Sept Elementary Schools Newsletter
October 2023
October 16-18
Conferences (see details for each school below)
October 20-24
Fall Break (No School for Students)
October 25
Cedar View Picture Retakes
Preschool Picture Retakes
October 26
Cedar Trails Picture Retakes
October 9 and 23
Board of Education Meetings (3rd floor, Hilltop in the Board of Education Room)
October 9 at 6:45 p.m.
October 23 at 6:15 p.m.
Fall Conferences
Our teachers are excited to meet with parents to talk about how your child is doing in school. Our goal is to meet with each parent during this time. If you are unable to attend, please reach out to your child's teacher to make alternate arrangements to discuss your child's progress.
As always, please reach out to your child's teacher at any time throughout the year about their progress or for additional support.
Please contact your child’s teacher for alternate arrangements if you cannot attend and any questions or concerns about your child anytime throughout the year, please contact your child’s teacher.
Cedar Trails
Wednesday, October 18 from 4-7 p.m.
Beach Elementary
Tuesday, October 16 from 4-7 p.m.
Cedar View Elementary
Monday, October 16 from 4-7 p.m.
Wednesday, October 18 from 4-7 p.m.
More information will be sent home with students this month.
Elementary PTO Information
All parents are invited to join the Elementary PTO. The PTO meets on the first Monday of the month at 4:30 p.m. in the Cedar Trails Media Center.
Our first meeting will be on Monday, September 11. Parents can visit the PTO Facebook page for more information.
Cedar Trails: Attendance Reminders
School attendance in the early years significantly impacts school achievement and success as students get older. Regular attendance is critical to student success.
If your child misses 10% or more of the total school days, the attendance team at Cedar Trails will contact you to set up a meeting. We will work together to see what areas of support you may need and how we can assist. If attendance problems continue, we must refer to the truancy office at the Kent ISD by state law.
Cedar Trails: PBIS
We have been very intentional about implementing PBIS in our building for the last 4 years. Students know our four school-wide expectations: Kind, Safe, Responsible, and Brave. We teach and reteach these expectations throughout the various areas of our building. Positive behavior is reinforced with “Hawk Squawks” and classes work toward goals of earning a number of hawk squawks for a celebration.
Classroom PBIS is the direct application of schoolwide PBIS in the classroom. Teachers are showing students how we have the same expectations of being kind, safe, responsible, and brave in the daily tasks we do at the classroom level. Each classroom has a matrix that the teacher uses to help reinforce our school wide expectations in each setting of the classroom. For instance, students know how to come to the whole group sitting on the rug in a kind, safe, brave, and responsible way. This consistency throughout their school experience will help guide students to know what is expected of them and to feel the reward of making positive choices.
We encourage you to ask your students how they were kind, safe, responsible, and brave at school each day!
Cedar Trails: Music Memo
The students at Cedar Trails have already learned so much in the music classroom this year! We have been working on feeling the beat in all areas of our bodies through various songs that encourage creative beat motions. For first grade, “Aiken Drum” is a song that I use to reinforce body beats. Students help me brainstorm what foods each of Aiken Drum’s body parts are made out of and then we keep the beat on those body parts as we sing about the food character we’ve created. In the following lesson, we sing about the instruments that Aiken Drum plays on and students are given the chance to learn the names of different percussion instruments and to practice keeping the beat on them.
We have also been exploring the difference between singing and speaking voice. I use many different game songs to assess whether or not students can match pitch in call and response style. We are beginning to explore that music has highs and lows and we will read stories and sing songs that show the highs and lows. We will also transfer short melodies and songs to the xylophones as they lend to visually seeing how music gets high and low. Fall sets the perfect scene for this as we sing songs about the leaves falling to the ground as the melody moves lower and lower.
I encourage you to ask your students about the leaves songs, Aiken Drum, the song we sing as we come into the music room, or just what they like most about music class!
Sing-cerely,
Kym Davis
Cedar Trails: Art and Science Update
Hello from Cedar Trails Room 331, where our youngest Red Hawks have been exploring art and Science!
Over the first weeks of the school year, students have painted, colored, and completed texture rubbings as they've learned about concepts related to Seasons, leaves changing color, and the Sun's energy. We are now exploring feathers and how they help birds survive in extreme environments. We have investigated how birds rely upon their feathers to keep dry, warm, and even hide from predators. Keep on the lookout for colorful, beautiful feathers coming home. If you're lucky, you may even find a Red Hawk feather!
