Little Lancers Lowdown
“Where Learners are Grown with Pride!”
Dear Little Elba Lancer Families,
I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season with your family and friends. Even though so many of you may have had to change plans and were snowed in, I hope you were safe and warm during the blizzard! It was definitely a different Christmas for sure!
We had a great December here at Elba Elementary. There were so many opportunities for our students to show kindness to others and explore holiday traditions, both new and old. I especially loved ending the week before Christmas with the annual Christmas Sing-A-Long! What a great way to get ready for the holiday season.
As we continue to learn and grow together, I continue to be excited about all we are accomplishing together for our children. As you will notice in each newsletter, we continue to celebrate our collective success this school year. As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns!
With Lancer Pride,
~Jessica
This week in Character Education with Mrs. Carlie, our Little Elba Lancers will be revisiting cafeteria expectations. Mrs. Carlie has been reminding students that eating in the cafeteria is just like eating at home and at a restaurant.
We would love for you to remind your child(ren) about the cafeteria expectations at home. Be on the lookout for classes and grade levels who are excelling at cafeteria behavior!
Congratulations to our December Lancer Leaders! These students demonstrated being respectful, responsible, and safe and were nominated! Keep up the good work!
As winter weather continues, please be sure to send your child in with appropriate winter weather clothing, including jackets, hats, gloves, and boots (when needed).
CBT Practice Test
This month, students in grades 3-6 will be participating in a state-wide Computer-Based Testing (CBT) simulation. This is required for any school district that is participating in CBT for the New York State Assessments in the spring. This simulation is only to test our network functionality; there is no record of student names or scores assigned. It is simply to ensure that our students can access the proper software and that our buildings can handle the technology needs required for CBT.
UPK
Our littlest Elba Lancers had a full month of fun (and learning)! They learned more sounds and letters during December. Volunteers were able to help during the Reindeer games and activities, as well as for the First Day of Winter fun!
Kindergarten
Kindergarteners are busy learning how to write sentences! They learned about how to begin sentences with capital letters, put spaces in-between words, and punctuation at the end! You should see their growth! They continue to learn more letters and sounds to become amazing readers! In math, our kindergarteners have learned how to count and add to 10! They learned lots of ways to make 10. They are also learning positions (in front of, behind, next to).
December also brought lots of holiday fun! Check out some of the pictures below!
First Grade
First graders continue to work hard learning to be readers! Students learned more letter patterns and are building the stamina to read longer! In math, our first graders learned about making equations equal with addition and subtraction!
At the end of December, the first grade celebrated the holidays with a week full of fun! Students designed a gingerbread person, wrote about their gingerbread person, and then were able to work together to build Gingerbread houses. Throughout the week students worked on math problems that matched the theme of the day, did lots of writing, and read several stories, all to match the theme of the day. What a great holiday week!
Second Grade
Our second-grade teachers did an amazing job preparing the second-graders to sing at the Day Habilitation Center in Elba. Students learned holiday songs and caroled! What a great job spreading kindness and Christmas cheer!
Second graders continued to read non-fiction texts and write about informational topics. During phonics, students are learning about word patterns that may be tricky, since sometimes letters do not make the sounds we expect.
Third Grade
In December, third graders researched an interesting topic of their choice. After researching, they wrote about their topic, created a poster, and even presented it in front of other grade levels! I even heard many of them answering questions asked by others! Our third graders worked very hard on this! We were all quite impressed!
At the end of the month, the third-grade participated in a sock exchange! Who knew socks were so much fun!
Fourth Grade
Our fourth graders had quite the month with their elf, Jingles! To start the month, Deputy Young helped to “investigate” the mischief caused by Jingles. Jingles made a huge mess and an investigation was needed. A full report was created and then shared back with the class! Throughout the month he also required me to visit their classroom, taste testing some "yummy" dark chocolate - but it was not yummy! Jingles also gave Deputy Young and Mrs. Cramer a treat - a brownie! However, it was actually a BROWN letter E, not a treat! What a jokester he is!
In December, fourth graders learned about the physical features and resources of New York - which I loved teaching when I was a fourth-grade teacher!! They also worked on creating opinion writing pieces about an ugly sweater they decorated.
Fifth Grade
In math, fifth graders wrapped up a unit on place value, including reading and writing decimals to thousandths. They learned how to change from decimals to fractions too! At the end of the month, students reviewed adding and subtracting decimals. Students had to "rent items for a day" including their chairs, desks, and Chromebooks. Miss Mackee gave students an allowance of $60 and students had to determine how much money they had left to spend on items like pencils, getting a drink etc. It was all in good fun and pretend, however students were shocked on how quickly their money is spent on necessities!
In writing, fifth graders wrote about Christmas in other countries. Their writing has improved so much since the beginning of the year. In social studies, they learned about European exploration in social studies.
Sixth Grade
6th graders worked on creating clay pieces in art this month. Check out their creativity!
In ELA, students had the opportunity to research a World Cup country. As a group our sixth graders had to design a poster and present it to the class, working on their presentation skills. Mrs. Rosales and I were lucky to be their guest judges!
Their presentations were great, as students tried hard not to read off their notes or the poster! They also worked on making eye contact with the audience and speaking at a volume where everyone in the room could hear them. There were groups who "dressed" up to showcase their country and some that even brought in props and food! Great job sixth graders!
Dates to Remember
1.9.23 - BOE Meeting 6:30pm
1.16.23 - No School - MLK Jr. Day
1.30.23 - No School - Superintendent Conference Day
1.30.23 - BEST Meeting
Yearbook Orders
Yearbook order forms were sent home in December. Order may be placed online using the link below or using the form sent home with students. All orders must be received by May 1, 2023.
Attendance
If your child will be absent from school or tardy, please contact the Health Office at 585-757-9967 ext. 1240. You can leave a message any time of day or night. A written excuse must be sent when the child returns from an absence.
Parent Drop Off/Pick Up
A few reminders:
- Please do not exit your vehicle as it holds up the line of other drop-offs.
- If you need to help your child out of the car, please park in the parking lots and walk them up.
- Do not drive around other vehicles dropping their students off.
- Please encourage your child to get out of the vehicle themselves and go right onto the sidewalk.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
