Shark Tales
Southbury Elementary
October 2022
Administration Letter
Happy Fall, Sharks! There has been a lot of fun and learning going on all around the building these first 2 months of school!
Each year our staff develops school improvement goals for the school year. Here are our goals for the 2022-2023 SY:
Math Goal:
In order to promote the use of precise mathematical vocabulary, Southbury Math Teachers will implement AVID collaborative structures at least two times per week.
ELA Goal:
Southbury ELA staff will implement AVID collaborative structures at least two times per week during the ELA block.
Culture/Climate Goal:
Southbury staff will continue to learn, explore, and increase familiarity with Culturally Relevant Teaching practices.
If you have not done so already, please follow Southbury on Facebook to see the fun we have each day!
What’s Happening in the Month of November?
November 3rd--HSO Meeting 6-7 pm
November 7th--HSO Donuts with a Grown-Up
November 8th--Election Day-- No School/District Closed
November 7-11--Fall Book Fair
November 10th--5-Hour Day Early Dismissal (2:00 pm)
November 10th--Parent/Teacher Conferences 4-8 pm
November 10th--Culver's Night
November 11th--End of 1st Trimester
November 11th--No School - Parent/Teacher Conferences (flex)
November 14th--Veterans Day Celebration @ Southbury
November 23rd--Non-Attendance Day (No School; District Closed)
November 24th--Thanksgiving (Holiday - No School; District Closed)
November 25th--Non-Attendance Day (No School; District Closed)
Thank you for a wonderful start to the school year! We look forward to working together as a team to continue this success for our children.
Samantha Sinovich
Principal
Jill Decker
Assistant Principal
Read. Write. Think. Grow. Southbury, A Community of Learners
From the Front Office
Happy Fall Southbury Sharks!
Picture retakes were October 17th!
Help Wanted - Help is needed in the form of both substitute teachers and substitute teaching assistants! If you might be interested in learning more about this opportunity at Southbury, please visit the district website (www.sd308.org) and click on the Employment Opportunities tab. Interested individuals would need to fulfill the job qualifications and the job duties would also follow suit.
A few beginning of the year gentle reminders from the front office:
If your student is going to be absent or tardy, please call the attendance line at: 630-551-9801 to report the absence or tardy before 9 AM if possible.
Please do not email the teacher to report an absence as we do not always get them forwarded to us in a timely manner. Also, if the teacher is absent, substitutes do not have access to their emails.
We encourage students to take responsibility for forgotten items but if you must drop something off for your student, please be sure it is clearly marked with their name and their teacher’s name and place in the blue box located in the front corridor.
Students are not called out of class to pick up items left in the office. Items are placed on the counter adjacent to the school hallway for students to pick up at an opportune time.
With the weather being a bit unpredictable, please remember to send your child with a sweatshirt, or light coat to school. Students do go outside for recess when the temperature is above 10 degrees F.
Restaurant bought lunches are not allowed in the cafeteria.
GO SHARKS!
Mrs. Hathaway and Mrs. Quick
Home and School Organization Happenings
Your HSO (including many of you as volunteers) has been hard at work the beginning of this school year! Before the school year even started, many HSO members chipped in to help teachers prep their classrooms - which turned out to be a resounding success and we hope to continue this support in the coming years!
The staff appreciation committee welcomed teachers and staff with breakfast and goodies the first couple weeks of school. We appreciate the donations we received for both of those events.
The Fun Run: Color Edition returned this fall on a beautiful October Saturday. A HUGE shout-out to this committee for organzing and executing a successful fundraising event! This committee will be in need of feedback ahead of planning for next year. We plan to formally discuss the future of this event during the January HSO meeting. We highly encourage anyone that would like to have input to pay their HSO membership fee of $10 in order to vote.
The verdict is in - we love our online ordering for Smencils! What a great way to surprise your Shark with a last minute gift or positive note of praise catching them do good! Online ordering is easy, print and write out your message and send it back to us. We'll deliver ASAP. (Please allow 24 hours for delivery.)
