Eagle News
December 1, 2023
Suncrest Elementary School
Email: mitchells@frankfort.k12.in.us
Website: https://ses.frankfortschools.org/
Location: 1608 West Kyger Street, Frankfort, IN, USA
Phone: 765-659-6265
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suncrestelem
Twitter: @SuncrestElem
Office News
Background checks have to be done in order to go anywhere beyond the office. These take about 2 weeks to process, if you are wanting to come into your students classroom or on a field trip. These also need to be redone each school year.
You can complete the background check HERE!
Please make sure if there is any change to how your student is getting home that you call the office, not just message the teacher. If the teacher is absent the school will not get the message.
If there are any transportation changes please call before 1:30.
Our office hours are 7am - 4pm. If no one answers please leave a message, we check them often throughout the day.
From Your School Counselor
This is the counselor referral form! If you feel that your child needs to speak to the school counselor, please fill out this form. The form will ask you who you are, who your child is and why your child needs to see the counselor. Please fill out the entire form and provide as much necessary information on the form as possible so that we can best help and support your child. Thanks!
Body Safety Lessons
This month we have been learning all about how to keep safe through lessons from our school counselor. We have created and learned about rules to follow that will help keep us safe when we encounter potentially harmful situations. One thing we discussed in these class lessons is knowing our personal information to help keep us safe such as parent phone numbers and our home addresses. Please review these with your child to make sure that they know these pieces of information, and help them learn thor personal information if they do not know it.
Attitude of Gratitude:
Families can instill gratitude in children during the holidays by involving them in acts of kindness and encouraging daily expressions of thankfulness. Engage kids in activities like volunteering and creating thoughtful gifts to emphasize the joy of giving. Introduce the practice of maintaining a gratitude journal, fostering reflection on positive aspects of life. During the holidays, emphasize the importance of thoughtful gift-giving, teaching children that the happiness derived from giving is as significant as receiving.
Incorporate discussions about gratitude into family storytelling by sharing narratives that highlight appreciation, kindness, and generosity. By weaving these values into family stories, children can internalize the principles of gratitude in a meaningful and relatable way, making it a lasting part of their holiday experience.
SEL Skill
Gratitude
"Gratitude" is a fundamental concept that can greatly enrich your child's life. Have you explored its significance? Gratitude involves appreciating and acknowledging the positive aspects of one's experiences and relationships. Just as self-regulation empowers children to navigate challenges, cultivating gratitude can foster resilience and a positive outlook. Engage in conversations with your child about moments they felt thankful or appreciative. Together, explore ways to incorporate gratitude into daily life, encouraging a mindset that appreciates life's blessings with sincerity and joy.
Tier 1 school counseling, as a related service, involves providing classroom lessons that address the social, emotional, and academic needs of all students. These lessons, integrated into the curriculum, promote positive behavior, emotional intelligence, and social skills. The goal is to create a supportive school climate, fostering both academic success and personal growth for every student.
Parenting Article:
Families, eager to instill gratitude in your children? Check out this article by clicking HERE. Packed with practical tips and valuable resources, it offers guidance on cultivating gratitude in your child's life. Embrace this opportunity to make a lasting impact on your child's perspective and well-being.
From The Coach
We are heading right into Winter, which means the sniffles are right around the corner. While we do not want students to come to school sick, we do want to stress the importance of students being at school as much as possible. The research proves that the more students are at school, the more likely they will be able to read proficiently by the 3rd grade. Please make every effort to have your students at school on time every day.
Eagle of The Month- November
Teachers select a student that exemplified the focused behaviors throughout the month. For the month of November, our focus was Kindness and the following students were selected for modeling respectful behaviors throughout the month:
Mrs. Jones: Romeo L.- Romeo is a kind friend to all. He treats others nicely and is always helping his teachers and classmates.
Ms. Freese: Xander S. - Xander shows kindness by helping clean up and always having a smile on his face!
