Forest Lake Newsletter
November 2018
“Our students win, when we work as one!”
- Dr. Paul Nehrig - Principal
- Mr. David Sanford - Assistant Principal
Dear Panthers,
Happy November! We are moving quickly through the second grading, towards the Thanksgiving and winter holiday season. This can be a busy time for all, so let’s work together to make sure our students can focus on their learning while still enjoying this special time of year. It’s important to try and maintain a balance in our lives, even though it can be challenging.
One saying I repeat often when talking with students is “Be kind, work hard, have fun!” If we all strive to do those three things, we can’t go wrong. This can also be a stressful time of year, with busy schedules, holiday shopping, visiting relatives, stretched budgets, the list goes on and on. When we get stressed, we sometimes forget to “Be kind” and take our frustrations out on other people. I want to remind all of us to treat everyone kindly. We all belong to the same Forest Lake Elementary Community that we describe in our mission statement, and everyone – students, teachers & staff, family members, volunteers – all deserve dignity and respect. If there is a concern or challenge we need to solve, let’s focus on working together for a solution. You may have heard the saying “People can disagree without being disagreeable.” Respectfulness towards all is our expectation, so let’s all remember to “Be kind”.
November features many important events, so please remember to check our online calendar, listen for the Sunday night Panther Updates, and look for information sent home with your student.
On Monday November 12th, schools are closed to honor Veteran’s Day. Please remember the brave men and women in uniform who served our country and protected our freedoms. Take a moment to thank a veteran for their bravery. If you are a veteran, please accept my thanks on behalf of everyone at Forest Lake!
Have a great November, Panthers, and remember – “Our students win, when we work as one!”
The mission of our Forest Lake Elementary community is to provide
a learning environment where all students can achieve academic success.
Sincerely,
Dr. Nehrig
GRADEBOOK
School Advisory Council
Deltona Star Student of the Month - September
Box Tops for Education
PTO NEWS
Happy fall, Panthers!
Thanks to everyone who came out to our 4th annual Spooky Story Night - we changed things up this year & had a blast! Special congrats to PTO member Diane Dickinson for receiving October’s Volunteer of the Month Award. Thanks for your hard work, guidance, and dedication to our students.
New in November
We have started a “Giving Tree” for classroom supplies! Located in the front office, the leaves of the tree contain supply wishes from every teacher at FLE. We encourage you to take a leaf or 2 next time you are on campus & help our teachers keep their classrooms stocked with the basics. We are also collecting used printer ink cartridges for recycling. Look for details coming soon on how you can safely dispose of your empty cartridges and earn money for our school.
Our fundraising season kicks into full swing this month, with “No Collar For A Dollar” day on Wednesday, November 7th. Send your child to school with $1 and they can wear their favorite non-uniform (school appropriate!) shirt. PTO will be hosting various “non-fundraisers” like this throughout the year as a replacement for those annoying & expensive catalog programs. We are always looking for new ideas on simple ways we can make a big difference in our school, so if you have a suggestion, we’d love to hear it.
Our November general meeting will take place on Tuesday, November 13, at 5:30 PM in building 4 room 10. We will be discussing new fundraising ideas, as well as planning our holiday events. Everyone is welcome!
Math night at Publix is Thursday, November 15, beginning at 5 PM. Come & show off your skills with a Thanksgiving themed math hunt! Flyers will be going home with students soon.
Finally, we are in need of volunteers for our every other week visits from Kona Ice. The schedule for this month is:
Thursday 11/1 - 3rd through 5th
Thursday 11/15 - K through 2nd
Thursday 11/29 - 3rd through 5th
Have a great month!
PTO
Contact info: panthers1pto@gmail.com
Twitter @ForestLakePTO
Facebook: Forest Lake Elementary PTO
Grade Level News
KINDERGARTEN
Thank you to all the chaperones that joined us at the Pumpkin Patch. We had a great time. Also, thank you to all the parents who came to our first Parent Party. We really appreciated you joining us so early in the morning.
