Harris Elementary
August Newsletter 2017
Harris Hawks
Email: harrisinfo@gilbertschools.net
Website: harris.gilbertschools.net
Location: 1820 S. Harris Drive, Mesa AZ 85204
Phone: 480-545-7060
Helpful Information
Harris Elementary Vision Statement
Our Vision:
Harris is committed to empowering all students to succeed in a changing world.
Our Mission:
Ensure exemplary education that inspires excellence and success within every learner.From the Principal
Dear Harris Community-
Wow, what a fantastic few weeks of school! Things truly have gone very well and I am impressed with the efforts your children are already making both academically and behaviorally. Thanks for all of your support, as we can’t do it without you.
As we proceed through the school year, safety must be our top priority. Keeping every child safe at Harris is my top concern. As with most things, I cannot do it alone and I rely on parents to assist me in this venture. Thus, I make a plea for everyone to follow protocol and procedures implemented at Harris while at the same time remembering changes are made for the safety and welfare of all students.
Things to keep in mind:
Our playground is closed during the school day
Respect all students’ learning by limiting interruptions during the school day
Pets are not allowed on school grounds
Use the crosswalks (including the one in the parking lot)
Utilize designated drop off and pick up areas
Parent drop off in morning, at the back loop (South Side of campus).
Teachers are there to assist!
There is only one lane for cars in the loop
If you use the main front parking lot in the morning for your students…
Please park and cross your children in the parking lot
There are no duties in this area for students to cross
Parent pick up areas
Those walking, outside front office near planters
Make sure the teacher knows that you are taking your child
Those driving, South side of school in the loop area
Remember, only one lane
-Having students meet you somewhere else are not safe places for your children as there is no supervision in these areas.
Bullying is a concern of every parent and student. Please know that I take bullying very seriously and that those who choose to partake in this behavior will be disciplined to the fullest extent per District Board Regulations. Please reinforce the following information with your child:
-Tell student to stop the behavior that they are doing. If children fail to tell someone to stop then the other child may have no idea that they are being a bully.
-If the student does not stop, they must tell any adult on the campus or share with parents when they get home. If the school does not know there is a problem then a solution cannot be found.
Following these two guidelines will empower your children to make good choices (without resorting to physical conduct) and allow the adults on this campus to address any bullying that may be occurring. Parents will always be notified if their child is being a bully or being bullied.
Last, you are always welcome at Harris Elementary. Feel free to come and see your child at work in the classroom, assist with the classroom, or just have lunch together. Remember to sign in and sign out at the front desk as well as schedule the time for your visit with your child’s teacher anytime that you come to Harris.
Thanks for all you do and I hope to see everyone on September 1 at 8:30am in the cafeteria for our Annual Informational Meeting regarding Title I. Breakfast snacks will be provided as well as an opportunity to win one of two Wal-Mart $50 gift cards!
-Bill
Site Council
HELP! WE WANT YOU!!
Come be a part of the Harris School Site Council.
Be in the know about the budget and play a significant role in the future of Harris Elementary as we begin our journey together!
Our meetings are the last Thursday of the month from 4-5pm in the Library with the first one scheduled on September 28, 2017. Please email Jodi Valenti at jodi.valenti@gilbertschools.net if you are interested in becoming a member of the TEAM!
See you soon...
Student illness
To prevent the spread of disease and to protect your student, please keep your student home and/or make an appointment with your health care provider for the following symptoms:
- temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher
- vomiting
- diarrhea
- severe sore throat, headache, or cough
- eyes with inflammation, redness, and watery or purulent drainage
- live head lice
- undiagnosed and/or untreated skin rash
- communicable disease
If a student becomes ill during school, the parent/guardian of the student must be contacted before a student is allowed to leave the building. It is important to provide your student's school with updated contact numbers so parents/guardians may be reached concerning illness, as well as emergencies.
STUDENT ABSENCES
EARLY CHECKOUT....
Students will not be called out of class until a parent is present to sign them out. Please plan ahead for appointments, as we would like to minimize missed class time.
Preschool News
Kindergarten News
August was a month of many new experiences for our kindergarten students. Everything from being away from our families all day to learning our daily routines and everything in between! We are so proud of how quickly each student has adjusted to the wondrous world of kindergarten and elementary school.
In the month of September, we begin to dig deeper into our curriculum, and have some fun events planned for the students that go along with our Apple and Farm units.
Thank you to everyone who donated supplies – it is very appreciated and makes our jobs easier! Also, please make sure you are checking your child’s communication folder each night for important notes and information coming home. Lastly, if you ever have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.
Thanks!
~Your Kindergarten Team
1st Grade News
We are off to a great start in first grade!
We have been learning and practicing our school rules: Be Respectful, Be Safe, and Be Responsible. We are also learning the procedures in our classroom that will help us to become fantastic First-Graders.
In the coming weeks we will start our academic instruction. We have a busy morning, so it is important to get lots of rest and a good breakfast.
