Tiger Insider
December 2021
NOVEMBER TERRIFIC TIGERS
December's PAWS-itive Character Trait Is...
CARING!
Principal for a Day
Tiger Point Tallying
WOW! We are really racking up the Tiger Points around here!
Kindergarten - 7,117
Grade 1 - 7,475
Grade 2 - 8,091
Grade 3 - 6,660
Grade 4 - 5,784
Grade 5 - 7,645
Grade 6 - 7,055
FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF 49,827 TIGER POINTS SO FAR THIS SCHOOL YEAR! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK, MES!
2021-2022 PBiS Goal
Did you know that as of December 14, 2021 93% of our students have one or fewer behavior referrals? 414 out of our 444 students have received one or fewer behavior referrals for discipline thanks to our school-wide support and commitment to PBiS (Positive Behavior Intervention & Supports)! Our students are making great choices and learning quickly to avoid repeating bad ones!
Our overall goal is to have 82% or more of our kids receive one or fewer minor/major behavior referrals this school year. We are on track to meet that ambitious and worthwhile goal!
A December to Remember!
December 16 - "Tree Topper!" Wear a holiday hat, headband or tree topper!
December 17 - "Shine Bright Like a Diamond!" Light up your outfit with holiday lights, tinsel, light up necklaces, etc.!
December 20 - "Festive Sweater Day!" Find that perfectly festive sweater/sweatshirt to wear!
December 21 - "Christmas Vacation!" Wear a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, etc.!
December 22 - "'Twas the Day Before Christmas Break!" Wear your PJ's to school!
Check out the entire school-wide dress up days calendar for the days leading up to Christmas break and feel free to participate with your students!
Health & Safety Plan Update
On Friday, December 10, 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the Acting Secretary of Health’s school masking order effective December 10, 2021.
Accordingly, the District will now default back to the Health and Safety plan approved in August of 2021 by the Board of School Directors. The current language regarding mask wearing states that face coverings are no longer required; however, any student or employee who prefers to wear a face covering will be permitted to do so.
At this time the District HIGHLY recommends and encourages everyone to continue to wear a face covering in all school buildings regardless of vaccination status.
Please note that this decision does not impact the federal directive requiring all passengers and drivers to wear a mask on school buses, including on buses operated by public and private school systems; these requirements remain in effect.
MAPLEWOOD MOMENTS
Hour of Code
A HUGE SHOUT OUT to Mrs. Shaffer, Mrs. Longo, Mrs. Doubet, Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Sansom and Mr. Biernacki who participated in Hour of Code this week! It's never too early to learn how to code!
The 'Hour of Code' is a worldwide initiative sponsored by Computer Science Education Week and Code.org to introduce millions of students to one hour of computer science and computer programming. Participating in the Hour of Code means doing a one hour computer science activityThe Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science.
6th Grade CCCTC Visit
Super Readers Assemble!
GRADE LEVEL NEWS
Kindergarten
Grade 1
In Reading, students are studying words closely and learning important strategies to solve unfamiliar words while reading. They are learning how to break apart words into parts and blend them back together.
For phonics, students are learning about words with the "silent e", vowel teams, contractions, and compound words. In math, students are continuing to build strategies for addition and subtraction using a number line, while using other various strategies. For writing, students are finishing up their "How To" Books and practicing writing to prompts. Our Christmas party is Wednesday, December 22nd. If parents have any questions or did not receive the party newsletter, please contact the teacher for info.Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
In writing, students are working to complete their personal persuasive and persuade an audience to feel strongly about a topic. They are working to use authoritative language, provide evidence, and incorporate counterclaims in their arguments. Next up...literary essay!
In reading, students are finishing their unit on nonfiction. They are learning to read various types of nonfiction texts, think critically across two texts, evaluate sources, read closely, and think deeply about their reading. As nonfiction readers, we are making a commitment to learn as we read.
In Math, the 4th grade students have begun their unit on division. Because this is a difficult skill, we will be spending a lot of time over the next few weeks practicing the procedure and then using multiplication to check their answer. We will also be applying this skill to solving story problems and finding the signal words that let us know that we need to divide in order to find the answer.