Volume 3 Issue 3
January-February, 2014
Chissy News
Chisholm Elementary School
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
P r i n c i p a l ’ s
N o t e s
Dates To Remember:
Dear Wildcats,
Feb. 4
PTA Science
Night/MOAS
Science Night
Feb. 5
Early Release
Feb. 11
PTA Meeting
Feb. 12
Early Release
Feb. 13
SAC Meeting
Feb. 14
Grandparents’ Day
Feb. 17
Presidents’ Day
Feb. 19
Early Release
No School
Feb. 26-28 FCAT Writing
Feb. 26
Early Release
March 12
Run-a-thon
Now that the calendar has changed to 2014, it is a wonderful time to reflect on our
accomplishments from 2013 and look forward to our goals for the New Year. Goal
setting is important and it is good practice to start even with small children. When
creating goals for your children remember to be SMART! Create goals that are:
Specific-A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished
than a general goal
Measurable-Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the
attainment of each goal you set
Attainable-You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps
wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps
Realistic-You are the only one who can decide just how high your goal
should be
Timely-A goal should be grounded within a time frame
So whether are looking to get healthy, spend more time together as a family or to help your
child improve an academic skill, goal planning will set you on a course for success!
Ms. Carter
Spelling Bee
Spelling Bee Participants
Spelling Bee Winners
First Place:
Second Place:
Delayna Goodrich
Neo Stawniak
Chisholm’s annual Spelling Bee was held on
January 27 in the Media Center. The winners
go on to the county Spelling Bee at Port Orange
Elementary March 4th.
P a g e
C h i s sy
2
N e w s
K i n d e r g a r t e n
The “Polar Express Pajama
Day” was a great success.
Thank you for sending in all the
goodies and special thanks to
our volunteers who came to
assist us with this event. The
children had a great time and
really enjoyed the reading and
hot cocoa with marshmallows!
We are excited to be
celebrating our 100th day of
school on January 31st. We
have many fun and exciting
activities planned. Kindergarteners are very busy reading,
writing, and counting to 100.
We would like you to continue
reading at home every night.
The students will be focusing on
medial sounds in phonemic
awareness; as well as continuing to
practice beginning and ending
sounds. We are continuing to work
our way through the alphabet. The
students are also working on
reading fluency and it is important
to practice reading with your child
every night as well as working
with sight words. We will be
working on day and night sky in
science. In Math, they are
continuing to practice counting and
number sense and are being
introduced to addition and
subtraction. Your child may need
help with their homework.
F i r s t
First graders have been busy
learning basic reading and math
skills. They are beginning to
read and retell stories. Please
encourage your child to read at
least 15 minutes a night.
Decodable books are sent home
weekly for your child to read
and by having your child read
and reread familiar books helps
build fluency. Fluency is reading a text accurately and
quickly using expression.
Recognizing sight words also
helps with fluency. Sight word
flashcards are a great way to
practice automatically recognizing sight words and each week
We will be focusing on the past
and present for social studies and
are looking forward to smooth
sail into the 3rd quarter. In the
3rd quarter our students will be
sharpening their writing skills.
When practicing writing sentences at home, remind your
child to place a capital letter at
the beginning of the sentence
and a period or question mark at
the end.
-Crandall, Evans and Roof
G r a d e
sight words are sent home. You can
also make your own flashcards using the words of the week so they
can be practiced nightly.
We will be having a small celebration in class. The students
may bring in valentine cards
already addressed for each
student. A class list and more
On January 31st, first graders will
information will be sent home
celebrate the 100th day of school.
soon. Encourage your child to
They will count and then will graph fill out the cards by themselves.
one hundred items, read and write
First graders are doing a great
stories about the 100th day of
job turning in their homework
school, and will get to eat one
daily. Keep up the good work
hundred food items.
and remember to read, read,
read! Thank you for all of your
In February, we are looking forward hard work and support!
to Valentine’s Day.
Beverly, Bowe,
Goodknecht and Grant
V o l u m e
3
I s s u e
3
P a g e
K i n d e r g a r t e n & F i r s t
G i f t e d
K/1 gifted is working hard! We
are continuing to work hard on
addition, subtraction, and word
problems in math. We are also
working on measurement
(including time). We have almost
reached 100 for our number of the
day. We have lots of fun activities planned for the 100th day of
schoo1! We will be starting our
Force of Motion unit in science
very soon and look forward to
some hands on activities to talk
about this.
With the Olympics starting in February, we will be incorporating that
theme into many of our subjects.
