Tommie Talk
May 2024
Summertime is near!
Celeste Hughes-Administrative Assistant
Lindsey Ritcheson-Administrative Assistant
lritcheson@dpsnd.org
Jefferson Elementary
701-456-0013
Jefferson May Events
May 16-All Student Library Books Due to the Library
May 21-Money owed for overdue Library Books Due to the Library
May 21-Money for overdue Student Lunch Accounts Due via My School Bucks
May 21-Students Attend Reading Rodeo
May 23 (AM)-Field Day for Students (See Voly to Volunteer for FIeld Day fun!) and enjoy in the fun!
May 23-Last Day of School - 1:00 pm Early Release
May 31st - Student Report Cards Mailed Home
TEACHER AND STAFF APPRECIATION WEEK!
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 5-10! Please help us honor teachers and staff for going above and beyond in making a positive impact on our children’s learning and development.
We encourage you to let your child’s teacher know how important they are during this special week.World Drumming and Marimba tour
Kindergarten Zoo day
SEL Snapshopt
The school counselor and Mrs. Proctor (our school social worker) are hard at work providing SEL (Social Emotional Learning) lessons in each classroom. Did you know that each classroom receives 200 minutes a month of these SEL lessons? How amazing is that!!!
Have you ever wondered what in the world we are doing in these lessons? We use lots of things to provide these lessons with the main ones being: Quaver, Second Step, Keys of Excellence, and Mind-up. We have worked hard to create a scope and sequence that follows the CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) competencies (self-awareness; self-management; social awareness; relationship skills; responsible decision-making) and have also created assessments for each competency. In May we will finish our final unit of the year, responsible decision-making. We will also touch on some summer safety. Responsible Decision-Making lessons focus on making good choices and evaluating consequences.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out!
Title Tidbits
Summer reading doesn’t just keep kids from losing the skills they learned at school. It also helps them build confidence and a love of reading.
Giving kids easy access to books helps keep them reading over the summer. Your local librarian can help you and your child find books at the right level that fit their interests. They might have great suggestions even if your kid doesn’t like reading usually. Many libraries also have summer reading programs that offer prizes for kids who join.
It’s normal for kids to read at a lower level by themselves than they do in class. That actually builds confidence. To pick a book at the right level, use the “five finger” test. Have your kid read the first page and put a finger up for every word they don’t know. If they’ve got more than five fingers up at the end of the page, the book is too hard.
Mrs. Burris
Your kid doesn’t just have to read books, either. Kids love to get mail, so a kids’ magazine can be a great choice. Comics and graphic novels are good options, too.
To make reading social and build skills, parents can read harder books aloud. It’s great to make that an everyday habit. Audiobooks can also be a great choice when you’re busy or on long car rides. Reading aloud to younger siblings is good, too.
If your child needs to build reading skills, talk to their teacher. They might offer workbooks or suggest tutoring. It’s still summer though, so take it easy. Twenty minutes of tutoring twice a week is better than an hour once a week.
For young kids, it can help to make flashcards of tricky words before they start a hard book. This gives them practice reading them in advance.
For kids of all ages, it helps to discuss a harder book before they read it. That way they don’t lose track of the story.
Mrs. Burris
Physical Education
The month of May will start with us finishing up our T-Ball/Wiffleball unit that had us working on striking, throwing, and catching. After that unit, we will be working on different striking activities and games by using different striking implements. This unit will be followed by a quick fleeing and chasing unit. To finish up the year, we will be playing different games and doing different activities to get us ready for the field day towards the end of May!
Mr. Schatz