May Newsletter
News You Can Use
A Word From Mr. McCarthy
Dear Red Jacket Families,
It is truly hard to believe that the school year is quickly coming to an end. April at the elementary school saw students in grades 3-5 take the NYS ELA exam. Last week, students took the NYS Math exam on May 2nd and 3rd. The building had a very different feel for the New York State exams this year. The level of anxiety for students and staff seemed much more subdued than in years past. With the test untimed, students were provided with a testing environment that was not rushed. Despite what the local media coverage said, Red Jacket’s second year of computer-based testing went off without any real glitches. The students were able to easily access the exam and use the variety of test taking tools. Teachers' and students' experience with the testing platform last year played a huge part in decreasing stress and resolving any minor technical issues that were encountered. As always, we will continue to work hard each and every day to prepare our students for life outside of our walls.
PTSA News!
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Kindergarten News
It’s hard to believe, but, we are in the last quarter of the school year. We are beginning the home stretch of what’s been an amazing year, and man has it been a busy time. The students have just finished their 30 week assessments and have come a very long way since we first met them in September.
In math we’ve completed our number study to 20. We’ve worked on and addition and have recently started subtraction. In science we focused on Earth Day and started a unit on plants. To enrich our science program our kindergarteners went on a field trip to visit Fresh Ayr Farm Market. There, the children discovered several facts about seeds and plants and they had fun picking and planting flowers.
In ELA We’ve learned 45 sight words and still have more to go. Students have been busy learning multiple reading strategies and practicing them during their daily reading centers. During writers workshop we have been talking about beginning, middle and end along with problems and solutions. We have even read some books using speech bubbles and done some of our own speech bubble writing.
It has been a busy month and with all the vacations and holidays behind us we look forward to the last couple of months of school. Thank you for those of you that were able to come to spring conferences as well as your continued support throughout the year.
The Kindergarten Team
First Grade News
Happy April! April has been an exciting month to be in first grade. This month, we have been learning a lot about spring, animals, and plants. We have focused our science curriculum on learning about animal parts and behaviors as well as learning about what plants need to grow. The children have loved to participate in some of our fun science activities surrounding these topics!
This month we have also been saying “goodbye” to winter and “hello” to spring. We took a spring nature walk and wrote spring poems using adjectives to describe how spring looks, feels, and smells.
In math, we have been working on place value and number sense all month. The students have learned about tens and ones and how to say and write numbers to 120. We have compared numbers using the greater than (>) and less than (<) signs. We have learned how to order numbers from least to greatest and greatest to least. We have also worked on adding two digit numbers. Our focus has been to teach students how to do this math “mentally”. It’s a difficult skill to teach, but overall our students are doing very well with this. We continue to focus on problem solving and showing our work when we solve word problems.
In writing, we continued our “how-to” unit and also began our opinion writing unit this month. With our “how-to” writing, students pick a topic and break it into steps of how to do it. They then describe in writing with lots of detail how to do whatever task it is they chose. We taught them how to use transition words in their writing (first, next, then, last). With our opinion writing unit, our students have listened to books that are persuasive in nature, and we have learned how to tell our opinion in writing and back it up with reasons why. So far, we have exposed our students to personal narrative writing, how-to writing, and now opinion writing.
On behalf of all the first grade teachers, we would like to thank all the parents for attending parent conferences in April. The school-home connection is important to your child’s success in school and we appreciate you working at home with your children on the skills we focus on in the classroom.
We would also like to remind you that as the weather gets warmer, there is always a chance that the children will get outside either for playtime or for P.E. Be sure that your child is wearing appropriate footwear for going outside. Happy Spring!
Second Grade News
We’ve been extremely busy in second grade this month. Many of our units are ongoing from March. We continue to learn about land and water forms. They are designing and building models to help solve problems, such as how to get water to flow toward a city from a river.
Students continue to research important Americans in history who’ve made a great contribution to our lives. They are creating timelines about their person’s life and making slides on the computer. Students are using a program called Seesaw to explain what they are learning after reading a variety of books and articles. We are also continuing to focus on non-fiction text. Students are using multiple comprehension strategies, such as VIP (Very important Point) which helps them write a summary of the most important points of a text. Another strategy is the FQR (Fact, Question, Response). With this strategy, students find a fact that they learned, link a question to the fact, then give a feeling, a belief, or thought about the fact. This allows students to think beyond the text. Finally, students are making connections to their reading. They are connecting in three ways - Text to Self, Text to Text, and Text to World.
In math, we continue to work on addition of 2 and 3 digit numbers with regrouping using a multitude of strategies so that students have a strong understanding and foundation of how numbers work. We’ve also been learning to tell time and make money amounts, as these are important life skills. .
