From the Desk of Mr. Yoshida
Birdneck Elementary January 13, 2018
Revised: UPCOMING EVENTS
Due to many events being rescheduled due to snow, and weather expected again this week, the dates below are subject to change:
January 15 - School Closed - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
January 16 - Sports Day (Wear gear from your favorite sports team)
January 20 - 1st Grade Saplings Fieldtrip
January 20 - 11th Annual African American Male Summit @ Kellam HS
January 20 - Military Family Day (Free) 2200 Parks Ave. 10am-1pm
January 21-27 - Great Kindness Challenge 2018 (info below)
January 22 - Laskin Road (Hilltop) Chipotle fundraiser
January 29 - Snow make up day - School in session
February 2 - End of Quarter 2
February 13 - Report Cards go home
A MESSAGE FROM YOUR PRINCIPAL
Hello Birdneck Community,
Happy New Year!
Winter is just beginning and we've started the year with another huge snowfall and already a few days out of school. We have not yet heard of how the snow days will be made up but information will soon be released, so be on the lookout. Some dates above may change if they are used for make up days.
If students are saying, "I'm bored!" there are options that can keep them busy and connected to learning. Below you will find links to math and science activities for home and reading a book is always a great option. Also, Achieve 3000 and Ten Marks are accessible from home to keep your children engaged in learning. For students to access the digital resources from home, they should go to https://clever.com/in/vbcps, and click “Log in with Active Directory.” Students will be prompted to provide their username and password. Your child’s username is his/her lunch number. If your child does not remember his/her password, please contact your child’s teacher.Once students have successfully logged in with Clever, they will be able to access the resources provided by the school system.
Login: Student#
Password: Assigned by the Teacher
2018 is going to be AMAZING! As you know, we began our PBIS program in the cafeteria. Many of our students earned "Eagle Eggs" for showing SOAR behavior in our cafeteria. As we begin the new year, we will expand our PBIS program to include behaviors in the hallways and bathrooms. Below you will find the expectations we have for students and what Safety, Ownership, Attitude, and Respect, should look like in each area of our school.
I've had inquiries about what our students are learning here at Birdneck and wanted to share with you a bit of what goes on. Below you can find the curriculum for the 2nd quarter that students are currently learning. Our students are also learning how to utilize technology, physical education, the arts (art and music), and social emotional skills to become well-rounded positive citizens. Our specialists know the core curriculum and do their best to integrate core information into their lessons.
Have an amazing day,
R.V. Yoshida
11th Annual African-American Male Summit
The 11th Annual African-American Male Summit will take place on Saturday, January 20 at Floyd E. Kellam High School, 8:00-1:00 p.m. The theme for this year’s summit is “Life Ready: Developing Your Blueprint for the DREAM.” The keynote address will be offered by the Honorable Judge Kevin M. Duffan of the Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
The Great Kindness Challenge is almost here!
Many of you may remember the Great Kindness Challenge from the past two years, and it is that time again! The GKC is a week that is devoted to practicing kindness and creating a kind culture within our school. The ultimate goal is to great more tolerance, unity, and respect in schools nation-wide. Here are all the details you need to know for the 2017 Challenge!
DATES: January 23-27th
CHECKLIST: Everyone student will get a checklist of kind activities to do throughout the week. A class set will be in your boxes by Monday morning. If a student completes their checklist, their name will be displayed on the "Kindness Wall of Fame"
SPIRIT DAYS:
Monday - Hats Off to Kindness - Wear a fun hat
Tuesday - Kindness is Our Superpower - Dress up as a superhero
Wednesday - Ride the Kindness Wave - Dress beachy/like a surfer [dress code!]
Thursday - Wild About Kindness - Dress like a wild animal
Friday - Team Kind - Everyone wear Birdneck spirit wear
KINDNESS STATIONS: Will be set up during recess on Tuesday and Thursday
DOOR DECORATING CONTEST
Education Connection Resources
2nd Quarter Literacy Focus
KINDERGARTEN: The following priority objectives will be the areas of focus this quarter:
· Retell familiar stories using beginning, middle and end.
· Identify simple facts and information relevant to a nonfiction selection.
· Write in a variety of forms, including writing to inform/explain, to offer an opinion and to narrate an experience (personal narrative).
FIRST GRADE: The following priority objectives will be the areas of focus this quarter:
· Retell stories and events using beginning, middle and end, including key details.
· Ask and answer who, what, when, where, why and how questions about what is read.
