Dear Families:

What a blustery way to end the week as we head into the weekend. Movie Night was initially scheduled for tonight and we had to cancel the event due to low response. Look for more information to come for a spring event.

This next week we will begin our mid- year assessments, iReady and DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). Theses assessments help inform our instruction by determining skill mastery and areas of need.

Wednesday, December 7, is a Late Start Wednesday.. Please mark your calendars.

Have a lovely weekend!

Warmly,

Maria

• Dec 5-9: International Hour of Code Week
• Dec 7: Late Start Wednesday (2 Hour Delay for students)
• Dec 16: Fitness Friday! 7:30am - 8am
  
• Dec 19 - Jan 4: Winter Break - No School
• Jan 16: School Closed: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Jan 25: Late Start Wednesday (2 Hour Delay for Students)
• Jan 27: Fitness Friday! 7:30am-8:00am

Kindergarten students are finishing up a domain all about farms. Before Fall Break, they learned a lot about farm animals and the reason they are raised by farmers. This week, we focused on the planting and harvesting side of farming. Ask your expert these questions about a farmer's busy job:

• What are the four seasons? (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter)
  
• What is something a farmer does on the farm in the spring? (Plow the field, fertilize, and plant seeds.)
  
• What does a farmer do on the farm in the summer? (Water the crops and keep pest away.)
• What does a farmer do on the farm in the fall? (Harvest the crops.)
  
• What does a farmer do on the farm in the winter? (Fix machines and buy new seeds to plant in the spring.)
  
• What section of the store would you find fresh fruits and vegetables? (produce section)
• How can a pest harm a crop? (They eat the crop so the farmer can’t harvest it.)

Second Graders have just started working on learning many different addition strategies to solve 2 and 3 digit addition problems. They are having a ton of fun choosing the strategy that works best for them, and it's been so fun listening to them explain their reasoning. Ask your expert- What strategy do they like the best? Why? The strategies are: open number line, adding like units, arrow method, picture way, and make a ten.

Next week, we will be taking our I-Ready assessments in Reading and Math. This is an opportunity for them to show what they've learned so far this year. Please encourage your kiddos to take their time, so we can really get a great picture of how hard they've worked in our classrooms. We will also be taking our middle of the year DIBELS assessment which is a short reading passage that they read, and then retell what they learned from the story. This is a strategy that they can use at home too, and really helps with their Reading comprehension. . Ask your expert- Have your expert show you how to do a 5 finger retell of a story that they are reading at home. Also, be on the lookout for a fun Reading challenge that they can do over the break.

Fourth Grade has started our new Middle Ages Unit.... from across a continent of where we studied it before: Arabia! The Middle Ages in Europe and Islamic Medieval Empires are companions in the Fourth Grade CKLA Reading and Writing sequence because their subjects are highly related. While the first Middle Ages studies dealt primarily with the events of western Europe, and the relationship between the Christian Church and the rulers of the region, the concurrent Islamic Empires in the Middle Ages unit looks at events in another part of the world (particularly in what is now called the Middle East). The units are tied by a common past (the decline of the Roman Empire) and intersecting events such as the Crusades and the movement of knowledge, philosophy, and science from Greek into Arabic into Latin. They are also tied by their impact on the present: it is difficult to understand the modern world without knowing about these two regions and their medieval history. Ask your Expert: What animal was used like Horses were used for Middle Ages Europe?

Hello Mustang Families,

This week in 1st grade, we began a new unit on empathy and kindness! For more information on the unit follow the QR code below. In this week's lesson your child learned that a kind act is something they can do to help someone feel good. They practiced suggesting kind acts to do for people in different scenarios. Encourage your child to think of a kind act they could do for someone, for example a sibling, grandparent, or neighbor.

This week in 2nd grade, we began a new unit on empathy and kindness! For more information on the unit follow the QR code below. In this week’s lesson, your child learned that empathy means feeling or understanding what someone else is feeling, and that empathy can lead to kindness. Ask your child to tell you what empathy means.

This week in 3rd grade, your child learned words for three degrees of happiness: content, happy, and excited. Ask your child to explain the differences between feeling content, happy, and excited.

I hope you all have a lovely Fall break and get an opportunity to connect with those you love!

Ashley Root, MA, LPCC

MSES School Counselor

aroot@mssd14.org | (719) 685-2160

Canvas Parent Accounts:

Did you know you can create an observer account on Canvas? To create an account, follow the

instructions below:

1. Navigate to our Canvas Login Page

2. Click on "Parent of a Canvas User" in the top right corner

Next week is International Hour of Code week where all students across the world strive to code for one hour! We will do a portion of this in TEAMS class next week however it will be up to the students to finish a total of an hour of coding on their own time (if they choose). This is a really great opportunity for students to see that coding is everywhere! Please check out the activities on https://code.org/learn- students can choose activities that are geared towards their age level. All activities have directions to help students walk through the activity. Happy Coding!

Watch this video for more information!

https://youtu.be/SrnvvWDm73k

Please help us put Mrs. Masone in a doghouse for a day!! We need 100 families to read “Because of Winn Dixie”, and we are giving away the books. If you were not able to attend Literacy Night, we still have books, reading promise pages and doggie dollars at school for families. You can collect your book at the office at MSES. So, "get your paws on a good book", and help us put Ms. Masone in a doghouse for a day.

The Literacy Team

Thank you to our families who are scanning their grocery receipts into the Box Tops app - you've already helped earn five times the amount we earned last school year! Don't forget to keep scanning those receipts over the break! You can earn bonus box tops for referring a friend to the Box Tops app - see the flyer below for instructions and ask your fellow MSES families if they are scanning their receipts. We appreciate your support!

Box Top funds are used to support your students by helping with classroom supply purchases, classroom celebrations, games and outdoor activities, and more. Download the app today and start scanning your grocery receipts to help us keep learning fun at MSES!