They are quickly becoming fantastic
readers! We will start to discuss
character traits in the next few weeks.
Continue to read at home.
Thank you for your support
with weekly homework and
also our monthly projects!
Mrs. Traub
S e c o n d
Second Grade is off and running
in the 3rd quarter. In reading, we
are learning about wild animals,
animal survival, recycling and
super storms. We are learning
how to add and subtract 3 digit
numbers with regrouping. We are
filling up our Interactive Student
Notebooks and will soon be
studying geometry and all kinds
of shapes. In February, we will
YEARBOOKS ON
SALE
G r a d e
G r a d e
be preparing for our Volusia Writes
test and learning about our President
and our past presidents. We will learn
about famous black Americans while
celebrating Black History month. We
continue using a variety of
technology and have begun using the
Internet to find information. Many
students have earned free pizzas and
race tickets for all their reading. Keep
up the reading logs every week.
T h i r d
Buy your
Yearbook today!
Continue to read with your child
and review their weekly work on
Fridays when it comes home.
Thank you for all your support
and for the much needed school
supplies and snacks.
Mrs. Ahlgren, Mrs. Navarro
and Mrs. Schmitt
G r a d e
Third Graders will continue working
hard preparing for our important
FCAT Tests coming soon!
Thank you all third graders for
participating in Literacy Week
activities and Racing to Read
Program!
Remember to keep practicing
multiplication and to keep reading for
Reading Counts. We have several students in third grade with over 100
points so far!
Thank You,
Keep it up!
Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Frey,
and Mrs. Ross
3
P a g e
4
C h i s sy
S e c o n d
Our year is off to a spectacular start!
The children have been back and more
excited than ever. We will work on
filling out literature packets correctly,
as well as, taking tests using our books
to answer questions. In writing, we
are working on planning writing and
then using our graphic organizer to
write a paper. In Science we are
working on matter and moving into
Energy. We are working on the states
and capitols in Social Studies
&
T h i r d
We have been working on subtraction and moving into multi-digit addition involving regrouping. It is
important for your children to know
single digit addition and subtraction
by heart. Please practice flash cards
with them; this will aid them when
multiplication comes into the picture.
We are looking forward to our next
field trip to Lyonia and in March we
will be going to Reptile Discovery!
T h i r d
Happy New Year…I can’t believe
it’s 2014. We are back and into a
good working groove. I wanted to
thank our parents who volunteered
their time to come and read with us
during Literacy Week. We would
also like to ask you to come back
(anytime)…as we love it when you
share your passion for reading with
us!
We started the New Year with new
studies in our subject areas. In Social
Studies, we have moved onto the
G r a d e
We had a wonderful learn
experience at the Marine
Discovery Center thanks to
NSBHS aquaculture students.
Don’t forget your family has a
G i f t e d
Please continue to check planners,
homework is completed, and read
when the opportunity arises.
Have a great day!
Mrs. Weeks
We are beginning
to read Ramona
the Brave.
G i f t e d
Ancient Civilization of Egypt. In
conjunction with our studies, we are
reading the Magic Tree House book,
and waiting to get started on some
crafts depicting the life and times of
Ancient Egyptians. In Science, we’ve
been studying Energy…and the various forms. In Math, we are continuing with “Number Talks” and practicing our mental math computation
of fractions. One “homework” assignment is for the students to look
for fractions out “in the real world.”
F o u r t h
Bundle up! The weather has
changed. Remember in Florida, it
can be warm in the morning and
freezing in the afternoon. Make
sure your child brings a sweater
or jacket to school each day.
G r a d e
N e w s
G r a d e
free pass to visit the center. Mrs.
Ciaramella’s students can teach
family members what they
learned about local marine life.
Soon, a 50ft. whale will be on
display. Don’t miss that exciting
event!!
Mrs. Ciaramella
Please have your student discuss
with you their fraction (parts and
whole)…they should be able to explain them to you!
As always, please encourage your
student to read every day and to
practice those multiplication math
facts. Also, parents please continue
to utilize Pinnacle to track your student’s progress and for any missing
work…and, as always, thank you
for your continued support!
Ms. Johnson
V o l u m e
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I s s u e
3
F o u r t h
4h Grade Gifted:
In Social Studies, we are beginning
our unit on Colonial America. We are
starting this unit with a “gallery
walk”. This is a fascinating time in
history to study! How did they live
their daily lives compared to us now?
