James Island Elementary Newsletter

Dear Families,

I am excited to announce that all of the schools on James Island will join together on April 19th for #1Island Night at the Joe! Click the picture or use this link to purchase your tickets.

Thanks for being one of the BEST parts of JIES!

Ms. Gregory

Hello JIES Families,

I hope everyone had a great break with plenty of time to rest and be with family. I can’t believe we are about to finish up our second quarter, but I am so excited to jump into the rest of the year and keep the momentum we have built going!

It is that time of year for our Winter iReady Benchmarks. This assessment is a chance to showcase the growth and progress our students have made this year. I can’t stress this enough, it is nothing to worry or stress about! All of the hard stuff has been happening every day in the classroom, and this is just their time to shine. All you need to do is be on the lookout for your testing dates from your teacher and make sure your kiddos arrive on time, well-rested, and ready with a positive attitude!

At-Home Math Tip: If you are looking for something you can do at home to give that extra little math boost, try working on fact fluency. Fact fluency is the ability to recall and apply basic math facts quickly and correctly without counting or using other strategies. Benefits of fact fluency include increased confidence in math, quicker problem-solving abilities, and a solid foundation for more complex math concepts. Regular practice is so important to developing fact fluency. First and second graders are working on addition facts while third, fourth, and fifth graders are focusing on multiplication. Practice doesn’t have to be anything fancy and you can make it fun! Give a “pop quiz” while you're stuck in traffic on Folly Road or slide in a quick question during dinner. Fact fluency can be fun for the whole family!

Thank you for all you do for our students and our community,

Mr. Seagle

Math Instructional Coach

The Science Lab focused on STEAM activities before Christmas Break. Grades 3-5 were engineers by planning, designing and building Christmas Tree shapes. Without directly touching the materials with their hands, students used a variety of supplies to build and decorate their trees. Metric Measurement was used to determine who had the tallest or widest Christmas Tree in their class. A lot of alternative thinking was utilized that week!

The lower grade levels also were engineers and had to problem solve ways to “Silence the Jingle Bells” using various materials and packaging. The students were very persistent in testing their ideas to make the Jingle Bells silent.

The School Improvement Council wrote letters to the CCSD Board and other district-level leaders advocating for a fully-funded STEAM position this month. This is one of our primary initiatives. If you are interested in learning more about SIC, consider attending an upcoming meetings. We have 3 meetings left!

Join us on March 7th at Camp Road Middle School for a Math Competition and Science Fair. Let's represent James Island Elementary and support our fantastic middle school!

2023-2024 SIC MEETING DATES

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Thursday, March 7, 2024- at CRMS Science Fair

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Thursday, May 9, 2024

Bottled water donations needed for the clinic!!!

You may drop donations off in the front office and let Ms. Boyd know they are

for Nurse Meredith!! Thank you!!!