Cody Elementary - North Platte Public Schools

Cody Elementary
MR. TOM COVIELLO,
PRINCPAL
TCOVIELLO@NPPSD.ORG
308-535-7132
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
:
November 13
PACT Soup Supper
5:30—6:30
November 14
No School K-5
November 17
Candle
Sales
Begin
Ending on Dec 1
November 20
PACT Meeting
7:00 p.m.
November 26-28
No School K-12
Thanksgiving Break
“Where Everyone is a Winner!”
I S S U E
# 3
Principally Speaking...
Eight Steps to Parental Success – Time, February 21,
2005 by Michael Thompson
Kids thrive when they feel the
adults in their lives see them
in a consistent way. So parents and teachers should try
to use the precious minutes of
a conference to reach an
agreement about a child's
strengths and challenges and
to unite on the best ways they
each can respond to them.
Here are some tips on how to
build a relationship that will
benefit all:
1. Be there.
Research shows that children
do better academically when
both parents attend conferences and PTA meetings. A
parental no-show sends a
message to a child that maybe
school isn't such a high priority—or perhaps that the child
isn't.
2. Remember the F word:
Focus
The aim of a parent-teacher
conference is for adults to
build a mutually respectful
alliance that will support a
child's sometimes difficult
journey through school.
December 1
Candle Money Due
December 2
Wendy’s Eat Out
Night
December 5
No School K-12
3. Share insider information.
Tell the teacher what you
know about your child as a
learner. You know what your
child loves and hates about
school, what motivates your
child, what has worked with
teachers in the past. Also tell
the teacher about your hopes
and fears for your child. That
information can help a
teacher fine-tune instruction
N O V E
or interactions to be more effective. It builds the relationship between the adults when
parents can share some of
their own feelings about their
child's future.
4. Use a report card as a
jumping-off point, not as the
Panther Pride!
centerpiece of the discussion.
Turn any review of grades into
an opportunity to get the
teacher's more detailed observations about what's working
and what's not for your child.
Do not dwell on the grade itself, and do not attempt to
pressure a teacher to change a
grade, especially at a conference. (If you believe there is a
real issue of injustice, take it
to an administrator.) Remember, an A student won't die
from getting a B, nor will a B
student suffer irreparable
harm from getting a C.
be a loving, respectful, productive citizen who can live
in community with others.
Ask whether she or he has
friends, is part of a group,
knows how to socialize and
work respectfully with other
children. How your child
functions with other people
is going to make a big difference in later life.
6. Ask what you can do.
Be receptive to advice on
how you can support your
child's success without
micromanaging or rescuing
him or her from mistakes
and the valuable lessons
they offer.
7. Trust your child's development.
Try to relax a little and have
faith in your child and your
child's journey through
school.
8. Leave your own school
baggage at home.
We all have memories of
teachers and classes that
made us miserable. Set
those aside and approach
your child's teacher as a peer
and partner. Assume a
teacher wants to see your
child succeed in school and
in life—just as you do. The
respect you show a teacher
is contagious and will find its
way back to your child.
—Michael Thompson, Ph.D.,
is the author of The Pres5. Inquire about your
sured Child: Helping Your
Child to Achieve Success in
child's progress in areas
that aren't easily measured School and in Life and coauthor of Raising Cain: Proby grades. Not every child is
tecting the Emotional Lives of
going to be a brilliant stuBoys
dent, but you want your
child, brilliant or not, to
Until Next time...Mr.
Coviello
Lunch Balances Now on Parent Portal
Your student’s unofficial lunch money balance can now be viewed through the parent portal. Just log into
parent portal and look for the unofficial lunch notation then click it and view the balance.
There are still a few Cody Tshirts available if you would
like to purchase one. The
price is $9.00. If interested
contact Lisa Rookstool 5329256 or 530-5086
Halloween Parade
Bram Loving
Ryan Rookstool
Steppin’ Out for
Education Results
Cody received $616.79 from the
North Platte Pubic Schools Foundation in connection with the
Steppin’ Out for Education walk
that was held last month. A total
of $20,000 was raised.
