The Wildcat

Wamsley Elementary School Newsletter - December 2021

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Important Dates

December 6th-8th - PTAC Santa Shop

December 9th 5:30pm-7:30pm - Winter Wonderland & Parent Night

December 14th 6pm - Kindergarten Music Program

December 16th 9am-10am - Classroom Holiday Parties

December 16th 12pm-3:15pm - All School Trip to Movie Theater

December 20th-31st - Winter Break (no school)

January 3rd - School Resumes - Welcome Back!

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From the Principal

Hello Wildcat Families,

I hope you had a relaxing Thanksgiving break and enjoyed some time with your family! It is a very busy time of year here at Wamsley! Please check this newsletter and the weekly autodialer for all the dates and times of all the fun activities happening in December! We are looking forward to seeing all of you at Winter Wonderland next Thursday night, December 9th for our first in person family night! There will be photos with Santa, ornament making, craft vendors, food to purchase and much, much more! Can’t wait to see you at this fun event!

It is time to do a mid-year check in on the progress your children are making academically! In the next week, your children will be showing us what they know on iReady in math and reading, as well as showing us how fluently they can read on Dibels. Your children are in the process of goal setting for these assessments so ask them about their goals! Also, ask them about some of the amazing prizes they can earn for showing what they know. And... you might hear about me being turned into a cookie on December 16th!

Also, please continue to support in person learning here at Wamsley, by keeping your children home if they are sick or if anyone in the house is sick or being tested. To make sure Coloradans have the tools they need to keep their families safe, CDPHE is providing free over-the-counter tests for parents, guardians, and caregivers to administer to school-aged children at-home. Here is a link to register for getting these free covid testing kits sent to your home: Rapid At-Home testing program (See Enroll in Rapid at Home Testing). If you ever have questions about whether your child is too sick to come to school, give the office a call and we will support you with that decision. Again, we want to thank you for all your support and efforts in keeping everyone healthy and learning in person here at Wamsley! We have had a great semester together!

Thank you for sharing your children with us and for all you do to help make our school a great place! As always, call or stop in and let us know how we are doing.

Kathi Senor, Principal

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Art

Seasons Greetings! In Art class, we traveled to the North Pole and are busy making some special winter holiday art to share with you at Wamsley's Winter Wonderland on Jan. 9th. Hopefully, you can join us on this very fun night! We are also making a special surprise for you! It is top secret and the kids are VERY excited to give you their presents! Have a wonderful holiday! ~Mrs. Hill

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Music

We are having so much fun in music!

4th and 5th graders are ROCKING their recorders!

3rd graders are starting preparations for their Spring Musical!

1st and 2nd graders are learning rhythms!

AND

Kindergarten is hard at work preparing their Winter Musical “The Mitten,” which will be performed on December 14th! You won’t want to miss it!

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Physical Education

This month in P.E., Kindergarten through Second Grade students are practicing volley skills to demonstrate they can move their body in response to auditory and visual cues. Third through fifth graders are demonstrating they can volley an object, while at the same time analyzing and correcting errors to improve their volleying skills.

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Preschool

Wow! What a wonderful start to the school year we have had. Preschool continues to work on building routines as well as being a good friend. In the next few weeks we will be focusing on being helpful friends and good role models for others. We hope that you have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Best Wishes,

The Preschool Team

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Kindergarten

Happy Holidays from kindergarten! We have been working hard learning letters S, L, and I in Superkids and will be learning the letter T next. In writing, we are working on printing all of our letters and sounding out words. In math, we are working on counting on and will be looking at one more/one less and story problems. We will begin looking at pushes and pulls in science. Please continue to work on having your child print their first and last name, knowing their letters and letter sounds, and counting to 100!

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First Grade

Can you believe it’s already December? Your child will be taking the end-of-semester reading and math tests next week. The kids have set goals and are ready to do their best on the tests! Thank you for helping your child complete reading homework each week. The extra practice is making a difference!

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Second Grade

Woo Hoo! The second graders showed the most spirit at our past school assembly and WON the school spirit stick! In math, we have been identifying the attributes of 3-D and 2-D shapes, making arrays, and drawing and writing fractions. Students this month have been working hard on Informative Writing! The second graders became researchers and found information from articles on wild animals to include in their writing. Now we are moving into writing a fictional narrative including a problem and solution. In Science, the students have taken on the role of glue engineers in our Properties of Materials.

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Third Grade

Can you believe it's already December? Neither can we. We had such a great time on our field trip up Elk Creek Trail. Kids pushed themselves and everyone made it to the stopping point. In reading, we are learning about how text features help us understand books and reading about some pretty cool places. Ask your kids about them! In writing, we are working on comparing and contrasting. Have your kids compare and contrast things in your home and have a discussion with them about it. In science we have been learning about how the environment can affect an animals traits. Students got to play a fun board game where they had to collect squirrels. They also got to use beakers for the first time! In math, we are learning different multiplication strategies. Please practice simple multiplication facts with your kids.

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Fourth Grade

The fourth graders have been working hard to meet their middle-of-the-year reading goals. They will begin showing how much they have grown during the middle of the year Reading benchmark on December 6th.

In Writing, we have just finished up our unit on informative writing and are moving on to narrative writing. In Social Studies we are studying Colorado geography!

In Math this month we will be working on multiplying and dividing 2 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers. We also have been learning all of the different ways we use math in the real world outside of the classroom.

Thank you for your ongoing support- your students are doing great and showing growth!

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Fifth Grade

Happy December! We are excited to finish 2021 strong with your student. Coming up in December students will be completing their middle of the year benchmark testing. In Math, students are learning about adding and subtracting fractions. In Science, students are going to be completing their current unit on matter. In Social Studies, students will be finishing their unit on colonization and exploration. Please encourage your student to read for 20 minutes in the evening and practice their multiplication fluency. Look for information coming home about holiday parties and events.

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Experiential Education

In Experiential Education (EE) we have been very creative and crafty now that it is getting colder outside! 3rd graders completed their 2.5 mile hike up East Elk Creek Trail like champions, while Kindergarten and 1st graders explored the world around them through measurement and fine motor skill work. In 2nd, 4th and 5th grade, we learned how to sew a running stitch on badges we earned for working in the Wamsley garden. Each student in the school will earn "EE Excellence Badges" for completing complicated tasks during EE class. These badges will be sewn onto a banner or flag by the student and sent home at the end of their 5th grade year as a symbol of field experience, life skills learned, and community service. So far this year, we are working on earning fishing, cooking, hiking, math measurement, community service, and gardening badges. We are very proud of our Wamsley Wildcats for their hard work and dedication to learning skills that will better their lives and the lives of others! Stay tuned for more details about our Winter Wonderland and EE Celebration coming up on Thursday, December 9th from 5-8pm. We will be making homemade gingerbread and icing in EE class and will decorate our gingerbread creations during our celebration. Thank you for your support and we can't wait to see you soon!