Upper El Weekly Newsletter
Friday, April 12, 2024
Viewing the partial solar eclipse was fun!
Dear Upper Elementary families,
Highlights from the week:
We spent a lot of time on Monday watching the partial solar eclipse. We had some viewing glasses, but we also designed and made some different types of viewers from cereal boxes and long tubes. It was really fun to build them, to learn to use them, and to watch the changing eclipse. We also did a STEAM challenge in our new STEAM Lab in the afternoon–students needed to use 3 - 6 materials to build a model of a solar eclipse including the sun, moon, and earth.
Students put so much effort into the CMAS tests again this week. Mathematics and ELA tests are done (except for a few make ups), which means that 3rd, 4th, and 6th graders are done with this year’s CMAS testing! Spirit week and the morning parties provided lots of fun! We are so proud of everyone! Thanks so much to all the families who sent in delicious, healthy snacks. Testing made the kids very hungry!
Thank you to 6th grade parents and students who attended our CIMI planning meeting on Wednesday. If you need additional information, please email Esther at esther.alsum@deltaschools.com.
This week, in addition to testing, the students finished their notes for their Choice research, practiced short story and poetry writing, worked on Colorado maps (4th graders), learned about cells (6th graders) and reviewed science standards for the science CMAS test (5th grade). We are also continuing to read / listen to books each day. 4th and 5th graders are listening to / reading The Secret Garden and 6th graders are reading Harbor Me.
Upcoming events and important notices:
Spring break is next week. We hope everyone has fun and rests. There is no homework over the break, BUT WE ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO CONTINUE READING FOR OUR READ A THON FUNDRAISER!!!!
Final payments for field trips are due ASAP. Please contact Denise or Cortney if you have any questions or concerns regarding your balance
We will be visiting the Crawford library again on April 25 for another STEAM challenge on optical illusions. We are so grateful that they are hosting us once a month for these fun projects.
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. This is the link for CMAS SNACK sign-up. We love to give the students extra “fuel” on our testing days. We appreciate extra healthy, nutritious snacks.
.https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0E4DACA92EABFD0-48692372-cmas
Our school will be helping to keep Crawford clean on our annual Earth Day clean up. We will be picking up trash and visiting local businesses on April 29.
Please check the Lunch menu on our website, and if your child doesn’t like the hot food that day, please send a lunch with him / her to school.
We would love to have some parents volunteer to be on our 6th grade graduation committee. We need to plan a few things for that event. Please contact Esther if you are interested in helping esther.alsum@deltaschools.com
Our yearbook crew has been very busy putting the finishing touches on our yearbook. If you have not purchased a yearbook yet, you can do so through this link.
Important dates (THERE ARE MANY!!!!!):
April 15 - 19: Spring Break. NO SCHOOL
April 23 - 25: CMAS testing for 5th grade students (science)
April 30 - May 2: Denver field trip for 4th and 5th graders
May 2: 6th grade tours of Hotchkiss and Paonia K8 schools
May 5 - 11: Catalina Island Marine Institute field trip for 6th graders
May 8: field trip to Paradise Theater in Paonia to watch The Secret Garden (4th and 5th grade only)
May 16: spring music concert, 1:30 - 3pm
May 17: field trip to the Paradise theater for Dark Skies Paonia presentation
May 23: 6th grade graduation, 10:30am - 12:30pm
May 24: last day of school (half day)
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 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!
Have a fabulous weekend! Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Email is the easiest way to communicate with us. Check out our school website for important information, dates, and our staff bios.
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
Watching the partial solar eclipse on Monday:
Making models of a solar eclipse in our STEAM Lab:
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