Mrs. Miller: Caden H. - Caden shows kindness to his peers and his teachers every day. He always has a smile on his face and shows so much compassion and love to others!
Kindergarten:
Miss Hernandez: Knox H.- He is a super kind person. He is one of the first students to help out others when in need! He advocates for his friends.
Mrs. Klyczek: Jaxon J.- Jaxon shows kindness in his words and actions. Jaxon is always willing to help a friend in need.
Miss Pompei: Cecilia J.R.- Cecilia has shown kindness throughout the month of November. She is always willing to play with someone who doesn’t have a friend to play with. She’s quick to help others clean up. She’s always being so positive and constantly has a smile on her face. She is always so kind to her classmates and always cheering them on. Keep up the great work Cecilia!
First Grade:
Mrs. Arnold: Camilla F.- Camilla is such a sweet and kind friend! She is always so caring towards others. I appreciate your kindness, Camilla!
Mrs. Martin: Kendrick F. - This student is always willing to go out of his way to help a friend in need.
Mrs. Vestey: Sarah S. - Sarah treats all with kindness through her words and actions.
Mrs. Certain: Felipe G. V. - Felipe is always a helping hand when someone is in need, he also is willing to lend a shoulder to cry on when someone is hurt or upset (always wanting to give a hug).
2nd Grade:
Mrs. Hettmansperger: Oakleigh H. - Oakleigh is kind to everyone. We appreciate her positive attitude and willingness to help anyone who needs it.
Mrs. Claxton: Katalyna C.- Katalyna is such a big help for other students. She is always wiling to lend a hand whether asked by teacher or not. She is a good role model of the Eagle Way.
Mrs. Palmer: Camila Mandry J- She is always kind and helpful to everyone in our classroom.
Mrs. Brock: Emiliano F. A. - Emiliano has been using kindness everyday. He has been communicating effectively what he wants and needs in a kind way.
3rd Grade:
Mr. Parvin: Georgia S. -Georgia shows kindness everyday at Suncrest. She shows kindness through her words and her actions. She shows kindness by helping others, being a great friend, and comforting other students when they are having a difficult moment.
Miss Gable: Mateo R- Mateo is a wonderful leader of showing kindness. If a classmate doesn't have something, he is always the first one to volunteer to lend it. Mateo goes the extra mile of including someone if they feel left out.
Mrs. Suite: Denisse S.- She is always doing or saying something nice to all students and treats everyone with kindness.
Mrs. Wright: - Daisy E. L.- Daisy is always very kind to other students and adults. She is always willing to help out her peers and her teacher. She comes to school every day with a positive attitude and a kind word. She goes above and beyond to help others if needed.
4th Grade:
Mrs. Tiedeman: Noelle L.- Noelle has such a sweet and caring nature. Things ranges from how she interacts with people to any animal she comes across. She is always on task and strives to make the best choice possible in the classroom!
Miss Kidwell: Conner F.- Conner is always showing kindness throughout Suncrest. He will greet you with a smile and will make sure to tell you to have a great day! Conner is always eager to help out his classmates whether it’s with class work or just simply offering a helping hand.
Mrs. Vickary: Iliana Araiza Lopez- Iliana shows kindness to others throughout the day. She always offers a friendly smile to those around her.
5th Grade:
Mrs. Shane: Autumn B.- Autumn is always kind and accepting of everyone!
Mrs. Herring: Daisy G. B. - Daisy is kind, patient, and accepting of other students.
Mrs. Rudd: Sophia B. - Sophia shows kindness to others each day. In addition, she is an animal lover, and she shows great kindness to animals- big and small.l
Mrs. Nolasco: Analia H. V. - Analia is always the sweetest and willing to help anyone in the classroom.
Specials:
Mrs. Fitzgerald: Demi I. - Demi helps me and others without being asked.
Mrs. Tuggle - Cataleya E. S. - Cataleya comes into the gym each week with a great attitude. She takes each opportunity she is presented with to make herself a better athlete. She is quick to help others and leads by example every week.
