the Forest Hills Flyer

A Note from the Principal

Throughout September, our school community will be focusing on the virtue of Kindness. We will be celebrating students who show empathy, include others, and use gentle words to make our school a warmer place for everyone.

Everyday Ways to Practice Kindness at Home

Perform Random Acts: Encourage your child to share a toy, write a thank-you note to a teacher, or help a sibling without being asked.
Model Empathy: Talk about feelings during daily routines and ask, "How do you think that made them feel?"
Praise the Effort: Notice when your child makes a thoughtful choice and tell them specifically why it was kind.

September Reading Challenge: 20 Minutes a Night Reading together is one of the easiest ways to build both literacy and compassion. We encourage every family to set aside 20 minutes each night to read aloud with their children.

Ask Heart-Focused Questions: As you read, pause to discuss the characters. Ask: "Was that character being a good friend?" or "What could they do to show kindness right now?"
Make It a Cozy Habit: Let your child pick their favorite book, snuggle up, and turn off screens for a peaceful end to the day.

Thank you for partnering with us to build a culture of care both in the classroom and at home!

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please call, email, or stop by! GO FALCONS! 💙

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer Colvard-Davis

#WeAreFalcons

Grade Level Updates

Kindergarten

We have just wrapped up our first month of Kindergarten! So far, we have learned rules and procedures and have started learning the letters Mm, Ss, Ff, Aa, Tt, Pp, Nn, Ii, Hh, and Kk. In the month of September, we will add the following letters: Ll, Bb, Jj, Rr, Oo, Kk, Dd, Gg, Ee, Yy, Zz, Xx, Uu, Qq, Vv, and Ww. We have also learned the High Frequency Words a, the. In the month of September we will add the following HFW's: and, go, had, he, I, see, has, you. To help from home, review all of the letters and the sounds they make. Also, play games with flash cards with the HFWs on it and review nightly.

In Math, we have been focusing on counting and writing numbers to 5. In September, we will compare objects within 5, make 3, 4, and 5, and count and write to 10. To help from home, have your child bring you a certain amount of objects, and watch them count them to you. Also, practice writing and making numbers to 10 in different ways (pencil, in sugar or salt, with playdoh, or with markers/ crayons).

Some thematic units we will do this month include: The Five Senses, Colors, Apples, and Johnny Appleseed.

We are looking forward to a fun month of learning in Kindergarten!

1st Grade

September is off to a wonderful start in 1st grade! We are having so much fun getting settled into our new routines and procedures and enjoying the beginning of a new school year. In reading, we are learning new phonetic skills and working hard to blend words quickly and efficiently so that we can become fluent, confident readers. In math, we are working on adding within 10 and practicing writing numbers correctly. We are so excited about all the learning and growth ahead and can’t wait to see what September brings!

2nd Grade

Second grade is off to a fantastic start! Our students are already settling into routines and procedures and are doing a wonderful job. We are finishing up our reading unit on “Teamwork.” We have been exploring different kinds of teams and learning what it means to be a great team player. A weekly skills sheet will be sent home in your child’s folder. Please take some time to review the spelling words regularly to help your child prepare for upcoming assessments. In math, we are practicing strategies to mentally add and subtract and beginning to use those strategies to read bar graphs and pictographs. You’ll also notice green math pages in your child’s folder throughout the week—these are great resources to review at home. In addition, you can support your child by practicing telling time to the nearest 5 minutes on an analog clock, as well as practicing counting coins up to $1.00. Our students are eager and excited to learn, and we can’t wait to watch them grow throughout the year!

3rd Grade

Third grade had an amazing first month of school! We have been working on multiplication, verbs, nouns, and writing! This month, we will be focusing on opinion writing, lowercase cursive letters, plurals, irregular plurals, and multiple comprehension strategies such as cause and effect and main idea. We are looking forward to focus on kindness during the month of September.

4th Grade

The 4th grade students have jumped right into all things place value in math. They have used their learning of place value to rename numbers, round numbers as well as add and subtract using the standard algorithm. In reading, students are reading stories about people who make a positive difference in their community or country. Students are having great conversations on these topics.

