Harris Elementary School
October 2017 Newsletter
Principal News
Dear Harris Community-
Recently, the Arizona State Board of Education released school grades for the first time in four years. Our campus was designated a grade of “C” by Arizona’s Accountability System. While the letter grade was just provided to you publicly, I had received individual data results from the Arizona Merit end of the year test in July and have already created a plan to best support the needs of ALL Harris students. This plan was developed and put in place in conjunction with teachers, support staff, parents as well as the Teaching and Learning Department (District) personnel, to provide strategic and intentional support that addresses Harris' academic concerns.
It is important to note that the Arizona State Board of Education was charged with developing a new A-F Letter Grade System to comply with federal and state requirements, while utilizing the opportunity to measure the quality of Arizona schools across a wider range of measures rather than only focusing on student achievement. The newly developed system measures student proficiency and annual student growth in key areas as well as student readiness for whatever is next in their education or career. Every year each school will receive a Letter Grade on an annual basis moving forward.
Truly, there are many factors that comprise a successful school; Letter Grades are just one of these factors. Be assured that student success is important to the Harris Staff as well as myself. As the year progresses, I will continue to share with the school council, PTSO and all parent groups the many ways we support your students. If you are already not a member of either the Site Council or PTSO, this is your opportunity to become a member. Please reach out to Jodi Valenti (my assistant) if you are interested in joining the team, jodi.valenti@gilbertschools.net.
If you have any questions regarding our School Grade or anything else, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
-Bill
Pre-K News
In November, Preschool will be learning about the Farmer’s Market. We will continue to experiment with fruits and vegetables by using our senses (see, smell, taste, touch, hear). Pumpkins will be our focus project exploring how they grow, what is inside, how they taste & smell, and how they decompose. Also, we will have special guests from Dignity Health Care. They will teach us about dental care including brushing our teeth. Families are invited to attend Preschool Pie Day in November. Plan to bring your favorite pie to share! More information will go home in your child’s backpack.
Kindergarten News
Happy Fall from Kindergarten! October seemed to fly by, but we definitely had a blast learning lots of new things! This month we enjoyed another visit from the Arizona Farm Bureau where we learned all about the life-cycle of a pumpkin. It was also great getting to sit down with everyone at parent-teacher conferences – thank you to all who attended. Lastly, we had an amazing time at the pumpkin patch on Halloween – lots of great costumes and fun was had by all! Thank you to all our chaperones, we can’t do it without you!
Coming up we have a couple family activities planned for Thanksgiving and the Winter Holiday Season, be on the lookout for information, and as always, thank you for your continued support!
1st Grade News
Halloween Information: Students are welcome to wear orange & black on Tuesday, October 31. First grade will not be wearing or changing into costumes on that day. Our day will be filled with standards-based seasonal activities and we will be enjoying our Halloween Treats at the end of the day from approximately 2:50 - 3:20. If you are planning on sending any treats to share, please be sure that they are individually wrapped and are at school on Monday, October 30 so that your child's teacher can organize them accordingly. Last minute treats are appreciated but may be saved for another day. Your child's teacher will send/has sent home information about her individual classroom needs for that day.
BookIt! Reading Logs are due on Tuesday 10/31. (No later than November 3) Pizza certificates & November reading logs will come home shortly thereafter.
BoxTops are always welcome. Each BoxTop is worth 10¢ for our school.
Please practice High Frequency Words with your child for a few minutes every day. This helps not only with reading fluency, but also with reading comprehension. Remember - our end-of-year goal is to be able to independently and fluently read 200+ High Frequency Words!
We're looking forward to a fun and fabulous November!
2nd Grade News
2nd Grade, as always, has been very busy! The teachers finished assessing all learning for the first quarter and have filled out your child’s report card. Using 3 digit numbers we are learning to mark greater than, less than, or equal to, then deciding if it is an even or odd number. We are also continuing to work on word problems. We are reading The Mixed-up Chameleon by Eric Carle. It is a fun story to learn text features from and reading a non-fiction version of Chameleons. This allows us to compare and contrast fiction and nonfiction while working on fluency and comprehension. If you child suddenly shows an interest in writing letters it’s because they have learned how to write a friendly letter during writing. As your child reads each night have them point out prefixes and suffixes in the words they are reading. They are getting very good at spotting them. Thank you for working with your child nightly to help make their 2nd grade year a successful one!
3rd Grade News
Welcome to the 2nd quarter of 3rd grade! The 3rd grade team strives for success with our students, and we want to continue our success and set high expectations.
In math, we are diving deep into multiplication and division word problems! Please have your student practice their math facts nightly as it will truly help them in the classroom. In ELA, we are learning about earth’s features which applies to our science unit, Rocks and Minerals.
Please have your student read each night for 20 minutes. Reading daily truly helps them learn! Each student has a “Book It” calendar. They are to color in the picture if they read for that day at home. If the students read at least 20 days out of the month, they will receive a FREE individualized pizza to Pizza Hut! Yum!
