Behind the Magic at Disney
Week of March 18, 2024
Information from the office...
Mrs. Amy Porter, Principal
Important Contact Information:
Main Office Phone: (586)439-6400
Fax: (586)439-6401
Absentee Line: (586)439-6490
24-hour recorded line, please leave your child's reason for absence and length of time out. Absences reported to this line, ensure most timely and accurate record.
School Administrative Assistant:
Mrs. Sue Mogge
Email: susan.mogge@fraserk12.org
Building Hours - 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
School Hours: 8:35 am – 3:30 pm
First Bell: 8:30 am
Instructional Bell: 8:35 am
Students must be in class by 8:35 am or they are marked tardy.
Email: Amy.Porter@Fraserk12.org
Website: https://www.fraser.k12.mi.us/Domain/9
Location: 36155 Kelly Road, Clinton Township, MI, USA
Phone: (586)439-6400
Twitter: @jageramy
March is Reading Month
TOUCHDOWN WITH A GOOD BOOK
March is designated as “Reading Month” in Michigan schools. Our goal is to promote a love of reading throughout the month by giving special emphasis to activities that promote reading as a fun and enjoyable experience. This year Disney's Theme will be “Touchdown with a Good Book”.
Please click here for our calendar of exciting ideas to participate and read with your student. The calendar also has spirit days for students and reading log due dates. We are hoping these activities will encourage and inspire kids to read every day!
Every grade level has a minimum reading goal, which will be measured in minutes read per day at home.
Kindergarten & 1st Grade: 15 minutes per day
2nd & 3rd Grade: 20 minutes per day
4th - 6th Grade: 30 minutes per day
Please use the calendar to keep track of the number of minutes that your child reads each day. Younger students may also count time spent listening to family members reading to them. Every Monday, teachers will check student reading calendars and students will earn a ticket to the playoffs if they completed their reading goals for the week. At the end of the month, student playoff tickets will be drawn to participate in our "playoff" celebration assembly. Help your student earn playoff tickets by reading and signing their calendar each night.
At the end of the month, students who meet their reading goal for the entire month will earn a Jimmy John’s baseball game voucher! The top three readers in each class will receive a book from the media center and the top reader in each grade level will receive a gift card! The top five students from each grade will be part of a pizza lunch.
We are moving down Ford Field! Each class that meets their reading goals can move down the field. Help your class be the first to score a Touchdown by reading at home everyday and filling out your calendar!
Staff Read Aloud's At Home
As part of our March is Reading month, we want to encourage reading at home. Each week, some of our staff will share a read aloud for you to watch with your families at home. This week we have read aloud from Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Browe, and 6th Grade Teacher, Mrs. McGuffey. Click on the links below to read a story with your kids!
Author Gretchen Heinrich Visits Disney
We were fortunate to have Mrs. Mogge's daughter and author, Gretchen Heinrich, visit to read her book "Heart Strings" to our second grade students. We enjoyed hearing the story and checking our own heart strings for meaningful relationships.
Author Janie Lynn Panagopoulos Visits Disney
Mrs. Hamilton’s third grade class was able to visit with the author Janie Lynn Panagopoulos this week to ask questions about her book “Journey Back to Lumberjack Camp”. The class had read her book and enjoyed learning about what went into writing the book and what it’s like to be an author. One of her favorite quotes is “Readers make leaders!”
Reading Around Disney
We love reading at Disney!
PBIS - Attendance Trophy
ATTENDANCE TROPHY
Regular school attendance is very important for academic success, social development, habit formation, and preparation for the future. We love seeing our students everyday at Disney! To help support and encourage positive attendance, our PBIS team has started a traveling Disney Attendance trophy! This trophy, made especially for Disney Elementary, travels weekly to the classroom with the highest attendance rate. This week we focused on the being to school on-time and the class with the least amount of tardies earned the attendance trophy. For the second week in a row, the Attendance Champion is, Miss. Capoferri's 6th grade class! It was a VERY close competition between Mr. Fallucca and Miss Capoferri's class, but 6th grade squeaked out the win. Way to go, Miss Capoferri's 6th grade class!
