Family Spark
FEBRUARY 2023
Kinsey Hotshots
Our CORE Values:
Integrity, Collaboration, Engagement, and WONDER
Student Code:
Friendly, Integrity, Respectful, Empathy
Our Mission:
To provide learning experiences inspired by the environment and the culture of Northern Arizona.PTO Email: kinseypto1601@gmail.com
KINSEY PTO
This month we will have popcorn and pickle Friday on February 10th and 24th.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Olga Vergara on winning December's PTO Attendance Raffle! She won 4 tickets to the NAU vs. Utah Valley University's Men's Basketball game and took Tony to share in the fun! Each PTO meeting we raffle off fun prizes for those that attend. March 2 is our next meeting, we hope to see there!
Thank you
We would like to thank Desert Financial for purchasing a new popcorn machine for our PTO. The new popcorn machine will arrive in time to make popcorn on February 10th!
DID YOU KNOW?
School and home are partners in learning. Here is a helpful article with ways you can support learning.
Top 10 Things Parents Can Do to Help Kids Get the Best Education
Ideas Needed for Next Year Planning
Preschool News
Elevate Preschool
Hello families!
What a crazy Winter we have been having! I hope you all are doing well and staying warm!
It is hard to believe, but we are done with January and already rolling into February!
This month we will be studying the Human Body in honor of Heart Health Week. We will start on the outside and work our way to our insides! That’s right, we will learn about our muscles, bones, and organs! It’s sure to be a blast!
We will be celebrating Dental Health Week the second week in February as well!
I am greatly looking forward to getting this unit up and running and to see all the learning your little one will be doing over the next couple of weeks! There is a lot happening in February, so please be on the lookout for Monday Memos, Remind texts, emails, etc. I will do my best to keep you in the “know”!
If I can be of any support for you and your family, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Thank you!
All my best,
Mrs. Brown
Kinsey ESS Preschool
Hello Preschool Families!!
Snow, snow, snow, and more snow!! It's sure has been crazy! Please stay warm and healthy! For the month of February, we will be learning about community helpers and their jobs! Some of the community helpers we are going to explore are police officers, firefighters, postal service men & women, doctors & nurses, teachers, construction workers, and more! We will talk about what they do, where they work, etc., as we read books, sings songs, and do a variety of fun activities! It's going to a blast of learning adventures!
We hope you are all doing well! Please feel free to contact me if you have questions!! We appreciate your support!
Tip: Choose a topic your child is interested in lately and find books about it and explore together!!
Thank you,
Ms. Crystal
Kindergarten News
First Grade News
This month in ELA we will be finishing up our Unit about how animals are different. Then the winds are going to be changing as we will begin Unit 6: What’s Wild About Weather. Through the next few weeks, we will be reading, writing, and using new vocabulary about the changes that weather brings throughout the seasons.
Students will be applying the previously learned strategies of understanding what tens and ones are to application problems of addition to a ten. Students will also continue with practicing the counting on strategy as we explore the addition of tens or ones to a 2-digit number. First graders are also working on number comparison. You can help at home by asking your child what number is greater, or less when comparing 2 different numbers within 0-20.
With Project Based Learning students will be finishing up animal research projects as they have dived into learning more about the different animals' habitats, diets and other creature features that make each animal so unique. Our learning for both ELA and PBL will be wrapped up with a planned learning excursion.
Second Grade News
Third Grade News
Fourth Grade News
We are wrapping up our division unit in the first part of February where we learned how to use the partial quotient model to divide numbers into the thousands. We will then begin our big unit on decimals and fractions. The kids have really grown this winter season and we are excited to move onto bigger topics!
In Science, we are wrapping up our unit on the human body including how our hands work with muscles and tendons, how our eyes see, and how the nervous system functions.
We have begun exploring our state of Arizona by making maps of different facets of our wonderful states. We located important cities, highways, 3 different zones, and the major rivers. We love Map Mondays!
Fifth Grade News
Hello 5th grade families! Our family information night was a huge success. Thank you all so much for coming! If you were not able to attend, please look out for a packet of permission slips coming home soon. If you have any questions about the excursions, please reach out! On Thursday, February 2, we had the middle school counselors visit to talk about next year. Please check for the class registration paper that came home, fill it out with your student, and send it back by Friday, February 10th.
In ELA and Social Studies, students are still working on our Revolutionary War book clubs. They are almost done with their books and research, then will start building their interactive maps. Writing will also be a main focus this spring. As always, we highly encourage reading at home.
In math, the students are starting their fraction work! We will be learning: what is fraction?, equivalent fractions, adding, subtracting, multiplication, and division of fractions. We will be using inches as a measurement unit to practice fractions with a real life purpose. In science, we are partnering with the Arboretum to show the genetics of plants by growing Wisconsin Fast Plants.
We are excited to start our Friday project-based, place-based learning project with Meals on Wheels, NAU, and Gore. The students will be solving the problem: How can we get more meals to families and individuals who are not able to leave their homes? Shhh…We are going to build robots to solve the problem! Please don’t tell your children:)
Library with Ms. Rossi
In February, we are celebrating Black History Month by highlighting books about famous activists, scientists, artists and entertainers that have changed the world in their own way.
We will be reading the time-honored speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, “I Have a Dream” to open the discussion of how things were back then and how things are now. And what still needs to be done to have a more peaceful world.
Note from Nurse Nancy
If you have clothes that no longer fit your student, consider donating them to the Nurse's office. We are always in need of various sizes of shirts, pants, and socks. We appreciate the support!
SAVE THE DATE: UPCOMING EVENTS
2.8 Kindergarten Registration 5:00 - 6:30
2.14 Valentine BINGO Cards Due
2.16 Peter Piper Pizza Night to benefit our PTO
2.20 NO SCHOOL - President's Day
3.2 PTO Meeting
3.8 - 3.10 Parent Teacher Conferences
3.13 - 3.17 Spring Break
Free Tutoring
There is free tutoring for elementary students at the Family Resource Center weekdays from 4:00 - 5:00. The Family Resource Center is located near the Flagstaff Mall. You can register here for this great service.
Attendance
Kinsey Absence Reporting Line: 928-773-4069
Things to Know About Attendance - IT MATTERS!
- We need your help getting your student to school
- Elementary attendance patterns can follow students into high school - Chronic absences (10 or more in a year) is the first warning sign of an increased risk of dropping out.
- Too many absences lead to a higher risk for falling considerably behind their peers.
- The more they are at school the more they will learn!
- If your child is having trouble with wanting to come to school, please let your child's teacher or office know right away so we can help!