IMES Family News
June 2024
IMES Vision Statement
Mark Your Calendar!
Mon. June 3: Grade 5 Trip/Camp Kiwi
Tues. June 4: Band, Strings, and Chorus Concerts Grades 4 & 5 (see flyer below)
Tues. June 4: Grade 1 Trip (2 classes)
Tues. June 4: K Mrs. Burroughs Donuts with Me at 10 am
Wed. June 5: Grade 5 students (district-wide) visit JJMS
Wed. June 5: PTO Meeting & Principal's Coffee at 9:30 am
Thurs. June 6: Grade 1 Trip (2 classes)
Thurs. June 6: K Mrs. Dooley and Mrs. Noonan Donuts with Me at 10 am
Friday, June 7: Grade 5 Student & Faculty Kickball Game/Raindate 6/10
Fri. June 7: PTO Family Fun Night
Mon. June 10: ERJC Meeting at JJMS 6 - 8 pm
Thurs. June 13: K Ms. Walsh Donuts with Me at 10 am
Thurs. June 13: PTO Incoming Kindergarten Ice Cream Social at 3:45 pm
Fri. June 14: Grade 2 Flag Day Performance at 10 am
Mon. June 17: Grade 1 End of the Year Celebration 2:30 - 3:15: Classrooms and Playground
Wed, June 19: Schools Closed for Juneteenth
Thurs. June 20: K-5 Dismissal at 12:15 & Field Day K-5/No lunch served
Fri. June 21: K-5 Dismissal at 12:15 pm & Field Day Rain date/No lunch served
Mon.. June 24: K-5 Dismissal at 12:15 pm/No lunch served
Tues.. June 25: K-5 Dismissal at 12:15 pm/ Grade 5 Moving Up at JJMS/No lunch served
Wed, June 26: K-5 Dismissal at 10:45 a.m. /Last Day of School/No lunch served
*These dates are not inclusive of all field trips and enrichment experiences as we finalize plans for other events.
Curriculum & Instruction
K-5 June Curriculum Highlights
Each month, we will be providing curriculum highlights from each grade level. Please know that these are snapshots and do not reflect all the curriculum and learning in the classroom.
Kindergarten: In Kindergarten, during reading, students will think more actively so that they balance the work of decoding texts and comprehending. Skills that will be explored include synthesizing while reading, attending to story elements, predicting, monitoring for sense, reacting to reading, acting out parts from books, and asking and answering questions. In writing, students will begin to write persuasive letters using their words to make things better in their neighborhood, branching out from problems they see in the classroom or at school. Kindergarteners will learn that when they want to create a change, it is important to convince people to agree with them and letter writing in one important way to do that. At the end of this unit, Kindergartners will rally in a whole-class pursuit, writing in a variety of genres to convince others to join their cause! In word work, the children will continue to explore digraphs and blends as they build and read longer stronger words. In math, students will end the year extending their understanding of the counting sequence to 100. Students will be counting by tens and ones from any number up to 100. In Science students will continue learning about Sunlight and Weather and how the sun warms the Earth’s surface.
Grade 1: First graders are ending the school year strong as they further develop their skills across the curriculum. During word work, students will practice spelling multisyllabic words with suffix endings. They will learn that sometimes –es can also be added to make a word plural. As students’ words become increasingly longer, we will focus on all the sounds in a word by naming and marking syllable types. In Writing Workshop, children will continue to produce realistic fiction stories. They will move from becoming skillful storytellers to skillful writers of stories. Our work in Reading Workshop will also support the work of our writers. Students will be studying characters closely to learn about their likes and dislikes but also learn about the characters’ feelings. Authors don’t always name character’s feelings, so readers will have to do more work to infer precisely how a character feels and keep track of when those feelings change. In math, students will be learning the value of coins and count combinations of dimes and pennies. They will also begin to read a clock and tell the time to the half hour and hour. Our geometry unit will involve identifying two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes based on their attributes. In Social Studies students will be introduced to economics as they learn differences between needs and wants and determine when people may save or spend money.
