Maple Elementary
November Newsletter
MAPLE BOOK FAIR! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
The book fair is quickly approaching! For this event to be successful, I am needing volunteers to help run the cash registers.
Please click here if you are interested in helping with this.
If you are unable to make it into the book fair on the week of November 13th-17th, don’t worry you can shop online and still support our library and students! See link below.
Click here to view our online Efair through Literati.
The book fair will be open the week of November 13th-17th from 8:00-4:00, and an extra shopping evening will be on Thursday, November 16th from 5:00-7:00 during our family curriculum evening.
Thanks for all your support in our students' love for reading! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at sissomb@smithville.k12.mo.us
Title 1 Information
Maple Elementary School's Title I Parent Information and Family Curriculum Evening will be held on Thursday, November 16th. (Book Fair will be open!) More information will be shared soon.
Important Upcoming Dates
NOVEMBER
Nov. 1: Late Start Wednesday, K-6 students may arrive at 8:50 AM, School begins at 9:05
AM, No EC Classes
Nov. 6-10: School Psychologist Week
Nov. 8: Parent Educators Day
Nov. 8: Late Start Wednesday, K-6 students may arrive at 8:50 AM, School begins at 9:05
AM, No EC Classes
Nov. 11: Veteran’s Day
Nov. 13-17: Scholastic Fall Book Fair in the Maple Library
Nov. 13: World Kindness Day
Nov. 14: Maple PTO meeting at 6 PM
Nov. 15: Late Start Wednesday, K-6 students may arrive at 8:50 AM, School begins at 9:05
AM, No EC Classes
Nov. 16: Education Support Professionals Day (Reading Specialists, BI, Recess Aides)
Nov. 16: Title 1 Parent Information and Family Curriculum Night at MES 5:00-7:00 PM
(Book Fair will be open.)
Nov. 17: Substitute Educators Day
Nov. 17: MES Assembly and K-6 Maple Unite Activities
Nov. 22-24: Thanksgiving Break-No School
DECEMBER
Dec. 2: Special Education Day
Dec. 5: Choir Concert @ PAC
Dec. 6: Late Start Wednesday, K-6 students may arrive at 8:50 AM, School begins at 9:05
AM, No EC Classes
Dec. 7: Family Coding Night
Counseling News from Mrs. Hough
The Maple Food for Thought Pantry is gearing up for our annual Giving Tuesday on November 28, 2023. All donations benefit Maple Elementary students and families. We appreciate all the love and support!
Art News with Mrs. Haddock
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is still using lines in creative ways. We used lines to make beautiful spider webs, and last week we painted different lines.
First Grade
First Grade drew pumpkins for fall, and finished them any way they would like. Some students painted, some cut and glued, and some colored with crayons and markers. It was fun seeing their creative choices.
Second Grade
Second Grade students have been so anxious to start building. So far they have been given colorful strips of paper, They have made pop ups, and now they are learning to build with paper tape, cardboard, and construction paper. They just can’t get enough, so don’t be surprised if they start snatching up your boxes at home.
Third and Fourth Grade
Third and Fourth Grade students are beginning their Envision and Reflection Unit. They are going to Envision their work before they begin, similar to the way they create a blueprint in Technology and Innovation. They will think about what they are going to create, the materials they will need, and the steps to complete their work. Soon they will reflect on their work, and think of ways they could change it even if they already like their final work.
Fifth Grade
Fifth Grade students are close to completing their first trimester. I’m so proud of what they have accomplished. Recently, they have created plaster sculptures. They loved making handmade paper. We will create some Gelli Prints before their time is up.
Sixth Grade
Sixth Grade just began their new quarter classes, and I have another creative group. We complete our first project together, and then I turn them loose to create their choice of projects. Some of them have already started. Many of them choose clay right away.
Here are some pics of the First Quarter Sixth Graders at their Art Show!
Library Learning Journey with Mrs. Sissom
Early Childhood- We have been learning how to listen to a story, and following up with an activity or craft. This month we have read many books on October themes, and even made puppets! We are wrapping up October with a new book called Meowl-o-ween!
K-2 These friends have been reading and listening to many books about Fall and October themed books as well. One of our absolute favorites was called A Spoonful of Frogs. We have been learning where to find our supplies in the library as well as finding books we like.
3-5 In grades 3-5 we have been reading books about Spanish Heritage month and learning more about the culture and diversity. The fourth and fifth graders now know how to use their student school ID to login to find books from our local library! Ask your child what books they were searching for, and how they can place a hold on a book. If we don’t have the book in our school library, it’s always a good option for students to check the local library.
Click here to read the 4th grade letter for the Mark Twain Reading Incentive.
