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GREENBRIER GAZETTE
October 2009 Issue 1
Biscuits are now $3 or
2 for $5 in the car line.
Calendar Of Events
Monday Oct. 12th
PTA meeting/Family Math and
Science Night
Tuesday Oct. 13th
Chick Fil A
Thursday Oct. 15th
Chick Fil A Spirit Night
Thursday Oct. 15th &
Friday Oct. 16th
no school
Friday Oct. 23rd
Coffee Talk
Monday-Friday Oct. 26th-30th
Red Ribbon Week
Tuesday Oct. 27th
Chick Fil A
Reflections Due
Thursday Oct. 29th
Donuts for Dad
Friday Oct. 30th
Muffins for Mom
TRUNK or TREAT
From the Principal
Dear Greenbrier Families,
We are on Safari this year and have had a great start to the new school
year. Thank you for your assistance as we practice routines and procedures. Our school day begins at 8:00 AM. Please help us make sure
students are present and on time every day. We are working on diminishing tardies this year. This may seem insignificant, but adding up minutes
due to tardies over a period of time adds up to a significant amount of
instructional time being lost, which impacts student achievement.
Many, if not all, teachers have posted their schedules outside their doors.
Please refer to the schedule before you enter the classroom unannounced. Teachers are working diligently to make sure each instructional
minute counts. Entering the classroom unannounced interrupts instruction
and teachers lose prime instructional time. Please check in with the front
office staff before entering classrooms. If you need to meet with the
teacher prior to school day, please schedule the meeting ahead of time so
the teachers are expecting you.
Also, classroom observations are cleared through the principal, with prior
notice given to the teacher. We do not call into teachers’ classrooms
unless it is an emergency. Please note there are no early dismissals after
2:00 PM. Parents volunteering in the school may not interrupt classroom
instruction to pick up their child early. Early dismissals must be cleared by
the office. This has been a problem and I’m asking for your assistance to
prevent interruptions from occurring during our instructional day.
At this time, several grade levels are experiencing a shortage of textbooks. Please note that no homework assignments will be given from the
textbook until all students have a full set. Class sets are being used in the
classroom for daily instruction. All students will receive a full set of textbooks. Thank you for your patience.
Thank you to families for your patience as we get our traffic worked out.
Our enrollment has increased by 150 students and it will certainly take us
a while to safely move students out each day to buses and cars. Please
know that safety is our first priority. We dismiss buses and van riders first,
followed by walkers, then car riders. All student car riders should be
picked up by 3:00 PM. After 3:00, parents will need to enter the office to
sign out their child. We appreciate your assistance and cooperation with
these procedures.
In Service,
Mrs. Nicky Andrews / Principal
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Kids thrive when they feel the adults in their lives see them in a consistent way. So parents and
teachers should try to use the precious minutes of a conference to reach an agreement about a
child's strengths and challenges and to unite on the best ways they each can respond to them. Here
are some tips on how to build a relationship that will benefit all:
1. Be there. Research shows that children do better academically when both parents attend conferences and PTA meetings. A parental
nnno-show sends a message to a child that maybe school
isn't such a high priority--or perhaps that the child isn't.
2. Remember the F word: focus. The aim of a parent-teacher conference is for adults to build a
mutually respectful alliance that will nnsupport a child's sometimes difficult journey through school.
3. Share insider information. Tell the teacher what you know about your child as a learner. You
know what your child loves and hates about nnschool, what motivates your child, what has worked
with teachers in the past. Also tell the teacher about your hopes and fears for your nnchild. That
information can help a teacher fine-tune instruction or interactions to be more effective. It builds the
relationship between the nnadults when parents can share some of their own feelings about their
child's future.
4. Use a report card as a jumping-off point, not as the centerpiece of the discussion. Turn any
review of grades into an opportunity to get nnthe teacher's more detailed observations about what's
working and what's not for your child. Do not dwell on the grade itself, and do not nnattempt to
pressure a teacher to change a grade, especially at a conference. (If you believe there is a real
issue of injustice, take it to an nnadministrator.) Remember, an A student won't die from getting a B,
nor will a B student suffer irreparable harm from getting a C.
