PONDER ELEMENTARY HAPPENINGS
DECEMBER 18, 2019
Ponder Elementary Enrollment 745
TEACHERS - INTERIM ASSESSMENTS DATA ROOM DAY
The teachers have been digging into our data. They have looked at several different sources of data including interim assessments, STAR Reading, STAR Math and Lexia data to determine the progress of each student. We are charting growth to make sure that each student is improving and making progress. They have also been helping out with UIL and TMSCA not to mention attending Christmas programs and planning parties for their students! December is a busy month!
THANKSGIVING DINNER
12 turkey rolls + 900 rolls + 20 pans of mashed potatoes + a lot of delicious side dishes = a successful Thanksgiving dinner at Ponder Elementary School. Our awesome cafeteria staff served 823 tasty meals to our guests and their favorite Pilgrims and Indians.
UIL
After an exciting pep rally, our UIL Teams traveled to Callisburg on December 7 for an exciting UIL Competition! Our students and teachers worked hard on their individual and team events. We had many individual and team successes. Jessica Norwood is the district champ in 5th Grade Oral Reading! We also had 1st place teams in 5th Grade Social Studies (Elijah Todd, Blythe Horton and Gracie Adams)and 5th Grade Dictionary Skills (Kate Simmons, Elijah Todd and Blythe Horton). Many other students earned medals and ribbons. We will present students with their medals and ribbons at a special UIL Award Celebration in January. Our school took 3rd overall in the competition. We are very proud of our students and teachers and their hard work and accomplishments!
TMSCA
After a full day of UIL on Friday, a dedicated group of students and teachers got on the bus at 7:00am to make the trip to the Cross Timbers TMSCA Meet! There were 50 schools and over 1200 students at the meet. We had 7 students who placed in the top 25 in Number Sense, 13 in the top 25 in Calculator and 6 in the top 25 in Science. That's amazing! We are extremely proud of our hard-working students and teachers!
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM
Our first and second graders performed in our annual Christmas program. They performed in front of a standing-room only crowd. They did a great job!
STUCO SERVICE PROJECT
For their annual service project, the Student Council hosted a breakfast for our local first responders. After the breakfast, they visited a retirement center where they passed out Christmas cards and treated the residents by caroling through the halls.
GINGERBREAD MEN GONE WILD
The Kindergarten gingerbread men got loose and began making messes around the building. The Kindergarten students created wanted posters and built traps for their gingerbread men. In the end, technology saved the day. The gingerbread men were spotted by our video cameras and apprehended by the principal. The gingerbread men were released back to the students with the promise that they would be good examples and show the gingerbread men how to act like responsible Kindergarten students.
HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS
Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas Day
POLAR EXPRESS
SANTA STORE
Our PTO hosted the annual Santa Store. Our kids were so excited to get a chance to shop for their family members!