The Week of December 5th

The Weekly Newsletter

Festival of Lights ~ This Thursday

Please join us this Thursday at 5:30 for the Festival of Lights in the backyard of Charles Ellis. Primary and Lower Elementary are the only groups performing this year, December 9th at 5:30.

• Students in Primary and Lower Elementary will be performing.
• Developmental levels will sing separate.
• Primary will perform 3 songs.
• Lower Elementary will perform 4 songs.
• All will sing “Light a Candle for Peace” from their seats.
• Google Form will go out to all families to sign up to be in the audience.  We are limiting to 2 adults per family.
• Link to Google form -  Festival of Lights Form
• Festival of Lights - December 9 - 5:30 pm
• Please fill out the form below to sign up to be part of the audience for "Festival of Lights". Families will enter through the back gate, check in, and be given a number. Please have all your family members sit together in your numbered area and social distance from other families.
• forms.gle
• Families  will come in through the back gate on 48th street and sign in
• Families will bring their own chairs or blanket to sit on.
• Food truck will be available from 5:00 – 5:30 or families may bring their own food.
• Restrooms will be available in the hall by the MPR.
• Children will need to be escorted by an adult to the restroom.
• Children need to stay with their family in the performance area. The playground equipment will not be available.

When: December 3-9, 2021, 8am-3pm

Where: Ellis Media Center 

Why: To promote reading and raise funds for the media center

How: Unfortunately, parents/volunteers are still not allowed in school buildings at this time, but your students will be allowed to visit throughout the school day. We encourage you to add funds to your student(s) eWallet, so they do not need to bring cash to school.

For more information, please visit the book fair page on Ellis Media Center Website​. 

If you have any questions, contact Ms. Lisa (lisa.odonnell@sccpss.com).

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.

Amazon Wishlist

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

Wishlist

We have created an Amazon wish list with various items we would love to have for our classroom. Thank you!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/37YRRBS0MZI5D/?ref_=lol_ov_le

*Dates to Remember 

November 1-30- PTA Read-A-Thon

December 3-9- Scholastic Book Fair 

December 9- Festival of Lights

December 20-January 3- Winter Break