Upper El Weekly Newsletter
Friday, March 17, 2023
Having fun trying out our new stools!
Dear Upper Elementary families,
ATTENTION 6th grade parents - Flight details for CIMI California Field Trip - We'll be departing Sunday, May 7 at Montrose at 1:25 pm. We will arrive back on Saturday the 13th at 1:05.
Highlights from the week and a look ahead to next week:
We had a busy and fun week at school!
Thank you to LeAnn and Christy from First Colorado National Bank in Paonia for coming into our school and teaching our students about interviewing skills as part of our AmeriTowne curriculum this week. Over the next few weeks, students will be learning about banking, economics, government, etc. and applying and interviewing for jobs they will have at our day in AmeriTowne. This week, in addition to learning about good interview skills, students learned about the different jobs available to them at AmeriTowne and identified a couple they would be interested in interviewing for. We also discussed economics and the free enterprise system.
Talent Fair research is due next week Thursday at school. Presentations will be on Friday. See below for details
We are reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for the Delta County Reads Program (through Delta County Libraries). We will be attending a movie at the Paradise Theater in early May after completing the book.
In addition to the AmeriTowne curriculum, academics this week included practice writing narratives and responding to text, math review and new lessons on geometry and data / statistics for all grade levels. Over the next week(s) we will be reviewing curriculum to prepare for the state standardized testing.
Thank you to 6th grade parents for supporting your child with math homework over the weekend. Our students have been really responsible about completing it and returning it to us on Mondays.
Thank you to all parents who have volunteered! We appreciate you.
Important information:
No school on Monday, March 20. It is an inservice day for teachers.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR 4TH AND 5TH GRADE PARENTS WAS SENT HOME IN THIS WEEK’S FRIDAY FOLDER. ALL PARENTS NEED TO SIGN THE WAIVER / RELEASE OF LIABILITY AND RETURN IT TO SCHOOL BY NEXT WEEK WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22.
Our Talent Fair is on Friday, March 24th. Your student should come to school on Thursday with a trifold or poster board with paragraphs / fast facts / title / name / visuals so he / she can practice the presentation in school on Thursday. Performances will be done by grade level on Friday. Students may either perform live or may show a video of themselves doing their talent. If you need a poster board or your child’s trifold, please let a teacher know, and we’ll send something home with him / her early next week. Individual presentations will be scheduled by grade level around music times, and then we will have all students together in the gym at 11:30 - 12:15 so they can peruse each other’s presentation boards. The general grade level schedule is below, and interested parents are welcome to come to these presentations or to the group “fair” time at 11:30. Please let a teacher know if you plan to attend, so that we can schedule your child to perform while you are there.
9:00 5th grade (Carrie’s room) and 6th grade (Esther’s room)
9:45 4th grade (Esther’s room) and any 5th graders who didn’t present earlier (Carrie’s room)
10:45 4th (Esther’s room) and 6th graders (Carrie’s room) who didn’t present earlier
CMAS (Colorado Measures of Academic Success), the state standardized testing, will be taking place at our school March 28 - April 6. Please plan to have your child at school during those weeks if at all possible. A sign-up sheet for snacks will be emailed out soon. We appreciate the healthy snacks, and our students do too! It makes the testing days more special for them. Please make sure your child is well-rested and fed during the testing period. Testing will occur Tuesday - Thursday morning, approximately 9 - 11am. We have a dance / party / special snack time beforehand in the gym and an extra recess time immediately following testing. English Language Arts testing will be March 28 - 30. Mathematics testing will be April 4 - 6. Science testing (only 5th grade) will be April 11-13. If your child misses school on a testing day, he / she will do a make up test on the next available date. We are hoping that all testing (including make-ups) are complete by spring break, which begins April 15.
We have several upcoming field trips. Let us know if you want to chaperone.
AmeriTowne on April 14
Crow Canyon April 25 - 29 (4th and 5th graders only)
Paradise Theater to watch Harry Potter May 2
CIMI May 7 - 12 (6th grade only)
Eureka Science Museum May 8 (4th and 5th grade only)
End of year field trips: please make sure you are making payments for our end of year field trips (Crow Canyon Archaeological Institute for 4th and 5th graders and Catalina Island Marine Institute for 6th graders). Contact Chana and Denise if you have any questions. Final payments will be due VERY SOON, as the dates are nearly upon us.
Volunteers are always welcome in our classrooms, at home, on committees, and on field trips. We couldn’t do all that we do without your help, so let us know if you have some extra time, talent, or treasure you are willing to donate or volunteer.
Please see the flyer on the website about Love and Logic classes being offered here at NFM@C.
Here is the sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F44A5AD2FA1FC1-love
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call or email us. Thank you!
Thanks to Christy and LeAnn for helping our students with Mock Interviews!
Mock Interview Practice
Students helping with seeding grass on our playground
Busy Writing
Silas growing beans!
Helping beautify our school
TALENT FAIR INFORMATION
You’ve Got Talent!
Over the next few weeks you will be preparing to demonstrate a talent that you have or would like to have and will research the history of this particular talent or a person who has this talent at home. You will also prepare to present your research on a posterboard or trifold display. The written research outcome can be in report or essay format or separate paragraphs to be displayed around the poster board. The visual component can be either a personal work that is displayed on/near the poster board or a personal performance (videotaped ahead of time or done during the Talent Fair). This is a new research project that will be similar to the art and science fairs that we have done in the past. THE WORK YOU WILL DO FOR THE TALENT FAIR WILL BE DONE AT HOME WITH SUPPORT FROM YOUR FAMILY AND OTHER EXPERTS IN THE COMMUNITY. You will each practice and be ready to perform at our Talent Fair on Friday, March 24th.
Due date Tasks to be completed Friday March 3 -Decide which talent you will research -Decide which aspect of this talent you will gather information on. (Write down your research questions). -Plan how you will display the written and visual components of your research. What materials will you need? -Write down your plan and conference with a teacher for project approval by Friday. -Your plan should include: -Topic -Questions to research -Plan for written component -Plan for visual component -List of materials you need Friday March 10 -Do all note-taking to answer research questions for the WRITTEN part of your display -Get books from the school or public library -Set up note-taking (T-chart or something else) -Take all of your notes -Check in with teacher on Friday, and have all of your notes to show. -Plan VISUAL component. Thursday March 16 -Turn in rough draft of all paragraphs or essay to teacher. ROUGH DRAFT of WRITTEN component DUE Friday March 17 -In school practice time in small groups. Practice the VISUAL component. Wednesday March 22 -FINAL DRAFT of WRITTEN component due. -Begin putting together poster board / display. Thursday March 23 -Posterboard / display due. -Dress rehearsal. Friday March 24 Talent Fair! 9AM - 12PM
Upper El Contacts:
Ms. Esther - esther.alsum@deltaschools.com
Ms. Shannon - shannon.castle@deltaschools.com
Website: https://nfmc.deltaschools.com/
Location: 51 Fir Avenue, Crawford, CO, USA
Phone: 970-921-4935