The Pioneer Post

Hello to our Pioneer Families!

It has been truly delightful to step outside for pick-up duty this week without needing a coat, with the exception of the yesterday with all that rain and wind! I am sure the teachers and staff would agree that allowing the students to enjoy recess outdoors has been a tremendous relief during this time.

It is hard to believe that we have already surpassed our second round of parent-teacher
conferences. The progress and growth observed in our students have been remarkable, and
conferences gave our students and their families another glimpse of their success. Our elementary team is looking forward to the next eleven weeks of the school year as they will be filled with new learning opportunities mixed with a few extra fun activities for our students.

Here's to many more sunny days!

~ Mrs. Horstman

We are excited for our students to participate in Read Across America Week on March 10th - 12th! The following dress up days have been planned:

• Monday, March 10th - Snuggle Up with a Good Book - Put on your favorite pair of pajamas!
• Tuesday, March 11th - Top Hat Tuesday - Wear a hat to school!
• Wednesday, March 12th - Reading Gives You a Bright Future - Dress in neon colors from head to toe!

• Morning breakfast ends at 8:00 am. It is It is challenging for students to eat their full meal when they arrive at 7:55 am. Please help ensure your child is arriving to school with adequate time to eat, so they can start their learning when the school day begins at 8 am.
• If your child has alternate pick up plans after school, please contact the office so the message can be relayed to the classroom teacher. It is also helpful when you send an additional message through SeeSaw to the student's teacher.
• Parents, the bus lane needs to remain open for the buses. Please refrain from parking in the bus lane until after the buses have left school property.
• Please remind your child to utilize the side of the vehicle that is closest to the school sidewalk when entering or exiting a vehicle.

Kindergarten Round Up will now be held on Friday, April 25th and Friday, May 2nd at Fort Calhoun Elementary School. Kindergarten students will not be in session on these two days. There will be more information sent home in the next few weeks to preschool families.

Additionally, we have moved field day to Friday, May 9th. This event will now be hosted at the high school track and field.

March is "Music in Our Schools Month"! The purpose of MIOSM is to raise awareness of the importance of music education for all children-and to remind citizens that school is where all children should have access to music. In music class, Miss Knorr and students will be celebrating MIOSM by identifying how music affects us, learning about different careers and genres in music, participating in a music themed March Madness bracket, learning about different staff member's music experiences, and identifying ways to get involved in music outside school.

• March 7th - Donuts with Mom
• March 10th - 12th - Read Across America Week
• March 10th - PBIS 3rd Quarter Celebration
• March 10th - Literally Awesome Book Event (5:00 - 7:00 pm)
• April 17th - Spring Music Concert
• April 25th - Kindergarten Round Up (more information to come)
• May 2nd - Kindergarten Round Up (more information to come)
• May 9th - Field Day

The PBIS team has been working hard to plan our next quarterly celebration. Students will have the opportunity to play 10 different Minute to Win It games. In order to participate in the celebration, students will need to meet the following criteria:

• Students (preschool - 1st grade) with 3 or less PowerSchool logs (which includes bus write ups) will get to attend the PBIS student recognition event.

• Students (2nd - 6th grade) with 8 or less demerits (which includes bus write ups) will get to attend the PBIS student recognition event.

Preschool

• Reading: We will be learning about the letters R, K, A and M. We will continue to practice rhyming words and syllables. When reading stories, we will talk about the author and illustrator.
• Writing: Preschoolers will practice writing letters R, K, A and M. We will continue to write our name and begin to write our last name. We will copy environmental print when making season pictures.
• Math: Preschool will practice pointing and counting to numbers 1-10, identifying numbers 9 and 10 and sorting objects in a new way.

Kindergarten

• Reading: Phonemic Awareness: Letter Sounds /g/ /w/ /x/ /v/ /j/ /q/. Sight Words: of, they, said, want, here, me. Comprehension Skills: Problem/solution, retell. Grammar: Verbs, Past tense verbs.
• Writing: Handwriting: Zig Zag Letters
• Math: 3 Dimensional Shapes, Count to 100
• Social Studies: Learning About the Past
• Science: Needs of Living Things

1st Grade

• Reading: Long e spelled with an -e and -ey, compound words, base words, details and time order
• Writing: Writing sentences with adverbs that tell when , using our senses to write about spring
• Math: Subtracting within 100
• Social Studies: Symbols and traditions of the United States

2nd Grade

• Reading: Sequencing Events in a story, Understanding the Problem and Solution, Reading Biographies
• Writing: Using correct punctuation in sentences, Understanding and using Sentence Structure, Forming and Writing a Personal Narrative
• Math: 3-Digit Addition with Regrouping, 3-digit Subtraction with Regrouping, Interpreting Data (graphs)
• Social Studies: Understanding our Basic Human Needs and Wants, Roles of Producers and Consumers and how it affects our daily life
• Science: What causes erosion? What are the effects of erosion? Project - How to protect the paper house from a flood

3rd Grade

• Reading: Cause and Effect, Character's Perspective, Author's Purpose
• Writing: Possessive Pronouns, Inflectional Endings, Pronoun-Verb Agreement, Opinions
• Math: Perimeter, Measurement and Data
• Social Studies: Land and Water Forms
• Science: Weather

4th Grade

• Reading: Our readers will be reading realistic fiction stories while analyzing character development and the use of foreshadowing in the plot to be able to identify the conflict in a plot and predict what will happen next.
• Writing: Students will finish wrapping up an opinion writing piece about their favorite season. Once that is completed, students will continue to build writing stamina with prompt writing and practice using the writing process.
• Math: Our mathematicians will continue to work on multiplying mixed numbers by a whole number. They will continue to explore multiple strategies such as, models, fraction strips and number lines. Next, we will work on representing fractions as decimals.
• Social Studies: Our 4th grade historians will be studying the changes made in our state as it continued to grow in the 1900s. We'll learn about Wild West Shows, challenges farmers faced and impactful leaders during that time.
• Science: These 4th grade scientist are finishing up their hazardous weather reports and are going to be moving on to human body systems. They will be able to explain the structures of the human body and how they function to help us survive.

5th Grade

• Reading: I can interpret and apply figurative language. I can use context clues to make inferences about text. I can use my grade level vocabulary words in my own correct, complete sentences. I can summarize my grade level text.
• Writing: Students are researching countries around the world and are creating a presentation on their country.
• Math: I can convert between standard and metric units of length, mass, and capacity.
• Social Studies: Students are learning about how our constitution was created.
• Science: I can identify and describe endotherms, ectotherms, and how metabolism works.

6th Grade

• Reading: Biographies and Author's Point of View
• Writing: Pronouns and Antecedents
• Math: Relationship between two-variables and the area
• Social Studies: We will be jumping into the world of Ancient Greece. We will be learning first about the Minoans and Mycenaeans, then the Trojan War, Greek City-States, Governments of Greece, and the culture of Ancient Greece. We are also working on our topography skills and creating a map of Ancient Greece.
• Science: SCIENCE! Whacky crazy inventions are all centered around energy. We will be learning the basics of energy, what it is, how it works, calculating energy, and the many different forms of energy! Our goal is to eventually work towards creating an energy contraption called a Rube Goldberg Machine.