5. Inquire about your child's progress in areas that aren't easily measured by grades. Not every
child is going to be a brilliant student, but nnyou want your child, brilliant or not, to be a loving,
respectful, productive citizen who can live in community with others. Ask whether she nnor he has
friends, is part of a group, knows how to socialize and work respectfully with other children. How
your child functions with nnother people is going to make a big difference in later life.
6. Ask what you can do. Be receptive to advice on how you can support your child's success
without micromanaging or rescuing him or nnher from mistakes and the valuable lessons they offer.
7. Trust your child's development. Try to relax a little and have faith in your child and your child's
journey through school.
8. Leave your own school baggage at home. We all have memories of teachers and classes that
made us miserable. Set those aside and nnapproach your child's teacher as a peer and partner.
Assume a teacher wants to see your child succeed in school and in life--just as you nndo. The
respect you show a teacher is contagious and will find its way back to your child.
Michael Thompson, Ph.D., is the author of The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child to Achieve
Success in School and in Life and co-author of Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys
Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Grades 2-5
Second through fifth grade students participated in MAP testing in September. This assessment
itself is unique because it adapts to student’s ability, accurately measuring what a student knows
and needs to learn. MAP tests measure academic growth over time, independent of grade level or
age. Most importantly, the results that our educators receive have practical application to teaching
and learning. Teachers will be sharing these results in parent/teacher conferences in October
Financial Literacy & Banking for Students
Students at Greenbrier will have the opportunity to open a savings account with Greenville Federal
Credit Union. Representatives from FCU will be “on-site” at Greenbrier on Friday, November 13th
during student lunch times. Your child may bring in money to make a deposit into their very own
savings account. You can also make deposits at any Greenville Federal Credit Union during banking
hours.
This program enhances students’ character by promoting responsibility, real life banking experiences, goal setting, and math lessons for our students. If you are interested in how this works, call
Karen Henry, from Greenville Federal Credit Union at 864-404-3109 or by email at
khenry@greenvillefcu.com..
From the PTA
Hello Greenbrier Families,
I hope you enjoy our first newsletter of the school year. Can you believe it is already October? Time
has flown by since August. As many of you know we have a new PTA Board this year. I am very
excited to be your new PTA president! Please know, we are here to help and serve in any way that we
can.
I would like to say a huge “THANK YOU” to all of you who have already volunteered and to the many
of you who signed up to volunteer. We need all of your help. I think we had a record turnout at our
volunteer trainings. Thank you to all who came. If you were unable to attend, but have questions about
volunteering, please feel free to contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Shauna Brink.
We have so many wonderful events scheduled at Greenbrier this year. Some of them are new and
some of them are just new to our Board. We hope for all of them to be a big success. If you ever have
any suggestions please feel free to let us know. As president this year, one of my main goals is to
have many opportunities for our families to come together. As a working parent, I am always looking
for quality time to share with my son. Nowadays, we are all trying to save money. I also want our
school to have free or low cost activities to do together with our families. I may only have one child,
but I know we have several families that have multiple children at Greenbrier and that can get costly
when you go out. Many of our events will have items provided for free or low-cost such as our FAMILY
MATH AND SCIENCE NIGHT on Monday October 12th. The materials needed for the activities for
that night will be provided by PTA.
Our TRUNK OR TREAT will be loads of fun. We will be giving out free candy for our students. There
will be other activities at a low cost including: Inflatables ($5 wristband), Soda Ring Toss, Cake Walk,
Hair Painting ($1 each). Food- Popcorn, Cotton Candy, drinks (.50 each). There will also be a few
other food items available for $1. There will be a free coloring table for children to color a fall picture.
