Mt.Peak Elementary
Newsletter
Summer break is here!
Home and School Articles
PRE-K News
Pre-K ended the year learning about bugs, Spring, farms and our changing weather. We loved having live worms at the sand table and then we got to eat "worms in dirt." YUM.
We planted bean seeds in baggies and in a cup of dirt. We had a construction zone in the pretend center and we splashed the day away during our water play day.
We put on quite a show at our graduation. It was absolutely precious and the kids did a wonderful job. We've had a great year and it's sad to see it come to an end. I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful summer and an exciting year in KINDERGARTEN!
PPCD News
Day is done…..gone the sun….. That’s what the song says. Seems as if the year just started and now it’s already over. As I look back over the year I see great changes and wonderful accomplishments and a summer filled with FUN!
During the 4th nine weeks of school, we focused on shadows and reflections and movement. We talked about why we can’t hold onto shadows, how shadows and reflections are different and how they get bigger or smaller as the light moves. Our second unit was on how things around us move ie. pushing, pulling, up, down, fast, slow etc. We also talked about what moves them – like wind , kids or machines. We also worked on two mini units: plants and insects because it’s Spring and we are observing these things are all around us (and because we like to catch bugs!).
Our Field Day was held in early May and we had great fun jumping in the bounce houses and participating in the contests planned by Coach Probst. We had our class awards and slideshow in late May and parents were treated to several songs and a slideshow about our school year . We dodged the rain that fell during all of May with a water SPLASH party during the last week of school.
It was a GREAT year and I hope you thought so too. Have a GREAT summer and I’ll see many of you again in August!
Mrs. Bieber
PPCD Teacher
Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities
Kindergarten News
WOW! It is hard to believe that the end of the year is already here! It has definitely been an exciting year filled with many adventures. We have all grown so much and made so many new friends that we will cherish for many years to come. We have studied Pond Life and learned about the life cycles of the different animals found near a pond. We also learned about Mother’s Day and why that is a special day and how we can celebrate and honor our mother. We continued to learn about life cycles while learning about insects. Learning about animals that live in the ocean was great fun as well. We ended our year learning about summer safety and celebrating with a Luau.
This has been a great year for all of us and we look forward to keeping in touch with your children for years to come and continuing to watch them grow. Have a wonderful summer.
1st Grade News
We are wrapping up a fantastic year in 1st grade. These students have worked hard all semester and are finishing strong! We did lots of spiraling learning during this 9 weeks as we reviewed types of poetry, identified media literacy in our world, and learned to explore the world around them by creating a question and researching as we discover an answer to that question.
In Math, we continued to work on counting coins, identifying and extending patterns, and balancing equations.
1st graders enjoyed learning about different life cycles in Science. We explored butterflies, ladybugs, frogs, and even ocean animals to learn about the different phases of life these animals go through. It was great to see students have hands on experience as we had caterpillars in our classroom that emerged into butterflies. I What a fun treat to release them on a lovely spring day.
We also learned about our great state of Texas this nine weeks. Students learned about our many state symbols and finished off our study with a Chili cook off contest and got to taste our state’s favorite food! YUM!
To finish off the year, our students were able to experience “Movin’ on Up Day” in 2nd grade. This is a day where they can tour the 2nd grade classrooms and meet all the teachers they will have next year. Students loved this day and can’t wait to be official 2nd graders soon! Thanks for a wonderful year and have a wonderful summer!!!
2nd Grade News
The last quarter of 2nd grade has been full of many adventures. In April, students were busy practicing for their musical with Ms. Newman. It turned out fabulous! All of the kids did a wonderful job. This quarter, second grade students also learned about Earth Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day and Memorial Day. In addition to learning about various holidays, they enjoyed 2 chapter book studies, Tornado and Charlotte's Web. Be sure to ask your 2nd grader about these two stories and find out which one was his/her favorite.
In math, second graders have been busy learning about measurement and financial literacy. The students have also been getting a deeper understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In science, the kids have been learning all about animals/plants from food chain, to characteristics, to life cycles of various animals, plants and insects.
During the summer, please read everyday and utilize any workbooks that your child's teacher has sent home. We sincerely wish everyone a safe and happy summer break!
Love,
The Second Grade Teachers
3rd Grade news
We can't believe the end of the year is here! We have had such a great time with our 3rd graders. They have participated in many different engaging activities as we prepared for STAAR. For instance, in math and reading, our students rotated through three different stations every Friday. Each math and reading teacher took an objective and created a fun review activity. Students enjoyed playing math games and reviewing. In science, students explored various life cycles, such as ladybugs, ants, butterflies, and frogs. They also gathered evidence of living organisms, such as energy transfer through food chains and how animals used plants for shelter. We read different novels and fictional text and enjoyed a variety of projects like building dioramas to depict chapters from the book and cereal box book reports to present to the class. They worked hard perfecting their cursive writing and created word art with their names. In Social Studies, we studied celebrations and how the different cultures celebrate in Texas. Thank you for a great year! We hope you have a safe and restful summer vacation.