Click here to read the 5th grade letter for the Mark Twain Reading Incentive.
6th grade The new group of sixth graders have learned about many books that have been made into movies for their new encore rotation called Books vs. Movies. They voted on the book, Coraline and are ready to dive into the book. After each chapter, we will discuss important concepts.
Thanks to all of the students who created a storybook pumpkin character! They all turned out great & the students loved coming in to look at them.
Music news with Mrs. McNair
6th Grade:
During October, we learned about a lot of music genres and the connection they have to culture and society. Each student researched a music genre of their choice and presented their findings. Quarter 1 6th graders wrapped up their music class by creating some compositions. Our last day of music, we had a bucket drumming glow party to celebrate their hard work this quarter!
5th Grade:
We have been experimenting with some compositional techniques. Students learned how to remix a song that they already know, and then transitioned into creating their own compositions based on mood and feelings.
4th Grade:
4th graders have been learning all of the different barred instruments in class. We got to perform a piece in rondo form that isolates xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels. Students were able to improvise Do, Re, Mi, So and La over a designated rhythm. We are also preparing canons through speech!
3rd Grade:
We have been hard at work preparing for our upcoming program “Rock and Roll Forever!” Students have also been “super sleuthing” to read Mi, Re and Do on the staff. They even got to create their own compositions using only Mi, Re and Do.
2nd Grade:
We have been hard at work preparing for our upcoming program “Rock and Roll Forever!” 2nd grade has been preparing for half note, and reviewing our quarter note, quarter rest, and eighth note pair.
1st Grade:
We have been doing a lot of So/Mi singing and reading. We have worked hard on reading and playing quarter Note (Ta), eighth Nnote pair (Ta-Di), and rest. We have also made some artful choices with adding instrument sounds to storybooks.
Kindergarten:
We finished up our “Farm Field Trip” with a virtual farm museum. Students were able to explore different songs and games associated with the animals and instruments we learned about in class.
Physical Education News from Coach Anderson
Early Childhood:
We spent our time together learning more about how our body moves around a big room. Our little friends have so much energy, they love moving! They have also been getting to know more and more about all of the different items we are able to use during PE.
Kindergarten:
Our friends have been doing an awesome job getting to know more about moving our body to use an object. We were able to use beach balls to hit over a net and we found out how our feet help us get in a better position to strike a ball.
1st-6th:
We just finished our first unit of the school year, volleyball! Each class was able to start off by learning the basic skills and fundamentals to each task. They all did an awesome job by starting off working individually, then moving into small groups by completing station work, and finished off with some fun class games. All of our students were able to comprehend the skills it took to complete the volleyball stations. We have some future olympians here at Maple!
**We will be moving into some more fall/outdoor activities for the month of October. I am so excited to get things started up with our next units, frisbee and flag football.
As always, keep on moving Warriors!
Tech & Innovation News from Mrs. Freeman
We are hosting the Maple Family Coding Night again this year to celebrate Computer Science Education Week! Please mark your calendars and join us!
Kindergarten
Students in Kindergarten have been introduced to engineering and what they do including sketching with details. We have also talked about how to use tools and materials safely. We will continue to build on this during November.
First Grade
First Grade students have continued to work on keyboard skills and have been introduced to creating documents and formatting text. After we wrap up this technology unit, we will start working on our first engineering project of the year.
Second Grade
Students in second grade have just started on our programming/coding unit. We have taken a pretest and are starting to work on vocabulary. We will be continuing this unit through the end of the quarter.
Third Grade
Third grade students have been learning about email and email etiquette. We will be starting our engineering unit soon!
Fourth Grade
Students in fourth grade have finished our Google Review unit and have started on our collaborative engineering project. We are researching ideas to prepare for competition.
Fifth Grade
Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate our tiny houses! We have almost finished our digital citizenship project and are starting our Programming Olympics to finish our trimester.
Sixth Grade
Our first quarter students wrapped up our time together with a programming glow party! We had such a great first quarter - what awesome kids.
Second quarter engineering students have started off with some team building projects. It’s going to be a great quarter!
Supplies
We use all kinds of supplies in the Innovation Lab. Please see this flyer for our most used items. If you have items around your house that you would like to send, I have a collection bin outside my room, students can drop it off on their way into school. Thanks for supporting our learning!
You can see more by following our journey on twitter: @sara_freeman, instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mes_tech_and_innovation_lab , facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MESTechandInnovationLab
Maple Elementary School
Email: dolla@smithville.k12.mo.us
Location: 600 Maple Avenue, Smithville Missouri 64089
Twitter: @Maplewarriors