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FES Knightly News
Weekly Family Newsletter
Week of October 9th, 2023
Important News
Go Pantry Food Drive
Tomorrow is the start of the Go Pantry Food Drive. Send in non-perishable food items (especially apple sauce and/or fruit cups) with your FES student. Send items in between October 10th-13th. Students will deposit them with their teacher. The winning classes will get a reward! All food items are used to feed local children in Boone, Kenton, Campbell, Grant, Owen and Dearborn Counties.
Dress Code Reminder
According to the dress code that was updated and approved by SBDM last year, shorts are prohibited between fall and spring break. Therefore, students should refrain from wearing shorts starting tomorrow.
Veteran's Day Celebration
While we don't know exactly what we are doing to celebrate our veterans this year, we would like to know WHO to celebrate. If you are a veteran or if you have a family member who deserves our thanks and recognition on this day, please complete the form below. More information about Veteran's Day will be shared as it becomes available. If the form below doesn't load, click here.
For Your Information
Important Info for Afternoon Car Riders
Important info for all parents who pick up their students in the afternoon: please know that if you pick up your child from school in the afternoon, you have to wait in the line. Any students wishing to walk home (or parents meeting students to walk them home or to cars parked off campus) will have to wait until ALL cars have moved through the line.
Visitor Policy
There have been a few questions lately (from parents and teachers) about our current school visitation policy. Please see the current policy here.
Child Development Guide available in French and Spanish (REPEAT FROM LAST WEEK)
Many times it is difficult to know if your young child is displaying appropriate developmental behaviors. For a general guide of what developmental markers students should be displaying at various ages, click here (or see below). This guide has been developed by Northern Kentucky First Steps. Please promote this resource to any families you know who may have children too young to attend school. Early intervention for children with possible developmental delays is crucial to ensuring their success in school. More information about First Steps is available here.
From School Health Services (REPEAT FROM LAST WEEK)
Just a reminder- only students who are seen and excused by the nurse will have their absence excused if they leave early due to illness. If parents decide to pick their child up early due to a message from a teacher and that child has not been excused by the nurse, parents will be required to use one of their parent notes to have the absence excused.
Free English Classes for Adults (REPEAT FROM LAST WEEK)
NKYESL offers FREE online or in-person English classes at Gateway Community and Technical College.
For information about in-person classes, click here
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (REPEAT FROM LAST WEEK)
See the flyer at right to sign up for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. This program will give your child(ren) ages birth to 5 years one FREE book/month! They will be sent to your house at no cost to you!
From the FRC (REPEAT FROM LAST WEEK)
- The FRC is starting to make lists for Thanksgiving and Christmas Assistance. If this is a need for your family, please contact FRC. A KINVO text message will go out beginning of next week as well.
- If your student needs a coat for the winter and you need assistance with this, please contact the FRC as well. We will be going through coats and getting things ready for the colder weather.
- The annual pumpkin coloring contest is right around the corner. Pumpkin coloring pages will be going out at the end of next week. The pumpkins will be displayed the whole month of October outside the cafe and voting will take place on Tuesday October 31st. A prize will be given to a winner in each grade level.
- Our Family Literacy Night/ Trunk or Treat (new this year) is right around the corner on October 19th. Flyers will be going out next week, as well as sign ups for our trunk or treat cars and details. If you are interested in helping out that night, please sign up on the form to come. :)
Knights of the Week
Congratulations! These students and staff were nominated by teachers because they ROCK!
Preschool – Alice N. (Ms. Lobenstein)
Kinderrgarten- Aisha A (Ms. Hanna & Ms. Petty)
1st Grade- Joey M. (Ms. Bryan)
2nd Grade- Itzy R. (Ms. Ballard)
3rd Grade- John Michael C. (Ms. Ortwein)
4th Grade- Lily C. (Ms. Gripshover)
5th Grade- Keenan F. (Ms. Klette)
Staff- Ms. Gambrel (5th Grade)
Meet the Hard Workers in Our Cafeteria!
Ms. Kim Grimes
Kim Grimes has worked in the FES cafeteria for 22 years. She attended 9th district school in Covington for her own elementary school education. Ms. Grimes loves swimming and cheerleading. She coached cheerleading for many years to Boone County High School. When she's not working hard to feed our Knights so that they have energy to learn, she loves to spend time with her children and her grandbabies. Thanks for everything you do for us, Ms. Kim!