4th Grade News
Reading:
Wow, what a year! To better state that- what a GREAT year! We have covered a lot of material in Reading and Social Studies and participated in many fun and exciting projects.
This year 4th graders learned there are many purposes for reading including “ reading to learn and reading for fun!” We read novels of various lengths and interests, both as a class and in small groups. We have had the opportunity to read chapter books, short stories, articles, essays, non-fiction, and poetry.
Each of your children has brought such joy and happiness to our classrooms. Fourth grade teachers were so fortunate to have such a wonderful group of children this past year. They all have touched our lives and this school year in very positive and rewarding ways.
Writing and Science:
Wow! This year has really flown by! We are SO proud of how hard the students worked to prepare and complete the Writing STAAR Test. We would like to thank all of the parents for their support this year! Students have been working on imaginative writing. They are SO excited to be able to write fictional stories and dig deep into their imagination.
In science, we finished out the year by studying animal adaptations, genetics, and life cycles. This will help to prepare them for the 5th grade STAAR test in Science.
Once again, thank you for your support this year. Have a great summer!
Math:
The last quarter of the school year is always fast and furious. In math we spent a lot of time reviewing all of the skills we've learned this year. We reviewed using “Relevant Review,” which includes a variety of activities that are challenging, yet fun. Students also had the opportunity to show what they've learned this year by taking the STAAR test! We are so proud of their hard work and determination this year. Although summer is a time for rest and relaxation, it is also imperative that your child keep their brain fresh for 5th grade. Please make sure that your child is practicing those multiplication facts, 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication, and division this summer in order to successfully begin 5thgrade. It will pay off in the long run! Thanks for sharing your child with us each day!
Have a fabulous summer!
Fourth Grade Teachers
5th Grade news
Art
An Awesome Year! The Mt. Peak art studio has been a busy place with lots of artwork being created. Thank you parents for such awesome students! We have painted, sculpted, woven, drawn, colored, and really enjoyed our time together. I can't wait to see what we create next year.
Music
Congratulations to the “Mt. Peak Singers” for receiving a first place rating and trophy at the “Pride of Texas Music Festival” at ITZ in Euless, Texas” on April 28th . Mt. Peak can be extremely proud of the choir’s top performance. The judges complimented the choir on their high quality singing skills and behavior. Also, deserving thunderous applause are the 30 parents, grandparents, and teacher chaperones who supported the choir as they performed and then chaperoned the singers for an afternoon of laser tag, bowling, bumper cars and. I am so very grateful to these parents and teachers for volunteering their time to ensure the choir’s safety and fun afternoon. Thank You, Choir Volunteers.
Congratulations also to the Kindergarteners for their successful and entertaining “I Can” program Thursday, May 19th . Their songs, dances, art, and sports skills certainly prove that each student can boast “I Can” as they prepare for 1st grade next year. Thanks to Coach Probst, Mrs. Coody, Mrs. Latham, Mrs. Terry, Mrs. Sadler, Ms. Marshall and Mr. Manwarren, as well as, the Kindergarten Teachers for their support and contributions.
“Summer’s Coming and I’m Feeling Good” are words of the Kindergarten’s theme song. As your families and we the Mt. Peak faculty prepare for the summer break , I want to express my gratitude to the many, many parents, grandparents, and Mt. Peak staff for their constant support and giving spirit this school year to Music. Teaching Music at Mt. Peak is such a blessing to me. The families and faculty of Mt. Peak are absolutely the “The Best”.
And……just in case any Mt. Peak Music students might want a new summer game to play , below are some Music Websites to explore :
1. San Francisco Symphony Kids- www.sfskids.org
2. The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra-www.gemueseorchester.org
3. National Arts Centre-Arts Alive Music-
http://artsalive.ca/en/mus/index.asp
4. The Invention of the Electric Guitar-
http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/electricguitar/
index.htm
5. KPBS Kids Go ! Jazz- www.pbskids.org/jazz
6. Play It Recorder- www.play it recorder
PE
Mt. Peak P.E.
- This year has certainly zipped by in a flash! Our "Pirate Olympics" Field Day this year was a stupendous success thanks to all the parent and high school volunteers! The last nine weeks of school has been dedicated to soccer, volleyball, racket sports, FitnessGram testing, and parachute activities. Kids have had a great time learning about the difference between team and individual sports, with an emphasis on sportsmanship and camaraderie throughout the games.