Grade 2: Second graders look forward to many exciting activities as the school year ends. The Flag Day Concert and Field Day are among them and are fast approaching! There is also, of course, more learning to do! Measurement, Geometry, and Graphing Data are the last few units in math. The students will have hands-on fun in our final science study of plants and animal interdependency while investigating a tiger reserve in Bengali. In addition, our on-going participation in the school garden supports this work. In reading and writing students are Stepping into the World of Story by reading and writing realistic fiction stories. Recognizing story elements and developing well thought out characters are the highlights of this work. We’ll wrap up Fundations with the last of the vowel teams and continued trick word practice.
Grade 3: As we approach the final stretch of the school year, there's still a lot of excitement and learning ahead. Our math unit on geometry promises to challenge and engage students with new concepts and hands-on activities. Following this, the "Stepping Up to Fourth Grade" unit will help prepare everyone for the next academic milestone. In language arts, students are harnessing their research from our previous reading unit to craft persuasive speeches aimed at saving their chosen animals. Additionally, we will wrap up our review of the six syllable types by exploring r-controlled syllables combined with other syllable types, reinforcing essential reading skills. To top it all off, special end-of-year activities are lined up, ensuring a memorable and enriching conclusion to the school year.
Grade 4: June marks the end to a very exciting year for fourth graders. They begin the month with a kickstart to graphic novels. Not only do students study how graphic novels are made, but they also discover the technical parts of a graphic novel, including the grammatical features of comic book language. After this study, students engage in the writing process to develop their own graphic novels. It is a huge hit of the year! In math, students preview fifth-grade math skills in their “Stepping Up to Fifth Grade” unit. This unit includes more work with decimals, fractions, and measurements. In science, students will continue working as geologists and use data to infer the past environments of national parks. They do this by studying fossils and rock layers over time. Finally, they investigate water erosion by using stream tables to construct an understanding of the effects of speed and time on rocks.
Grade 5: June is a very exciting time for our soon to be graduates! There are plenty of 5th grade events planned with district wide field trips, visitation to the middle school, kickball games, and moving up rehearsals. In between all of the excitement, students will continue to work on their note taking and research skills through their unit on Civil Rights. This will further develop their skills in determining main ideas and supporting details, reading non-fiction text and decoding technical words, and sorting and prioritizing information. Math will find students wrapping up the year with units on the order of operations, coordinate grids, and algebraic thinking in patterns.
Response to Intervention (RtI)
As part of our Response to Intervention Plan, we are administering our last round of benchmarks in reading and mathematics. This is part of the Response to Intervention (RtI) process as per New York State. This data is useful as it informs us about student growth and identifies students’ needs. If your child is receiving services, exits services, or qualifies for services for the fall, you will receive a communication from one of our Interventionists in the coming weeks.
Grades 4 & 5 Spring Concert
Grade 2 Flag Day Performance
Belonging at IMES
In our May Sharing Assemblies for both K-2 and 3-5, we highlighted Asian American Pacific Islander Month by engaging the students in an interactive knowledge building Q and A! Earlier in the month we enjoyed an amazing cultural experience as the dance company, Ajna, performed "Dances of India". Our students celebrated this belonging experience by dancing along with them.
In June, all KLSD schools will honor PRIDE Month. Our District, including our the Equity and Racial Justice Committee (ERJ), along with our building-level Compact, DEI, and BAM committees continue to help us create a sense of belonging in our schools and community. The guiding principle is that everyone deserves to be treated with kindness and respect, no matter who they love and how they express their identity. All students will notice the PRIDE flag displayed and a bulletin board that highlights images of noteworthy individuals of the pride community.
Classrooms will also be recognizing the federal holiday, Juneteenth. The picture book, Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth, tells the story of the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” who collected more than 1.5 million signatures between 2016 and 2020 for her petition to the U.S. Congress to make June 19th a federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
Social Emotional Learning
During the month of May, author, Susan Verde, author of the I Am series along with our May book of the Month, I Am Courage: A Book of Resilience, visited IMES to talk about her life as a writer, mindfulness, and positive self-talk!
If you want to read more about her visit, click the link to our District's website https://www.klschools.org/groups/57969/imes_news/susan_verde_visits
At our May sharing assemblies, our fifth graders also reminded us of some mindfulness moves including even breathing and fierce pose!
