Hello Wonderful Jenkins Families,

We are heading into the fourth and final quarter of the school year! Our students will continue to learn to be outstanding leaders and will be expected to continue to take charge of their learning and behavior. Please review behavior expectations with your students as we enter the warmer months of the year.

As a reminder, we have launched our Idle Free School Campaign. Please make sure to do your part by turning off your engine when you come to Jenkins. If you are waiting in the car rider lane for your child, we ask that you remain idle free until dismissal begins.

We are looking for parent volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering at school, please contact the front office at 571-343-5580 or your child’s teacher to find out about volunteer opportunities at Jenkins.

Thank you for your continued partnership as we continue to make Jenkins Elementary the best place to be!

Sincerely,

Xanthe McFadden, Principal

John D. Jenkins Elementary School is a Leader in Me school. We strive to nurture and inspire a respectful and responsible community of life-long learners and leaders. We also strive to teach our families about the 7 Habits of a Happy Kid and what you can do at home to continue using the 7 Habits.

Habit #3 - Put First Things First shares that we should work first, then play. When putting first things first, your child should do the things that he/she has to do before doing the things that he/she wants to do. Your child should also stay focused on what he/she is doing, minimize distractions, and regroup if he/she gets off task. Lastly, your child should spend time on things that are the most important.

Here are some things that you can do to show Habit #3: Put First Things First At Home

• Talk to your child about the word procrastination and what it feels like to put things off until the last minute. Then, talk to your child about how good they feel when they are prepared.

• Ask your child about some of their most important jobs or responsibilities. Have a discussion about how they can ensure that they do these things first before doing the things that they want to do for fun.

• Have your child think of some new chores that they would like to add to their list. Let them surprise you by adding one of those chores to their list.

• Help your child to figure out which part of their homework is the hardest to do. Then have them start with that part first.

• Have your child think of something they have been putting off for a long time, like cleaning their room, pumping up the tire on their bike, or fixing that broken dresser drawer. Then have them take care of that right now.

The Student and Family Support Team, which includes the professional school counselors, school psychologist, and school social worker, would like to share some practical activities to help your child manage emotions and navigate social situations.

As a Leader in Me school, we want our students to practice the 7 Habits of Happy Kids at home as well. Habit 7 -Sharpen the Saw is about taking care of your mind, body, and soul. Here are some ways to help with this habit at home:

· Try Something New: Take a walk in the park, solve a puzzle, try a new restaurant

· Comfort Zone: Make a place at home to be creative, color, read, or relax

· Words to Use: “What makes you feel happy?” Have you sharpened the saw today?”

We hope you enjoy doing these fun activities with you child. Please feel free to contact us.

-The Student and Family Support Team

Happy Spring everyone!! We hope you all are looking for some much needed sunshine and warm weather. The Jenkins PTO has a number of upcoming events and would love your support. We hope you can attend our next PTO meeting on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 at 6:00pm to learn more about the exciting upcoming events.

– The Jenkins PTO Board

Hello JJES,

Each week in classroom guidance all students engage in fun activities that help them learn about the 7 Habits of Happy Kids. In February, many of our students in grades 2-5 had an opportunity to view the virtual production of Hugs and Kisses, which was performed by the Virginia Repertory Theater. The performance taught students how to recognize and report uncomfortable situations. Our 4th grade students will begin the Safe at Home Safe Alone lessons starting in April. These lessons will teach students personal safety skills.

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is now requiring that students in grades 4 and 5 create an Academic Career Plan Portfolio. This will allow students to explore and plan a career path. We are also looking for parents interested in speaking to our students on Career Day in June. If you have a job or hobby you would like to share with our students, please send us an email.

Ms. McNairy Grades K-2 mcnairba@pwcs.edu

Ms. Scott-Bell Grades 3-5 scottjb@pwcs.edu

Spring has sprung and you may be looking for some math activities to do at home with your child. Consider doing this activity:

How big is a thousand?

