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What's Happening at Rockwood Prep?

January 2024

What's Happening at Rockwood Prep? January 2024
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Message from the Principals!

Dear Families,

Happy New Year! As we step into the promising new year, it's a wonderful opportunity to embrace fresh beginnings and set the stage for a successful and fulfilling journey ahead for our children. At RPA, we are excited to partner with you in nurturing growth, fostering learning, and building a supportive environment for our students.

Routines are the cornerstone of a child's development, providing stability, structure, and a sense of security. They create a framework that helps our young learners navigate daily activities, manage time effectively, and cultivate essential life skills. In this new year, we aim to reinforce the importance of routines both at school and home, as they significantly contribute to a child's overall well-being and academic progress.

Setting clear expectations is equally vital. Consistent communication about goals, behaviors, and academic aspirations ensures a shared understanding between us, the educators, and you, the parents. By aligning our expectations, we can provide a unified support system that empowers our students to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

Here are a few ways we plan to emphasize routines and expectations:

  • Consistency in Schedule: Encouraging a consistent daily routine at school and home to foster a sense of predictability and security for our students.

  • Communication: Regular updates and open communication channels between teachers and parents to ensure a collaborative approach in setting and meeting expectations.

  • Goal Setting: Encouraging students to set achievable short-term and long-term goals, fostering a growth mindset and a sense of purpose.

  • Positive Reinforcement: Recognizing and celebrating achievements, both big and small, to motivate and reinforce positive behaviors.

  • Supportive Environment: Creating a nurturing environment where students feel safe to express themselves and ask for guidance when needed.

We invite you to partner with us in this journey by reinforcing routines at home and supporting our shared expectations for your child's growth and success. Your involvement and support play a pivotal role in shaping a positive learning experience for our students.

Thank you for entrusting us with your child's education. We look forward to an enriching and successful year ahead, working hand in hand to unlock your child's full potential.

Warm regards,

Mrs. McCollum & Mrs. Barnard
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Important Dates Coming Up!

2 - Staff Professional Development Day - NO SCHOOL

8-12 - BOOK FAIR

10 - Literacy Night

15 - MLK Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL


BOOK FAIR - Students will get a chance to preview with their class on Monday. Shopping will be available throughout the week. We are looking for volunteers! 8:15-2:45 Please email mmccollum@rockwoodprep.org to sign up.

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Kindergarten - Ms. Dudley, Mr. Montes, Mr. Nuziale

Greetings to all! We are excited to continue our journey towards academic excellence and social growth. Our little ones have been working so hard this far and we want to continue that motivation. We recommend that students practice their sounds/words for about 20-30 minutes daily if possible to enrich our practice. Handwriting is also another huge component to practice along with being able to write their names legibly. We are working towards mastery in addition, subtraction, and counting numbers 1-60. We welcome you towards the second half of our school year and 2024!!!! More Life-Kindergarten Team
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First Grade - Ms. Carroll, Mrs. Caamal, Mrs. Nordmeier

We have arrived at 2024….Happy New Year first graders! We will be starting the year reviewing our routines and student skills. We have been working hard on our reading skills including letter sounds, blending, and reading simple sentences. We are quickly growing into expert readers! As you get back into regular routines, please remember to read with your students for 20 - 30 minutes everyday. Reading with your child improves their reading, math, and language skills. In math we will be returning to three digit numbers, number families, and simple addition and subtraction. Some of us are even working on double digit addition! Don't forget January 15th are no school days, and our monthly assembly will be on the 27th. As cold and flu season are in full swing, please continue practicing good hand washing skills and making sure students are getting enough sleep! Good sleep habits are the number one way to ward off illness and to make sure students have the ability to focus on their school work. Please keep sending your students with hats, coats, and gloves as the weather is still chilly. Lastly, please remind your children to leave toys, trading cards, and other distractions at home so their brains can be fully focused on becoming the amazing scholars they are. Thank you to everyone who participated in our Penguin Patch and Giving Tree last month, we are so thankful for your support. We look forward to the new year full of fun, excitement, and progress on all of our skills!
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Second Grade - Mrs. Aguirre, Mrs. Hunter, Mrs. Dulos

Hello families! We've hoped you had an amazing winter break and feel very well rested! Please have students continue reading 20-30 minutes each night! In math we can't wait to continue learning inches, centimeters and multiplication! Let's start the year out strong & continue to get 90% in attendance and win another free dress day! Happy New Years! Woohoo!

