Steere Farm Elementary School

Happy March! I hope everyone had a fun and restful February break. Students came back ready to learn and fell right back into their school routines nicely.

Our state testing window for RICAS (RI Comprehensive Assessment System) and NGSA (RI Next Generation Science Assessment) begins in April. Students in grades 3-5 will take an ELA and math assessment and students in grade 5 will take the NGSA. More information will be sent home to families prior to testing. In an effort to bring some FUN into test preparation AND introduce the Olympic games to students, staff and students will be participating in a Test Prep Olympics! We will share out highlights as the month progresses.

Please note the following testing dates have been scheduled:

• ELA (grades 3-5): April 9-10

• Math (grade 5): May 1-2

• Math (grades 3-4): May 8-9

• NGSA (Gr. 5 only): May 8-9

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Warm Regards,

Courtney Francis

READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY and DR. SEUSS DAY is MARCH 2!

The National Education Association annually sponsors Read Across America. The focus is on how important it is to motivate children to read, in addition to helping them master basic skills. The nationwide reading celebration takes place each year on or near March 2, the birthday of children's author Dr. Seuss. Thousands of schools, libraries and community centers participate by bringing together kids and books. You can too!

Your reading event can be as simple or elaborate as time and inclination allow. Whether you choose to scale up or down, keep in mind the basic premise and it's almost sure to be a success: On March 2, the National Education Association is calling for every child to be reading in the company of a caring adult.

TIPS FOR READING TO YOUNG SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN:

Your child has started school, but he still needs you to read to him at home. Your child will do better in school, and you'll enjoy the time spent together. Here are helpful tips for reading to and with young children in school, kindergarten through third grade:

• Keep reading to your child even when he can read. Read books that are too difficult or long for him to read alone.

• Try reading books with chapters and talk about what is happening in the story. Encourage your child to make predictions about what will happen next, and connect characters or events to those in other books and stories.

• Talk with your child about reading preferences that are beginning to develop. Ask whether she likes adventure stories, mysteries, science fiction, animal stories, or stories about other children. Encourage her to explain the reasons for preferences.

• Talk with your child about favorite authors and help him find additional books by those authors.

• Take turns reading a story with your child. Don't interrupt to correct mistakes that do not change the meaning.

• Talk about the meaning of new words and ideas introduced in books. Help your child think of examples of new concepts.

• Talk with your child about stories using the notions of the beginning, middle, and end of the story to organize thinking and discussion.

• Ask your child to tell why a character might have taken a specific action. Ask for information from the story to support her answer.

• Enjoy yourself and have fun. The most important thing you can do to help your child become a successful reader is communicate that reading is valuable and enjoyable.

TIPS IN READING TO CHILDREN IN GRADES FOUR TO SIX:

It is critical that your child keeps reading and being read to at this age. Young readers need to become practiced at reading, and the only way to get good at it -- is to practice!

Helpful tips for reading to and with children in grades four through six:

• Take turns reading a book with your child.

• Ask your child to compare a book to another familiar book. How are the characters alike or different? Do the stories take place in similar settings? How are the illustrations the same or different?

ASK:

Ask what part of the story or book your child liked best and why.

Ask if your child liked the ending of the story. Why or why not?

Ask your child what type of mood the story or chapter in a book creates.

Ask how the author creates the mood. For example, does she use certain words, events, or settings that create a particular feeling? If your child has read more than one book by the same author, ask how the books are similar or different.

Source: www.nea.org

• SurveyWorks is a statewide survey sent out annually to students, families, and teachers to hear from Rhode Islanders directly about their experiences in our state's public schools.
• SurveyWorks will be given to all students in grades 3-12, parents, teachers, support professionals and building administrators.
  
• The Rhode Island Family Survey is for all parents to complete. Parents of students receiving special education services will receive a single survey that combines the Rhode Island Family Survey and the Special Education Survey.
  
• Our chosen window is February 26th-March 8th.
• The Rhode Island Family Survey is for all parents to complete. To take the survey, visit: https://surveys.panoramaed.com/ride/ridefamily/surveys. Your feedback is so important to us!

Each month SFE recognizes students who have gone above and beyond to show their 3Rs: Respectful, Responsible and Ready to Learn! Students are nominated by their classroom and/or special subject teachers. Congratulations to our February Student of the Month recipients!

Toodle Tickets continue to be a hit! Students are invited to fill out a Toodle Ticket to give a special shout out to another student who was kind or helpful! At the end of every month, Toodle Tickets are chosen from grades 2-5. These students are then invited to have a special popsicle with Mrs. Francis. Check out the pictures below from our recent Pops with the Principal!

Teachers are nominated by students, who were extremely thoughtful about their nominations! Our February teacher of the month will also be announced on Thursday! Congratulations to Mrs. Colvin, our February Teacher of the Month! Our entire fifth grade class nominated Mrs. Colvin and were ecstatic that she won!

