Marshall Elementary January Newsletter
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The Marshall Elementary News is a monthly newsletter that is sent home with our students to give parents a glimpse of events at Marshall. Please feel free to contact the office for any additional information.
Letter from Mr. Leis
Testing, testing, testing! Why are they always testing? Most of our students take three rounds of tests each year. In the fall and winter they take one test called a MAP test. If you remember the old Iowa Test of Basic Skill, (ITBS) then you will understand the MAP test. The major difference is the MAP test is done on a computer rather than using the #2 pencil to fill in the bubbles. It also only takes two to three hours over two days rather than the week long ITBS.
Third through Sixth grade students will also take State Assessments in March and April. These are tests the state of Kansas uses to determine if Marsahall is making our annual yearly progress. Many times we use the scores from the MAP to determine what activities are done in class to help prepare students for the State Assessments.
Parents can discuss scores on these tests with their child’s teacher during parent/teacher conferences. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Leis at 583- 5537.
Early Childhood
Happy New Year from Ms. Watts’ Early Childhood Class
We are back to school and are excited about learning more letters, numbers, and putting our inquiring minds to work. We are learning about topics such as jellyfish, experimenting with ice and discussing the winter season. We will end the month with a unit using the book “The Mitten”. We will also be celebrating Kansas Day on the 29th. We are looking forward to all the fun and learning to be had this month!
Pre-Kindergarten
January is a busy month for our students. Pre-kindergarten returned from Winter break eager to learn new things. We always enjoy learning about a new letter in the Animated Alphabet. We love the actions and songs. We are all having fun with the new A- Z Phonics song. Before long we will know all of our sounds.
We are currently working on our phone numbers along with learning many interesting facts about the state of Kansas. We will celebrate the birthday of Kansas on January the 29th. It is hard to believe we will also celebrate 100 days of school this month.
Kindergarten
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year! Hopefully, the students all experienced the fun of a white Christmas. Please let us know if you built a 20-foot snowman!!!
Our Animated Literacy program will be finished by the end of the month, so we will begin our adopted reading series program. Readers will be sent home each Wednesday that go with the story of the week. We will also begin working on sight words. In Math, we are getting ready to learn more about money and time.
With Kansas day coming, our Social Studies focus will be on the symbols, song, and history of Kansas. The first half of the year went by quickly, and the students were eager learners.
We are looking forward to an exciting second semester.
Second Grade
Second semester has begun and with that comes a new Reading Text titled, “My Time to Shine.” The first unit will be focusing on different traditions and cultures. Through this theme, children can share their own unique cultures and family traditions with classmates.
In celebration of Kansas Day, second graders will be learning historical facts about Kansas. Can you name the four states that surround Kansas? What is the Kansas State Reptile? Who is the governor of Kansas? Your child will learn the answers to these questions and many others.
Just a reminder to parents, please listen to your child read their AR library books, and help them remember to return those books by Friday of each week.
Third Grade
“WE ARE GREAT! YES WE ARE! DON’T YOU KNOW IT?” If you hear your child chanting this at home, don’t be surprised. This is our third grade “cheer” to build our confidence for the upcoming state assessment tests that will be taken this spring. Our third graders have worked so hard this year in preparation for these tests. We are so proud of their progress, and we are confident that their scores are going to really shine!
Our third graders have also been learning about habitats in science. We have begun a research project on an animal of their choosing. They have been asked to research their animal using various resources, write a report, and create a habitat using a shoebox. They have been given instructions on what must be included in their habitat and in their report. We will provide construction paper at school, but any other materials your child chooses to use in his/her habitat will need to be found outside of school. As with the Thanksgiving turkey project, the sky is the limit! Although this project is not “optional” and will be completed for a grade, there will be a prize given to one student from each class with the most creative habitat! Good luck, third graders, and thank you in advance to our parents for assisting your child in finding materials.
Mrs. Spore and Mrs. Schwartz
Fourth Grade
Fourth graders are busy preparing for the state science assessment. They have been learning about matter, mass, volume, and density. The students have completed several labs to help them understand these concepts. For one of the labs, the students poured water, syrup and vegetable oil in a cup and observed the liquids. Then they dropped in a ball of clay, a raisin and a piece of celery and observed which ones floated and sunk. The 4th graders are looking forward to the next hands-on science lab.
Sixth Grade
We are experimenting with transformations, which are changing forms, in sixth-grade geometry. We are concentrating on three specific transformations right now: translations, reflections, and rotations. A translation, or slide, is a movement in which a geometric figure is moved without changing orientation. For a real life example, think of sliding a checker on a checkerboard. A reflection, or flip, is a motion that creates a mirror image of a figure on the opposite side of a line of symmetry. Looking at one’s image in a mirror or body of water is a real life example of a reflection. A rotation, or turn, is the movement of a figure around a point. Pivoting on one foot in basketball or watching the turning rotor blades of a helicopter are real life examples of rotation. A glide reflection is a combination of a translation and a reflection. Footprints provide an example of a glide reflection. We have a wish for your health and safety during this winter season. Please be careful when outdoors in snowy weather. We do not want you to translate (slide) on the ice and perform some fancy rotations (turns) before reflecting (flipping) head over hills and landing in a snowdrift! Now, isn’t math fun!
In language arts students finished their first round of formative (practice) testing. They completed four tests, which presented reading passages from expository, persuasive, technical, and narrative texts. After each test students recorded their results. At the end of the week they wrote a reflection about their formatives.
Friday, January 15th will be the 6th Grade Oral Spelling Bee! Sixteen students will compete in the 6th Grade Bee and the top eight contestants will advance to the District Spelling Bee to compete against the 7th and 8th graders. Good luck spellers!
School Nurse
Can you believe it is 2nd semester already? This year is really flying by. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and winter break. During the short school month of December we saw a slight increase in the number of ill students, mainly during the week prior to Winter break. We still need to be on the alert for signs and symptoms of H1N1 (fever over 100 degrees, runny nose, cough, congestion, headache, body aches). We need to remember to keep children home until a full 24 hours has passed with no fever (without the use of medications such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen). This will help prevent the spread of illness in our school.
The students and staff are practicing good hygiene and I am proud of them for their efforts. In January I plan to continue to test hearing and vision. We will have dental screenings planned and a letter informing parents of this will be sent home prior to the screenings. I hope everyone has a happy New Year with lots of happiness and love.
Mrs. McCoy, School Nurse
Schoolwide Title News
Computer Fun Night
We would like to invite ALL3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade students and their parents to join us for a Computer Fun Night. Computer Fun Night will be held January 19th at Marshall Elementary School beginning at 6pm to 7pm. Our focus for the evening will be introducing parents to the Study Island program that students will be using to prepare for State Assessments. Come enjoy refreshments and time spent with friends and family. Please let us know if you plan to come so that we can be sure to have enough computers available for you to use. Forms will be sent out with students on January 11th. Please return the forms by January 15th. If you have any questions please contact Mrs. Herb at vherb@389ks.org or by calling Marshall Elementary 583-5537.