We are wrapping up our novel, Indian
in the Cupboard. This is a fantastic
story! We hope to view the movie as
well so we can compare & contrast
the book vs. the film. Wouldn’t it be
interesting to have a 3 inch cowboy
and Indian running around your
house??? We are meeting for literature circles—what a great way to explore literature, learn to talk about
books, as well as collaborate and
work in a team. We also incorporate
the “Daily 5” into our reading time
where our focus is typically nonfiction text and vocabulary skills.
5th Grade Gifted:
We have concluded our unit on
“Matter”—we enjoyed several
labs with this unit! We will begin
our unit on energy and electricity
in science. We’re always working
hard in science to use information
from multiple sources combined
with hands-on labs and
investigations.
In reading, we continue to work
on capturing the reader’s attention
by starting off a writing prompt
with a “grabber.” We have also
incorporated literature circles into
our weekly reading activities. Ask
your child about the book they are
currently reading! We are also
continuing our “Daily 5” in reading—with a greater focus on nonfiction text and “word work”.
P a g e
&
F i f t h
G r a d e
FCAT Writing is coming soon & we
are READY to WRITE! We have
worked very hard on both narrative and
expository writing; including adding
literary elements that create a great
story or essay. Ask your child about
“color” words, sound effects, similes &
metaphors; as well as ways to make
their stories come alive! We’ve enjoyed
reading literature that has inspired us to
be better writers. We love our daily
“quick writes” and think this strategy
has improved our “hooks” (beginnings)
and conclusions. Keeping a journal or
diary is a great way to incorporate writing into your daily life.
In math, we are currently working our
way through expressions, equations and
continue to focus on problem solving in
a variety of ways. We’re learning to
create our own word problems and then
incorporate variables into the equations.
We’ll be working hard to master
In math, we are learning to find factors of composite numbers so that in
the future we will be able to add and
subtract fractions with unlike denominators. (Keep practicing your
multiplication facts daily if those
skills aren’t sharp!)
In Social Studies, we are studying
“Reform” across the country which
includes: rights for women; better
education and better treatment of
the mentally ill; and questioning
slavery in comparison to “the land
of the free.” These are passionate
times in our country’s history—so
much to learn and discuss in regards
to all of these topics and important
milestones.
G i f t e d
exponents and order of operations as
well! Encourage your child to talk
about math as they solve problems—
on their homework or in the “real
world”.
Rocks and minerals are too cool!!! We
are loving this unit! Ask your child
about Hawaiian sand vs. the sand from
New Smyrna. Look for examples of
erosion and deposition around our
town and beaches. Ask your child to
differentiate between sedimentary,
metamorphic and igneous rocks. We
have some fun, hands-on projects
coming soon! As we conclude this
topic, we’ll move into Force and Motion…always fun to study!
Great job on the Social Studies projects, 4th graders!
Mrs. McDonald
We have started a class novel that
follows two determined young
survivors struggling to live in a
country torn apart by war;
“A Long Walk to Water.”
Mrs. McDonald
NEWS
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Inform
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ll be se
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approa r 5 grader as home
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the tim
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5
P a g e
6
C h i s sy
N e w s
G L E E : G i f t e d L e a r n e r s E n r i c h m e n t &
E d u c a t i o n , A P a r e n t B o o s t e r C l u b
We were very happy and appreciative of all the work our Gifted
Teachers did to present their
beautiful classrooms to our
community in December. The
turnout was excellent and we
appreciate all the families who
donated something delicious to
our food and beverage spread!
Special compliments go out to our
teachers for going the extra mile.
It’s an extraordinary opportunity
for our kids to learn the way ours
do. When they study a unit on
Native American culture or history, they don’t stop at learning
what a sand painting is, they
actually make one. And with design thinking units in full swing,
they are stretching their own ideas
of the possible, and learning how
to work with others toward
solutions. This training will offer
benefits to last a lifetime. A lot of
Look for “Club Sign Ups”, which
will begin again in February. No
sign up will be processed without
a filled out permission slip. We
will do as much as possible by
email so if we do not have your
email, remember clubs fill up fast.
Send us your email address to
receive the mass mailings!
Here’s to a great Winter/Spring at
Chisholm!
-------GLEE VOLUNTEERS
behind the scenes’ effort goes into one of our grades finished ahead
planning this type of learning, so
of other unrated elementary
thank you Gifted Team!
teams. Thanks Learning RX
and PTA for donating TEAM
The Chess Club attended the Na- SHIRTS.
tional K-12 Elementary School
Chess Tournament in Orlando in
We are the first Volusia County
December. For 3 days, 18 players Elementary Chess Team, and the
led by Coach Steve Lampkin, ate, first Volusia Team to ever play
drank and slept Chess… ALEX
in a national chess tournament.