Things to do this summer:
- drink lots of water
- protect your skin by using sunscreen and staying in the shade
- get out early, when it is the coolest part of the day
- play 60 minutes a day, inside or out
- eat those fruits and vegetables
- make wise choices, like visiting the Mt. Peak P.E. website @
Imagine/GT
The students worked hard to complete and present their Genius Hour projects. We had anything from cooking tutorials, dancing videos, DIY projects, and sewing to Minecraft Youtube tutorials. It was amazing to watch the kids collaborate with each other to design such creative pieces of work. Great job I.M.A.G.I.N.E. students.
Imagine Spotlight on Grade 5
Fifth graders at the Peak have immersed themselves in poetry throughout the year. GT students have practiced writing six different styles of poetry and have used various websites, such as Storybird (http://storybird.com/) to type and illustrate their final work. Students have been encouraged to create poems of each of the six different styles: alliteration, cinquain, diamante, haiku, limerick, and name poems.
If you would like to challenge your child with more poetry writing, try visiting the following website with interactives and several website links to get kids excited about writing:
“12 Best Poetry Websites for Kids – Interactives and Collections”
https://turbofuture.com/internet/k12interactivepoetry
Have fun creating a poetry masterpiece or poetry journal of your own!
“Remember the power of your words.” Once words are said, they cannot be taken back. This is a powerful lesson that children need to learn.
GT Exercise:
Everyone has a unique viewpoint on a problem. It is difficult to put ourselves into other people's shoes and see the problem from their perspective, but this can lead us to find better solutions to the problem.
Have your GT student think of a problem that they are currently having that involves at least one other person. Instruct them to write down a description of the problem from each person's point of view. Encourage them to share each of their descriptions to the person it corresponds with and check for accuracy. This exercise is a good way to see a problem from different perspectives and understand where the other people are coming from.
Sources: www.braingle.com
ESL
ESL Students have made great strides this year! To keep up the wonderful progress this summer, here are a few tips:
1. Encourage your child to read books for pleasure at an easy independent level.
2. Help your child focus on understanding of books as well as pronouncing words.
3. Use I Spy and ABC books to increase vocabulary in a fun way.
4. Play games such as Scrabble and Boggle to help your child with English spelling.
5. Play games where you say words in one language and your child has to say the words in the other language.
Enjoy your summer with your children!
Library
This year went by so quickly – I can’t believe it’s already time for summer fun! Thank you for a great first year in the Library!
All students who had their books turned in by Friday, May 20th were eligible to win a prize. We gave away over 80 prizes!!! Thank you for locating lost books under beds, in lockers, behind dressers…you name it! We love getting our books back so that they are ready for next year’s readers.
Miss Watkins got to have a Jordann M. in 2nd grade be her Librarian of the Day. Jordann got to read to other 2nd grade classes, shelve books, help draw for prizes, and other various library tasks. They even got to hang out in the library’s new Reading Lodge log cabin (generously donated by Mrs. Duggins).
If you are looking for books to read or fun activities, please visit Meadows library over the summer. I’ve included a flyer of activities offered during the summer months.
When we return, students will be introduced to Makerspaces in the Library. This will be a place for students to tinker and learn through discovery. More to come in August!
Nurse Cuellar
It has been a great school year.
Summer time is almost here and soon it will be heating up. The sun is an excellent source for Vitamin D but let us remember these quick sun safety tips.
The CDC recommends the following for sun protection-
§ Use sunscreen with sun protective factor (SPF) 15 or higher, and both UVA and UVB protection.
§ Wear clothing to protect exposed skin.
§ Wear a hat with a wide brim to shade the face, head, ears, and neck.
§ Wear sunglasses that wrap around and block as close to 100% of both UVA and UVB rays as possible.
§ Seek shade, especially during midday hours- the UV rays are usually strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
We can set a good example for our children by consistently modeling these behaviors. This will prevent your risk of sun damage and teach your children good sun safety.
DFW Care Van Program is a great resource for free immunizations for eligible children. Visit www.carevan.org for more information.
I have been blessed to work at Mt. Peak the past 6 years and it is difficult for me to leave this place I love so much. I will be moving on to pursue my career as a nurse practitioner. Thank you for all you help and support along the way. It has been a pleasure serving the students, families and staff at Mt. Peak.
Have a great summer!
Donnelle Cuellar, RN
About Us
Email: brandie_best@misd.gs
Website: midlothian-isd.net
Location: 5201 FM663, Midlothian, TX, United States
Phone: 972-775-2881
Twitter: @mtpeakelem