This upcoming week we will focus on attendance. The class with the highest attendance rate for the week of March 18th will win the attendance trophy! Let's make sure to get to school on-time everyday this week!
4th Grade Visits Cranbrook Science Center
Hands On Science Learning!
This week our fourth-grade group went to Cranbrook Science Center. We explored their many interesting exhibits including the Galileo exhibit which displayed many of his incredible inventions. We also enjoyed a presentation about the planets in our solar system in the planetarium, as well as a fun light and sound demonstration.
Pi Day Celebrations
6th Grade Celebrates Pi Day
6th grade celebrated Pi Day on 3/14 by making math connections through a day full of pi themed activities. We started by learning more about pi through Discovery Education and making bracelets with colored beads that correspond with the digits of pi. They engaged in pi related word work and math activities that involved circumference, diameter, and more. The big event of the day was an organized assembly that gave students the opportunity to recite how many digits of pi they memorized. Congratulations to Ian for earning a record breaking 200 digits and Olivia in second at 80 digits of pi. Lastly, students had been working hard over the last month to earn tickets to participate in the highly anticipated pie eating contest and other circle related games at the assembly. It is always fun to celebrate math during a month full of reading!
5th Grade Celebrates Pi Day
The fifth-grade students celebrated PI Day on March 14th - 3.14! We connected PI Day with March’s Reading Month by reading aloud a Dr. Seuss book, Happy Pi Day to You! We also watched PI Day videos on BrainPOP and Flocabulary. The students brainstormed how circles are all around us and the importance of being able to measure them. All students gained an understanding of the universal measurement of a circle. We concluded our PI Day celebration with a slice of delicious apple pie. It was a GREAT day of learning for all.
Kindergarten Becomes Authors
All About Kindergarten
In trimester two kindergarten students continued to practice and strengthen their writing skills. Students demonstrated what they learned in their very own kindergarten book. They wrote information about our kindergarten day and drew pictures to match their story. Our classes were so excited to make their first books and become authors!
2nd Grade Social Studies Fun
2nd Grade learns about communities
Second grade has been working very hard in their most recent social studies unit. They learned about the differences between urban city, rural country, and suburban areas. Students then had to identify what responsibilities they have for themselves, their family, their school, and their city. We completed over 20 close and critical readings that taught us all about the jobs that help our community. Finally, each student chose a job they would like to have. They wrote about what they needed to be successful in that position and why they chose it. They also drew their uniforms with a picture of their face! This project was great fun and taught us a lot!!
M-Step is Coming
M-Step starts in April for Grades 3-6
Each spring, the State of Michigan and the US Department of Education (USDE) require us to assess students in certain subject areas through the M-STEP, PSAT and SAT. The assessments provide the district with a snapshot of student achievement at the state, district, and building levels. Individual student results will also be shared with parents. The tentative assessment dates for M-Step are as follows:
3rd Grade
Thursday, April 11 - ELA
Wednesday, April 17 - Math
4th Grade
Wednesday, April 24 - ELA
Wednesday, May 1 - Math
5th Grade
Wednesday, April 10 - ELA
Tuesday, April 23 - Math
Thursday, May 2 - Social Studies
Wednesday, May 8 - Science
6th Grade
Tuesday, April 30 - ELA
Tuesday, May 7 - Math
Please ensure that your child is well rested on their testing day. They should come to school with a fully charged iPad .
Please note- We have makeup days built into our testing schedule, so if your child is exhibiting any symptoms of illness on their testing day- be sure to keep them home.
Also, due to recent updates in State testing procedures, cell phones, smart watches, and any bluetooth device (including headphones) MUST be secured during testing. We encourage students to leave these devices home on testing days when possible.When not possible, devices will be powered down and secured during testing
PTO Upcoming Events
2024-2025 Executive Board Officers
Thank you to everyone that expressed interested in our 24-25 officer positions. Congratulations to our 2024-2025 school year PTO officers:
President: Kristin Elsey
Vice President: Josh Banks
Secretary: Kari Zaffarano
Treasurer: Alison Ross
Book Bingo
Disney Community Dinner
Support Disney PTO and have fun having dinner with our Disney family. Present the below flyer to Buffalo Wild Wings on Wednesday, March 20th, and 20% of your bill will be donated to Disney Elementary PTO!