We would also greatly appreciate donations to each of our classrooms. We are in need of the following to help us learn: black dry erase board board markers, 3 hole folders, spiral notebooks, and extra snacks. Thanks in advance! :)
4th Grade News
4th Grade is ready to start fresh after a wonderful Fall Break!
Math is all about division for the next month so please practice facts at home with your child! In Social Studies we will be discussing how Mexico, Spain and England were in the United States and how the 13 colonies came to be. We will be focusing on how we became a new nation and some key individuals involved. In November we will be working on fairy tales and bringing math into ELA! We will be reading Rumpelstiltskin and Multiplying Menance during this month. We will also be working in small groups to rotate to different literacy centers in order to differentiate for every student. We will be having a Halloween Party on the 31st but please no costumes.
5th Grade News
In Math we are finishing up our unit on adding and subtracting with decimals and will be starting multiplying and dividing with fractions.
In Science, we are finishing up our parachute unit and will be moving on to Earth in the Solar System. We will also be doing some fall activities with pumpkins.
In ELA/Social Studies we are working on the Revolutionary War, Figurative Language and finishing our Creature projects. Ask your child to explain the RACE method to you.
6th Grade News
Social Studies
We will be studying the beginnings of ancient Egypt including King Tut and his relatives.
English Language Arts (ELA)
We will be working on Close Reading informational text, and using that information to write a research paper.
Math
We will be continuing to work with fractions, decimals and percents. Our main focus is on changing from one form to the other. Later we will be moving on to Multiplying and Dividing Fractions, decimals to percents and percents to decimals.
Science
In science the sixth grade will be focusing on the scientific process and writing and testing our own scientific hypothesis.
Library News
Another BOOK FAIR is happening on December 14th from 4pm-8pm!! YAY! Instead of having the Book Fair in the library, this event will be at Barnes and Noble in Dana Park. There will be bookmark making, cookie decorating, lego tables, beading, art on display, and MORE! Come support Harris by purchasing books. This will give everyone more of a variety of choices and it's perfect for the holidays. You can't miss this event because Mr. Roth will be there or shall I say, Buddy the Elf, and he will be reading a special story. Hope to see everyone there!
Author Visit: On November 17th, we will have author Adam with Maury C.Moose present his hilarious books. Books will be available for purchase the week after his presentation.
Kindergarten:
We started our first Digital Citizenship unit where we learned what a website is and how to be safe on the internet. We took virtual field trips to the San Diego Zoo and Art Museum. We will continue reading about pumpkins and compare and contrast characters from the stories.
First Grade:
First Grade started the Digital Citizenship unit by learning about the "Website Traffic Light." They learned about safe sites (green), sites we aren't sure about (yellow), and sites we stay away from (red). We will focus on retelling this month by reading "Pumpkin Circle" and "Runaway Pumpkin."
Second Grade:
Second graders learned all the Do's and Don'ts of passwords. We learned tips on how to create secure passwords and played a game to help us. Second Grade has been focusing on inferencing. We will be working on Halloween riddles and making foldables for "Guess My Costume."
Third Grade:
Third graders have been busy learning all about how to be a responsible Digital Citizen. We created responsibility wheels and the kids are pros now on internet safety. We will be starting our dictionary unit where we learn how to use dictionaries and how they help us with our learning.
Fourth Grade:
Fourth graders have also been focusing on passwords and how to create secure ones. We practiced generating actual passwords to help us. We have started our Patricia Polacco unit and will continue reading her books through the holidays.
Fifth & Sixth Grade:
Fifth and Sixth Graders have loved learning about historical events. Titanic was their favorite and we learned all about it and compared and contrasted it to the Hindenburg. We are working on legends with "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
Student Council News
The Can Food Drive will begin November 6th and end on November 20th. Please bring in those cans so your grade level can win a party.
The Harkin's Fundraiser will begin on December 1st and run through December 15th. The top seller of souvenir cups and popcorn will win movie tickets!
PE News
The students have been working hard on fitness. We spend 5-6 minutes each class doing cardiovascular and strength activities. As the weather starts to cool down, we will occasionally be going outside for PE. Beginning in November, we will start our Fun Runs, beginning with the Turkey Trot. Dates and times TBD.
Kindergarten-2nd grade continue to work on hand/eye coordination. We just finished our playground balls and rhythms units. Coming up will be our hula hoop unit and throwing/catching.
3-6 grades will be starting our team sports soon, starting with hockey and then football. In November the Arizona Coyotes will be visiting some PE classes to do a hockey clinic. This is always a fun event with free giveaways.
We also started to learn our major muscles, starting with the trapezius and pectoral muscles. Each month we will learn two different muscles. Students will be tested on all the muscles at the end of the year.
Stay tuned for Fun Run dates!
1,2,3…we love P.E.!
