Sandia Vista Elementary
Principal Monthly Newsletter - February
Note from Mr. DeSoto
Dear Sandia Vista Elementary Families,
I hope this newsletter finds you well and that the new year is off to a great start for you and your children. As we continue to focus on the safety and well-being of our students, I wanted to provide you with an important update regarding the traffic patterns around our school.
Over the past few weeks, we have been closely monitoring the traffic flow during morning drop-off times. We understand that the current routine has presented some challenges for our families, and we are committed to making improvements where possible.
Our goal is to create a smoother and more efficient drop-off process to ensure the safety of all students and streamline the traffic around the school. We have been working with our Safety & Security team to review our practices.
In the coming weeks, we hope to coordinate with staff members to implement changes that will ease congestion and enhance the overall experience for both parents and students during morning drop-off. We understand the importance of a seamless start to the school day and are committed to finding solutions that benefit our entire school community.
Please stay tuned for further updates as we finalize the details of the proposed adjustments. We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work to enhance the traffic patterns around Sandia Vista Elementary. If you have any specific concerns or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to the office.
Thank you for your continued support in making Sandia Vista Elementary a safe and welcoming environment for our students.
Best regards,
Mr. DeSoto
Principal
Third and Fourth Grade Team members spending last Saturday learning more about math instruction throughout the school year.
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Instruction
Traditional
As a school, we are focusing on fluency in both Reading and Math. Reading every night is essential to improving our reading abilities. The Reading standards we follow are Kindergarten: Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding. 1st Grade: Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. 2nd Grade: Read grade-level text orally and use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. 3rd grade: Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding. 4th Grade & 5th Grade: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
The math standards we follow are Kindergarten: Fluently add and subtract within 5. 1st grade: Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. 2nd Grade: Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. 3rd Grade: Multiply one-digit whole numbers by multiples of 10 in the range 10–90 4th Grade: Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole number, and multiply two two-digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations. 5th Grade: Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.
Montessori
Executive function skills provide critical support for learning and development, and while we aren’t born with these skills, we are born with the potential to develop them through practice. There are three important skills that drive our executive functioning. Working memory — The ability to hold information in mind and use it. Inhibitory control — The ability to master thoughts and impulses so as to resist temptations, distractions, and to think before acting. Cognitive flexibility — The capacity to adjust to changing demands, priorities, or perspectives. These skills help us remember the information we need to complete a task, filter distractions, resist impulses, and sustain attention during an activity; all of which are critical building blocks of learning. Our SVE Classroom environments that support student choice, and challenge students to be active participants to organize and problem solve with peers facilitate developing executive functioning skills.
Here are a few suggestions for enhancing and practicing executive function skills at home with children from early childhood to early adolescence.
Encourage storytelling, make props to act out the stories or create a group story.
Enjoy shopping, planning, and cooking together.
Play age appropriate board games that involve strategy.
Enjoy puzzles, music, singing, and dancing together.
Encourage positive self-talk.
For more information on executive function visit Harvard University Center on the Developing Child
Related Arts
Music
Kinder, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, K/1 and 2/3 Montessori): We are currently learning about the musical stories "Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev and 'Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saëns. In a few weeks we will watch the entire performance in class and students will be encouraged to dress up as if they were attending a live performance. Be on the lookout for a Remind message about the exact day your student will have this experience in music.
3rd Grade: Please make sure you have our Folk Dancing Night on your calendars for Thursday, May 9th. Students will arrive at 6:15pm and the performance will start at 6:30pm in the Kinder Parking Lot. In the meantime, please have your students wear gym shoes on the days they have music - we are doing a lot of dancing in class!
4th Grade and 4th/5th Montessori: Students are about to take their recorders home to practice each week in between music classes. Please help your students remember to bring them back on the correct day. More information will be sent home next week about what they should practice at home.
Library
We are celebrating Black History Month by learning about key figures and events in the Civil Rights Movement.
Black authors and illustrators will be featured throughout the library
Drum roll..... We have a brand new Choose Your Own Adventure section!
Other displays include Jann Brett, Birds, and brand-new books!
Please remind your child to put his library book in his backpack the night before library.
Students who forget their library books are welcome to trade books during open checkout each morning.
Happy Reading!
ART
News from the Art Room!
Students in 2nd - 5th grades have been working hard on creating artworks that could potentially be displayed at Art Shows in the community in the coming months! In February we will be displaying selected artworks at the Sandoval Regional Medical Center. The artwork will be on display starting February 22nd in the hospital with an invite for participating artists sent out to families for the reception on February 27th! The RRPS Elementary District Art Show is also coming in March and students/families will be notified and invited to the reception for that show as well. Amazing things are happening so be sure to ask your student what they have been working on! If you are spring cleaning, art materials donations can be placed in the box that is in the school foyer. We enjoy donations of buttons, ribbons, fabrics, stamps, fancy papers, and other unique items. We do not need old markers, paints or anything like that as we have plenty of those items!
STEAM
Students are learning about energy this month. Kindergarten and first graders have learned about forces (pushes and pulls), light and shadows and sounds and vibrations. Second and third graders learned about force and stored and moving energy and wind energy. They built “hopper poppers” to test pushes and pulls and potential and kinetic energy and are currently
building windmills that can lift a cup. They will be testing their windmills to see how many washers their windmill can lift. Fourth and fifth graders have been learning about circuits. They have been working on Snap Circuit projects and will finish this unit by building a paper circuit with working lights.
Counseling
Nursing Updates
I want to extend a sincere thank you to all the families who have donated to the health office in January. It is so appreciated. Also if you have any old gently used blankets at home we are accepting donations for the health office. All sizes are great!
Please ensure that your students are coming to school in proper attire for the weather. We are still seeing a fair few students who have been coming to school without warm clothes.
Here in the health office we have been seeing A LOT of different illnesses. If your child is seen in the Dr. Office and will be out for at least a couple days, please obtain a Dr. note. This can be sent in through the SVE website under attendance docs or confidential health documents.
Best,
Caroline Jimenez BSN, RN
School Nurse
Attendance, Absences and Tardiness
1. Attendance: After 3 excused or 3 unexcused, consecutive absences, we require a doctor’s note or a conversation with the administration about the absences. *4th "Ill" absence will be marked Unexcused.
2. Vacation: Upon parent/guardian's request, the student's absence record will be reviewed. If a student(s) has less than 5% accumulated absences, up to 3 days can be excused. If the student has 6% or higher accumulated absences, all requested days will be unexcused.
3. Funeral Leave: For immediate family only. 3 days can be excused. If travel out of state is necessary,
up to 5 may be excused.
Definitions:
1. ABSENT means not in attendance for a class or school day for any reason, whether
excused or not; provided that "absent" does not apply to participation in interscholastic
extracurricular activities;
2. EXCUSED ABSENCE means absence from a class or school day for a death in
the family, medical absence, religious instruction or tribal obligations or any other
allowable excuse pursuant to the policies of the local school board;
3. MEDICAL ABSENCE means that a student is not in attendance for a class or a
school day for a parent- or doctor-authorized medical reason or the student is a
pregnant or parenting student;
4. UNEXCUSED ABSENCE means an absence from a class or school day for which
the student does not have an allowable excuse pursuant to the Attendance for
Success Act or policies of the local school board.
Early pick-up: Students will not be released during the last 50 minutes of the day (3:00pm) without permission from the school administration.
A valid ID must be shown before a child will be dismissed.