Cora B. Darling Elementary 1st Quarter Newsletter Dear Cora B. Darling Families, We hope this newsletter finds you well and enjoying the last few weeks of fall. Our school year st​
is well under way as we completed the 1​
quarter of our school year. As we walk through the halls at Cora B. Darling, we see students work displayed. There are so many wonderful things that can be observed on every given day. At the beginning of the year we talked about the expectations that we have for every given student. These expectations helped to set the stage for a great learning environment. If you didn’t receive a copy of these expectations please contact the office. To begin the year all the students of Cora B. Darling participated in the FAST assessment. This assessment provides a baseline of knowledge for each student in the area of reading. Reading is broken down into 5 components. These components are: phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. ​
(Find more about each component in the Literacy News section) ​
These assessments are then used to develop a more individualized reading support system for each student. These supports are provided daily by each classroom teacher and support for needed students through ESL (English Second Language) and LLI (Leveled Literacy Intervention). The FAST assessment will be given two more times this school year, again in January and a final time in April. st​
Helping support the learning process this year the kindergarten and 1​
grade teams rolled out st​
standards based grading. On October 27, 2015 parents of kindergarten and 1​
grade students were invited to a formal meeting in regards to how standards based grading would provide a more accurate and formal understanding of their child’s progress in both reading and math. Thank You, parents that attended! By this time next year we hope to have this process completed for all grades in Cora B. Darling. Cora B. Darling Elementary 312 W. Post St. Postville, IA 52162 Phone: (563) 864­7651 Elementary Office ext. 221 Website: www.postville.k12.ia.us Twitter: @postvilleschool
School News BOOK IT! Book IT! Motivates children to read by rewarding their reading accomplishments with praise, recognition and pizza. The program is simple for the teacher to use, flexible because goals match reading ability, and fun because achieving a goal is a great reason to celebrate. Book It! Runs from October through March. The teacher sets a reading goal for each child individually or for the entire class. A tracking chart is shared with each student and taken home for parents to sign. As soon as the child meets the monthly reading goal, the teacher recognizes him or her with a Reading Award Certificate. This certificate provides the student with a Free Personal Pan Pizza! ST Math ST Math K­4 grade­level instructional software is designed to help all students reach math proficiency through self­paced, language­independent, mastery­based objectives. It is closely aligned with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and integrates with core instruction. ST Math games use interactive, graphically­rich animations that visually represent mathematical concepts to improve conceptual understanding and problem­solving skills. Through a 1:1 scaffolded learning environment, games gradually increase in difficulty and provide immediate feedback. ST Math features embedded assessments, detailed reporting of student learning patterns and whiteboard integration. Teacher­guided instruction integrating ST Math software activities in the classroom rounds out MIND’s blended learning model. Carolina Science Pilot Program Carolina is truly one of the most extraordinary companies in the world. We work in partnership with educators and scientists to provide everything needed for science and math education, including: §​
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Living organisms including butterflies, drosophila, freshwater fish and much more §​
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Preserved specimens from each of the 5 kingdoms §​
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Materials for Life Science, Chemistry & Physics and Earth & Environmental Science §​
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Anatomical models and skeletons §​
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Laboratory equipment and supplies §​
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Microscopes and prepared microscope slides §​
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Tissue culture materials §​
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Tissue culture materials §​
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Teacher resources including classroom activities §​
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Material Safety Data Sheets §​
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Lab & chemical safety information Literacy News Five Components of Literacy Phonics​
– is one cueing system a reader uses for words not in his or her sight vocabulary. Phonics involves the association of sounds with letters and letter combinations in order to pronounce words. Phonics instruction teaches children the relationship between the sounds of spoken language and the letters of written language. Phonemic Awareness​
– is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate (individual sounds) in spoken words and understand how these sounds work together to make words. Fluency​
– is the ability to read at the appropriate rate, accurately, with expression, and with comprehension. Vocabulary​
– is work knowledge and involves the development, extension, and refinement of students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing vocabularies. Learning words and expanding vocabulary knowledge affects comprehension as students construct meaning while reading text. Comprehension​