Third Grade News
Hopefully by the time this newsletter reaches our third grade families, winter gear will finally be packed away. Despite the cold gray weather outside, our students have been working hard and keeping busy in the classroom. In mathematics we have started our unit on area. Students are learning how to multiply Length x Width (LxW=) to find the area of squares and rectangles. Students are also using multi-step problem solving skills to identify missing side lengths of irregular shapes. The entire third grade class has been working hard to prepare for the upcoming NYS math test. Students will be testing on May 3rd and 4th. It is very important that students continue to study their math facts. Having as many facts possible memorized before the test will make a rigorous test much more manageable. In science we have been discussing inherited traits. We have examined various animals and different traits that offspring inherit from their parents. Students have participated in an assortment of activities that have introduced the science behind inherited traits, variation in offspring, and reproduction among organisms from the same species. In ELA students recently completed the NYS ELA 2018 test. We were so proud of the effort that each and every student gave over the course of the two day exam. Although many third graders viewed this test as an impossible task back in September, they were surprised to recognize how much academic growth they achieved this year. Students were working diligently to perform to the best of their ability. It was very encouraging to watch how hard they worked to do their personal best. Up next in ELA is our Peter Pan novel study! It’s hard to imagine that our next recess from school will be summer vacation. Until then we will continue to work hard, have fun, and keep our fingers crossed for a little sunshine and warm weather!
Fourth Grade News
In fourth grade, we are preparing for our NYS science test at the end of the month by doing practice experiments and reviewing concepts like the food chain, moon phases and the water cycle. We continue to expand our thinking by figuring out ways we can improve our inquiry skills in this area.
In ELA and social studies, we have taken our ELA state test and are moving forward to learning about the voting history of the United States after we finish up our unit on colonial America. Also, we have 2 exciting field trips that will give us an in depth look at the Erie Canal. This will lead us into our unit about how the canal was a vital support for the people of that time and how it is used today. Please look for information coming home for dates, times and places that we will be going. We will be looking for many parent volunteers for both of these so please look for information on these trips coming home soon!
Math is getting exciting as we will be taking our NYS assessment at the beginning of this month. We will finish up customary and metric units of measure that we started before the state test. We are now starting our moving up to 5th grade units as we prepare to have the students expand their knowledge of units we have covered along with beginning new concepts that will be covered in fifth grade.
We would like to remind parents to continue to check planners for important information as well as making sure your student is reading 20 minutes a night and practicing their math facts and critical thinking questions!
Fifth Grade News
This has been an extremely busy time of year in fifth grade. The students have been working so hard to prepare themselves for the State Assessments, which we will finish up the first week in May. We are so proud of the effort each child has put forth!
Throughout the month, we will finish up the remaining topics in math which will focus on coordinate graphing and some sixth grade topics, like ratios. We will also begin the much anticipated Rubik’s Cube unit in math, in which the students will learn how algorithms help to solve this popular puzzle. In science, we are going to start a unit on the human footprint on Earth and conservation efforts. Throughout this unit, we will make good use of the warmer weather (hopefully) and local trails to integrate some ELA journal writing into this unit. Our final unit in Social Studies will focus on the United States, learning about the states and where they are located within our country. In ELA, we continue to learn various types of poems, as well as elements of poetry. Our final projects will include a poetry book of their own, presentation of a poem they have written. As we move past poetry, we will be exploring more strategies that strengthen our reading and writing, such as using schema, inferring, questioning, determining importance of useful information, visualizing, and synthesizing.
We would like to continue to stress the importance of reading EVERY night and putting forth the utmost effort in completing homework, especially as we near the end of the year. These routines are so important to get down now as these kids prepare for middle school life and responsibilities. As a grade level, we will begin to take informal “tours” of the Middle School to help the students become more familiar with the new building and the expectations.
A Word From Mrs. Huber
Health and Dental Examination Requirements for 2018-19 School Year
Dear Parent/Guardian:
As of July 1, 2018 New York State law requires a health examination for all students entering the school district for the first time and when entering Pre-K or K, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th , and 11th grade. The examination must be completed by a New York State licensed physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner and on the approved NYSED Student Health Examination Form for School.
Health Appraisals (COMPLETED BY PARENT / GUARDIAN)
• A physical exam should be performed by your child’s NYS licensed Health Care Provider. It is required for all newly entering students and students in Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten, Grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. It must include Body Mass Index and Weight Status Category information. A copy of the health examination must be provided to the school within 30 days from when your child first starts at the school. Physicals should be completed within 12 months of the start of the current school year.
Vision: will be completed at school
• Distance and near vision acuity for all new entering students and students in Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten, Grades 1, 3, 5, 7 and 11.
• Color perception screening for all newly entering students.
Hearing: will be completed at school
• Hearing screening for all newly entering students and Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten, Grades 1, 3, 5, 7 and 11.
Scoliosis: will be completed at school
• Scoliosis (spinal curvature) screening for girls in Grades 5 and 7 and boys in Grade 9.
Dental Certificates
• A dental certificate is requested for all newly entering students and students in Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten, Grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11.
You will receive a phone call and a letter if there are any findings on the screening done at school that would cause concern. If at any time you do not want your child screened at school please send in a written request stating so. Please feel free to call the health office with any questions or concerns.
Thank you,
Sarah Huber, RN
Elementary School Nurse
Red Jacket Elementary
Email: Jeffrey.mccarthy@redjacket.org
Website: www.redjacket.org
Location: 1506 State Route 21, Shortsville, NY, USA
Phone: (585) 289-9647