Martin Newsletter
March 2020 Newsletter
Welcome back Mustangs! We hope you had a restful and relaxing Spring Break. We are happy to see all of our students back at school and ready to work. As we approach the last grading period, please keep in mind that communication with your child’s teacher is very important. If you have not had a chance to visit with your child’s teacher this semester, please call the front office and make an appointment to do so. It is crucial that we work together to emphasize a strong finish to the end of the year.
We are very pleased with the progress our students have made during the 3rd grading period, and know that they will continue to grow during the 4th grading period. Our midyear District Common Assessment results are very promising, and show student growth in reading, writing, and math. We look forward to working with you in helping them meet their goals and becoming life-long learners. We will review their growth at our End- of- Year MC2 Parent Meetings on April 14th.
As always, please continue to work with your child daily, reading and questioning for comprehension, counting and doing arithmetic problems, and exploring learning opportunities through cooking, trips, and discussions.
In this newsletter, you will find upcoming events and opportunities to visit the school to experience some of the great things happening all around our campus.
Thank you,
Martin Administrators
Dr. Sha, Ms. Boykin, and Mr. Sanchez
Counselor's Corner
How to be a shining star on the STAAR test!
Parents,
Our 3rd and 4th graders will be taking the STAAR test or State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test on the dates below. We respectfully request no visitors on campus for these dates:
April 7 4th Grade- Writing STAAR Test
May 12 3rd Grade- Math STAAR Test
May 12 4th Grade- Math STAAR Test
May 13 3rd Grade- Reading STAAR Test
May 13 4th Grade- Reading STAAR Test
Testing Tips
Please help your child prepare for these test dates by continuing to encourage them to follow the routines below:
- Set aside homework or review time each evening.
- Limit evening extra-curricular activities during the testing week.
- Set a relaxing bedtime routine: bath, reading time, and lights out by 9 p.m. at the latest.
- Pick out clean clothes and shoes for the next day and place them in an area that the student can access them easily in the morning.
- Set a wake up time that will not rush the student, but get everyone to school by 7:45 a.m so your child feels settled before testing.
- Eat breakfast at home or arrive at school by 7:40 a.m. to eat here.
- Tell your child you believe they will be successful every day and especially on testing days.
- On test day, encourage them to try their best and to persist through difficult questions.
We have worked hard to prepare your child academically, but your role as parents and guardians is equally important to their success!
Alief Online Enrollment
Online Enrollment for PK to 8th grade students who have never attended Alief Independent School District is now open. Please proceed to the following instructions on how to enroll on line.
1) Online Instructions: http://www.aliefisd.net/Page/5700
2) Link to Application: https://aliefhac1.aliefisd.net/EO_Parent/User/Login.aspx
You can access the online application in the front office of Martin. Registration times are 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Monday – Friday. Please note early registration for future Mustangs will be March 25th-April 29th for PK & Kinder students by appointment only! Our Registrar, Deisy Arreola will contact you to make an appointment only after you have completed the online registration. If you have a child who will be 4 years old by September 1, 2019, he/she may be eligible for PK in 2020-2021.
Anticipating a great fourth nine weeks!
Pre-K
In language arts, students continue working to learn the name and sounds of all the letters. Students should be able to write their name without the help of a model and attempt to write their last name. In phonemic awareness, they are beginning to identify and isolate beginning sounds in words and to hear and count words in a spoken sentence. Students are also working on identifying rhyming and non-rhyming words. In math, students are working on counting forward to 30 or more and backwards from 10. Students are working on recognizing numerals 0 to 10. They are beginning to demonstrate 1-1 correspondence for up to 10 items in a set. They should be able to make finger from patterns 1 to 10. Students are beginning to make sets and recognize (without counting) them from 1 to 6. At this time, students should be able to identify all colors and shapes. Students will be working on simple addition and subtraction with concrete objects up to 5. Please work with students at home on recognizing words in sentences, practice-writing words, and spelling and writing their names.
Kinder
1st Grade
In math, first grade will be working on addition and subtraction within 40, with and without regrouping. Students will be encouraged to use different strategies to show their thinking such as counting on and back, using a number line, using manipulatives, and/or drawing a picture. Students will also learn how to read and interpret data on a bar or picture graph. Students will also create their own surveys, record data using tally marks, and organize their information in a bar graph. We will finish the school year learning to recognizing and counting numbers within 120. Students will be able to show numbers within 120 on a place value chart, order and compare, and complete number patterns. In reading, students will be learn how to persevere, be resilient, and set goals through the different texts we will read in HMH. They will continue developing connections and describe the plot in fiction stories, as well as locate information in a nonfiction text using the different text features. Students will be able to identify and understand the main idea of a text and synthesize information. In writing, students will continue to develop their skills through different writing genres. Students will be writing personal narratives, expository essays, and biographies. In science, students will be learning about living and non-living. We will explore different animal characteristics, habitats, diets, and lifecycles, and learn how animals depend on each other to survive. In Social Studies, students will be learning how life and technology has changed from the past to the present. They will learn about different American heroes and inventors that shaped the history of The United States.
