FARMINGTON CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
SPRING NEWSLETTER – MARCH
BRIGHT FUTURES
Mrs. Harris and Mrs. DePriest’s classes had a fun time bowling at Big Guy Night. The children and an adult
met at Linn Lanes bowling alley in Canton. The children excitingly bowled a game and many children had a
strike or spare, with a little help from the bumpers. It’s always nice to see parents and children outside of class.
KINDERGARTEN
March has been exciting in Kindergarten! The month started with Dr. Seuss’ birthday and in class we
read many of his books. There were a variety of activities done also; writing about your favorite book, making
silly rhymes, art projects, and eating green eggs and ham. The children love reading his silly books and made
up words. It was fun all around. Also, this month, we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. Many of the children wore
green. In class we learned and wrote about leprechauns and made some great art projects. Also, we learned
about the rainbow and shared what we might find at the end and wrote about why we are lucky. For math we
have been learning about sea creatures. We have used them in a variety of ways- writing and solving story
problems, graphing, and sorting. We also continue to work on number writing and identifying more than and
less than in sets. In reading the children are all working hard to read independently at their own level. In
guided reading groups, we work on skills like picture walks, sequencing, story structure, and summarizing to
improve our comprehension. We have been able to enjoy a few days outside and look forward to many more
with the hope that Spring comes more like a lamb than a lion!
FIRST GRADE
The First Grade has had a busy March! We have been working hard this month in reading and writing. We've
been reading non-fiction stories about a trip to the forest and a butterfly’s life cycle, and a fiction story about
what happens when you give a pig a pancake. We learned the sounds for oo and practiced our base words with
the ending –s and –ing. In math, we’ve been learning about 3 dimensional shapes and we’ve been sorting
shapes by their attributes. We’re working hard to learn our math facts so we can earn our Math Facts Mix snack
at the end of the year!
We studied Dr. Seuss this month and had a great time dressing up to honor his birthday week. We did lots of
fun St. Patrick’s Day activities and enjoyed making Easter baskets and other Easter projects
First Grade also had a great time playing all the new games and winning cakes in the cake walk at the spring
PTO carnival. The first graders have been very generous this month and have donated many items for our
canned food drive at school.
SECOND GRADE
Second Graders are ready for Spring!! In science we were learning about all of the different kinds of weather.
We talked about how to be safe in severe weather conditions. We sure have seen a lot of different weather
lately! Our favorite thing this month was celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday! We loved reading all of his famous
books. We had a week of themes - dress up- to go with some of his books. Even the teachers joined in as Horton
Hears a Who! We are proud of how much progress students are making in Guided Reading, many great
readers and great discussions! Our goal for writing has been to write a complete paragraph with a main idea
and details. Math has been a wonderful study of Geometry! We have learned perimeter and area, three
dimensional shapes, quadrilateral, and many more neat math terms. We are eager to start going outside and
enjoying some warmer weather!!
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THIRD GRADE
The third grade has had a busy month. All of our students completed the ISAT Math and Reading Tests for the
first time! We are so proud of how hard everyone concentrated and worked.  Although the tests seemed
long and hard, the students tried their best. Our ISAT t-shirts helped make us try our hardest as we wore them
during the tests.
In Math, we have been working on place value, multi-digit addition and subtraction, and multiplication and
division. Continue to memorize your facts and use flashcards at home to mix them up! In Science, we will
move on to food chains and food webs. In Social Studies, we are studying our government.
This was our last month of Pizza Hut Book-It program. Be sure to turn in your March chart in the next few
days. Keep reading! The third grade is working hard collecting cans for the Can-a-thon and collecting Boxtops
for Education. Please send your donations!
One of our big accomplishments this month has been making a class book that will be published. Each class
has a different topic. 3F made a chocolate dessert recipe book. 3H used the prompt “If I were a super hero…”
3N’s prompt was “If I were president…” 3R’s topic was “What color M & M are you?” We anticipate
receiving our bound books and sharing them with you!
