North Tiger Beat
November & December 2021
Happy November
HappyThanksgiving North Families!!!
It’s an exciting time of year as the holidays are here. The leaves are falling, it's getting chilly, and staff and students are taking advantage of this exciting season. Many teachers have been working on inquiry and STEM lessons, using pumpkins and seasonal topics to engage their students in learning.
This month we have had two important days; Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. The North community would like to say thank you to all of our servicemen and women in our Somerset Community. As we move toward December, we encourage our families to share and celebrate their different traditions with us. We love to learn about our families.
In celebration of Thanksgiving, we can reflect and give thanks for all of our blessings here at North Elementary. We have 473 reasons to be thankful. Our North children are smart, precious, and kind.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
During the month of November and December, the character traits we will be reflecting on are:
Nov 1
Resisting negative peer pressure
Nov 8
Helping others
Nov 15
Persevering through difficult tasks
Nov 29
Having good transitions
Dec 6
Having appropriate boundaries
Dec 13
Giving and receiving compliments
Dec 20
Self-management in the cafeteria
During this holiday season, we will be reflecting on being generous and thinking about others before we think of ourselves. Please talk to children about our character traits each month. We need your support to help reinforce these expectations as we continue to focus on making our North community and positive, safe, and inclusive learning environment.
As the weather changes, please be sure students are wearing outdoor attire to accommodate for the cold weather. We like to have the students outside as much as we can. If the windchill or temp is 22 and above, we will be going outside. It may be a little early to talk about snow, but we do go outside if there is snow. Students who bring in boots, snow pants, and gloves will be able to go in the snow. Students will need to stay on the blacktop surface if they don't have the snow attire.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Trunk and Treat! The decorating, music, and atmosphere were a real hit with our students. It was great to see our families dressed up and enjoying the night!! We are very lucky to have the volunteers we do. They help us make memories for our children that will last a lifetime. We look forward to our next PTO-sponsored event on December 18th. It is the Holiday Stroll and Vendor Event from 11-3. Santa will be there taking pictures.
Happy Thanksgiving from Grade One
Library Time
Thank you for our book donation!
Water Protectors
Important Dates
November and December AT A GLANCE
November 25th and 26th - No School, Happy Thanksgiving!!
November 30th- Early Release 12:30 Dismissal
December 8th- Parent Teacher Conference by appointment. No School for Students
December 14th-PTO meeting at 6:00
December 18th- Holiday Stroll and Vendor Event 11:00-3:00
December 17th- December 23rd- Holiday Spirit Week
December 23rd- Early Release 12:30
December 24th- January 1st- Vacation No School'January January 17th - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day- No School
January 26th- Early Release 12:30
February 21st-25th- Vacation Week
Parent Teacher Conferences December 8th - By Appointment
We are using SignUp.com to organize our upcoming Parent/Teacher Conferences that will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, December 8, 2021. Teachers are scheduling 15-minute blocks from 12:30-7:00 to meet with parents or guardians. There will be no school for students on that day. If you have not already done so, please schedule your conference using the link below.
This will be a time for you to talk to your child's teachers about their progress. All school staff will be available on that day. This includes your child's specialist teachers (Art teacher, PE Teacher, Music Teacher, Health Teacher, and Technology Teacher). Intervention staff, as well as related service staff (School Nurse, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Pathologist, School Psychologist, School Adjustment Counselor), will also be available on that day. School staff will be listed to pick from. If you have any questions about who your child has for a specific teacher please feel free to ask. Your child has many different teachers and staff available to them. We understand that you may not know everyone's name. We encourage you to schedule your conferences as soon as possible.
Here's how it works:
1) Click this link to view North's SignUp page: https://signup.com/go/mNKLieD
2) Review the options listed and select your conference time(s).
3) Sign up! You will NOT need to register an account or use a password on SignUp.com.
Character Trait Pickled Deli Recipient
FUN RUN SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!
Thank you to all of our families for making our Fundraiser a MAJOR SUCCESS. Your generosity and support are appreciated. The students had a great time during the time when Nitro Neil and Slamdunk Dan were here. We were grateful to have their positive energy as they talked to our students about curiosity, practice, confidence, humility, and endurance. These topics aligned perfectly to our TIGER PRDIE Vision of the Graduate character traits of Perseverance, Respect, Independence, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Empathy.
If you were able to come that day, you were able to see how hard our students ran while having some fun.
