Spring is COMING! This is the time of year when we get to watch the Earth come back to life with vibrant colors blooming all around us. The warmth of the sun fills us with energy and enthusiasm to be outside. It is my goal to bring all of this color and energy into our work here at the school. Our Fort Zeller Team – students, teachers, support staff, parents and community are an amazing group of people. We are not afraid of hard work or the challenging demands that come our way.

We are seeing so much progress in our students. Their increase in capacity to accomplish their academic work and improve their decision-making skills in all areas is helping them find success. I am so proud of them. I am proud of the way they are treating one another, the way they are setting and meeting goals, the way they are willing to accept responsibility and the way they are problem solving both academically and socially. I hope that you know how much we, the Fort Zeller Staff, care about your children, not just as students but also as the wonderful people that they are.

As we wrap up this third marking period of the year this month…I know, can you even believe that we are almost three quarters of the way through this year, I want to encourage us all to carry on with the energy that spring will bring. We need to continue strong. It will take all of us to help our wonderful students to be able to show how far they have come this year.

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement!

Best,

Mrs. Houck

1. Parent Request for Classroom Form - When making class assignments, the building principal must take many factors into consideration. Examples of these factors include the following (but are not limited to):

• The total number of students in each class.
• The balance of boys and girls, both within a class and between classes.
• The balance of students with special needs.
• Academic recommendations from IEP and/or Data Team.
• Teacher/Team recommendations to separate some students from others.
• Teacher/Team recommendations to keep some students in the same class.
• Recommendation(s) from previous year’s teacher(s).

Parent requests will only be considered for educational reasons. If the form below is received between March 1st and March 31, 2023, provides educational reasons for the request, and does not conflict with other factors described above, the principal will make a reasonable effort to accommodate a parental request. ONLY non-preferred teacher request forms will be reviewed and considered.

***Completion of this form does not guarantee the request will be granted.

2. Power School Forms - We are still looking for a number of families to complete the required forms on Power School. These forms provide us with up-to-date important information. Please see below for more information. If you need help, please make sure to contact our office.

Mar. 1 (Day 4)

• Beauty and the Beast Preview
• Dutchway Tickets Go Home

Mar. 2 (Day 1)

• Raiders Read Day

Mar. 6: (Day 3)

• School Board Meeting @ 6:00 pm

Mar. 8: (Day 1)

• PTO Meeting @ 6:30 pm

Mar. 10: No School for Students

• Act 80 Day

Mar. 12: DAYLIGHT SAVINGS

Mar. 16: (Day 2)

• Kindergarten Orientation 6:00-7:30 pm

Mar. 17: (Day 3)

• Happy St. Patrick's Day

Mar. 20: (Day 4)

• School Bard Meeting @ 6:00 pm (2nd Grade Students of the Month Honored)

Mar. 24: (Day 4)

• Middle Creek Assembly @ 9:30 am

Mar. 27: (Day 1)

• Book Fair Preview Day

Mar. 28: (Day 2)

• Book Fair Buying Day

Mar. 29: (Day 3)

• Two-Hour Late Start

Mar. 30: (Day 4)

• Fort Zeller Math/STEM Night 5:00-6:30 pm (Please RSVP - see flyer)

Mar. 31: (Day 1)

• PBIS Assembly @ 2:15 pm

On Friday, February 17, Fort Zeller had the honor of hosting the NED Mindset Mission assembly. Their school-wide character education program centers around a 45 minute assembly called The NED Show. NED is a lovable cartoon character whose name is an acronym for Never give up, Encourage others, and Do your best. NED is simple, relatable and kid-focused.

Our students and staff loved the assembly and the message it taught. Thank you to our amazing PTO for organizing this event for our school!

A message from the program:

Hello,

As you know we recently hosted an all school event called NED’s Mindset Mission. We trust your student was encouraged by the show which taught about having a positive Mindset for learning and life!

If your student purchased a yoyo, here is an important link to help them get off to a good start with proper string length adjustment, click here.

Additionally, here are a couple of our favorite follow up home resources from the Mindset Mission website. You may want to use these with your child as they are designed to go hand in hand with the program.

NED Coloring Face Masks
Parent Encouragement Notes

If you'd like additional resources, they are available here.

And don’t forget to ask your student what they learned in the show about having a growth mindset from YET the Yeti, Captain Kindly and during NED’s visit on the spaceship!

Educating together!

Our students are doing an AMAZING job working through the Spring Math program. If you would like to know more about the program, information about SpringMath can be found at springmath.org. We would love for you to see for yourself the amazing data that has been collected from districts across the entire country!

