Elm Road Express September 2022

Last week Dr. Thacker shared some important information relative to the latest student achievement data in Penn-Harris-Madison. We continue to be proud of our P-H-M Triangle of success connecting students, teachers and parents. We're excited to share with you points of #PHMExcellence from across the district.

We are off to a great start for our 2022- 2023 school year. We are so happy to have students back in the building with us. Thank you to all of our families that were able to attend our Back to School Parent Information Nights. If you were unable to attend, please be sure to reach out to your child's classroom teacher to get important classroom information.

If you have not yet completed your Back to School Forms, a hard copy of the needed forms will be sent home. You can also fill them out on Skyward. If you are having any troubles accessing Skyward, please reference this document for assistance.

At our Back to School Nights and Ice Cream Social, we handed out some papers with creative ideas for reading activities you can do at home with your child. Reading with your child at home helps build your child's confidence in their reading ability, and can also improve their reading fluency. Throughout this school year we will continue to share ideas for ways you can read together at home as we partner to create strong readers at Elm Road.

If you would like to volunteer at Elm this school year, be sure to complete the background check form, and watch the volunteer video before coming in to volunteer. Please be sure to coordinate with the teacher you are volunteering with prior to coming into the building.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Beers

Sept 12: PTO Meeting 2:30pm

Sept 14: Vision Screening 1st, 3rd and 5th grades

Sept 15: Retirement Open House for Mrs. Knapp and Mrs. Fisher 3-5pm in the Elm Library

Sept 16: 5th Grade Girls Basketball Vs. Staff 2:15 pm

Sept 24: PHM Silver Mile, 7am-12pm Penn High School 7am-12pm

Oct 7 : PTO Fall Festival 6:30-8:30pm

• Parent's please call the attendance line and provide an explanation for your child's absence no later than 9:00 A.M. on the day of the absence. You can reach the attendance line by calling 574-259-3743.
• Parents: to volunteer, please make sure you have filled out the background check form and watched the Bullying Video. Currently we are working on the background checks that have been turned in. We are very excited that so many people want to come in and help!

1) If your student is 11, they are able to get their 6th grade shots.

2) PLEASE if your student tests positive for COVID, call the health office to notify us.

Welcome back friends!! I, Andrea Shell, am the Youth Development Specialist at Elm Road Elementary. I am available to assist families with resources they may need. I also see students individually and in small groups to work on academic, home and/or personal/social issues in order to help them be more successful in school.

Reminder - All students receiving services need to complete the permission slip EACH year.

Christ Child referral forms are available. Christ Child is a wonderful organization that will help eligible families with new clothes and winter coats for children 12 and under. In order to see if your family qualifies, please give me a call to set up an appointment. All information is confidential.

You can reach me at 259-3743 if there are any questions. Thank you! Looking forward to a new school year!

• Safety is our top priority!
  
• When arriving at the school, please approach from the SOUTH off of Capital. Following this direction allows our traffic to keep flowing and does not interfere with our buses that are waiting to enter our parking lot to drop off the students. Do not go around the buses. At any time they may need to move into the parking lot! Use your turn signal, when entering the parking lot, so cars exiting know that it is safe to go. Exit RIGHT turn only.
• Parents picking up or dropping off children are reminded to have students exit their cars curbside ONLY for the students' safety. Parents, please stay in your car.
• Pull up as far as safely possible to the next car before having students exit or enter your vehicle. Always follow the directions of the safety patrol assistants.
• We are having cars pull around the corner, into the bus pick up/drop off area after buses have loaded/unloaded as means to keep cars moving through. If someone waves you around the corner, please follow the corner and pull up to the next person.
• Please help your child memorize their car rider number. This helps dismissal go a little quicker!
• Please add other family members to the emergency pick up list for your child. They need to have the tag we sent home or a picture of it on their phone to pick up your child.
• Students have received a tag with their car rider number on it, once they notified us they will be picked up at the end of school. Please hang this from your rearview mirror to help us identify your car.
• If your child is going to be a car rider who is picked up at the end of the day, please email pfadden@phm.k12.in.us to get a car tag if you have not already received one.

Greetings!

Procedures and safety have been a major focus so far in our physical education classes. All students are learning how to move into open space and keep their “eyes up” while playing games and sports. Students in 1st-5th grades have also been working on the skill of striking with control through some recess games such as “Four Square”, “Pickleball”, “Spikeball” and “Ga Ga Ball”. Other recess games that we have learned and practiced have been “Switch”, jumping rope, hopscotch, frisbee and shooting baskets. All grade levels will also begin working on our “Minds in Motion Maze”, an obstacle course set up around the perimeter of our gym and is designed to develop and challenge a student's balance and learning capabilities. The course aids students to alleviate clumsiness, improve vision skills for reading, improve balance, improve handwriting, enhance body control, increase focus and improve eye-hand coordination.

The third through fifth graders are learning about the importance of fitness throughout their lives by playing some games, fitness circuits and fitness testing. The fitness tests measure muscular strength, endurance and flexibility and allow the students to reflect and set goals for fitness levels. It is designed to have students reflect on where their strengths and weaknesses are and how they can set goals and achieve growth. The events are shuttle run, sit and reach, arm hang, sit-ups, push-ups, PACER test and the mile endurance run/walk. Vocabulary focus has been: static and dynamic stretching, warm up, forces, striking, cool down, cardiovascular endurance, pacing, and sportsmanship.

Kindergarten through second graders have been focusing on vocabulary such as: sportsmanship, teamwork, safety, stretch, cool down, and warm up. We’ve tied in science with a predator, prey and extinction game. A large focus at the beginning of the school year has been on personal space, locomotor movements, and tossing as well as starting and stopping cues, being alert in general space activities, and moving in general space. Please help your child practice tying, lacing, zipping, and buttoning at home. Many kindergarten through second graders are needing additional help with tying!

During the month of October, your child will practice the following fire safety procedures during physical education: calling 9-1-1, stop-drop-and roll, staying low and crawling, opening and closing doors and windows, and learning that firefighters are our friends (not to be scared or hide from them). To prepare your child for this activity, please have your child practice address and phone number! I am looking for parent volunteers to help with our 9-1-1 station for the week of October 3-7 for all grade levels. Please email me or Mrs.Sime if you are interested in volunteering in the gym!

Fourth and fifth grade Mileage Club at recess on Wednesday and Thursday is up and running! Thank you to Mrs. Armenteros and Mrs. Britton for volunteering to help run this program!

Please be sure to send your child with tennis shoes, water bottles and sweatshirt/jacket on his/her gym day!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Parisi dparisi@phm.k12.in.us

Mrs. Sime ssime@phm.k12.in.us

We are starting out the year getting to know your children and our new Librarian , Mrs. Braunsdorf. In the STEM lab they have been doing Keva planks, Magna Tiles, and learning about the Artemis project. In the computer lab we have starting getting to know the difference between Hardware and Software, parts of the chromebook and will start learning about coding very soon. We are off to a great start this year!

Website: elmroad.phmschools.org
Location: 54900 Elm Road, Mishawaka, IN, USA
Phone: 574-259-3743
Twitter: @ElmroadES