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Laurel Mill Elementary School MAY/JUNE 2010 Wow! What an exciting year! We have many events scheduled for the last 5 weeks of school. Please keep up with all of our events on the school calendar. TESTING! One very important event is testing. We are testing on all grade levels at the end of the year and it is crucial that our students get plenty of rest, eat a good breakfast, and attend school daily. I want to stress the importance of students getting here ON TIME! When students are late, it disrupts their school day and it does not give them a chance to settle down before the start of testing. It also means that if they miss the test session, then they will not be able to test with their peers. Please do all that you can to ensure your student will be here at school. CAFETERIA CHARGES-If your child has accumulated charges on their lunchroom account, please take care of it by the end of the school year. DISCIPLINE-It is such an important time of year for teachers and students alike. Please help us help your child by reminding them of appropriate behavior on the bus and in the classroom. At this time of year, students are excited and stressed and sometimes act out. Please talk with your child about the importance of following directions, listening, and paying attention. We have had an increase in the number of referrals to the office with students being disruptive and disrespectful. We need your help and support. THANK YOU- Thank you to all of our parents! You all have worked hard with your children this year and have supported our school and we thank you. There has to be a strong school to home connection in order for students to be successful. You all certainly do that. Thank you also to the students and staff of Laurel Mill Elementary School who also have worked so very hard and I know that all of that hard work will pay off. Thank you to the PTO for supporting our school, teachers, and parents. READ! This summer when you are out of school-READ, READ, READ! Go to the Franklin County Library and get involved with the summer reading program there! Have a great summer and have some fun! Mrs. Faulkner, Principal Kindergarten In May and June Kindergartener’s will be having lots of fun. We started a new Reading unit this week called By the Sea. In Science we will be learning about parts of a plant, and the life cycle of a butterfly as well as sea animals. We will also be observing the changes of a caterpillar into a butterfly in our classrooms. In math the students are learning simple addition as well as how to tell time. We are using a variety of manipulatives to help the students visualize when doing addition. Continue helping your child weekly writing short sentences and also identifying numbers 0-30. The Kindergartners are excited about having a Mother’s Day Breakfast on May 7th to show their appreciation for that special someone. We will also be having an end of the year celebration for the students in June. First Grade In Reading we are ending our unit on Being Afraid and will be introducing our unit about Animal Homes. In writing we are very excited to have received our finished published books! In science we are learning about how to care for the earth and natural resources. Please have your child read their library book several times because we want to increase our AR scores for comprehension. Please ask them questions at the end about the book. In Math we will be reviewing all skills from the school year such as numbers to 100, place value, and shapes. We are looking forward to our end of the year celebration coming up in June. Second Grade In Reading we are working on our fifth and sixth units, Courage and Our Country and Its People. We will work on the Comprehension Skills of Making Inferences, Sequence, Author’s Purpose, Cause and Effect, Classifying and Categorizing, and Point of View. In Math we will be reviewing Fractions, Word Problems, Estimation, Missing Addends, and Venn Diagrams and Pictographs. We will also be reviewing the skills we have learned this year. Third Grade In Reading, we have started a new unit called “Storytelling”. This unit is about how stories are passed down through different generations. We are also preparing our students for the upcoming EOG with the 3rd Grade Fair and many different activities in the classrooms. Fourth Grade We will review for the End-of-Grade test for the rest of the year. We are using FOCUS and COACH books for review. Teachers will be tracking your child’s progress so feel free to ask. When students come to school the daily curriculum will be very intense so please have your child come prepared. Please continue to have your child read at home. Fifth Grade As you well know, the EOG’s are upon us. Please encourage your child to come to school daily-ready for instruction. We will be reviewing all skills learned this year in preparation for the test: May 13th: Science EOG, May 18th – 20th: Reading and Math EOG’s. June: 5th Grade Celebration/Awards Day: These two events for 5th grade are combined this year. We hope that this will make it easier for parents to take off work for this special occasion. The celebration will be held on the last day of school – June 10, beginning at 9:00 am. Also, each 5th grade class will have their own End of the Year celebration. Details regarding this celebration are forthcoming. P.E. The 2010 Field Day Event will be held on June 7th. Also, t-shirt money for this needs to be turned in by May 14th. Art As we wind down the school year the students are finishing up a number of projects they have been working on. The kindergarten students have been working with clay and making pinch pots. Students in First grade have been learning about forms, shapes and space. The students are designing their own playgrounds from paper. Second grade is learning about repetition and patterns in art. The students are creating number design pictures. Third grade has been learning about pottery and clay in North Carolina. The students are making decorative pinch pots. Fourth grade is learning about Pop Art and the artists that were important during this artistic movement. They will be making Pop Art creations from clay. Fifth grade is learning about architecture and designing their own “dream homes.” Music The Jocelyn Paige Lee Talent Show will be Thursday May 27th at 6:00 PM. The ticket price will be $2.00 per person. We will donate all the money collected to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund. I would like to invite everyone to come on out and check out our talented children and teachers! Exceptional Child Spring testing will begin soon. Please work with your child nightly on his or her homework and any other academic interest(s) that he or she may have. Grades 1-2: May 3-7 Grades 3-5: May 18-20. Stars on the Bus for April These students have been nominated by their bus drivers for making positive behavior and safety choices on their buses. Bus #191- Dylan Medina, Estrella Valdez, Valerie Terry, Todd Adams Bus #207- Terry Allen Adriane Sullivan, Cameron Maue, David Beasley, Kayla Johnson, Raquan Newell Bus #212- Shantel Davis, Kwantai Manning, Tashyia Manning, Jamiroquan Cates Bus # 218-Desiree Harris, Marquel Smith, Thamisha Smith, Tyler Tharrington We still have yearbooks that are available for purchase for $12.00. |