Crooked River Elementary School
April 2017 Newsletter
Accelerated Reader Bicycles are Back!
The Accelerated Reader bicycles and gift card prizes are back for spring! Every time a student passes an AR test they fill out an “I passed an AR test” ticket and drop the ticket into a box in the media center. On Thursday, May 18th the lucky winners will be drawn live on the CRES morning news show. The more AR tests a student takes, the greater his/her chance of winning, so happy reading!
New Facebook Page!
Pre-K News
March was a very eventful month for Pre-K! We had several guest readers for Dr. Seuss week, including our first grade siblings! We were visited by our friendly, yet mischevious leprechaun, and he even brought us cookies and a gold coin! We also had a fantastic Kite Day with our fourth grade reading buddies helping out! Thank you Mrs. Jones for sharing them with us. April is going to include our Pre-K Easter egg hunt, which is sure to be a big hit! We are getting closer and closer to being Kindergarten-ready and we are excited! We are counting down the days down in I-Pod, so come on down to get the latest count!
What's Happening in Kindergarten?
Kindergarten will be very busy over the last two months of school. Please check your child’s folder daily. We will be sending home letters about a Mother’s Day Tea, Donuts with Dad, our spring musical and field day. We are still working hard in our individual classrooms with reading and math. In math we are learning adding and subtraction, as well as going over things we have learned throughout the year. In science we will be learning about living and non-living, mothers and babies, and rocks and soil. It has been a great year so far and we are going to finish strong!
First Grade News
It’s been a busy time in first grade here at CRES. In March, we planted lima beans in Ziploc bags and hung them in the windows to watch them grow. The children kept a "Bean Sprout Observation Journal" to record observations of the changes in the bean sprouts during this time. Before spring break, we read the story, ‘The Kite’ and even brought kites to school at the end of that week to fly out back of the school. In April, we will have an opportunity to observe caterpillars change into butterflies. During this time, the children will once again have an observation journal to record the changes they see. Throughout the weeks the children have been reading AR books, learning about shapes and fractions, writing opinion stories, and learning about story elements.
2nd Grade Happenings
In March second graders took a field trip to Fort King George in Darien as a review of our social studies unit on Georgia. While there, students were able to go to stations set up with people talking about what differences one might have seen during that time period. Students met Native Americans, Spanish, Scottish, and British soldiers. They played children’s games from that era which included roll the hoop, and spin a top. Students watched a blacksmith at work and a seamstress spin wool into yarn on a spinning wheel. There was even a cannon firing! Students had a great time!
Second graders also had a special speaker from St. Mary’s Garden Club come and share with us about butterflies. Students learned about the life cycles of butterflies and what kind of plants attract them. There were some great photos of the different types of caterpillars and butterflies. Ms. Widing will return in April for a lesson about Earth day and recycling.
Terrific Third Graders
Writing has been one of the focuses in third grade ELA classes this past month. Our students are sharpening their writing skills that include informational, narrative, and opinion writing. Third graders have enjoyed reading non-fiction stories, especially from Scholastic News, and comparing two passages, while comparing and contrasting details from the text. Students have enjoyed reading fiction (narrative stories) from Story Works, Jr. and writing narrative pieces, such as writing their own different endings to stories. Opinion writing has been fun for the students because they can pick their side of a debate or argument and write the reasons why they support it. For example, a popular writing prompt was: Do you think children should have homework each night? Our students have also enjoyed reading plays (Reader’s Theater) and performing them in the classroom. This encourages the students’ confidence in reading aloud in front of others and helps improve reading fluency. The next few weeks will be spent preparing our students for the upcoming EOG by having them write responses on their chrome books.
In Social Studies, 3rd grade students learned about Thurgood Marshall and how his choices helped shape America during that time. Students worked cooperatively to analyze pictures during that time period as well as a debate on which Supreme Court case they felt was the most important. Students did an outstanding job applying their critical thinking skills.