Is 124 a big number or a small one? That depends on what number your child compares it to. Boost their number sense with this activity.

Make a number line.

Let your child stretch yarn across a room and tie the ends to separate chairs. Then, have him write 0 and 1,000 on two index cards and clip them to opposite ends of the yarn.

Estimate markers.

Suggest that they write 250, 500, and 750 on other cards. They can place them along the number line, estimating a quarter of the way, halfway, and three-quarters of the way from 0 to 1,000.

Fill it up.

Take turns giving each other a card with a random number like 124.

Where does it go? Even though 124 is a lot if your child is counting pennies or puppies, they’ll see it’s not so big when they compare it to 1,000!

Of course, this activity can be adjusted (with higher or lower numbers) based on the level your child is currently working on. You may even change to Fractions or Decimals for our older students. You can also do this while outside, maybe on the sidewalk, or you may do it on a blank piece of paper. Whatever you choose to do, showing your child that math can be fun and engaging while also being educational is important.

Yours Mathematically,

Mrs. Savage

We love to read and write at Jenkins ES! Good readers and writers make even better leaders. Earlier this month, Ms. McFadden dressed as Leprechaun McFadden and read How to Catch a Leprechaun to all PreK-5 classes. Many classes tried to catch her by making posters and leprechaun traps, but none were successful. Maybe next year!

In April we will take time to review all that we've learned this year. There are many great resources to help your child review what they've learned. Feel free to ask your child's teacher for suggestions. We want to keep their love of Literacy alive during these upcoming Spring and Summer days.

As we end Quarter 3 and begin Quarter 4, students will begin their study of poetry by reading and writing a variety of poems. They will then participate in an author study where they learn about an author's life, what motivates them to write, and their many books.

The last few weeks of school, students will have the opportunity to listen to JJES Masked Readers. They will need to listen carefully to each story and all the clues. It will take a lot of focus and observation to guess each Masked Reader correctly.

Excited to help continue your child's learning at home? Check out some activities below to build the school-home connection!

*When reading poetry with your child, notice the sensory words. What can you feel, taste, smell, see, or hear that the poem is describing? Does it create an image for you?

*Does the poem rhyme or not? If it does rhyme, what are the words that make it rhyme?

*What is the tone of the poem? Is it silly and makes you laugh or is it sad and makes you cry? Does the author want you to feel or think a certain way?

*Take time to practice writing rhyming poems and non rhyming poems. Poems can be any length, any style, and any shape. Writing poetry allows your child to share their feelings, thoughts and even questions with others.

*Do you have younger, non-elementary school children? Listen to nursery rhymes or sing songs! Add some puppets made from socks or just your fingers to make it even more fun.

*Did your child read a book at school or home that they absolutely love? Go online or check with the local library to learn about other books by that same author. See if you can find similarities and difference between the author's books/stories.

Enjoy connecting with your child through literature. The best readers are also the best writers!

Sincerely,

Ms. Vanzetta and Ms. Wilson

JJES Reading Team

The library has been busy teaching students how to check out books on their own. The library is open daily for checkout from 9:30-3:30. We checked out 4,967 books the past two months and hope students are loving reading these books at school and at home. Parents remind your child to return their books when they are finished so they can pick new ones out to read and enjoy!

During the last two months we have learned about two online resources that are available to students to use to support their learning at school and at home.

Pebblego.com is a great online website. Students can find out facts and information about science and social studies topics, animals, and biographies. Pebblego.com is also available to students to use in Spanish. During the months of January and February students have accessed Pebblego.com 3,231 times. Pebblego.com can be visited by the website or through your Cleaver account. If you need the username and password, please visit the library canvas page, or email me for this information.

World Book Online is an online encyclopedia. Students can visit World Book Online on any Canvas page or through their Cleaver accounts. Students will click the balloon icon and have access to articles on a variety of topics. If you need these articles translated into another language, click on the gear in the right-hand corner of any article and click translate text.

