B.B RICE ELEMENTARY
May 2019
904 Gladstell Street
Conroe, TX 77304
936-709-2700
Fax 936-709-2799
School Mission
More than competency in the basic skills of reading, writing, and math, it is this school’s mission to nurture in each child:
The habit of creative independent thinking, a positive self-image, an attitude of social cooperation and moral responsibility, pride in self, community, state, and country, and
the ability to be a producer, not just a consumer, of Knowledge.
“In this school, we reach for the stars.”
Eat Breakfast at School!
Breakfast is served at school! School breakfast will give your child a healthy start to the day. A nutritious breakfast helps students be more alert so they can learn more in class. Breakfast has vitamins and nutrients for a strong and healthy body.
Breakfast at school is affordable at only $1.35. If you qualify for free and reduced price meals, you also qualify for the breakfast program, with no additional paperwork. You can’t find a healthy breakfast at such a low cost anywhere else.
Help your child start the day right with school breakfast!
School Information
- The building doors open at 7:30 for students to eat breakfast and go to class.
- Please do not drop off students before 7:30 as there is no adult supervision.
- Breakfast is served from 7:30-7:50. 1st through 4th grade eat inside their classrooms. PK and Kinder eat in the cafeteria. Morning PK students go directly to the cafeteria and meet their teachers.
- Afternoon PK begins at 12:10. If they are going to eat lunch, then they need to arrive at 11:45.
- Students may not be checked out or change transportation mode after 2:30. This is for the safety of the students.
- Dismissal begins at 3:10.
- Please make sure you have your car rider sign in your car for car rider. You will be asked to park and come inside if you do not have your tag.
- Thank you for all your help to make this the very best year!!!
Message from the Principal...
I can't believe this is the last newsletter of the 2018-19 school year. We have had an exciting school year with so many great moments. I truly enjoy every day I get to spend with your students.
Many of you will have 4th graders who will be moving on to the next step in their educational journey. I know that they are prepared and ready for what lies ahead. The 4th grade class continues to amaze me with their kind hearts and bright minds!!! I will always be cheering for them!!!
As we prepare for the coming year, below are a few reminders:
- Please turn in your form that shares your plans for next year. This way we will begin to make class placements for the 2019-2020 school year.
- If you are moving or have moved, please provide this information to the front office so we can have the correct address to mail report cards.
- Registration for 2019-2020 school year, will be completed through the InfoSnap system. You will receive an email over the summer asking you to log in and verify your information and submit. Once this is complete, we will place your students in classes for the coming year. This is the same process as in past years.
- Keep in mind, Free/Reduced lunch applications need to be updated to maintain Free/Reduced status.
I know we have many activities in May and I hope you are able to join in the fun!!!
Thank you for sharing your students with us,
Mrs. Stewart
Message from the Assistant Principal...
Dear Rice Raccoon families,
As we close out this year, I just wanted to send out a huge thank you to all of our sweet families for a fantastic first year at BB Rice! Conroe ISD is such a special place and Rice Elementary is definitely the heart of the district. The love and support for each student and staff member is overwhelming. I am so blessed to get to call this campus my new home. I am looking forward to a wonderful end of the year and can't wait to see everyone again in August!
Love,
Mrs. Sciba
Message From School Counselor...
Dear Parents,
WOW! I can’t believe that May is already here, the year has flown by! Our 3rd and 4th grade students have survived the STAAR test, 2nd , 1st , Kinder and PreK have enjoyed their field trips, and all are getting ready for summer! All our students have worked exceptionally hard and deserve to have a fun and relaxing summer. I could not be more proud of each of you!
Parents, during summer kids can get very restless and bored. Here are a few ideas that you could do to keep the kids active, and entertained during the summer.
- Visit the beach and collect shells
- Set up a lemonade stand
- Make a sidewalk chalk mural
- Have a picnic at a state park
- Have a water balloon fight
- Run through sprinklers
- Bake cookies for ice cream sandwiches
- Go biking on a trail
- Pick berries
- Make a fort out of cardboard boxes
Students, I hope you enjoy your summer! I can’t wait to see you all again in August and hear about your wonderful summer adventures!