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Third Grade - Mrs. Kenworthy, Mrs. Heineck, Ms. Cochrane

Happy New Year, RPA! We will be starting the new year reviewing rules and expectations in our classrooms. We are transitioning into our third grade language curriculum and learning about pronouns, past tense verbs, suffixes, and finding the main idea of a passage. In math, we will be learning about fractions, area, and perimeter, as well as strengthening our multiplication fast fact skills. Ms. Cochrane’s and Ms. Espinal’s reading classes are transitioning from a story about volcanoes, oceans, and dinosaurs to learning about inventions, the STEM world, and famous inventors. Mrs. Heineck’s reading class is continuing to learn about distance, speed, temperature, insects, and spiders through a story about a fly named Herman. Please remember that all toys, trading cards, and personal art supplies need to stay at home as they are distractions and easily get lost or stolen, causing disagreements between classmates. Students need to come to school with their jackets, gloves, and hats as we’re entering the cold and windy season.
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Fourth Grade - Mr. Morgan, Mr. Dykeman

To kick off the new year we are focusing on literacy! Students should be reading out loud every day at home for 30 minutes (including the weekends), please show by example and read something too, or read with them! Really encourage them to find what they love about reading. We will also be focusing on our writing skills this month, we want students to have the opportunity to express themselves through writing to really gain an undestanding of the technical skills we practice in the classroom.

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Fifth Grade - Mr. Walker, Mr. Shahbodaghloo

As we return from a well-deserved restful break. We'll dive back into the exciting challenges that make fifth grade awesome! Be prepared to tackle those tricky topics with renewed energy and a fresh perspective. Winter break was the perfect opportunity to rest up for the adventures that await us in the second half of the school year. Get ready for an amazing journey!

PE - Ms. Qutub, Mr. Foumal

Happy New Year RPA Families! I hope you all had a restful and rejuvenating winter break. We got a holiday surprise ourselves over here at RPA and our gym has a BRAND NEW FLOOR! Yay! We want to keep this floor in excellent condition for years to come so classroom teachers will be going over gym expectations with students. In the first week back we will be playing familiar games and going over expectations, but then we will start up floor hockey. A favorite unit!! Please remember that water is the only drink allowed in PE. Additionally, disposable water bottles and ones that do not lock are also not allowed in the gym. Great to have everyone back! Lets start this year off right :)

Title - Ms. Pescitelli, Ms. Torres, Mrs. Schneider

Get ready for a year filled with bookworms, breakthroughs, and a whole lot of learning fun! To track your child's progress and ensure they're receiving the support they need, we'll be conducting our winter round of Star testing later this month. Remember, we test four times a year (September, November, January, and May) to measure their reading and math skills. This data helps us tailor our teaching and resources to their individual needs, paving the way for academic success. But don't worry, Star testing isn't just about numbers! It's about celebrating your child's strengths and identifying areas where they can shine even brighter. We'll be there every step of the way, cheering them on and offering guidance.

ELD - Mrs. Peoples, Ms. Mulch

Hello families, and your wonderful students! We have had such a blessed break with food ,fun and ! lots of Reading, I hope. The ELD program has a new ELD Teacher, Ms Diane Mulch.. She is very much looking forward to making connections and helping our ELL students thrive and succeed. Ms Mulch will begin her year with the ELPA assessment for all of our multilingual students. We are looking forward to spending more time with all our scholars. Here's to a fabulous 2024!
Danielle Barnard
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