At the Creek...
October 8, 2021
Hello from Rabbit Creek!
Overall, our data is where we expected it to be. With it being three years since students have had a "normal" school year (including the earthquake year), all students are showing some areas of missed learning. Teachers are expressing concerns in the area of Math specifically, with students struggling with math fact fluency. Students need to have mastered their addition and subtraction facts to/from 18 by third grade to be able to move into the higher level skills in the intermediate grades. Additionally, third grade is the year in which we would love every child to know their multiplication and division facts up to the 12s. I distinctly recall my 3rd grade teacher telling us that we couldn't go to 4th grade without knowing these and I was afraid! When students are working double digit multiplication in 4th through 6th grade (and into the further grades), they must know the basic facts. It's a must to know your multiplication to be successful in division. Math facts are easy ones to practice at home with students and they're not time consuming to do. A set of flashcards from a local book store, Walmart or Fred Meyers could be used for 15 minutes a day and bring great learning! There are also many online programs for use. And...every child has a Learning Pathway through the iReady program to build skills at their own level. Check in with your child's teacher for usernames and passwords.
Math is a skill that is built upon in every grade, which is why staff are concerned about mastery of the basic skills. Reading each year focuses on comprehension skills, enabling a student to continue to learn and practice in the area of need. Reading at home is a necessity for all learning with vocabulary building as a skill for academic success. Check out the information here:
Some researchers estimate that children learn 1 new word for every 1,000 words read. Between kindergarten and twelfth grade, students with an average daily reading time of 30 or more minutes are projected to encounter 13.7 million words—so they should learn around 13,700 new vocabulary words from independent reading practice alone. In contrast, students who read less than 15 minutes per day would learn only 1,500 new vocabulary words from reading. That’s a vocabulary gap of 12,200 words!
Our staff is committed to helping every child achieve and make a year's growth this school year. We have set school goals for the year to have 81% of our students proficient in math in grades 3-6. Following the district guardrail goals, we hope to grow by 8% in proficiency amongst our third grade students in reading. We look forward to partnering with you for your children's learning!
Together, we can do amazing things!
Ms. Peterson
October Schedules:
10/15-No school for students
10/21 and 10/22-Parent teacher conferences-student dismissal at 12:30
10/23-InService day for students
10/25-10/29-Red Ribbon Week-watch for information on our fun events!
10/29-Students are able to wear appropriate costumes to school as part of Red Ribbon week. Watch for information to come out in 10/23 newsletter!
Student Attendance
As the image shows, it has been a long time since our Rabbit Creek students have had a full year of schooling. In addition to school closures for COVID, ASD also had to close our buildings in the fall of 2018 after our large earthquake. During this year we started with the practice of needing to quarantine our close contacts. All of this equates to time spent away from learning.
Our staff, other school teams and parents have worked very hard in the past years to support student academic growth throughout these times because we know how important it is for students to get their foundational skills in elementary school. Keys to success in later years include math fact fluency, phonics, vocabulary, reading and comprehension at grade level.
Unnecessary items at school
Friday, October 15th
Parent teacher conferences
On these days students are dismissed at 12:30pm. Families need to be at school for pick up or have made arrangements for students to get home at this time. Please be sure to communicate with caregivers or family members who pick up your children!
Students will have a lunch time at school daily at the following schedule. Hot lunch will be served or families can send a cold lunch as usual. There will not be recess on the half days of school.
Cell phone expectations
Students with one warning will have their phone placed in the office for parent pick up if it's used during the school day. ASD policy:
Cell Phones/Electronic Communication Devices Conditions of Use: A student may possess a cellular telephone or other electronic communication device (ECD)in school, on school property, at after school activities, and at school-related functions as long as such activity does not interfere with educational processes or safety/security and is subject to limitations of this and other policies of the District. As a condition of this permission, the student assumes all risk of loss, damage or theft of the cellular phone or other ECD. Cellular telephones and other ECDs must remain off and put away at all other times during the school day. Exceptions may be made in special circumstances with prior approval from the principal or designee. A student may not use a cellular telephone or other ECD at any time if disruptive of other students’ instructional time. During school and school-sponsored activities, students will comply with administrative or staff member directives relating to the use of cellular phones and other ECDs.
