Eagle Heights Family Newsletter
February 2023
PTO Spring Party - February 14th!
MAP Testing Starts April 24 for Grades 3 - 6
Students in 3rd through 6th grade will be taking the MAP (Missouri Assessment Program) beginning April 23rd. The following grades will test the following days:
- 3rd Grade - April 24 - 28
- 4th Grade - April 27 - May 4
- 5th Grade - May 4 - May 11
- 6th Grade - May 1,2 and May 8 - 10
In addition to encouraging students to get plenty of rest and eat healthy breakfasts, we also like to give them snacks and brain treats on the days that they test. Sign up below if you would like to donate items to be given out to students during MAP testing.
Boosterthon School Fundraiser!
We are again having a Boosterthon event at Eagle Heights Elementary. The Boosterthon team will be at Eagle on March 7 to kickoff our 8 days of fun. The theme this year is Grand Land ADVENTURE! Our Eagle Boosterthon will conclude with a student Fun Run on March 15th! These additional funds will be used to support student and staff programs at Eagle Elementary.
You can register your student before kickoff begins on 3/7 for a chance to win a $25 local restaurant gift card giveaway. Registration will open on February 21st and more details will be provided.
We completely understand if your family is not in a position to financially support the school right now. You can still be involved by simply SHARING about our fundraiser with friends and extended family. Sharing IS supporting! All students will participate in the Eagle Fun Run, regardless of financial participation. We appreciate your support more than you know. More details to come as we get closer to kickoff! Here are some key dates to remember as we get closer to the event:
• REGISTRATION OPENS - 2/21: Register on MYBOOSTER.COM
• Fundraiser Kick Off - 3/7
• Event Day (Eagle Glow Run) - 3/15
Day of Hope provides an opportunity to encourage hope on a state and national level, as well as spread the Hope Squad message of suicide prevention through education, training, and peer intervention. Hope Squad members will be passing out kindness messages with our life saver logo as students arrive and other messages of HOPE throughout the day.
News from Encore!
Coach Parker - PE
Please make sure that your child is bringing athletic shoes on their PE days during the winter months. I have encouraged your child to pack athletic shoes in their backpacks so they can change into them before PE if they are wearing boots or crocs. 2nd through 6th grade has just finished playing Pin Blast and Castle Ball. Both games have similar equipment and require students to aim at bowling pins and hula hoops while they throw or roll dodgeballs. 2nd- 6th grade has started playing 5 Base Kickball this week and are learning the basic rules and fundamentals of the game. Kindergarten and 1st grade students have been working on station rotations and have been revisiting some of the skills that we have learned already this school year. We are also trying to get outside as much as possible when the weather permits.
Mr. Venner - Music
The good times keep coming in the music room at EHE! KG, 1, and 2 will be exploring stations. 3, 4, and 5 will be learning to read music on recorders with short breaks to play in drum circle and mallet madness. Sixth graders will be exploring bass, drums, violin, electronics and guitar. There is a small group of the 6th graders who have been teaching music games to groups of kindergarten students (15 at a time) and they would make great teachers some day.
Ms. Aeschliman - Art
Hello Eagle Heights Families! Here a quick update on what students have been up to lately in the art studio: PreK students have been finishing up their color projects (Frosty’s black hat and white snowman, & Pink love birds) and to finish out the month, we painted large hearts together in groups. I introduced the artist, Jim Dine, and a few of his heart artworks before they painted their hearts. I took their large painted hearts, cut them out and stuffed them with the scraps of paper to make a 3D heart. K-1 began January with printmaking and architecture (lego building) and then created clay projects at the end of the month. Kindergarten created pinch pots with textures and 1st made ladybugs! 2nd grade began January with tube sculptures and sculpture supplies such as feathers, wire, tape, packing peanuts, and more! 3rd - 5th also began sculpture work. It’s a very popular center and we didn’t get to it until late last year so I wanted to open it earlier this school year for the students that enjoy working in more three-dimensional mediums. The rolling racks have made all the difference for storing these pieces as well. Sixth grade 2D Art started the quarter entering Level 1 of the 2D Art game I created over the summer. They have a choice of 12 badges (projects) they can choose from and when completed with 4 they get to move up to Level 2! Level 2 has more choices and badges to earn while still enabling them access to Level 1 if they choose to.
