December
Hello families,
Trimester 1 has come to a close. We are excited about the progress our students are making academically & socially. We played grade level bingo to celebrate all the great accomplishments of our students. Report cards will be sent home in your child's backpack on December 18. They will also be sent electronically through our Skyward System.
Thank you families for sharing your children with us. They are brilliant and inquisitive learners. They shine bright every day!
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Watch for reminders on all of these events in your students' Seesaw account
- Dec. 16-20 - Great Theater here for fifth grade students
- Dec. 18 - Report Cards sent home
- Dec. 20 - 5th grade performance in the gym - parents/families are invited to come.
- Dec.20 - Pizza with the principal
- Dec. 23-Jan. 1 - Winter break - No School
Measles Awareness
Minnesota is currently experiencing a measles outbreak. Measles is a serious disease caused by a virus that spreads through coughing, breathing, and sneezing. Measles can spread easily, especially in schools, so it’s important to know how to prevent it and what to do if someone in your home gets sick.
The measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe and effective and is the best way to protect against measles. If your child is exposed to measles and is not fully vaccinated, they could be asked to remain home from school for 21 days or longer, regardless of if your child has an exemption on file.
Please see below for more information:
If you are unsure if your child has received their MMR vaccines, please contact your child’s health care provider or school nurse. If your child needs to receive MMR or other vaccines, please contact your child’s health care provider, Stearns County Public Health at 320-203-6942 or any pharmacy. If your child does not have a health care provider, please see below for a few of our local clinics:
CentraCare Pediatrics: 320-654-3610
Sartell Pediatrics: 320-281-3339
Simplicity Health: 320-227-5000
St. Cloud Pediatrics: 320-227-5010
Williams Integracare: 320-251-2600
November students of the month:
Maryama Abdirahaman Alex Woodward Najma Omar Habsa Mohamed Marlon Cruz Rodriguez Ondina Stang Mohamed Mohamed Imran Abdi Ismar Merida Ella Whalen Sabrin Abdi Alivia Corley Safa Mohamed Chloe Conard Jibrel Mahamud Darlyn Barillas- Palencia Matthew Nieves Ethan Okumu Jerenis Rivera Hernandez Diduar Lopez Lopez Gael Jose Ramos De Los Santos Abdurehman Muktar Maebel Linn Hudayfe Abdirahman
Hello from Kindergarten!
Dear Kindergarten Families,
We have been enjoying a wonderful fall season filled with learning and playing in kindergarten! The children have been working diligently to establish their school routines and learn what it means to be a good friend. This month, we learned about both Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving while focusing on the importance of gratitude. Each day, we see how thankful we are for one another as we work together in our classroom community.
We also held our first fall parent-teacher conferences, which went really well! It was wonderful to connect with so many of you and share the amazing progress your children have made.
As the cold weather has already started, we kindly ask for your support in ensuring that your child has proper winter gear, including snow pants, a warm jacket, boots, gloves, and a hat. Additionally, please practice at home how to put on snow pants, zip up jackets, and buckle boots independently. These skills help your child feel confident and prepared for outdoor play and will make transitions smoother at school.
Your kindergarteners have been making great progress in developing their phonemic awareness, which is the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in spoken words. We’ve been identifying rhyming words (e.g., bat, cat, mat) and recognizing the beginning and ending sounds in words. Additionally, we are continuing to practice identifying and writing the names of letters.
In math, we recently completed Unit 3, where we explored the attributes of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. We also learned how to add numbers within five. Moving forward, we will be diving into subtraction within five and further building our number sense.
Looking ahead, we will continue practicing how to identify sound words in stories, use pictures and sounds to visualize a story, and write about sound words. These activities not only strengthen phonemic awareness but also encourage creative thinking and comprehension skills.
We are so proud of the growth your children have made so far and look forward to the wonderful learning opportunities ahead in kindergarten!
With love,
Your Kindergarten Teachers
1st GRADE
Happy December!
In math, we are finishing up Unit 2 and moving on to Unit 3 skills. We will be solving word problems up to 20, comparing numbers, collecting and organizing data, true and/or false equations, finding missing numbers, and learning many new math vocabulary words to help explain our thinking.
We will continue to ask to help connect school to home by writing numbers up to 120, skip count by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s, counting backwards from smaller and larger numbers, and ordering numbers from least to greatest.
In reading, we will be working through Unit 2 of our Wonders curriculum! Each week will discuss different questions that guide our exploration in learning. We will cover topics like focusing on where animals live together, how people can help out in their community, and how to use maps to find their way around town. We will wrap up with a writing unit before winter break and students will be writing their very own fantasy story!
In science and social studies, we have been finishing up our civics unit, and our science units on sound and light. This month we will be talking about economics and finishing sound and light. We will also have a week full of gingerbread fun!
