Moyer’s Monthly Memo
February 1, 2016
Happy February. Has spring arrived yet? We still have seven more weeks until spring’s
official arrival.
Daily homework and a classroom calendar of events can be accessed via School
Wires. Please encourage your child to access both daily. Students are expected to access the
February calendar from School Wires, record the events that pertain to them in the
February calendar and keep the calendar in their take home folder.
Please make sure your child comes clothed appropriately for 30 minutes of outdoor
recess. A heavy coat, hat, gloves, and a scarf are needed for the winter temperatures.
Additionally, kindly make sure your child has a nutritious snack every day. A nutritious snack
provides that extra jolt of energy needed to get through and be at our best.
On Friday, December 11 Mrs. Fitzgerald, Carter’s mom, joined our class with two
visually impaired people. They presented about the challenges they have and how technology has
assisted them. We are collecting coins for a cause which benefits the Bucks County Association
for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Special thanks to Rowdy Adamson, Rohan Balgobin, Joshua Bauer, Maddie Gerace,
Ella Kearns, Abby Rockovich, Emma Sexauer, and Chloe Urankar for joining the Wellness
Committee and attending early morning meetings on Wednesday, December 9, Tuesday,
December 15, and Tuesday, January 5. The committee planned a wonderful night for Fit Fest on
Wednesday, January 20. There were many vendors, exciting activities, and some great
giveaways and free/reduced services.
On Wednesday, January 20 at Bridge Valley, the sixth grade PEN students competed in a
robotics challenge with PEN students from Cold Spring and Jamison Elementary Schools. Each
year FIRST LEGO League releases a Challenge, which is based on a real-world scientific topic.
This year's challenge is about trash and is titled "Trash Trek." Each team chose a piece of trash
and identified a problem with the way it is currently handled and develop an innovative solution
to help reduce the impact that this trash has on our planet. Rohan Balgobin, Ali Holmen, Chloe
Urankar, and Ashley Volans were members of Toxic Waste and developed a solution for the
food that is thrown out in the cafeteria and in the classrooms at Bridge Valley Elementary.
Esther Cheng and Cyrus Patel were members of the team Robotrash and their innovative
solution helped to reduce the impact that disposable diapers have on our landfills.
In science we delved into Earth’s Changing Surface (ECS) which is a hands-on unit.
Students followed the scientific process to: discover, investigate, problem solve, and work
collaboratively. Mrs. Holmen gave an outstanding presentation on Wednesday, January 27. As
a geologist she provided valuable insight about earth’s changing surface and delved into many
topics that we studied throughout the unit.
Congratulations to the following three students for getting at least 30 words correct in the
Spelling Bee Pretest: Rohan Balgobin, Esther Cheng, and Cyrus Patel earned this distinction.
We are very proud of all of you. Study daily so that you will be ready for the next round on
Friday, February 12, 2016.
Congratulations to the following 15 students for joining Reading Olympics this year:
Rohan Balgobin, Joshua Bauer, Esther Cheng, Brock Davis, Evan Goldrick, Ali Holmen,
Daniel Kmet, Cyrus Patel, Abigail Rockovich, Emma Sexauer, Alexis Smith, Jack Steitz,
Chloe Urankar, Ashley Volans, and Alex Zarett. Rohan Balgobin, Esther Cheng, Ali
Holmen, Cyrus Patel, Jack Steitz, and Chloe Urankar will serve as team captains. Challenge
yourself to read as much as possible.
Rowdy Adamson is assisting a kindergarten boy Monday-Thursday afternoons while
Rohan Balgobin is assisting a kindergarten boy Monday-Thursday mornings. Maddie Gerace is
assisting a second grade student during dismissal to develop her writing skills.
Students earned the bronze spoon in the cafeteria for good behavior during the month of
December. Students, challenge yourselves to “go for the gold” by: eating quietly, keeping a clean
space, and listening to directions while in the cafeteria.