2nd Grade
In literacy, we have completed Module 7: Everyone has a story to tell, which focused on biographies. Students read about the life of multiple important people who made a difference and impacted people in a positive way. In the following weeks, we will be working on Module 8: Time to grow. This module is connected to science and focuses on sequence and chronological order. In math, we are currently working on fractions, and will complete the unit in one week. Students need to understand multiple ways of representing fractions. Then, we will be working on customary measurements of length, which includes measuring in inches, feet, and yards. Students will have multiple opportunities to measure different objects and make comparisons among them. In science, we just completed the unit about basic needs of living things (organisms). Students learned about how organisms meet their needs in their environments. Next in science, student will learn about environmental effects that impact living things. Students will learn about how environmental changes and hazards impact living things. In social studies we have finished up unit 3: The World Around Us. Students learned about landforms, natural resources, natural hazards, different types of communities, and the impact that people has in the environment they live. In the next few weeks we will be working in unit 4: Celebrating our Traditions. We will explore about the multiple cultures and traditions that have impacted and shaped America!
3rd Grade
In literacy, students have been listening to, reading, and viewing a variety of texts and media that give them information about animal survival and building communities. This focused on recognizing the following: text and graphic features, summary, author’s purpose, ask and answer questions to deepen understanding and to gain information, the central or main idea, and text structures. In writing, third grade has been working on identifying and using the following: multiple pre‐writing strategies to plan and draft writing, writing an informative and opinion text, identifying and using different adverbs, verbs, adjectives, articles, and nouns. In the upcoming weeks, third grade will be focusing on a variety of texts and media that provide information about inventors and inventions. Students will also encounter narrative poetry and opinion texts. We will also continue to work on grammar, writing expository compositions using research, revising, and editing. In math, we just finished learning about fractions as parts of a region or parts of a set. Some of the skills we practiced were reading, writing, and identifying fractions of wholes, identifying equivalent fractions, comparing and ordering fractions using pictorial models. We are continuing our learning with measurement of length, weight, and capacity in customary units and metric units. In science, we focused on the force, motion and energy. In the upcoming weeks, we will work on unit 4, organisms and environment, life cycles and adaptations. In social studies, we focused on the branches and levels of government in the United States, citizenship, good citizens and a growing nation. We will finish the year with working in our communities, needs and wants, producers and consumers, and celebrating our communities through culture and the arts.
4th Grade
In Literacy, we have completed Module 7: Tricksters and Tall Tales, which focused on traditional tales including legends, folktales, and fables. Students read and watched all different traditional tales in this module and wrote their own for the module project. In the next few weeks, we will be working on Module 8: Food for Thought, which will focus on healthy food choices, and Module 9: Global Guardians, focusing on what people can do for our planet. We will also continue with reviewing grammar, writing expository compositions, revising, and editing. In Math, we are working on applying formulas to solve for area and perimeter of squares and rectangles. We will be finishing up this unit with composite figures and symmetry. To finish out the year, we will be working on measurement conversions for both customary and metric units of length, volume, capacity, weight, and mass. The final unit will be data analysis, which will focus on frequency tables, dot plots, and stem-and-leaf plots. In Science, we are working on creating food webs and describing the flow of energy, producers, consumers, herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. Our next few units include structures and functions and how they allow for survival , inherited traits, and life cycles. We will be focusing of the life cycles of mealworms and beetles, which we will have in the classroom. In Social Studies, we have finished up Texas gaining its independence from Mexico and the annexation of Texas to the United States. As we continue on in Texas History, we will be finishing the year with the events leading up to the Civil War, the events of the war, and Reconstruction.
Martin Block Team
Art
We are finishing up in the 3rd nine weeks our projects that consist of: color theory, landscapes, Chinese new year, sculptures and I have a dream self-portraits. In the 4th nine weeks, students will rely on personal observations and perceptions, which are developed through increasing visual literacy and sensitivity to surroundings, communities, memories, imaginings and life experiences as a source for thinking about, planning and creating original artworks. Students will be introduced to artists such as Claude Monet, Henri Matisse. They will be encouraged to create, collaborate and foster critical thinking while incorporating these artists’ as inspiration.
