Bay Vista Bulletin
October 2019
Principal's Message
In September, all students have taken their first set of MAP testing, or Star Literacy in Kindergarten, for ELA and Math. Teachers have used this data to begin remediation and enrichment for all. They will also review this data with you and offer suggestions for how you can support your student at home. CLEVER also offers several resources for your child to use at home for additional support and practice.
It was wonderful to see all our grandparents eating lunch with their grandchildren this past month. More than 300 grandparents came and had lunch. They are welcome at Bay Vista any time. A huge thank you to Melissa Fultz, who planned the event and Rossi Newsome, our official photographer.
There are quite a few opportunities to earn meeting credit for the month of October. Your opportunities to earn October meeting credit include attending one of the following events: SAC Meeting on October 7that 6:30, the Airheads Bay Vista Family day on October 12th, the Family Wellness Night on October 17th from 5:00-7:00, the PTA Family Dinner Social on October 21st at 6:00, or by volunteering at the PTA Treat Trail on October 25th. Each of these are marked with an asterisk on the PTA School Calendar. If you don’t have a copy, please request one form your teacher or refer to the front page of the Bay Vista website.
A flyer for our Family Wellness Night will go home with all students. There will be a one mile fun run, food vendors, the mammogram bus will be here, and there will be healthcare demonstrations and professionals you can speak with. Cards will not be given out after 6:15 on this evening, so please plan accordingly.
Our Fall Book Fair will run from October 7th to October 11th. Feel free to join us for SAC that evening and then stop in to the Book Fair.
We have also been working to embed our Guidelines for Success into our school culture. Feel free to ask your Jaguar about these Guidelines for Success as we are working to demonstrate those each day to become successful at school and in life.
Our fall “opt out” fundraiser is underway! To participate, please complete the donation form that was included in your child’s agenda last week and send it in to the attention of the PTA. If you need a new form please email bayvistapta@gmail.com. Don’t forget - there are reward levels for those that participate. Your contribution to helping our school is so appreciated. The fundraiser ends October 8th.
Donna Hall
Principal
Car Line-Be sure to follow the rules when arriving, departing
Our car line is running very smoothly. In the morning, the front parking lot is not to be used for morning drop-off to circumvent the car circle or when running late. The only exception is if a parent is parking their car, and getting out to escort their child all the way to the building. Cars are not permitted to pull into a parking space and let their student out. We have had too many close calls with student safety in this parking lot each morning when the rules are not followed. Using the car circle is the preferred method of dropping off and picking up students and really is the quickest way to deliver students each morning. Safety is our number one priority so thank you for continuing to follow the traffic patterns to ensure everyone’s safety. Please have all hang tags with your student’s name and grade level visible on the left-hand side of the car. All parents should remain in their car for morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. For those parking in the neighborhood, thank you for being careful near our neighbors' yards and driveways.
News from the Kindergarten Team!
We are adjusting to school very well. We have built up our confidence by coming to school every day and found out that learning is fun! Most of us now know all of the alphabet and are beginning to read and write words. We love all the great books we get to hear every day.
In math, we count everything! In science, we are learning to sort materials using our five senses. We are also learning about computer programming using fun little robots called BeeBots. In our classrooms, we get to use computers and are starting to make trips to the computer lab. We are also learning about the library and beginning to checkout books to take home! It is all very exciting to us!!
First Grade Updates-Science
We will watch and discuss videos about the Everglades and Yellowstone National Park. Students will take part in campus walks to make observations/sketches. Some of the topics we will discuss are listed below. Please encourage your students to talk about all they are learning and to also use the science vocabulary!
ROCKS: Describe rocks that you see. Are they large or small? Are they soft or hard? What color are they?
SOIL: Describe the soil. what color is it? Is it covered in grass or other plants? Are there any living creatures? Try digging in the soil with a stick. Is it easy or hard to dig? Is there anything in the soil?
WATER: Describe any water in the location. Is it visible? If so, what color is it? If not, where is it hidden. Where is it coming from? What kinds of objects or living things do you see in the water?
AIR: Describe how you are seeing air in your environment. Are there different ways to tell how air is all around your environment?
LIVING ORGANISMS: Describe the living organisms that you see (birds, mammals, reptiles, ). Where is this organism located in the environment?
Second Grade-Supporting our Jaguars in Mathematics
2.OA.1.a. Determine the unknown whole number in an equation relating four or more whole numbers. For example, determine the unknown number that makes the equation true in the equations 37 + 10 + 10 = ______ + 18, ? – 6 = 13 – 4, and 15 – 9 = 6 + .
As you work with students at home, when discussing the equal sign, also use the phrase "IS THE SAME AS". Encourage students to use a double tens frame and counters along with the strategy of "Making a ten." Also, we want students to recognize that they can use addition to solve subtraction problems as we do not teacher addition and subtraction in isolation. For example, 12-?=9; 9+?=12.
For the first time, your students will also be exposed to two-step word problems. The focus should be on understanding the problem situations and finding strategies to solve and not on extending computational skills. Students should use concrete and pictorial representations to explain their reasoning and then make explicit connections to the equations.
Third Grade Thoughts across content areas
In Reading, third grade will be starting the next unit in ELA. We are moving away from fiction and will be studying non-fiction texts. We will be learning all about how text features (captions, illustrations, headings and diagrams) support the information in the text and help readers better understand informational articles and books. Snakes will be our first topic.
In writing, third grade students are beginning a new writing module focusing on informational writing. They will learn to organize information into a five paragraph piece that includes a topic, and subtopics with facts and details. Text features such as diagrams and illustrations will be used to present facts. They will enhance their writing by using similes.
In Math, Students are fluently adding within 1000 using strategies such as, place value, base-ten models, and break apart. Students are also using estimation to check if their answer is reasonable.
