Buffalo Jones Elementary Newsletter
Spring Edition 2021
From The Principal's Office
Greetings to all,
Our school improvement team has gotten together and one of the areas that we want to improve on is communication or sharing with you what is happening in our school/classrooms. One way that we are addressing this is by sending out a newsletter.
As a principal, I want to first of all thank you for being supportive through the various changes of our delivery instructional model this school year. You have simply been amazing in making sure that your kids continued to do their best in learning what their teachers presented to them. Unfortunately, this was not the same as having the students in our classrooms every day. So, we continue to ask your help in working with your child’s teacher to make sure you are doing everything that you can to support your child’s learning.
Here are just a few things that you can do to help:
- Make sure that your child is in school every day unless they are ill.
- Ask your child to read you a book or a story from one of their readers.
- Ask them to share learning or events from their school day.
- Make sure they are getting at least 9-10 hours of sleep.
- Finally, be their cheerleader and let them know how awesome they are doing.
Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or myself when you have any questions or concerns.
Yours truly,
Mrs. Rafaela Solis
Principal
What is coming Up
Library- Ms. Riggs
In library classes, students are learning to read eBooks in Destiny Discover, myON, and EPIC using their iPads. They are learning about fact and opinion sentences and story elements.
Soon students in grades 2nd, 3rd, and 4th will learn how to put books on hold from the school library so they can be checked out and given to the student to read at school and home.
Kindergarten- Ms. Green, Mrs. Morales and Mrs. Terrazas
Reading:
We are getting ready to start Unit 7 in Reading! In this unit students will investigate the question: Why do We Celebrate People and Events. Students will be exploring different holidays that are celebrated, and finding how why and how they are celebrated by different groups of people. They will be identifying features of informational text as well as continuing to retell key details, identifying sequence of events, and comparing and contrasting between different informational texts. We will continues to practice our High Frequency Words, Identifying letters and their sounds, and blending sounds to make words.
Math:
We're about to start module 5. In module 5 we will be working with more with the numbers
11 –20 and counting to 100. In class we will be practicing writing our numbers to 100, and counting to 100 by 1s and 10s. Some things that you can do at home to help your student be successful during this unit would be to practice writing their numbers to 20 and counting with them. Also practicing some simple addition and subtraction problems within 10 to keep their previous module 4 skills intact.
First Grade- Mrs. Alvarez and Ms. Kelley
Math:
We're about to start module 5. Students enjoy this module because it is fun with many hands on activities. Students will learn to identify, compose and partition shapes. During daily lessons, students combine shapes to create a new whole, relate geometric figures to equal parts, and apply their understanding of halves to tell time. Students also practice addition and subtraction during daily fluency activities.
Reading:
We are getting ready to start Unit 7 in Reading! In this unit students will investigate the question: Why is the past important? To answer this question students will be reading and writing informational text. They will be identifying features of informational text as well as continuing to retell key details, identifying sequence of events, and comparing and contrasting between different informational texts. Students will also be learning about long o, e, and i vowel teams!
Second Grade- Mrs. Hernandez and Mrs. Reyes
Reading:
In second grade students just started a new reading unit. The topic is Investigating the Past. They will be reading informational texts, narrative diary entries, poems and stories that describe how learning about the past can help people change the way they think about the present and the future.
Math:
We recently started working with addition and subtraction within 1,000 with word problems. Students are learning different strategies that they can use to add and subtract. They must decide and explain which strategy is best to solve a math problem.
Third Grade- Mr. Navarro and Ms. Trevino
Reading:
In third grade students will be starting a new unit in reading. The next three weeks, the students will be analyzing the question: "What is a community?". Students will be learning about how communities function and their role as members of a community.
Math:
In math we have recently started learning about fractions. Students are examining shapes that are broken into different parts. So far, the students are very excited about learning fractions! You can find fractions in everyday life. Think about the parts of a pizza, orange, or other food items to facilitate discussions with your students about fractions
Fourth Grade- Mrs. Arteaga and Ms. Gerke
Reading:
In reading class students will soon be reading about the development of the United States. This covers understanding how communities evolve. With your student at home you can discuss evolution. For example what technology did you use growing up that isn't used anymore? How have things become easier or difficult based on those changes?
In writing 4th grade will soon be learning about how to analyze and write a news report. So when sharing or listening to the news ask your scholars questions like "What was the beginning, middle and end of that news report?" Or "Can you tell me the facts the news reporter shared?" And "How can you tell which parts were facts or an opinion?"
Math:
In fourth grade our concentration in math is on fractions. Things students can do at home to help reinforce this is to practice their multiplication facts. This is something they can do in the car on the way to school or other activities.
Reading State assessments will be Wednesday April 7, Thursday April 8. Math state assessments will be Wednesday April 14, Thursday April 15. Please remind students to have a good breakfast and sleep well.
Physical Education- Mr. Victor
Since returning to school in January, we have gotten back to a somewhat normal routine in PE class. The students have been limited in the activities we are playing in PE. We have limited contact activities and practice social distancing as much as possible. The equipment is sanitized after each class and hand sanitizer is available.
Next month my goal is to get our fitness testing completed. The fitness test will test your child's cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, and flexibility. The test includes; running, push-ups, curl-ups, and stretching. We are hoping things get progressively better in the next few month and we can enjoy playing activities that promote a healthy lifestyle and achieve life long skills.
Coach V
Buffalo Jones Elementary School
Website: https://bj.gckschools.com/
Location: 708 North Taylor Avenue, Garden City, KS, USA
Phone: 620-805-7300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buffalojonesfamily