Central Primary School
January Newsletter
A Note from the Office...
Please remember that winter is upon us and we will have students go outside for recess if weather is permitting and the real feel temperature is at 20 degrees or higher. It is helpful if students have winter gear such as hats, gloves, and scarves in their bookbag if needed.
In the event a snow day is called at Central School District, we will follow the quarterly schedule. For example, if a snow day is called on a group one day, students who are part of group one, will have on-line learning to participate in. Group two students will complete the school work assigned to them from their previous attendance day. Teachers will communicate expectations the morning of the snow day.
Important January Dates to Remember:
- PTO Meeting: Thursday, January 7th at 7:00 p.m.
- School Board Meeting: Thursday, January 14th at 7:00 p.m.
- No School, Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Monday, January 18th
- End of 2nd Quarter: Friday, January 29th
Please remember to keep your students home if they are exhibiting any COVID related symptoms. See the Central School District 51 COVID-19 Guidelines below.
PTO News-Mrs. Stephanie Redlingshafer, PTO President
Social Emotional Learning Corner- Miss Gail Massa, School Counselor
Miss Massa focused her December lesson on conflict resolution. In classrooms, students practiced using “I-Statements” as a way to solve their conflicts with others in a calm and respectful way. There are three parts to an “I-Statement”:
“I feel”: the student states how he/she feels.
“When You”: student states what the other person did to make him/her feel that way.
“Could you please…”: student tells the other person what they could do to make the situation better. This could be as easy as asking for them to stop or asking them to apologize.
Encourage your child to practice using “I-Statements” at home! The more practice, the better :)
Miss Massa will focus her January classroom lessons around friendship. Students will review what it means to be a good friend and the qualities they look for and value in their friendships.
Information refresher! Please read this valuable article that explains the role of an Elementary School Counselor: The Essential Role of Elementary School Counselors
Intervention Corner- Mrs. Kris Mertens, Math Interventionist & Mrs. Breanna Guse, Reading Interventionist
Our 2nd round of STAR Benchmark began this week. Students should have taken their Winter STAR tests this week. Any students who were absent will make up their tests next week. Those reports will come home January 25th for Group 1 students and January 26th for Group 2 students. As always, a letter will be attached explaining the report. If you have any questions, however, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher.
Math Activity for Fun
Build it Big or Build it Small-Place Value activity:
Kids each need a dice and some scratch paper or a whiteboard. Tell the kids whether they are trying to make a larger or a smaller number. I usually start big but after 5 minutes, switch it to small for variety. Kids make dashes on their paper/whiteboard to indicate the place value of the number.
So,if your child is in Kindergarten I would work with 2-lines for the tens and ones. 1st grade could work on tens and ones and work their way up to hundreds. 2nd grade can work with 3 lines to represent ones, tens, and hundreds. Finally, 3rd graders cans work with 4-digit numbers.
Kids take turns rolling dice the same number of times as the dashes. Each time a person rolls, he/she must think logically to place the number shown on the dice, on the dashes.
For example, if you are working on a large number and roll a six, it would go on the largest place value space but if you were working on making a small number, it would go on the smallest place value space. Once kids have placed a number, it can not be moved. The person with the highest (or lowest, depending upon the game's goal) wins a point.
Reading Tips
What should I ask my student when he or she is reading?
One of the most common questions I have been asked by parents is what kinds of questions to ask their child after they read. There are all kinds of questions that you can ask, but here is a list of some possibilities:
What was your favorite part of the story and why?
What do you think would happen if the story kept going?
Why do you think the character chose to do that?
How did that make the character feel?
What happened in the story?
Who was your favorite character and why?
What was the problem in the story? How did the problem get solved?
What did you learn about ___________? (This is a great question for nonfiction text!)
Any way that you can get your child talking about the story is great!
A little Note from Music Class...
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break! I’m so excited to be back to school because we are now having music class in the new music room!! Students have assigned seats for class and are over 8 feet apart during music class. With students spread out a bit more, we can begin singing together again! I think the students are just as excited about this as I am! During the month of January we will continue learning the fundamentals of music with a focus on our voice.
Kindergarten is learning that our voices can be used in many different ways. They will also focus on differentiating between high sounds and low sounds.
First grade is learning about how the voice functions using breath and our vocal chords. They will also begin learning about the music staff.
Second grade is learning about proper breathing technique to create beautiful tone quality. We will also learn about how music moves to create melodies.
Third grade has a different focus this month. They are learning about the Classical Period of music. They will learn about the composers and what sets classical music apart from other styles of music.
I’m looking forward to this month of learning and don’t forget to check the Music Google Classroom for more supplemental activities.
-Mrs. Cunningham