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Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter December 2014
Letter from the Principal…
Paw Prints
“”We Are A Family of Learners”
Dutchtown Elementary School 159 Mitchell Rd. Hampton, GA 30228
Phone: (770) 471-0844 Fax: (770) 471-8066
Dr. Winnie Johnson Principal
Dr. Sheila Korvayan Assistant Principal
Greetings DES Family!
We have had a lot going on since the last newsletter. First, we thank you for your participation in our activities to honor our Veterans this month. They perform such a priceless service to all of us until there are very few words that can capture our gratitude. However, Ms. Hackney and our Counseling Department presented a program and parade for our veterans that brought our military family together to provide our students with a broader insight into the importance of their activities. Please check out our website to see pictures of the big event!
Don’t forget to purchase your yearbooks. We have two options this year in order to meet the needs of all of our DES Families. Don’t delay…your child is in that book several times and you don’t want to miss it.
Additionally, our School Council is in the process of finalizing our plans for our Jr. Gala Event for our students. It will be here before you know it! Please contact our office for further information on ticket sales. Our little princes and princesses will be so regal and elegant for their very special night! I can’t wait to see them!
Here’s hoping that you are geared up for the upcoming holiday season! Ready or not, here it comes. This is a wonderful time to regenerate and spend some quality time with family. With the hectic times that we have had trying our hardest to optimally educate our students, we don’t always find that optimal time to fully devote to ourselves and to those whom we love. It is my sincere hope that our entire DES Family of Learners is afforded Thanksgiving Blessings for your immediate family and those in your extended family circle. We look forward to seeing you after the break as we bring a close to the calendar year and the full holiday season. Don’t Eat Too Much Turkey!!
Page 2 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Counselor’s Corner
Darlene M. Hackney, Counselor [email protected]
December Student of the Month Character Trait: Empathy
We had a busy November as we took time to honor our military family members with a program and luncheon in honor of Veterans’ Day. The students were excited and made cards, signs and flags to cheer the soldiers as they entered the gym for the program.
Additionally, we took time to observe Kindness Week by performing a variety of selfless acts such as, bringing in canned foods for the needy and saying thank you to our cafeteria & custodial staff just to name a few activities.
After the Winter Break we will begin our safety program, Speak Up Be Safe (SUBS) with grades Kdg, 1st, 3rd and 5th. Please check backpacks for information regarding the program and the dates I will visit your child’s classroom.
Reminder: Winter Break December 19-January 6
We wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season full of joy, peace and love.
Page 3 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
PSYCH’ed OUT !
Misty Scott Bert, Ed. S Dutchtown Cluster School Psychologist
Behavior Prevention and/or Remediation
Research indicates that of the total student body in elementary or middle school, approximately 80% of the students WILL NOT exhibit major behavioral problems (Gresham, Sugai, Horner, Quinn, & McInerney, 1998). In the early years of development, it is increasingly important that students develop social competence and appropriate interpersonal skills so they may be proficient when socially interacting in their environment. By the time a student has completed fifth grade, they will have spent over 8,000 hours within the academic environment. This makes both school and home equally appropriate places to teach social skills and appropriate behavior patterns.
For parents and teachers, it may be necessary to determine what social strengths the child exhibits, as well as the behaviors that you want to address. At that point, examine the problem behavior and determine if the child has the skill (deficit), or if it’s a situation in which the child has the skill, but does not practice the behavior on a consistent basis (fluency). In the case of FLUENCY, the student may suffer from a lack of exposure to competent models of the behavior or a lack of practice. Comparatively, a student with a DEFICIT will need to be taught the behavior, provided practice, and then reinforced when the behavior occurs. The identification of deficits and fluency concerns is an area that can often be addressed by the School Psychologist. A Functional Behavior Assessment can be conducted in order to gather information about when and why the behavior happens, as well as provide specific information about what the behavior looks like and how long and how often it occurs. The School Psychologist also has a variety of rating scales that can be completed by parents and teachers that are useful when identifying specific behaviors that may be problematic. Once the information is obtained, a variety of interventions can be put in place to address the behavior or teach appropriate social skills in both the school and home environments.
To begin, we must first look at ways in which we can promote the acquisition of social skills. Modeling is the process of learning appropriate social interaction by watching someone else perform the behavior. This is one of the most effective ways of teaching behavior skills. This goes into the old adage that “children will always do what you do, and not what you say”. Coaching is also another method to teach social skills. It will utilize a student’s receptive language skills and use verbal instruction to teach social norms and the underlying messages sent through a person’s body language. Behavior Rehearsal will then allow a student to practice the behavior they have acquired in a prosocial situation of role playing. All three of these techniques can easily be built into the school day or practiced at home.
