This week's Patrick Henry Post highlights our oldest students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. These grades are formative years when students stop "learning to read," and begin "reading to learn." They know their ABCs and 1,2,3s but now they have to put them together for more complex concepts every day. Upper elementary is a turning point in not only academic expectations, but also personal responsibility. Students begin learning major life skills like organization, conflict resolution, and how to pursue their interests. Take a look below for some highlights from our upper elementary classrooms at Patrick Henry!

This week my 3rd grade scholars are using addition and multiplication to join equal groups. We are using an array to show and solve multiplication problems. I am proud to announce that these scholars are excited about multiplication, and they are doing an amazing job during small group instruction with effort and participation. Keep up the good work 3rd grade scholars!

We have been very busy lately! We have been learning like crazy! We have taken advantage of our hallways to find comfy places to read and work on our skills. We have also implemented a STEM pilot where the kiddos get to use coding on their iPads to control robots. Lastly, we are taking advantage of the beautiful weather to be healthy and active outside. We use this time to build kind relationships that consist of respect and being a good friend. I look forward to sharing more accomplishments of this awesome class!

This last few weeks has been exciting and full of changes. I just welcomed a new group of 4th graders to my class and we have been working this last two weeks to get adjusted and get to know each other. We have been practicing routines, procedures, and classroom expectations and we have been doing a great job. We are looking forward to continuing to get to know one another and growing in academic areas, as the amazing young scholars I know we are. Moving forward, I am excited to be meeting all of my parents for conferences in October, as we get to work together to discuss our academic successes and what we can do together to help these young scholars show even more growth throughout the school year.

Our fifth graders are off to an adventurous start. We are on a literacy journey analyzing the motivation of people who leave a place they call home. In math, students have been extending their knowledge of the place value system from whole numbers to decimals through thousandths. Science is all about Matter. Students are learning how to recognize and explain properties of matter. They are excited and really have been working hard so far this year!

Every month, we celebrate our students with perfect attendance. Today, we celebrated all 49 of our perfect attendance students for the month of September with a new attendance bracelet, a certificate to celebrate the student and their families, and a dive in the treasure chest! We are so thankful for our families' commitment to getting their child here on time every single day.

Remember, families, we start fresh on Monday, October 3rd for a new month of perfect attendance celebrations! Make sure your child is here every day by 8:10am and stays until 2:52pm so they can be included in the fun!

Live! By Loews, a premier hotel in Ballpark Village next to Busch Stadium, has recently joined the Patrick Henry community partner list. Loews Hotels believe in hospitality at their hotels, but they also have a strong sense of responsibility to their community. Their "Be a Good Neighbor" program inspired them to reach out to Patrick Henry and ask what they could do to support our school. They started with a backpack giveaway, providing backpacks full of supplies for our 5th graders, who even got to choose their favorite color of backpack (an essential thing in elementary school!). This week, they joined us at the school to move heavy furniture, create an action plan for supporting our Library Renovation Project, and build our picnic tables for our outdoor classroom. This is a blossoming partnership, and we are so lucky to have them in our community! To learn more about Loews Hotels' Be a Good Neighbor program, click the link below.

Ms. Willard, Ms. Versen, and Ms. Hadley's students were invited to attend "The Largest Book Party in St. Louis" this week for our first field trip of the school year. Students rode the bus out to the James Eagen Center in Florissant where they received books upon books upon books! Students had a great time, so great that they actually fell asleep on the bus ride home! We were proud of our student behaviors on the field trip - it set up a high expectation for the rest of the school year!

Thank you to our chaperones, who made this field trip possible: Kelsey Jones, Megan Willard, Maria Hadley, Karin Versen, Nick Keplar, and Shanice Webb!

Click the link below to watch the full video of Patrick Henry staff and students on the news. The focus of the story is highlighting the incentives of becoming a teacher in St. Louis Public Schools. We love seeing our kids and staff in lights!

Saint Louis Public Schools is hiring for a number of open positions throughout the District. Applications are being accepted for teachers, nurses, substitute teachers, social workers, security and more. Visit slps.org/jobs for more information

Benefits to Joining the MO Central School Bus Team:

• $25 an hour with weekly pay
• Fully paid training
• Paid holidays
• Flexible schedules
• Summers off

Get in the driver’s seat and start making some money! Call 314-762-0318 or visit driveayellowbus.com and click apply at top of page.

On Monday, October 3rd, I will email every parent a letter and send home a hard copy with your child regarding your child's attendance record. Student attendance is incredibly important to make sure they receive every possible minute of academic instruction. The state requires 90% attendance for every student in the school, so I will send home quarterly reports for all families to see their official attendance record and make a place for how to improve or how to celebrate their success!

A few attendance resources for families are included below:

• Preschool and Kindergarten Attendance Tips for Parents
• 1st - 5th Grade Attendance Tips for Parents
• What Parents Can Do to Keep Student Attendance High

On Wednesday, October 5th, Patrick Henry will not have Afterschool Care available. All staff will be in a meeting after school and no supervision is available for students. Please plan to pick your child up between 2:52pm and 3:07pm.

On Friday, October 14th, all SLPS schools are closed. Teachers will be involved in Professional Development.

On Friday, October 14th, families will receive their child's 1st quarter Report Card via email. Please make sure you have updated your contact information if you do not have a current email address or phone number. You can update your contact information by calling the school at 314.231.7284 or by clicking here.

Parents are invited in person for Parent-Teacher Conferences the week of October 17th, Monday-Thursday. Please schedule your conference with your child's teacher. Available times are listed below:

• Monday, October 17th, 3:15-5:15pm
• Tuesday, October 18th, 3:15-5:15pm
• Wednesday, October 19th, 3:15-5:15pm
• Thursday, October 20th, 3:15-3:45pm

You should also receive a packet of interventions from your child's teacher this week. Every student will receive a one-pager to explain their current Reading and Math level, and what you can do at home with your child to make sure they are always challenged and growing as Readers and Mathematicians!

All SLPS schools will be closed on Friday, October 21st.

On Friday, October 28th, Patrick Henry will celebrate Halloween with our students through an amazing event at the school! We invite all students to bring or wear a costume to school that day, but please remember that all costumes must still be school-appropriate and cannot have any type of weapon, even as a part of the costume. We are always in need of family support for this event, so please see the ways you can contribute below:

• Donate candy to the school for our candy stations (all candy welcome!)
• Volunteer the day of the event (Friday, October 28th, 1:00-2:30pm) - We need people to help run our stations, walk with the students through the event, and support the teachers as they assist students with costumes and candy collection
• Donate bags for the students to use to collect and hold their candy

Parents must be a registered volunteer with the district in order to participate in this event. Please contact Shanice Webb for more details: shanice.webb@slps.org, 314.231.7284