Classroom News
Pre-K
Midterm Goals were sent home on November 10th. Please keep working with your children at home on writing their first name, identifying 12 capital and 12 lowercase letters, and recognizing 6 numbers. We have been working so hard at school, and have seen so much growth.
The Preschool Holiday Program is Wednesday December 13th at 10:45. All are welcome to come and watch the songs they have been working so hard on in Music! More information to come.
Kindergarten
December is one of our most exciting times in Kindergarten! It is so amazing to see the growth our students have made in half a year. We are reading books, writing sentences, doing addition and subtraction, and so much more! We will be studying Gingerbread babies, men, mice, girls, pirates and on and on! We will learn all about Christmas and how families celebrate in different ways around the world. If anyone is interested in sharing about how your family celebrates any holidays, please contact your teacher!
1st Grade
In math, students just finished working through a unit on shapes and they did very well with this. Have your child see if they can find any of the following shapes at home: cylinder, cone, rectangular prism, cube or sphere.
For reading we have been working through main idea and details of stories and are moving into sequencing stories and including all of the most important parts from the story.
Students are also beginning to work on Persuasive/Opinion writing. See if they can tell you what it means to persuade someone.
Don’t forget to check your child’s folder every evening for anything important that may need to be sent back. You can also help us by cleaning out their folders or backpacks.
2nd Grade News
Second grade enjoyed participating in Rock Your School Gameboard Edition. We dressed as the Candyland characters and decorated the hallway like the board from the game. We had rotations where students built bridges out of gumdrops and toothpicks, they did a favorite candy survey where Skittles looked to be the overall favorite, they played Candlyand with sight words on the cards, and they learned the story behind Candyland as well as drew it. We cannot wait for the next one!
In Science and Social Studies we learned about goods and services as well as wants and needs. Students learned what is needed to survive and how to barter and trade for those. We also designed our own goods and services to sell or provide to each other. We also learned about the origination of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade by reading Balloons Over Broadway and designing our own balloons.
In reading we have been working on nonfiction text features and using them to help understand more information in the text. We learned about the glossary helping us learn what new vocabulary words mean, the headings tell us what is in each section, photographs and captions provide extra information, and more.
In math we have been working on using different strategies to solve two digit addition and subtraction problems. Students have learned to use base ten blocks, decompose both numbers, and how to use a number line. We will be finishing up subtraction at the end of the month.
In writing we have been working on narratives. Students planned out their story, wrote rough drafts, edited, and have been working on final drafts. We will continue working on narratives with letter writing for a short break.
NWEA testing begins at the end of the month. We look forward to seeing how much our students have grown so far. We will be setting goals for each student and celebrating if they reach them. Please make sure your child eats breakfast for fuel for they day, and that they get a good night of sleep to be ready for doing their best.
3rd Grade News
November: We hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving Break! The third graders were hard at work during the month. We had so much fun during Rock Your School day on November 21. The day was all about board games. Third grade read about board games, created their own, wrote about board games, and played math bingo to review addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Our classes also enjoyed being able to speak with community members during career day. We are looking forward to more amazing learning next month!
Reading: We practiced several skills during reading in November. We asked and answered questions based on explicit information in the text. This is a great skill to practice when reading with your child at home. As you and your child are reading, stop and ask them questions about the text along the way. We also practiced finding the meanings of unknown words and phrases using context clues. Finally the students identified an author's claim using facts and details from the text.
Writing: During the month of November each student wrote a persuasive essay by forming an opinion and using details from a variety of sources to support their opinion. In the essay students wrote from the point of view of a turkey and tried to persuade the reader to eat something other than turkey on Thanksgiving. Each student had the opportunity to type their essays in order to practice how to format a 5 paragraph essay. I’m sure your child is excited to share their essay with you, be looking for these to come home soon.
