Road Runner Update
December 2022/January 2023
A note from our principal, Dr. Ayala
I want to share this link with you. It is a TED Talk by Rita Pierson. She is an educator and taught most of her life.
She talks about being a champion for our kids.
Any of us can do that no matter our role here at school.
Kids need a champion. Someone to give them a hug and ask them how they are doing. Ask them if they need help. Greet them with a smile and tell them they can do it.
Please watch this. It is worth your time.
A Look Back on November...
October Students of the Month
Behavior Expectations
MT Spelling Bee
Our winners who will be moving on are
1st Place Ximena Solis
2nd Place Aaliyah Aragon
3rd Place Abigail Carr
Quiz Bee
1st Place: Ximena Solis, Yanzhie Boquecosa, and Noah Jaramillo
2nd Place: Nathaniel Saltclah, Stephen Mathews, and Emmalee Mathews
Great Job!!!
After-school Gardening Club at Mt. Taylor Elementary School
Here are some things that have been happening during the Gardening Club. I have sent students home with a PowerPoint on “Introductions, Garden Rules and Expectations.” Students have been clearing out the greenhouse by weeding, moving soil and laying out landscaping material. We expect to begin planting our winter crop before Winter Break and again after Winter Break. This will provide us with crops we can eat and crops we can let seed.
I also have a list of handouts that I would like to start giving to students to keep that apply to what we will be learning while in the garden. I am going to start handing them out when we return from Winter Break. I will be distributing their Garden Journals this week. Their Garden Journals are for them to write down their wish list of things they would like to grow, record what they planted and the progress of the plants. We will also be using our garden journals to log the weather, temperatures and eventually the phases of the moon.
Some of the other activities we will continue to do are things like campus clean up, watching videos related to gardening, make plant identification cards, take plant identification walks, learn about beneficial insects of NM, how to collect and send plant species for disease diagnoses, making our own pH sticks and how to measure the pH of the soil and differences between genetically modified seeds and heirloom seeds. At the end of the winter season, we will be collecting our seeds, packaging them and distributing them to gardens and gardeners in the community.
Pickle Sales
Upcoming Events in December...
Quarter 2 Assessments - Dec. 5th to 16th
Pizza 9 Fundraiser - December 7th
Christmas Program - December 13th
Students will be preforming Two Christmas Songs during their pull-out time in the Library.
5th Grade - 9:10
4th Grade - 9:55
3rd Grade - 10:40
2nd Grade - 12:05
1st Grade - 12:50
Kindergarten - 1:35
EXPLORA - December 14th & 15th
No School - Winter Break From Dec. 19th to Jan. 4th
Quarter 2 AR Reward - January 6th
December Menus
Students of the Month
News from our Classrooms...
Pre-K
Kindergarten
1st Grade
Happy Holidays!
Mrs. Jaramillo, Mrs. Knott, and Ms. Kristy
2nd Grade
3rd Grade
*Math- In math we will be finishing up our Multiplication and Division unit and will then be starting unit 4 Multiplication and Area. We will continue to practice multiplication and division in our Reflex program as well, the students are doing great with it and seem to be enjoying it. Please continue to work with your child at home so that they can continue to progress on mastering their multiplication and division facts over winter break.
*ELA- We will begin a new unit titled, Adventures in Light and Sound. Your child will be reading about light sources, shadows, mirrors, reflection, refraction, lenses, and color. Students are also learning to distinguish their own point of views in ELA.
Students have a little less than three weeks to make their 2nd quarter A.R. Goal. Please continue to encourage your child to read his/her books at home too.
*Science- We will be learning about Light and Sound in conjunction with ELA. and Social & Group Behavior in Stemscopes.
*Social Studies- We will be continuing to learn about the Ancient Roman Civilization and Christmas.
*Students should be reading for at least 15-20 minutes daily.
4th Grade
Mr. Jon Science and Social Studies Class
Kudos to Mt Taylor Quiz Bee Team for being held as champion at the recent district-wide competition. We are so proud of you.
Ms. Emee Math Class
Mrs. Willcox ELA Class
Students in 4th grade ELA are working on vocabulary and compare/contrast.
The poetry journal was used for identifying vocabulary from poems and comparing and contesting two poems.
5th Grade
Math: This month in math, we are finishing up second quarter standards with multiplying decimal numbers and dividing three digit numbers by two digits. We will be testing on all second quarter standards starting December 12th. It is the last week before break, but please make sure all students are here that week to finish up testing. Let's finish strong!
Reading: The 5th graders were able to improve their reading comprehension by understanding comparison and contrast, chronology and cause-effect relationship. The students were able to explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanza's fit together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama or poem. The 5th graders did activities to describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
Science & Social Studies: Students have started more engaging activities in the classroom. Currently in both subjects, students are divided into groups to do research and then present in front of the class on specific topics. For Social Studies, students are researching different explorers who discovered and settled in the American continent and parts of Africa. For Science, students are researching the different planets in the solar system. Expect more of the same student engagement activities moving forward in the coming new year.
All of fifth grade will be making ornaments to decorate the City of Grants Christmas Tree!
6th Grade
Remember the Reindeer
Hang up the stockings.
Decorate the tree.
Presents placed perfectly.
What a sight to see!
Milk and cookies are out,
Kids are tucked in tight
There's so much to do
On Christmas Eve night!
Before you take a snooze
And dream of the next day,
Don't forget some food
For the friends who pull the sleigh!
You see, reindeer need snacks, too
A little love and fun
To help Santa through the night,
And get the important job done!
-Anonymous