Arthur O. Eve #61

Dear Arthur O. Eve Family,

It's December, and it is officially “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Having said this, we have plenty of events here at the Home of the Arts, this month to celebrate this joyful season. To name a few, we will have our very first Holiday Skit which will be led by our Second Grade students. In addition, as an annual A.O.E. tradition, we will end the month with our Holiday Sing-Along in the auditorium coupled with Gingerbread Day (on which our young Artists will be able to wear their cozy pajamas to school).

Prior to all of the above-referenced, we will kick off the season/month of holiday cheer with our A.O.E. Holiday Fellowship. This event will be on Friday, December 13th from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. This will be an opportunity for all members of the A.O.E. community to fellowship together and engage in a variety of holiday-themed activities. Our annual “Basket Raffle” serves as the nucleus of this event. Each homeroom teacher has selected a theme, and we are asking parents to send in donations that align to your child’s classroom theme. On the evening of the event, parents will be able to purchase tickets for the basket that you’d like to win, which can serve as a perfect holiday gift. Basket themes were sent home via “Flyer Wednesday,” and is also posted on Class Dojo, our Facebook Page, and webpage. We appreciate your consideration in support of this event, and hope to see you there.

Amid all the fun, rest assured that teaching and learning is still the core of what’s happening during the school day (yes, even in December). Having said this, Progress Report grades will close on Friday, December 13th, and will be sent home via U.S. Mail soon thereafter. In conjunction, in January, we will have our “half year,” Parent/Teacher Conferences, which will provide parents and teachers an opportunity to discuss your child(ren)'s progress in real time and collaboratively plan for a successful second half of the school year.

Family, please note, this will be my final “Principal’s Message” in the monthly Newsletter. Beginning in January, Mrs. Bush, who will serve as Acting Principal, will take on the responsibility of providing this monthly message. With this in mind, as I’ve stated each month, it has been my greatest honor to serve as your principal for the past four years. I look forward to hearing all of the great things that are to come. Be well, and I’ll see you soon!

Happy Holidays,

Mr. Nathaniel W. Barnes, Principal

(716) 816-3400

nbarnes@buffaloschools.org

🎅🏽St. Nicholas Day: December 6

🕎Hanukkah: December 25 to January 2

🕯St. Lucia's Day: December 13

🎄Christmas Day: December 25

🎁Kwanzaa: December 26 to January 1

Here's some history behind one December holiday, St. Nicholas Day!:

In the 3rd century, in the village of Patara in Turkey (part of Greece in those days), a wealthy couple gave birth to a boy they named Nicholas. Tragically, while Nicholas was young, an epidemic took the lives of both of his parents.

Having been raised as a Christian, he dedicated his life to service, sold his belongings, and used his inheritance to help the poor and infirm. Eventually, Nicholas became a bishop, and his reputation for helping children, sailors, and other needy people spread far and wide. For this, the Roman emperor Diocletian persecuted and imprisoned him (and other religious men)—but only until the Romans realized that they had so filled their prisons with clergy that they had no place to put the thieves and murderers. So the Romans let the religious men go free.

Upon his release, Nicholas continued his charity work until he died on December 6, A.D. 343. It was said that a liquid that formed in his grave had healing powers. This and other legends about Nicholas fostered devotion to him and inspired traditions still practiced today.- For more on this December holiday, including how it is celebrated, visit https://www.almanac.com/st-nicholas-day .

Fairness means...

• playing by the rules;

• taking turns and sharing;

• sincerely listening to others;

• not taking advantage of others;

• not blaming others carelessly.

As a student you can be fair at home by...

• taking turns using the bathroom to get ready in the morning;

• doing your chores when you’re supposed to;

• taking turns sharing toys, television, etc.

As a student you can be fair at school by...

• playing by the rules during recess;

• understanding that everyone learns differently;

• not playing favorites with your friends.

Congratulations 🎉 to Mrs. McGarvey's Pre-K student, Abu Ayan!

We are very proud of the fact that you were nominated as a top student who has demonstrated TRUSTWORTHINESS during the month of November! You will now be a key student in helping us uphold quality “CHARACTER” within our school. Congratulations on being selected as the Student of the Month. You will be honored and acknowledged in the morning announcements. Keep up the great work and continue to strive for greatness!

Sincerely,

Mr. Barnes, Principal

Mrs. Bush, Assistant Principal

Our JEDI read-aloud for December, Deep in the Sahara, by Kelly Cunnane (illustrated by Hoda Hadadi), features Lalla, who lives in the Muslim country of Mauritania. More than anything, she wants to wear a malafa, the colorful cloth Mauritanian women, like her mama and big sister, wear to cover their heads and clothes in public. From page to page, we see the different reasons Lalla prizes the malafa: for beauty, mystery, or to honor tradition. However, as Lalla advances toward her own rite of passage, donning a malafa herself, we watch her idea of its meaning evolve as well...

