March 2 Read Across America Day

March 3 STUCO Store

March 7 Bus Evacuation Drill

March 9 Class Picture

March 9 2nd Grade Market Day

March 10 No School Day – EC/Elementary Plan Day

March 10 Read-A-Thon End

March 10 End of 3rd Qtr.

March 13-17 Spring Break

March 22-23 Parent/Teacher Conference

March 22-23 Book Fair 3:30-7:45

March 24 No School

March 24 Parent/Teacher Conference 8:00-12:00

March 24Book Fair 8:00-10:00

It is hard to believe that we have already reached the month of March! This time of year brings rising temperatures, more sunshine, and renewed energy from the winter months. March also brings the end to the quarter, report cards, and parent teacher conferences. We hope that you take advantage of the opportunity to meet with your child's teacher to discuss the progress that your student has made throughout their time here at Ware. There is a direct correlation between parent involvement and student performance. When students see that their parent and teacher have a positive and respectful working relationship that is focused on their learning, it positively impacts their education. This relationship models the expectation for students that everyone wants to see them succeed in their educational career. Our goal is 100% attendance for conferences and we want to collaborate with all of you!

With the changing of the weather, we encourage you to have your students go outside and play after school. There is something to be said about getting fresh air, burning off the day's energy, and soaking up the sunshine that helps us feel better about ourselves and often allows us to decompress and sleep better at night. Conversely, we are seeing an increased connection between student behavior and the overabundance of technology usage. Students are coming in tired, lethargic, and disconnected due to long hours of technology use. It is very challenging for students to learn when they are starting their days off in this way. We encourage all families to set limits on technology usage, remove technology from rooms that can be used while others are sleeping, and develop schedules that send students outside to play or engage them in activities with family members that is not technology connected.

For our Second Step lessons, classes are finishing up the Unit on Empathy & Kindness but will continue to look for ways to be empathetic and kind at school and at home too! Second Step shares that in this unit: Children learn how to recognize kindness and act kindly, have empathy for others and take others’ perspectives, and recognize kind acts and empathy as important elements of building and maintaining relationships. Continue reifnorceing this at home too! As the adults we are the best models of this behavior, so us showing students how we demonstrate kindness and empathy is the best way of teaching. Students see how adults behave and then they tend to react in the same manner. During March, classes will be moving on to the next unit about Problem-Solving where children learn how to identify and state a problem, recognize if a problem is an accident, and use the STEP problem-solving process: S: Say the problem T: Think of solutions E: Explore the outcomes P: Pick a solution. According to Second Step, research shows that children who learn the skills in this unit are more likely to make positive choices, experience greater well-being and contribute to a better school environment.

School Safety Reminders:

Please make sure that you have working phone numbers and emergency contacts listed for your students. It is critical that all students have at least one local emergency contacted listed in case we are not able to contact parents.

Except for extenuiating circumstances, please call the office before 2:30 with dismissal changes to allow time for these to be communicated to teachers and other dismissal staff. Thank you!

Principal,

Veronica Wait

Spring is here! Warmer weather means more time outside and we couldn’t be happier to get out there and get our hands dirty! To start the month, we will begin with our theme, From Here to There. In this unit, we will be discussing different places that are near and far. We will discuss transportation, places in the United States, and things we see in the sky. We will be sharing the different places we have all visited as well as lived. This will be so great to pair up with spring break and getting to hear where everyone travels during the week.

In reading, we are continuing to learn our letter sounds. We will be finishing up the alphabet, and by the end of the month we will have learned all 26 letters of the alphabet and the sounds those letters make! You may have noticed that the little readers we send home each week are getting longer with more sentences on each page. We are really becoming SUPER readers! Please continue reading with your kindergartner at home and having them practice these little stories each night. As we round out learning our letters, we will start focusing on fluency (reading like we talk and not like a robot). This skill comes with reading a story over and over again to practice. Be sure to let your kindergartner know what an amazing job they’re doing with their reading and how proud you are of them!

In math, we will close out our unit on adding and subtracting within 10, and begin to focus on place-value and the teen numbers. We will be learning the value of 10 and how teen numbers can be broken down into groups of ten and some more. This will build the foundation for learning more complex numbers as we begin counting our way to 100 by tens and ones. Your kindergartener will be provided with many opportunities to count here at school. Enhance your child’s math knowledge by providing counting opportunities for them at home. Legos on the floor, forks on the dinner table, weeds growing in the front yard…EVERYTHING can be counted!

We look forward to seeing you at Parent/Teacher Conferences, which will be held the week of March 20-24. We can’t wait to visit with you about the incredible progress your little one has made this year! Please remember to visit our Book Fair, displayed in the library, after your conference for some incredible deals on great children’s literature for your home library.

Thank you for your support in our child’s education. Have a safe and HAPPY Spring Break!