Mr. VanderLugt, aka Mr. Tall
Beach: PBIS Information
Our first monthly PBIS celebration happened on September 29, where each student received a plastic bracelet.
Each month, we celebrate students who showcase our PBIS expectations of Be Safe, Be Respectful, and Be Responsible.
Thank you for reinforcing those expectations at home!
Beach: Music Class Update
In October, students will continue to participate in Education Through Music, which is a curriculum that is designed to teach the fundamentals of music through play. The music games are developed to combine language, movement, social skills, and singing to give a solid musical foundation.
Specifically, second-grade students will learn Muffin Man, Penny Song, Puncenella, Sally Go Round the Sun, Looby Loo, and Clickety Clack. In third grade, students will be learning Puncenella, Liza Jane, Uncle Joe, Clicketly Clack, Ti De Oh, and Hello. For both grades, the activities have a different musical focus, such as beat, rhythm, melody, and pitch. Additionally, there are social and teamwork expectations that grow students into more mature people.
As the month progresses, students from both grades will continue their rhythmic skills by practicing drumming. We will have our first drum circle, which allows each student to play a drum, practicing all of the patterns that we have practiced since the beginning of the year.
Beach: PE Update and Reminders
The past few weeks in PE, we have been working on spatial awareness, good sportsmanship, and locomotor skills through a variety of tag games. We also practice safety, responsibility, and respect for others, ourselves, and the equipment.
The upcoming weeks will focus on throwing and catching various types of balls. Footballs, various sizes of softies, and yarn balls will be used. Most of the games we play in PE use throwing and catching skills combined with movement.
ALL students must wear sneakers in gym class. Other types of shoes (sandals, flip-flops, high heels, etc.) are a safety issue and can create a high risk for injury.
Water bottles filled with water are permitted in PE (No Prime, Gatorade, juice, etc.).
All students are expected to participate. If you have any questions, concerns or if your child needs to be excused from class due to sickness or injury please email Ms. Mumford prior to class.
Beach: Art Class Update
Throughout the month of October, our second graders will be creating art projects based on Asian culture. Kimono’s, traditional plate art, and Chinese vases will be the foundation for learning new art techniques, using new art materials, and learning more about other cultures, art, and history. Our students will be learning to use stamping methods to recreate a traditional kimono on paper, tempera paint to recreate a traditional Japanese Pagoda plate, and markers and oil pastels to design a Chinese vase as we explore the real-life process they take to create.
Our third graders will be building on the skills they learned last year as we explore different types of animals; their characteristics, and habitats. Our first project is creating moving art with a prairie dog. We will be reviewing directional words and perspectives. Our next project is a raccoon that will help us explore how to create night art. We will be utilizing a combination of tempera paint, as well as oil and chalk pastels. New paint techniques will be introduced and we will learn more about proportion, value, and contrast. Our final project for this unit will be a roadrunner. In this project we will dig into the process of creating a movement with our drawings, and also how to use a chalk pastel in different ways to create our composition.
Cedar View: To Scale Solar System to use in Science Class
New Beginnings High students made a model of the solar system to scale. Mrs. Niederer, New Beginnings earth science teacher, assembled with the class their model in our media center! Students will have the opportunity to utilize this model into their science curriculum.
Cedar View: Walk-A-Thon Recap
Cedar View: Fall Reading and Math Night
Cedar View is excited to invite our families to our Fall Reading and Math Night. Come join us on November 9, from 5-6:30 p.m. for hot cocoa, donuts, reading, and math themed activities.
Much more information and RSVP to come!
Welcome Students to our Early Childhood Center
The Early Childhood Center was excited to welcome our preschool students on September 11, they have enjoyed getting settled into an exciting year of learning. Staff and students are building relationships while establishing routines and expectations by implementing the Pyramid Model approach to social emotional learning for young children. This aligns with the PBIS work being done throughout the district.
Early Childhood Center Conferences
Early Childhood conferences will be held in November additional information will be coming home from your child's teacher.
Early Childhood Center Interventionists
Cedar Springs is excited to partner with Early Learning Corps and have three full time interventionists supporting our little learners in literacy and math. These amazing members spend each day in two of our GSRP classrooms and our Full day Tuition preschool.
Students will be able to receive additional support to set them up for success in Kindergarten. Here are some fun activities that you can try at home with your students to help support their learning.
Contact Us
Email: cspstogether@csredhawks.org
Website: https://elementary.csredhawks.org/
Location: 204 East Muskegon Street, Cedar Springs, MI, USA
Phone: 616-696-1204
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/csredhawks
Instagram: @csps_redhawks