As a follow up to reading Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, students created an aesthetic Book
Jacket. They worked collaboratively with a peer on drafting the summary of the novel. Students
used their chapter summaries to create one summary of the novel. In addition, students
independently created a sequel to the novel by developing a new character, new setting, and new
problem. This project was completed primarily in school but students were expected to work on
it nightly for 15 minutes since November 23. We voted on the most aesthetic cover. Ali
Holmen earned 50 Moyer’s Mentionables for this distinction. Chloe Urankar earned a perfect
score in every category of the Book Jacket. Congratulations Ali and Chloe! Parents, please feel
free to come in and look at these works of art.
We are in the midst of reading Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. There are 26
chapters. This fantasy story is about a family named Tuck (Angus, Mae, Miles, aged 109 and
Jesse aged 104) who accidentally stumbles upon a spring in a wood which has the ability to give
eternal life. They don’t realize at first what they have drunk until they see that their bodies are
not aging and they cannot be hurt or harmed in any way. They travel quietly around the
countryside, never staying in one place too long so that people will not realize their secret. Into
this family comes Winnie Foster, an eleven year old girl in search of freedom. Winnie wants to
do something interesting, something that’s all hers and something that would make a
difference in the world. She learns their secret and falls in love with them so deeply that she
will do anything to protect them. The family and Winnie then must face a villain, the man in
the yellow suit, who would steal their secret for himself.
Each day we discuss the previous chapter in detail, share responses to comprehension
questions, read the next chapter, add to the plot structure by summarizing the chapter that we
read, and have a rich discussion about: symbolism, how the characters evolve and immortality.
In addition, students are independently reading one of six fantasy books entitled: The
Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, The Name of
the Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch, The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, Gregor The
Overlander by Suzanne Collins and Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville. After
independently reading an allotted amount of pages one day, the students will work
collaboratively the next day to plot what they read on their plot structure placemat, come up with
the theme and record Signposts (6).
Esther Cheng and Ali Holmen wrote well-developed argumentative papers on school
uniforms. Their papers appear on the monthly memo section of School Wires. (The major
difference between an argumentative paper and an opinion paper is that the argumentative paper
is research –based where the opinion paper is not.)
We will be having a small Valentine’s celebration on Tuesday, February 16. For four
days prior to that (beginning on Tuesday, February 9) each child will create five clues about
him/herself each day and give a small gift (approximately $1 per day) to another student in the
class. On day five, (Tuesday, February 16) the mystery Valentine will be disclosed and a larger
gift (about $5) will be given. The focus is not the gift; it is creating clues and trying to figure out
who is writing to one another. This is voluntary; should your child not want to participate,
kindly send a note alerting me.
Congratulations to the recipients of the January classroom award: Rohan Balgobin, Brock
Davis, Kayla Levine, Alexis Smith and Chloe Urankar. We are very proud of you! Continue to
soar and excel!
Please feel free to contact me should you need anything; your child is a priority and I
intend to make this year as memorable and positive as possible rmoyer@cbsd.org.
Moyer’s Corner
1. In 1998 I took three separate trips abroad. I visited Israel, Russia, and London in a six month
span. Someday I would like to live in Florida, go to the beach daily and learn how to play
tennis.
2. I wish summer lasted six months and the three other seasons lasted two months each.
3. The Americans and Downton Abbey are some of my favorite T.V. shows.
4. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was 3 ½ years old. If I weren’t a teacher I’d aspire
to be a doctor.
5. After having read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry in 1995, I wanted to visit Denmark.
6. A perfect summer day would be: going to the gym, having lunch at Panera, reading a
great book while at the pool, eating locally grown vegetables for dinner and taking an
evening hour long run while listening to my iPod.
7. In 2015 I was fortunate to travel abroad to Europe (Italy, France, Spain) and Mexico.
“An understanding heart is everything in a teacher….the curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the
vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” C.G. Jung
You can, You will, SUCCEED!
Be the best YOU possible!