Here are the STATS:
RESULTS
- School pledge profit - $21,386
- 80% Students Registered
- 68% Students Pledged
- 70% Non-Parent Pledging ($14,970)
- Pledges from 26 States
- Pledges from 5 Countries - Kenya, Canada, Portugal, Puerto Rico, and USA
TIGER PRIDE
Raider's First Christmas
North Elementary will be holding a pet supply drive for local animal shelters in honor of our comfort dog Raider. Any donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be made beginning November 29 through December 22. All donations can be brought to the school and will be distributed before Christmas. Thank you for your generosity!!
Dog biscuits
Treats
Toys
Canned dog food
Canned cat food
Dry cat food
Dry dog food
Scoopable cat litter
Collars
Leashes
New pet beds
Blankets
Sheets
Bleach
paper towels
Sponges
Trash bags
Scrub brushes
Grade Level Happenings
Preschool
Insights and Kindergarten
First Grade
The crisp autumn air is finally here. Our days in school are moving right along. It is hard to believe November is here and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I’m sure we can all agree that there are many things to be grateful for this school year!
Our grade one students have been busy learning many new things. Every day is packed with meaningful learning experiences. During our reading time, students continue to share and listen to read-aloud stories that engage discussion and deeper thinking about the text. The theme of family has been our focus. The children have been learning about various character traits as well as other story elements such as setting, problem, and solution.
Responding to the text through shared and independent writing experiences has also been an area we have been working on in class. Grade one classrooms also continue to concentrate on opinion writing during our writing workshop time. Students have been working on developing a piece that provides an opinion along with two supporting reasons. Some students have been attempting to add a closing sentence as well! Impressive!
During math block, grade one classes have been working on unit three. This unit focuses on revisiting addition with attention given to new strategies. This time around, we will focus on sums to twenty. Important strategies such as “counting on” have been modeled and practiced. Doubles equations have also been introduced. A goal for doubles equations is for the children to realize that knowing these particular facts, can help them solve other addition equations. Doubles plus and minus one will be our concentration this week.
Lastly, we are still at work exploring the night sky. The children have now begun to explore the moon and its phases. The objective here is for the children to have an understanding that the phases of the moon are a cycle. A pattern that repeats.
As you can see the grade one students have been learning alot. We are seeing growth every day. That is certainly something to be thankful for!
Second Grade
The second graders have settled in and are working hard to remember and model the expectations for academics, behavior, and safety. We continue to go outside for mask breaks and academics when possible. In Science, we have been learning about Earth’s materials, including landforms, bodies of water, rocks, weathering, and erosion. The kids have really been enjoying the hands-on experiments.
Everyone enjoyed the autumn hayride and pumpkins. A lot of cute characters showed up on Book Character Day!
We all wish everyone a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!
Third Grade
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
This month we are grateful for our students and families that do their best every day to support learning. In writing students are completing a personal narrative. Our read alouds have focused on understanding a character’s feelings and motivations. Social Studies has centered around the development of our town and its government. In science, students are keeping track of the weather and forecasting like a meteorologist. In math, students have used equal groups to multiply and will continue to learn new strategies to solve multiplication problems. We look forward to meeting with you to discuss your child’s progress on December 8!
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade
It is hard to believe it is already November! The students have been working hard in writing, creating a narrative piece that includes a good beginning, elaborative details, suspense, an expanded main event, and a unique ending. In reading, students are reading, listening to, and discussing fictional stories. They are identifying the plot including the setting, problem, rising action, highpoint, falling action, and solution. This month we will also be focusing on characterization. We continue to encourage students to read at least 20 minutes a day whether it is in school or at home. In math, we are wrapping up division of whole numbers and are moving into decimals. Students should continue to learn their multiplication facts. Both Reflex and Freckle applications are a great tool to use for their fluency of facts. Science classes are continuing to learn about space. We are moving from the phases of the moon to other planetary systems within our solar system. We will focus on how parts of the solar system interact and why stars appear to move across the night sky. In social studies, students will continue to learn about Colonial America. The fifth-grade team wishes all of our families a Happy Thanksgiving!
Intervention Department
Happy November from the Intervention Team !
The Intervention Team is happy to be working with small groups of students during RTI time.
Some may ask, “What is RTI?”
Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning needs. It involves classroom teachers and intervention specialists working together for the benefit of students. After a series of screenings and assessments, all teachers plan for high quality instruction, small group instruction, and targeted intensive interventions. You may hear it called RTI, you may hear it called WIN (What I Need), or you may hear it called Intervention. No matter which of these terms you hear, they all mean the same thing, targeted high quality instruction.