Hornets' Nest News

Please note that the following events are scheduled as listed, however, are subject to change.

• Monday, 5/5-5/9: CRES Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week
• Monday, 5/5-5/23: CAASPP/Smarter Balanced Assessment 3rd-8th Grade
• Thursday, 5/8: TK-8th Grade Mt. Shasta Park Science Day w/Mr. Birch
• Friday, 5/9: Monthly Awards Assembly at 9:15 AM
• Wednesday, 5/14: Minimum Day- Dismissal @ 1:00 PM
• Friday, 5/16: Open House Spaghetti Dinner & Art Show 5:00-7:00 PM (Flyer will be sent home soon)
• Monday, 5/19: MVL Track Meet- Time to be determined
• Monday, 5/19-Friday, 5/30: iReady End of Year Diagnostic Window for K-8th Grade
• Tuesday, 5/20:
• i-Ready Mid-Year Achievement Reward Bowling Trip K-8 from 10:00-1:45 (Only those that earned the reward will be attending)
• LCAP Parent Meeting at 3:00 PM
• Wednesday, 5/21: Minimum Day- Dismissal @ 1:00 PM
• Friday, 5/23: Possible School Closure Make-up Day/Minimum Day
• Monday, 5/26: No School- Memorial Day
• Tuesday, 5/27: Possible School Closure Make-up Day/Minimum Day
• Wednesday, 5/28: 6th-8th Grade Science Field Trip to Mt. Shasta Fish Hatchery
• Thursday, 5/29: CRES Athletic Awards Breakfast at 9:30 AM, All of our sports athlete's families are invited to attend
• Wednesday, 6/4:
• Minimum Day- Dismissal at 1:00 PM
• End of Year Water/Carnival Day- 9:00-11:30 (Students & Staff Only) Student need to wear clothes and shoes that can get wet and bring a change of clothes (clothes, socks, & shoes)
• Family Lunch on the Lawn 11:45-12:30 (Families Invited)
• Thursday, 6/5:
• Minimum Day- Dismissal at 1:00 PM
• 8th Grade Graduation at 5:30 PM
• Friday, 6/6:
• End of Year/Monthly Awards Assembly at 9:15 AM
• Minimum Day- Dismissal at 1:00 PM
• Last Day of School
• Monday, 6/9-Monday, 6/30: Summer Camp- Session One
• Thursday, 6/19: No Summer Camp- Juneteenth Holiday
• Tuesday, 7/1-Tuesday, 7/22: Summer Camp- Session 2
• Friday, 7/4: No Summer Camp- July 4th Holiday

All Fridays are Spirit Days- Wear your Castle Rock Elementary Spirit Shirts!

Here is a link to our May and June Breakfast/Lunch Menus: https://5il.co/3eu14

Here is a link to the 2025-2026 School Year Calendar: https://5il.co/3fwno

Other events may occur that are not yet scheduled, but we will keep you posted.

Mrs. Rames has decided that after 33 years of teaching and being a school administrator it is time to retire. She will be with us here at Castle Rock until the end of June. Mrs. Rames stated that she is so happy to have spent her last few year in education here at Castle Rock building amazing relationships with our students and families. She is looking forward to spending more time with her family and going on adventures such as trips throughout the United States and of course fulfilling a lifelong dream of staying in a castle in Ireland. She would like to thank all of the Castle Rock students, staff, families and community for making her time here such a memorable one.

We are happy to announce that we have been able to hire an amazing new Superintendent/Principal, Mrs. Rachel Wolmar. Mrs. Wolmar comes to Castle Rock with over two decades of experience in both teaching and school administration. Most recently as the principal of Mt. Shasta High School. She has a unique qualification that makes her a perfect fit for our amazing small school in that she attended Castle Rock Elementary from 2nd-8th Grade. This provides her a deep-rooted appreciation for our school and community. She has an understanding of the special nature that our small school has, where relationships and teamwork are the foundations for success. She looks forward to leading our school and district and is committed to fostering a culture of collaboration, transparency, and excellence, where every student’s individual needs are met, and every voice is valued.

Castle Rock is now accepting enrollment applications for the 2025-2026 school year! If you have a student that you would like to enroll, please contact our school office at 530-235-0101. Also, if you know of a family with children that would to attend Castle Rock, please send them our way. See flyer for more details.

Find below pictures of some of the activities from the month of April.

Our next Monthly Awards Assembly will be held on Friday, May 9th at 9:15 AM in our school cafeteria. A parent invitation letter were sent home to the parents of the students that will be receiving awards the Friday prior to Spring Break.

Student of the Month Awards

One student from each class is chosen by their teacher as Student of the Month for working hard on exhibiting both the Monthly Value and our Positive Behavior Expectations. Student of the Month Award winners will receive a certificate, a small trophy, and a book of their choice at the assembly.