Our restaurant fundraisers are underway and so far we've had great nights at Andy's and Chipotle! We're working on a unique event for November and we think you're going to LOVE it!
Classroom parties are live for volunteering - feel free to fill in as many openings as you'd like!
Donuts with a Grown-up is taking place on November 7th in the Southbury gym. Any ONE grown-up can attend with their Southbury student(s).
We hope you were able to purchase your spirit wear in our Imagination Print & Design online store - closing October 30th. https://southbury22.itemorder.com
Yearbook ordering and picture posting is live - plenty of time to order but why not check it off your list now? https://www.shop.memorybook.com/.../208741southburyeleme.../
And finally, we are working on a special gift for teachers and staff for December that requires donations of empty, clean coffee creamer bottles. If you have any to donate, please contact us at sbhomenschool@gmail.com.
We want to thank our many volunteers working hard behind the scenes! We're off to a great start this school year!
As always, if you have any questions, please let us know!
Erin Hoover & Abby Fugitt
sbhomenschool@gmail.com
P.S. Membership Toolkit is your go-to for all things HSO: https://southburyparents.membershiptoolkit.com/ And don't forget to join the HSO Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/southburyparents
Kindergarten
We are so proud of the stamina our kindergarteners have already built this year, and their ability to adapt to our schedule and routines. They have been flexible and resilient. We cannot believe we are about to be finishing up the month of October!
ELA: As readers we have discussed the difference between fiction and nonfiction, as well as the job of an illustrator and an author. We have focused on story elements such as characters and setting. We also focused on text features in non-fiction texts. As writers we have drawn with details and labeling to retell a story or teach a fact that we learned. We have practiced making CVC words with the sounds we have learned together and began unscrambling and writing simple sentences. We have written sentences telling facts that we have learned about bats, spiders and animals in their homes.
Math: Calendar and counting routines are being consistently practiced, along with number writing. Number sense is worked into those daily routines and will continue to be. We finished Unit 1 (positional words and categorizing) and are working through Unit 2 (numbers 1-10).
Social Studies: We finished Unit 1 and answered the question How and Why do Kindergartners follow rules. We talked about how rules help us cooperate with others and rules in different places we might be in.
Science: Unit 1, Pushes and Pulls, will start in October. We will be working as engineers to discover the cause and effect of pushing and pulling and examples of things that move that way.
Tips for at home:
Look for math around your house. Where do you see the number 7? Can you count how many toy cars you have? Who has more nuggets on their plate?
Letters and Sounds: Practice ID and sounds with Letter book sent home. Use letters/sounds they know to build simple words. (cat, net, big…)
Thanks for all the continued support at home!
The Kindergarten Team
1st Grade
First Grade have mastered our daily routines and continue to build on what we have learned. During our Second Step lessons we learned how to play Puddle Jump. This game helps us practice listening to and following directions.We have also learned how to log onto Chromebooks and navigate websites. Here are some of the other things we have learned this month:
ELA
Retell stories and demonstrate understanding of the central message
Give an opinion with a supporting reason
Started bringing home Baggie Books
Math
Number talks continue to help us practice math vocabulary
Addition and subtraction within 10
Science
Wrapped up our study of plant and animal defenses
Social Studies
Community rules and laws and map skills
We look forward to discussing your child’s progress at Parent Teacher Conferences.
The First Grade Team
2nd Grade
Hello Everyone! The Second Grade Team can not believe that we are almost into November! We are very proud of the second graders at how well they have adjusted back into the school rules and routines.
In ELA, as readers, we learned that characters and stories have unique points of view. Also knowing the structure of the story helps us to understand the text. As writers, we understand that signal words tell the sequence of events in a story. We learned that describing a character’s actions, thoughts and feelings helps to enhance the story.