With the end of the school year just a few weeks away, the month of June will be dedicated to growth and reflection. Students will continue to connect during morning meeting to share exciting summer plans, as well as their thoughts and feelings about this school year and next year.
Sustainability at IMES
During May, grades K, 1, and 2 and our special classes continued to plant in our new school garden with Ms. Dore. We are excited to harvest in June and care for the vegetables that continue to grow!
The IMES Green Teams have been busy spreading the message about sustainability practices this year. One of the projects students learned about and completed was propagating plants. Plant propagation is the process of creating new plants from existing plants. At the May assembly, as a celebration of the completion of this project, every classroom was gifted a plant from the Green Team. It was a wonderful example of sharing how we can use current resources to create new life without spending a penny! Growing things is always a rewarding experience, and it can also be affordable and sustainable! As we always say, “Think green and act green!”
From the Library: Mrs. Hoffman
Please click the link below for the Summer Reading Challenge from Mrs. Hoffman, our Library Media Specialist, and all our Elementary Library Media Specialists.
Friday, June 7: Last day to check out library books
Wednesday, June 12: Last day of library classes
If you have any books at home, please ask your child to return them. Thank you!
IMES Little Free Library
Thursday, June 20
Raindate: Friday, June 21
9:30 AM – 11:45 AM
BRING A TOWEL
WATER BOTTLE
WEAR SUNSCREEN
WEAR SPIRITWEAR (PURPLE OR GREY/WHITE)
BRING A CHANGE OF CLOTHES (IN CASE YOU GET WET!)
School Supply Pick-Up for Families!
6/12-4:00-6:00-School Supply Pick Up-Gym
6/13-4:00-6:00-School Supply Pick Up-Gym
6/14-5:00-7:00-School Supply Pick Up-Gym
Grade 5 Moving Up
Grade 5 families should have received the Grade 5 invites and tickets via backpack on Thursday if you have a student Moving Up this school year. Three tickets per student were allocated to each family due to the capacity of the JJMS Theatre. Please see the link for the Moving Up letter sent out last week. It includes additional details, including and the dismissal form for that day. Looking forward to this exciting event!
Lost & Found
If you are here for events in June, please come and check out the Lost and Found. There are many, many items that will be donated at the end of the year if not claimed.
Health and Attendance
Parents are requested to call the school attendance line (763-7150) on the first day of each absence. If a child is absent and no call is made, the school will attempt to contact the parent. This is done for the safety and protection of the child.
If your child has a specific health need or you have any questions about health protocols, please contact our school nurse, Mrs. Kopf at 763-7139.
Half-Days at the end of June
Please see the list of dates at the top of the newsletter for all 5 half-days during the end of June.
If you are picking up your child early on one of these dates, please make sure you pick up in the gym at 12:00 p.m. The buses will leave at 12:15. Please use the Daily Dismissal Link below to indicate you are picking up on these dates.
On the last day of school, we will have our banner passing and a parade for our fifth grade students. Buses will leave the school at 10:45 on the last day of school. If you are picking up your child on the last day, please arrive by 10:30 so that you are not entering as buses leave. If you would like your child to ride in the good-bye bus loops, then they will need to be a bus rider on the last day of school.
Change of Daily Dismissal Plan
Any change of your typical dismissal plan (either bus or pick-up) requires a written communication from a parent or guardian via our Change of Dismissal Form.
Please click on the link below to complete the form. The link is also posted on our IMES school website and will be included in each of our family communications.
Please note that the Change of Dismissal Form must be completed by 12PM on the day of the dismissal change to ensure the information is relayed and followed.
Please contact Eden Ladd in our main office 763-7117 or eladd@klschools.org with any questions.
Shout Outs!
Thank you to Mrs. Zaremba for our first IMES Art Show!
Thank you to Mrs. Higgins for a wonderful grade 5 play, Frozen!
Thank you to Mrs. Emig, Mrs. Burroughs, and Mrs. Griffin for leading our Green Teams!
Thank you to our PTO for supporting our school programs, including supporting our enrichment experiences in the classrooms and outside our classrooms (field trips!)
Thank you to our families for volunteering at school and supporting your children with learning at home!
Thank you to our students for demonstrating Kind, Responsible, and Safe behaviors and for working hard each day!