Our Student of the Month Winners for the month of March that will receive their award on May 9th are:

TK-K: Bear Ortega-Dumlao

1st-2nd Grade: Muira Nicora

3rd-5th Grade: Wesley Poole

6th-8th Grade: Kenzie Johnson

The students pictured below are the Student of the Month Award Winners from March that received their awards on April 4th.

Monthly Perfect Attendance Awards are given to students that were able to attend school every day for the entire month. These students will receive a certificate, pencil, and a perfect attendance brag tag. We encourage perfect attendance on a regular basis as "the more students are here, the more they will learn".

Our April Perfect Attendance Award Winners that will receive their award on Friday, May 9th are:

Keanan Ball, Blake Bonifield, Chris Bonifield, Braelynn Borba, Navara Gonzalez, Madison Goodrich, Kenzie Johnson, Orion Riddle, Elijah Smith, Ezra Smith, Aiden Stout, and Kayson Stout.

The students pictured below are the Perfect Attendance Award Winners from March that received their award on April 4th.

Pictured below are the 2nd Trimester Award Winners that received their awards on April 4th. All other grades received their 2nd Trimester Awards at the Monthly Awards Assembly in March.

Reading: We have been working hard all year on letter identification and the basic sounds they make. This month we have started focusing on letter combination sounds like blends (bl, tr..), digraphs (sh, ch..), and long vowels (ea, ee..).

• How to help your child: create a set of alphabet flashcards and review the names of letters and the sounds they make. We focus more on lowercase letters now because that is most of what we use to write with.

Math: We are working on basic addition and subtraction, and counting to 30. Right now we are trying to become more familiar with counting from a specific number rather than starting at 1 every time. It is much faster to start 5+3 at 5 and just count 6,7,8.

• How to help your child: practice counting up to 30 and back again. Counting backwards is very helpful for learning subtraction. You can also practice doing basic addition and subtraction problems with your fingers.

Gardening: We are trying to get out in the garden a little bit every day. Students learned about all the different requirements plants and animals need to survive, and now we are putting that into practice. As the students take care of their plants they develop a sense of stewardship and responsibility that helps them feel accomplished and successful.

Raising Medakas: Our students are learning about different categories of animals (mammal, reptile, fish, bird, insect, arachnid) and their life cycles. We have been raising Medaka, also known as Japanese Rice Fish, which are a type of small fish that are often raised in Japanese schools. These fish stay very small, getting to only about 1 inch max, and can tolerate a wide range of temperatures. We observed the development of the eggs under the microscope, and are currently learning about how to take care of the fry (baby fish).

• How to help your child: Ask them questions about what they have learned in school, and express genuine interest and enthusiasm in what they are telling you! Their love of learning is really the most important thing at this age.

Reading for 1st Grade the concepts being addressed this month will be:

• Words with ar or, er, ir, & ur (Example: change cat to /ar/= cart, cod /or/= cord, etc.) and substituting vowel sound with ar, or, er, ir, & ur (Example: pot /ar/= part, farm /or/= form, etc.).
• Blending routine of blending sound and then pronounce the word (Example: sh...or -> shore).
• Vowel diagraphs/spelling patterns using the diagraphs oo (soon), ou (soup), and ew (new).

Examples of the phonemes being address each week can be found on the cover sheet in the spelling word section of the Weekly Homework Packet that is sent home every Monday.

Reading for 2nd Grade the concepts being addressed this month will be:

• Words with the suffixes of -y, -ly, -ful
• Final syllables of -tion and -ture
• Prefixes re-, un-, over-, pre-, and mis-
• Words with au, aw, ai, o, a.

Examples of the phonemes being address each week can be found on the cover sheet in the spelling word section of the Weekly Homework Packet that is sent home every Monday.

Reading for both Grades:

The best way to help at home is to ensure that your child reads daily for at least 15-30 minutes, practices the flashcards (sent home each Monday with their weekly homework packet) each day, and test them on their weekly spelling and flashcard words for the week each Thursday.

Math for 1st Grade the concepts being addressed the month will be:

• Counting, reading, & writing numerals to 120
• Adding and subtracting tens
• Using strategies to add and subtract within 20
• Solving story problems by using addition and subtraction within 20
• Adding three numerals to solve story problems

Math for 2nd Grade the concepts being addressed this month will be:

• Solving problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies using $ and cent signs.
• Subtraction within 200
• Subtraction using Place Value
• Solving 1-2 step word problems using addition within 100

Math for both Grades:

The best way to help at home is to ensure that your child completes their math homework packet worksheets on the day that they are assigned . These homework sheets coincide with what is taught either day of or the day before and as such are a good reflection of what concepts are being taught in the class for the week. Check their answers on the math homework sheet and help them learn the concepts if they are struggling in finding answers.

