Hello families! We had a great month in December learning all about music and musical instruments. You should ask your child what their favorite instrument is! We learned new songs, played instruments in class, took a tour of the music room here at Castle Hayne (thanks Mrs. Charles)! We continue to work on Kindergarten readiness skills like counting, writing our name, identifying letters/numbers, and working on rhyming words! In January, we will begin a study all about Pets! If you have a pet at home, please email or text us a picture and their name! It is hard to believe 2022 is over and we are heading into 2023! We hope you had a nice break and enjoyed the down time with your family and friends! Happy New Year!

In reading we have been working through our poetry unit learning about rhyming, alliteration, onomatopoeia and personal connections. In fundations we began unit 2 with a focus on tapping out CVC words and practicing uppercase letter formation. We have been working on comparing weight, height and length of objects in math.

In January first graders will be focusing on fiction books. We will compare and contrast fiction books by looking at the adventures of the main characters. Students will identify how they are similar and how they are different. We will start by reading "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs." In Science we will begin learning about the Earth in the Universe. We will talk about the four major phases of the moon and we will learn about the sun's importance to earth. In Writing we will begin our narrative unit. Students will be writing stories about themselves and people who are important to them. In Phonics students will continue Unit 6 in Fundations. Throughout this unit students will learn about adding the suffix (s) to words, like in the word (maps). Students will identify the base word (map) and the suffix (s). We will also learn that s can sometimes make the sound /z/. Towards the middle of the month we will move into Unit 7. In this unit students will learn about -ng (ang, ing, ong, ung) and -nk (ank, ink, onk, unk) glued sounds. In Math we will continue Module 3 (Properties of Operations to Make Easier Problems). Students will use the unit of ten to make easier problems by decomposing addends and grouping them in any order. They intuitively apply the associative and commutative properties and then learn how they can use strategies such as counting on, making ten, taking from ten, subtracting to get to a ten, and relating operations to break down larger addition and subtraction problems.

Second graders have been super busy finishing up Fairytales and are ready to begin learning about Fables. We will take a closer look at the elements of a fable and what lesson or moral they have learned. In math, we have continued to build on our skills in addition and subtraction and applying the strategies we have learned such as place value disks, base ten blocks, compensation, take from a ten, arrow method, as well as the number line. In addition to the academics, students had fun designing and decorating class gingerbread houses for the friendly school wide competition. We enjoyed having parents come into the classroom for our Christmas celebration as well. The students made great gingerbread houses and Christmas trees. January is an exciting month for us because we will be getting our chicken eggs and learning all about the chicken life cycle.

3rd grade is excited to be diving into learning about the major components and patterns observed in the earth/moon/sun system!

We will also be reading and describing the relationship in historical, scientific and technical texts.

We continue to focus on reading fluency and math fact fluency.

We are excited for the 2nd half of the year!

In Reading students have been working on using Context Clues to determine word meaning. They also have been learning about different text structures and how they apply to the text they are reading.

In Math students are wrapping up Module 2 concepts: factors, multiples, and prime or composite numbers.

In Social Studies students have been learning about different traditions and customs in North Carolina American Indian culture. Students are excited to begin our next Science Unit: Earth History. Students will take a closer look at fossils and how the Earth changes due to slow and fast moving processes.

In Math, we have been multiplying fractions by fractions and also by whole numbers, using various strategies. Towards the end of December, we began dividing whole numbers by unit fractions using models to help us understand why the quotient was larger than the dividend. In Science, we learned about the different biomes, what animals/plants live in these biomes, where they are located, and other characteristics of the biomes. We also learned about food chains, food webs, and energy pyramids. In Literacy, we continued finding the main idea of various texts. We also read about various endangered animal species and discussed how the actions of humans have had a negative impact on them. Students used evidence from the text to support their thinking. There were also a lot of fun activities in December, the fifth graders enjoyed having their families here for their holiday meal and creating a class gingerbread house to be displayed at the book fair.

