Cardinal Communicator
February 2022
From the Principals Desk
Dear Memorial Families,
State testing season is right around the corner. It's important that your children do their very best on these tests as it's vital that they show what they really know. Testing for students in grades 3-8 will begin right when we get back from Spring Break on March 28th. We will do ELA first followed by Math. Testing will last all the way through May 4th. Please make sure your children have good attendance during this time and are on time for school. If they are late on their days of testing, they cannot test once the test has started and will have to make up on another day. Research shows that students who test on make-up days without their classmates don't do as well. Please also make sure your children go to bed early and ensure that nothing negative happens in the morning on the way to school. This can throw off their whole day. Remember, doors open at 7:05 for breakfast and school starts promptly at 7:35. It is not acceptable for students to be late to school on a regular basis. You wouldn't be late for your job every day and this is their job. Sometimes we do use this data to determine if students will be promoted to the next grade so please speak to your children about doing their very best. Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!
Love Mrs. Dinkins
Mr. Neal's PBIS Publication
This month's PBIS incentive is Popcorn and a movie, students will need to earn 16 Memorial bucks to be able to attend. We are encouraging parents for the remainder of the year to talk to their scholars about positive talk, positive behavior, and staying away from he say/she say.
We are also encouraging scholars that are having issues with other students to please come to an Administrator (Mr. Neal, Mrs. Dinkins, or Mrs. Wadsworth) with these issues.
Positive Parent Interactions
We have been working with many of our scholars on building positive relationships with each other, being kind to one another, and being active listeners. Below you will find a video from Dr. Zoe sharing how parents can parent positively. Also, take some time to look at the Kindland Video and the purpose behind it! We are empowering our scholars to continue to grow as individuals but to be kind to one another, have empathy, and be good citizens not only in their classrooms, but at home, and in their communities. It is so important for children to practice these skills at home, and in order to do that, we need your support with practicing kindness, empathy, understanding, and good listening as well! You are your child/children's first role model and can support them with learning positive ways to interact within their community!
Thank you so much for your valued support!
Educationally,
Mrs. Wadsworth
Kindland
Just be kind is an initiative that can make kindness an overriding, embedded, and unifying national value in America.
Kindness can help forge human connections, reduce stress, and remind us that there is still goodness in the world.
Why Just Be Kind?
We are being faced with an inherent negativity problem in our society that has led to violence and bullying in schools, workplaces, and over the internet. Created by Values-in-Action, the Just be Kind campaign will overpower the negativity swirling in society by bringing forth the benefits of kindness and keeping it at the forefront of day-to-day activities.
Did you know it takes 5 positive interactions to counteract 1 negative interaction?
BE KIND!
High School Choice
High School Choice
Now that the school choice portal closed, what’s next?
- For students/families that submitted their choices before or by 2/18/22…
- Friday, March 4th : Families will be notified with their assignments.
- For students/families that did not submit their choices by 2/18/22…
- Monday, March 14th : The School Choice Portal will open again for the next round of choice.
- Families will be able to complete their applications then for available schools.
From the Secretary's Desk
If you are picking your child up early, please be sure to send in a note or call by noon. If you plan on entering the building to have a conference or meet with a teacher, you must provide a valid license/photo ID and will receive a visitor's pass. Please support us in keeping our children safe in our schoolhouse. We appreciate your cooperation with this!
In addition, if you are calling the office to speak with an administrator, please be kind to the secretary, she is just taking messages and relaying information.
"People will forget what you did or what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel." ~Maya Angelou
Ms. Callari's News
Ms. Ahrens & Ms Yisrael's First Grade News
Ms. Valek's News
Ms. Bluffestone & Ms. Brudy's 2nd Grade News
The 2nd grade has been doing so well in literacy. We completed our unit on unique schools and have moved into our unit on paleontology. The scholars will be learning about Mary Anning of Lyme Regis and then looking at the job a paleontologist does. Students will study how the earth has changed and look closely at fossils and how they are made. Please look for a fluency reading passage each Friday in your scholar's homework folder. We are asking that you practice reading it daily with your child. After a week of practice, we will test your scholar to see how many words per minute he or she can read. This will help to build your scholar's reading skills.
In math, the second graders are now working on telling time to the nearest 5 minutes. We’re learning the terms, “half past”, “quarter after”, “quarter past”, “quarter to” and “quarter till.” You can help your child become more familiar and proficient with these terms by asking him/her to tell you the time from your digital appliances or phone using those phrases. Although telling time will be the main standard, some of our scholars will continue to practice adding and subtracting 2 and 3-digit numbers.
As always, we thank you for all of your support as we build fluent readers and future mathematicians.
Ms. Johnson's 4th Grade News
These cold temperatures give us the perfect excuse to stay inside and read a good book! Please keep your child reading each day. Students may borrow books from my classroom to read, and then return when done. Students should be reading books with chapters, that have a continuing story that they read a little more of each day. In class, we are learning about some influential Black Americans from our history. Students read and watch information and answer questions. Ask your student who he/she is learning about. We are writing essays and learning strategies to figure out what new words mean by using the text. In Science class, we are learning about the states of matter and their properties. Students must be working on Lexia for 80 minutes per week. If they do 20 minutes every day, they will have 80 minutes by Friday. Please, this is hurting our progress if we are not doing this work. Make sure your student is getting his/her minutes in. Stay warm!
From the Pen of Ms. Holton: Sixth Grade News
Ms. Kline's 4th Grade News
Ms. Boone's Math Class
This month students are finishing up taking their Math NWEA. They are breaking barriers and showing growth. Some have even surpassed the cut score! WAY TO GO SCHOLARS! 🥳
Ms. Evans Computer Science News
Grades 3rd - 5th are learning about digital citizenship and how to be safe online. They are also learning how to create a presentation in PowerPoint.
Ms. Carlson's 1st Grade News
Ms. Alford & Ms. Guzik's News
Mrs. Petro's 3rd Grade News
Ms. Kirk's 3rd Grade News
Students are working on character traits in reading. We are reading Rosa Parks: Civil Rights Pioneer.
Working with a partner, students came up with traits that describe Rosa Parks. Students were then asked to provide clues or proof from the story to support their answers.
In math, we are working on the area of plane figures. We are using our multiplication skills to find the area. We are also practicing using a ruler to measure and to draw straight lines.