4th Grade News
Math: In Unit 7, we have been working on strategies to help with dividing numbers. One strategy that we use is partial quotients. Although this isn’t how I learned to divide (and most likely you didn’t, either), it is such a great strategy to use to help understand what division is. It’s also a very friendly strategy for students who struggle with being able to fluently figure out multiplication facts. We also use compatible numbers to estimate quotients, and yes, we are learning the traditional algorithm, too! 😀 Being able to estimate quotients is a good skill to have so that students can determine if their answer is reasonable.
Reading: We are focusing on determining the author’s purpose and making inferences. Students are using the clues in the text that authors give and using their background knowledge to infer the deeper meaning that the author is trying to convey.
This is an exciting time of the year as students are able to show their growth through our middle of the year assessments! Hopefully, your child will proudly be telling you how many points they grew on NWEA. Growth is something that should be celebrated! As we get started, students are putting such great effort into doing their very best. NWEA reports will be sent home with 2nd quarter report cards.
5th
Our 5th graders are working towards following routines and understanding expectations. In math, we are learning how to divide decimals and adding/ subtracting mixed numbers and fractions with unlike denominators. Our social studies lessons are focusing on history around the time of the Revolutionary War. The United States is becoming an independent nation! In reading, we are focusing on nonfiction with an emphasis on text features- how they enhance our understanding and their importance in comprehending what we read. We are writing in three different genres- narrative, informational, and persuasive. On November 21st, “Rock Your School Day” rocked! We had an ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe challenge and congratulated our prevailing competitor. Way to go, Jesus! XOXOXO
ML News
We’ve been working hard this month on building background knowledge, increasing vocabulary, and working on oral language. We’ve also been working on all four of our language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. We’ve added several things for you to try at home on our Multilingual Dojo page. Those videos are ways that you can help your child at home—which will help them grow even faster at school.
We’re also getting ready for our big language test that we will start when we come back from Winter Break. We’ve done some practice testing. Your child will be tested on how well the listen in English, read in English, write in English, and speak in English. The goal while they’re at Suncrest is to get a Level 5 or 6, which means they’re fluent! Typically our students reach that score in 4th grade–if they’ve been here since kindergarten. We sent home papers at the beginning of the year to show you your child’s current level–we want that to go up!
If you have any questions, please let us know! We’ll be sending home more information about that BIG test in January!
Multilingual Highlight:
Everyday in kindergarten and 1st grade, we have a Tier 2 reading time. This is when we group students based on similar levels and work with them on letters, sounds, putting sounds together to read words, writing simple words, practicing sight words, reading decodable texts. We have seen so much growth during this time. We test our students every Friday (a quick computer test) to see how much they’ve grown. These first graders (in the picture) have grown so much and are reading and writing sentences on their own. Make sure to go through those books and words with them when they bring them home! We want to see them continue to SOAR!
Math & Reading Interventionists:
We hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving Break! It’s that time of year again for NWEA testing and time to show all we have learned since the beginning of the year! Talk to your students about the importance of trying their best and using strategies they have learned in both math and reading intervention. We are excited to see all the growth students make from the beginning of the year to now! Let us know if you would like any ideas sent home to help your student with reading and math skills!
-Mrs. Hazlett and Mrs. Woods
Library
Young Hoosier Books
I am encouraging all 4th and 5th grade students to read the 20 Young Hoosier Books. This is the leader board for students who have read the most.
Jonathan Figueroa-Penaloza 12 books
Sam Spaulding 11 books
Yahir Carapia Cortez- 9 books
Students who read 10 of the books get ice cream. If they read 15 they get pizza, and if they read all 20 they get soda.
Keep Reading!!
Computer Skills
In November and December, the students are working on computer skills. The students are learning how to do searches for books in the library by subject, title, and series. The students are also going to be practicing typing and how to do block coding.
Music
Our Holiday performances are coming up! Mark your calendars for the below dates and times!
-Wednesday December 13th, 10:45am
Performances will feature our preschool students showcasing some of the skills and songs they have learned this year as well as some holiday classics!
