Little Indian Updates
September 2017
Vero Beach Elementary School Calendar of Events
We need you!!!!
We are Looking for volunteers for Fall Fest that will take place on October 26th from 5:30-7:30.
Whether you help run a booth, create a trunk or treat for our students to go to, or help chaperone the students who are dancing, we can use your support to make it a memorable experience for our little Indians. Students will be invited to wear their costumes (Please make sure they are school appropriate) and celebrate the fall festivities.
Please call 805-889-0789 or call the front office to sign up to volunteer.
A Message from the Chiefs
It’s been an eventful and academic-driven start to our year at Vero Beach Elementary! Our Little Indian engineers and architects deeply explored how we SLIDE (Science, Literacy, Inquiry, Design, and Engineering) into Innovation with our school-wide unit on "Dreaming Up!" This is just a preview of what is in store for our students this year.
Thank you so much to the families who came out to our Open House and Movie Night! It was a huge success, and the flash mob dance to "The Greatest" was a welcome addition to the fun. Hopefully you had an incredible experience meeting teachers and hearing about our school-wide expectations at Open House. We look forward to a year of excellence! There are some reminders that we want to ensure we go over:
·This year, we are using Tuesday News Day folders to communicate with our families. We hope this will streamline information and make things easier for our Little Indians.
· Please remember that we follow the school district’s elementary unified dress policy. Please look at the district website if you have questions.
· Student drop-off begins at 8am and students must be picked up in the afternoon by 3:45 pm. Extended day services are available to accommodate the schedules of our families that will need pick up past 3:45.
· Finally, student-led conferences will take place the first week of October. Please stay tuned to your student's Tuesday News Day folders for more information.
Thank you for your continuous support as we continue to work toward that “A” status!
Sincerely,
Cynthia Emerson & Rachel Moree
Lead Learners and VIBE Visionaries
Upcoming Events at VBE
Friday, October 6 - No School
Tuesday, October 10th- PTA fundraisers due.
Tuesday, October 17 - SAC Meeting (4pm) and PTA Meeting (5pm)
Thursday, October 26 - Fall Festival and Trunk or Treat from 6-8pm
Thank you to everyone who came to our COFFEE TALK!
Your child has nightly reading homework. What does that mean for parents?
- Choose the right time. Try to find a time when your child will cooperate, when neither of you are feeling rushed or too tired. The best time might not be right after school as some play time might be needed first. Find a time that works best for you and your family.
- Sit side by side with your child. Have your child read aloud to you
- If your child is a beginning reader, encourage them to use all the resources of the book, including pictures.
- Do not just "tell" words as the child reads. Instead of calling out the word that your child is stuck on, ask them the following questions: What part do you know? What strategy can you use to figure out this word? If your child is still stuck, of course, assist them.
- Do not stop reading aloud to your child. Just because your child can read on his or her own, does not mean they don't still enjoy hearing stories from their parents or caregivers. Adults can read such a great variety of stories and expose children to a huge amount of vocabulary that kids cannot access on their own. Remind your kids that reading is interesting!
Source: Cult of Pedagogy
Practice makes perfect!
Sight words, which are a list of common words that appear on almost any page of text, are an important part of learning to read and becoming a fluent reader. Our students in grades K-1 work hard to learn these new sight words, and our 2nd graders benefit from extra practice with them to increase their fluency. By the end of Kindergarten, VBE's expectation is for our students is to know 100 words, and our first graders are expected to know all 220 sight words. Your child's teacher can provide the list of words for you to make flash cards to practice. Make a game out of it! Play the Memory Game by making 2 sets of the cards. It might be a good idea to keep a second set in the car for long rides. Choose a card and write a sentence using the word. Have your child trace the words with a crayon, chalk, or even with their finger. Let them come up with their own ideas to make learning sight words fun.
STEM at Home
See science everywhere. Parents can take opportunities to ask "What would happen if …?" questions or present brainteasers to encourage children to be inquisitive and seek out answers. Children need to know that science isn't just a subject, but it is a way of understanding the world around us.
Ideas of how to have science discussions at home. How do things change? What do you notice? Why some bugs look different than others? What causes rain? Where did the puddles go?
Math at Home. People of all ages love to play games that are fun and motivating. Games support a school-to-home connection. Parents can learn about their children’s mathematical thinking by playing games with them at home. Start a Family Game Night at Home!
Great games to play are: Go Fish, Uno, Tic-Tac-Toe, Chutes and Ladders, Trouble, Bingo, Candy Land, Sorry, Life, Monopoly, Monopoly Jr. and Battleship.
Playing games is an easy way to spend enjoyable time with our children.
Out of Field Teachers
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Updates from 2016-2017
Also, as you know, we are SO PROUD of our 2 letter grade jump last year, from an F to a C! This year, we are working hard to move "Up, Up to an A!"