Central Primary School
December Newsletter
A note from the office...
Our CPS Climate Committee is hosting a month of Holiday Spirit! Please see attachment below and we look forward to seeing staff and students showing their December Spirit throughout the month.
Important December Dates to Remember:
- Vision and Hearing Rescreenng: Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 1st-2nd
- Wear red/white or stripes!: Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 1st-2nd
- PTO Meeting: Thursday, Dec. 3rd @ 7:00 p.m.
- Flannel Day!: Thursday and Friday, Dec. 3rd-4th
- Wear red/green!: Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 8th-9th
- School Board Meeting: Thursday, Dec. 10th @ 7:00 p.m.
- Wear your favorite holiday hat and/or socks!: Thursday and Friday, Dec. 10th-11th
- Grinch day- Wear a grinch shirt or green!: Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 15th-16th
- Polar Express Day: Wear your favorite pajamas!: Thursday and Friday, Dec. 17th-18th
- Wear a holiday shirt!: Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 21st-22nd
- No School, Winter break: Wednesday, Dec. 23rd- Sunday, Jan. 3rd
Please remember to keep your students home if they are exhibiting any COVID related symptoms. See the Central School District 51 COVID-19 Guidelines below.
PTO News- Mrs. Stephanie Redlingshafer
Social Emotional Learning Corner- Miss Gail Massa, School Counselor
Interventionist Corner- Mrs. Kris Mertens, Math Interventionist & Mrs. Breanna Guse, Reading Interventionist
We are quickly approaching Winter Break. Our students who are in intervention have been making great progress. It is important to keep working on their reading and math goals. We know this can be a busy time of year at home, so finding simple ways to do reading and math can help to alleviate stress. Play games, read Christmas books, etc. The best thing you can do is just to keep reading and practicing math.
Here are some new activities to work on with your child in a fun way at home for reading and math.
Math Activity for Fun
Money, Money, Money … I realize as kids become adults, cash transactions are few and far between. Right now though kids need to recognize and count coins. Most everyone has a jar/bank of coins at home. Help your kids with the concept of coins by having them “PAY” for screen time or snacks. Choose random amounts; (example: $.78 for a granola bar). Have them count out those coins correctly to “pay” for their snack. This can be done at all grade levels. In Kindergarten, use pennies and dimes; 1st Grade, use pennies, dimes and nickels, 2nd & 3rd Grades, use pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters. This is such a great skill to have some fun with at home.
Don’t let spelling be a chore!
Spelling can be quite the frustration for some students as they try to memorize 10-20 words a week and remember how to spell them. However, we can make this easier. Teach students the spelling patterns instead of having them memorize each word. The English language usually follows a set of rules for how words are spelled. For instance, most of the time, ‘oi’ goes in the middle of a word/syllable (coin, boil, soil, etc) and ‘oy’ goes at the end of a word (joy, boy, royal, etc.) and putting “e” at the end of a word causes the previous vowel to say it’s long sound (can becomes cane). If we teach students to memorize these patterns, it will help them spell many words, instead of just the 10-20 that are on their spelling list. Of course there are always rule-breakers that have to be memorized, but there are far fewer rule breakers than rule followers! Feel free to contact me or your student’s teacher for help with spelling patterns, they can certainly be tricky!
An easy activity to help students recognize patterns is to have them sort words. Once they have sorted all the words, talk about what they see in each of their categories, how they chose to sort them, why they chose that way.
Nonsense words are also a great way to practice patterns. Give students “words” like soit or woy and see if they can apply the pattern rules!
Technology with Mr. Robert Deatherage
Computer Science Education Week is December 7th -13th this year. It is an annual week to celebrate computer science. Code.org is an excellent site to get a start on computer science. Check out the link to find some excellent Hour of Code activities. There are activities for all ages and abilities. If you need Chromebook help, do not forget about techsupport@central51.net to have your Chromebook needs addressed. This Google site, CPS Online Resources, contains most but likely not all of the resources we are utilizing both in the classroom and at home.
Art Corner- Ms. Gleason
PE Corner- Mr. Chris Dalberg
A little note from Music Class...
This fall has flown by and we have been having a great time in music class. With many restrictions for sharing items like instruments, we have been playing “found sounds”. A found sound is an ordinary object that can be played like a musical instrument. We have been playing our pencils like rhythm sticks and also desk drumming. Here is what each grade level have been learning this month:
Kindergarten students are now learning about rhythm and we have been playing “found sounds” in the classroom. Our pencils make excellent rhythm sticks. We love moving and dancing to the music too.
1st Grade students have also been playing “found sounds” and are now reading and composing their own rhythms.
2nd Grade has started to improvise (create music on the spot) this month. They are also playing pencils and using our new Quaver curriculum to play barred instruments on their chromebooks.
3rd Grade has been reviewing the lines and spaces of the Treble Clef Staff and learning about how melody moves. They have also started to improvise (create music on the spot) using our new Quaver curriculum to play parred instruments on their chromebooks.
We are looking forward to this next month of creating and playing holiday music together. -Mrs. Cunningham
Central Primary School
Website: www.central51.net
Location: 1400 Newcastle Road, Washington, IL, USA
Phone: 309-444-3580