FES Points of P.R.I.D.E. Newsletter

It has been an exciting week with assessments finally completed! Please watch for your child's district reading and math NWEA assessment reports, as well as an oral fluency report for Grades 1-4 coming home next week. The students were very excited about their growth in multiple areas!

A few notable items for you...We appreciate you sending your child in with the appropriate weather clothing! What a difference it has made in their ability to participate in morning and afternoon recess times. A friendly reminder that we need all the children to arrive in their snow pants. We have a twenty minute recess upon arrival and when they ask to put them on, it probably takes that long, then it's time to come in. Can you believe that we have had many days of outdoor recess, even with the cold? It has been wonderful and please check out the photos of them enjoying the snow piles! Some children got very creative and began shoveling sand from the pavement when the snow began to melt and making castles and "ant hills" with it. The structures were amazing!

Another notable item is to mention attendance, but with a specific emphasis on tardiness. Prompt arrival at school is very important. The beginning of the day is an essential time in each classroom for community building and introducing the day’s activities and plans. Coming to school late can be very disruptive to the routine of the students. It is important that students arrive on time for school. Our school day starts at 8:40 am, but students may be dropped off as early as 8:20 am. Thank you for your attention and partnership for your child's success at school.

Stay warm this weekend...and GO PATS!

Warmest regards,

Kathie

• Next Week's Special: PE & Wellness with Mr. LeGraw
• 2/16-2/20 Special of the week is Library with Mrs. Donovan
• 2/17 Kindergarten Registration & Screening (see flier below for more info)
• 2/19 Morphs & Milestones visits FES
• 2/20 February P.R.I.D.E. Meeting & Community Lunch, Class 1-2 presents
• 2/23-2/27 Winter Recess - No School
• Second Trimester Report Cards will go out on March 27th.
• Coming soon! March Read-a-thon information and more events!

Wow! Students are really showing what they can do! This week we have dug deeper into the skills of reading and practicing oral reading fluency. We have started daily literacy folders, where students complete independent literacy tasks and work on writing skills. Ask your child about C.U.P.S., although it is just new to them this week. It has something to do writing skills. I hope they can tell you!

Math is moving along nicely and the students are both working in their new units for both grades now. Grade 1 is working on addition and subtraction through 20, using mental math strategies and how to represent data. Grade 2 is working on measurement in centimeters and inches, with representation of data extending higher, as well as 2 digit addition with borrowing. I remember the old days...This math is tricky but they really have a good sense of number relationships in working on skills and activities.

Valentine's Day is coming! I have sent home a school list for cards for Valentine's Day for you. We plan to decorate bags for "mail", exchange cards and throw our Valentine's Day-Post testing party on the same day, February 13th. A separate email will go home from me with specifics, but they have worked hard and deserve a wonderful team celebration. And as one student stated today, "When one of our teammates is gone, it feels weird without them here." I couldn't have said it any better myself! What a great group!