Indian Mills Elementary School

Dear IMS Families,

We hope you have enjoyed reading our staff newsletters. This will be our third and final one of the 2018-19 school year. Thank you for being our partners in your children's education. We feel lucky to work with such an involved and caring community. As our school year comes to a close, we wanted to let you know that we appreciate all you do!

We hope you and your children enjoy these last few weeks of school. Please read below for some highlights from our classrooms.

The IMS Staff

Preschool has so many exciting events coming up in May and June. Our recent trip to Paws Discovery Farm was awesome! The students saw many different animals, including a bearded dragon, chinchilla, box turtle, and chicken. Preschool loved getting to spend Mother’s Day at school with a Mother’s Day Tea. We are looking forward to Father’s Day and Donuts with Dads. As we approach the end of the year, we will be reviewing the alphabet, numbers, colors, and shapes. It is going to be a great, fun-filled rest of the year!

Mrs. Frascella and Mrs. Goldstein

Have you ever stopped to observe live creatures? Mrs. Amacher's, Mrs. Gibbons' and Mrs. Trauger's kindergarten classes do every day! During our Living Things Unit we will have the opportunity to inquire about caterpillars and more. There is something quite magical about having a living, breathing, part of nature in the classroom to inspire some deep thinking. Beyond the obvious scientific connections, having live creatures in the classroom also provides opportunities for social development around respect, responsibility, care-giving, and mindfulness. The whole process of watching and waiting for changes to occur provides endless opportunities for observations, predictions, hypotheses, and of course, lots of excitement! The metamorphosis is not unlike the one that takes place with the kindergarten children. They come in as caterpillars and they are almost ready to fly away as butterflies!

Mrs. Amacher, Mrs. Gibbons, Mrs. Mendez, and Mrs. Trauger

Busy First Graders!

The first grade students have published their own classroom books! Each student chose one animal to research and wrote a non- fiction paragraph about their animal. They illustrated their stories and used labels and captions! First graders also will be attending a field trip to the Ritz Theater in May to see the children's play, Little Red Riding Hood! We are having a very busy Spring!

Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Hendron, Mrs. Newman, and Mrs. Rinker

The 2nd graders have enjoyed a busy spring! We were able to attend an interactive science show at the Pitman Theater. This enhanced our science unit about matter. We have also been working on our informative and persuasive writing. Currently, our second graders are learning about ecosystem diversity. We are starting to look like 3rd graders!

Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Girgenti, Mrs. Howard, Mrs. Lafferty, Ms. Shipton, Mrs. Waters

The third graders have begun their ABC Countdown to summer. During the final 26 days of school, we feature an activity for each letter of the alphabet. When we get to Z, it's time to ZOOM off to 4th grade. We are eagerly awaiting our field trip to Atsion Recreation Area, which will take place on May 16th. We are excited to explore the Pine Barrens and learn about the plants, animals, and aquatic life that inhabit our local ecosystem.

Mrs. Abramovitz, Mrs. LaMonaca, Mrs. Macrae, Mr. McCorristin, and Ms. Simon

In fourth grade the students completed the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments for both math and language arts! We also took a field trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where the students explored various types of artwork and learned about different artists throughout history. We are excitedly looking forward to Move-Up day at IMMS on June 4th!

Ms. Curtis, Mrs. Durelli, Mrs. Fuchs, Mrs. Geoghegan, Mr. Kimmel, Mrs. Terry, and Ms. Wilson,

The 4th grade band students have worked incredibly hard this year. There are 18 flute players, 10 clarinet players, 10 trumpet players, 6 low brass players and 4 percussionists. Their concert is coming up on May 30 at 6:30 PM. All IMS families are invited to attend!

Ms. Martin

Our Annual Art Show was a huge success! Thank you to the volunteers that helped to display the student art work.

Ms. Shaw-Hartman

One of the days that our students look forward to is right around the corner! IMS Fun Day is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12th (rain date- 6/13). Thank you to all of the parents that have already signed up to help and make this day a success!

Mr. McIntyre