In Math, we have finished Unit 1 (YIPEE!!) Please continue to practice Math Fluency (Xtra Math and Flash Cards) and place value to 1000, which will help strengthen their foundation of place value which will help make adding and subtracting double and triple digit numbers easier!
In Science, we have finished Unit 1, Plant and Animal Relationships. We have discussed the many ways that seeds get dispersed, how animals and plants depend on each other for survival, and what exactly a seed needs to sprout into a healthy plant. Our next unit is, Changing Landforms.
We are so excited to have started our new Social Studies curriculum. The students were busy with researching, asking questions and conducting interviews to learn more about the past. We will finish our first unit before the end of the first trimester.
Happy Fall!
The Second Grade Team
3rd Grade
What a great start we’ve had to the school year! Third Graders are back into school routines, schedules, and working hard! Students have been busy understanding the main idea/details of a passage and writing their own narrative using transition words, dialogue, and feelings. We have finished up place value, addition, and subtraction in chapters 1-3 in Math. We are now working hard on understanding multiplication. Please keep your kiddos working on multiplication flashcards facts to 12. We’ve also enjoyed delving into our new Social Studies curriculum and addressing important questions like: How can a transportation system make goods and services available when they are located far away? How does extreme weather affect how we live depending on where we live? And, How do communities around the world adapt when resources are limited? Last but not least, our study of Grove Snails is almost at an end. Students concluded that the non-adaptive traits of the yellow shelled snail (inability to camouflage, low shell strength) caused its population to decline significantly than that of the Banded Shell Snails. Our next Amplify Science Kit will be on Balancing Forces and what makes the train ‘float’. As you can see, 3rd graders aren’t letting any grass grow under their feet!
Happy Fall Ya’ll!
The Third Grade Team
4th Grade
Happy Fall, fourth-grade families!
With two full months of school under their belts, our fourth graders have really been “getting into the groove” of our classroom and school routines. They’ve embraced classroom jobs such as “class greeter” and “sound monitor,” and some have even been able to incorporate their own creativity into their jobs by adding their own ideas to make their jobs their own!
In addition to mastering classroom routines, our fourth graders have been busily learning many new academic concepts. In math, the students moved on from reviewing previously learned place value, addition, and subtraction concepts to learning how to multiply multi-digit numbers. Over the course of the last few weeks, they’ve been able to add several tools to their mathematical toolboxes by trying out various multiplication strategies, such as area model, partial products, distributive property, and the traditional multiplication algorithm. They learned that as long as they master those pesky multiplication and division facts, the sky is truly the limit when it comes to multiplying and dividing large numbers!
In science, the students wrapped up their first unit of study on sound waves. They learned that sound travels as a wave through various types of material, but is able to move more easily through some materials, like air. They also learned that due to such concepts as amplitude and wavelength, we are able to recognize familiar sounds, such as the sound of our parents telling us to clean up our rooms!
Towards the end of the month, students began their very first social studies unit on geography. Our compelling question for this unit of study was “How have the geographical features of a United States region affected its culture?” The fourth graders explored various types of maps, such as political, physical, climate, and vegetation maps, and got to know the various types of landforms and characteristics of the different regions of the United States. Soon, they’ll be able to teach each other about these regions as geographical experts.
Finally, in ELA, we wrapped up our first unit on informational text by completing our very first writing piece, a research infographic on a chosen living creature. It was so fun to see many students choose unique creatures such as the okapi, great horned owl, emperor penguin… and even a germ (how timely!)! Over the next few weeks, our fourth graders will jump into fiction by studying American tall tales. They will become experts on recognizing and using figurative language such as similes, metaphors, hyperbole, alliteration, and more. This will all culminate with students writing their very own tall tales in a few weeks! We can’t wait to see what the students will create!
Be sure to check back next month to see what our fantastic fourth graders have been learning! We look forward to seeing you all at parent-teacher conferences in November.