We will have a costume contest and will be giving prizes to one student from each grade. We sent
home information in Communication Folders last week, but if you have any questions or would like to
volunteer please call us or email us. We need your donations of 2 liter sodas and bags of individually
wrapped candy. We are having a candy war between classes. The class that brings in the most candy
based on their class size will win a silly string party. We have already started collecting soda and
candy. Our items for the cake walk may be turned in the day before and day of Trunk or Treat. Please
let us know ahead of time if you will be sending in baked goods. Thank you for your contributions!
We will also be hosting our DONUTS FOR DADS on Thursday, October 29th and MUFFINS FOR
MOMS on Friday, October 30th. You may come and have breakfast with your child and enjoy one of
our free activities that we will provide for you and your child to do together. Mrs. Andrews, our principal, will also be there to meet and greet everyone. This will start at 7:15. Students must report to class
by 8:00am. We would love to see you there!
Our national RED RIBBON WEEK will be held the last week in October. Students will learn about the
dangers of drugs. We will have different activities planned for each day of the week, including a guest
speaker for 3rd-5th graders. Each grade level will be given age appropriate materials. This will be a
wonderful kickoff to our new CAN program starting soon for 4th and 5th graders. Our SIC chair David
Griffith will be speaking about this program at our November 9th PTA meeting.
Also, I would like to acknowledge our Volunteer for Summer, Perky Dean, and our Volunteers for
August, Todd and Katherine Jernigan. Thanks for all of your time and efforts!
Our Innisbrook Fall Fundraiser went really well this year. Thank you Kim Phillips for doing such a
wonderful job as our fundraising chair.Thank you to all who participated. All of the funds raised at our
school are for a good cause. There are so many ways that we use the money including: playground,
Communication Folders, teacher grants, artist in residence, student supplies and much more. We give
out budget reports at every PTA meeting so that you can see where every dollar is spent.
We are fortunate to have such wonderful businesses who partner with us to raise money. Of these
are: Stevi B’s who give back to us $1 for every person from Greenbrier that eats there on Spirit Night.
They also donate pizzas to the winning class each month.Chick Fil A gives us back 20% of Greenbrier sales on Spirit Night. They also donate brownies to the winning class each month. We also make
money from our morning biscuit sales on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month. Publix, Bi-lo, and
Office Depot give us money after our school purchases a certain amount so be sure to use your
cards from them.
Congratulations to Mrs.Slocum’s class for being our Stevi B’s winner for September! Mrs. Slocum
planned their pizza party just in time before she went on maternity leave! Stevi B’s gave Greenbrier a
check for $170 for the month of September. October’s results will be in our next newsletter.
Congratulations to Mrs.Poore’s class for being our Chick Fil A Spirit Night winner for September! Way
to go boys and girls for winning something vegetarian for your teacher!
Thank you to all who turned in BOXTOPS and Campbell Soup labels. We will still be accepting turn
ins every month. This is a wonderful way for our school to earn money and prizes at no expense to the
school.
Thank you again to all of you at Greenbrier! Our school is a great place to be. Hopefully you can feel
the positive energy that is filling our halls and classrooms this year.
In Service,
Laurie Weaver / PTA President
355-5315
greenbrierpta@yahoo.com
K4 Academic Focus for the 1st 9 Weeks
Phonics- We have begun learning our alphabet. We will talk about the letter Aa, Bb,
Cc, and Dd and the sounds they make. We have learned to recognize our own name
and the letter that it begins with.
Reading- We have been reading and acting out Nursery Rhymes. We have learned
our colors by learning our Crazy Color Creatures song. We have also begun reading
about fall and the changes that come with it. We spent one week reading and talking
about apples. Our culminating activity included peeling and spiral slicing many
varieties of apples that we sampled for snack.
Writing- Each morning we trace our name to develop the skills needed to eventually
write our name independently. We are also dictating sentences to go with our
illustrations.
Math- We have been focusing on sorting objects by color and size. One to one
correspondence through 5 is another standard we have been working on.
Social Studies-We continue to work on school rules and following classroom
procedures.
