TIme has been flying by at Maple Elementary and I cannot believe we already find ourselves smack in the middle of the holiday season. Teachers and students are working hard to finish out this first semester strong. Students are starting their end of quarter assessments and we are excited to see how much growth they have made so far this year. Here are some November highlights:

1. We hosted our second assembly on November 26th honoring so many of our amazing students. We also celebrated the success of our fundraiser with some silly string shenanigans.
2. All students at Maple participated in career day exploring different options around our community and beyond.
3. We celebrated our amazing substitute educators on National Substitute Educator Day with a sub sandwich lunch. We don't know what we would do without them!

Dr. Taylor Jahn, Principal, jahnt@smithville.k12.mo.us

Mrs. Abbey Meyer, Assistant Principal, meyera@smithville.k12.mo.us

We are continuing to work really hard in the Innovation Lab! We have really been developing our engineering and problem solving skills this quarter as well as working on our technology skills. Second Grade has been working on computer programming.

Looking ahead …

Warrior Preschool/Early Childhood

We will continue looking at patterns, building patterns, and continuing the pattern.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten students have started to learn about the skills engineers use to solve problems. We will wrap up our engineering unit by building a toy that moves using a push or pull.

First Grade

First grade students will wrap up our technology skills and all the special keys on the keyboard. We are composing a Google Doc letter to give to our teacher.

Second Grade

Students in second grade are continuing our computer programming unit. This month we will learn about using loops in our programs.

Third Grade

Third grade students will be wrapping up our simple machine skate parks which is an engineering project.

Fourth Grade

Students will spend the rest of the quarter working on our Battlebots project, an engineering project.

Fifth Grade

Students in Mrs. Greenfield’s class have started to work on our Tiny House Projects and are learning to think about others’ needs while building. We will start adding in 3D printed furniture that we will design to scale for our houses.

Sixth Grade

This group of Engineering and Design students are doing an amazing job! We will have a showcase the last day of the quarter. Hope you can make it!

Flyer here!

Your student will be bringing home a Screen Free Bingo card, help them practice good media balance by completing as many activities as they can on the card. Turn back into Mrs. Freeman by January 10 for a prize!

You can see more by following our journey on twitter: @sara_freeman, instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mes_tech_and_innovation_lab , facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MESTechandInnovationLab

Pre K - Our Preschoolers will continue to learn more about our station work! They have been working super hard at balancing, jumping, and moving in control.

K - Our Kinders have been moving around and being safe in PE class. They will start to work on movement stations as they continue to learn different ways to move our body.

1st - They will start to work on movement stations as they continue to learn different ways to move our body

2nd - These students have been getting really strong! We are moving into our basketball activities. We will start off by learning how to dribble in control and work on passing to a target or a classmate.

3rd - These students have been getting really strong! We are moving into our basketball activities. We will start off by learning how to dribble in control and work on passing to a target or a classmate.

4th-6th - Our older students are moving into basketball. We are first working on being in control with the ball, especially when moving around. They are also learning different games we can play with the basketball like around the world, H-O-R-S-E, and dribble knockout.

Warrior Preschool/Early Childhood -

We will be practicing our steady beat skills by moving, playing instruments, and singing. We are going to continue doing winter music activities and explore new types of movement with classical music, such as Vivaldi’s “Winter”.

K -

Kindergarten students will be exploring our musical opposites using classical music and winter activities. We will have fun movement activities where we will pretend to “ice skate” or be “snowflakes in a snowstorm”. Students will also be practicing their steady beat skills on drums and other classroom instruments.

1-

1st graders are hard at work on their music program Over and Under the Snow. We will be performing this program on Wednesday, December 11th at 6 pm in the Maple Gymnasium.

2-

2nd graders are learning about the Baroque Period of music. We will be discussing different Baroque composers and their music, such as Vivaldi and Handel. Students will also get to experiment with “baroque ornamentation” where we will take some recognizable nursery rhymes and add trills, turns, and appoggiaturas.

3-

3rd graders are connecting note values to rest values. Students will be spending a lot of time practicing our “16th note group” or “Ta-ka-di-mi” with several different activities and songs. Students will also take some time to compose a rhythmic composition using our review notes, and get to perform it on a percussion instrument of their choice.