– Dr. Truax, Mr. Stephens, Mrs. Adams, and Mrs. Monti
5th Grade
Happy Fall, 5th Grade Families!
Students have settled into their classroom routines and have been busy learning!
In science, students have taken on the role of ecologists to figure out why plants and animals aren’t growing or thriving in the rainforest. They have been researching and gathering information from books, evidence cards, simulations, and their very own terrariums to try to find a solution.
In math, students have been learning multiplication and division. They have been estimating products and multiplying 1 and 2 digit numbers. Students have also been learning how to complete division problems with up to 4 digit dividends.
In ELA, we finished The Night of the Spadefoot Toads and Washed Up! Students worked on character descriptions, plot structure, and identifying key events in each story. They applied what they learned as readers to create their own narratives during writing.
Students have also done a great job utilizing their AVID skills by learning the components of the writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading strategies that we use in our classroom each day.
We look forward to seeing everyone at Parent/Teacher conferences in November!
The Fifth Grade Team
Stars
We’ve had a great time back at Southbury with our STARs students! Students have been working hard with their teachers and related specialists on their IEP goals and curriculum! Students enjoyed Halloween-themed activities in their STARs class and General Education classrooms as well!
Therapy Dogs are back - typically Therapy Dogs sessions will be held the first Monday of each month. Students get to pet, walk and interact with the dogs with guidance from their handlers as well as Southbury teachers and staff. Please reach out to your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns.
Conferences and progress reports are upcoming in early November, please check your email for information from your child’s teacher or administration for more information!
Please send your child with warm winter-clothes for recess; it can get colder on the playground because of the wind/open field so please send warm clothes!
ESL
Hello, and Happy October from ESL! We are off to a great start this school year, and can’t wait to see our students continue to grow in their Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking skills!
Important Reminders:
Every ESL student has an ESL Resource folder that will go between home and school. This folder will contain communication from your child’s ESL teacher and ESL classwork. Please look for your child’s folder daily and be sure to empty classwork and sign or initial the communication log.
Please see the flyer below for information regarding adult ESL classes.
If you have any questions regarding ESL, please contact your child’s ESL teacher. We are here to help!
Samantha Koehler
Kristen Serio
GE Math
We have been busy growing as mathematicians, using the eight Mathematical Practices, playing with numbers to build our number intuition, and solving problems in our think tank groups.
In fourth grade we kicked off October with Number Theory. We learned about Happy Numbers and how to test if a number is happy or sad. To explore factors and multiples we played the game “Tax Man.” Small groups explored divisibility rules by solving number riddles and word problems, and we modeled prime numbers geometrically and noticed prime numbers can only make lines, not rectangles. We grew some tasty prime fruit trees in math class! Prime factorization trees are useful now and throughout high school math! Order of operations helped us learn how to solve equations and all arrive at the same answer. These rules guide us whenever we solve multi-step problems.The latter half of October found us multiplying and dividing very large numbers. Practice was the key to fluency and accuracy! Using these skills to solve multi-step word problems is the end goal!
In fifth grade drawing models and learning strategies for solving complex word problems were game changers! We launched division with fractions by exploring how to solve and model all sorts of sharing and grouping of fractional amounts, especially with food! Bar diagrams, area models, and number line models helped us distinguish dividends from divisors.
Then fifth graders began a new domain, the Number System, which included the study of rational numbers. We recalled previous understandings about positive numbers and extended those structures to numbers left of 0, a.k.a. negative numbers. Yes, we visited the world of “Less than Nothing!” Inevitably the question of double negatives arose. In English double negatives are considered improper, but in math, double negatives are not only accepted but necessary. The concepts of opposites (direction) and absolute value (distance from zero) are precursors to adding and subtracting negative numbers.
Graphing rational numbers on a number line was interesting! Once we had mastered moving left and right of zero on a single number line, we advanced to two number lines, known as the x- and y-axes on a coordinate plane. We could graph in two dimensions! This area of math merges algebra and geometry. Dot-to-dot pictures these were not! The four-quadrant plane made sense once we recognized the structure. Reflections had us acting out and visualizing points and shapes flipping across the axes. We were very “flexible” mathematicians!
