Dragon Nation Newsletter
March 2020
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Una gran noticia. Para traducir este boletín, vaya al final de la página y busque la barra que dice "traducir". Debería ser muy simple.
Great news. To translate this newsletter, go to the bottom of the page and look for the bar that says, "translate." It should be very simple.
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March
While there are many things to celebrate from February and the beginning of March, it seems we only have one thing on our minds at this point… the virus. Let me take this opportunity to let you know that all of you are on my mind as we learn to navigate our new reality together. I am sure that many of you are home safe and sound, but I also know that some of you may already be struggling with child-care challenges and financial needs. Please know that there are agencies to reach out to for help. I will keep everyone in my prayers and hope that we are able to get back to some level of “normal” sooner than later.
While you are home with your kids, it is suggested to try and keep them on a schedule. This will help you manage your adult time while also keeping them in a routine that includes some academic time. We don’t want them to lose all the gains they have made this year with their teachers. Please stay safe and stay tuned in to our website and your email for any updates from the district.
Here are some suggestions to keep your student thinking about school:
- · Practice vocabulary words. You can search for age appropriate words online or choose words out of books they are learning to read from.
- · Practice basic addition, subtraction and multiplication. Make a game out of it!
- · Have them write stories about their favorite activity while they are on vacation or about their favorite character visiting them at school one day. You get the idea…make it fun!
- · Sit and enjoy a story together. Take turns reading! You read more difficult books to them to develop their listening skills and have them practice books on their levels. Make sure to ask questions about the characters. Have them make a prediction about what might come next in the story. Ask them about any pictures, charts or graphs. Read and talk about them together.
- · Visit some websites. Here is a list I found on KIRO 7 News with a variety of resources. I am not positive the hyperlinks will work, but if you type them in your browser you should be able to find them.
Techlearning.com
https://www.kcet.org/at-home-learning (This is not our state curriculum, but it will keep your student engaged)
khanacademy.org
· 123 Homeschool4me: Get printable worksheets and other resources for homeschooling.
· All Kids Network: Get worksheets, craft ideas, printable dot to dot, hidden pictures and more.
· Animals are amazing: Learn all about animals from the Switcheroo Zoo.
· Arcademics: Games are aimed at students from kindergarten to eighth grade.
· Ascend Math: Ascend Math offers math instruction for kindergarten to 12th-grade students. The platform will be free until the end of April.
· Beaverton School District: Math, reading and many other activities for students pre-K through 12th grade.
· Bedtime Math: See math as part of your child’s daily routine.
· BeeLine Reader: BeeLine Reader helps students of all ages and skill levels improve their reading skills.
· Belouga: Get a free account for K-12th grade students for resources such as math problems and social science videos.
· Big History Project: Get free access to a social studies course. It is focused on high school students but works for most of the rest of us.
· BlocksCAD: Build math and computer science skills by using specialized 3D CAD (computer-aided drafting) software.
· BrainPOP: Want to make a movie? BrainPOP lets students make movies out of images, build maps and develop their block-based coding skills. BrainPOP focuses on K-12th grade children.
· Classroom cereal: Work on your grammar by learning to proofread short stories.
· Club Oasis: A free STEM club offers DYI STEM labs, live classes, coding lessons and lives pop-ups.
· Crash Course: Courses in sociology, computer science, film history and mythology are offered for starters.
· Desmos: Students can use online tools to visualize math problems, create interactive tutorials and play math games with kids from all over the world.
· Discovery K-12: Pre-K to 12th-grade lessons and activities in these areas: language arts, reading, math, science, history/social studies, performing arts and physical education.
· Dr. Seuss to the rescue: Who doesn’t want to read and play games with Dr. Seuss?
· DuckDuckMoose: An app for tablets for preschool to kindergarten students.
· Duolingo: Learn a new language while you are stuck at home.
· Fun Brain: Activities, games, reading and more are available for grades pre-K through eighth grade.
· Games, videos and math: ABCya offers activities for students grades pre-K through sixth grade.
· Giant list of Ideas for being home with kids: It is a pretty giant list of all kinds of ideas for kids to do from art projects to making ice cream to gardening.
· Go to the museum, virtually: Get a virtual tour of 12 museums.
· Going for the record: The folks at Guinness World Records have some ideas for kids who want to be record setters. How many balloons can you burst by sitting in 30 seconds?
