Elm Road Express
"Putting Dreams into Flight"
October 2017
Dates to Remember
Oct 12th Vision Screening for 1st, 3rd, and 5th
Oct 18th End of the 1st Grading Period
Oct 20th-26th Book Fair
Oct 24th and 25th Student/Parent/Teacher conferences
Oct 25th Picture Retakes
Oct 27th and 30th Recess Days-No School
Letter from the Principal
October is a busy month at Elm Road! Our teachers are currently administering the Dibels, (K-1) and mini-assessments, and Everyday Math and Pearson Reading assessments. These results will be reviewed with parents at conference time and used to help guide our instructional day.
Thank you also for your participation during our recent Parent Information Nights. It is an important time for us to communicate class procedures and our yearly curriculum guide. I am appreciative of all of the PTO and fundraiser support. These funds help all of our students in so many ways.
I look forward to seeing all of you at our upcoming conferences. I encourage all of our students to attend the meetings. Each student has an important role to play, and I think it is critical that they hear the good things being said about them. Most teachers have a student led portion in which the students share some of their work/goals. I am hoping for perfect attendance from our building this year. We will also have our book fair open for all families to enjoy.
Pictures from September
SOAR : Safe, Organized, Accountable, Respectful
We are Elm Road Eagles
Website: elmroad.phmschools.org
Location: 59400 Elm Road, Mishawaka, IN 46544
Phone: 574-259-3743
Facebook: facebook.com/ElmRoadPTO
Twitter: @ElmroadES
Student Parent Teacher Conferences
Teachers will be hosting parent teacher student conferences in October. We know families have such busy schedules; however your child’s education is important to us. Please do your best to make time to meet with your child’s teacher. You recently received a “Conference Time Preference Sheet.” Using this form, select your preferred conference day and time.
As a reminder, the calendar dates for parent teacher conferences are:
Tues. Oct 24th 2:30-6:45
Wed. Oct 25th 2:30-5:15
Youth Service Bureau
Fall is here!
Christ Child referral forms are available. Christ Child is a wonderful organization that will help eligible families with new clothes and winter coats for children 12 and under. In order to see if your family qualifies, please give Andrea a call to set up an appointment. All information is confidential.
There are several backpacks and school supplies still available to assist the needs of our students. If you have a need of these items please let Mrs. Shell know.
Hope everyone had a wonderful transition back into school. If there are any questions please contact Mrs. Shell at 259-3743. Thank you!
Reminders from the Office
Picture retakes are October 25. Students must bring back their packet in order to have retakes. If your student was absent, or they are new to Elm Road and want their picture taken, they need to pick up an order form in the office.
School fees were due September 15th. If you have not paid them, you need to set up a fee payment agreement with the office. You can call the Elm Road office to have a payment agreement form sent home to complete or print a form off the PHM web site at , at www.phmschools.org, under the parent tab, 2017-2018 school fee information.
If you have any questions please call the office.
From now on we can only accept checks that are written in blue or black ink. The bank will no longer take checks written in any other colors of ink !
Parents are able to join us for lunch, but NOT out on the playground during recess. Please DO NOT bring in food from fast food restaurants.
Please follow traffic assistants' directions and pull up as far as possible when requested. After buses have dropped off students, you may be asked to drive around to the front of the building to drop off. Students should exit the vehicle curbside only independently.
Car riders need to know their number.
Parents who need to buckle up their child, need to pull over to a different spot. Teach children how to buckle themselves. Car riders should get in curbside door.
Go green and use the bus! If your child is not a non-resident student, please help us and help them by using the school bus daily. We have over 60 non-resident students, and their parents require this space. Please help others and our efficiency by allowing resident students to use the transportation provided to them.
Students of the Month
Congratulations to the following
“Eagles” for their wonderful
“SOAR” behavior:
Macellari: AJ Hudnall & Peyton Dodd
Portolese: Makenzie Killelea & Andrew Williams
Renz: Alex Vanvynckt & Cymone Bacon
Bush: Melina Perri & Chase Montague
Clark: Royce Niles & Esmeralda Santos-Barrera
Hinton: Mahina Belaski & Garrett Werntz
Taylor: Abrianna Reynolds & Elias Cranmer
Gizewski: Dominik Loveless & Maddox McClain
Richard: AnnaBell Rochefort & Elijah Foster
Tornquist: Kyle Gretencord & Priscilla Bowlds-Hurtle
Anderson: Aiden Kennedy & Emma Pratt
Miller: Ella Neuenschwander & Michael Nardini
Myers: Heaven Wakeman & Evan Wiseman
Pillow: Ben DeCicco & Nora McKinney
Cook: Braden Dydo & Quinn Hayden
Fisher: Gavin Belzowski & Emily Snider
Kocsis: Kamron Adams & Kevin Do
Newcomer: Gavin Steinhaus & Joshua Zumbrun
Freeman: Jovani Morales and Mikalah Kuskye
Kertai: Michael Tanner and Bailey Tropp
Mellor: Wilson Thomas and Ginger Jursinic
Shreiner: Zachary King, Abigail Poorman
Health Office Notes
1) Cough drops and over the counter medications need to be in their original container, an authorization form, and parent must bring them in and they must say children's name on them.
2) For the 5th grade parents : It's not too early to be thinking about those 6th grade vaccines. Once your 5th grader turns 11, they may get these vaccines.