Pictures from Our Past
This week's photo comes to us from 1963. This was Ms. Huff's First Grade Class at Florence Elementary School.
Here's What We're Learning This Week!
Kindergarten
Reading/Writing- We are starting our writing unit with learning about what Writers do. We are excited to do this.
Math-We are learning about 3-D shapes and heavy and light. See if your children can find things around your house for these things.
Science- We are working on weather patterns.
Social Studies- We are learning about community helpers.
1st Grade
Reading/Writing- We are reading fiction and nonfiction books next week. We will be comparing the different characteristics of each type of book. We will also continue to work on our sentence writing skills.
Math- In math we are exploring and making teens numbers. We will start to add and subtract them.
Science- We are finishing up with our plant and animals unit! We will be visiting the farm to have a real life experience with these plants and animals we have been learning about!
More 1st Grade Info- We are very excited for our field trip to the farm this Wednesday! Please make sure your child's forms and money are turned in before the field trip. Please also make sure to pack your child's lunch in plastic and disposable items only if you chose that option!
2nd Grade
Reading/Writing- Students will be taking the district unit one assessment and reviewing as a whole group.
Math- Students will be starting two-digit subtraction.
Social Studies- Students will begin an activity called "Me on the Map".
3rd Grade
Reading/Writing- Reading: I can determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text (literal from nonliteral language), and describe how those words and phrases shape meaning. Writing: I can answer a question using a statement and support it with evidence from the text.
Math-I can fluently multiply within 100. I can use multiplication within 100 to solve word problems.
Social Studies- We are continuing our unit on economics.
More 3rd Grade Info- As another surprise and delight, this week we will be making EYE-rray Monsters to demonstrate our understanding of multiplication.
4th Grade
Reading/Writing- Students will be reviewing story elements, along with practicing deep understand for plot.
Math- Students will be learning different strategies to solve multidigit equations within addition.
Science- Students will be learning about collision and explaining how energy is seen within collison.
Social Studies- Students will be learning lines of longitude and lines of latitude.
5th Grade
Reading/Writing- Students will be learning how to compare and contrast two or more characters in a story. In writing students will continue to practice using the CER method.
Math-Students are learning how to round decimals. Students will also me taking the Unit 1 Assessment on 9/29.
Science- Students will be answering the question of "How can you protect a farm from the next dust bowl?"
Social Studies- Students will investigate how the Founding Fathers balanced powers when forming the new federal government.
STEM
Kindergarten is learning about weather patterns and seasons. First grade is learning about patterns in the night sky, including the moon and stars. Second grade is continuing to learn about material properties and changes in matter. Third grade is continuing a Project Lead the Way unit on the forces of flight. Fourth grade is continuing a Project Lead the Way unit on energy. Fifth grade is learning about ecosystems.
Physical Education
For the Month of October all Grade Level will focus on throwing and catching skills. Kindergarten will be introduced to throwing cues and catching skills. First grade is learning the cues of a proper throw and catching skills. Second grade is learning the cues to throwing to a target and catching skills. Third grade is reviewing the mechanics of a proper throw and catching skills using a target. Fourth grade is reviewing the mechanics of a proper throw and catching skills using a target Fifth grade is reviewing the throw mechanics and using cues to play a catching and throwing activities. SEL: Practice Kindness
Music
Melody, the main idea of a song and how notes move to create an idea. Line and space names of the treble clef staff. Grades 2-5 will be learning a song about Veterans
Art
K&1 are learning about the ocean and creating different art with ocean animals. 2&3 are creating sea gull collages with several different materials. 4&5 are creating lighthouse collages with several different materials. 2-5 all learned about how to draw cylinders to use in their collages.
From the Cafeteria
SBDM Update (REPEAT FROM LAST WEEK)
The School Based Decision Making Council at FES is made up of the principal (Ryan Burch), three teachers (Alicia Bachman, Abbigail Supe, and Megan Timmerding), and two parents (Alicia Coulter and Vee Miller). This group makes policy decisions and approves some of the school's financial and instructional activities. Meetings are usually held on the first Monday of each month at 4:15 in the FES library. Meetings are open to the public (except for occasional closed sessions). At the September SBDM meeting, council voted to fully allocate funds to enclose our playground in the interest of safety.
The meeting for October has been changed to Monday, October 16th at 4:15.
All of our SBDM policies are available on the FES school website.