– is the process of making meaning from print and is the goal of all reading. Good readers are purposeful and active and use strategies before, during, and after reading to construct meaning. What is LLI? ●
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LLI stands for ​
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eveled ​
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iteracy ​
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ntervention. LLI is designed for small group, supplementary intervention for children who find reading and writing difficult. Supplements, not substitutes, for small group instruction in the classroom. Provides daily reinforcement of new learning and supports accelerated progress. Lessons provide intensive, fast paced instruction. Children are highly engaged in successful experiences. Focus of reading is deep comprehending of text. Focus of writing is the building of writing strategies. Fluency is an important goal of LLI instruction. High quality texts for students to read in class as well as practice at home. LLI includes initial and ongoing assessments and progress monitoring. Determines appropriate reading levels for grouping. LLI provides a strong home connection. When children have more opportunities to share their successes at home, their self­esteem is enhanced. In addition to the take home books, children may also have writing activities and/or phonics materials related to their book. An additional goal of the homework is to reinforce responsibility and continued practice of class taught goals. From the LLI Instructional Team: Mrs. Frey, Mrs. Frieden, Mrs. Imoehl, Ms. Kleve, Mrs. Morarend, Mrs. L. Schutte Library Thank you for stopping in at the book fair. Even though it was on a smaller scale, we were able to get about 100 new books for the library at a value of about $600.00. Your support of your child's reading is greatly appreciated. I will have another one in the spring with a bigger selection. The Cora B. Darling students have been actively checking out a wide­range of books this year. Below are the total number of books being checked out per grade level during the months of September and October. September 2,449 Books Checked Out October 2,702 Books Checked Out Kindergarten 290 Kindergarten 339 st​
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Grade 356 st​
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Grade 388 nd​
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Grade 314 nd​
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Grade 360 rd​
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Grade 417 rd​
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Grade 467 th​
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Grade 357 th​
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Grade 504 th​
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Grade 402 th​
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Grade 351 th​
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Grade 313 th​
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Grade 293 Elementary Guidance News By Mrs. Moore This year I am having fun teaching guidance lessons to Kindergarten through 6th grade. I have 21 classes I meet with on the even days in our 6­day cycle. This year I am happy to have the students come to me in the library. It has worked out great to be able to have a place for the students’ story time and tables for them to complete their enriching projects. As in the past, I am using the wonderful Second Step curriculum, which focuses on skills for learning, showing empathy, emotion management and problem solving. We have focused on showing “respect” and learning how to listen. We have talked about “bully prevention” and have celebrated World Kindness Day and American Education Week by doing kind things for others. Our goal this year is to take pride in conducting ourselves the “Pirate Way.” P​
– have a “positive” attitude I​
– show “integrity” R​
– be “respectful and responsible” A​
– be “accountable” T​
– “teamwork” – Together Everyone Achieves More E​
– strive for “excellence” and be “enthusiastic” about learning K­12 Music Monday, December 7th​
​ ­ K­2 Winter Concert at 6:30 PM in the FACC Thursday, December 10th (5­8) Winter Concert at 7:00 PM in the FACC Jolly Phonics has been a huge success; the students were really engaged and looked forward to learning the day's sound. We currently are teaching Jolly Phonics 2 which reviews all the sounds and adds some alternative sounds. We have met Super E and Toughy Y! It also gives the students a chance to work on blending and segmenting old and new sounds. We continue to work on our sight words, by building, writing, and identifying them during center activities. Everyday Math has us very busy, learning many favorite games, such as Disappearing and Growing Train and Monster Squeeze, completing Pocket Problems, and graphing many of our favorite things such as, colors, food, or things to do! We were also able to visit Peake's Apple Orchard and the Fish Hatchery; which the students loved. We learned how to pick an apple, how they are sorted, and tasted apples from the orchard. At the fish hatchery we enjoyed a picnic lunch and feeding the fish. We want to give a big shout out to our local fire departments for giving us a ride on the fire trucks and treating us with ice cream. Your kindness is greatly appreciated! During second quarter we will continue to work with our Jolly Phonics program and add many new sight words to our word rings. We will work on skip counting and be introduced to the addition and subtraction sign during math time. Kindergarten celebrates Thanksgiving lunch as Turkey’s, Native Americans, and Pilgrims. What’s been happening in 1st Grade: 1. We’ve started using the Caroline Science Curriculum. Students have been doing hands­on activities involving animals and working with live worms and snails. 