November News at SPMA

Is your student going to be absent? Remember to call our Attendance Line EVERY day your student will be gone from school. (651) 744-2168

FREE FLU CLINIC AT SPMA DURING CONFERENCES ON NOVEMBER 6TH FROM 3 PM TO 6:30 PM. ALL ARE WELCOME!

We are seeing many children with illnesses in our health office for fever, respiratory illness, and bacterial strep throat. Please do not send children to school with fever >100 F degrees, vomiting or diarrhea, or do not feel well enough to be in school all day. Please call the school to report absence. We request a doctor's note for absences >3 days due to illness.

Children should have regular yearly well child checkups with their doctor. This checkup is more than just a physical; it's a chance to ensure they are growing and developing as they should and catch any health issues early to treat them. Please call your doctor now and schedule your appointment for December during winter break.

If you need assistance or have questions about medical issues or concerns related to your child, please call and speak with the nurse Hoa Trinh at 651-888-7663.

Unity Day was a success! Each student at SPMA received an orange chain link where they pledged to spread kindness at school and stand up when they see bullying happening.

Pre-k has been working on building our classroom community and now will be turning to exploring changes all around us. This will include talking about the seasons and what we see going on outside. We will also talk about changes that happen to them and how they have grown from a baby to the kids they are now and how they learn each day and grow! This is the first step in helping students understand cycles in nature and family and in life. We continue to build relationships and practicing our three B’s. Be Safe. Be Responsible. Be Respectful.

We are READERS in Kindergarten!

We are learning how to CHOOSE books we want to read.

We are THINKING about the books we are reading.

We are TALKING about books we are reading.

We use our EAGLE EYES & look at the pictures to help us know what the story is about.

We are learning how to point to EACH word, one word at a time.

We are learning LETTER SOUNDS & blending those sounds together to read & write WORDS.

We LOVE READING in Kindergarten!!

First grade is beginning to look at digraphs in phonics. Reminding students that two letters can make one sound together. In writing we are starting opinion writing, paying attention to the difference between fact and opinion. Math has been all about addition and understanding numbers. We do fluency checks frequently to help with math recall. Finally, students are loving their time in drumming and many have started taking home their library books. As always, please check and return student folders!

Second grade is learning all about the magic/silent e in phonics. We have been working on opinion writing, improving the completeness of sentences, and our handwriting. In math, we have been focused on adding and subtracting, equal groups, and data. Our science, art, music, gym, and drumming classes are full of excitement and learning. Library books are coming home now, and everyone should be reading at least 30 minutes a night. We have a field trip to Creative Arts Middle School on Nov. 23rd so please make sure you turn in the permission slip.

Third graders are finally settled into their math and reading groups and they are running very smoothly! It’s been great to see all the things they're learning in math like addition and subtraction with and without regrouping, basic multiplication facts and how to explain their thinking about math during the number talks routine. In reading, students have been practicing prefixes and suffixes added onto root words and how the -ed and -ing endings change the meaning of sentences. Many students have also begun a book club in their reading groups and are able to talk to peers about the books they’re reading. When students are reading at home, you can interact with them about their book by asking if it is fiction or nonfiction and about the story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution). We are looking forward to all the fun and learning coming up in November!

Reading: We are currently exploring different genres of books to read. We won't know what we enjoy unless we are exposed to it.

Writing: Our writing project is about Opinion Essays.

Math: We are learning strategies to multiply and divide multi-digit numbers.

November Field Trips:

1. Minnesota Orchestra

2. Play at Creative Arts School

Pre-K has been working on stations and sharing in Arts Integration and grades K-4 have been learning all about geography. (Location words, 7 continents, 5 oceans, physical and human characteristics of a place, how to read a map and make a map, etc)

Grade 5 is busy learning about Indigenous Cultural Regions.

This month in music, we have been celebrating the change of seasons.

Our older students have been working on rhythm with rhythm sticks and drums, boomwhackers, learning a bit of sign language with popular songs, and listening to music around the world as we continue singing folk songs like We Shall Not Be Moved and an arrangement of The Arrow and the Song by Longfellow done by myself and one of my violin students.

With our youngest students, we have been singing and drumming, using egg shakers, and practicing rhythm through body percussion as well as sampling new instruments like a keyboard, lap harp, guitar, bongos, and beaded gourds. We are also playing games together like Pass the Pumpkin and Apple Tree.

As students attend more lessons, they have the opportunity to take their instruments home to practice! They will receive a form from Mr. Englin that explains what the expectations are for using a school instrument at home. Please make sure both sides of the form are complete before returning it.

Instrumental Music is making some serious (sound) waves this month! All of our ensembles have had multiple meetings and are learning their very first notes! We are very excited to premiere our 4th and 5th Grade Band and Orchestra coming up on Tuesday, December 9th at 9 AM. In it, we will feature songs performed by each instrument group and full ensembles. We hope you are able to attend, and look forward to seeing you there!

As we wrap up our soccer unit, the older students (3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade) will move onto American Football. The goal of this unit is to explore the rules, the skills, and how to play different variations of football. For the younger students, we will move onto part 2 of our ball skills. We’ve done all the kicking skills, now we get to explore with our hands and arms (rolling, throwing, catching, dribbling).

All science classes are in the middle of their first units. PreK is starting to learn about plants and plant parts. Kindergarten and first grade are also learning about plants, plant parts, and what they need to survive. Second grade is continuing to learn about landforms, and water. Third grade is focused on different kinds of force and the definition of force. Fourth graders build egg racers and are learning about energy and energy transfer. Finally, fifth grade is studying materials and properties of materials.

The MLL department at SPMA recently celebrated the 24 EL students who have exited the English Language Program at SPMA. The celebration was to honor their accomplishments in reaching proficiency in both academic and social language in English. We honor the hard work and growth of all our multilingual students!