· GoNoodle: GoNoodle has games to get your child moving.
· Into the Book: Elementary school students can practice reading comprehension.
· Into the Map: For the world traveler, a way to create maps and explore the world’s geography.
· It’s Epic: The Epic! reading app is free to parents for the rest of the school year if you can get a digital invitation from a teacher or school librarian. They can sign up free to provide access to their students.
· KiwiCo: KiwiCo “helps kids think big and act like creators and producers instead of just consumers” Great activities and DYI science projects.
· Little Twisters Yoga & Emotional Wellness: Don’t forget your child’s emotional health. What about yoga?
· Mathcelebrity.com: Check your math with Mathcelebrity.com.
· Minecraft Education Edition: If you like coding, math and problem-solving try Minecraft way.
· Mystery Science: Video lessons science lessons that will inspire kids to explore our world.
· NaNoWriMo: If your child is looking to write the Great American Novel, here’s a website for you.
· National Geographic for Kids: Look for games, videos, lessons and “cool stuff.”
· New American History: Learn from history materials aimed at grades 4 and up.
· PBS KIDS daily newsletter: Sign up for a free daily newsletter from PBS KIDS.
· ProjectGutenberg: A free library where kids can download or read online more than 60,000 free eBooks.
· Readworks.org: Reading comprehension is the goal of Readworks.
· Scholastic Learn at Home: Scholastic Magazine is offering four learning experiences each day.
· Science Friday: Elementary to high school students can get lessons in physics, chemistry, earth science and biology.
· Star Fall: Math, reading, art and music is available for students in kindergarten through third grade.
· The Activity Mom: Get the printables kids love to work on.
· The FAB Lab: Watch STEM videos with Crazy Aunt Lindsey.
· Toy Theater: A fun website with math, art and reading games.
· Vizzle: If you have a child on the autism spectrum you can get specialize lessons from Vizzle.
· Wonderopolois.com: Learn about 2,000-plus wonders of the world.
· You can draw: Jarrett Lerner is posting activity pages on his website which you can print out and enjoy. Lerner is the author of "EngiNerds and “Revenge of the EngiNerds,” as well as the forthcoming “Geeger the Robot” early chapter book series and the author-illustrator of the “Hunger Heroes” graphic novel series.
Remember to follow us on Facebook, sign up for Remind messages and always look at our school website. Stay informed. Stay involved. We appreciate you!
Respectfully,
Carolyn Parker
From the Librarian, Ms. Walker
New arrival:
The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver written by George Barretta and illustrated by Frank Morrison.
Did you know that George Washington Carver, former child of slaves and later a famous Scientist and inventor, had a secret garden as a child? Come check out this picture book biography to learn more!
Just a reminder that parent check out is available on Mondays from 3:15 to 3:45 (When school resumes). We have a nice selection of books (in English, Spanish and bilingual) and games available. Parents may check out a total of four items at a time, including two games for some family fun!
Thank you for supporting our fundraising efforts! Please remember to keep the money together so you can turn it in as soon as we are back in school.
Attendance
With your help this past month, we were able to increase our attendance by a couple of points. That is really hard to do... and we did it!!! Please see our Facebook page for pictures of the winners of the bikes and PK gift basket.
Full Color Yearbook on sale now! $20.
Visit www.balfour.com and enter Dessau Elementary School or send in the form to the front office. Ms. Jessica can help you with your order!
5th grade parents: For $5 you can create a special message that will appear on the back pages of the yearbook celebrating your 5th grader on completing elementary school! You can hand write it or type it up on-line. Ms. Jessica can help with your order!
A+ Federal Credit Union Green Apple Youth Memberships
To help students establish a good habit, A+ will visit our school once a month to collect deposits. When the student makes a deposit, they will get a little fun gift in exchange! How fun!
Forms to start the process are available in the office. A+will visit our campus on Dec 5, Jan 2, Feb 6, March 5, April 2 and May 7. Please consider this wonderful opportunity.
Calendar of events
Calendar of events:
March 30:
CAAC 3:00 - 5:00
Tentative due to restrictions
March 31:
Principal's Coffee (Postponed)
April 7 & 8:
STAAR
Updates coming soon
*holding off on any further calendar items until we have more information