The Kindergarten Team,

Cara Baltazar

Ivory Larsen

Sydney Moler

Avery Rice

Leslie Rankin

Chelsea Tajchman - Leah Call

ESS Teacher

Freda Felton

Throughout the month of March, first graders will learn about classifying objects, exploring the sky, and researching about key inventions during our English Language Arts (ELA) block. During this time, we will learn to read and write using r-controlled vowels (ar-car, or-corn, ir-girl, ur-nurse, er-butter, ore-core, oar-soar). Please continue to complete the tasks on the back of the weekly communication sheet. These tasks highlight our weekly skills like phonics, high frequency words, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.

In math, we will learn about adding and subtraction tens, adding ten more, subtracting 10 less, and add 10s to any number up to 90. Students are expected to be given any two-digit number and mentally find 10 more or 10 less than that number. Students need to do so without using counters or counting on.

Look in your child’s Ware Bear folder and on ClassDojo for any upcoming events like picture day, spring break, and signing up for parent-teacher conferences. Reach out to your child’s teacher when you have questions and celebrations. Throughout the month of March, we will be participating in a Read-A-Thon. Families are more than welcome to support their students through a monetary donation online and/or they can support their student by documenting the amount of time that you read with your student nightly.

Thank you for your support

First Grade Team,

Brittany Scott

Aubrey Rumford

Sarah Hernandez

Rachel Smith

Abigayle Weber

Shanda Bandi

ESS Teacher

Freda Felton

As Emily Dickinson once said, “March is the Month of Expectation”. Our third graders have been working hard preparing for the state test as it is just one short month away! Teachers have also been planning for an exciting State Testing Kick-Off event at the end of the month. Stay tuned for pictures on our social media.

In reading, we our wrapping up our unit in poetry, and will begin focusing on narrative nonfictions, to include biographies. Students will also learn about historical and contemporary figures who exemplify good citizenship. We will continue to reinforce our already learned skills of finding and citing text evidence; then take it a step further to demonstrate our understanding of the text by referring explicitly to passages and illustrations when answering questions (e.g., when, where, why, and how key events occur). We are so proud of our students for working diligently to complete their nightly readings. Please make sure they continue to read for twenty minutes every night and write two-to-three sentences in their planners. This significantly increases their reading and comprehension skills, which contributes to every subject!

We recently ended our unit of finding area and solving word problems in math. We are currently working on fractions, understanding equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, measuring length, and plotting data on line plots (e.g., identifying whole numbers, halves, and quarters). Before the month is over, we will also begin diving into time, liquid mass, and volume. Students will learn how to measure liquid volume and mass using standard units of grams (g), kilograms (kg), and liters (l).

Our third graders have been enjoying science, as we are housing crayfish in every classroom! We are learning about their structures and about the habitats required for these freshwater crustaceans. In social studies, students are still learning about economics and the personal benefits of saving, spending, borrowing, and lending.

Although these winter months are flying by, we are still experiencing colder temperatures during our arrival and recess times. Please make sure to send your child with the appropriate weather gear. If any concerns may arise, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher via ClassDojo. Thank you for your continued support!

Your Third Grade Team,

Katelyn Brinker

Dominique Wiedmaier

Karolena Cormier

Emily Grantham

ESS Teacher

Abby Vest

The Ware Bear fourth graders are continuing to be busy and active learners. In Math, we continue to learn about fractions and then decimals. We will learn to add and subtract fractions, with like and unlike denominators. We will also be reviewing and preparing for the state math test coming in April. Students really need to be able to reason about their answers and think critically when solving word problems. The more “how” and “why” questions you can ask them about their math, the better they will become at reasoning and explaining. Please continue to have students practice their multiplication facts. Spending just 5-10 minutes each night reviewing those facts can really help. Xtra Math and Freckle are two great resources for students to practice their fact fluency.

In Social Studies, we are working on learning the states and capitals of the Western part of the United States. In Science, we will be focusing on Energy. We are testing how energy works in many different forms.

We hope all families have a safe Spring Break and that our students come back refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the year. Our good wishes go out to those families who have a loved one deployed.

Fourth Grade Team,

Stephanie Hilton

Emily Moorman - Meador

Darissa Maley

Christine Turnbow

ESS Teacher

Rebecca William

The month of March will be a very busy month with many different things happening. We will be finishing the last week of Unit 6 and starting Unit 7 Animals focusing on what animals live on a farm or in the wild, which animals fly, how we care for pets and how animals change and grow. The letters for this unit are X, V, J, and Q. For math we will be rote counting to 20, learning on how to write numerals, learning math concepts such as equal, same as, exactly, fewer than, less than, and more than. We will also be introduced to simple addition story problems.

Our Second Step lessons will be focused around Joining in with Play, Saying the Problem when one arises, and Thinking of Solutions to those problems. We will only have one more lesson the first week of April that will complete our Second Step lessons for the year. Combining the lessons with our Feeling Buddy lessons have made it a great way for your children to learn how to regulate their emotions, name those emotions, and then become more capable of having successful relationships with peers and adults.

March is going to be a very busy and fast month as we will be having Spring Break and then Parent Teacher Conferences the following week. More information for conferences will be sent out when it’s closer to that time. This year has gone extremely fast and we have enjoyed each and every one of your children in our classrooms and proud of all the accomplishments they have made!