Athletic Opportunities for 5th & 6th Grade
Yearbook Orders
Disney Yearbook Orders
It's time to order your yearbook for the 2023-2024 school year!
Visit: ybpay.com
Yearbook ID Code: 8803024
Social Media Safety Tips
Canvas - Parent Access
Canvas- Parent Access
All Fraser classroom teachers provide instruction, resources, activities, and assessments to students utilizing the Canvas LMS. As a result, students have continuous access to the course materials and information regarding their achievement.
Parents/Guardians can also have continuous access to their student’s course materials and grades in Canvas by creating a parent/observer account. In addition, parents of multiple students can easily switch between their students to view grades and assignments within the same parent account. All sign up information and resources are provided on the Fraser website.
Important reminders when using Canvas:
- Canvas works best in Chrome
- Please do not install the Canvas app (for parents or students). We are not supporting it as our staff and students are utilizing the web-based version of Canvas and it looks and works differently.
- If you signed up and paired with your students last year, you still have access to those students and their new courses this year.
- If you need to add more students to your account this year, please follow the directions provided below.
- If you have forgotten your password, you can use the Forgot Password? link on the parent sign in page. Then, enter the email address you used to set up the account to receive a password reset email.
- If you have forgotten the email you used, please reach out to Kim Keith, Kimberly.keith@fraserk12.org, for additional assistance.
March Breakfast & Lunch Menu
Disney Elementary Parent Teacher Organization
As a caretaker of a Walt Disney Elementary student, you are a valued member of the Team Disney Parent Teacher Organization. All PTO meetings will now be both in person AND have a link to join virtually. ALL are welcome to join. If you plan to attend in person it is adults only. Our next meeting is on Wednesday, April 10th at 6:00 p.m. You can join our meeting in the Disney Media Center or virtually by clicking here by clicking here at 6:00 p.m.
Our official Facebook group is here: Team Disney Fraser Facebook. Please help us build the group by sharing with other Disney families and adding them to our group. If you have a question or concern that you need to be answered, please message a page Admin/Board member.
We welcome the 2023-2024 Board Members:
President- Molly Magnotte
Vice President- April Horgan
Treasurer- Alison Ross
Secretary- Candice Bookmiller
Contact: Team Disney PTO@gmail.com
Save the Date
Mark your calendars!
- 3/19 - PTO Book Bingo Event (5:30 OR 6:30)
- 3/20 - Author Bryan Chick visits 4th - 6th Grade
- 3/25 - 4/1 - No School (Spring Break)
- 4/2 - School Resumes
- 4/5 - March is Reading Month PlayOff conclusion Assembly
- 4/8 - Eclipse Day
- 4/10 - 5th Grade ELA M-Step
- 4/10 - PTO Meeting @ 6pm
- 4/11 - 3rd Grade ELA M-Step
- 4/11 - Disney Skate Night 6pm @ GreatSkate
- 4/12 - Spring Picture Day
- 4/16 - Early Dismissal (1:30pm dismissal)
- 4/17 - 3rd Grade Math ELA M-Step
- 4/19 - Peer-to-Peer Exotic Zoo Visit
- 4/23 - 5th Grade Math M-Step
- 4/24 - 4th Grade ELA M-Step
- 4/30 - 6th Grade ELA M-Step
- 4/30 - 6th Grade Group Picture @ 2pm
- 4/30 - Grades 1-3 Vocal Music Concert: 7pm @ FHS Auditorium
Access the full District Calendar HERE at any time!
Gleaners Food Distribution to Continue
Gleaners will be at FHS for the last time on March 21st.
Beginning April 4, Gleaners will be at the Fraser VFW Post, 17075 Anita, Fraser with the same schedule of every other Thursday from 9-11am.
If you are in need of food assistance, you can find pantries in your area by visiting https://pantrynet.org.