friday, January 18th.  If your child is interested in practicing at home we use the online papers from Kidzone.  https://www.kidzone.ws/cursive/ 

Drama Club will be having an informational meeting on Tuesday, January 15th and then auditions will be held the following Tuesday, January 22nd.  Look for information in the Wednesday folder.  We will visit the classrooms of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades on Track 2 and 3 this week.  Only students who express an interest will be given a permission form to complete and bring to the first meeting.

Our second quarter NC Check In testing date is January 24th.  Please make sure your child is on time that morning.  This is a math test and they will be taking it on the computer.  It should only take about an hour in the morning and then we will continue with our normal routine for the remainder of the day.

Sincerely,
Anne Simmons

I'm so glad to be back after the snow.  I hope everyone had a good time and enjoyed the snow safely.  Please be aware that we have Saturday school as a make up day for Monday and our next make up day won't be until March.  It is extremely important that your child attend school on Saturday if at all possible.  We have fallen behind in our lessons this quarter due to missed weather days already this year.  I will be teaching a full lesson in EL and in Math on Saturday.  Lunch is not served so it is important that you send your child with enough to eat.  We will take a break at some point in the day for a lunch/snack break in the classroom.

Don't forget:

Monday, Dec. 17th is the deadline for their Social Studies float assignment.  We are inviting everyone who can come on the 17th at 2:00 to hear the presentations and view the parade floats for our class and Mrs. Olynick's class.  We hope to finish the presentations around 2:30 but in the past we have run over into our recess time by a few minutes.

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday for Thanksgiving.  We will be very busy trying to squeeze everything in before our next break for Winter.  Please avoid missing any time from school if at all possible.

We have a field trip to the Planetarium coming up on Wednesday.  Please make sure your students have warm coats as we do walk between buildings briefly and I believe the forecast is going to get chilly.  We do not need anymore chaperones for field trips this year as we only go in from the bus to the trip and then right back to a bus to come back to school.  Thank you for all the offers, but there is no space to have any.  

In Math we are working on our multiplication fluency.  If you could work with your student at home on their multiplication facts that will help build their confidence.  You should see a form to sign for their multiplication facts coming home soon.  

In ELA we are still working on Frogs and your child should be reading informational texts when possible about frogs.  I have sent home an invite to Epic Books several weeks ago online to help with the reading but it is not required.  I also sent home a stamina chart for reading without breaks for 20 minutes.  I trust that most can do the reading for 20 minutes but the idea is reading with stamina with no breaks from the page.  They should be able to explain what this looks like on their reading log.

The students are finishing Science this week and starting Social Studies at the same time.  This is due to all the days we missed because of weather.  We were unable to complete the Science but is was time to switch with Mrs. Olynick's class for Social Studies.  They should have come home with a project for Social Studies to create a parade float about their heritage.  These are usually so fun for the class and they are quite beautiful to see.  I am asking Mrs. Wall if we can display them in the Media Center before they return home.  More on those dates to come in the near future.

Thanks and have a great week!
Anne Simmons