Speech and Language
What is Considered “Typical” Language Development for a Child?
By the time most children enter school they have an expansive vocabulary with developed language skills being able to create questions, answer questions, listen and follow simple directions, and create statements about thoughts, wants, and needs. However advanced with language we feel our children are in Kindergarten, Speech and Language skills continue to develop up through 12 years of age. The American Speech-Language and Hearing Association has guidelines to typical development across Kindergarten through 5th Grade https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/communicationdevelopment/
If you have concerns with your child’s speech or language development, talk with your child’s teacher about their language use in the classroom and in their academics. If your child already receives Speech and Language services and you have questions, feel free to reach out to their Speech Therapist for further clarifications.
Deb Convey, Lauren Paver, and Kelly Okel
LRC
August and September Birthday Book Club Members
October Birthday Book Club Members
Pumpkin Decorating returned! Students and families got creative with their pumpkin canvases inspired by their favorite characters and books or college and career readiness (AVID) themes. Winners received a gift certificate to spend at the Fall Book Fair. Photos to come next month!
The Scholastic Fall Book Fair will be held in the Library November 4th-11th and will be open for families to shop during conferences - Thursday, November 10th from 5-8pm and Friday November 11th from 8:30-10:00am. We will also be open briefly during “Donuts with a Grownup” on Monday 11/7 from 7:45am-8:30am. This year’s theme is “Books Bring Us Together!” So many new books from our favorite authors will be available to choose from. The eWallet accounts are back! The eWallet option allows parents and guardians to create a secure payment account for their child to purchase books. Please look for our book fair flyer coming home soon. It will also be posted on the LRC’s Google Classroom. For additional book fair info please use the following link: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/southburyelementaryschool
Enjoy “FALLing” for some great books as we cozy up for the season!
Mrs. Rossi arossi@sd308.org and Mrs. Dietz hdietz@sd308.org
From the Reading Department
Happy Fall from the Reading Department!
Learning to read is a complex process. It is not a step by step process. Instead, reading is doing many different skills all at one time: decoding, reading fluently, understanding new words and more! Because reading is so complex, it can be difficult to help your child learn to read at home.
One way to help your child as they read to you at home is to ask them questions while they are reading. Ask them how they figured out a tricky word or ask them what part of the story they understand well and what part is still confusing. When you ask them questions regarding how they are reading, you can begin to understand the way they process what they are reading. Then, you can guide them in ways that will be beneficial for them.
For more parent tips, see readingrockets.org/reading-sos-with-experts
Art
- Kindergarten- vpsyze2
- 1st Grade- ks6yzjh
- 2nd Grade- o3qwelr
- 3rd Grade- tvczp4e
- 4th Grade- rf5tbul
- 5th Grade- 7b7gnwt
Connect to Southbury Elementary using Artsonia to receive important updates on your child's art classroom activity.
Use your camera to scan the QR code.
You can also browse to www.artsonia.com/parents and enter this Parent Code:
9Y4TXNB9
If you purchase a product with your child’s art on it from Artsonia, part of those funds go towards Southbury’s art studio for fun supplies like clay, glitter paint, etc…
Art Studio Wish List
- Sharpies - all sizes
- Markers
- Crayola watercolor paints
- Colorful (school appropriate) magazines; food, bridal, floral, design, architecture, cars, etc…
- White model magic
Mrs. Ayoung Chee
630-551-9880
Music
Hello, my name is Morgan McWethy and I am your student’s music teacher. I am so happy that students are back in my classroom this year making music!
In October we learned and reviewed music terms such as “tempo” and “dynamics”. These are important concepts in music, as they allow us to reflect on music we listen to and help us create our own music! At the end of October we started our Trimester 1 Assessment and scores will be documented on your student’s Mastery Connect music tracker.