Each week, one classroom is selected as the "Spring Math Superstars" of the week. They are acknowledged with a fun video, trophy, and a call out on the morning announcements.

Please call or email your child’s teacher if you have questions about this or anything else related to your child’s academic progress.

The ELCO Raider Food Pantry is Open!

The ELCO Raider Food Pantry is now open and available for the ELCO families. With the support of our ELCO staff, local businesses and churches, we are able to provide our ELCO families with an additional resource.

If you are in need of immediate assistance or you'd like to donate to the ELCO Raider Pantry, please reach out to Kelly Smith, ELCO Social Worker, at 717-306-3242 or the ELCO Food and Nutrition Department, at 717-306-3270 for a confidential appointment to the pantry.

Hello! I can’t believe we are starting March already! Things to ask your students about this month:

R.E.A.C.H. Lessons

K - We read A Little Spot of Sadness and discussed ways to help others and ourselves shrink those sadness spots. We used a sponge and some water to show how our hearts feel light when we are happy and heavy when we are sad!

1 - We met A Little Spot of Empathy and learned about perspective: how two different people can look at the same thing in different ways. We looked at some fun pictures to see the different perspectives of our classmates. Then we took a walk in someone else’s shoes (not literally!) to practice showing empathy.

2 - We spent some time talking about honesty, integrity, and trust. We played the telephone game to show how rumors spread and change quickly.

This month, we are going to be talking all about Cooperation and Teamwork! You can check out more details in my Schoology page!

Kindergarten is singing and dancing to songs from different countries. They will be using their iPads to practice drawing all the notes we've learned including ta, ti-ti, Takadimi and the rest.

First grade is practicing their new instrument, boomwackers. They will continue to incorporating the drums and other percussion as well.

Second Grade is practicing their songs from the musical Matilda and will soon be starting their instrumental song.

In the month of February, Physical Education students worked on their rolling, throwing and catching skills. Students learned all of the components of an accurate roll, as well as both underhand and overhand throws. They also learned to catch a ball from a self-toss and a partner toss. All of these skills were used in a variety of fun activities such as bowling, bocce ball, target throwing games, and catching contests. As we move to the month of March, we will be getting our jump ropes to learn jump roping skills and information about healthy hearts. Students will also participate in the big Helping Hearts event, which is an exciting day of heart healthy activities combined with a food drive that will benefit the ELCO Pantry as well as the Lebanon County Food Bank. Information on the Helping Hearts Event and Food Drive will be sent home with students and included in teacher newsletters!

During the month of February, first graders have been working on long vowel “e” including the vowel pairs “ee” and “ea” and vowel teams ai, ay, oa, and ow, plus short vowel e (ea). We introduced compound words and continued to work on contractions.

In math, the concepts covered were two-digit addition and subtraction. Students practiced adding tens/ones with regrouping and related addition/subtraction facts of tens.

First graders also participated in Ground Hog Day and 100th day activities.

The purpose for our Family Reading Program is to increase opportunities for our students to practice critical reading skills that are necessary to become successful readers. We also want to provide beneficial and engaging reading materials in order to increase reading motivation in the home environment. Finally, the following link will take you to a presentation that describes the materials that will be sent home and how you can effectively help your child read the variety of reading materials that will sent home. Happy reading!!!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mRoYxOaqv8hg5bmLUvE6bMV2xrH04Opb/view?usp=sharing

ELCO School District is growing our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels. Click on the icons and follow along!

Facebook - @ELCOSD

Twitter - @elcosd

Instagram - @elcosd

Why:

1. Celebrate our students.

2. Keep parents, students, alumni, and the community in the loop of what is happening in our district.

3. Promote the great things happening such as athletics, activities, and other events.

4. Build an ongoing conversation about the positive impact our district is making in the lives of our students!

What do I need to do?

• If you are on these social media channels – follow us!

• Help promote these accounts to your family and friends.

• If you aren’t on these platforms – that’s OK. The district will continue to provide communication through traditional channels.

1. On Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at 6:30, our PTO will host its next meeting at Fort Zeller in the library. We hope that you will consider joining our meetings and provide your valuable input to support our students and staff at Fort Zeller.

2. Volunteering: If you have an interest in being a volunteer in your child's classroom or in our school, please use this link, https://www.elcosd.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=918, to complete the necessary paperwork on clearances. Don't hesitate to call our office at (610) 589-2575 if you need additional assistance.