In Science, we will be wrapping up our study of Earth Science by learning about the force of gravity in a unit called “What Goes Up, Must Come Down”. Students will be able to demonstrate that gravity is a force that can be overcome. We will be making balloon rockets to explore gravity.
Fourth Grade updates for October
4th grade has an exciting October planned. We will be taking a field trip to The University of South Florida, St Petersburg campus to participate in a STEM activity. We end the month of October with Literacy Day. We will celebrate Literacy Day with T-shirt book reports!
We will also have Diamond Del visit our school for a Gem Mining experience as a culminating lesson for our Rocks science unit.
At the end of this unit, students will need to understand the difference between a mineral and a rock. A mineral is a natural occurring, inorganic solid formed by geological processes. Rocks are made of one or more minerals. For example, quartz and feldspars are minerals, but when formed together, they make granite (which is a rock). Unlike minerals, rocks may also include organic materials such as shells from once-living animals or pieces of plants.
Students must be able to describe the properties of rocks including hardness,color, streak, luster and cleavage. Hardness is tested with a scratch test, streak described the colored residue left behind by scratching a mineral on a streak plate, luster (metallic,nonmetallic,waxy etc) describes how light is reflected off the surface of a mineral and cleavage describes how the mineral breaks.
Students will also need to know the three main types of rocks (Igneous,Metamorphic and Sedimentary) and understand how these rocks change from one type to another in the Rock Cycle.
Students often confuse weathering and erosion. This is a heavily assessed topic on the Statewide Science Assessment (SSA) students will take in 5th grade. Because of this, it is critical that students be able to differentiate between the terms. Weathering a natural process in which rocks break down over time. With erosion bits of rock are moved by natural forces including wind, water and/or ice. Weathering must occur before erosion can take place.
Fun in Fifth Grade
Our fifth grade students have been working on their craft as informational writers. They have been encouraged to write about topics they are passionate about and want to know more about. They have been learning how to formulate strong controlling ideas, develop cohesive supporting ideas that connect back to their main point and to present information in sophisticated organizational structures that established authors use (e.g., compare/contrast , problem/ solution, cause/effect, description, chronological/sequential). In doing this work, students must apply their knowledge of the skills and strategies that are practicing during the reading block. We are practicing how reading and writing are reciprocal practice.
Fifth grade in October:
MATH
Unit 2: Decimals and Fractions
• Recognize a multi-digit number in one place represents 10 x as much as the digit n the place
to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in its place to the left. (1)
• Explain patterns in number of 0’s when X a number by powers of 10. (2)
• Explain patterns in placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided
by a power of 10. (2)
• Use exponents to show powers of 10 (2)
• Round decimals to any place. (1)
• +, -, X & divide decimals to hundredths using models/drawings & place value
strategies/operations and/or the relationship between + and -. (2)
• +/- fractions with unlike denominators by replacing fractions with = ones. (2)
• Solve +/- fraction word problems using visual models or equations.
• Use benchmark fractions to estimate & assess reasonableness of answer
SCIENCE
Weather –
• Students will identify and describe weather in a particular place and time.
• Students will identify and distinguish between forms of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet and
hail) and their related weather conditions.
• Students will distinguish weather conditions among different environments such as deserts,
grasslands, rain forests, tundra and wetlands.
Climate –
• Students will describe the temperature and precipitation of different climate zones (tropical,
polar and temperate).
• Students will describe factors that affect weather in climate zones such as latitude,
elevation, and proximity to bodies of water.Module B “From Producers to Consumers...”
ELA
UNIT 1
Explicit Reading Instruction: In this unit, students will learn the kind of thinking work that is required to approach informational texts as experts. These texts often include multiple main ideas, shifting text structures, heavy domain-specific vocabulary, and important scientific interactions and relationships. The unit aims to help students navigate complex texts by building a repertoire of strategies. Topics range from carnivorous plants to wolves…from producers to consumers in an effort to integrate 5th grade science standards.
Explicit Writing Instruction: In writing, students will construct angled all-about books and “Triple I” articles brimming with information, issues, and ideas.
Unit 2
Explicit Reading Instruction: In this unit, students will continue to apply the skills and strategies they learned in Unit 1 to build their knowledge about various scientific topics ranging from octopuses’ survival to fossil discoveries. Students will read several text sets that will allow them to integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write and speak about the subjects knowledgeably.
Explicit Writing Instruction: Students will learn to write multi-paragraph, text-based essays in which they will support a controlling idea through the use of relevant evidence and purposeful elaboration. Students will edit and revise essays to strengthen their control, craft, and conventions.
October Calendar
2nd PTA Staff Luncheon
3rd Grade 2 Field Trip-Mahaffey Theatre
4th Student Jaguar Jamboree7th Book Fair begins & Family Night, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
7th PTA Board Meeting, 5:30
7th SAC Meeting, 6:30 (meeting credit option)
8th Picture Retakes
10th First grade field trip-Mahaffey Theatre
11th End of first Report/Infraction Period
12th Air Heads Bay Vista Family Glow Night, 7:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. (meeting credit event)
14th No school for students
15th Car Circle Awareness Week
17th Family Wellness Night, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
(meeting credit event-one hour commitment)
21st PTA Family Dinner Social, 6:00 p.m. (meeting credit event)
22nd Kindergarten Field Trip-Pumpkin Patch (selected classes)
23rd Grade 5 Field Trip-Florida Orchestra
24th School Tour for potential families
24th Kindergarten Field Trip-Pumpkin Patch (selected classes)
25th PTA Treat Trail (meeting credit for volunteers)
25th Grade 4 Field Trip-USF Stem (selected classes)
28th Grade 4 Field Trip-USF Stem (selected classes)
29th Report Cards go home
31st Literacy Day-more info to follow