Math News
Estimation plays an important role in number sense and develops over time with practice. Most of the math that we do everyday—deciding when to leave for school, how much paint to buy, what type of tip to leave in a restaurant, which line to get in at the grocery store relies partially on estimations. The more students can practice estimation in context the more students will deepen their ability and understanding of estimation and will build number sense.
Estimate, Then Count Activity
Engage your student in a variety of estimating challenges. Keep the focus on “close enough,” rather than “exact.” Have your child estimate first then, actually count if possible. If not possible to actually count, talk about how their estimation might be too high or too low based on a small sampling. (For example, how many people are in the mall? If your student says 10, you can probably stop and count the people around you for your student to realize 10 is too low of an estimate.)
Estimating challenges might include:
How many M&Ms in a bag?
How many Cheerios are left in the box?
How many steps to the car?
How many cherries are in the bag?
How many cups of water to fill the bowl?
How many days until _______?
How many people in the store?
How many cookies will fit in the container?
How many cars are in the parking lot?
How many seconds will it take to run around the house?
Reading News
Build a background:
Before reading a book about ocean life, for example, first talk to your child about how fish are different from mammals and have to live in a water environment. Preview the text to find unfamiliar words like “gills” and “vertebrate” and explain them before you start reading. Talk about the fish you may have seen in a pet store or at the beach. You can even go the extra mile and take your child to the local aquarium. Does this sound a little extreme? Not at all – teachers do it all the time! Just trust that these steps will go along way in comprehension development.
ELL News
Special Education Resource & Speech News
The Special Education teachers are working hard with their students. Sometimes we provide support to students as they are learning in the general education classroom by breaking assignments down into smaller parts, making the language used in lessons a little easier to understand, and providing redirection or repetition of key material. We work together with classroom teachers, planning lessons and teaching.
The special education team also provides small group teaching in a different classroom during intervention times when other students are also changing classes. The smaller groups provide time for us to re-teach what was taught in the classroom or provide instruction at a different pace.
We are part of the professional learning communities that meet on Wednesdays when the students leave early. Together we plan the course of units, offer suggestions to each other to improve our teaching, review data, and work to strengthen our skills.
Music News
Kinder and First Grade - We have been practicing steady beat on our bodies and on un-pitched percussion instruments, and also on barred instruments. We have been exploring ways to move (walk, tiptoe, jog, hop, jump, gallop, crawl). We also have been singing songs about Halloween.
2nd grade- We have been reviewing our two singing notes (So and Mi), practicing rhythms (quarter notes, eighth notes and quarter rests), steady beat, and singing songs about Halloween.
3rd grade - We have been reviewing rhythms (quarter notes, eighth notes, quarter rests, and half notes), steady beat, our five singing notes (Do, Re, Mi, So, La) and singing songs about Halloween.
4th/5th/6th - We have been learning about the music staff, treble clef, the music alphabet, and how to read notes on the music staff. We will begin learning how to play the recorder at the end of the month.
Band News
5th and 6th grade band:
Our band assembly and concert will be held on Wednesday, December 13th. The assembly is at 11:00 am and evening concert at 6:30 pm. More info will be going home as we near this date. *5th grade band students are to practice pages 8 and 9 in their band books. We will be marking our performance pieces out of their band books. *6th grade band students are to practice "Best in Class Christmas" pages 12&13 and 14&15. Also, practice all sheet music ("Surfin' USA", "Little Drummer Boy", and "Shark Attack"). Our 6th grade trumpet section will also receive a piece to perform. Home practice is essential to be prepared for our performances. Practice Journals are to be recorded as they are graded every Friday. I am proud of all of the students hard work in class!
Mrs. Nothnagel
Upcoming Events @ Harris
November 3 - Spirit Day - Twin Day
November 6 - STUCO Canned Food Drive Begins
November 7 - Election Day
November 9 - PTSO - Family Night - Life Skills 5 pm -7 pm
November 10 - NO SCHOOL - Veterans Day
November 13 - PTSO Meeting 4:30 pm in the Library
November 14 - STEM Club Meeting 3:45 - 4:45 pm
November 14 - Skate Land Fundraiser 5:30 - 8:00 pm
November 15 - 2:30 early Release
November 16 - 5th Grade Field Trip to Halle Heart Center
November 17 - Spirit Day - Disney Day
November 17 - 9:00 am Author Visit Grades 2-5
November 17 - Monthly School Tour With the Principal 4-5 pm Please call 480-545-7060
to add your name to the list.
November 21 - Spelling Bee 9-10 am in the Cafeteria
November 22 - NO SCHOOL
November 23 - NO SCHOOL
November 24 - NO SCHOOL
November 28 - STEM Club Meeting 3:45-4:45 (Mrs. Coleman's Room)
November 29 - 2:30 Early Release
November 29 - 3rd Grade Field Trip to Skate Land
November 30 - Site Council Meeting 4:00 pm -Library