Principal's Corner
Proud Patriot Families,
It’s hard to believe that the holiday season has come and gone, and we are more than half-way through the 2022-2023 school year. Time seems to be passing quickly. Before we know it, we will be headed into the summer months.
During the month of December, all students completed their Winter STAR Reading and Math Assessment. In addition, students in 3rd – 5th grade completed their Winter FAST Reading and Math Assessments in January. All of these scores have been uploaded to the Parent Portal. You can view them by logging into the Parent Poral and selecting Test History. If you have questions or would like further information regarding your child’s performance, please reach out to your child’s teacher. If you do not have access to Parent Portal, please stop by the front office with your photo ID to obtain your PIN number. You can then find instructions for setting up your account by going to the Polk County Public Schools webpage and searching Parent Portal. The Parent Portal provides you with up to date grades, attendance, and much more.
Our Proud Patriots continue to live up to our school motto of “A learner today, a leader tomorrow.” Students and teachers both continue to diligently work on the rigor of the instructional standards through engaging lessons and tasks. Students are learning new academic information every day that they are in attendance. Attendance is critical to student success because every minute of every day counts.
Please continue sending your child to school with a fully charged iPad in the protective sleeve. As well as encouraging them to read for 20 minutes each night. We are working to earn 21,000 AR points this year, so READ, READ, READ!
Thank you for all of your support in making this the most successful year at Carlton Palmore!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Dardis
Grade Level News:
Kindergarten students are becoming reading experts. The students have mastered the sounds of the alphabet and can read more than ninety sight words. In addition, the students are becoming better writers. They are able to write and illustrate their own ideas independently. You can help your child improve their reading skills by practicing their sight words with them daily and encouraging them to read their AR books. The sight word list can be found in the weekly Kindergarten newsletter that is sent home each Monday. In math, we are learning about numbers in the teens and how to count to 100 by ones, fives, and tens. By spring break, we will begin learning about 2d and 3d shapes. We will identify and compare shapes that are found in the real-world and learn now to join shapes together to create a new shape. We are continuing to practice addition and subtraction daily. In science, we are enjoying our hands-on experiences as we investigate plant and animal characteristics.
1st Grade:
First grade has been working hard learning new skills every day! In reading, our students are learning long vowel spelling patterns and using context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words. They continue to identify the topic and important details in a text as well as use text features to understand the text better. First grade has transitioned to reading passages independently on their reading tests. You can help them by having them practice spelling words and sight words daily to help build their reading fluency. Have them practice their reading skills by reading their AR books to you each night and ask questions about details in the story to check their understanding. In math students are learning how to add and subtract numbers within 100. They will learn how to find 1 more, 10 more, 1 less, and 10 less of a given number. They will also add two-digit numbers with one-digit numbers and subtract a one-digit number from a two-digit number. Students will use a variety of strategies to solve these problems including using number lines and hundreds chart. Remind students to charge their tablets each night and to keep reading!
2nd Grade News:
In Quarter 3, second grade scientists will be comparing and describing changing patterns in nature that repeat themselves such as weather conditions including temperature and precipitation, day to day and season to season. They will be investigating by observing and measuring the Sun's energy directly and indirectly as they recognize the heat from the sun causes an increase in temperature on a thermometer. They will be able to explain that the more direct the sun's rays, the greater the increase in the temperature. For example, the temperature at the equator is caused by the Sun's direct rays while the indirect rays of the sun on the poles makes the temperature lower. The students will be able to explain that air is all around us even though we can't see it. They will recognize that air takes up space and air in constant motion is called wind. Wind can be a great source of great power. It can be harnessed to create energy or it can cause storms that change our lives.
In reading, students will continue to focus on understanding how to find story elements such as character, setting and events. They will be determine the author's purpose for writing the story. For example, the author may write the story to inform, persuade, or entertain the reader. Students are learning to understand a character's perspective by analyzing how a character changes his thoughts, feelings, or actions about a topic from the beginning of the story to the end. In addition, students are learning how to research topics using online resources like the World Book for Kids. Currently, we are doing a research project on Antarctica and finding the amazing facts of how animals like the Woodell Seal, the Emperor Penguin, and the Orca survive in the Antarctic. Second graders know that text features like the title, captions under pictures, diagrams, and bold words will help them build background knowledge about the topic so that they can create their own authentic essay.
Our math wizards have used their detective skills and a strategy called CUBES to solve two step word problems. The CUBES strategy show them a pattern of how to attack word problems. First, they CIRCLE the numbers. They learn that not all numbers are important in the word problem. Sometimes the creator is trying to add more information than they need so they have to be careful choosing the numbers. The U in the CUBES strategy means to underline the question. There are key words in a question that help them determine what they are supposed to do to the numbers. For example, if the question says " difference", it means to subtract. However, "in all" would mean to add. Students have learned about fifteen different words and what they mean so they can successfully calculate the answer. E stands for eliminate the extra information that does not help you answer the question and the S means to solve. Concepts that we will continue working on will be equations, place value, as well as addition and subtraction of one, two, and three digit numbers with and without regrouping.
