Elm Road Express March 2020
"Putting Dreams into Flight'
From the Desk of Dr. Soto Kile
I would like to thank Mrs. Elliott and Mrs. Nakayama and the participants in Circle the State. They had a wonderful performance at Goshen College last week. We are proud of the way in which all of the students represented Elm Road School. Thank you to the many parents for their support and the many hours spent preparing for this great performance. Our Future Lego League students also performed this weekend and we are proud of their work! Thank you, Miss Anderson for your leadership with this great team. Last week, our second grade families also enjoyed the Family Open House at the Snite Museum of Art. We appreciate Ms. Martin and the second grade teachers and families for their participation in this amazing collaboration.
I would also like to thank our families for the additional support during iLearn/iREAD testing sessions. Early bed times, proper nutrition, and evening schedules that aren’t too full really assist students during testing time. It is important that all students arrive on time to school during the testing. Students will not be permitted to enter the classroom areas once testing has started. Please do not arrive late or schedule appointments during our testing window.
I look forward to seeing everyone at our upcoming P.T.O meeting on March 9th at 6:00 pm. We have several upcoming events to discuss such as the Silver Mile and the Running is Elementary meet. The next few months will prove to be fun-filled and exciting! Please join us as we begin planning for our many end of the year programs.
Office Notes
Car Riders
Please follow the car rider procedures so everyone stays SAFE. Enter the parking lot from the south only and do not go around any buses paused in the road (at any time they will be turning into the lot). Stay in the line that is going around the lot to the sidewalk area.. Your children should enter and exit only on curbside!! No exceptions. Watch the attendants for any other instructions. Remind your children that it is important to walk to and from their cars. Safety is important for everyone.Important Dates
Mar 4th - 3rd grade ( 2 classes) Ethos Field Trip 8:30-11:15 am
Mar 4th - 5th grade trip to PHS Robotics Lab
Mar 7th - Young Author's Conference 8 am -12 noonMar 8th - Daylight Savings Times Starts
Mar 9th - PTO Meeting 6 pm
Mar 23rd - April 3rd IREAD Testing Window 3rd Grade only
Mar 20th - 4th Grade Field Trip to Ethos 9 am-12 pm
Mar 20th - 2nd Grade Field Trip to Planetarium 10 am-10:40 am
Mar 24th - 1st Grade Field Trip to Planetarium 12:15 pm
Mar 31st - Spring Pictures
Mar 31st - 4th Grade Music program 6-7pm
Mar 31st - 5th Grade Music program 7-8pm
We are Elm Road Eagles
Website: elmroad.phmschools.org
Phone: 574-259-3743
Twitter: @ElmroadES
Youth Service Bureau
March is here! Can you believe it?! I cannot believe how fast this year is going. This month for SEL is going to be a lot of fun. We will be working on building friendships, using teamwork, and learning test taking and calming strategies to assist them managing their test anxiety they may have. Please communicate with your child(ren) on what they are learning each week during SEL with Mrs. Shell and their classmates. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to give me a call at 259-3743 or email me at ashell@phm.k12.in.us
- Mrs. Shell
Student of the Month
Congratulations to the following
“Eagles” for their wonderful
“SOAR” behavior
Barnes: Aden Lamb & Lexi Hopp
Portolese: Natalia Mazzocato & Caiden Jariett
Renz: Cole Ryckeart & Jordyn Hernandez
Swaby: Hunter Leahy & Karma Bourdon
Bush: Michaela Emmons & Clark Stone
Hinton: Clayton Lewis, Autumn Virgil, & Raylee Workman
Taylor: Kayden McAllister, Evelyn Morgan & and Ava Stewart
Clark: Kaylynn Chau & A.J. Hudnall
Richard: Deya Fey, Max Shook & Matthew Rogers
Tornquist: Alma Najera, Austin Scheibelhut & Jackson Pennington
Anderson: Avery Runyon & Ethan Ryckeart
Miller: Emerald Allen & Liam Brown
Myers: Londynn Lanthier & Wolfgang Bowlds-Hurtle
Pillow: Mahina Belaski & A.J. Dawson
Cook: David Najera & Harman Kaur
Keough: Maddy Winter & Kade Grounds
Newcomer: Carter Kajzer & Anglica Kousky
Freeman: Ben DeCicco & Abigail Patzschke
Kertai: Arianna Irlas-Kryski & Cameron Cora
Mellor: Esmeralda Paredes-Hernandez & Ryan Hall
Shreiner: Kaitlyn Allen & Rylee Souers
STEM Spotlight
Our STEM initiative has gained great momentum this year! As we near a visit from the IDOE to take the next step toward our STEM certification, we invited our PHM board, along with central office staff to join us in a presentation of what STEM means to use here at Elm Road. On Monday February 24th we had 9 visitors join us for a STEM presentation and school tour.
