Purple House 5 2023-2024
Dear Purple Families,
First, a heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you who joined us for Game Night! Seeing families laughing, strategizing, problem-solving, and learning together was such a gift. Your presence makes our classroom community stronger, and it means so much to our learners when school and home connect in such meaningful ways.
Even with a packed calendar, our Purple House has continued learning happily and eagerly every single day! Our hearts were especially full during the Kindness Parade. Watching our learners celebrate compassion, empathy, and community reminded me that while academics are important, growing kind humans is the real work.
We also wrapped up our middle-of-year MAP testing. I am so proud of the focus and stamina they showed. Each learner approached the assessments with maturity and a growth mindset. We celebrate progress, effort, and the courage to stretch! Next week we will complete our middle of year MClass assessments.
Of course, the 100th Day of School brought lots of smiles and fun as we reflected on how much we have grown in 100 days both academically and personally. It is amazing to think about how far they have come!
Thank you for your constant support, encouragement, and partnership. Purple 5 truly is a special place because of the incredible families behind these amazing children.
With gratitude,
Ms. Voltz 💜
VALENTINE'S PARTY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Our House Lead Room Parents have kicked off Valentine's Party planning, and they need volunteers for the day of the party, February 12, from 1:15-3pm to make it a success! Please browse the signups for each house at https://www.rjlpto.org/volunteerand grab one slot! Reminder - a CISD Background check is required for all volunteers.
100th DAY OF SCHOOL~ 🎨 Hundredth Grid Design Challenge
This week our mathematicians combined creativity and precision as they designed colorful masterpieces on a hundredths grid! Each learner carefully shaded portions of a 10x10 grid and then calculated the fraction, decimal, and percent equivalents for every color used.
Because a hundredths grid contains 100 squares, learners were able to clearly see the connection between:
Fractions (part of 100)
Decimals (hundredths place value)
Percents (“per 100”)
For example, if 25 squares were shaded blue:
Fraction: 25/100 (which can simplify to 1/4)
Decimal: 0.25
Percent: 25%
This hands-on visual model helped strengthen understanding of how fractions, decimals, and percents are all different representations of the same value. It was wonderful to see learners checking their totals to ensure all colors combined equaled 1 whole, 1.00, or 100%!
Math + art + reasoning = powerful learning!
This week in math, we are exploring polygons — closed shapes made of straight line segments. Learners are identifying, classifying, and analyzing polygons based on their attributes like sides, angles, and parallel lines.
Here are some fun ways to continue the learning at home!
🔎 Polygon Hunt Around Your House
Go on a shape scavenger hunt!
Can you find:
A triangle?
A quadrilateral (4 sides)?
A pentagon (5 sides)?
A hexagon (6 sides)?
📸 Challenge: Take pictures or draw the objects you find and label the number of sides and vertices (corners).
LIBRARY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Reminder - a CISD Background check is required for all volunteers.
EXTENDED SERVICE LEARNING OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR SPURS
Our Spurs are invited to continue to donate socks for The Main Place THROUGH MONDAY. This is a great way for our learners to show kindness and help others in our community.
PTO MEETING ON TUESDAY
Mark your calendar! Our February Virtual PTO Meeting is Tuesday, February th at 6 PM. Join us for exciting updates from your PTO and RJL Admin Team. Submit questions for Principal or PTO anonymously before the meeting by visiting rjlpto.org/rjlspeaks. The meeting link will be emailed home closer to the date.
BOOK FAIR
Our Spring Book Fair will be held February 17-20. Parents are welcome any time, but we are super excited to host a SPECIAL FAMILEE EVENT - Book Fair with Buddies! On Thursday Feb 19, come any time from 7am - 6pm to shop in person with your learner. We hope that staying open late gives our parents more time to enjoy shopping with their children.
DATES TO REMEMBER
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
NATIONAL DENTAL HEALTH MONTH
CTE APPRECIATION MONTH
February 9 - 5th Grade Meets with CMSW in Cafe (8:00)
CISD School Board Walk (1:30-2:30)
February 10 - 4/5 Progress Report Grades Due (8:00 AM)
Virtual PTO Meeting (6:00 PM)
February 11 - Progress Reports Generated (8:00 AM)
February 12 - Day 0
School-wide program in Gym (1:00)
Valentine Parties (2:00)
February 13 - Professional Learning Day (staff)
NO SCHOOL (learners)
February 14 - Valentine's Day
February 16 - Bad Weather Day (NO SCHOOL staff or learners)
Ms. May Voltz
Fifth-grade designer of learning experiences at RJ Lee Elementary a Net Zero school in Coppell, Texas.
Our Guiding Purpose: We empower learners to positively impact the world by designing learning experiences that promote relationships, risk-taking, and collaboration in a flexible learning environment.
Apple Teacher
HEB Excellence in Education State Finalist 2018
Twitter X: @MayV1