For science the third graders have studied the habitats of Georgia. We ended the unit by taking a field trip to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. The students enjoyed the beautiful weather and all that the island had to offer! We went on a scavenger hunt to the river and ocean areas. The students also visited the sea turtles in the hospital. That was definitely our favorite part! We learned about the many reasons sea turtles are in danger of becoming extinct! This has led us into our unit on pollution and conservation! The students will study and complete many experiments on the effects people have on ecosystems.
In math the students recently completed their unit on geometry. We are now working on fractions. They are loving fractions! We have partitioned shapes, identified parts of a whole and we are now working on making pizzas using fractions! This will lead us to graphing fractions using M & Ms! We cannot wait!!
Fourth Grade News
Our students had a very exciting trip to Cumberland Island. Students learned about the beach and maritime forest habitats that can be found there. They will present a poem to the ranger as a follow-up activity. Students are working on measurement in the upcoming math unit. They are looking forward to doing some sewing activities thanks to the donations from parents. Thanks for all you do parents!
Fifth Grade
What's Happening in P.E.?
Hello,
Let me begin by saying, “WOW!” Parents and students at CRES are awesome! As most of you are aware, students have been participating in a jump rope unit which we always tie into "Jump Rope for Heart", a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Each year, I set a monetary goal for our school…and this year I set the bar pretty high at $7,000.00. I encourage each student to try to raise a minimum of $5.00, which would easily give us $3,000+ if all 600 students did just that. However, we usually only have about a quarter of the students participate, which is what happened again this year. We had about 104 students actually raise money for the AHA. We did not quite reach our goal, but only fell about $91.00 short! At last count we raised $6,908.63! And remember, every penny goes to the AHA to help fund research, develop medicines and hopefully, one day find a cure for heart disease and stroke. So, again, on behalf of the American Heart Association let me tell all of you, students and parents, what a wonderful job you did and thank you very much.
As we move forward toward the end of the year, we will continue to focus on some fitness skills and will hopefully move into some striking skills. This year, with the help of The First Tee of Golden Isles, we will be introducing golf at all of our elementary schools! Additionally, fourth and fifth grade students will be practicing and partaking in the annual FITNESSGRAM testing where they will be tested in the five areas of fitness: Muscular strength (push-ups), muscular endurance (curl ups), flexibility (sit and reach), aerobic capacity (PACER test), and Body composition (height and weight). These test results will be printed and parents will receive a copy along with the final report card.
Younger students (K – 3) do not participate in the FITNESSGRAM test, but the state does require us to take and document height and weight measurements for them. These results do not go home to the parents, but are recorded in the FITNESSGRAM data base.
Also, don’t forget….Field day will be held on May 8th and 9th . It should be a blast!
In Health,
Coach English
Counselor Tips from Mrs. Graw
How to Help Your Child Prepare for Testing
Make sure that your child does all their homework and reading assignments, this will help make sure your child is prepared for the test.
Encourage your child to do well but don't pressure him/her. This may cause stress, it is important for your child to stay relaxed for the test.
Keep a positive attitude about testing.
Talking about the test with your child can relieve stress about test taking.
If your child is struggling on their tests, meet with their teacher to find out the best way to help your child.
Praise/reward your child when they do well on a test or for their hard work preparing for a test and encourage them to do better if they don't do well.
Provide a quiet area with little distractions to help your child study efficiently.
Write test dates on your calendar as a reminder.
Make sure that your child gets enough sleep on the night before the test.
Make sure that your child gets up early enough so that he/she will be on time to school.
Have your child eat a healthy breakfast.
Review the test with your child after they have taken it and go over any mistakes they have made, ensure that they understand what they did wrong and so they can improve for the next test.
In other news, we completed our career lessons in March! Students have learned about the career clusters and about a variety of careers. They participated in activities to increase their knowledge and are developing the tools and resources to reach their future education and career goals. In April, our guidance lessons will focus on test taking skills, overcoming test anxiety, and school success.
Character Trait of the Month
April: Humility – putting others first by giving up what you think you deserve.
Crooked River Elementary School
Email: lmarkham@camden.k12.ga.us
Website: http://river.camden.schooldesk.net/
Location: 3570 Charlie Smith Sr Highway, Saint Marys, GA, United States
Phone: (912) 673-6995
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crooked.riverelementary