During the presentation we had staff and students highlight excellent things happening within our school culture, curriculum, instruction and our community partnerships. Our students did a fantastic job presenting what they have learned this year, along with giving a tour of the school. Here are some highlights from our presentation we would like to share with our Elm Road families!
- Students have had many opportunities to learn about coding, programming, engineering, creating and designing in their daily learning. Our teachers use a cross curricular approach that allows for them to integrate technology, creativity and engineering processes into language arts, math, social studies, and science.
- Our student and parent surveys gave great insight to help teachers tailor lessons to meet student needs. Thank you to all who completed the survey!
- Our students are receiving great exposure to computer science standards, both in class and in the computer lab. Students are working on typing skills, computer literacy skills, along with learning to code and program.
- We continue to focus on the employ-ability skills we feel are so vital to students' success at Elm Road, and beyond. Through our social emotional learning lessons, career exposure school wide, and collaborative projects in classrooms, students continue to grow important life skills such as perseverance, time management, problem solving, communication and collaboration.
- Teachers are receiving professional development to help incorporate more technology and STEM instructional practices into the classroom.
- All kindergarten to fifth grade students get a chance to visit the Ethos Science Center on a field trip year with the help of one of our great community partners!
- With the help of many of our community partners, we have been able to provide STEM career exposure, STEM professional development to staff, and purchase STEM materials for our STEM lab.
- Our Kid's Club now has a STEAM club available to students enrolled in Kid's Club. Students will get a chance to do STEM projects and coding.
- We are excited that our partnership with the PTO will allow for us to have STEM incorporated into our Grandparent/VIP night this spring!
Madelyn Beers
Assistant to the Principal at Elm Road Elementary
Daylight Savings Time Starts
Mrs. Zache's Literacy Corner
Mrs. Zache’s Literacy Corner,
March 2 is National Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss’s Birthday, a day to celebrate our favorite activity, Reading!
Visit https://www.seussville.com/ for all things Dr. Seuss!
Elm Road will again be participating in the South Bend Cubs Reading Program this year! Soon I will be sending out more information!
Mrs. Renz’s class had 100% participation again with their reading calendars for the month of January!
Make sure your child is reading nightly and documenting their reading! At the end of each month, have your child turn in their reading calendar/goal to their teacher! I would love to visit your child’s classroom next!
“Spotlight Readers” for the month of March! Congratulations!!!
Kindergarten: Xavier Sandefur
1st: Jai’Anna Villalobos
2nd: Kaylynn Chau
3rd: Brady McGillem
4th: Ethan Karnath
5th: Matthew Hodges
These students will receive a book,certificate, acknowledgement on the morning announcements, and their picture posted under our “Reader Spotlight” bulletin board!
Any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at azache@phm.k12.in.us
Happy Reading!
Mrs. Zache
Library Lines
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! We celebrate his birthday each year on March 2nd. Remember the Lorax and caring for the earth, along with so many other of his books that teach about social concerns.
We look forward to seeing all of our students that signed up to attend the Young Author’s Conference on March 7. They will meet the Author Lola Schaeffer in person – all the students have met her already via video chats.