4-
4th graders are hard at work on their music program Be a Star. We will be performing this program on Monday, December 9th at 6 pm in the Maple Gymnasium.

5-

Our new trimester of 5th grade students will be jumping into our Ukulele Karate unit. They will have the opportunity to learn beginning ukulele skills at their own pace. Students can work through and earn “belt badges” once they complete a test. We are working on strumming patterns, chord progressions, and musical symbols.

6-

6th graders taking Music Composition and Songwriting are working through several projects using digital music creation platforms such as Chrome Music Lab and BandLab. We are continuing a Video Game Music project where students outline a story for a potential video game, and create music to match their scenes and characters. We also have some students progressing into production, where they research a music topic and create a short podcast about the topic of their choice. For this project, they will use BandLab as a recording tool and get to include sound effects, transition sound, and intro/exit music.

Warrior Preschool/Early Childhood- Warrior preschool & Early childhood will be doing a Gingerbread Theme for the month of December. We will be learning songs and dances that go along with our theme.

Kindergarten Kindergarten students will be listening to a series of fun Gingerbread stories and other holiday stories along with creating crafts to go along with each story.

First Grade First graders will be listening to a fun series of Gingerbread stories, and designing their own gingerbread houses.

Second Grade Students will be reading holiday stories as well as Gingerbread Loose in the Library activity scavenger hunts. Students will also be playing Holiday library Jeopardy.

Third Grade Third grade students will listen to popular holiday stories and have been creating their own holiday/winter trees with a story to go along with it.

Fourth grade We finished our Mark Twain story of Freestyle and learned about graphic novels, and how they tell a story vs. chapter books. Students will now create their own graphic novel. We will end the month with fun holiday traditions & popular holiday picture book trivia.

Fifth grade Fifth grade students have been listening to the Mark Twain book called, The Midnight Children. We have been making predictions about the story and discussing character traits. For the holidays, we have been learning about the toys, and how they have changed over the years or their original purpose.

6th grade - In Books VS. We watched the movie Holes, and compared it to the book. We are now starting to read The Wild Robot, and end our quarter together with How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Kindergarten Students will be creating winter landscapes with painting and collage.

First Grade Students will start creating seasonal artwork with a variety of techniques.

Second Grade Students will discuss primary and secondary colors. They will create art with a variety of color combinations, and some seasonal artwork.

Third Grade Students have been finishing their sculptures. They will complete these with a reflection, and bring them home soon. They will finish off the quarter exploring all the materials and processes they have practiced throughout the year.

Fourth Grade Students will reflect on the art they have created so far. They will choose their favorite works of art and upload them to Artsonia for families to see.

Fifth Grade students have started drawing with value, collage, and exploring painting techniques. Before the end of the quarter they will choose a Holiday themed sculpture.

Sixth Grade Students are quickly wrapping up their projects. 3D art has flown by this quarter. Many students have completed paper mache, photography, and hand-made paper. They will set up their art display before they leave for Winter Break.

1. If your student(s) is going to have a change in dismissal, please let the office know prior to 3:00 on the day. This helps to ensure that we can properly notify the teacher so that the students get to the proper dismissal location.

2. If you have a student who is going to be absent for the day, please let the office know prior to 9:00. If there is a prolonged period of absence that is planned (vacation) you can notify the office about the entire length of the absence with one communication.

** Communication can come via email or phone call. Please email both Heather Waters at watersh@smithville.k12.mo.us and Alison Camacho at camachoa@smithville.k12.mo.us with your changes in attendance or dismissal. You can also call the Maple front office at 816-532-0589.**

There are lots of exciting things beginning in January! Here is some information on an upcoming book study beginning January 14th from 5:30-6:15. This book has recently been featured on CBS Mornings. To further support the concept, Maple Elementary will begin a "Let Grow Play Club" on January 13th, 2025. Please see the flyer for details. The club is available to anyone who attends Maple at no cost. There will be a limited number of slots to ensure safety and supervision. The club will available to the first 30 students who register. Please see below for registration details. This will also come home in paper form and can be returned to your child's classroom teacher. Please reach out to Mrs Hough with any questions.