We are entering Trimester 2 and can’t wait to continue to see your students grow! We do go outside for recess as long as the temperature is above 0℉ so please make sure your child has warm winter gear including snow pants, snow boots, hats, waterproof gloves, and a warm coat. If you need help with this, let your teacher know!
Happy Holidays!
-Mrs. Edwards
-Ms. Aden
-Ms. Karls
-Ms. Klimpel
-Mrs. McDonald
The Second Grade Scoop
Can you believe we are already ⅓ of the way done with the school year?! Trimester 1 ends on November 26th. Your teacher has been busy entering grades for report cards, which will be sent out mid-December.
READING: We have been studying animals and writing about facts we learned. Our essential question in reading is: ‘What can animals in stories teach us?’ Your child should also be able to tell you what a fable is. Please keep encouraging your child to read at home each day for at least 20 minutes. That could include their library books or books you have at home. After reading, have your child tell you about the characters, setting, problem, and solution in the story. If the book is informational, have students share facts they learned after reading.
MATH: We have been working hard understanding how to add and subtract two-digit numbers. We learned many different strategies that can be used. In our next lesson, we will apply those strategies to solve one-step word problems by adding and subtracting two-digit numbers. Then, we move into money and time and that will wrap up unit 2.
Be sure your student is wearing a winter coat, hat, and gloves every day. When there is snow, they should also be bringing winter boots and snow pants.
Second Grade Teachers,
Mrs. Brown, Ms. Dummer, Ms. Smith, Mrs. Street
3rd GRADE
3rd GRADE
Happy December! As we move into a new month, we want to encourage you to continue asking your child about what they are learning at school.
Through December we will be learning multiplication in math. It is helpful if students are practicing their multiplication facts, skip counting, drawing arrays, and doing repeated addition; all of which are strategies for solving multiplication problems.
Students should be reading for at least 20 minutes each night. We have been learning about expository text the last several weeks and learning about the importance of voting. The next few weeks will be focused on looking at the elements of historical fiction. We continue to work on phonics skills everyday using our Essentials program.
We go outside for 20-minutes of recess each day. Please be sure your child has a warm jacket, snowpants, boots, a hat, and gloves or mittens. If you need help with any of these supplies, please get in touch with your child's classroom teacher.
All the best from the 3rd grade team!
Ms. Ewaysi, Ms. Quimby, Ms. Rowell, and Ms. Kremer
4th GRADE
Hello! ¡Hola!, Salaan, 問候
December is just around the corner! Winter is here, and we can definitely feel it outside. Please make sure your child comes to school each day with a coat, hat, gloves or mittens, snowpants, and boots.
We said goodbye to one of our EL teachers, Ms. Reyes, as she is heading over to support the growing population of EL students at Apollo High School. We will miss her very much, but we are excited to welcome Ms. Oswald in her place!
Reading:
In Phonics we will continue learning about spelling patterns. We will read and spell sounds and words. We will also learn about suffixes, or letters that are added to the end of a word that change the meaning of the word.
Language Arts:
Over the next few weeks, we will be investigating the questions, “How do animal characters change familiar stories?” and, “How are writers inspired by animals?” We will find the themes of stories, recognize how characters change throughout a story, and understand hyperbole (exaggeration).
Math:
We are currently finishing up Unit 2 in iReady on multiplication and division skills. Next, we will work on Unit 3. We will continue multiplying and dividing, but we will work with bigger numbers. If you are looking to support your child’s math skills at home, ask them to help you with measuring as you cook and calculate prices as you shop. Find where you do math in your daily life and get your child involved!
Reading at Home:
Please encourage your child to read for 20 minutes each night! Whether it’s reading to you, a sibling, or even the family pet, every bit helps to build their skills. Also, to ensure they’re well-rested and ready to learn each day, try having your child turn off devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
Our goal as a school is building upon our vocabulary so we are working hard at developing vocabulary in all our subject areas as well. Our students write their daily learning in their agendas so that would be a good starting point for them to share their learning with you, this can help their language develop as well!
We hope you and your families are all doing well and are enjoying the cool weather!
Your 4th Grade Team -
Ms. Dingman, Ms. Burrows, Ms. Walz, Ms. Junes, Ms. Lopez, Ms. Reyes, and Ms. Janda
5th GRADE
Hello 5th Grade Families!
We hope this newsletter finds you well and filled with joy. We are thrilled to share that our students have been diving into historical fiction, sparking their imaginations and fostering a love for reading. Additionally, they have been exploring new topics in science, expanding their knowledge and curiosity. We are so proud of our 5th graders and the hard work they are doing in math. Their dedication and perseverance are truly commendable, and we look forward to seeing their continued growth in this subject. As winter approaches, please remember to send your child with appropriate winter gear. Items such as jackets, hats, boots, and mittens are essential for keeping our students warm during outdoor recess.
Thanks,
The 5th Grade Team