FOURTH GRADE
As April approaches, the fourth graders find themselves enjoying the signs of spring. Basketball has come to an
end and baseball and softball seasons are upon us. However, we still are keeping our focus during the day on
school events such as the upcoming Spring Music Concert. Spring means “recorders” in 4th grade Music and the
kids are working hard to learn all of their notes. In Science, we’re talking about conserving energy and being
“green” in our daily activities. In Social Studies, we are visiting the Midwest Region and learning lots of
interesting facts about this area so near and dear to us! We are enjoying a variety of fiction and nonfiction
during guided reading groups, as well as Poetry in AHOD. Students continue to work hard at meeting their
fourth quarter reading goals. Division is actually becoming easier for us as we continue building on what we
have been learning this semester. We surprise ourselves sometimes when we look back to last fall and see how
far we have come in our math skills!
FIFTH GRADE
Well, spring has finally arrived. Thank goodness! In fifth grade writing class, we have been working hard on
writing poetry booklets. The students are learning about eight different types of poetry. Look for the books to
come home soon. In math, we are working on long division and long multiplication. Practicing basic facts is a
must for the students. The students are working their way toward the Revolutionary War in social studies this
quarter. The shot heard around the world will be here soon. Lastly, the kids are trying to complete the forty
book challenge for reading class. Many of the students are getting close to their goal!
EARLY CHILDHOOD
This month we’ve been learning all about transportation. We transformed our dramatic play area into a train
station/airport this month and have busy taking pretend trips. We also spent some time talking about St.
Patrick’s Day and a sneaky leprechaun visited our classroom. He turned the pudding that we made for snack
green! Next month we’ll learning all about spring and plants.
Also I want to thank all the families that have been sending in props for our dramatic play center. The students
have really enjoyed the new materials we’ve been able to incorporate.
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LIFE SKILLS 1
Miss Erin, our student teacher, planned all the lessons for the month of March. This month’s News-2-You
reading topics were Dr. Suess, March Madness, St. Patrick’s Day, and Jeopardy. The students did art and
cooking lessons to correspond with most of the topics. For the week of Dr. Suess lessons, the art project was
painting handprint Thing 1 and Thing 2’s, and the cooking lesson was making Cat in the Hat Oreo treats. The
March Madness art lesson was designing dream jerseys that the students would want to wear, and there wasn’t a
cooking lesson that week due to the institute day. We did however go on a Community-Based Instruction trip
this week to March Madness: Access Experience at the Peoria Civic Center. For the St. Patrick’s Day lessons,
we glued and glittered shamrocks and made green pancakes for cooking. This past week the topic was Jeopardy.
Miss Erin decided to spruce the room up for the start of spring and had the students paint lady bugs, instead of
doing a Jeopardy themed art lesson. The students are looking forward to April and hopefully having the
opportunity to go outside on the playground and enjoy Spring weather more next month.
LIFE SKILLS 2
March came in like a lion!! We studied about Rainbows and colors. We learned the color order of the rainbow
spectrum, read books and studied pictures of rainbows. We made our own rainbows in a variety of ways. We
did a Think Tank activity . We chose a color, pictured something in our mind of that color, gave clues to
describe it so that our friends could guess what we were thinking about. We celebrated Dr. Suess with a
News2You article called Read Across America to start if off. Our class read many of his books, looked at some
of his video clips about Dr. Suess, made green eggs and ham in cooking and learned facts about Theo. Leseig,
the real man behind Dr. Suess. Other topics we talked about were St. Patrick's Day and our customs, and
holidays, Weather & Seasons, and Wind & Bubbles. We kept a weather chart for a week that we glued the
proper pictures to repredent the temperature, precipitation, wind, and cloud cover. We had a discussion about
types of clothing we wear for different weather and seasons. We painted "Wind Pictures" by blowing different
colors of paint around our paper using straws. We also made bubble prints by pressing paper into colored
bubbles we blew out of cups onto a tray. It was messy but fun! Other News2You topics we read in March were
on Ted Prize, WE Day, Jeopardy is 50!, and Mountain Gorillas. We took a CBI trip to March Madness to
engage in acitivites at the Civic Center that included shooting baskets, musical chairs, bouncing in blow-up
equipment, dancing and just having fun. Afterwards we went to Steak & Shake to practice restaurant behavior,
ordering from menus, table manners, paying our bill, and leaving a tip. Not to mention eating some of our
favorite foods.