From the Gym:
After school Net Sports (Volleyball/Badminton/Spikeball)
Grades 3-6 only
Session 1: (Monday and Wednesday): 10/25, 10/27, 11/1, 11/3, 11/8, 11/10 (6 sessions)
Session 2: (Tuesday and Thursday): 10/26, 10/28, 11/2, 11/4, 11/9 (5 sessions)
· Choose what session you prefer when signing up
· If we get less than 45 participants, everyone will have to go to session 1
· Practice from 3:30 pm-4:30 pm in the Gym
· Please sign up sibling on their own form
· Proper attitude and behavior is required at all times. Coaches have the right to remove any participant who exhibits improper conduct.
· $10 per student is requested. No payment due now. I will send payment info on first day of practice.
· Coaches: Mr. Pemble, Mr. Nees, Mrs. Maesner
· For questions contact pemble_dan@asdk12.org
Sign up online (preferred method)
https://forms.gle/68G2bcf3uB2LkiiV8
Or sign up here by printing the paper form…
Deadline to sign up (online or paper): Thursday, October 14th, 2021
HEALTHY FUTURES
September is over and we didn’t get very many logs turned it. Let’s make October a better month to record and turn in our Healthy Futures Logs. A variety of different logs can be found here:
https://healthyfuturesak.org/the-challenge/elementary-schools/
Or they are also available from Mr. Pemble in class.
From your PTA:
Dear Rabbit Creek Families,
The snow might have delayed the 2021 Rabbit Creek Jogathon, but we ended up with an awesome day last Friday! The sun made an appearance and the kids ran their hearts out! Many thanks to the students, staff and parents who helped make this a great event! Not only did the kids run/jog/walk their hearts out, but they also helped create an inspiring energetic atmosphere by cheering on their fellow classmates. It was great to see so many classes come out and cheer. Pledge envelopes were due this Friday, if you still have donations to turn in please do so by Monday October 11th. Prizes will be coming home in the next couple of weeks.
It’s that time of year when we do our annual Membership Drive and we are excited to offer a Pizza Party to the class that brings in the most PTA memberships between now and November 1st! Each member who joins Rabbit Creek PTA will earn one pepperoni added onto their students' class pizza, located on the bulletin outside of the office. The most pepperonis earned in each of the primary and intermediate grades gets to have a pizza party in their classroom! If you already purchased a membership this year, we have accounted for you. You can visit our website to purchase your membership at www.rabbitcreekpta.org.
We have some fun fall events planned this month! Join us for our upcoming Scholastic Book Fair in the library October 18 - 21. If you’re interested in volunteering, please sign up here: Rabbit Creek PTA: Scholastic Book Fair (signupgenius.com).
Get your tree decorations ready! The Second Annual Halloween Tree Tour will take place between October 23rd and November 7th. Decorate a tree with a halloween or fall theme along the trail between Westwind and Spinnaker October 23-24th. Walk the trail with your friends and family and complete the scavenger hunt October 25th - November 5th. Clean up by November 7th. This is a daytime activity as there are no lights along the trail. There will also be no supervision along the trail. Be sure to share your pictures on the Rabbit Creek PTA Facebook Page!
Princesses and Superheroes, cartoon characters and story book characters get ready to transform your car trunks for the first ever Rabbit Creek Trunk or Treat, Friday October 29th from 6 to 8 p.m. We'll have prizes for the most creative trunk, trunk with the best school spirit and most original trunk! In addition to the trunk-or-treating, we'll have music, a photo booth and more! Sign up to host a trunk or volunteer for set up, help with parking, or clean up here: Rabbit Creek PTA: Rabbit Creek Trunk or Treat (signupgenius.com). We'll be looking for candy donations later this month. Keep an eye on the Rabbit Creek PTA Facebook page or website for more details.
Our memory book cover contest is taking place now! You’ll find more information attached to this newsletter and you can pre-order your memory books today at Ybpay.lifetouch.com and use school code 13268822. Stay involved and up to date by attending our monthly meetings on zoom, visiting our website www.rabbitcreekpta.org, checking the reader board as you drive into the school and joining our closed Facebook group “Rabbit Creek School PTA”. Our next meeting is Wednesday, October 13th on zoom. Meeting ID: 953 3209 5564, Passcode: rabbit
Respectfully yours,
Tina Baldridge, Rabbit Creek PTA President
Fall Parent Teacher Conference Luncheon
Let’s provide 2 excellent luncheons to show our gratitude to our outstanding Rabbit Creek Teachers and Staff. These will be available to the staff throughout the day while they carry out Parent-teacher conferences. On Wednesday, October 20th conferences run into the evening. We will serve soups and sandwiches for those long hours at school. On Thursday, October 21st we will serve Taco Thursday. We appreciate your help and all that you do as parents!