Art Room Supply Donations

If you happen to be cleaning out your storage areas and come across any

of the items below I promise they will put to good use in the Art Room at

Castle Hayne.

• Blender that works for Papermaking
• Iron for mounting artwork
• Hot Plate for melting
• Drill with large liquid mixing bit for glazes and slip
• 1,3,5, gallon plastic buckets with airtight covers
• Small magnets
• Sidewalk chalk

Thank you to all the families that came out to support our talented students and our book fair.

Thank you so much to all of the CHES families who supported our Scholastic Book Fair in December. With your help, we exceeded our $9,000 sales goal and our final totals are as follows ...

Income

$9,581.04 CHES sales (excluding sales tax)

$28.00 Online Sales

+ $339.08 All For Books (AFB) donations from CHES families

$9,948.12 Total Book Fair Income - a $408.05 increase from 2021

So our total book fair profit is as follows ...

Wishes Granted from Teacher Wishlists

$83.89 in the form of 11 books for 6 different teachers

AFB Donations and Book Bucks Donated to Students

$44.56 as well as 44+ books

New Books Purchased with Remaining AFB Donations & Scholastic Dollars

$1,118.87 in Scholastic books (114) from the book fair for the library media center

Scholastic Dollars Balance

$491.19 (+ a few additional promos) to be spent in Scholastic's Instructional Catalog

* This money will actually just be banked to help cushion our next book fair.

Cash Profit for the CHES LIbrary Media Center

$1,600.00 in the CHES book fair account still to be spent on library books from Follett

Grand Total

$3,338.51 for books in our classroom libraries and the library media center

Thank you again for all of your support during this event - especially the small but mighty handful of volunteers who helped me set up, run, and pack up such a large fair. I appreciate it more than you know!!!

Need More Books?

Our school appreciates your support and encourages a lifelong love of reading. You can continue to shop The Scholastic Store Online using the link below and our school's library will receive 2% on every purchase all year long.

https://www.scholastic.com/bf/castlehayneelementary

Families with children who will be 5 on OR before August 31, 2023 it's that time of year again. Time to start thinking about Kindergarten enrollment.

Do you want a year round schedule? Are you looking for a bilingual option? Maybe you want a school with a focus on the arts or STEM or you have selected your districted school? Whatever your choice, NHCS has options.

Enrollment begins March 1-15

We would like to thank all the families that donated pies and baked goods before the holiday break. It was a wonderful treat for our staff. We are lucky to have such a generous community!

Thank you to all the families that participated in Texas Road House Gift Card fundraiser.

1. NHCS uses School Messenger to connect with families regarding district and school happenings. Use this link to opt-in to receive text messages from School Messenger. Flyer below with instructions.
2. Follow us on Facebook.
3. Our website.

Volunteers are our partners in education. They take an active role to support and enhance the development of our students. Every day, family and community member volunteers bring enthusiasm and skill into our schools while assisting staff, teachers and students. All volunteers are required to obtain volunteer training annually.

If you would like to move forward with volunteering at Castle Hayne Elementary School these are the following steps you will need to complete:

1. View the volunteer orientation presentation/Spanish and volunteer handbook/Spanish.

2. Submit the Volunteer Application Form/Spanish to Danielle Metty, danielle.metty@nhcs.net via email or send a printed copy to school with your student labeled with Danielle Metty, Family Liaison.

3. Complete the Volunteer Orientation Assessment with a score of 80% or higher.

4. To become a level 2 volunteer, complete a background check application ($20 until October 1 then the cost will be $22.50). You will receive a verification email and card from the Background Investigation Bureau upon approval.

Notify Danielle Metty, danielle.metty@nhcs.net when you have completed steps 1-4.

If you are interested in volunteering or chaperoning a field trip at Castle Hayne you MUST complete the Volunteer Training, please contact Danielle Metty at danielle.metty@nhcs.net.

The "Hurricane Forecast" is a monthly digital newsletter that contains information regarding all things happening at Castle Hayne Elementary School. We hope you find this communication helpful!