A Note From the Principal...
Dear Families,
As we enter our third and final trimester of school, March picks up the pace both in and out of the classroom. First, our 3rd-5th grade students will be participating in the North Dakota State Assessment at the end of the month. These tests are important measures of student learning in reading, math, and science (grade 4) and are used across all schools to gauge improvement efforts and their impact. We encourage students to get plenty of rest, eat a healthy breakfast, and come ready to give their very best! This year the state has chosen a new test vendor which will make these results available next fall.
With the passing of parent teacher conferences in February, we realize some families had conflicts and were unable to connect with your child's teacher. Teachers will be reaching out to those in the coming weeks to hold a short phone conference to make sure our goal of connecting with 100% of families is reached. Thank you for your partnership in this goal.
You will also begin to hear about additional field trips across the school, guest speakers, and the remaining grade's music concerts. Last week we celebrated READING MONTH with a visitor from the Larks Baseball Team. I hope you are helping your child "run the bases" in reading weekly to get some fun prizes! We also have our very popular "BINGO for BOOKS" family night March 25th. Can't wait to see you there and reconnect!
Lastly, I wanted to share a quick tip from my home to yours if valuable. My own children, like many others at Grimsrud enjoy engaging in--you guessed it---VIDEO GAMES! We know and stress the importance of limiting screen time and video games, however during those limited times you are allowing your child- maybe you join a bit of it! One thing that has been fun has been for me to sit alongside them and have them explain the game(s), or when applicable, allow me to pick a certain character, setting, or outfit/colors/background they will choose for a round (we use "pick a theme, or pick a letter and they choose a character with that theme or letter). To my somewhat reluctance, with some I have even made the effort to take a turn and give it a go, but then ask that they take a turn on one of the games that I prefer at least for one round. This has helped educate me on the types of games they are playing, but has also carved out some tiny moments of family-engagement time- use if helpful and let me know how it goes!
Take care and thank you for taking the time to review this month's important information below!
~ Dr. Upton
Positive Self Talk
Positive self-talk is a great way for students and adults to gain confidence, build resilience, and develop a growth mindset. We use affirmations each week in our announcements to start off our days in a positive way and help build our students positive self talk vocabulary. You can encourage your child to use positive affirmations and self talk to help them face challenges now and in the future! See the picture to the right for some we say at school. Ask your child which is their favorite and encourage them to say it with confidence each morning. **Follow the buttons below for a great resource and activity to try at home to support your child from Parentslead.org.
March 13 - 4th Grade Field Trip
March 14 - NO SCHOOL
March 17 - NO SCHOOL
March 18 - Blaze Pizza Fundraiser 4:00-8:00pm
March 25 - Family Fun Night: BINGO for Books
Registration for the 2025 football season is upon us!
Registration opens on March 1st
For February’s Career Café, we were thrilled to host Dennis Ingold, Senior Assistant State’s Attorney, giving 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders an inside look at his daily responsibilities, as well as the pros and cons of his job. He also brought in a guest with him, an investigator that he works with daily. They were able to perform a mock trial about the best ice-cream flavor. The students have been eagerly anticipating Career Café every other week, excited for the fun learning experiences it brings!
We can’t wait for our next guest, an Engineer, to join us! If you have a unique or interesting job and would like to be a guest speaker, please reach out to Mrs. Westergren to sign up!
Here are some fun and engaging math activities for Grimsrud students that can be done in March at home:
1. St. Patrick’s Day Math Challenges
- Shamrock Patterns: Have students create shamrock-shaped patterns using numbers, shapes, or colors. They can identify and extend simple patterns based on addition, subtraction, or multiplication.
- Lucky Number Guessing Game: Students can practice their multiplication tables or division by trying to guess the “lucky number” based on hints, like "Multiply me by 5 and I give you 50."
2. March Madness Bracket Math
- Create a March Madness basketball bracket and have students use it for various math activities:
- Counting the Number of Games: How many games will be played in total in a tournament with 16 teams? What if there are 64 teams?
- Scoring System: Create a point system for students to keep track of winners in the bracket and practice adding or multiplying scores.
- Fractions: If a team has won 2 out of 5 games, how would that be represented as a fraction? What is the percentage?
3. March Calendar Math
- Days of the Week Math: Have students calculate how many Mondays, Fridays, or any other day there are in the month of March. This is a good way to practice skip counting or division.
- March Weather Data: Collect weather data throughout the month (temperature, rainfall, etc.). Students can graph the data, calculate averages, and make predictions about weather patterns.
4. Pi Day (March 14th) Activities
- Pi Day Exploration: Introduce students to the concept of Pi (π). Create fun activities like measuring the circumference and diameter of various round objects and comparing their ratios to Pi.
- Pi Day Art: Have students draw circles and explore the relationship between the circumference and the diameter. They can then write down the number Pi (3.14) on their artwork.
These are just a few fun math activities you can do at home to extend your student’s math skills. March is also reading month, so continue to add math stories to your home routine. Here are a few more for the month of March. (The titles are linked to a read aloud.)
"Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar" by Masaichiro and Mitsumasa Anno
- Math Concepts: Multiplication, Patterns, and Growth
- Why it's great for March: This is a classic book that introduces the concept of multiplication through the mystery of a growing jar. The month of March, with its theme of growth (spring), is perfect for teaching how things can grow and multiply, much like the flowers in the spring.
"Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi" by Cindy Neuschwander
- Math Concepts: Pi, Geometry, and Measurement
- Why it's great for March: March 14th is Pi Day (3.14), which is a fun occasion to explore math concepts related to circles. This delightful book is part of the "Sir Cumference" series, which uses adventure stories to teach kids about math concepts like Pi and geometry.
Questions? Needs? Contact the Office
Email: grimsrud_secretary@bismarckschools.org
Website: https://www.bismarckschools.org/grimsrud
Phone: 701-323-4150