2. Students have begun to expand on their writing skills. Now that all first graders know the basic components of a sentence; they are applying that knowledge and learning how to write and support their opinions! 3. In math, first graders are beginning to use numbers and counting to do more advanced activities such as: addition, subtraction, telling time, and comparing numbers. 4. We hope you are enjoying the books that your child is bringing home each night. Please continue to read these books with your child each night and have meaningful discussions about the literature. 5. We are excited about the new standards based report cards and we thank you for your time and dedication to your child’s education! nd​
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Graders Visit Local Farms th​
On Friday, October 30​
second grade students traveled to 2 local farms to culminate their Food and Nutrition unit. Students visited John and Megan Schroeder’s dairy farm in rural Castalia. They were able to watch a cow being milked, feed calves, and enjoyed a healthy snack from the dairy group, which gives us strong bones and teeth. Next they visited the farm of Vince and Cole Spain. Students learned where and how our food is grown and harvested, along with a chance to climb into a combine to “imagine” they were harvesting. Cole Spain also shared his new litter of piglets and treated them to homegrown hot dogs for lunch. The Castalia Park was the last stop on the trip to enjoy the chilly fall weather. Everyone had a great time! rd​
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Grade News Have you ever thought 3rd graders could build their own city or pollinate their own flowers? Well we are! In 3rd grade some of the main concepts we are studying are multiplication, division, sequence of events, and plant growth and development. We are also working hard on showing positive behaviors. We are honoring our students every month with an “Honor Roll/On A Roll Assembly” by recognizing those who are showing excellence in academics and behaviors! Don’t forget about reading! We are all participating in Book It! Please make sure your child is reading every night! If you child is bringing home homework, please make sure they are completing this to enhance our reading and math skills. Thanks for seeing us for conferences and working together to help your child grow! th​
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Grade The fourth graders have added 48 Dwarf African Frogs, 48 millipedes, and 32 Fiddler Crabs to their classrooms. They are studying their habitats, behaviors, and physical properties while also caring for the animals by feeding them and cleaning their terrariums. This is part of the pilot program for Carolina Curriculum and it is a very exciting time to be a fourth grader! Greetings from 5th and 6th grade Science! The students in these two grade levels have been working really hard at getting know the ins and outs of science. We started the school year off about what is a scientist and what is their job. From here, the students started learning the Scientific Method and that the steps can go round and round when doing experiments and research. The 5th grade started their first Carolina Unit on ​
Structure and Properties of Matter​
. These students have been measuring mass and volume, learning about how to change from a solid to liquid to gas and back, and the idea that everything that has mass and volume is matter. We will be ending the unit shortly after doing labs with chemical and physical changes, along with filtering out different layers of matter. Sixth grade rotated into an ​
Energy Unit​
which was provided by Alliant Energy. All students were given an Energy Savings Kit that included a high efficiency shower head, a kitchen and bathroom sink aerator, three light bulbs, a digital thermometer, and a shower timer. We learned about energy in our community and where it comes from along with natural resources that are renewable and nonrenewable. This class did a lot with thinking about how to better our Earth and the resources that are available now and will not be in the future. Finally, all 5th and 6th graders are participating in a Science Fair project. This is one of the newest projects to Postville Elementary. I am super excited to incorporate this into my year and see what wonderful ideas all of the students have that relate to science and technology. Mrs. Salinas is also working with the 5th and 6th graders on this too. The plan is to be presenting the projects towards the middle to end of February. Some of the 6th graders will be asked to compete at sectionals in Cedar Falls in March. Again, I am looking forward to all students’ ideas coming out in projects, to see their learning and thinking come to life. Mrs. Rooney th​
5/6​
Grade Language Arts: Mrs. Schuknecht Students have been focusing on writing narratives ­ stories about themselves. They also have reviewed grammar rules including: commas, pronouns, and verbs. The 6th graders enjoyed making their verb videos. The students learned about the 6 Traits of Writing and will be focusing on these concepts within their writing during second semester in addition to practicing writing strong paragraphs. th​
5/6​Grade Technology: Mrs. Salinas
For the first quarter of the school year, 5th and 6th grade both spent some time learning
about Digital Citizenship. We learned about what is ok to share online and what things should
be kept private. We learned about creating strong passwords and why keeping passwords a
secret is important. We also learned about ways to use our computers legally and ethically in
school and out of school.