· Retell nonfiction texts, identifying the main idea and important details.
· Gather and generate ideas in writing.
· Focus on one topic when writing.
· Revise by adding descriptive words when writing about people, places, things and events.
· Write in a variety of forms.
SECOND GRADE: The following priority objectives will be the areas of focus this quarter:
· Ask and answer questions about what is read in order to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text in fiction and nonfiction.
· Locate information to answer questions in fiction and nonfiction.
· Summarize stories and important events with beginning, middle and end in the correct sequence in fiction and nonfiction.
· Describe characters, setting and important events in fiction and poetry.
· Identify the theme or main idea in fiction and nonfiction.
· Explain the author’s purpose in fiction.
· Write in a variety of forms, including writing to inform/explain, to offer an opinion and to narrate an experience (personal narrative).
· Revise writing for clarity.
Students will continue to build on and apply their knowledge of reading strategies to increase comprehension of text. In fiction, the focus will be on using knowledge of story structure to summarize, identify theme, describe characters, setting and important events, and explain the author’s purpose. In nonfiction texts, students will work to summarize text, including important ideas, and use this information to identify the main idea. Students will have the opportunity to explore fiction writing with a focus on telling more and adding details. Reading and writing will be connected through content integration around the topic of weather.
THIRD GRADE: The following priority objectives will be the areas of focus for this quarter:
· Identify the main idea or theme and the major events and details that support the main idea or theme in fiction and nonfiction.
· Describe character development and compare and contrast settings, characters and events.
· Summarize both fiction and nonfiction text with an emphasis on including key details.
· Determine important information to support main idea, opinions and conclusions in nonfiction texts.
· Draw conclusions and make inferences based on nonfiction text.
· Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.
· Use an inquiry process to write a short report.
FOURTH GRADE: The following priority objectives will be the focus for the first quarter:
· Draw conclusions and make inferences about text.
· Summarize during and after reading and include supporting details.
· Explain the author’s purpose.
· Describe character development.
· Identify the main idea or theme and the major events and details that support the main idea or theme.
· Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.
· Use a variety of prewriting strategies.
· Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar, usage and mechanics.
· Collect and integrate information from multiple resources including online, print and media, in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Students should be reading, writing and engaging in discourse daily. While reading, students should be stopping to think about text, asking questions, drawing conclusions and explaining the author’s purpose.
FIFTH GRADE: The following priority objectives will be the focus for the first quarter:
· Draw conclusions and make inferences from text, including inferences about character and theme.
· Identify the main idea or theme and major events and details that support the main idea.
· Draw conclusions and make inferences from text, including inferences about main idea.
· Ask and answer questions about what is read.
· Explain the author’s purpose.
· Write personal narratives and write fiction.
· Organize writing to convey a central idea.
· Include supporting details that elaborate the main idea in writing.
· Revise writing for clarity of content and publish a writing piece to share with an audience of peers.
· Use precise and descriptive vocabulary to create tone and voice.
In addition, the science and social studies topics of Colonial Virginia, American Revolution, Force, Motion, Energy, Electricity and Sound may be addressed through the lens of language arts. When entering classrooms, observers should see students engaged in reading, writing, and discourse related to the priority objectives of questioning, drawing conclusions, determining importance and explaining author’s purpose. Students should be challenged by text-dependent questions and engaged in higher level thinking around text.
Quarter 2 Math Focus
Grade 1: Students will continue their exploration of numeration in quarter two. Here students will practice skip counting and will begin representing and comparing numbers using Base-10 manipulatives. This exploration will help students as they move into computation and estimation where they will study magnitude as an introduction to estimation and will develop strategies for addition and subtraction.
Grade 2: The study of geometry will kick off the quarter. Here students will explore the similarities and differences between plane and solid geometric figures. Majority of the quarter will be spent analyzing the operations of addition and subtraction while using Base-10 manipulatives.
Grade 3: Students will continue to explore computation with whole numbers while grappling with single-step problem solving. The study of money, time and temperature will also formally begin within this quarter in the first measurement unit of the year. The quarter will end with students studying multiplication and division. Students will be exposed to multiple strategies to help develop a conceptual understanding of the operations. These will include number lines, set models and area models. Students will use these models to explore the inverse relationships between multiplication and division.