Social Studies for both 1st and 2nd Grade the concepts being addressed this month will be:

• May 5-9: The Geography of California- What is California like?
• May 12-16: Our Community- What is our Community like?
• May 19-23: Calendars- How do you use a calendar to measure time?
• May 26-30: Changes Over Time- How do people and places change over time?

Throughout the week ask your student what they have learned about the concept being addressed for that week and at the end of the week ask them the question above for that week to see how much they have learned.

Homework Information:

For both 1st and 2nd grade students a homework packet including flashcards (Vocabulary and High Frequency Words) is sent home every Monday that has assignments for each day Monday-Thursday. Students should be completing each day' assigned work on the day indicated. The homework packet works on skills being addressed each day in school on that day and helps to prepares them for the weekly Reading and Math assessments on Fridays.

Classroom Activities that our class will be participating in this month:

• Robotics
• School Garden
• Dioramas of "Wild Robot" book
• CAASPP/Smarter Balanced Assessment
• Science Field trip to Mt. Shasta City Park with Mr. Birch

English Language Arts concepts being addressed this month will be:

Our class will be working on writing a narrative essay and opinion writing this month. We will also be working on comprehension skills when reading informational text.

Math concepts being addressed this month will be:

• 3rd Grade: Students will be working on fractions. Understanding that a fraction is equal parts of a whole, equivalent fractions, and comparing fractions by reasoning about their size.
• 4th Grade: Students will be working on area and volume. Measure the area of rectangular shapes by using appropriate units, such as square centimeter (cm2), square meter (m 2), square kilometer (km 2), square inch (in 2), square yard (yd2), or square mile (mi 2).
• 5th Grade: Students will be working on graphing and volume. Use information taken from a graph or equation to answer questions about a problem situation. Use information taken from a graph or equation to answer questions about a problem situation.

Other Academic concepts being addressed this month will be:

• Science we will be learning about Native California Indian Tribes.
• Social Studies/History we will be learning about ocean ecosystems.

How can parents help their students or our class this month:

• Make sure students get plenty of rest and have an early bedtime.
• Limit screen time and have students read instead.
• Ask students what was their favorite thing that happened or something they learned at school each day!

Fun Classroom Activities that our class will be participating in this month are:

• Recycled Art Project to be displayed in the school's Art Show on Open House Night.
• 3 Field Trips- Mts. Shasta Headwaters, Fish Hatchery, and Crags Hike

English Language Arts concepts being addressed this month will be:

• Huge focus on getting prepared for the CAASPP/Smarter Balanced Assessment.
• Reading "The Wild Robot" for 6th novel our class has read this school year.

Math concepts being addressed this month will be

• Focusing on grade level math standards review for the CAASPP/Smarter Balanced Assessment

Science concepts being addressed this month will be:

• Life science topics, such as cell functions in human body and the digestion system

How can parents help their students this month:

• Help students with their Recycled Art Project
• Ensure that students are reading 20 minutes daily at home and that the reading log is completed.

May is a time for reflection and celebration about what was learned. Just like completing a marathon when the finish line is in sight, ending the school year strong creates a sense of accomplishment; it sets students up for success in the next grade.

Here is a great video regarding the importance of school attendance from the Shasta County Office of Education/Reach Higher Shasta: https://youtu.be/6Iq_OiQ8B4c

With the end of the school year quickly approaches, I wanted to write a brief farewell. As you may know by now, I will be retiring at the end of June, so will not be returning next school year. Before I depart, I want to say a few things:

First and foremost, I want to say thank you- from the bottom of my heart! Having served as the school/district leader at Castle Rock for the last few years I have been truly blessed to get to know each of your children and families. While being an educator can be challenging at times being able to work in such a welcoming and wonderful place made each day meaningful. I have been excited each day to get to see our students. All of which will hold a special place in my heart. I wish each of them, and all of you, success in the future!

I have had the chance to have several conversations with Superintendent/Principal Wolmar and I am thrilled that she will be your next school leader. She has a track record of success and is committed to a student first educational approach. I have great confidence that she is the leader that Castle Rock needs to move the school and community to the next level of greatness.

I look forward to seeing all of our families and students at our upcoming end of the school year events. I know that our students have excelled this school year and will do well on their end of the year CAASPP/Smarter Balanced Assessment for 3rd-8th grade (May 5th-16th) and iReady End of Year Diagnostic for K-8th grade (May 19th-30th). Please encourage your student to attend school each day during our testing weeks and try the very best on these assessments as their results help the district/school plan to provide instruction that best meet our student's needs. I look forward to seeing the results and progress that each of our students have made.

Thank you all for the honor and privilege of serving as the Superintendent/Principal the past few year. I wish you all health, happiness, and endless success in the future.

Castle Rock Elementary School

29373 Main St.

Castella, CA 96017

530-235-0101

Find us on Facebook: Castle Rock School-Castella