Science- We are discussing the changes that occur in the weather as the seasons
change. We will also talk about birds and migration.
Kindergarten’s Academic Focus for the 1st 9 Weeks
Saxon Phonics: Our letter focus has been on the letters l, o, g, h, t, p
By arranging these letters we can make many new words. We have worked with
rhyming words, compound words, and identifying the number of words in sentences.
Reading: Our reading themes were Welcome to Kindergarten, Look at Us!, and
Colors All Around. Our reading selections have included Nursery Rhymes, Fairy
Tales, stories about how we have grown, and how our environment is filled with
many colors. We are listening for the beginning sounds in words, learning to predict
and sequence events in stories. Our Popcorn Words are I, see, a, like, my, to, and,
go, the, is, he, she, we, be, me.
Writing: The children are learning that what they say they can write. They are
learning to illustrate their ideas and thoughts. The children have been writing
personal narratives. They understand that what they write must match their
illustration. They are beginning to add detail to their pictures without the “fru fru,”
that is, do not add anything that does not belong in the picture and match their
writing.
Math: The concepts introduce are sorting, classifying, positional words, patterns,
and numbers 0-5.
Social Studies: We have focused on rules and people of authority both in school
and in the community. We discussed the Constitution in relation to our rights and
responsibilities. We have discussed what it means to be a good citizen.
Science: We are learning about the changes that occur in the season of Fall and
will explore Matter. We will compare the different properties of wood, plastic, metal,
cloth, and paper. Some of our exploration will include experimentation with magnets
and water.
First Grade’s Academic Focus for the 1st 9 Weeks
Phonics: In phonics and word study we have worked with the following word
families: short a, short e, short i, short o, and short u.
Word families, sometimes called phonograms or chunks, can really help emergent
readers begin to understand our language by providing some predictable patterns
within words.
Reading: Our reading themes were All Together Now and Surprise. Our reading
selections have supported our Word Family Study. Our target skills have been:
Noting Details, Comparing and Contrasting, and Fantasy and Realism.
Writing: We are using the Write From the Beginning program. We have been able
to take off from where Kindergarten left off. They are creating their own tree maps to
build three “strong” sentences. They are now writing sentences that begin with
capital letters and end with the appropriate punctuation. They are learning to use
connecting words, conjunctions, and pronouns.
Math: The concepts introduced are number concepts to 100 and addition to 9.
Social Studies: We have focused on rules and people of authority both in school
and in the community. We have discussed what it means to be a good citizen.
Science: We are learning about rocks and how they look and feel. We are
exploring such rocks as scoria, pumice, and chalk. We are classifying rocks such as
shiny, dull, rough, and smooth.
Second Grade Academic Focus for the 1st 9 Weeks
Spelling: In spelling, we have worked with short and long vowels, number words 120, synonyms, homophones, nouns and verbs.
Reading: We worked with Theme 1 which is Silly Stories. The skills covered in this
theme were story structure, predicting outcomes, fantasy/realism and summarizing.
Writing: We are using the Write from the Beginning program. We started with
expository writing about our favorite food. We are now going back to the basics with
how to write good sentences using transition words and adjectives.
Math: The concepts in math have been review of place value, comparing and
ordering numbers, patterns and rounding. We have also just begun a unit on
addition and subtraction of whole numbers to 20.
Social Studies: Our first unit was Government. We discussed rules and laws, the
three types of government and the people in charge of each and what our rights and
responsibilities are as good citizens.
Science: We have just begun a unit on Matter. The children will experiment with
solids, liquids and gas determining the properties of each and how they can change.
Third Grade’s Academic Focus for the 1st 9 Weeks
Math
We have been working very hard on our place value unit. We have learned the
values from the ones place to the hundred thousands place. The unit will end with
rounding to the thousands place. Our next unit will be on adding and subtracting.
