Dear Families:

What a wonderful week we have had this week at Manitou Springs Elementary School!

On Tuesday, a Denver based mariachi group visited our school and performed with our Spanish teacher and students. On Wednesday, students and parents biked to school from Schryver Park and today, local potters taught students how to create their own pot on a pottery wheel. The mariachis and pottery activities were grant funded by MACH, Manitou Arts, Culture and Heritage Board, working with local Manitou artists.

Throughout this week, field trips have abounded. The culture of MSES is to continue and even increase the number of field trips yearly because we believe in experiential learning. So, this week, second grade visited the Cave of the Winds, while fourth grade was off to the State Capitol, listening to the Senate in session! Third grade visited Bear Creek Nature Center and fifth grade and second grade buddies visited Manitou's own Flying Pig Farm! Are we lucky or what?!

Next week is a particularly special week, TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK! This is an opportunity for students and families to celebrate the hard working staff at MSES. Our parent group, PAC, has put together some festivities to celebrate our stellar staff.

• Monday May 8th- Breakfast Treat- If you want to provide a breakfast treat that the staff can enjoy please sign up with the Sign Up Genius https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b4da9ae29a2f58-teacher/32078628#/

• Tuesday May 9th- Bring a Flower Day

• Wednesday May 10th- Wear your Teacher's Favorite Color

• Thursday May 11th- Students write down something they learned this year

• Friday May 12th- Write a Thank You note to your favorite staff member

As we approach the final stretch of the year, I would like to remind you of a few important dates to keep in mind:

• May 8-15- Teacher Appreciation Week
  
• May 15, Field Day, Grades 3, 4, 5, MSHS
• May 19, Field Day, Grades K, 1, 2, MSES
• May 25, Last day of school, 12:00 dismissal

Thank you for your continued partnership.

Have a lovely weekend!

Warmly,

Maria

Maestra Lillemon, Spanish teacher, and her dancers performed together with mariachis at school this week. This cool opportunity was funded by the MACH Board, Manitou Arts, Culture and Heritage Board.

Today Ms. Huffman and Ms. Kazmier took their classes to the Flying Pig Farm. Together, they helped spread mulch, fed chickens and goats, and tasted yummy plants from the garden. It was a lovely day spent with buddies! (Buddy classes connect intermediate and primary grades to support one another through the school year!)

Bike to School Day was May 3, 2023. MSES showed up in force with over 85 students and families. Way to go MSES!

First grade mathematicians are becoming experts at comparing numbers. Which number is greater 36 or 26? (36) How do you know? (The 3 in the tens place of 36 has more value than the 2 in 26) We are also learning how to add larger numbers. Ark your expert to add ten to a number. 26+10=36. Does the number in the ones place change? What about the number in the tens place?

We have just finished learning about the founding of our nation in Listening and Learning. Who is Benjamin Franklin? (One of our Founding Fathers.) What did he write? (An Almanac) What can you find in an Almanac? (Stories, jokes, weather reports and the times that the sun will rise and set.) What is one thing Benjamin Franklin invented? (Lightning rod, Franklin stove, bifocals, rocking chair and many other devices we use today.) Who is Thomas Jefferson? (He was another Founding father and the third president of the United States) What important document did he write? (The Declaration of Independence) Where was his favorite place to be? (His home, Monticello, in Virginia) What did Thomas Jefferson invent? (Thomas Jefferson invented the lap desk, dumbwaiter, and a copy machine)

We are now on a journey from Europe to the Americas with our next unit, “European Exploration of North America.” Ask your expert what the European explorers were looking for. (Gold, spices, wealth) What was Columbus looking for and where did he land? (A shorter route to the East Indies, he landed in the Caribbean region) Who sponsored his voyage? (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and he told them that the lands he found were full of gold!) Be sure your expert knows the word conquistador (conqueror, travelers, soldiers and explorers from Spain looking for wealth and conquering native peoples of North, South and Central America).

There are a few more explorers your 3rd grade expert may want to tell you about! Ponce de Leon explored the Florida peninsula. What was he looking for? (The Fountain of Youth) Hernando de Soto was a conquistador that explored the Southeast. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado traveled through the southwest and was the first known European to see what? (The Grand Canyon) Did he find what he was looking for? (He was looking for the Seven cities of Cibola, but he found no gold). John Cabot decided to travel north through the Atlantic because he thought it should be a shorter route, what was it called? (Northwest Passage) Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain will wrap up our unit, share what you know about their influences and tragic endings!

Students also created maps of the routes of European explorers and even
explained why they were exploring in interviews as if they were the
explorer!

Third Grade took a field trip to Bear Creek Nature Center. We started by talking about the three habitats found at Bear Creek: meadow, shrubland, and riparian. We saw a puppet show about the three habitats. Then, we spent some time hiking, looking for insects in a creek and a meadow. We also saw the exhibits in the nature center. We had lots of fun.

