ELMORE School News
September 6, 2025
Week 2 is in the books!
Dear Elmore School Families,
After a nice, long four day weekend, we completed our second week of school! Next week will be our first full week of the school year. This week we continued to build on our routines and we worked on building our school community with some collaborative team work. We also developed our school rules that will guide our behaviors this school year.
On Tuesday we talked about being a good friend and each student made a page for a class book about being friends. We also talked about Good Choices and Poor Choices. Students participated in a card sorting activity to identify students making good choices or poor choices. In the afternoon, students received their first (limited) math menus to work on while I had math groups with grade levels. First graders worked with Mrs. Ballavance to build making tens fact fluency. We ended the day with and art project involving the first letter of our names.
On Wednesday, We did some collaborative team work by working in small groups to complete a STEM challenge using index cards and cups. We reviewed good choices from our previous lesson. Then students helped created categories for the the cards. These categories became our school rules. These are Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful. Additionally, we had our first writing lesson of the school year. Our first Unit will be writing narratives. in the first lesson students brainstormed ideas and created a plan using a graphic organizer.
On Thursday we had our second writing lesson where students learned about writing complete sentences and they they began drafting sentences based on their plans. Students had PE with Mr. Bressor, and in the afternoon we talked about fire drills and practiced our first evacuation drill.
On our final day of the school week, we reviewed our school rules, then students worked in small groups to create posters about each rule. During Literacy we used poetry to do a shared reading lesson. Then students worked further on their writing. 2nd graders completed their first section in the first math unit and completed a Checkpoint (formative assessment). First Graders also competed their first section in unit 1 and then worked on competing some practice problems to review what they learned. 3rd Graders have been learning about scaled graphs this week. On Friday, they created scaled bar graphs depicting some date we collected as a class. We ended the day by competing unfinished work and choice time. Students who completed and returned their summer reading packets where treated to and Ice cream party!
The children have been reminded that "school rules" (expectations) apply on the playground afterschool. Please help monitor the playground during this time. If you notice unsafe, unkind, or inappropriate behavior , please address it with your child right away. If behaviors needs my attention, let me know. Students who are not following the "rules" may be asked to leave. I appreciate your attention.
I've updated the Meal Train for Monday family hot lunch. There is a button below which you can click on to take you to the Meal Train. Please consider signing up to bring a lunch! While, we love to have parents come serve lunch, if your schedule does not allow this, we do have an oven to heat or keep food warm or you can consider a crock pot meal. The meal could be dropped off in the morning if needed.
Our first Scholastic Bool Order is due on Monday, September 8th! Fliers and a welcome letter can be found in your child's Friday Folder. Additional fliers can be viewed on website https://orders.scholastic.com/JG8W3. Orders are placed on line.
Next week we will begin nightly reading homework. Students will bring home a reading log in their homework folder. Students are responsible for filling our their reading logs (parents of first graders may help as needed), and return it to school each day! We will add up the total number of minutes the class reads each week and the students will earn reading rewards throughout the year for reaching reading goals! First graders should read (or be read to) for a minimum of 10 minutes each night. 2nd graders will start with 15 minutes and will move to 20 minutes of reading each night. This can be independent, silent reading or they may read to a parent, sibling, stuffy, or pet. Likewise, 3rd graders will begin with 20 minutes of reading which will increase to 30 minutes. It is helpful to set up a routine to create a regular practice of reading. Some students like to come home, have a snake, and then do their reading, while other students have a routine of reading before bed. Find a routine that works for your family. Students are asked to read Monday - Thursday. If you need help finding "just right" books for your young reader, please let me know.
Please Email me your lunch orders (menu below) by Monday at 6 pm
Hot Lunch will be available next week on Monday and Wednesday. Sandwiches and Salades can be ordered Monday - Friday
Thanks for another wonderful week! Have a restful weekend!
In Gratitude,
Diane Nicholls
Announcements:
Library is Monday! Please send books.
PE is Thursday - send sneakers!
Students should have a pair of shoes reserved just for indoors.
October 2, 2025 - No School (Yom Kippur)
School Photos : Tuesday, October 7th
October 13, 2025 - No School (Indigenous Peoples' Day)
October 24, 2025 - Early Release Day (noon)