Have a safe and happy summer!
Pre-K
It's hard to believe that school is almost over for the year!. May is a very busy month full of assessment. If your child is not ill, please make sure they are in attendance. Keep reading and practicing writing over the summer. I have enjoyed teaching all of your children, they have grown up so much right before my eyes! Thank you so much for sharing them with me. Remember to practice any skills not mastered on the report card so your child can have a strong start in kindergarten. You will receive your child's final report card in the mail, so please make sure we have a current mailing address. Have a wonderful summer vacation full of learning.
Kinder
First Grade
It’s hard to believe that May is here! With the end of the year winding down first grade will have some exciting events this month! The program will be May 3rd at 9:00 a.m. First grades will have its field day on May 23rd. More information will be coming soon! Please make sure your child has on loose clothing and athletica shoes that day. We will be outside so make sure to pack plenty of water! In Reading, Writing, and Science first grade will be working on our animal research project. In math we will be working on problem solving, place value to 120, personal finance, as well as addition and subtraction to 20. Our last Math assessment will be May 17th please make sure your child is here that day. In Social Studies we will be learning about Economics including choices families make when buying goods and services. We will also be learning about spending and saving.
Our 2nd annual first grade Read-in will be this month! Look for more information in your child’s folder. Please continue reading with your child every night. The more they practice the better readers they will become. First grade teachers would like to thank you all for your help and support! It has been wonderful seeing your child grow! Have a wonderful and safe summer!
Second Grade
Third Grade
On April 25th, your third graders began the Carnival STAAR Review stations in both reading and math. Your students are reviewing skills and learning new strategies to help them succeed on the test! We are having fun along the way, playing carnival games in class and working towards a REAL CARNIVAL the final day of review! The Carnival will be led by teachers during school, on May 10th! We are looking for CISD Volunteers to help us run this day!! STAAR Math will be on May 13th and Reading will be on May 14th. After STAAR your students will be working on research projects and showing all they know to become great fourth graders! We will have Field Day May 24th, Awards on May 28th and End of Year Parties on May 30th! We are so proud of all the hard work your students have done this year and we can't wait to see them excel in fourth grade! Have a safe and fun summer!
Third Grade Team
Fourth Grade
Wow..This year has really flown by!! There are many exciting things going on in 4th grade as we approach the end of the school year and transition out of elementary school
In Writing we are celebrating the kids for great effort and lots of hard work on STAAR Writing day. They were comfortable and confident! We are now moving forward into a mini unit of writing poetry, which the kiddos are really LOVING!!
In Reading we are continuing to review various genres and skills in preparation for Reading STAAR on May 14th. We are exploring how to read the media and developing good questions to ask when we see any form of mass communication.
In Science we are engaging our minds with the different types of inherited traits and learned behaviors. Understanding our learned behaviors can help us with different tasks in life, as well as our inherited traits. Life Cycles and food webs will be a focus as well this month.
In Social Studies we will continue Texas History from Texas Revolution through the Statehood of Texas, all the way to the Civil War Era.
In Math we are continuing to ask that you practice Math Facts at home! This is so important for fact fluency! We are spiraling through all skills to build mastery in preparation for Math STAAR, which is on May 13th. Our focus is on Measurement, Geometry, and Numbers Operations. The fourth graders will be flex grouped and rotated through different instructors. They will participate in engaging learning activities in whole and small groups. This will get the students energized and excited to shine on our BIG DAY!