We are rotating classes to get a feel for middle school. The kids are acting and learning Shakespearean drama with Mrs. Kazmier. Others are moving west with Ms. Delarm in Westward Expansion. Finally, robotics and science merge together with Teacher Wood. Rotations daily are in full swing. Geometry is the focus of math, while crazy Don Quixote is “knighting” his way through Spain in language arts.

Our elementary years are down to two weeks! ProMotion poems will soon be upon us. Fifth grade teachers would like to thank our families for a wonderful year. While we are sad to see “our kids” move on…..we know they are ready for the next chapter in their educational life.

Reading Groups are now meeting again after a break for state testing. Second Graders are presenting their essays on Things That Float, a book they took notes on. They explored four different subtopics, developed an outline, and created a five paragraph essay. Their writing is pretty outstanding! Third Graders completed research on inventions by women and wrote a five paragraph essay. Their process included taking notes on two inventions, creating a venn diagram comparison, making a writing plan, and writing a draft. This was followed by editing and completing a final copy. The Fourth Graders are finishing up posters showcasing research to support their questions related to the novel, Sadako. They wanted to find out which countries were involved in WWII and why, and how the atom bomb was used and caused cases of leukemia in survivors. First, Third and Fifth Graders are exploring character traits through Junior Great Books stories, including: "The Mouse and the Wizard," "The Brave Little Tailor" and "Tramp."

Students are also excited to get back to meeting in Math groups. The Third Graders are in the process of creating fraction quilts, honing their skills in making a whole from two like fractions, measuring in inches, and creating symmetry with their designs. Second Graders are becoming more fluent in problem solving by adding and subtracting three digit numbers they create with digit cards in the game, Close to 1000. Fifth Graders are getting a challenge in working with math logic problems using matrices that help them eliminate options to find the correct riddle answers.

ALP students are finishing up special projects and presenting them to their classmates. GT families will be having their end of year growth celebrations between May 9th and May 24th. If you are unsure of your appointment time, please contact Ms. Kanaga at kkanaga@mssd14.org soon.

Library

Please return any library books by Friday, May 12th so we can start our inventory to prepare for next year!

TEAMS

We are prepping the gardens for planting and making some crafts to brighten up our Earth room. We are collecting rocks to paint as well as empty tin cans for flower pots. Students can bring them to the TEAMS room.

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 8-12!

Celebrate the lovely teachers and staff at MSES during Teacher Appreciation Week. Here are a few optional suggestions.

Monday May 8th- Breakfast Treat- If you want to provide a breakfast treat that the staff can enjoy please sign up with the Sign Up Genius below.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b4da9ae29a2f58-teacher/32078628#/

Tuesday May 9th- Bring a Flower Day

Wednesday May 10th- Wear your Teacher's Favorite Color

Thursday May 11th- Students write down something they learned this year.

Friday May 12th- Write a Thank You note

PARENT TRIVIA NIGHT MAY 6th

Parent Trivia night will be the evening of May 6th at Manitou WInery. Doors Open at 7pm Trivia starts at 7:30pm. The cost is $15 a person, you can pay cash at the door. We are capped at 50 people so it is very limited. Every MSES grade level submitted trivia questions. It will be a fun way to test our knowledge and see if we "ARE SMARTER THAN AN MSES STUDENT". If you have questions about trivia night please reach out to Andrea via email andrearalko@gmail.com

FUN RUN

We are doing a school wide end of the year Fun Run the morning of 5/24 the day before the last day of school. It will be a fundraiser event as well as a great way to get the MSES community together and say goodbye to teachers and staff.

When kids start to go online, whether they're playing multiplayer games, using educational apps, or just following their curiosity on Google, it's important that they understand the basics of online privacy and safety. With some general guidelines around what information is and isn't OK to share, and some help from parents when they're unsure, kids can have fun and learn a lot in the digital world.

Discuss personal vs. private info.

Talk about the difference between what's OK to share online (favorite color) and what's not (home address)

Use privacy settings.

Together, go through the settings on all new apps to make sure you both know what information your kids are sharing. Especially in the beginning, it's better to share very little

Avoid location tracking.

Location-aware apps can be super helpful. But apps that use a device's location to help people find your kid or offer them ads for nearby businesses should be used with caution. Turn them off if you can.

Power up passwords.

Work together with kids to help them come up with complex passwords. Think outside the dictionary. Use phrases and special characters that make passwords hard to guess but easy to remember. Remind kids to keep passwords private and change them regularly.

Skip quizzes.

Help kids identify and avoid clickbait, quizzes, special offers, and anything that asks for personal or private information. This helps keep information secure and devices safe.