ELMORE School News

Dear Elmore School Families,

Our nineteenth week of school was full of excitement! We had our first Winter Recreation day at Spruce Peak in Stowe, where we enjoyed an afternoon ice skating. On Friday we had a day full of fun. During the morning we took a bus into Morrisville where we visited the Morristown Centennial Library. At the library students learned about the various collections that are available to borrow, they had a tour of the library, they listened to a story and then had some free time to explore. One thing I learned is that the library has a seed library where patrons can get free seeds for their garden! On Friday afternoon the students were rewarded (reading reward) with a movie. We watched The One and Only Ivan, which is a sweet story inspired by the life of a gorilla named Ivan who was part of a strip mall circus show. We have several copies of the chapter book, which a few students took copies of to read. Students also brought stuffies to school on Friday for the day as a PBIS (behavior) school - wide reward!

This week, during writing, lessons focused on vocabulary and drafting a strong introduction.

We took a break from our regular spelling program, however we continued working on phonemic awareness lessons and phonics with a focus on finger tapping the sounds and words and phoneme grapheme mapping words with Vowel-r (ar, or, ir, er, ur) vowel sounds. Students also took a spelling inventory this week, and 3rd graders did the STAR reading Assessment.

During math this week, first graders focused building fact fluency within 10. Second graders measured length using centimeter rulers and meter sticks, while third graders completed their 2nd unit and took their unit assessment. I am planning to postpone their 3rd unit and move right into the 4th unit which continues with multiplication and relates division to multiplication. This will get them ready for the fifth unit which focuses on fractions. This will better prepare the third graders for the State Assessment (VTCAP) which then will be taking in April. Then, we can circle back to the 3rd unit which focuses on Addition and Subtraction within 1000.

We will be back at Spruce Peak next Wednesday for our second afternoon of winter recreation. We have 3 students who are planning to ski next week. Rob or Paige Bowen are on the schedule to help with skiing next week. The remainder of the class will be at the ice skating rink. Heather Hill will be helping with the group at the skating rink.

Just a reminder that we are taking a break from ECO fro the winter. We will resume ECO when we return from our winter break in March.

There is no School on Monday. School hot lunch will be offered on Tuesday and Thursday next week. Sandwiches and salads are available Tuesday - Friday. Please submit your lunch orders by the end of day on Sunday.

In gratitude,

Diane Nicholls

Announcements:

Library - Tuesday. Remember to bring your books back!

Tuesday - School Banking

Ski and Skate: Wednesday January 14th @ 11:115 - 2:30

PE Thursday - bring sneakers!

Monday, Jan 19th - No School (MLK Day)

Friday, Feb. 6th - No School (teacher PD)

Feb. 23 - March 3rd -No School (Winter Break)