Eagle Heights Family Newsletter
March 2023
Coming Soon!!
Last year's Boosterthon fundraiser purchased a new swing set as well as a sun shade for the playground. They are ordered and we hope they are installed in time for students to enjoy them this Spring! Thanks to you all!
Boosterthon School Fundraiser!
We are again having a Boosterthon event at Eagle Heights Elementary. The Boosterthon team will be at Eagle on March 7 to kickoff our 8 days of fun. The theme this year is Grand Land ADVENTURE! Our Eagle Boosterthon will conclude with a student Fun Run on March 15th! These additional funds will be used to support student and staff programs at Eagle Elementary.
You can register your student before kickoff begins on 3/7 for a chance to win a $25 local restaurant gift card giveaway. Registration will open on February 21st and more details will be provided.
We completely understand if your family is not in a position to financially support the school right now. You can still be involved by simply SHARING about our fundraiser with friends and extended family. Sharing IS supporting! All students will participate in the Eagle Fun Run, regardless of financial participation. We appreciate your support more than you know. More details to come as we get closer to kickoff! Here are some key dates to remember as we get closer to the event:
• REGISTRATION OPENS - 2/21: Register on MYBOOSTER.COM
• Fundraiser Kick Off - 3/7
• Event Day (Eagle Glow Run) - 3/15
PTO Meeting!
Class Placement Letters
Check your child's backpack for a Class Placement Letter. Please fill it out and return to your child's teacher by March 30th.
For Your Information
It has been brought to my attention that there is some concern about the character, Huggy Wuggy. Here is a clip of a newscast that shares some more information.
MAP Testing Starts April 24 for Grades 3 - 6
Students in 3rd through 6th grade will be taking the MAP (Missouri Assessment Program) beginning April 23rd. The following grades will test the following days:
- 3rd Grade - April 24 - 28
- 4th Grade - April 27 - May 4
- 5th Grade - May 4 - May 11
- 6th Grade - May 1,2 and May 8 - 10
In addition to encouraging students to get plenty of rest and eat healthy breakfasts, we also like to give them snacks and brain treats on the days that they test. Sign up below if you would like to donate items to be given out to students during MAP testing.
News from Encore!
It’s hard to believe that we’re heading into March. The innovation lab has been busy with projects and fun! This month’s spotlight is on Kindergarten and the 6th grade robotics class.
Your kindergarten students just finished learning about 2D and 3D shapes as it pertains to building. They wrapped up the unit by building their own 3D pyramid. You might have seen some half eaten creations come home! We made them out of sticky heart candies and toothpicks. We have moved right into storybook STEM. We will be reading popular children’s books and doing build challenges from the book. Right now we are working on the 3 Little Pigs. Your student will have to build a house that holds up to the “Big Bad Wolf!”
As a 6th grade parent or guardian, you may know that your child gets to choose their encore class. This quarter my 6th grade encore class is a robotics and programming class. The students are excelling at creating their video games, programming robots through manmade courses, creating paper circuits, and more. Some students have created their own project and want to program a robot to give a tour of our school. When the project is complete, the students are hoping to attach a GoPro and put the tour on our school website. This is the first group of students to attempt this project, so stay tuned!
As always, thank you for the donations. Our supply closet is LOADED with recyclables and cardboard. We won’t need those types of donations for a while now (possibly even the rest of the year)! As always, reach out to me via email or phone call with any questions or concerns. Thompsoa@smithville.k12.mo.us or 816-532-5959 Ext. 7628
Mr. Venner - Music
The good times keep coming in the music room at EHE!
KG and First grade will be preparing for their Music Night performances at the EHE Gym on May 4 with KG performing at 6 pm and First Grade performing at 7 pm. I will send detailed information closer to the performance date.
Second Grade will be preparing for their Music Night performance at the EHE Gym on April 26 starting at 6. The classes will each have a 20 minute block to teach parents about all the wonderful things we study and learn in the music room. I have not decided in what order they will present yet but will send detailed information soon.
Third and Fourth grades will be learning to read music on recorders with short breaks to play in drum circle and mallet madness. For the final quarter Fifth Graders will be working in small groups to create recording projects that we will share out digitally. Sixth graders will be exploring bass, drums, violin, electronics and guitar. There is a small group of the 6th graders who have also been creating and teaching music games to groups of first grade students (15 at a time). They would make great teachers some day.
Ms. Aeschliman - Art
Hello Eagle Heights Families! Here a quick update on what students have been up to lately in the art studio: PreK students painted large hearts in pairs and we stuffed them with paper scraps and stapled around the outside to make 3D hearts out of them. We also painted rainbows and added a portrait of ourselves and “I am an Artist” saying to our masterpieces. K has had a fibers center open up! I have been teaching them the running stitch and whip stitch using lace up cards. 1st grade created clay ladybugs last month and we painted them. We also started a fibers project with wrapping yarn around popsicle sticks to create turtles. 2nd made clay penguins & also began a cardboard owl project if they wanted. 3rd -5th started the month doing Chiefs projects! 3rd also began practicing a running and whipstitch on a laminated paper and then moved into stitching on burlap to create a wall hanging - these are in process for many of them still. 4th- 5th grade was introduced to animal cardboard weaving as well. Sixth grade 2D Art has been working hard on earning badges for their choice work in the 2D art game! It’s a wide variety of projects going on all at once from drawing to painting to stitching!
March is Youth Art Month (YAM). We will have some artwork on display at the Smithville Public Library along with the other Smithville schools. Feel free to stop in at the library to check out the art display during the month of March!
