Happy Spring!

Warmer weather is upon us! Please remind your child(ren) to keep track of their personal items like sweaters and jackets. At the end of every school year, we have tables full of lost and left items.

Last month we asked for your attendance at a parent meeting to learn about our school's academic progress, and a possible curriculum change. We are happy to report that we now have a report card rating of 'Average'. We attribute some of this growth to our strong literacy curriculum, EL. This curriculum however has come under scrutiny, and some members of the Charleston County School Board would like to consider other options. State legislators believe that the curriculum involves critical race theory, when in actuality, it does not. This curriculum has been working for our scholars! We see increased engagement and an increase in their knowledge. Students are reading more, writing more, and using more sophisticated academic language! The curriculum encourages children to think for themselves and be inclusive and welcoming to all. It teaches children HOW to make a choice, not what choice to make! At the last two board meetings school leaders, coaches, teachers, parents, and community members advocated on behalf of the curriculum. Currently, the curriculum will remain. Should the board again consider removal, we will need your help!!! We will communicate via our newsletter, Class Dojo and parent meetings. Be sure to stay in the know and consider attending a CCSD Board Meeting to advocate on behalf of your child. You are also welcome to come in and see a lesson or contact your child's classroom teacher or school administration with any questions.

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Kimberly Richards

Principal, Stono Park Elementary

PE with Mrs. McDowell

Jump Rope and Heart Health

Music with Mr. McAfee

CD-Loud and Soft

K-Patterns of 3

1st& 2nd-Sounds and Rest

3rd- Reading notes on a musical staff and glockenspiel

4th-Guitars and Fretted Instruments

5th-String Family found in the Orchestra and Fretted instruments

STEAM with Ms. M

CD-Letter Recognition

K-Black History Month Biography Project

1st, 2nd & 3rd- OSMOS Math Technology

4th- Science Animal Biography

5th- Black History Month Inventions

Library with Mrs. Grenda

CD-We will be reading books about friendship this month and learning a Hello/Goodbye song in sign language.

K-2nd- We will review all the SC book award nominees that we’ve read this year and vote for our favorite. Our votes will be recorded with others from around the state and the winners will be announced in March.

3rd- We are working on developing our research skills this month. Scholars are learning the difference between a database and website, becoming familiar with the different databases CCSD offers and learning how to keyword search using a database.

4th &5th- We are working on developing our research skills this month. Scholars are learning how to “keyword” search using databases and Google. Scholars will also discuss plagiarism, citing sources and why it’s important.

Art with Mrs. Powell

CD-Peacocks and Butterflies process art! Scholars are working to add details and a background to their artwork. We are focusing on our cutting skills during this part of the lesson as well as details to a bigger picture.

K-Stono Park Zoo! Elephants, Giraffes, Monkeys, oh my! Each different kindergarten class is working on their animal for the spring art show!! They each are working to create the texture of their specific animals skin/fur using painted paper and then collage their project together.

1st- Stono Park Zoo! First grade scholars are focusing on their animals and using different artist skills to create them. From Collage to Water color resist each of these lessons speaks of layers and showing depth in their work.

2nd-This month we will start our art show project where second graders are going to the tropics… in the Stono Park Zoo of course! Each class is focusing on a different bird that they will create sculpture reliefs of speaking of color, texture, and detail… LOTS of detail!

3rd- Modeling Clay Bugs- Each scholar will select a bug that they will study and observe the patterns, repetition and detail. They will use modeling clay to create a sculpture of their bug where they also include each of the bug’s habitat!

4th-Finishing up Underwater Landscapes - scholars are using their knowledge from EL and Science curriculum about camouflage in different habitats to create a landscape full of camouflaged fish and other sea animals. A colorful coral reef habitat is the perfect spot for a clown fish, jellyfish or even a sea turtle swimming through the seaweed! These will be on display at Literacy night, don’t miss!!

5th-Finishing up Rainforest Paintings - Scholars are using their knowledge of Rainforest from EL curriculum to create lush landscapes full of jungle cats, monkeys and much more all covered by a treetop canopy! These will be on display at Literacy night, don’t miss!!

ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

Ever fall into a pattern of asking yes/no questions or those with one-word answers, such as “What color is the boy’s shirt?” when reading with your little one? To encourage your child to use more language, open-ended questions work best. Instead of asking a question that has a one-word response, try one of these instead:

Before Reading:
*Based on the cover, what do you think this book will be about?

During the Book:
*What do you think will happen next?

After Reading:
*If you could change the ending of the story, what would it be?

Asking questions such as these will help your child develop skills in the areas of critical thinking, comprehension, and memory.

MAKE CONNECTIONS

It’s important to help your child make connections when you are reading together. This not only helps improve how well your little one comprehends the story, it can also deepen their vocabulary knowledge.