Thank you, parents, for supporting the Scholastic book fair. The school raised funds for new books to distribute to students this year and next year. We also raised money for new books to be purchased for our library that all students can enjoy.

If you need any support with online resources or book needs, please reach out to me.

Happy reading,

Jackie Youngblood

youngbjc@pwcs.edu

Art class has been full of clay, paint, and glue with our past several units. Fifth grade artists created portrait vessels from clay, and then glazed their ceramics. Currently, fifth grade is finishing a radial design scratchboard and will begin weaving next in art class. Fourth grade classes are creating a plant-inspired nature bowl from clay. Once fired, these will be tempera-stained to create a colorful finish. Third grade is busy finishing their Aboriginal Dreaming-inspired paintings, using the back end of brushes to create hundreds of paint dots in warm colors, designing their pages with lines, circles, and patterns. Clay coil vessels are up next for third grade.

Second grade artists were inspired by artist Lisa Larson and created ceramic birds. Once fired, these were painted with tempera stain and glitter paint, producing vibrant and beautiful sculptures. First graders just wrapped up their Alma Woodsey Thomas tile painting, using hundreds of color tiles to create a mosaic over concentric circles of paint. They are designing their fish templates and beginning their clay unit now in art class.

Kindergarten has been cutting, building, and gluing while creating their Pop Art hearts collage and complementary color monsters , practicing safety and responsibility with materials. We are painting with tempera and trying out non-objective art presently in art class.

Please remember to wear old clothes on art days; we use many messy (and fun) materials in class.

Please click on the document below for summer enrichment opportunities.

Ms. Weldner

As the warm weather starts to make an appearance, physical education will be heading back outside! Student will begin a new rotation of 2 weeks having class outdoors, followed by 2 weeks in the gym. It is still chilly on occasions, so we ask students to bring their jackets until it stays warm consistently.

Outdoors we are learning all about soccer and the skills needed to play this fast pace sport. Our kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students will be working on the skills of dribbling, passing, and shooting a soccer ball. Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will be mixing those basic skills with game play skills like offense/defense, strategy, and endurance.

Indoors we are learning about volleyball and the skill of volleying. Our kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students will work on keeping a balloon or beach ball up in the air repeatedly using different forms of volleying (bumps and sets). They will be learning to adjust their power while throwing and underhand serving in order to get a ball over a tall net. Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will be focusing on bumps/sets/serves over a net, working with team mates to get a ball over the net using volleying techniques, and slowly putting all of this together in games of newcomb and volleyball.

We are looking forward to a fantastic last 9 weeks of school that includes a pre-SOL “Spring Fling” day on April 18th filled with fun and active activities outdoors during all encore classes. Be on the lookout for more information to come on our Field Day event in June.

Coach Bowman and Coach Thomas

Physical Education – John D Jenkins Elementary

My name is Mr. Carlton and I’m your student’s Music Teacher at Jenkins Elementary School!

We have been having a blast in music and I enjoy sharing my love of music with your students.

Kindergarten through 2nd grade students are learning movement and how it relates to music. We have been learning games and songs and have been adding choreographed movements and following steps given by our teachers as well as adding our own movements to a song, as we practiced earlier in the school year. Our 2nd Grade students have been and will continue to focus on movement concepts like smooth/sharp, high/medium/low levels, body parts for movement, form, shapes, straight/curvy/zigzag, relationships such as scatter/together, and mirroring.

We will soon begin learning about instruments around the world!

Students in grades 3-5 are composing melodies. We have been writing rhythms, giving them note names, playing them on instruments, and transcribing them onto Chrome Music Lab. Check out Mr. Carlton's Twitter page for student examples! Your student’s composition can also be accessed in Canvas if they want to share with you!

Next, we will be exploring Musical Careers and how music might be used in our daily lives.

Thank you for supporting music at Jenkins. If you have any questions, you can email me at CarltoAA@pwcs.edu

Sincerely,

Mr. Anthony Carlton CarltoAA@pwcs.edu