We are also going to have our first “Fun Friday”, scheduled for September 1st, 2017. Please note that this is a behavior incentive reward for those students who are following the classroom and school rules. We are hoping that all of our students will be able to participate.
2nd Grade News
We are so excited about starting a new year with your child! We have began learning classroom procedures, routines rewards, and consequences. We are already working hard on our addition facts and extra practice at home would be a great addition to what we are doing here in class. We are continuing to work on our reading and writing skills and enjoying books at home is a great way to help improve your child's reading abilities.
Thank you for all your support as we approach our second moth in second grade!
3rd Grade News
3rd Grade Families,
Thank you so much to the families that showed up for Curriculum Night! We appreciate your support and participation. If you were unable to attend and have any questions please email your teacher directly and we will be happy to answer any of your questions.
We are off to a great start in 3rd grade! We have been learning a lot about rules, expectations and responsibilities. Our Math focus will mainly be on multiplication and division strategies. In ELA we are hard at work creating interactive notebooks and have already added character traits, main idea, and text features. We have also been learning about our community in Social Studies and students have already learned a few cursive lowercase letters. We are looking forward to a great year!
Sincerely,
The 3rd Grade Team
4th Grade News
We have been doing Class dojo as our classroom management tool and did lots of getting to know you activities so our students could feel comfortable and safe in our classrooms this year! In ELA we have been reviewing rules and expectations. We are going to begin our first story~The Emperor and the Kite, which is a folktale, focusing on narrative elements, vocabulary, sequencing, and making predictions. We will also begin to look at figurative language while working with The Emperor and the Kite. ELA homework will begin Monday August 21st. Homework will be handed out on Monday and is due on Friday.We are starting off the year with Social Studies. We are discussing and learning about where we live and how to read maps, grids and the world. We will be learning a lot about Latitude and Longitude and why we need to know this when looking at a globe. In Math we have been working on our multiplication facts and started getting into our first unit which is all about place value! Homework is given on Monday every week and is due on Friday just like in ELA. If you are wondering what you can do to help your child in math it would be practice multiplication with them! We will be going on to more advance multiplication in the next few weeks and many of the students do not know their basic facts so that would be much appreciated if you could help us with that! We are so excited for all the fun things we will be doing this year!
5th Grade News
Welcome to 5th grade:
We have been working on policies and procedures…practice practice practice.
We have enjoyed getting to know your kids.
In 5th grade reading, writing, and social studies we are working on the following:
Reading: We will be working on activities using the story, “The Summer of Fire” in the nonfiction genre. We are ATI testing to see what we already know and what we need to work on.
Social Studies: The unit for quarter one is Native Americans, Exploration and Colonization. We will be exploring the maps and learning about the Land and Early People.
Writing: We are working on parts of speech right now. We will be doing an inventor biography in Science as well as some response writing after the Solar Eclipse on the 21st.
Math: We are finishing up our beginning of the year placement tests and are starting the unit on adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators.
Science: This is an exciting month! We started out talking about inventions and inventors and your child chose an inventor to study. On the 21st there will be a solar eclipse. We will be doing lots of activities leading up to the eclipse as well as things on the day of the eclipse. This is a great introduction to our unit on the moon.
6th Grade News
Social Studies and ELA (Mrs. Winn)
Sixth graders began their study of Social Studies by brainstorming what topics could be included in this field (e.g., history, geography, government, etc.) We are currently examining Early Humans and how communities developed in the Stone Age, and how these communities became the first know civilizations. We began writing short stories in a 10-minute timeframe to show some of our creativity, and have looked at how to use adverbs to enhance details in writing. Due to the occurrence of the eclipse, we read an informational article on the possible effects of the eclipse on animals, and we are learning some annotation close reading skills with this article.
Science and Math (Ms. King)
In science we have focused on the different types of eclipses and how they affect the earth. We will be looking at the earth’s water and studying how it affects the earth’s climate. In math we are reviewing number sense. This includes adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with whole numbers, decimals, and fractions.
Special Education News
At Harris Elementary School we have a diverse special education team. We are composed of resource teachers who provide the daily support for students with identified learning disabilities, either in small groups designed for intense instruction to learn skills or in the general education classroom to support carry-over of the skills learned.
We have specialists that work with our students that are identified with more specific needs whether in communication, social skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills and behavior. The paraprofessionals are integral members of our team, providing instruction and support to students in and out of the classroom.
Parents are sometimes reluctant to have their child identified as a student with a special need. They are concerned that their child will stand out. Harris Elementary School is committed to providing the best education to all our students taught in a way that best meets their learning style. The beauty in this model is that students, no matter what class they are assigned to for homeroom and whether or not they have an identified learning disability, go to various other rooms for instruction throughout the day.