I am needing some materials for projects so if you have any of the following items you’d like to donate, please send it to school with your student in a bag marked Art.
Here’s what I am needing:
Small wood pieces - nothing larger than 6” x 6” -dowels, wood shapes, knobs, etc.
Stuffing/fiberfill
Buttons, gems, small embellishments for sculptures/sewing projects
Thank you for ALL of your continued support! You are an amazing school to work for & I am blessed to have your creative student(s)!
Mrs. Rice - Library
The Eagle Heights Library is in full competition mode in March! We are celebrating Read Across America Week with many great books in our March Book Madness Tournament! Students in K-5th grades started reading and evaluating 16 new picture books the last week of February, and voted on their favorite eight to move forward. We will keep narrowing down the competition to find out who our final March Madness winner will be. Our Pre-K had their competition of 4 titles and had a great time choosing their favorites. Our older students in grades 3-5 also have a middle-grade novels competition, so they have had the opportunity to learn about 16 brand-new novels. The discussions about books they can’t wait to read have been so positive and wonderful to hear!
Book Fair News
Our book fair is coming soon! Eagle Library will host our next fair on April 3-7th, from 8 AM-6 PM Monday, April 3 through April 6th and 8 am-3:30 pm Friday, April 7th. Thursday, April 6th, is also our Eagle Student Showcase and PTO Movie Night, so please stop in while you are visiting with teachers and check out our fair! Please note this IS NOT a BOGO fair like we have had in past years.
I’d also like to offer a unique opportunity for reading at home provided by our new book fair provider. Literati is a company that curates monthly reading boxes for your child at home. Each month has a new theme, and books are chosen based on interests and age levels.
Give Kids a Head Start
The literacy benefits of personalized book boxes are similar to those of book fairs: parents have found that a monthly choice of just-right books helps their kids build vocabulary, confidence, and a greater love of reading. Empowered readers have an early advantage: 75% of Literati members say their monthly book box has strengthened their child’s interest in reading, and parents report an average reading time increase of 39 minutes per day. At Literati, we hope to provide the spark that leads to a lifelong love of reading.
How It Works
Kids find Literati Kids deliveries exciting: it’s like getting a book fair in a box every month!
Each book box is personalized to a child’s interests and reading level, helping kids build vocabulary, confidence, and a love of reading.
Each monthly box includes five just-right books, personalized stickers, frameable artwork, and surprise extras.
Literati’s children’s literacy experts find and share the gems you otherwise might’ve missed, filling boxes with book discovery magic.
10% of every dollar spent on Literati Kids will always go back to your school. Now the whole school benefits when you fill your home with books!
You can visit this website to learn more about the program or sign up today! https://literati.com/kids/schoolbox/
HAPPY READING
Mr. Parker - EHE Physical Education
With the end of the school year only a few months away, it is time to start thinking about Field Day at Eagle Heights Elementary. This year we will be holding Kindergarten-4th grade field days on May 18th at Eagle Heights. Our rainout/ makeup date will be on the 19th. K-1st will have their field day in the morning from 9:30-11:30am. 2nd-4th grade will have their field day in the afternoon from 12:30-2:30pm. It will be held in the gym, back parking lot area and side grassy area of the school and we will allow for students to rotate through several different stations.
On May 23rd we will be taking our 5th and 6th graders over to the HS track for a combined field day with Maple and Horizon Elementary. This is something that we did our very first year Eagle Heights was open. The past few years we have not been able to have a combined field day due to a variety of different reasons (pandemic/weather). We will be busing students to and from Eagle Heights the morning and afternoon of the 23rd. Students will have the option to bring their own lunch from home or purchase a sack lunch from OPAA. More information will be sent out regarding transportation times and lunches at a later date. Also, our makeup/ rainout date for this field day will be on May 24th.
I will be creating a SignUpGenius form for parent volunteers. Please be looking for this sheet if you would like to help out. This should go out in the next month or so. Email me at parkerr@smithville.k12.mo.us if you have any questions.
Feed Northland Kids Spring 2022-2023
Feed Northland Kids is a unique organization focused on addressing weekend nutrition and hunger by providing healthy, kid-friendly foods for school-age children, living in the Northland of Kansas City, MO.
The Feed Northland Kids food kit program requires sign up. To receive a food kit, families MUST sign up by the dates listed below for that month's distribution - NO EXCEPTIONS. ie, December 30th for January 12th distribution. Families must sign up for each month needing assistance - one sign up equals one month of food kits. Families must have a child enrolled in Smithville School District to participate.
- Sign up by December 30th for January 12th distribution
- Sign up by January 27th for February 9th distribution
- Sign up by February 24th for March 9th distribution
- Sign up by March 31 for April 13th distribution
- Sign up by April 28th for May 11th distribution
Families of 4 or less will receive 4 kits. Families of 5 or more will receive 6 kits. Each kit typically contains food for a week which may include two canned soups, two canned vegetables, two canned pastas, two boxes dry mac and cheese, a canned tuna, a canned chicken, a jar of peanut butter, a breakfast cereal, granola bars, a loaf of bread, and a main meal.
Important Upcoming Dates
March 6th - PTO Meeting - see above for virtual link
March 7th - Boosterthon Kickoff
March 13-17 School Board Appreciation Week
March 15 - Boosterthon Event
March 17th - Fly Day / End of 3rd Quarter
March 20 - 24 SPRING BREAK