Students continue to participate in a weekly lesson rooted in one of the four Units: Courage, Gratitude, Forgiveness and Compassion in Action; all part of the Choose Love Formula. This month is "March to Your Goals" month!

A copy of the Choose Love calendar was sent home to all families. We hope the calendar is a daily reminder of the small steps we can take daily to Choose Love at home!

This month the multi-age classroom had an amazing science demonstration by “Question Mark.” They learned about many things, but their favorite part was the make and take slime. As you can see the kids had fun with all of the science equipment and supplies.

It was a fun month in second grade! Mrs. Schuyler's class is celebrating Dr. Seuss week with guest readers! Mrs. Hammond and Mr. LaDuke's students were engineers and built towers in science to culminate learning about the properties of solids. Mr. LaDuke's class also measured each other's wrists and heads to compare measurements in math!

Grade 3 students have been learning all about motion in Science class! We began by learning how to build a wheel-and-axle system that will roll from one place to another. Using that information, students have been engineering carts that will meet certain criteria while adhering to constraints like time limits and material restrictions. Students have designed and redesigned carts to roll as far as possible, and have investigated whether variables like friction or start position affect the overall distance. We also experienced a STEM workshop paid for by the PTA where students explored the laws of motion, such as inertia.

Pascoag Utility came in to talk to fourth graders about our energy unit in science. Students learned about renewable and nonrenewable energy, played Energy Jeopardy, and created some posted for the Energy Conservation Contest sponsored by the PUD!

Fifth graders had lots of fun in science investigating how density applies in our daily lives. Special thanks to the parents who donated vegetable oil and pans to help make the lava lamps!

Special thanks to our PBIS team (Mr. LaDuke, Mrs. Dittrich, Mrs. Richards, Mrs. Gould, Mrs. Clark and Mr. Latendresse) for planning a memorable and fun Kindness Week!

Students participated in many fun activities including being paired up for a Secret Kindness Mission! Throughout the week, students secretly decorated classroom doors, made cards & bookmarks, and even sent popsicles and stickers to their sister classroom! On Friday, we had a special meetup to reveal who classes were paired up with! Those classes then enjoyed an activity together.

**Special thanks to all who donated to our toiletries drive! All items were donated to Between the Cracks, a local nonprofit organization working to support Burrillville families.

The next PTA meeting will be Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 at 6:30pm in person in the library or via Zoom.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/2289417724?pwd=RUdZVXhSSzlzYmpreld0QmE4SWZEdz09

Meeting ID: 228 941 7724

Passcode: 4cNchp

Thank you to all the parent volunteers that made indoor recess possible and such a success! The PTA hopes to do it again next winter.

A huge thanks to Heather Reifler for leading this fundraiser, that exceeded our fundraising goal of $3,000 by bringing in just over $4,500!! We appreciate all the families that continue to work hard fundraising to support the students and staff of Steere Farm!

Congratulations to Mr. LaDuke’s classroom!! They won the cookie and milk party for selling the most as a class. The top fundraising student was Roger Mancone III who will receive a gift card to Crumbl Cookies. Congrats, Roger!!

Mark your calendars, pick up will be Friday, March 15th from 3:30-4:30pm and 6-7pm at the front entrance of Steere Farm. Please email Heather Reifler at reiflerh@yahoo.com if you need to set up an alternative pickup time.

The book fair will take place March 22nd - March 27th. Ms. Adams needs the PTA’s support by supplying volunteers to set up and breakdown the book fair in the library and assist students with shopping. Please sign up by clicking this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084AABAC2CA0FAC61-48274783-steere

Save the date! The dance will be held Friday, May 3rd at Crystal Lake Golf Club! Registration will be required by Friday, April 12th and absolutely no registrations will be accepted after that date. A flyer will be sent home by April 1st and it will also be communicated in subsequent newsletters and on Facebook.

Please support the PTA by picking up dinner from Chipotle in Greenville on Wednesday, March 20th between 4-8pm! See attached flyer (below) for details.

March 4: BHS VAASA Club Visit (grades 4-5)

March 4: "Tooth Fairy" Visit (grade 2)

March 6: PTA Meeting @ 6:30 p.m.

March 11: End of Trimester 2

March 13: Student of the Month Family Ceremony @ 8:25 a.m.

March 13: School Improvement Team Meeting @ 3:30 p.m.

March 20: Smoothie Bike @ Lunch!

March 20: PTA Restaurant Night @ Chipotle (4-8 p.m.)

March 21: Hearing Screening

March 21: Report Cards Available for Viewing

March 21: Rock Your Socks Day

March 22: Rooster Games (grade 5)

March 25-27: Scholastic Spring Book Fair

March 28: No School - Professional Development Day & Parent/Teacher Conferences

March 29: No School - Good Friday

April 2: No School - Primary Day