Library Lines
The students have been enjoying our library and have been checking out many books. Please continue to help your children take responsibility for the books they are borrowing by being sure to keep books in a safe place and returning them within two weeks after they have checked them out. Reading aloud as a family is very important to developing good readers and it’s a wonderful opportunity for family bonding.
October 20-26 the Elm Road PTO will host the Scholastic Book Fair “Wild West – Saddle Up and Read” Book Fair. Our students will be able to purchase books during their CAMPE library rotation. Everyone will be able to visit the Book Fair in the Library and during an evening event (details will come home soon). This is a great time to come in and shop for books for your child’s personal library. Buying from the Book Fair also helps us acquire more books and other supplies for our school library.
Thanks to our helpers in our library! If you would like to volunteer – please call Mrs. Knapp at school or email at lknapp@phm.k12.in.us
Music News
Here is a little bit more of what each grade is working on:
1st: Steady Beat Activities, Singing Voice vs. Speaking Voice
2nd: So, Mi, and La songs, Xylophone Activities
3rd: Singing in Rounds, Syncopated Rhythms, Xylophone Activities
4th and 5th: Finishing Recorder Unit, Student Compositions
Please email me with any questions you may have!
Elm Road Elementary Music Teacher
Mrs. Nakayama
Gym News
The second through fifth graders are working on sportsmanship and teamwork through some four square and lead up games to soccer. They will soon be completing fitness testing stations in which each student will complete the Presidential Fitness Challenge. These tests measure muscular strength, endurance and flexibility. This is not a test that children can fail, it is designed to have students reflect on where their strengths and weaknesses are and how they can set goals and achieve growth. The council for the President’s Fitness Program has determined the times and numbers needed for each test. These tests will be given at least two times this school year. The events are shuttle run, sit and reach, pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, PACER test and endurance run/walk. This past month in PE our focus has been on our Minds in Motion obstacle course, soccer, four square, gym procedures and vocabulary such as: warm up, endurance, pacing, sportsmanship, punting, dribbling, passing and trapping.
All grade levels are participating in "Minds in Motion". This is an obstacle course set up around the perimeter of our gym and is designed to develop and challenge a student's balance and learning capabilities. The course aides students to alleviate clumsiness, improve vision skills for reading, improve balance, improve handwriting, enhance body control, increase focus and improve eye-hand coordination.
For Kindergarten and first grade a large focus at the beginning of the school year has been on personal space, locomotor movements, rolling, throwing, tossing and sliding as well as starting and stopping cues, being alert in general space activities, and moving in general space at different levels, pathways, and directions. Please help your child practice tying, lacing, zipping, and buttoning at home. Many kindergarten through second graders are needing lots of help with tying!
Congratulations and thanks to the 5th grade students that help with the kindergarten and 1st grade gym students! Mr. Phipps and Mrs. Parisi certainly appreciate your leadership in helping the younger students learn new skills.
REMINDERS:
Make sure your child has tennis shoes and socks on his/her gym day.
Our Fire Obstacle Course will be in Elm Road Gym Oct. 2-6. Students will learn about the importance of a fire safety plan for home, how to dial 9-1-1, what to do if clothes catch on fire, and overall fire safety. Every child will need to know his/her address and telephone number to make a 9-1-1 call. Please be practicing this with your child.
Mrs. Creighton's Literacy Notes
As we learn to read, the end goal is to understand what we read.
Reading comprehension is the end goal of reading. Readers must be able to understand the material they are reading. In order to read with understanding, young readers must learn to be active readers. It takes time and practice to develop strong comprehension skills. Families play a key role in helping a child to learn how to read with understanding. Here are some simple steps to help your child at home.
Before you begin, it is important to choose a book that is at an appropriate reading level for your child. Books that your child can read with 98% accuracy are good choices to help in building reading comprehension. You can determine if the book is appropriate by having your child read a page, and if they have less than five reading errors, the book should be at an appropriate level for them. We don’t want a child to spend all of their time and energy figuring out words, as this makes it difficult for a reader to comprehend text. If your child is a struggling reader, you can also build comprehension skills by reading aloud to your child.
As you and your child read, you can use the before, during, and after approach. This three step approach will help guide your child in obtaining active reading skills.
Before your child begins to read the book, set a purpose for reading. Look at the book cover, and ask your child what the book might be about. Guide them to make predictions about what the book is about. Take a “picture walk” by going through the pages and making predictions based on the illustrations. Guide your child to make connections with the text, through personal experiences your child may have had that relate to the story.
During reading, guide your child to be an active reader. Stop and discuss what is happening in the story. Talk about whether your predictions were accurate. As you read on, make more predictions. Have your child visualize what is happening in the story. If something is confusing, have your child go back and reread confusing part and help them to make sense of it. Discuss any word meanings that your child did not know. This will help develop vocabulary skills. A broad vocabulary also boosts reading comprehension.
After reading, it is important to reflect on what was read. Have your child summarize the story, or just parts of the story. If your child is reading a nonfiction book, ask them about important facts that they read about. When reading fiction selections, you can discuss characters and the story’s settings.
These three steps will help your child be mindful of being an active reader. Active readers are better at comprehending text. Before long, your child will be confident in their comprehension skills.
Happy Reading,
Mrs. Creighton