Reading
In reading, we have been working on skills that include cause and effect, fact and
opinion, and generalizations. These skills will be reviewed throughout the year. We
have enjoyed learning new vocabulary and reading stories from our basal. Our
novel, Because of Winn Dixie, will begin soon. Please remind your child to read 20
minutes every night and initial their log.
ELA
We have been working hard on learning our word wall words and proofreading
sentences. We have also learned the parts of speech and will continue to review
them.
Writing
In writing, we are using the Write from the Beginning program. We have been
practicing writing good sentences and paragraphs with emphasis on capitalization
and punctuation. We also reviewed how to write a thank you note.
Social Studies
In social studies, we are finishing up our unit on South Carolina’s regions. We
reviewed map skills, located rivers and learned about landforms in South Carolina.
Students will make a region book as a culminating activity.
Science
We have just finished our unit on Sound. Our students enjoyed conducting several
experiments in class. Students concluded the unit by making their own musical
instruments with 3 different pitches.
Fourth Grade’s Academic Focus for the 1st 9 Weeks
Reading:
In Reading, we have worked on Theme 1, which is Journeys. The skills covered in
this theme were story structure, predicting outcomes, summarizing, cause and
effect, making inferences and sequencing of events. We are about to begin the
novel, The Sign of the Beaver.
Writing:
We have reviewing the steps of the writing process and have been practicing writing
a good paragraph. Also, we have been working on writing a five-paragraph essay
“All About Me” using good details. We will be writing over the next couple of weeks.
Math:
In math, we have finished our unit on place value. We have worked hard on
reviewing how to write numbers to the billions place in standard form, expanded
form, and word form. The last portion of the unit has been dedicated to adding,
subtracting, comparing and ordering whole numbers and decimals. Please continue
to review with your child how to borrow correctly when subtracting. Our next unit will
be multiplying and dividing. Please start reviewing multiplication facts with your child
any chance you get!
Science:
In Science we have been working on the Weather Unit. The students have learned
about and used the different weather instruments. They have worked in groups to
create a tree map of the different clouds. We have also been tracking the weather
daily in our Weather journals.
Social Studies:
In Social Studies we are working on our first unit, Early Life, East and West. We
have just finished learning about life in the Western Hemisphere and are currently
discussing the Native Americans of North America.
Fifth Grade’s Academic Focus for the 1st 9 Weeks
Math
In math, we are finishing up our unit on place value. We have worked hard to review
the values from the thousandths place to the billions place. Our last portion of the
unit will be dedicated to adding and subtracting whole numbers and decimals.
Please continue to review with your child how to borrow correctly and how to annex
zeros if needed.
Reading
In reading, we just finished with Theme 6, One Land, Many Trails, in our reading
books. All the stories in this theme were about people from different places and
different backgrounds coming to the same land. Some skills we have been learning
in this theme are predicting, inferring, using context clues, evaluating the
author, author’s viewpoint, figurative language (similes and metaphors)
making judgments, and story structure. We will begin Theme 2 next week, Give
It All You’ve Got. The stories in this theme are all about trying your best at
everything you do. We will continue to review the skills we have already learned as
well as learn some new reading skills. Please be sure your child is reading for at
least 20 minutes each night and getting their reading log signed! Also, please
continue to review story vocabulary with your child nightly. These words and
definitions are written into your child’s binder.
ELA
We have been working hard on proofreading paragraphs. Our words in spelling
have been frequently misspelled words as well as words with root words, prefixes,
and suffixes.
Writing
We have reviewing the steps of the writing process and have been practicing writing
a good paragraph. Also, we have been working on writing a five-paragraph essay
about Greenbrier using transition words and good details. We will be writing
memoirs over the next couple of weeks.
Science
In science, we have been working on our unit of motion and design. We have
completed various experiments both in the classroom and in science lab that have
demonstrated the laws of motion. In the next week, we will begin discussing gravity
and magnetism.
Social Studies
We just finished our unit on Reconstruction after the Civil War and have moved on to
Westward Expansion. Currently we are discussing the building of the
Transcontinental Railroad and pioneers settling the Great Plains.