Forever Endeavor
Endeavor Elementary Newsletter-- February 2019
Ms. Thistle's Thoughts
Greetings!
I hope that you and your family are having a great winter! The staff at Endeavor have been finishing up winter assessments. These assessments help us to guide the instruction in the classroom. It is so important for us to partner with you at home. We encourage our students to set goals for themselves and by practicing skills, they will make gains academically.
We also see lots of growth when parents and teachers partner up to support kids. A few weeks ago, I received an email about my son not turning in his homework assignments. I touched base with him and ensured that he understood that his teacher and I were talking. After I spoke to him, I contacted his teacher to say thank you and that I will help him to work on this. The quicker he understands that he has to organize his work and turn it in, the easier it will be as he goes through school. This is one example of how we can support each other.
After receiving the winter report card, you’ve seen areas of strengths and some areas for growth. Parent-teacher conferences will be coming up in March. However, if there are areas where you see your child struggle, you are welcome to talk with me or ask your child’s teacher. In addition, at the beginning of February we will send home a document where you can mark if there are any materials you’d like us to send home for you. Thanks for partnering with us to make Endeavor such a great school!
Thank you for your support.
Salina Thistle
Principal at Woodridge and Endeavor
PCSD 4k Coordinator
Email: thistles@portage.k12.wi.us
BIG DREAMS FROM LITTLE LEARNERS
--Uriah P.
--Jaydah G.
--Nolan E.
--Kaylee S.
--Jake R.
--McKenzie H.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
February 2019
5: Regional Spelling Bee 9:15 at PHS ( Good luck to Alaina S. and Isaac M.)
8: Writing due for the Young Author's Contest
19: 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL (pending snow days)
20: PTO Muffins in the Morning (more info coming next week in your child's folder)
27: Endeavor Sharing Supper
March 2019
1: Dental Day (more info to come)
1: Safety Patrol trip permission slip due
5: Regional Math 24 Tournament (Good luck to Sami C.)
5: PTO Meeting @ 4:30 p.m.
11-15: Book Fair
12: PK-5th: Peter Pan Musical @ Palace Theater in Lake Delton. Leave @ 8:45 a.m. Return @11:45 a.m.
12 & 14: Elementary P-T Conferences; 4-7 p.m.
18-22: Spring Break. No school for staff or students
27: Endeavor Sharing Supper
29: Safety Patrol trip fee due
4th and 5th Grade 24 Competitors
Endeavor Elementary was represented at the 4th Grade 24 Competition
by Tristian C. John P. and Nate H.
5th Grade Competitors were
Ava B. and Sami C.
Sami will be advancing to the Regional Competition on March 5th.
Office Notes
Email: gohlkek@portage.k12.wi.us
Website: https://www.portage.k12.wi.us/end/
Phone: 608-587-2625
Art with Ms. Martens
Email: martensj@portage.k12.wi.us
Music with Ms. Janes
There are some exciting and noisy things happening in the music room this month! The Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders are doing a lot of instrument activities. Students in the 3rd/4th grade class are continuing to learn how to play the recorder, we are also doing a lot of peer-teaching: the 3rd graders all have a 4th grade recorder buddy who has already learned about the instrument to teach and help them. The 4th and 5th grade class is in the middle of our orchestra instrument unit so they are listening to, looking at, touching, and playing some brass, string, woodwind and percussion instruments!
- Miss Janes
Phy. Ed. with Mr. Schuette
Email: schuettet@portage.k12.wi.us
Counselor's Corner with Ms. Brown
The Endeavor K-2 students continue to work on identifying feelings and how to cope with and handle their many emotions. We are using the Zones of Regulations to help us place those feelings in a colored zone (see the December parent newsletter for more information on the Zones of Regulation.)
Children can have the same big feelings that us adults do. The difference for adults though, is that we have more life experience to know how to deal with difficult emotions. When our children feel anxiety, anger and fear, they need our help to learn how to cope.
Helping your child name the feeling helps them validate what they are going through. Our classroom guidance lessons are helping kids identify feelings and naming those feelings.
It can be confusing for a child when those strong feelings(red zone feelings) take over and lead to behaviors that your child might not usually have. When your child is calm is the best time to talk about strong feelings and to come up with a plan for when those strong feelings happen.
Some tools I am teaching students to use at these emotional times are; taking 5 or more belly breaths, taking a break and coloring or listening to music. At school they can take a break in the calm corner in their classroom.
Guiding our children when they are having a difficult emotional time may test our patience, yet now is the time to make this connect with, and guide them. If we do this, when they become teenagers, they will have the ability to use the calming tools when they need them, or with a little reminding from us, they will know what to do.
Nursing Notes with Nurse Hon
February is National Children’s Dental Health Month.
Everyone in the family needs to have a daily plan to prevent tooth decay. Teeth play an important role to:
Chew food we eat
Say sounds and words correctly
Hold a place for adult teeth
Give the face a nice shape
Daily activities for everyone should include:
· Brushing teeth twice a day for two minutes with fluoridated toothpaste
· Flossing between the teeth once a day
· Eating nutritious foods and limiting sweetened foods and beverages
· Drinking water
· Protecting teeth from harm by using a mouthguard during activities
Email: honv@portage.k12.wi.us
Library Media Center
In Mrs. Steinhaus' class we just finished reading Flat Stanley's Christmas Adventures and we have been showing some of our own Flat Stanley adventures.
In Mrs. Petrulis' class we are reading Hank Zipzer, Niagara Falls or Not.
In Mr. Hammer's class we are reading Joey Pigza Swallowed a Key.
Battle of the Books team will be competing on Thursday, February 7th.
December's Perfect Attendance
Positively PTO
The next PTO meeting will be held Tuesday, March 5th at 4:30 PM.
The PTO is sponsoring our school to attend the Palace Theater production of Peter Pan that the students will be attending on Tuesday, March 12th. Two chaperones will be allowed to attend per classroom. Chaperones will need to purchase their tickets.
There will be a Scholastic Book Fair during lunch and Parent/Teacher conferences the week of March 11th through 15th. We are looking for volunteers to help run the fair. Please sign up on the link below. Volunteers receive a voucher for free Scholastic product.
We are looking for donations for this April's Spring Raffle & Silent Auction. The raffle/auction will be held on Friday, April 12th. If you are able to help with this, or would like to help with anything else involving the spring fundraiser, please let your child's teacher know.
Congratulations to our Culver's Calendars Top Sellers!
MaKenzie K, Ruthie C. and Carter G.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this another successful fundraiser!
Wisconsin Forward Exam
The Forward Exam is a test that will be taken over several days and it will cover the topics of English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. This test is an important assessment that provides information about what students know and can do in relation to the Wisconsin Academic Standards. The Forward Exam will be given to students grades 3-5 at Endeavor Elementary starting on Monday, April 1st. It will take close to three weeks for the testing to be completed.
How can you prepare your child for the Forward Exam?
--make sure your child gets a good night's sleep
--make sure your child has a healthy breakfast
--make sure your child is prepared
--remain calm and upbeat about the test
Goals
Portage Community Schools District Goals
District Curriculum Goal: Each student will make at least one year of growth in each curriculum area.
District Behavior Goal: As a school community, we will increase behaviors that promote learning and respectful interactions.
District Professional Development Goal: We will provide Professional Development for staff that increases learning for all students.