MUSIC
The pre-school students in Mrs. Heuerman’s music room have been playing the xylophone to match the
high-low-high melody of the jumping frog in the book “Jump Frog Jump”. We have been singing the movement
songs “Colors” to identify the colored circles we are holding and “What are You Wearing” to identify the
clothing we have on. We also, have been singing the voices animals on a farm have in the song “Good Day”
and identifying the pictures of baby animals by listening to their sounds. They had a lot of trying to move to the
“Hokey Pokey”.
The kindergarten classes have discovered their high and low voices in the song “Goldilocks and the Three
Bears”. We also heard a variation of “Goldilocks” in the song and book “The Three Bears Boogie”. They also,
sang, composed, and played high and low sounds in “Do Your Ears Hang Low”. The kindergarten students have
had a lot of fun composing two-eights and quarter note patterns on the Promethean Board and then playing their
rhythm patterns on classroom instruments of their choice like a band.
The 1st grade classes have been learning the difference between the steady beat of a song and the beat of the
rhythm in “Bee, Bee, Bumble Bee”. We sang and signed the song “Great Big Stars”. Recently we have been
learning the Crewen Hand Signs for So and Mi in the song “Charlie Over the Water” and accompanied it on the
xylophones and metallophones. We have also been hearing and identifying rhythm patterns made up of twoeighth notes, quarter notes, and quarter rest while playing Maestro a rhythm bingo game.
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The 2nd grade classes have been learning to read, sing, and write the crewen Hand Signs for So, Mi, and La in
the song “Lucy Locket”. We practiced writing quarter notes and eighth notes on the pitches So, Mi, and La on
staff paper. The 2nd graders have also been learning the song “Down the Ohio” and many facts about the Ohio
River. They were able to identify steps, leaps, and repeated note patterns and play a three-part percussion PlayAlong to accompany the song. We have also been hearing and identifying rhythm patterns made up of twoeighth notes, quarter notes, quarter rest, half notes, half rest, dotted half notes, whole note, and whole rest while
playing Maestro a rhythm bingo gam
P.E.
Mr. Hoffmann and Mr. Lowe’s junior high classes have been participating in a hockey unit. Their elementary
students have been participating in a soccer unit.
Miss Forsythe and Mr. Otto’s junior high classes have just finished up their basketball unit and are starting up a
soccer unit. The elementary classes have been playing various tag games.
Miss Jensen’s 3-8th grade classes have been participating in a pickle ball unit. The elementary classes have
been participating in scooter activities.
ELEMENTARY RESEARCH CENTER
The Research Center Clerks attended a Book Repair Clinic this week and now they are better prepared to
properly repair our damaged books. Students and their families can help keep our books in pristine condition by
following standard book care rules: keep your book in a safe place at home that is away from pets and small
children, never take a book outside, always “hug or tuck” your book while carrying it, and turn the pages at the
corners. By following these simple rules the life of our books will be extended for years to come. Thank you for
your help!
FCES Honor Roll for the 3rd Nine Weeks
High Honors (4.00-3.50 Grade Point Average): 4th Grade; Tessa Balagna, Aidan Foshay, Elizabeth Hayden,
Miranda Hursey, Alyvia Marcotte, Melody Martin, Addison Massey, Mary Newcomb, David Newton, Leigha
Parvin, Sophia Sherwood, Holly Shriber, Haley Smith, Laura Stevens, Carlee Taylor, Gracelyn Ulm, Austin
Utt, Logan Archdale, Emma Evans, Ethan Evans, Dena Fleming, Abigail Foshay, Delaney Foster, Zachary
Johnson, Allison Krakowiecki, Adriane Morse, Reece Putrich, Kevin Shultz, Alexis Stufflebeam, Faith
Wheeler, Aaliyah Wilkins, Brock Capitani, Noah DeWeese, Christopher Haggard, Jr., Margret Jansen, Bailey
Kennelly, Adrik Redmond, Corbin Rutledge, Zachary Austin, Emma Basalay, Kayla Conklin, Riley Embry,
Mackenzie Janson, Trevor Martin, Jeremy Schlueter, Destynee Skaggs. 5th Grade; Sydnee Barton, Adian
Basalay, Hannah Bott, Samuel Deppermann, Annabelle Easley, David Fisher III, Abigail Gilles, Khloe
Hitchcock, Abigail Keplar, Isabel Perez-Sandi, Kayla Piper, Riley Reed, Jack Stevens, Kylie Turner, Samuel
Fletcher, Addyson Neal, Trista Nichols, Lily Sharum, Clinton Stockmann, Ethan Emken, Ashleigh Janssen,
Courtney Lee, Courtney Marit, Edwin Monroe, Cameron Oldfield, Erica Pasley, Aja Taylor, Drew Vawter,
Jadon Ylinen, Elijah Asplund, Makenna Hintz, Deidra Lange, Lindsey Marinich, Ethan Ulm, Joshua Cecil,
Logan Dunlap, Deklan Fennell, Wyatt Perkins, Tiffany Rook, Kaedn Welbourne, Victoria Benedict, Andrew
Bucco, Bella Markley, Abigail Simpson, Elexus Dotzert, Lilli Homan, Bridget Kalb, Alexis Lansford, Tierney
McKown, Kyle Peckham, Kendra Renfroe, Brock Renner, Krystal Schade, Emma Vallas, Dylan Hunt, Cody
Ray, Crystal Sprout.
