Castroville Elementary
January/February News
Quote of the month
"You aren't a failure until you start to blame."
John Wooden
Grade Level News
Kindergarten
Reading/Writing- We are practicing neat handwriting along with blending and segmenting sounds to make words and turning our words into sentences.
Math- We will review addition and work on subtraction. We will also start to learn all about our coins that we use to pay for things! We will know the name of a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter and know their worth.
Science- We will observe day and night skies along with learning all about groundhogs! Also, we will do some fun Valentine experiments!
Social Studies- Our most favorite unit will be taught this month! We will learn all the Great State of TEXAS!!!! We will also learn about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln on President’s Day.
100th day is almost here and we will have a fun and exciting time celebrating 100 days of learning!
Here are the Kindergarten Children that were chosen for being the most enthusiastic in class!
Bradford Brinkerhoff
Karyn Wright
Ayden Swisher
Jaylee Verstufyt
John Remus
First Grade
Academics– What We’re Learning About
Reading/Language Arts/Writing: We are working on words with magic e and long vowels. We also learned about contractions and commas. We know what a verb is and how to make them past and present tense within our sentences. We are enjoying literature from different genres. We can make connections while reading stories to our life or books that we have read before.
Math: Place value is so much fun! We are looking at numbers and learning about 2 digit numbers. We can tell you how many tens and ones are in that number. We can use place value to help us add and subtract. Math is really adding up!
Social Studies: We know the difference between rules and laws. We also learned about a very brave man named Martin Luther King. He helped to make big changes in our world. He had a dream...
Science: Earth has many natural resources. We have learned how we use and need them in our lives. We had fun playing with dirt and rocks. This week we’re going to learn how to protect and keep them safe!
Fun Activities to Highlight-
Strike a pose! 100th day is coming soon. We are going to celebrate it’s arrival with a Fashion Show. We’re working hard designing our outfits! If you want to enjoy the lights and action, come join us on Feb. 7th at 1:00 in our gym. We’ll have the red carpet rolled out!
Second Grade
100th Day of School-February 10th
2nd grade Valentines Day Ice Cream Social-Friday, February 14, at 1:15. Parent volunteers please arrive at 1:00. Thank you!
What Are We Learning?
Math-Multiplication, Division, Algebra, Math fact challenge. Every week your child will take a 100 math fact test for 5 minutes. Once this addiction fact test is mastered with a 100, they will be added to the 2nd grade Math bulletin board. At the end of the year we will have a math facts ice cream party for all 2nd grade students who have mastered the math facts.
Science-Earth and Its Resources, Weather, Solar System
Reading/Language-Compare/Contrast, point of view, and linking verbs, Long and short vowel spelling patterns. AR goal due- February 21.
Social Studies-Groundhog Day, Presidents’ Day.
Third Grade
On January 30th, we celebrated our Texas Bluebonnet Voting Party. This is a state-wide program that encourages students to read for pleasure. Each year students are encouraged to read from a list of 20 books the Texas Library Association considers to be worthy of showcasing. Those who read at least 5 books are invited to a special breakfast where they vote for the book they liked the best. This year we had 53 third graders that were eligible to attend the voting party. We also are very excited to announce that Hayden Haby was our only third grader to read all 20 books.
On Saturday, February 1st, many of our amazing third graders represented Castroville Elementary at the District UIL Competition. With the hard work of the following students, Castroville Elementary was able to win the Overall Sweepstakes Award again this year.
Spelling
Cash Lyons-1st place
Kaityln Simms-4th place
Tyson shackleford-6th
Makayla Bendele
Sebastian Brito
Caelix Mercado
Music Memory Ready Writing
Madalyn Brown-2nd place
Charlie Grace Keller-6th place
Story Telling
Ty Urbanczyk-2nd place
Charlie Grace Keller-3rd place
Tenley Vielma-4th place
Nicholas Klekar-6th place
Ready Writing
Charlie Grace Keller-1st place
Callen Boyle-3rd place
Madison Esparza-6th place
January Students of the Month
Perseverance- the ability and self control that pushes you to work through challenges. These students showed the ability to do their best while working towards a goal.
Sittre- Adrianne Luna
Phillips- Aniya McClain
Teague- Evalee Sanchez
Ortiz- Madison Esparza
Pawelek- Ty Urbanczyk
Fourth Grade
January 2020 was a flash! Students have been learning lots of new skills as we get back into our school routine. Students are learning to measure and convert length, weight & mass, and capacity in the customary and metric systems in Math. In Science we learned how the water cycle influences the weather. In Reading, students have been discussing argumentative texts and analyzing a topic from differing points of view. Students are working hard to refine their revising and editing skills in Language Arts
Students were very excited to attend the Bluebonnet party to vote on the year’s best books. Students enjoyed all sorts of blueberry snack foods. Students who read a minimum of five bluebonnet books were eligible to vote for their favorite Bluebonnet book. Students who read all twenty of this year's books received special recognition with a T-shirt, trophy, books, and a nifty reading tote! All students participating earned a certificate and a very cool color changing cup. This year's Bluebonnet favorites at Castroville Elementary School were Cardboard Kingdom, Rebound, and Shadow Weaver! A big congratulations go to the following students who read all 20 Bluebonnet books: Hattie Burris, Niamh McIntire, Jackson Richardson, Kadian Hunt, Evelyn Scheall, Sebastian Arroyo, Jay Guevara, Dylan Pittman, Jake Lozano, Alyssa Zepeda, Jayla Sanchez, and Daniella Cadena.
We would also like to congratulate Kadian Hunt and Jayla Sanchez for being the first 4th graders to read a million words! Their pictures have gone up on the Million Words Wall in our building. Great job, girls!
