The Weekly Newsletter
Peace and Giving Celebration Our Ellis Families are so kind and gracious, especially at this time of the year. As you are shopping for gifts in the upcoming weeks, in lieu of teacher gifts, please keep our classroom needs in mind.
The children will be talking, writing, and learning about how sharing and thinking of the needs of the whole class makes a peaceful classroom. To become a peacekeeper is our goal.
Please look over our wish list. If you wish to purchase a gift for the class, send the wrapped gift in on Thursday, December 16th. Please label your child’s gift with his/her name. We will open up gifts together during our celebration on Friday, the 17th. The children will gain a stronger sense of responsibility for our community resources, and will, of course, be thrilled to see “their gift” put to use. If you are unable to send in a gift...do not worry….I will have several gifts that I have purchased on hand for the children to open, as well.
Devices
We are now asking that both Blue Jays and Cardinals bring in their device to school daily, fully charged. Also, remember that students need headphones or earbuds for classroom use as well as in Technology exploration on Thursdays.
For more information, please click on the link Book It
Learning Logs
Please go over the Learning Log with your child and discuss the work they completed and sign it. Please have your child return the Learning Log Monday. Filling out a Learning Log is a learning process in itself, so some of them may not have written all of the work they have completed on the log. This will take time, especially for the younger students.
The purpose behind this is to facilitate conversation about work choices and work completion. The hope is that the students can explain to you what each work is and what they worked on. Also, if you notice that they chose mostly math that week and hardly practiced any reading, that is where a discussion can be had about appropriate choices. Most students have the goal of completing one Language, Reading, and Math work each day, and some Cultural (remember that Cultural is considered "big" work and is completed over time). If your child is coming home with an empty learning log yet they are telling you that they are working, perhaps encourage and remind them to write down the work they are completing as they complete it. These are conversations that we have with the students continually, but of course, in true Montessori fashion, we need the "triangle" to be complete between student, teacher/school, and parent/home in order to be successful.
Homework
Students are asked to read nightly for 20 minutes and fill in their reading log. When the log is filled in, bring it in and a new one will go home.
We are also asking that Cardinals practice math facts nightly for a few minutes using XtraMath for first and second year students and TimesTables.com for third years. If your child would rather use flash cards or some other type of practice, that is fine.
Your child will need to use their device to practice reading and math skills twice a week on iReady at home.
They will also need to get on Amira at home and practice reading at least twice a week. Amira practice can be recorded on reading logs.
Your child needs to log in to their device using the username (firstname.lastname@students.sccpss.com) and password taped on the computer. Then they will log in to ClassLink and this will give them access to both Amira and iReady. They will just need to click the icon of the app being used.
If they are using a device that was not issued by the school, login to ClassLink through the district website by clicking on "Families and Students", then ClassLink on the right hand side.
Thursday Explorations
Students have Explorations (PE, Music, Tech, Steam, Spanish, Art) classes on Thursdays. Your child needs to wear sneakers and bring a snack, water bottle, school device and headphones.
Masks and Water Bottles
Please make sure your child has extra masks in their book bag DAILY. Children need to wear new masks daily and parents should check and replace any masks that have been used throughout the day. Water bottles are a necessity! It is hot outside and there are no water fountains from which our students can drink. There are water bottle refilling stations so students can refill their bottles during the day.
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE NURSE IS IMMEDIATELY MADE AWARE OF ANY POSITIVE COVID TESTS or CLOSE CONTACT WITHIN A FAMILY.
Please send an email to Ms. Marianne, Ms. Jazmin and Nurse Chris - christine.oboyle@sccpss.com
PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL SICK OR IF EXHIBITING THESE SYMPTOMS:
Fever of 100.4 orally or 99.4 using a thermal device
New cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle aches or body aches
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Vomiting, diarrhea, or nausea
Congestion or runny nose
Headaches
*Dates to Remember
December 15-16- PTA Spirit Nights at Jeremiah's Italian Ice
December 17- Donation Dress Down Day
December 20-31- Winter Break
January 3- Staff Planning Day
January 4- Start of 3rd Nine Weeks- Students Return to School