March is also Disability Awareness Month. All classes will be gaining an understanding of what that means and how to be kind to everyone.
3rd and 5th graders will be learning about Cultural Diversity with many guest speakers coming in to the library to share their stories, items and information.
Our students also get to partner read with our preschool students in the library.
Thank you to our many Library Volunteers – you make Elm Road School a great place to be!
Mrs. Linda Knapp
574-259-3743
What's Happening in PE
During the month of February, we have been busy in our gym with heart health, rope jumping and the heart course. We also reviewed the components of fitness (muscular strength, cardio endurance, and flexibility) with “Superhero Tag”. Next we will be reviewing the basics of dribbling, passing, and shooting for basketball. The classes will play a variety of lead-up games and drills to enhance skills in the upcoming month. We will also be continuing to develop cardio endurance by competing in the fastest class challenge.
This month we also welcome back our STAR martial artist to complete a STEM lesson with our students. We are also looking forward to having Mrs. Jodarski lead our gym classes in cardio pound the last week of March/ beginning of April.
We are wrapping up Jump Rope for Heart and results will soon be in from our recent event. Thank you to all that contributed by volunteering in the gym, registering online and donating. The students that raised $100.00 or more will be awarded a luncheon with Dr. Soto Kile (letters will be coming home soon) . Our jump competition dates were held February 24-28 during your child’s gym class. In addition to jump roping skills, this unit focused on living a healthy lifestyle by sleeping 8-10 hours, exercising daily, drinking water instead of sugary drinks, eating a variety of fruits and vegetables with every meal, encouraging others and staying away from smoke/tobacco. Ask your child what choices she/he plan to make to lead a heart healthy lifestyle.
Practices for all interested fourth and fifth graders for running club will be starting April 1st. This will be a great opportunity for all those students wanting to train to run the Silver Mile at Penn High School on Saturday, May 16th . A permission slip has been sent home for those interested. Mark your calendars for April 27th for our annual “Running is Elementary” meet at Elm Road for those students that participate in Elm Road Running Club.
Stay Healthy,
Deb Parisi dparisi@phm.k12.in.us
Greetings from Elm Road's Music Room
I would like to congratulate the 18 4th and 5th grade students who participated in this year's Circle the State with Song Choir. These choir students represented Elm Road at Goshen College in February, and they did an outstanding job!
Students in grades 1-3 will be studying Beethoven in March while 4th and 5th grade students finish their preparations for their program. Both programs are on March 31st. 4th grade reports to Elm at 5:45 for their 6pm program while 5th grade students report at 6:45 for their 7pm program. All 4th grade and 5th grade students must wear a solid white shirt and blue jeans for this even. Thank you for your support of your child's music education!
Mrs. Nakayama
Elm Road Music Teacher
Elm Road's Circle the State Choir
Upcoming Testing Dates
- NWEA - Feb 3rd-Feb 28th (K,2nd, 3rd, 5th)
- IREAD - March 16th-April 3rd
- 5th grade placement tests for Grissom (TBA late March)
- ILEARN - April 20th-May 15th
Test Taking Tips
Testing Anxiety
With March comes testing. For some students, testing comes with anxiety. One of the best ways to combat testing anxiety is to be prepared:
1. Get a full night’s sleep before the test.
2. Eat a good breakfast in the morning.
3. Be on time to school.
4. Wear comfortable clothes.
5. Be prepared with necessary supplies.
If test anxiety occurs during the test:
1. Engage in deep breathing: Breathe in deeply through the nose counting slowly to three. Hold the breath momentarily then exhale counting to four. Repeat until you feel calmer.
2. Squeeze your hands together; close your eyes and rub your forehead; then rub your legs. Repeat this sequence five times.
3. Engage in positive self-talk. Instead of saying “I’m going to fail this test,” say “I can do this!”
Practicing these at home in a calm environment will help your child be able to use these strategies during the test if they are needed.