West Elementary News
October 2021
Preschool Pumpkins
Kindergarteners Visit Company Goods
Fire Safety Month
Math Tip- Compare the dots
Set up: Help your child make a set of index- card dominoes. He should draw a line down the middle of each card and draw dots on both sides of the line. (Or use a store-bought set of dominoes.). Put the dominoes in a bag.
Play: Each player takes a domino from the bag and places it face up on the table. Quickly add the dots on each half of the domino and call out the sum. (If your youngster's domino has 6 dots on one side and 5 on the other, he would say 6+5=11.). The player with the greater sum keeps both dominoes.
Score: When the bag is empty, have your child count the dominoes to see who has the most. Or he might stack them to see whose pile is higher. The person with the most dominoes (or the highest) pile wins.)
Math + Science Connection November Edition (Resources for Educators)
Variations:
-Each player could compare the dominos by counting all to see who has more (or count just 1 side)
-Each player could multiply the two sides to see who has the bigger product
News from Mr. Bjustrom
Maps
Recorders
Third Grade Reading
Reading Tips- What sounds do you hear?
Swap the sound: With your youngster, think of a word family, or a group of words with the same "last name" (for example, all). Now take turns saying a word with that ending (fall, wall). If you say a nonsense word (zall), ask your child to make up a silly definition. "Zall: A black- and- white striped ball that zebras play with!"
Blend the consonants. Have your youngster put these letter tiles or magnetic letters into a bag: B,C,F,G,H, I, P, R, S, T, and W. He can pull out two letters (perhaps S and P), then help him try to blend them and say a word that includes the blended sound (spider). If the sounds can't be blended, like B and T, he should put them back and pull out new letters.
Subtract a syllable. Say a familiar word that has more than one syllable, such as pumpkin or television. Now encourage your youngster to take away one more more of the syllables: "If you take pump out of pumpkin, whaat do you have left?" (Answer: kin.). What happens if he "subtracts" vision from television? (He'll have tele.)
Reading Connection October Edition (Resources for Educators)
Rainy Days
Tree Planting (DNR Trees for Kids)
Gourds
Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
Why is self-management important: it is the ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations. This regulation is achieved by effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. In short, self-management is the ability to set and work toward personal and academic goals without significant deviation.
To possess self-management, one must develop the following skills and abilities:
Impulse control
Stress management
Self-discipline
Goal setting
Self-motivation
Organizational skills
PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention System)
Each week West students are recognized by teachers and staff in the building for outstanding E-Hawk Pride and become the PBIS students of the week. The students recognized have donuts at "Breakfast with Bjustrom". The donuts provided are sponsored by numerous businesses around town. Thanks to the following business for supporting PBIS:
Bauers Plumbing and Heating
Hansen Quality Concrete & Construction LLC
Jamison Equipment Inc
Rooney's Auto
Burns Chiropractic and the Archery Shop
B&I Electric
Hughes Brennan & Wirtz
Iowa Trust and Savings Bank
Go Gutters
Caseys
October's PBIS monthly celebration was a scarecrow contest. Each classroom was in charge of coming up with a scarecrow design and we built them this past Friday. Since our October competency was self-management ,working as a team to build a scarecrow plays right into this as students work together, use teamwork language, organizational skills and goal setting. As parents you are welcome to vote on your favorite scarecrow during parent teacher conferences in the lunchroom. The winning classroom will earn a pizza party the first week in November. A huge thank you to a donor in our community for donating bales of straw to make this possible.
STEM
STEM in the Emmetsburg Community School District
STEM stands for SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, and MATH. Just as important: STEM is about learning how to solve problems, be creative and innovative, think logically, and understand the world a bit better. These are valuable skills and habits of mind for kids to acquire, no matter what they do in life. Helping them to acquire these skills can pay big dividends. The Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council has supported STEM education for the past 10 years. The Emmetsburg Community School District is working to incorporate hands-on learning to create real-world learning opportunities so that students are future-ready.
Simple Ways to Support Students in STEM
Family members don’t need to be an engineer, doctor, or scientist to support children’s exploration of STEM learning. Help support STEM education by simply:
Setting clear and high expectations of student performance
Creating supportive learning environments at home
Asking questions that help to guide the exploration of courses students need to pursue STEM career pathway
Check out these additional opportunities to explore STEM learning at home:
Bring the STEM excitement home and check out National PTA’s STEM at Home activities
Check out Bayer’s Making Science Make Sense® videos for inspiration
Looking for more? Browse additional STEM resources
Information from https://www.pta.org/home/programs/stem and https://www.iowastem.gov/parents
PIE (Partners In Education)
Upcoming Events
Nov. 2- Election Day
Nov. 3- 2 Hr Early Out
Nov. 4- 12-1pm PIE MEETING
Nov. 8- Fundraiser Packets Due to West Elementary
Nov. 10- Preschool Advisory Meeting at 5pm at West Elementary
Nov. 10- Preschool Readiness to Nature Center
Nov. 17- 2 Hr Early Out
Nov. 23- 1 Hr Early Out
Nov. 24, 25, 26- No School