Support your child's understanding of our monthly read-alouds at home! Engage together in this read aloud and paired activity, to deepen comprehension, strengthen vocabulary and oral language, make text-to-self and text-to-world connections, and possibly tie it all together with some writing! (Click on the image for a readable view.)

Dear Parents and Guardians:

December is magical month in Pre-K! We will be learning about the different holidays around the world. We have a lot of fun events to look forward to. Our new ELA theme is "Taking Care." During this time, we will be learning how to take care of ourselves, and how to care for animals and our community.

~Mrs. Fisher, Mrs. McGarvey, & Mrs. Roberts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Kindergarteners have been working very hard and learning so many new things! We have started decodable readers and are practicing writing complete sentences in ELA. Please try to have your child read their book at least three times a week!
In Math, we are starting to learn about 2D shapes and positional words. We are starting our Earth Science unit in Science class! We will spend the next few weeks learning about the sun. We are concluding our Social Studies unit on different holidays and traditions. Wishing our families a happy and healthy holiday season. Thanks for your ongoing support!

~Mrs. Gentzler, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Simson, & Mrs. Vangelista

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In First Grade Math, the students have been learning addition strategies to 20. We are beginning Unit 5 and will explore subtraction strategies to 20. For our Arts Integration activity, students will be "making connections" to see how addition and subtraction are related by creating fact family gingerbread houses.

In Reading, students are learning syllabication. We have learned two syllable division patterns VC/CV and V/CV. We also learned how to label each syllable type as either open or closed. When we label the syllable type it tells us how to read the vowel sound as either short or long. If it is a closed syllable the vowel sound is short. If it is open, it is a long vowel sound.

For example: raven is a V/CV so the first syllable is ra (open with the long a sound), and the second syllable is ven (closed with the short vowel sound).

We have learned Red Words from the First Grade list: were, done, there, does. The words for the next two weeks will be: her, here, under, down. Students are expected to both read and write these Red Words. Our next few concepts are two-consonant, beginning r-blends (brag) and two-consonant, beginning l-blends (sled). We will continue to practice syllabication with blends as well.

Please continue to read the weekly decodable sent home, because the words in these decodables include all the previous concepts and the new concept of the week.

~Ms. Balzer, Miss McLaughlin, Mrs. Janas, & Mrs. Pritchard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Second Grade is working hard in Math! We are learning how to understand a word problem and know when to add and subtract a two-step problem. In ELA, we are working on writing and making sentences. We also learned schwa. Ask your child what it means!

In Science, we are working on fun experiments. In Social Studies, we are learning about government and how as citizens we follow laws and rules.

~ Ms. Graves, Mrs. Kwiatek, & Ms. Zywar

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Third Grade:

Math: We are starting Unit 6. This unit will be about Area. This topic will highly encourage students to use multiplication to solve problems.

ELA: Students will be reading a realistic fiction story called “Wolf Island” and also learning compound words. Please be sure they are going on Lexia Core 5!

Science: We are working through Topic 2 which is about electricity and magnetism.

Social Studies: Students will be learning about natural resources and how they are used.

Room 114's 3rd graders have been keeping busy! Students continue to work on being independent and using their words in complete sentences to ask for what they need. Every morning, we take time to talk about different feelings and share our thoughts on when we have felt a certain emotion. We go over the rules and discuss using and demonstrating good social skills. In Math, we are continuing to work on the properties of multiplication. In Reading, we have been reading and learning about the different genres of informational text. I am sending home students work as usual. Please be sure to have your student take responsibility for taking their folders out of their backpack. They should be removing all papers and showing a family member their work and important messages sent from the school.

~Ms. Bryant, Mrs. Barrett, & Mrs. Rosa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Fourth Grade ELA, we are continuing Unit 2, which focuses on the theme of “Adaptations.” We have just completed an informational text about animal mimicry and are about to begin an excerpt from a fictional novel. The 4th graders have been doing a great job answering 2-point response questions and have begun exploring the process of responding to 4-point questions.

In Social Studies, we are finishing up our chapter on the American Revolution and will soon begin learning about the formation of a new government after the war.

In Math, the 4th graders have been working on identifying prime and composite numbers. We have also been learning to identify all multiplicative factors.

In Science, we are still focusing on energy, both potential and kinetic. We are also learning about heat and electrical energy.

Our differentiated homework continues to be successful. Students have assignments Monday-Thursday. Thank you for continuing to help them complete and return these assignments on time.