PE
In PE, students will take their final FitnessGram Test to finish up the third nine weeks. This March, students will learn fundamental baseball skills while also building self-esteem and self-confidence through an Astros sponsored program titled Fun At Bat. Each student (K-4) will receive a booklet for parents with more information about the program. In April we will have our annual Mustang Gallop/Community Health Fair, so be on the lookout for those registration forms going home soon. In May, our students will be gearing up for our major Field Day event which will allow our students to demonstrate the skills they have learned throughout the year.
Music
Kindergartners are finishing up hearing and identifying same and different patterns in rhythm! We are beginning to write our OWN rhythms and melodies using pictures. Students will continue to learn how to work with partners and follow the steady beat alone as well as in a group! They are doing an amazing job finding their singing voices! In first grade we are finishing up reading and re-creating rhythms and melodies.. and are moving on to putting everything we’ve learned into action by playing instruments! They are doing a great job following all the structures that are required in playing instruments and being successful in playing the music! Second graders have started our program music...get ready for a “Journey into Outer Space” coming soon in April! They will begin learning their dances and speaking parts in the coming weeks! Third grade is reading rhythms, identifying the names of rhythms and able to count them with a steady beat with little to NO help… that’s amazing!!! They are putting their hard work of learning and identifying rhythms into action by putting an instrument ensemble together; taking turns learning each instrument and what skills it takes to play each one! In fourth grade recorders have been SO fun! We have been learning the notes B, A, G. They will begin passing off their first song “Hot Cross Buns” and learning new songs from Quaver to help them remember each note. They have done a great job of following all the correct hand position/body position in order to sound their very best on recorder! We are also preparing for our annual Alief Music Memory Olympic competition that will be taking place on May 1st at Taylor HS… 15 students will be selected from the fourth grade to be on the team and compete to show their knowledge of music, composers and major works they have written!
Health/Technology
As we move into the 4th nine weeks, in the Health/Tech Lab, our health focus will be educating students on how to be safe. Kids are going to fall, crash, slip and tumble. It’s all part of being a kid, and we wouldn't want it any other way. Children often take lessons home and remind their parents how to be safe in and around the home and on the road. Our goal is to teach about how to avoid the leading causes of preventable injuries when in the sun, around water, and much more. Technology gives students the tools to bring to life what can only be imagined in the physical world. Students with different learning styles construct understanding on concepts and facts, thus showing their learning in expanded ways by combining and utilizing multiple media and having their creations shared. The ability to make, edit and combine text, graphics, sound and video helps prepare students for future learning.
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Important Dates
23 Beginning of the fourth nine weeks
24 PK Early Registration
25 PK Early Registration
26 Science DCA 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade * NO Visitors please*
26 PK Petting Zoo
26 Report Cards go home
26 Brighter Bites
30 Awards assembly
2 PK/KN Round up 5:00-7:00pm
4 GAP Girl Conference
6 4th grade pep rally
7 Writing STAAR Test (4th Grade) * NO Visitors please*
8 Writing STAAR Make-up * NO Visitors please*
10 Easter/ No School
14 MC2 Parent Meeting Night #3
16 Progress Reports Go Home
16 Alief Teacher of the Year @ 7:00pm, Taylor High School
17 4th Grade transition field trip to Youngblood
18 Mustang Gallop 8:30/Health Fair 9:00-11:00am
18 CIA Market Day
20-24 VIPS Appreciation Week
21 4th Grade transition field trip to Owens
22 Earth Day
22 MES Tree Planting
24 Pre-K Trike and Bike
25 Alief Job Fair
28 Math DCA Kindergarten and 1st Grade * NO Visitors please*
28 Math DCA 2nd Grade * NO Visitors please*
29 Reading DCA Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd Grade * NO Visitors please*
30 Science DCA 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade * NO Visitors please*
30 2nd Grade performance 5:00pm
4-8 Staff Appreciation Week
5 Cinco De Mayo
6 Nurse's Day
7 Last Day of FAME Center
7 Progress Reports Go Home
11 Pep Rally
12 Math STAAR Test (3rd/4th Grade) * NO Visitors please*
13 Reading STAAR Test (3rd/4th Grade) * NO Visitors please*
14 STAAR Make-ups * NO Visitors please*
14 Service/Retirement Banquet
15 STAAR Make-ups * NO Visitors please*
18 PK Splash Day 8:45am & 12:45pm
18 Dual Language Showcase
18 GT Showcase
18 Science Fair
19 Field Day Kinder, 1st, 2nd Grade
20 Field Day 3rd, 4th Grade
21 Awards Assembly
21 4th Grade Ceremony 12:00pm
21 Early Dismissal 2:00 pm
21 End of fourth grading period
21 Last Day of School
25 Memorial Day
Martin Elementary School
Email: Martin.Mustangs@aliefisd.net
Website: www.aliefisd.net/martin
Phone: 281-983-8363
Twitter: @Martin_Mustangs