In November, we are going to begin prepping for Trimester 2. This trimester focuses on “rhythm”. We are learning how to count rhythms, write rhythms, and create our own rhythm patterns! These are the building blocks to composing music and I am excited to continue to work with my wonderful Southbury students!
If you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me at mmcwethy@sd308.org.
Physical Education
What an amazing start to the 2022 school year in PE! We have a new PE teacher, Coach Ingersoll, who is having a blast teaching Southbury student athletes! Our Southbury student athletes are really doing a great job getting their heart rates up and having fun during PE! We flew into October with a focus on the fundamentals of throwing and catching frisbee’s. If you are looking for a free family adventure, Oswego has one of the best disc golf courses in the state of IL. It is located near the Oswego civic center. Towards the end of the month we had “bring back” week. During our bring back week we reviewed skills, fundamentals and games that were played during the first couple months of the school year. Southbury students had a chance to play their favorite games from our soccer, football, and team sports units. October was a great month!!!! GO SHARKS!
Nursing News
NEW IN THE NURSING OFFICE
Hello! We have new staff in our nursing office. My name is Donna Lichtfuss, RN. I have
35 years experience managing doctor’s offices and this is my third year as a school nurse.
I am thrilled to be the new building nurse at Southbury Elementary School. Working
with me is our health office secretary, Lupita Orozco. Lupita also brings her skills as a
medical assistant to help provide additional care. Together we strive to work with
parents and teachers to keep our students safe, healthy, and in school.
MEDICATIONS IN SCHOOL
Not surprisingly, we are seeing a number of sore throats, coughs, stomach aches, and
headaches, with no fevers or other symptoms. Often times, if we could give the student a
throat lozenge, zinc drop, cough drop, or ginger drop, it’s enough to get them back to
class and through their day.
However, we cannot give these over the counter comfort drops without permission from a doctor. I have attached a school medication authorization link below for you to have completed if you’d like this option for your child. If the doctor marks PRN on the
form, we can keep it for the whole school year.
https://www.sd308.org/cms/lib/IL01906463/Centricity/Domain/172/2022%20Medication%2
0authorization%20form.pdf
DONATIONS
The health office is in need of pants and long sleeves for change of clothes. If you want
to have us hold something specific (ie. underwear and socks) for your child, please put it
in a zip lock bag with his/her name and we’ll hold it.
I look forward to meeting all of you as the year goes on.
Donna Lichtfuss, RN
Social Work
School social workers are available to provide assistance to students, parents, and teachers. We work collaboratively to brainstorm ideas and implement plans that will help your child foster key social and emotional skills. CASEL defines Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
SEL is based on the understanding that the best learning emerges in the context of supportive relationships that make learning challenging,Elementary engaging and meaningful. Social and emotional skills are critical to being a good student, citizen and worker.
Please reach out if we can be of any assistance.
Parents, we are here to assist you by…
- Working with you and your child to support good attendance
- Explore ways to help your child succeed socially, emotionally, and behaviorally
- Provide referrals for community resources (i.e. food, clothing, counseling, etc.)
- Help bridge school-home communication
Students, we are here to help you with…
- Working out friendship problems
- Setting goals
- Working well with others
- Feeling good about yourself
- Adjusting to a new school
- Learning how to make decisions
- Managing your feelings (stress, worry, anger, etc.)
- Dealing with peer pressure and bullying
Additional Services Provided:
- Delivery and Implementation of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) initiatives
- Classroom Presentations (Autism Awareness, Safety Awareness, etc.)
- Brief Solution-Focused Counseling
- Parent and Teacher Consultations
- Community Resources
- Social Work Services through a Multi-Tier System of Supports
Southbury Elementary School
Website: https://www.sd308.org/southbury
Location: 820 Preston Lane, Oswego, IL, USA
Phone: (630) 551-9800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southbury308