3rd Grade News:
Greetings from Third Grade! Congratulations, we have officially survived 2022, bring on 2023! If you have not reached out to your students’ teacher about their STAR scores, please do so. Our third graders have been working hard in Math on how to find area and perimeter, as well as practicing methods on how to multiply and divide whole numbers from 0 to 12. Be sure to continue having your students practice those multiplication facts at home daily. The more practice they have, the more confident and comfortable they will become. In Science, we are learning about earth structures and more specifically, the sun! In Reading we are really starting to grasp central idea, character perspectives and how a character develops throughout a story. In the upcoming weeks, we will be working on identifying the author’s purpose and the author’s claim. Please check our weekly newsletter, make sure to have your student read 20 min daily to help earn those AR points, and sign their agenda daily.
4th Grade News:
Fourth Grade has been busy learning since we have been back from winter break! We just completed our second round of the reading and math FAST testing as well as the district writing assessment. If you’d like some updates, please get with your child’s teacher.
Reading has been a spiral of benchmarks. We have really been hitting on text structures and text features, central idea, and author’s perspective. Comprehension is an ongoing skill that we work on daily and your child should be reading nightly to enhance it. As a fourth grade, we are working hard to meet our AR goal to please continue encouraging your child to take those AR tests! In Science, we have been enjoying hands-on experiments, researching, and learning. We have studied multiple concepts this year including phases of the moon, constellations, characteristics of plants and animals and so many more. We are looking forward to energy transfers, earth structures, experimenting with matter and others to come! In Math, we have been working on adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators and multiplying fractions by a whole number. We will be moving into decimal fractions so please continue having your child practice with fractions at home. Also, remember to practice your math facts nightly! As usual, please be sure to continue to check your Class Dojo page and/or weekly newsletters to stay informed on everything that is happening.
5th Grade News:
5th Grade has been very busy since returning from winter break! We just completed the FAST testing in both reading and math as well as our district writing assessment.
In math, we have been working on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. We will be moving on to multiplying and dividing fractions. Please continue to encourage your student to keep practicing those multiplication facts, which are necessary to ensure success with most math skills/standards. Science has been fun with so many hands-on activities, investigations, and experiments! We have been working on the solar system and will be investigating static electricity and electric circuits, conductors, and insulators in the upcoming weeks. We have been practicing our comprehension and vocabulary skills in reading. The focus has been text structure and features, theme, central idea, author’s point of view/perspective and summarizing texts. Fifth grade has been diligently working to meet our weekly and quarterly AR goals. Please keep encouraging your student to read nightly and to take those AR test to earn points and meet those individual AR goals. As always, be sure to continue to check your class Dojo page and/or weekly newsletters to stay informed on everything that is happening in 5th grade.
Upcoming Events:
February -
10th - Electronic Interim Reports
15th - SAC Meeting 8:30 am
17th - Student Early Dismissal at 12:30 pm
20th - President's Day Holiday - No School
23rd - Multicultural Night 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
March -
3rd - $2 dress down
7th - KG/1st Grade Field Day 9:00 am - 11:00 am
8th - 2nd/3rd Grade Field Day 9:00 am - 11:00 am
4th/5th Grade Field Day 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
10th - Student Early Dismissal at 12:30 pm, End of 3rd 9 Week Grading Period
13th -17th - Spring Break - No School
28th - Electronic Report Cards Distributed
30th - Spring Fling Carnival
Leader in Me 7 Habits Spotlight
Habit 5 - Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood:
Seek first to understand, then to be understood means that it is better to listen first and talk second. By taking the time to listen to another person, you reach a higher level of communication. Teaching habit 5 to young children is done by first considering their age and development. Yound children find it difficult to understand another's point of view. This habit is best approached by introducing listening as a skill that should be practiced. Learning to listen whithout interuppting and learning to listen with your ears, your eyes, and your heart will help children build a foundation for Habit 5.Habit 6 - Synergize:
Synergize is when tow or more people work together to create a better solution that either would have thought of alone. It's not your way or my way, but a better way. Talk about the equation: 1+1 = 3 (or more). How is that possible? 1 person + another person = 2 ideas + many more than either of them would have thought of alone. Synergy is taking good ideas and making them better by working together. Discussions can focus on other examples. of synergy in nature, history, literature, and personal experiences. For example, synergy happens in nature when a flock of geese heads south for the winter. They fly in a V formation because due to the updraft, the entire flock can fly father than if each bird flew alone.