Our 4th grade students had an exciting adventure on Friday, January 31st as they learned all about and dissected a real squid with Mrs. Sherrill. A big thank you to PTO for funding this memorable learning experience for our students.
Fifth Grade
In January, we had the opportunity to honor the students who earned awards for the first semester during our Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to everyone who earned a Black Paw, Orange Paw, or attendance awards! Students who read 5 Bluebonnet books this year were able to vote at our Bluebonnet Voting Party. It was a blast to celebrate these wonderful books and we are looking diving into the books on the 2020-2021 list (listed below)! We would also like to congratulate our homeroom class “Students of the Month.” Keep up the wonderful leadership!
5th Grade February Students of the Month:
David Ramirez (Lyle HR)
Christopher Elizondo (Herrera HR)
Owen Harris (Mumme HR)
Cade Mangum (Summerlin HR)
Curtis Binford (Tschirhart HR)
Cielo Salas (Rodriguez HR)
Physical Education
We are excited to get this month of February going!! We will kick off our Kids Heart Challenge on Monday February 10th. This kickoff the kids will get an overview of what this awesome fundraiser for us is all about. Not only do the kids get to help raise money to save lives, our PE program also benefits by receiving gift certificates from US Games to help replenish equipment used in PE. Information will be sent home on how to register your child online to get donations. Our Kids Heart Challenge will be Friday, Feb. 28th. At this time all money will be due that Monday, Feb. 24th. So please help your child get out there and raise money for this worthy cause. All students in grades kinder- 5th will be participating. Our goal this year is to raise $6,000! Last year we raised $7,503.08!!!!!! Your child will be participating in a jump rope contest during their PE time. Winners from each class will get a certificate and they will then have a jump off to see who is the overall champ of their grade level.
In PE, all grades will be working on individual jump roping skills to get ready for our Kids Heart Challenge event. We will also be learning how to play 4 square and incorporating some tag games.
Music
We're singing and dancing our way into February in the Music Classroom. Pre-K students have been enjoying Nursery Rhymes and Circle Songs. Kindergarten and 1st grade students are being introduced to instruments of the orchestra. Second graders are continuing to discover facts about Baroque music and composers. Third through Fifth Grade are reviewing reading notation/rhythm in order to begin playing the recorder. We're having a great time learning and making music!
(Pictured from left to right: Hope Chapa, Rayonna Ambrose, Ethan Martinez, Jade Zapata, Delilah De La Garza, Mara Fernandez, and Geovanni Moreno Ramirez playing rhythm instruments in music.)
Technology Applications
Kinder-2nd grade using Google Interland to learn about safety and security.
All grades continuing to learn/use Art Vocabulary words.
All Fifth grade students are completing a survey to show their interests in Fine Arts and Athletics in Middle School.
Reading News
Reading Fluency
Reading fluency is the ability to read text accurately, smoothly, and with expression. Reading fluently allows students to focus on what the text is saying.
Read aloud to your child. This models fluent reading.
Repeated readings.
Read Reader’s Theater or plays.
Audiobooks. Listen to reading.
Practice sight words.
Choral Reading: You read aloud together with your child.
Echo Reading: You read a phrase and your child echoes back what you read.
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”-Mason Cooley
Janet Boehme
Reading Specialist
Math News
February = Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day = Love.
Make this month the month to LOVE math!
Primary grades have been focusing on adding and subtracting. Here is a little Valentine Puzzle to challenge your loved one’s brain:
Upper grades have been working on geometry and learning about area and perimeter. Here is a fun challenge for them.
*** INCENTIVE: Tickets will be given to students that complete and bring to me!****
Victoria Vielma
Student Council
Student Council Officers attended the January School Board Meeting on January 21 for Board Appreciation Night. Each year, every campus creates a short presentation and then gifts the board members something to show appreciation. Student Council President, Julia Winkler, spoke on Castroville Elementary's behalf and thanked the board for all of their hard work and then a video compiled by Student Council was presented. All of the officers were in attendance to give the board members a bundtlet tower to “thank them a “bundt”-ch for all that they do!”
Please be on the lookout for information regarding an upcoming Student Council meeting as well as a flyer with information on the Valentine’s Day Carnation Fundraiser! Last year the Student Council Members had a great time selling carnations in the gym before school for all those wanting to share a little love with friends and family.
Counselors News
Classroom Guidance Topics
February Kindness
Random Acts of Kindness month will kick off this month. Ask your child what activities we are completing to help spread kindness and compassion in our Panther community.
Donation Requests: We are still currently in need of boxes of crayons/markers, composition notebooks, folders with brads, shorts/pants/shirts for both boys & girls. Please contact our school counselor, Morgan Tondre, with any questions about donations. Thank you for your generosity!
Office News
Congratulations to all of our students that participated in the UIL Academic Meet on Saturday 1st. We had many students do a wonderful job in all of our categories with many students placing. We are proud to announce that Castroville Elementary took the overall Sweepstakes trophy home! Great job to all of our students, coaches, and parents for their support!
Calendar of Events
Feb. 14 - Valentines Day
Feb. 17 - Student Holiday
Feb. 21 - End of 4th Six Weeks
Feb. 28 - Kids Heart Challenge Event
March 3 - Head Start Parent Committee Meeting
March 4 - 2nd Grade Field Trip
March 6 - Family Picnic
March 9-13 - Spring Break
Castroville Contact Information
Email: cesnotify@mvisd.org
Website: www.mvisd.com/ces
Location: 1000 Madrid Street, Castroville, TX, USA
Phone: 830-931-2243
Facebook: facebook.com/CastrovilleMV/
Twitter: @CastrovilleMV