Primary Holiday Program:
-Thursday December 14th, 5:30pm
Performances will feature our kindergarten and first grade students.
Music Summary
Grades K-2nd in the month of November focused on building their musical listening skills. Through dancing activities students worked on listening for differences in music such as speed, beat pattern, and volume and had to react to those changes with their dancing. 2nd grade students also started listening to and translating heard rhythms to out symbols, this is called musical transcription, and works the same way as the spoken language skill of the same name. K-2 students also started learning about different instrument sounds, with the first new one being the Saxophone,a keyed woodwind instrument most commonly used in the American artform of Jazz.
Grades 3-5 in the month of November started learning more about music’s relationship to technology and inventions. Students studied a few historical musical instruments from the Speelklok Museum in Utrecht, the Netherlands, which houses some of the oldest mechanical instruments in the world. From the Polyphon (which later became the Jukebox) to the Carillon (a massive programmable church bell tower instrument). To round out this month’s focus on music technology, students in 3-5 got the chance to create their own songs using Chrome Music Lab.
PE NEWS with Mrs. Tuggle
Thank you to all the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who visited PE class during “Parents & Important People to PE WEEK” Our students enjoyed sharing their fun with you!
Clothing and Shoes for PE Class:
Please send students in layers. Our classrooms vary in temperature during the winter but keep in mind students get very active during PE class and get hot. Students need to be able to take off the heavy sweater or sweatshirt ~ so will need to have a shirt under them.
CROCS are not safe shoes for PE class. These types of shoes do not provide the heel and ankle support needed to run, stop and change directions which many of our activities require.
Art
This month, we have been very busy in the art room. As we near the pre-k, K, and 1st grade Christmas programs, the students have been creating art to display during the program. This means we have already hit the winter-Christmasy-holiday spirit. The kids have been hard on me, walking in with protests of, “What?! It isn’t even Thanksgiving yet!” This was a great opportunity to talk about the many jobs of artists that include curating pieces for themed art exhibitions that may not match the season or holiday they are in or approaching.
Second through fifth grades have also joined in creating winter artwork. The goal is to have finished pieces to display as soon as they return from Thanksgiving break. I know the holiday spirit in the hallways not only excites the students, but it lessens the heartache of teaching in December for all the staff members. Everyone needs some holiday joy to get through December in elementary school.
Because we have been creating so much art, I wanted to return to a message I put out at the start of the year. Art is MESSY. Very messy. To prevent your child’s clothes from being soiled, please know their specials schedule. You may send them with a change of shirt or an old shirt they can keep in their cubby to wear for art. NOT ALL SUPPLIES ARE WASHABLE. The students have been given explicit instructions on how to use their supplies carefully without messing up their clothes, but mistakes happen. All students, unless sent with a specific note for health reasons or special accommodations in a plan, must complete art projects that coincide with each unit.
I hope to see you when the holiday programs roll around. The students have been working hard and the school should be oozing with everything holly and jolly.
The Suncrest Holiday Sale ends soon! This is the last week to save 20% on all spirit wear. Guaranteed delivery by Dec 23rd! Find the perfect gift for everyone on your list - from parents to grandparents and beyond! Visit: https://1stplace.sale/34422
Save The Date
November 27: NWEA Testing Begins
December 6: PTO Meeting at 4:00 in the Cafe (Translator will be available!)
December 11-15: Penguin Holiday Shop
December 13: PK Holiday Program 10:45-11:30
December 14: K/1st Holiday Program 5:30-6:30
December 18: Texas Roadhouse Roll Pick Up 3:30-7:00pm in the Cafe
December 19: End of 2nd 9 Weeks
December 20-January 3: Winter Break
January 4: Students Return
January 8: Panorama Survey Window
January 10: PTO Meeting at 4:00PM in the Cafe
January 12: Report Cards go Home
January 15: MLK Day - Weather Makeup Day
January 16: WIDA Testing Window Opens
January 24: Group + Club School Pictures
February 2: Weather Make Up Day
February 2: Mid Terms