5th Grade

We have had a great start to the year in 5th Grade! Students did a wonderful job at the beginning of the year on i-Ready Diagnostics. We are so excited to announce that we plan to take a field trip in September. 5th grade classes will visit the Cullman Agriplex to take part in a “Hatchet” field trip. This field trip is inspired by the beloved novel by the same name, and features survival lessons such as water collection and purification, fire starting, shelter building, and foraging. We are excited to build some prior knowledge and experiences for a novel that we will study later in the year.

Math

We have just finished up learning about multiplication and volume! In September we will move quickly and cover a lot of important topics. We will begin our study on division. Students will learn how to divide using an area model. Then we will focus on place value and powers of 10. For example, students will see two numbers, 730 and 703, and recognize that the digit 3 is 10 times greater in the tens place than in the ones place. We will end the month by introducing decimals! Students will be able to read, write, compare and round decimals. Please continue to practice multiplication facts at home! We will continue to review the multiplication standard algorithm throughout the year. It is so helpful for students to know their facts!

ELA/Reading

The overall big idea for our first unit is perseverance. The stories we will be reading are all examples of people that have shown great perseverance. As a school of character, this is also one of the main virtues we try to instill in our students. We really cannot be successful in life if we do not learn how to persevere. Have so much fun reading our stories each night with such good examples of this virtue. Along with our comprehension skills we will be analyzing words with Greek and Latin roots and prefixes and suffixes. To top it off in grammar, we will be reviewing the parts of speech such as nouns and verbs. It has been a great start to the year and we look forward to all of our kids growing as readers.

Social Studies/Science

In Social Studies we have been studying the Industrial and Progressive Movements of the early 1900s, and will continue that study to include lessons on the Suffrage Movement, labor unions and worker’s rights, Alabama’s educational opportunities at Historically Black Colleges & Universities, Helen Keller and disability rights, and immigration and migration of the era. Students have so enjoyed learning about this period in our history and making connections to the world around them. In Science we continue our study of matter with lessons on different types of mixtures and solutions, the physical and chemical changes that matter can go through, and the states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. Ask your student about the phenomena we have encountered so far!

6th Grade

MATH

This month, students will explore area and volume! We will learn how to find the area of different shapes and calculate the volume of rectangular prisms. Students will also apply these skills to real-world situations and explain their mathematical thinking.

Reading/ELA

We've been working on literary works and narrative writing while sprinkling in some informational text to make cross text connections! Students are working to familiarize themselves with the StudySync curriculum and learning to apply their comprehension skills to text-dependent writing questions.

Science

August has been all about getting to know each other and WATER! Students have been modeling the various processes involved in the Water Cycle. As we move into September, we will focus on understanding how the uneven heating of the Earth drives many of our weather phenomena.

Social Studies

In history, students have explored indigenous cultures, Medieval Times, the Renaissance, and the Age of Exploration. We will slow things down a bit moving forward as we take a closer look at the consequences of those European expeditions as well as the early English settlements, and the formation of the 13 colonies.

Counselor Newsletter

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COUNSELOR NEWSLETTER!!

STEM Newsletter

Library Newsletter

Shoals Teacher of the Month Nomination Form

Do you want to recognize your child's teacher in a special way!!?

The Teacher of the Month program recognizes outstanding educators in the Shoals area who demonstrate excellence in leadership, creativity, and impact both inside and outside the classroom. Honorees are academically and culturally engaged and actively involved in their community.

Eligible nominees must work at a public or private school in Colbert or Lauderdale County. Anyone - students, parents, fellow educators, businesses, or community members, can submit a nomination.

Each month during the school year, two educators are selected and recognized: one Elementary Teacher of the Month and one Middle or High School Teacher of the Month. Winners are selected by a committee of former educators and community members based on their experiences with each nominee and what makes that teacher exceptional.

Click here to nominate your favorite teacher!