~Mrs. Fischer, Ms. Gilmartin, & Mr. Robson

Parents and caregivers: Take a look and think of ways you can support December's theme at home! An easier but powerful way is making connections while enjoying a story, or asking your older student connection-based questions about a story they're reading...

Check out these beautiful proofs of our learning!

🎨Artists of the Month: Tina Turner and Shereen Ahmed (scroll to 'Artists of the Month')

📝Author of the Month: Kelly Cunnane

In Kindergarten students learned about FFOE: Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration. They read The Leaf Thief and completed many activities to help them practice each skill in FFOE. Students' creativity really came through when they turned leaves into a completely different thing. For example, some students turned their leaves into a tree, while others took two leaves and made one into an ice rink and the other leaf into an ice skater.

First Grade students also focused on FFOE, learning about the history of the cornucopia and creating symbols that represented what each student had an abundance of.

Second and Third Grade students are deep in the research process. Second graders started state research, while Third graders are finishing up their Arthur O. Eve research.

Fourth graders successfully completed an escape room, now they are working in groups to create their own escape rooms. They are working on higher ordering thinking and logic puzzles.

Future GT Families- the last testing session is on December 14. Please reach out to me if you have not already scheduled your testing session. You can reach me at kfischer2@buffaloschools.org

~Mrs. Kristen Fischer

Every student should be reading for 15 minutes, nightly. For our youngest learners in Pre-K and Kindergarten, we ask that parents read to them. Each month, any student who reads at least 10 books or 10 chapters will receive a “golden” coin and be able to select a book from our school’s Book Vending Machine. Students must complete The Principal’s Reading Challenge Log and return it to their classroom by the last school day of the month to qualify.

*Remember that students can read books on myOn to complete each month's log! Students can access myON through Clever on their district device!*

See the video below on our Character Trait of the Month: Fairness!

~Jillian Miller, Guidance Counselor

LIVELY CONVERSATIONS

Everyday conversations with your child are very important! Sometimes those interactions are necessarily brief and direct — "Let's put on your socks and shoes so we can get to the store." Try to also have open-ended conversations each day — talk that is active, with lots of back-and-forth between you and your child. You're teaching your child how to take turns listening and speaking, and showing your child that you value their thoughts and ideas.

Ask your children questions that require more than a "yes" or "no" answer. Some questions that help your child to talk more openly are: "Why do you think that happened?", "What do we do next?", "What would happen if we did it this way?", "What can we do about that?", and "How can we make this better?"

Mrs. Karen Miller SLP

~Karen Miller, SLP

💊*Medications Notification*: The clinic nurse needs a doctor's order for all medications children are using on school grounds - even over-the-counter.

DO NOT send inhalers, epi pens or other medications in your child's backpack! The nurse must see documentation for, and have record of, medical conditions requiring medicine needed during the school day, for the safety and well-being of all students. To this end, parents/guardians must bring medication to the clinic and sign the corresponding paperwork for our files. Please call me at the number listed below to make arrangments.

Also, as we are heading into the thick of illness season, a reminder that if your child(ren) is sick, do not send them to school. A child who is sick will not be able to perform well in school and is likely to spread the illness to other children and staff. Please make arrangements for childcare ahead of time so you will not be caught without a place for your child to stay if he/she is ill.

School Policy

Our school policy states that you should not send your child to school if he/she has:

1. Fever in the past 24 hours

2. Vomiting in the past 24 hours

3. Diarrhea in the past 24 hour

4. Chill

5. Sore throat

6. Strep Throat (must have been taking an antibiotic for at least 24 hours before returning to school).

7. Bad cold, with a very runny nose or bad cough, especially if it has kept the child awake at night.

Your Child Becomes Ill at School

If your child becomes ill at school and the teacher or school nurse feels the child is too sick to benefit from school or is contagious to other children, you will be called to come and take him/her home from school. It is essential that your child’s teacher have a phone number where you can be contacted during the day and an emergency number in the event you cannot be reached.

Please be sure that arrangements can be made to transport your child home from school and that childcare is available in case of illness. If your daytime or emergency phone number changes during the year, please notify your child’s teacher immediately.

These guidelines are meant to serve the best interests of all the children in our school.

Thank you,

~Nurse Maria

716-816-3406

You can view it on the Food Service Department website here. Select "translate" to view it in Spanish or Bengali.

Dec. 4: Candy Cane-Gram Sale Begins

Dec. 12: Picture Re-Take Day

Dec. 13: Holiday Fellowship/Progress Report Grades Close

Dec. 14: GT Testing

Dec. 17: AOE's Holiday Skit

Dec. 18: Holiday Caroling at ECMC

Dec. 19: Gingerbread Day/Candy Cane-Grams Delivered/Holiday Sing-a-Long

Dec. 23: Winter Recess Begins (See you next year!)