When we improve student behavior and change how we (as adults) assist with the acquisition of appropriate social skills, we inherently create a more positive environment for our children to flourish. This in turn will equip our children with the skills to develop productive friendships and also successfully participate in learning experiences.
Page 4 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Media Center News
Be on the lookout for information about our E-books!
Information will be coming home and put on the website very soon about how students can access the e-books in our library. Students have already had the lesson and some of them have already been checking them out. E-book access is available during afterschool, on the weekends and on our breaks.
Happy Reading!
Page 5 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Media Center News, continued...
Cartridge and Cell Phone Recycling
Don’t forget to drop off your old cell phones and printer cartridges to our school. We get free technology items from this program and we help the environment at the same time. We are also looking for businesses that would like to help our school with this program. Please contact Ms. Youmans at 770-471-0844 if interested.
Click here to see our goals: www.fundingfactory.com/goal/DES
We also collect old newspaper and magazines. Drop off items in the back of the bus lane with the bin marked for newspapers.
Library Booster Club
Students may still join the Library Booster Club for $10. Students get to donate a book to the Media Center and be the first to check that book out. They also get 3 books checked out every week. See Ms. Youmans for a form.
Media Festival forms have been given out and are due October 31st. Questions contact Ms. Youmans.
Special Ed News
We honored our bus drivers with a token of our appreciation in Pre-K
Page 6 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Kindergarten News
Dear Parents,
We continue to make tremendous progress with all of
our learning in kindergarten. In Language Arts we
are using and applying phonics skills to decode
words and write phonetically. We are particularly
working with beginning sounds and the work chunk
that follows. Reading skills have begun to soar!!
Social Studies includes learning about the var ious
holidays (Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving Day) and
the concept of now and long ago. Science is all about
rocks and their attributes ( rough or smooth, dark or light, heavy or light, and small
or large). In Math, we are continuing to build numbers 11-20 through composing
and decomposing numbers as well as continuing to count objects and count 1-100.
We greatly appreciate the support at home to ensure that our kindergarten students
will be prepared for first grade.
Progress reports were recently sent home to show your child’s progress in all areas. If
you have any questions, feel free to email the teacher.
KINDERGARTEN students are always learning and love to show what they
know!! We are so proud of them!
Sincerely,
The Kindergarten Teachers
Roofing Residential Commercial
770-872-4696 www.excel-build.com
155 Westridge Pkwy Suite 223; McDonough, GA 30253
Page 7 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
First Grade News
English Language Arts
Keep practicing sight words, reading nightly, and encouraging your child to take Accelerated Reader tests. We will be finish reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins. We will watch “March of the Penguins” and “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” in December and compare the two movies.
Mathematics: Unit 2 – Understanding Shapes and Fractions
We have started sorting, comparing, and describing 2 and 3 dimensional shapes (2D & 3D). We are learning about the different attributes (sides, corners, faces and vertices) of shapes.
Social Studies: Exploring Our World
We have begun to explore our world in Social Studies and are half way through exploring the continents and oceans. We will continue exploring our earth and learning about the continents, oceans, and landforms (mountains, deserts, valleys, plains, plateaus, and coasts).
Science
We are learning about the changes in water as it relates to weather. We are observing what happens to water in open and closed containers, the weight of water before and after freezing and identifying forms of water in the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation).
End of 2nd 9 weeks grading period is Dec. 19th - right before break.
As we approach the semester break students are setting their personal goals for Fountas and Pinnell. Also in language arts, students are working on irregular verbs. Students can continue to practice this skill by visiting the following website www.englishclub.com.
On December 16th we will have a “Be a Buddy not a Bully” visit from McGruff. It is important that we make sure that all students understand the importance of kindness.
We are looking forward to our December festivities. Our class holiday party will take place on December 19th. Each student will need to submit $5.00 to help cover the cost of the party. Mrs. Chen will celebrate a birthday on December 23rd!
Winter break is from December 22nd - January 2nd! During this time, it is important to make sure that your child continues to read daily and work on First in Math!
Page 8 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Third Grade News
In Math we are continuing to work on multiplication and division. It is VERY important that the students are studying their multiplication facts at home. Once they have mastered their multiplication facts up to 12, than begin to work on division facts. First In Math is a great way for students to practice their math facts at home.