We are very busy in kindergarten. In ELA we are asking and answering questions about key details in a text with support. In Math we have finished learning about 2D and 3D shapes. We are now working on adding and subtracting concepts using counting strategies to 5. In Science, we learned about the Day and Night Sky and now we are using this to learn about Size and Distance. In Social Studies, we are recognizing the importance of celebrations and national holidays as a way of remembering and honoring people, events, and our nation’s heritage. Be sure to be on the lookout for our upcoming events in December: gingerbread houses (we will need volunteers.) and Polar Express Day. Have a safe and wonderful November break and Thanksgiving. We appreciate and are thankful for all you do for us.
FIRST GRADE
Happy November! First grade is planning a field trip to The Museum of Arts and Science on December 10. Consent forms and money need to be turned in no later than November 26. If you’re interested in being a chaperone you must have a current volunteer form on file. No siblings will be allowed to attend the field trip.
Please make sure that your child memorizes all sight words sent home. They will need to have mastered the first 125 words by the holiday break. Continue to read daily and practice retelling stories read. Support retelling a story in sequence using transition words (first, next, then, last). Students should also be working on memorizing their math fact to 20. It would benefit them greatly if they knew their doubles facts and how to make a ten. Review homework and check for neatness and accuracy before turning it in. Thank you and enjoy your holiday break.
SECOND GRADE
We are rapidly approaching the holiday season and it is very important that we stay focused and keep working hard towards our academic goals. Here is what we are learning:
ELA: Finding the main topic of a text, asking and answering questions, and finding evidence in the text.
Writing: Drafting an opinion piece as well as crafting solid sentences and paragraphs with appropriate punctuation and capitalization.
Science: Weather safety
Math: Place value and money
Social Studies: Immigration topics
Don’t forget to have your child visit educational websites at home and read every night! Also, we look forward to seeing everyone at our upcoming Parent Party on November 13th at 7:30am until 8:30am in the media center. Don’t forget to RSVP! Thank you for your support!
THIRD GRADE
Hello Parents and guardians,
We had a wonderful turn out at our first ever morning parent party this month. Thank you to everyone that came and made it so successful!! We have another parent party coming up at the end of November. We are shooting for November 29th, be on the look out for more information coming soon. We hope to see more panther parents there.
Third grade is diving into line plots and measurement in math, states of matter in science, opinion writing in writing and in ELA/Social Studies we are doubling dipping in both subject areas with mapping skills and regions of the United States.
Please make sure to continue to practice multiplication and division facts at home nightly!! It does make a world of difference later on when we begin to solve multi-step problems. We are also encouraging every student to grab a book and read nightly. As always thanks for all that you do.
-3rd grade
FOURTH GRADE
Fourth grade just wrapped up our math unit on Multi-Digit multiplication and division. We have shifted our focus to fractions and will then cover measurement. In ELA, we are reading about Native Americans from Florida as well as studying Native American Traditional Literature. In Science, we have just begun our unit on Matter.
Our first Parent Party will be held November 8. Also, be on the lookout for information regarding the Social Studies Fair coming soon!
FIFTH GRADE
5th grade has a had a very successful first half of the second quarter. A special thanks to all parents who attended 5th grade’s parent party! We had a blast watching your students teach you about how they are learning math! We had a blast at the planetarium and are looking forward to going to the Young People’s Orchestra concert on November 5th.
This quarter we will be covering exciting topics like colonial settlement, addition and subtraction of fractions, historical relationships, and matter! At home please continue to work on basic multiplication. 5th grade has sent home yellow multiplication flashcards for students to better help themselves prepare for the rest of math curriculum. In addition to these cards, please don’t forget about resources such as IXL or games like Multiplication War! Thank you so much for your collaboration in helping prepare your students for the future because our goals become possible when we work as one!
SPECIAL AREA NEWS
PE
Coach Boyle’s classes are working on their football skills for the month of November. During the last week of November, 3rd through 5th grade will be doing a football test on throwing and catching.