Reading Team News
There are a number of ways that you can maximize your child's learning capabilities throughout the school year, which can lead to confident reader. Some of these strategies include:
Assisting your child with homework and ensuring that your child is completing all homework assignments
Helping him/her to develop good study habits, thinking skills, and a positive attitude towards education from an early age
Ensuring that your child has good attendance at school
Staying in communication with your child's teacher
Encouraging your child to read as much as possible, and to increase his/her vocabulary - even reading magazines, newspapers, and comic books regularly will help improve her reading skills
Looking for educational games and programs that engage your child
Helping your child learn how to follow directions carefully
Math News
Welcome to another amazing year! Each month in the math section you will find a fun and engaging activity to incorporate number sense activities at home. You may be wondering what is number sense? Let me tell you:
Number sense essentially refers to a student’s “fluidity and flexibility with numbers,” (Gersten & Chard, 2001). A person has sense of what numbers mean, understands their relationship to one another, is able to perform mental math, understands symbolic representations, and can use those numbers in real world situations. In her book, About Teaching Mathematics, Marilyn Burns describes students with a strong number sense in the following way: “[They] can think and reason flexibly with numbers, use numbers to solve problems, spot unreasonable answers, understand how numbers can be taken apart and put together in different ways, see connections among operations, figure mentally, and make reasonable estimates.” adapted from mathsolutions.com
Be on the look out next month for a fun and engaging number sense activity!
General Music
Kinder and first grade students have been taking a musical field trip to the farm this month.
2nd grade has been reviewing how to hold and play classroom instruments, and using our singing voices.
3rd-6th grades have been focusing on reviewing rhythms.
PE News
The students have been working hard in Physical Education class. K-6 spent the first week reviewing expectations and rules in PE. We started the year with our playground/recreation games unit, followed by climbing the rock wall and ropes. Upcoming units include jump ropes, hula hoops and racquet sports.
Please remind your students to wear tennis shoes for P.E. Thanks for helping them remember. Students that don't have the correct shoes on will be given an alternate activity.
1,2,3...we love P.E.!
Library News
We've been busy in the library these past few weeks. Kindergarten has loved reading the No David! series and now we are on to Pete the Cat books. We are practicing sight words, writing our name, and library rules.
First and Second graders have been practicing how to pick good fit books and using a shelf marker by singing the "Shelf Marker Hokey Pokey."
Third through sixth graders have been touring the library and filling out their tree maps so they know how to navigate around the library to find certain books. We are also working on using Alexandria to search for books on the computer.
Next month, we will be diving into author studies and skill based read alouds.
The Book Fair is coming!! On Thursday, August 31st, the book fair will open all day from 8:20-3:45 (closed during lunch). The Book Fair will be open on Thursday 8/31, Friday 9/1, Closed for Labor Day, Tuesday 9/5, Closed Wednesday 9/6, Thursday 9/7, and Friday 9/8 from 8:20am-3:45pm (closed during lunch).
If there are any volunteers who would like to help set up the Book Fair a couple days prior to it starting, please email Mrs. Motroni at Kelli.Motroni@gilbertschools.net
Battle of the Books is off to an awesome start! We had a great turn out at our first meeting and we are starting to read our books.
K-2 Grandparent's Day Breakfast September 7th 7:45am-8:30am
*Book Fair open 8:00am-8:30am*
3-6 Grandparent's Day Breakfast September 8th 7:45am-8:30am
*Book Fair open 8:00am-8:30am*
Student Council News
We welcome our new officers this year, they are four fabulous leaders.
President: Analisa Montalvo
Vice President: Hannah Schatz
Secretary: Briana Delgado
Treasurer: Briana Aguilar
We are gearing up for spirit days so be on the look out. The sticker machine is fully stocked and for only 50 cents you can grab one. Pencils will be for sale starting in September for 25 cents. Harkins Fundraiser Coming Soon!
Parent University
Dear Parents,
Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year! Along with new beginnings for our children, Parent University is gearing up for the new opportunities as well! We are pleased to offer classes under nine main topics this year. We encourage you to sign up for as many classes/workshops as you'd like. There is no charge for the classes, except where noted.
Please feel free to contact Wendi Howe via phone and/or email if you have any questions. Have an awesome year!
http://www.gilbertschools.net/departments/community_partnerships/parent_university/
Wendi Howe
Coordinator, Parent University
Office of Community Partnerships
direct: 480-373-5593
UPCOMING EVENTS @ HARRIS
September 1st - Title 1 Parent Information Meeting 8:30-9:30 am in the Cafeteria
September 4th - NO SCHOOL - Labor Day
September 6th - 2:30 Early Release Day
September 11th - PTSO Meeting 4:30-5:30 pm - Library
September 13th - 2:30 Early Release
September 26th - PTSO Donuts With Dad 7:45-8:30 am in the Cafeteria
September 27th - 2:30 Early Release
September 28th - Site Council Meeting 4:00-5:00 pm in the Library
September 29th - Principal School Tour. Please call 480-545-7060 ext. 200 to add your name to the list.
September 29th - PTSO Peter Piper Pizza Family Restaurant Night 4:00 pm -8:00 pm