Grade 4: Students will explore geometry before moving into rational number numeration during this quarter. Students will explore polygons and define them by their characteristics. In addition, students will explore points, lines, line segments, rays and angles. Recognition of geometric transformations will be used to increase understanding of congruency. Majority of the quarter will be spent constructing meaning with numeration of rational numbers. Students will learn about factors and multiples, explore the different meanings of fractions, represent fractions and compare and order them. Similar work will be done with decimals. At the close of the quarter, students will explore the connection between fractions and decimals.
Grade 5: During this quarter, students will explore numeration and computation with rational numbers. Instruction will focus on fractions, including improper fractions and mixed numbers and decimals. Students will grapple with solving real-world problems, both single and multistep, with fractions and decimals.
2nd Quarter Social Studies and Science Focus
Kindergarten:
Science/Social Studies — Students should investigate natural resources, including properties of water and recycling. Students should also demonstrate an understanding of economic choices and how different jobs serve the community.
First Grade:
Science/Social Studies — Students should investigate characteristics of animals, including life needs and adaptations. Students should also identify characteristics of an economic system and explain the role of money in an economy.
Second Grade:
Science — Students should investigate basic types and patterns of weather and their impact on natural systems.
Social Studies — Students should describe the culture and beliefs of the American Indian groups and describe how the American Indians used their environment to meet their needs.
Third Grade:
Science — Students should investigate life processes and relationships between living things.
Social Studies — Students should demonstrate knowledge and understanding of life in ancient Greece and continue the study of famous Americans and holidays.
Fourth Grade:
Science/Social Studies — Students will continue to use the skills of a meteorologist and geographer to interpret maps of the physical world and identify climate patterns. In the Earth Resources unit, students should investigate important natural resources on Earth and in Virginia.
Fifth Grade:
Science — Students should investigate the basic concepts of force, motion, energy, electricity and sound.
Social Studies — Students should demonstrate knowledge and understanding of life in colonial
Virginia and life in Virginia during the American Revolution.
Join our PTA
Support Birdneck Elementary students by joining the PTA. Our PTA is AMAZING! We collaborate together to create opportunities for our students and community to learn and have fun in the process. Don't miss out on the benefits from joining the PTA. Receive over $300 in savings... all for just $5 for a membership. Check out the PTA website at http://birdneckpta.weebly.com/
Our goal is to have 100% participation!!!!!!!!!
Ten Marks
We will be using TenMarks, an online math program to provide your child with opportunities for additional math practice.
On TenMarks, your child can practice and master math concepts one topic at a time. They can work on assignments that their teacher makes or choose to practice on their own anytime. While they are practicing, your child will have access to hints if they get stuck, as well as a short video tutorial if they need more detailed explanation.
Teachers have set up your child with their own individual account. Students can access Ten Marks from any computer or tablet to continue working on the program at their own pace. Teachers can monitor and review your child's progress, assign work, and give them feedback.
For students to access the digital resources from home, they should go to https://clever.com/in/vbcps, and click “Log in with Active Directory.”
Students will be prompted to provide their username and password. Your child’s username is his/her lunch number. If your child does not remember his/her password, please contact your child’s teacher.
Login: Student#
Password: Assigned by the Teacher
Once students have successfully logged in with Clever, they will be able to access the resources provided by the school system. For Ten Marks you are looking for the icon in the corner of this message.
HOMEWORK HELP PROGRAM
The Homework Help program will be provided by the City of Virginia Beach during the 2017-2018 school year.
Through Homework Help, students receive after school assistance from state certified teachers. Homework Help operates from 3 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Students can access Homework Help at the following City of Virginia Beach website: https://www.vbgov.com/government/departments/libraries/kids/Pages/homework-resources.aspx
BIRDNECK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
BIRDNECK MISSION
The mission of Birdneck Elementary is to dedicate ourselves to the success of all children, preparing them to meet today's expectations and tomorrow's challenges.
BIRDNECK VISION
Children are our future. We are dedicated to their success.
BIRDNECK BELIEFS
We believe in a collaborative community in which teachers, administrators, students, and parents work together for student success.
We believe in creating a safe, nurturing, and positive environment in which all students can strive for excellence and achieve their individual potential.
We believe we will prepare our students for success by providing 21st century learning and developing within our students critical thinking, effective communications and problem solving skills.
Website: http://www.birdneckes.vbschools.com/
Location: 957 South Birdneck Road, Virginia Beach, VA, United States
Phone: 757-648-2120
Facebook: facebook.com/birdneckes
Twitter: @BNESeagles