Connections to Self:

These are the connections made between your child and his/her personal experiences. For example, before reading Only the Stars by Dee Boyd, discuss the time you laid out on the grass to watch the stars or the pair of star-shaped sunglasses you found at Target.

Connections to Previously Read Stories:

These are the connections made between the book currently being read and one previously read. Sticking with our stars theme, you could say, “Remember when we read the book called Only the Stars? Do you remember anything about Tia? Now we’re going to read Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed. What do you think the girls had in common in both stories?”

Connections to the World:

These are the connections made between your child and the world. An example of this would be to go on a mini field trip to a museum that has an exhibit on astronomy after reading both books on stars.

PROVIDE WAIT TIME

Raise your hand if you often provide your child with the correct answers to questions before they actually have enough time to think about what was said. ? It happens to the best of us.

Wait time is the amount of time you give your child to respond after asking a question. While it may be challenging, providing your child with ample wait time allows their little brains to process the question being asked. Waiting just three seconds before reframing the question or providing the answer gives your child a chance to think and possibly formulate a longer response. Give it a try the next time you’re reading a book together or engaging in a shared play activity.

PRINT AWARENESS

Have you ever wondered how your toddler can understand that a red bull’s-eye means you’ve arrived at target or that the golden arches represent McDonald’s? Maya has never been to McDonald’s, but knows the sign as soon as she sees it.

We can thank print awareness skills for these things. Print awareness is the ability to understand that the lines on a page and symbols in the environment (e.g., signs, restaurant logos) carry meaning.

Print awareness is an important precursor to emergent literacy skills. It allows your little one to understand the use and function of print during reading and writing. You may not realize it, but you’re teaching print awareness skills every time you read with your child in the following ways:

• Demonstrate how a book should be held (get silly and hold it upside down for laughs)
• Read from left to right and top to bottom
• Front-to-back directionality when turning pages
• Words are made of letters and spaces are in between words
• Punctuation marks have meaning

READ, THEN READ IT AGAIN

Not again! ? Are you tired of your little one requesting the same book over and over again? You’ve probably got the words memorized at this point. Here’s the thing – it’s actually great to read and re-read the same books to your child. Reading the same book multiple times helps in the following areas:

• Print Awareness
• Increased Vocabulary
• Word Recognition

So when your child asks for the same book for the fifth night in a row, take a deep breath and get to reading. You are helping to build a strong language foundation!

PREDICTABLE BOOKS

Are you tired of reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Don’t hide it at the back of the bookshelf just yet. Books such as Brown Bear are considered predictable texts. These types of books contain repeated lines, phrases, and rhyming words to help readers know what’s to come on the next pages.

Predictable books allow even the youngest children to feel as if they are “reading” the story. These texts allow you to have a shared reading experience where both you and your little one are actively involved. Experiences such as these help your child develop confidence and to feel as if they are a skilled reader. Positive interactions with books at a young age impacts how they interact with books in the future.

Benefits also include developing print awareness and the use of inflection and intonation when reading. With the support of predictable text and complementary pictures, your little one will take the lead on reading Brown Bear in no time!

Check out more great ways to promote language and literacy skills through diverse children's literature at Maya's Book Nook- https://mayasbooknook.com/

• The Book of the Month for March is The Year We Learned to Fly by Jacqueline Woodson & Illustrations by Rafeal Lopez. It correlates to our character skill which is Creativity.

We begin dismissal at 3:25pm. If your student is a car rider please ensure that you are in our car rider line by 3:40pm.

We also offer Kaleidoscope After School Program for our Stono Park Scholars from 3:30pm-6pm daily. Kaleidoscope is open on teacher work days, early release days and 1/2 days of school. You also have the option to register your child for Kaleidoscope and not use them every day if you don't need the service but would still be available to your student on days you might need a late pick up or on those early release/teacher work days!

If your child is absent please make sure an excuse is sent in within 3 days of the student returning back to school. A student is considered Truant if they have missed 3 consecutive days of school without a doctor's excuse or 5 unexcused absences total. Once a student has 3 unexcused absences then a Truancy Warning Letter is sent home. Once a student has 5 unexcused absences a Truancy Conference has to occur with the caregiver.

To support families with internet service during COVID-19, the FCC has a new

program called Emergency Broadband Benefit. Households with students who receive free or reduced-price school meals, including ALL students in CEP schools, qualify for the program. There are three ways to apply:

1. Apply online at GetEmergencyBroadband.org
2. Contact the local broadband provider to learn about their application process (find participating broadband providers here)
3. Call 833-511-0311 for a mail-in application.

Mortgage and Housing Assistance: Help for homeowners and renters during the coronavirus national emergency