In Social Studies we have just completed our units on our American Hero’s, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. We had a GREAT time on our field trip to the Human and Civil Rights. The students were able to experience what it was like to be part of the March on Washington, the sit ins at the lunch counters in the 1960’s and many other important events that have taken place in our history. I would recommend visiting the museum with your family over the holidays.
In Science we are beginning our unit on Rocks and Minerals. Then we will begin studying soils and fossils. We look forward to our third field trip of the year and that will be an in-school field trip with Mr. Starling, a rock hunter here in Georgia. The students will be able to see and touch rocks that are native to Georgia.
Reminders:
Don’t forget to check your child’s agenda daily to stay updated homework, notes from your teacher and the progress of your child’s behavior.
Sign up for REMIND if you have not already done so.
Upcoming important dates:
December 4 – School Sing-a-long
December 8-10 – Mr. Starling the Rock Show
December 22-January 5 – Holiday break.
Page 9 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Page 10 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Fourth Grade News, continued...
Page 11 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Fourth Grade News, continued...
Page 12 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Fifth Grade News
Social Studies: In fifth grade we have been studying ‘Our Changing Nation’. This time in history took place at the end of the 19th century/beginning of the 20th century. We learned about transcontinental railroad construction, repositioning Native Americans, Conflicts on the Great Plains, Cowboys, homesteaders, and great inventors who changed our lives. It also includes study about immigration, WWI, and the Jazz Age. All students have been using QR codes to look up important vocabulary and compile their findings on index cards for further study. You can find these QR codes on the DES website under the fifth grade webpage and then click on the plus sign beside social studies. English/Language Arts: Students were very involved in an extensive unit of study on figurative language where they learned the differences between similes, metaphors, personification, puns, idioms, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, and imagery. Students published poetry after listening to song lyrics of current music and analyzing it for the form of figurative language it contained. In addition, we finished the novel Sounder by William H. Armstrong.
Our next novel is Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.
Science: We are studying the following standard: S5L1. Students will classify organisms into groups and relate how they determined the groups with how and why scientists use classification.
a) Demonstrate how animals are sorted into groups (vertebrate and invertebrate) and how vertebrates are sorted into groups (fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, and mammal).
b) Demonstrate how plants are sorted into group
Page 13 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Fifth Grade News, continued...
Math: DECIMALS Standard: MCC5.NBT.1 Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left. • Students will work with place values from thousandths to one million. MCC5.NBT.3 Read, wr ite, and compare decimals to thousandths. a. Read and write decimals to thousandths using base ten numerals, number names, and expanded form. b. Compare two decimals to thousandths based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons. MCC5.NBT.4 Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place. MCC5.NBT.7 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used. Students will understand that like whole numbers, the location of a digit in decimal
numbers determines the value of the digit. Students will understand that rounding decimals should be “sensible” for the
context of the problem. Students will understand that decimal numbers can be represented with models. Students will understand that addition and subtraction with decimals are based on
the fundamental concept of adding and subtracting the numbers in like position values.
Field Trips: Fifth grade attended a field tr ip to Fernbank Museum on November 12th. Science and the natural world came to life as students explored educational special exhibitions, experienced an IMAX film, and engaged in curriculum-based auditorium programs. The following Science standards were explored: S5E1. Students will identify surface features of the Ear th caused by constructive and destructive processes. S5L1. Students will classify organisms into groups and relate how they determined the groups with how and why scientists use classification. S5L2. Students will recognize that offspr ing can resemble parents in inher ited traits and learned behaviors.
Page 14 December 2014 Dutchtown Elementary School Newsletter
Fifth Grade News, continued...
WHAT DID WE DO? ……………… EXHIBITS - Students were able to come face-to-face with the world's largest dinosaurs, explore the development of life on Earth through the landscapes of present-day Georgia, connect with cultures from around the world, and more as they explored the Fernbank's exhibitions. IMAX FILM- Pandas: The Journey Home is a groundbreaking natural history film that captures the highly endangered pandas at Wolong National Nature Reserve being prepared for release back into the wild. AUDITORIUM PROGRAM- Students discovered the wonders of the animal kingdom and was able to meet a few members of Fernbank’s live animal collection. Insects, turtles, and lizards were available to help students understand more about habitats, adaptations, and the important roles these animals play in the environment. Upcoming Events:
Beta induction on November 18th at 6pm
Taste of Dutchtown on November 20th at 6:30pm
International Festival assembly on November 21st
Mock writing assessment on December 2nd
Spelling Bee – individual classrooms
Christmas party on December 19th