Our wonderful celebration, which our whole STAAR Review is focused around, is our trip to NASA on May 9th. We are soo excited about this special field trip! The STAAR Pep Rally is May 10th, which is where we get all the kiddos excited and amped up about STAAR DAYS! Each grade level will perform a skit, rap, or chant! ☺ The Gifted and Talented students have been working very hard on their GT projects, designing their own Enigma Projects. They have to include a PowerPoint of information, as well as a final project of their choice. This can include a learning station, a game they created, an experiment, or multiply other options off their choice board! They have been very creative in their designs, which they will presented on May 24th. In addition, Fourth Grade Field Day will be here at Rice on May 24th. Coach Bearden is in need of parent volunteers to help with this event. Monday, May 27th is a holiday, and May 30th is our last day of elementary school, which is a half day! Award Day for 4th grade will be held on May 29th, as well as the 4th grade Luau party to celebrate our babies moving on to intermediate school. Also be on the lookout for yearbooks! They are a great keepsake to remember our fantastic elementary years at BB RICE! This year has flown by and we thank you for all your support and help in making it a successful one for your student. Have a safe and restful summer. Keep reading!
From The Library...Ms. Parks
This has been a wonderful school year in the library!
Children have checked out many books and have worked very hard to reach their personal reading goals. Since they have improved their reading skills through many activities, they must continue to practice during the summer.
A good way to help your children maintain their reading skills is to have them participate in the summer reading programs sponsored by the Montgomery County Library each year. The library number is 936.539.7814.
Call and get information about story times and the Summer Reading Club. Plan to take your children to the
County Library and have them participate in this summer fun while maintaining their reading skills.
Read, Read, Read!! Have a great summer, and thanks for your help and support of the Rice Library.
Nurse
Just a reminder, some of our students have medication in the clinic. I will be sending out end of the year medication reminder notes home with students who have medication in the clinic. Due to school policy we are unable to send medication home with students. Please make arrangements for medication to be picked-up. Any medication not picked-up by Thursday May 30, 2019 by 3:30 pm will be discarded.
Have a great, safe summer!
Michelle McLaren, RN
Something to Ponder
How important is self regulation to a child's ability to learn?
Self Regulation is the ability to calm yourself down when you're upset or excited and cheer yourself up when you're down. Essentially the ability to regulate your own emotions. So, how does that come into play with learning?
Think about it this way - everyone has two brains - our Hulk brain and our Bruce Banner brain. What would it be like to teach the HULK anything new? Do you think he can learn? Of course not, the Hulk is unable to self-regulate. High emotion and rational thinking cannot exist in the brain at the same time.
Not all kids exhibit typical Hulk behaviors during heightened emotion. Do you have kids who exhibit these behaviors?
All of these behaviors show a current state of inability to regulate emotions. For some kids that is a short period of time and for others it is long. Any time these behaviors are shown the student is not ready to learn.
- Wake up and work up energy to go to school
- Sibling interactions that lead to conflict
- Boredom on the bus
- Excitement of seeing their friends
- Walking past a student who upset you the day before
- Getting called on by a teacher when you don't know the answer
- Getting rejected by a boy or girl you have been waiting to go on a date with
- Not doing well on a test even though you studied
- Last period of the day on a Friday...need a say more
- Disappointment at not making the team you tried out for
So what exactly are the skills needed for self-regulation or emotional regulation?
According to Alice Boyes PhD, there are ten skills of emotional self-regulation that we need to master by the time we are adults.
- Identifying which specific emotions you’re feeling.
- Identifying which specific emotions someone else is feeling.
- The ability to start and persist in pursuing goals even when you feel anxious.
- The ability to tolerate awkwardness.
- The ability to have intimate conversations rather than stonewall, avoid, or flee.
- The ability not to crumble when someone is pressuring you.
- The ability to soothe your own emotions.
- The ability to soothe other people’s emotions.
- The ability to not go over the top with positive emotion.
- The ability to delay gratification.
Are we intentionally teaching kids these skills? If we want them to learn we probably should be.
Turnaround for Children believe they have identified the building blocks for learning based on the science of brain development. Do you agree?
If kids today are not coming in our doors at the school readiness level - what are we doing to get them there? We can't expect them to reach independence and sustainability if we don't set the foundation first.