Upper El Weekly Newsletter
Friday, March 29, 2024
We love science
Dear Upper Elementary families,
We had a fun and rainy week.
Highlights from this week:
We had a great time at the Crawford Library, as both Upper El classes went to another workshop there. This time the students got to make their own kites, and they turned out great! Thank you to the Crawford Library for continuing to provide these fun workshops for our students!
The 5th graders had a field trip this week to David Alderdice’s recording studio. They brought their instruments and got to record some lovely music.
In our reading groups, the 4th and 5th graders began to read The Secret Garden which is a Delta Reads book.
We continued our review work this week to prepare for the upcoming CMAS tests and had new lessons in science / social studies and math. 4th graders are studying Colorado geography; 5th graders are studying the conservation of mass and 6th graders are studying DNA.
For RWC work this week, students focused on the figures of speech in literary works.
For research, the students chose a topic of their choice, and found a resource to get information for their topic. They also began taking notes.
Upcoming events and important notices:
Thanks to everyone who has helped us fundraise with chocolate bars! We have almost sold out. If your student still has money to turn in from selling chocolate, please send it in ASAP. We would like to update the field trip accounts to reflect these sales. If you have questions, please send a note or email to Shannon, shannon.castle@deltaschools.com.
CMAS (Colorado Measures of Academic Success) testing, the state standardized testing for all 3rd - 6th graders begins on April 2. Reading, Writing and Communicating tests will be administered that week (Tuesday - Thursday), and Mathematics tests will be administered the following week. In addition, 5th graders will take the Science test the week of April 23. It is really important that ALL students are present for these tests, so please try to plan travel accordingly. If your family has a conflict, please let Denise know as soon as possible. ***Watch for a CMAS SNACK sign-up. We love to give the students extra “fuel” on our testing days. We appreciate extra healthy, nutritious snacks.
Next week is CMAS Spirit Week, with dress up days included. Tuesd
6th grade parents and students: we will have an important meeting on April 10th at 5pm for all 6th grade parents and students about our CIMI field trip. Please mark your calendars. Also, CONGRATULATIONS on raising the extra $3000 we needed to make the CIMI program work this year. Thank you to all parents and students who have volunteered!
Important dates:
April 2 - 4 and 9 - 11: CMAS testing for students in grades 3 - 6 (math and ELA)
April 10: 6th grade parent and student meeting about CIMI at 5pm at school.
April 15 - 19: Spring Break. NO SCHOOL
April 23 - 25: CMAS testing for 5th grade students (science)
Recurring Notices / Information:
Students need indoor shoes at school. It is wet and sometimes muddy outside and this really helps keep our school clean (and makes cleaning easier on our wonderful custodian, Adam). If you need help providing indoor shoes for your child, please let us know.
Please continue to make monthly payments for your child’s end of year field trip (CIMI–$125 per month for 6th graders; Denver–$30 - 40 per month for 4th and 5th graders beginning in December). If you need a scholarship for these trips, please contact Denise, our principal.
Please send a healthy snack with your child to school. We also appreciate the donations from parents/grandparents of snacks to share with hungry children. Thank you so much for providing these for our classrooms!
Volunteers are welcome in our classrooms, at home, on committees, and on field trips. We couldn’t do all that we do without your help, so let us know if you have some extra time, talent, or treasure you are willing to donate or volunteer. Thank you to those that are volunteering!
Spectacled Bears Homeroom:
Esther Alsum esther.alsum@deltaschools.com
Shannon Castle shannon.castle@deltaschools.com
Black Bears Homeroom:
Carrie Lerner carrie.lerner@deltaschools.com
Jack Bair jack.bair@deltaschools.com
More science fun!!!!
We went to the Crawford Library and made kites
5th grade band recorded a song at a local studio--thanks David and Tony!
Upper El Contacts:
Ms. Esther - esther.alsum@deltaschools.com
Ms. Shannon - shannon.castle@deltaschools.com
Mr. Jack - jack.bair@deltaschools.com
Website: https://nfmc.deltaschools.com/
Location: 51 Fir Avenue, Crawford, CO, USA
Phone: 970-921-4935