We are using Artsonia again this year for PK - 6th grade students’ portfolios. Thank you to those of you that are signed up and comment on your students’ work. It’s a great platform to have a portfolio on and don’t forget, you can order gifts with your students’ work on many different items. Think about Valentine’s, birthdays, anniversaries, and Mother’s Day - all coming up!
THANK YOU so much for all of your support! You are an amazing school to work for!
Mrs. Thompson - Innovation and Technology
Greetings from the innovation lab!
For the rest of the year I’ll be putting the spotlight on different grade levels and the projects they’re completing. This month I want to highlight 2nd grade and 4th grade!
Your second graders are towards the end of their circuit unit which means they are creating instruments with a device called Makey Makey. Makey Makeys are boards that are connected to ANY object to take the place of computer keys. Objects like play doh, bananas, and cups can be used as drums and pianos. To learn more about Makey Makeys visit this website: https://makeymakey.com/
The fourth graders finished up learning about artificial intelligence. They learned how chatbots and machine learning can help make life easier while also researching the downside of AI. Your students taught their machines (computers) to recognize a clap from a snap and the picture of a shoe from a picture of a pencil. There are other cool experiments you can check out at home! Visit this website to try them out with your student. https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/ai
As always, thank you for the donations. Our supply closet is LOADED with recyclables and cardboard. We won’t need those type of donations for a while now (possibly even the rest of the year)! As always, reach out to me via email or phone call with any questions or concerns. Thompsoa@smithville.k12.mo.us or 816-532-5959 Ext. 7628
Mrs. Rice - Library
The EHE Library has been busy learning and reading in the month of January! To start our month, we focused on the new year and how we can be proactive in starting the year fresh!
Kindergarten and 1st focused on kindness using the Show Me Nominee book, "Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light" by Apryl Scott. Students created their own lanterns and learned how being kind can bring light to someone's darkness. We spent this last week discussing snow and what the perfect snowy day would look like for them if we were to have one!
Grades 3-5 spent time learning about many different topics! We explored Martin Luther King Jr through using the book, "Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr" by Doreen Rappaport! The students used National Geographic for Kids to study more about the life of Martin Luther King! The next focus was introducing Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year, and students learned about the legend of Nian the dragon and we read "How to Catch a Dragon". Classes made various crafts to celebrate including a paper dragon, dragon puppets, and lanterns!
To end our month, EHE Library held a Mock Caldecott in honor of the 2023 Caldecott winners being announced on January 30th! The Caldecott Medal is awarded to the illustrator that has the BEST illustrations in a picture book! Each class rated the 10 books chosen and created a book review pennant over their highest rated book! This year's winner of the 2023 Caldecott was Hot Dog by Doug Salati! I cannot get this in the library!
Feed Northland Kids Spring 2022-2023
Feed Northland Kids is a unique organization focused on addressing weekend nutrition and hunger by providing healthy, kid-friendly foods for school-age children, living in the Northland of Kansas City, MO.
The Feed Northland Kids food kit program requires sign up. To receive a food kit, families MUST sign up by the dates listed below for that month's distribution - NO EXCEPTIONS. ie, December 30th for January 12th distribution. Families must sign up for each month needing assistance - one sign up equals one month of food kits. Families must have a child enrolled in Smithville School District to participate.
- Sign up by December 30th for January 12th distribution
- Sign up by January 27th for February 9th distribution
- Sign up by February 24th for March 9th distribution
- Sign up by March 31 for April 13th distribution
- Sign up by April 28th for May 11th distribution
Families of 4 or less will receive 4 kits. Families of 5 or more will receive 6 kits. Each kit typically contains food for a week which may include two canned soups, two canned vegetables, two canned pastas, two boxes dry mac and cheese, a canned tuna, a canned chicken, a jar of peanut butter, a breakfast cereal, granola bars, a loaf of bread, and a main meal.
Important Upcoming Dates
February 6th - 10th
- National School Counseling Week
February 14th
- PTO Spring Party
February 17th
- Teacher Meetings (NO SCHOOL)
February 20th
- Presidents Day (NO SCHOOL)