ESS Team,

Sahra Bennett

Mary Cook

Heidi Ring

Hello from your Physical Education department! Our students have been hard at work in the gym, learning skills to increase their confidence and competence in various types of play. We have been heavily focused on their frisbee throwing, dribbling skills and jump roping variations so far this quarter. When students’ increase their perceived competency (how good they feel that they are at a skill), their likelihood of enjoying and choosing to engage in that type of play is dramatically increased. We all have probably been caught saying something grating about the negative effect of too much time in front of a screen has had on children. With that in mind, it is important that we are all physical educators for our children in the way that we model playfulness, active lifestyles, and healthy choices. And no that doesn’t have to mean becoming vegan or exercising religiously...it means that we take opportunities wherever possible to weave healthy lifestyle choices into our daily life and talk about it with our kids.

We have some exciting stuff coming up in class! Students will continue working on their catching and throwing skills with new activities such as bowling and flag football. Finally, we want to give an early heads up about our upcoming “Health Month” which will run the entire month of April and have various themed activities to teach our children about mental health, physical activity, rest and recovery, and healthy diet.

Also, please remember to bring tennis shoes for your child when they have P.E. class. Keep playing hard and happily!

Tara Gruver

taragruver@usd475.org

Kelli Thissen

kellithissen@usd475.org

Hello, Ware Bears and Ware Families!

In our last set of Counseling Classroom lessons, students focused on learning and identifying coping skills for each zone in Zones of Regulation (Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green). Kindergartners through Second Graders played coping skills bingo and Third Graders through Fifth Graders made coping skills fortune tellers and identified 8 coping skills they could utilize when they have strong emotions. Some classes received mini lessons on boundaries, friendship, empathy and conflict, and how to show integrity.

March is Women’s History Month and Social Work Month. Prior to each lesson, we will talk about Women’s History Month and the contributions of women throughout history. And… A big SHOUT OUT to Mr. Gordon, our very own school social worker at Ware. This month, all counseling lessons K-5 will be focused on relationship skills and empathy.

Below are some great resources for books to read at home. Click here for more SEL books by topic.

Social Emotional Learning Books to read at home:

I Am So Brave by: Steven Krensky (Perseverance)

I Will Be Okay by: Ms. Laurie N. Wright (Perseverance)

Jabari Jumps by: Gaia Cornwall (Perseverance)

A Chair for my Mother by: Vera B. Williams (Respect)

All are Welcome Here by: Alexandra Penfold (Respect)

Be Bigger by: Colleen Doyle Bryant (Respect)

Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Saturday by: Judith Viorst (Responsibility)

Arthur’s Pet Business by: Marc Brown (Responsibility)

A Bike Like Sergio’s by: Maribeth Boelts (Honesty)

The Berenstain Bears and the Truth by: Stan & Jan Berenstain (Honesty)

The Big Fat Enormous Lie by: Marjorie Weinman Sharmat & David McPhail (Honesty)

Counselor,

Ashley Malmquist

This month in Speech and Language we will be discussing the Spring season and all of the changes that come along with Spring. As mentioned in previous newsletters, changes in weather, seasons, and even upcoming holidays lend themselves to many opportunities for language development. Some of our favorite “new season” activities include discussing new themed vocabulary, using description words and adjectives to describe the things we see in the spring, practice using verbs to describe and label actions of activities we see in the spring, and practice speech sound production skills by coming up with spring-themed words containing target speech sounds. If your student brings home an activity or word list from Speech, be sure to discuss it with him/her to help generalize these skills to all communication environments.

If you have any questions about your student’s speech and language skills, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Laura Thompson

Speech-Language Pathologist

When we think of exercise a lot of us think of it as a form of punishment. There are probably a lot of other things we would rather spend our time doing.

For Americans to win the battle with obesity we need to change our mindset. Think in terms of “activity” rather than exercise. Sixty minutes (for children) of activities each day. Have fun and play, even grown-ups need to go out for recess!

* Be creative take your child on an adventure hike or a mystery run around the block.

* Play games—Tag, Simon says, etc. the internet and Library are great places to look up fun activities.

* Unleash your inner animal—run like a gorilla, walk like a spider, hop like a bunny and

s-t-r-e-t-c-h like a cat.

* Playing organized sports like baseball, bowling and soccer are great activities.

* Have fun exploring your local community bike trails, roller-skating or ice-skating rinks.

I hope this will help motivate you all to GET MOVING!!! Let’s shake off those winter cobwebs!

Once again please… Keep your phone/contact information up to date. Keep your children dressed for the weather. (I know it's a challenge in the constantly fluctuating Kansas weather). I want to thank the Ware families so much for ALL of the clothing donations that have come in! Our clothing buckets are full again, but they tend to get depleted quickly. If your child comes home in borrowed clothing, please return them to the school clean.

School Nurse,

Jennifer Brooks

STUCO is brainstorming some FUN ideas for activities! Keep your eyes on the lookout for some of them!

No Ware Mart in March due to Spring Break!

Please direct any questions to one of the STUCO sponsors!

emilymoormanmeador@usd475.org

ashleymalmquist@usd475.org