ZENCHENKO, scored enough
Way to go Wildcats!
wins to receive a 2nd place trophy
Our funds this year have gone
amongst all unrated 4th graders
toward hot glue gun supplies for
from 38 US States. This is no
small accomplishment, way to go design thinking, and bean bags
for the classrooms! We believe
Alex!! ZACH CUMBIE
we can accomplish this goal with
represented Chisholm well by
lasting the longest in a three hour 12 parents, vs. the 6 we had
when we raised our initial funds.
game that ended in a draw.
So please attend or email us if
you need to schedule a meeting
ANNALIESE YEE and
JOHNNY GRIMALDI finished in for the info after work hours.
the top 10, and overall, every
V o l u m e
3
I s s u e
3
P a g e
S o c i a l
The winners for the Social Studies Fair are:
Poster:
Eylish Coolbeth, 1st place
Thea Gallagher, 2nd place
Sam Dinardi, 3rd place
Maps:
Emma Norman, 1st place
Jake Krauel, 2nd place
F a i r
Crafts:
Cole Emmanuel, 1st place
Haven Shaver, 2nd place
Sophis Eagney, 3rd place
Exhibits:
Atticus Paler, 1st place
Neo Swatniakl, 2nd place
Lillian Fredirico, 3rd place
Congratulations to all our
Social Studies winners!
Individual Performance:
Sienna Burns
L a d y
Lady Cats are up to a lot
of dancing lately! We had
a very successful Lady
Cat Night at McKenna’s
Monday Dec. 16th and Jan.
20th! We raised enough
money for new team
jackets! Thanks to all
those who baked goods,
came out and ate dinner,
purchased carry out or just
S t u d i e s
7
C a t s
made a donation! We
really appreciate your
support!
We welcome the Kitty
Cats, who started in
January! Amber McNabb,
Savannah Amsbury,
Staten Weeks, Lauren
Merklin, Baylie Zitzka, &
Maysea Landis. Ms. Cat
and Ms. Emily are
So Fou
cia rt
lS hG
tu ra
di d
es e
Fa
ir
D a n c e
choreographing a pom
routine and they are so
cute! We are preparing
new routines for our
annual Spring Fling, Relay for Life performance,
and getting ready for a
Grandparent’s Day
performance,
February 14th.
Yours in Dance,
Mrs. Dill
A r t
K/1 have been studying the
artist who was labeled a
“fauve” (French for wild
beast). Henri Matisse was a
turn of the century French
artist who broke away from
the popular style of realism
by using bright colors and
expressive brush strokes in
his art. We’ve made colorful
self portraits and are
currently studying
“The Goldfish.” Look for
some of our Kindergarten
Artists at ArtHaus’ Wee
Create exhibit in December!
2/3 are making quite an impression with their Impressionist based art work. We
are examining Degas’
ballerinas, Renoir’s landscapes and Monet’s waterlilies (one of my favorites)!
We have learned to blend
chalk pastels and how to
paint watercolors “wet-onwet.”
4/5 are super focused on
Pablo Picasso…we loved his
art so much we extended this
although it may seem to
take a while to complete,
we know that craftsmanship
is an important part of being an artist. Their “Blue
Period” inspired portraits
will be ready to show off
soon! We’ve learned how
to mix paints to create tints
and shades, as well as what
the word ‘monochromatic’
means….go head, quiz
them!
All classes are making sure
they use the Elements and
Principals of Art in their
work. Ask your child if
they can tell you about
some of these Important
pARTS of Art!
Catie Tappan
P a g e
8
C h i s sy
N e w s
WORKS of heART CLUB
I can’t believe it’s almost time to
say good bye to 4th and 5th grade
Works of heART members! The
painted fence looks incredible
(yes, the other half will be
painted by the 2nd and 3rd grade
members) and has received many
compliments. Currently, we are
working on alternatives surfaces
(black foam core), canvas paintings and soon we will be glazing
some pottery. I always have so
much fun with this group!
Look for information to come
home soon concerning upcoming
dates.
Thank you for always making an
effort to pick your child up by
3:05, it is appreciated.
The Art Room is always in
need of fun supplies, if you
have anything you think our
students could use for art,
please email me at:
mctappan@volusia.k12.fl
nothing Thank you!