Principal: Dr. Taylor Jahn

Assistant Principal: Mrs. Abbey Meyer

Administrative Assistants: Mrs. Alison Camacho and Mrs. Heather Waters

Nurse/Health Room: Mrs. Annie Frazier

Counselor, Room 122: Mrs. Christina Hough

Part Time Counselor: Ms. Emily Johnson

Behavior Interventionist, Room 119: Mrs. Ashli Ellis

EC, Room 101: Mrs. Genna Cornelisse

Warrior Preschool, Room 106: Mrs. Heidi Uptegrove

Warrior Preschool, Room 102: Mrs. Jeanie Martin

Kindergarten, Room 113: Ms. Syndey Goss

Kindergarten, Room 115: Mrs. Sarah Claytor

Kindergarten, Room 114: Ms. Sarah Madden

1st Grade, Room 139: Mrs. Rhonda Henshaw

1st Grade, Room 141: Mr. Aaron Bowlin

1st Grade, Room 140: Ms. Makenzie Kelly

2nd Grade, Room 136: Mrs. Autumn Marriott

2nd Grade, Room 138: Ms. Jenna Spence

3rd Grade, Room 135: Mrs. Emily Callahan

3rd Grade, Room 134: Mrs: Amber Medley

3rd Grade, Room 133: Mrs. Abrielle Bartley

4th Grade, Room 129: Mrs. Cortney Saxton

4th Grade, Room 131: Mrs. Jennifer Stone

5th Grade ELA, Room 147: Mrs. Loren Ray

5th Grade Science and Social Studies, Room 149: Mrs. Hannah Hensley

5th Grade Math, Room 151: Mrs. Sheri Greenfield

6th Grade ELA, Room 146: Ms. Taylor Broleman

6th Grade Science and Social Studies, Room 148: Mrs. Amy Elliott

6th Grade Math, Room 150: Ms. Amanda Bradberry

Art, Room 125: Mrs. Jenny Haddock

Music, Room 117: Mrs. Reba McNair

PE, Gym: Mr. Zack Anderson

Library: Mrs. Brea Sissom

SLP, Room 105: Mrs. Heather Peterson

SPED, Room 126: Mr. Greg Chastain, Ms. Jina Arellano

Essential Skills, Room 130-Jessi Smith & Marci Riley

Process Coordinator: Mrs. Amanda McClusky and Mrs. Kristen Gromacki

OT/PT, Room 104: Mrs. Susan Holden & Mrs. Natalie Lloyd

Quest, Room 103: Mrs. Paige Scheibe (Grades 5-6)

Quest, Room 128: Mrs. Kassie Reade (Grades 1-4)

Technology and Innovation, Room 116: Mrs. Sara Freeman

Title I Reading, Room 120 & 124: Mrs. Lesa Quinn & Kim Roske

Custodians: Sarah Parks, Willie Kerley, Samantha North

Instructional Assistants-Essential Skills Classrooms: Mrs. Courtney Matthews, Mrs. Randa Blakeslee, Mrs. McKenzie Simmons, Mr. Lance Helton, Mrs. Carmen Williams, Ms. Elizabeth Edwards

Instructional Assistants-Resource Classrooms: Mrs. Kim Miller

Instructional Assistants Early Childhood/PreK: Corrie Cox, Dannel Blackwell, Sara Woolery

Instructional Assistant-Reading, Room 124: Mrs. Josie Benedict

Recess/Cafeteria Aides: Ms. Carolyn Steenrod, Mrs. Jessica Chetto, Mrs. Jessica Thomason, Mrs. Ashleigh Dunlap

Kitchen Staff: Ms. Anna Curtis (manager), Ms.Jennifer Russell, Ms. Kat Neal, Ms. Holly Peterson

The Smithville School District follows the SmartSnacks guidelines for student treats and events. Any snacks provided for birthday treats and classroom events need to follow under these guidelines. The district has information regarding these guidelines as well as an approved snack list available on our website.

December 9th-20th-Winter iReady testing window

December 9th-4th Grade Music Program 6pm

December 10th-PTO Meeting in the Maple Library 6:30pm

December 11th- 1st Grade Music Program 6pm

December 11th-Board meeting at Central Office 7:00pm

December 20th-End of Second Quarter

December 20th-1:15 Early Release

December 23rd-January 3rd-Winter Holiday Break

January 6th-Start of 3rd Quarter-students back in session.