Honors (3.49-3.00 Grade Point Average): 4th Grade; Noah Beach, Kody Bingham, Luke Bucco, Tess
Crowe, Mary Halcomb, Taylor Henkel, Taylor Hummel, Iann Jett, Matthew Kenney, Kaytlin Meehan, Sydney
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Theinert, Laela DeWaele, Sydney Dray, Jlynn Haist, Makenna Huffman, Wyatt Sweet, Zachary Bates, Tristan
Bennett, Ashlynn Daniels, Haley Hamm, Noah Smith, Kaydence Sprout, Haley Barrick, Abigail Cullen,
Branden Gilstrap, Scott Keplar, Alyssa Woods. 5th Grade; Brianna Baize, Kristy Gazelle, Jacob Minard,
Abbygail Robb, Alexandra Worsfold, Robert Abel, Luna Markley, Laryn Kephart, Aniyah Martinez, Jonathon
Grafelman, Matthew Hankins, Abigail McCormick, Jerry McKeever, Addison Gilstrap, Dridyn Lewis, Jacob
Rodgers, Alyssa Schade, Taylor Owens, John Terrell, Tylen Anderson, Maccrae Barnett, Braden Hagerdorn,
William Hayden, Kami Kelsey, Jadyn Kephart, Madison Kingsley, Joshua Lankston, Mason Pedraza, Alexis
Petersen, Emily Peterson, Niya Simerly.
ARRIVAL AT SCHOOL
School begins each day at 8:05. Students being brought to school can arrive no earlier than 7:45. Since our
staff is not required to be here before 7:45, we cannot have your children arrive any earlier and have them
properly supervised, unless prior arrangements have been made with the YMCA Before and After Care
program. Thank you for your help and cooperation.
LUNCH MONEY
The cafeteria has asked us to remind you to put both the first and last name of your child and their teacher’s
name on the envelope that you send to school with lunch money. Without this information, we often have
difficulty finding out the student’s last name or teacher, if they happen to lose their envelope.
SCHOOL NURSE
Medication reminder to students taking prescription drugs at school. Students must have a medical
authorization form from their physician in order for the school to dispense medication.
If your child is taking prescription medication for ADD/ADHD, or prescription pain medication then the parent
must bring the medication to the school office. These drugs are controlled substances and for the safety of all
our students, we do not want the medication to fall into the wrong hands. Thank you for helping us keep all our
students safe. If you have any questions regarding medication or like to speak with me please feel free to
contact me at 245-1000 ext:1961 or via email gwright@dist265.com
*** JUST A REMINDER
Apr. 2nd – Market Day Pickup
Apr. 8th – PTO Meeting from 6-7 p.m. in the elementary library
Apr. 9th – School Improvement Day Early Out @ 12:18 p.m.
Apr. 10th – 5th/6th Grade Band & Chorus Concert 6:30 (HS Auditorium)
Apr. 17th – Early Dismissal Reg. Early Out @ 2:12 p.m.
Apr. 17 – Progress Reports Sent Out
Apr. 18th – 21st – Spring Break
Apr. 22nd – School Resumes
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