There is iting Catie Tappan
more exc your
ee
than to s play!
d
n
art o is
G u i d a n c e
AmVets Americanism Poster Contest
Third place winner for Southeast Volusia 4th
graders : Haven Shaver, Ms. Dill’s class,
st
Also, honorable mention 1 graders:
Nicole Walls, Ms. Grant and
Hannah Stivenson, Ms. Traub.
Nicole Walls, Haven Shaver
and Hannah Stivenson
Pennies for Patients Campaign
Chishom Elementary will participate in an upcoming campaign to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Florida. This is
a very important cause and certainly worth our
efforts – money collected will stay here in
central Florida for research and patient care.
The campaign, called “Pennies for Patients”,
will begin on Monday, March 3rd and end
Thursday, March 19th . The class raising the
most money (at each school) will receive a $50
gift card to fund their own class party.
V o l u m e
3
I s s u e
3
P a g e
G u i d a n c e
We are a “Bucket Filling
School!”
Bucket Filler is a character
education and bully prevention
program that schools are
implementing across the country. The idea comes from the
book, “How Full is Your
Bucket?” by Tom Rath. The
concept is that we all carry an
invisible bucket containing our
feelings. When our bucket is
full, we feel happy; when
empty, we feel sad or angry. A
bucket filler is someone who
says or does something nice for
other people. By being a
Bucket Filler, we fill other peoples’ buckets, and we fill our
own.
We were also feeling the
L-O-V-E (LOVE!) … Chisholm
was so blessed to receive assistance from so many loving and
caring individuals and
organizations during the holiday
season. On behalf of the
faculty, staff, students and
families of Chisholm
Elementary School I want to
thank the following folks for
their kindness:
C o n t i n u e d
Congratulations to the following classes for filling their class
buckets in the first semester:
Ms. Beverly, Ms. Dill, Ms.
Hopkins, Ms. Traub, Ms.
Brown, Ms. Evans, Ms. Grant,
and Ms. Bowe.
December gave us an
opportunity to share the love!
Our students participated in a
school-wide canned food drive
“Team Up Against Hunger” to
collect food for the Gifts of
Love Food Pantry on W. Park
Ave. in Edgewater.
Elizabeth Scheel, Everglades
Boats – Kristy Curry,
Pelican Piecemakers,
Edgewater Rotary, NSB
Kiwanis Club, Harley Davidson
Owners Club of NSB – Kathy
Diffenbaugh, Caroling for
Coats, NSB VFW and Ladies
Auxiliary – Marge Lamb,
Walmart S.R. 44 NSB – Bob
Morris, The Community Toy
Party – Donna Stoddard, Joyce
Glissen, Patsy Raines, Barbara
Our Lady Star of the Sea Catho- Tillis, Mr. and Mrs. Fred
lic Church, First Baptist Church Sharpstein, Alissa Lovejoy,
of New Smyrna Beach, Sacred
Johnna Gonzalez, Dana
Heart Catholic Church, Trinity
Garnjobst, Debby Daly, Joey
Lutheran Church, Coronado
Daly, Claire Schneider, Jim
Community United Methodist
DiCavallucci, and Joe Glasse.
Church Ladies Circles –
Rebecca and Naomi Dorcas, St.
Peter the Fisherman Episcopal
Church, Bank of America –
Guidance lessons for January
have focused on Learning for
Life while February lessons will
make the connection between
school and work. Get ready
parents, you may be the subject
of an interview!
Thank you
for supporting Guidance!
Marla DeLoach Griffin
School Counselor
9
WE’RE ON THE WEB!
HTTP://MYVOLUSIASCHOOLS.ORG
CLICK ON THE SCHOOLS’ TAB
C H I S H O L M
E L E M E N T A R Y
S C H O O L
557 Ronnoc Lane
New Smyrna Beach, FL

Kelly Carter, Principal

Angela Polite, TOA
Phone: 386-424-2540
Fax: 386-424-2500

Doris Hayward, Editor
Chisholm’s Motto:
We Are Loving To Learn,
Learning To Grow,
and Growing to Succeed!
Chisholm’s Code:
I Am Respectful!
I Am Prepared!
I Am Responsible!
We are always
looking for
Volunteers!
I Am Safe!
B u s i n e s s
Thank You To Our
Business Partners:
Aaron’s Heating & Air, Inc.
We value
your partnership
Pa r t n e r s
First Baptist
Church
Papa Johns Pizza
Interested in becoming a Chisholm
Business Partner?
Please contact Sue Jones at 386-424-2540