6th grade moved on to researching a topic connected to their Social Studies unit on Ancient
Egypt and created a multimedia project to share their information. 5th grade also connected
technology to Social Studies by creating an interactive map to share information they learned
about different Native American regions.
These projects can be found at the following websites:
http://postville6th.blogspot.com/
http://5thgradetech.blogspot.com/
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5/6​
Grade Reading with: Ms. Brincks In 5th and 6th grade reading, we have just completed our novel studies. In the novel studies we learned how to determine themes, compare and contrast, and comprehend texts by completing projects on the novel's content. Students are now moving into an informational genre study where we will be learning how to determine main idea and how to analyze information to write or speak about. th​
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Math Department: Mrs. Ohloff 5th Grade Math – Fifth graders have been learning various aspects of Number Theory. Some new concepts for them are exponents, exponential notation, squares, and square roots. 6th Grade Math ­ Sixth graders have focused on Collection, Display, and Interpretation of Data. They have learned a variety of ways to display the same data using different forms of graphs, including the Box and Whisker plot. Both grades spend part of their day engaged in a one­on­one computer math program ALEKS.com. This program provides remediation as well as acceleration of math concepts. Students also take part in the Mobymax.com math program that provides practice, which earns time for math games. Both of these programs are available online at homes with internet access. 5th and 6th Grade Social Studies In 5th grade during the first quarter we have been learning about Native American cultures. We worked with Mrs. Salinas the Technology teacher to make Scribble Maps about different Native American cultures. We then moved on to European Exploration of North America including the voyage of Columbus. We will shortly be covering colonization in North America. In 6th grade we have more of a world history approach. We started by learning about cultures in Mesopotamia. Our next topic of learning was ancient Egypt. Again, the 6th graders worked with Mrs. Salinas to create different projects showcasing their learning about ancient Egypt. We will soon by studying ancient Greece. Mr. Sass th​
Kindergarten – 6​
Grade supporting Veteran’s Day The Postville Community School District held its annual Veteran’s Day Program on November th​
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. Postville Lions Club Peace Poster Contest Winners of the Peace Poster contest were: Javier Hernandez, Brandon Kregel, and Emily Navarro. ​
1st​
Quarter Honor Roll (93 students 4th
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Grade Recipients th​
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The Postville YMCA offered girls grades 4​
­ 6​ the opportunity to participate in volleyball during the months of September and October. The girls shown below participated and learned how to work as a team, commitment, and sportsmanship. th​
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4​ – 6​ Grade Volleyball These 35 boys made a commitment starting in August to practice and represent the Postville community with pride. These boys were split into two teams that competed every Sunday afternoon. These boys overcame their differences in each other and learned a lot of valuable lessons along with the game of Football. th​
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5​ & 6​ Grade YSF (Youth Sports Foundation) Football