Coach Albano’s class will be will be doing their last week of tennis from the 5th through the 9th. 3rd through 5th grade will be graded on tennis skills, while k-2nd will be graded on tennis participation and facts.
The week before Thanksgiving break, both Coach Boyle and Coach Albano’s classes will perform the annual cross country run.
The PE Coaches wish everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving break!
ART
Hello again from the Art Room,
We are wrapping up our projects from the 1st semester and moving on to other exciting projects!
Our Pre-k and Kindergarteners are learning about the color wheel and are creating “color monsters”
Our 1st graders will be learning about Piet Mondrian and primary colors and will be creating an art piece using glue and chalk pastels.
Our 2nd graders will be creating fun and whimsical cityscapes based off the artists John Rizzi and Vincent Van Gogh.
Our 3rd graders will be creating a beach scene inspired by the art of Robin Mead and Heather Brown while learning about one of our elements of art: Line.
Our 4th graders are wrapping up their lesson about pointillism and starting a new unit on warm and cool colors and will create a warm and cool zentangle tree.
Our 5th graders are finishing up their 1 point perspectives and starting their zentangle still life paintings based off of the artist Paul Cezanne.
Our Art Club is creating oversized flowers with glue and chalk pastels based off the artist Georgia O’Keefe.
MUSIC
5th grade is attending the Young People’s Concert on November 6th. At this concert they will be listening to the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra play live!
Chorus and Orff Ensemble will have their Winter Concert on Thursday, December 13th at 6:00 PM in the cafeteria. All are welcome to attend.
STEM
STEM has been an exciting place already this year. As we enter the second nine weeks we started our unit on STEM challenges. These single day challenges are designed to activate critical thinking skills in our students while also fostering teamwork and perseverance. Students have been challenged with making the longest paper chain from a single sheet of construction paper, building a boat from aluminum foil, and the last weeks of October learned about spiders and made their own spider webs. In STEM Club we have completed some engineering challenges including building a structure from spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. Thanks to a generous grant from The FUTURES Foundation, Inc. we will be exploring bridge design as the year progresses. https://www.finditfunditflorida.com/volusia/grant/30072/
In the LEGO Robotics Club we have just started to build our robots and will begin the coding process soon.
We thank everyone for their continued participation throughout the year and encourage you to check out our other funding opportunity at https://www.finditfunditflorida.com/volusia/grant/30070/
MEDIA CENTER NEWS
Students have been learning how to login to the computers at school using their personal username and password. This new login procedure allows students to go directly into their VPortal account while at school. However, if they are trying to access their VPortal account at home, they will have to use a different username. Their username at home would start with their alpha ID followed by @vcs2go.net (ex: 1abcd@vcs2go.net). Their password is still their 8 digit birthday (MMDDYYYY).
To get to VPortal, go to www.myvolusiaschools.org and click on VPortal in the menu choices.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher or Mrs. Wagenhauser.
Parents are encouraged to visit our FLE media center. We are open to parents before and after school. Parents may check out up to three books at a time and keep them for a week. Please stop by and visit us. We look forward to seeing you.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Volunteers and Business Partners
If you need to a volunteer form, please click here for the online application in English or here for Spanish. Schools will no longer have paper applications on site. If you or somebody you know needs to fill out a new online application but do not have access to a computer, there will be a computer available in our Parent Resource room.
Once applicants have been approved or denied, they will receive an email. Applicants may also check in with our front office to check on their status.
School Information
Website: http://myvolusiaschools.org/school/ForestLake
Location: 1600 Doyle Road, Deltona, FL, United States
Phone: 386-575-4166
Newsletter
Please look for our monthly school newsletter on the first Monday of every month. If you know of a parent that did not receive an email for this newsletter and they would like to receive one, please have them send their email address to Mrs. Wagenhauser at vdwagenh@volusia.k12.fl.us . You may also access the newsletter on our school website at http://myvolusiaschools.org/school/ForestLake .