Hive Happenings!
October 2021
A Message from Principal Meneses
Ellison Families,
We’ve had a great start to the new year and I am completely blown away by the dedication of our teachers and inspired by the buzz of learning occurring in classrooms. We are working diligently to differentiate instruction to meet the unique needs of all learners.
As you may know, every year we revisit our Campus Improvement Plan to identify areas for improvement. This school year, we are working to improve our ability to provide high-quality small-group targeted instruction. To do so, we have refined our campus protocols to analyze data in a systematic way. The analysis of data helps to drive the focus of our instruction because it creates a clear picture of our student needs.
We also know that students can't learn if their hearts and minds are not at ease. That's why our commitment to Social Emotional Learning continues to be a targeted area of growth. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is a methodology that helps students of all ages better comprehend their emotions, feel those emotions fully, and demonstrate empathy for others. These learned behaviors are then used to help students make positive and responsible decisions, create frameworks to achieve their goals, and build positive relationships with others. This year, as part of our campus improvement plan, we've formed a Student Leadership Committee to help spearhead our campus initiative of meeting our students' social-emotional needs. The committee has collaborated to help create a weekly Glow and Glow Reflection Sheet, an Ellison Essentials Matrix, and a school-wide Behavior Rubric. These tools have helped us to communicate clear school-wide expectations and set our students and teachers up for success.
In addition to our strides toward the social-emotional growth of students, our teachers remain committed to the implementation of the Reading, Writing, and Math Workshop models. These frameworks provide students with a supportive environment that involves them in authentic reading and experiences in which the ultimate goal is to develop life-long, passionate readers and writers. Our Reading and Writing curriculum is based on genre studies. In the Reading and Writing blocks, students receive high-quality instruction, build their daily reading and writing stamina, deepen their knowledge about the unique elements across genres, and they develop higher-level comprehension skills necessary to read and write more sophisticated texts. Because reading and writing are interrelated and develop concurrently, we highly encourage you to support your children at home by reading with your children and having them read to you. (5th graders too!)
The Math Workshop includes the following: a daily mini-lesson where students are taught new skills explicitly and a daily math warm-up time which is a prescriptive and recursive review based on targeted areas. These areas are identified through data analysis. Additionally, teachers also work with students in guided math groups to differentiate instruction for students.
During Science and Social Studies, students use inquiry notebooks. The Inquiry Notebook is a place where students can record their thinking, answer essential questions, reflect on their own learning, and record investigations. We strive to integrate literacy skills as much as possible into the science and social studies blocks in order to help cement our student's learning and grow them as readers and writers.
On behalf of our entire faculty, thank you for the privilege of allowing us to serve your family. Thank you for supporting us in our daily mission to grow compassionate, innovative leaders!
Sincerely,
Principal Meneses
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IMPORTANT DATES
10/4 College T-Shirt Monday or wear BLUE for Bully Prevention Day!
10/8 2nd Grade Discovery Day
10/11 Student Holiday / Teacher Professional Development Day
10/14 Individual Picture Day
10/15 Buzz Fest
10/15 End of First Grading Period
10/22 Report Cards Go Home and can be accessed via HAC
10/22 3rd Grade Discovery Day
10/25-29 Red Ribbon Week/ Kids Heart Challenge Begins!
10/29 Career Day
11/2 PTA Meeting
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Professional Learning Communities in Action!
Our teachers collaborate with specialists and administrators in Professional Learning Communities during Discovery Days and weekly Honey Meetings. We focus our work toward student learning by constantly asking ourselves: What do we want students to learn? How will we know if they have learned it? What will we do if they already know it? And what will we do if they do not learn it?
Masks
Masks continue to be mandatory for any student, staff or visitors to our campus. See the District information here: https://www.nisd.net/news/latest-information-regarding-masks-northside-isd
Monday, October 4th is our first COLLEGE Shirt Day!
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Tardies
** If you have younger children that need assistance into the building, please arrive before 7:40 am, when staff on duty and student safety patrols are monitoring the express lane.
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Thank you SignGypsies NWSanAntonio, for supporting our hive!
Call (210) 239-2830 or email nwsanantonio@signgypsies.com for your own yard sign!
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We're Catching Students "Bee"-ing LEADERS!
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Mrs. Hernández leading a reflection meeting! Students reflected on their weekly glow and grow and made connections to the campus behavior rubric!
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Together, we're Learning and Growing every day!
Below in Mrs. Gandaria's class students are practicing their reading and writing skills through the daily morning message! We love seeing students leading the way!
In Mrs. Fox's class, students are learning and "seeing" how light travels. Kids were mesmerized!
In Mrs. Garcia's class, students polished their math skills in a small group. Learning is possible when your teacher is right there with you!
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Together we can help put an END to Bullying and Cyberbullying!
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Join us for our next Garden Day!
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News from our Specialists!
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Fridays are SPIRIT days!
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The Most Treasured Heirlooms are the Sweet Memories of our Family that We Pass Down to our Children!
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Kids Heart Challenge!
Save the Date! Kids Heart Challenge is happening October 25!
We’re excited to learn about heart health and emotional well-being while having FUN and SAVING LIVES. Sign up today so you don’t miss out!
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From PTA!
Buzz Fest Poster Contest entries are due Monday, October 4th, to the front office. Every entry gets a free Buzz Fest tickets and winners get even more!! Can't wait to see these cute and fun posters in the halls at Ellison!
Reflections Art Program
Support our PTA!
Click below to visit our wonderful PTA site. With a click of a button, you'll be able to purchase spirit gear, which students are encouraged to use on the first day of school and every Friday of the year!
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Bonnie Ellison Elementary School
Ellison is the place to “bee”- Growing, learning, and building our hive together! Our daily mission is to PUT STUDENTS FIRST! Our vision is that our students GROW to be COMPASSIONATE, INNOVATIVE LEADERS every day!
Email: Julie.Meneses@nisd.net
Website: https://www.nisd.net/ellison
Location: 7132 Oak Drive, San Antonio, TX, USA
Phone: 210-398-1850
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EllisonElementary
Twitter: @NISDEllison