Each
school receives an amount based
on participation with the largest
share of funds raised going for
Reach Grants. The Grants can be
requested by individual teachers
from any school in the District for
items or programs they would feel
would enhance their classroom.
Cody had 11% participation in the
walk and throughout the District
participation was up 129%.
Thanks to all who participated
and let’s see if we can raise that
participation percentage next
year!
Turner Nansel
Jasmine Dannar
Troy Shore
Chantel Hudson
Kylie Engleman
Megan Myers
Ruth Hopkins
Mei Hou
Mrs. Awtry’s Second Grade has been working with inferences. To make an inference, use what you
know and details from the story or passage to help make the whole picture clear. Her are a examples
provided by MeKennah Kemp and Leslie Barnett
A tail that is gray and smooth a tail
that helps me swim.
Dolphin
A tail that is big, white, and has black spots. A
tail that goes back and forth when I hideing in
the wild.
Snow Leopard
Kindergartener’s Get a Taste of Art
Miss Hellbusch’s kindergarteners had a guest visit them on October 28th. Marcia Joffe-Bouska , an artist in
residency, came and talked with the students about art. The students learned about landscapes and different depths in some of the different art pieces that were present at the Sheldon Exhibit.
The students each created their own art piece. They made stencils and used crayons to trace those stencils
onto the art paper. The students then took bleeding tissue paper and water and “painted” on to their paper.
This created a relief, where the color took to the places where there was no crayon. The children had a great
time and had a great experience.
The 1st Grade Gazette
Each year Mrs. Gribble’s class celebrates Thanksgiving by making stone soup. After
reading the story of Stone Soup, where a poor boy convinces a community (or old
woman, depending on the version) to each contribute one thing to his soup, we will
make our own stone soup. Each student will bring one vegetable, which they can
chop up and add to the soup. I need two parents to volunteer their crockpots for that
week, and two volunteers to help the kiddos chop their veggies. We will be making
our soup on the 20th and eating on the 21st in our room. This is a very fun collaborative project for everyone.
Math Minute
November’s math practice will be focusing on more addition and subtraction, as well as,
graphing. Vocabulary will include: count on, number line, double addend, count back,
fact family, tally mark, pictograph, bar graph, and tally chart. We will be spending a lot of
our time committing facts through ten to memory as that is a requirement for district and
state standards. Graphing is also a standard that students need to be proficient in. Please
spend time asking your child to explain the graphs that are coming home. Questions like,
“Which category has the most? Or “How many more . . . does one category have over another?”
Reading Corner
This month we will work on story elements like character, plot, and setting. We will continue practicing various strategies for figuring out words as we read. Some strategies we will use are picture and context clues,
sounding through to the end of words, skipping words and coming back to them after we have read the rest
of the sentence.
Mrs. Gribble's first grade class created a song and dance to
help learn the vowels and have some fun too! You can access it through the District Web page or go to:
http://www.schooltube.com/video/13062/The-Vowel-Song
Counselor’s Corner
By Monica Kramer
Winter Coats
It is the time of year when the weather is cold and the need for a warm coat
is here. If your child needs a coat and does not have access to a coat please
let me know. The First United Methodist Church has a coat closet, but referrals need to come from the school. The hours to access new coats are limited and parents can transport children to the church. Another possibility
is that students can be transported by school authorities; provided we have
written permission from the parent.
Please notify me if your child needs a coat and we can provide the necessary
coupon to you. If your child is transported to get a coat by school authorities we will take the coupon . Remember we must have written permission
before we will take your child to get a coat.
THE NUTCRACKER
SUITE
A Mini-Musical based on Peter Tchaikovsky’s Famous
Ballet
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11th,
2008
1:45 - 2nd and 4th Grade
2:45 - 3rd and 5th Grade
Multi-Purpose Room
COSTUMES NEEDED!
If you have any of the following
items at home and could DONATE them to the Elementary
Music Department
we would greatly appreciate it!
DONATED ITEMS NEEDED:
(need to fit 2nd-5th Graders)
Plain Grey Long-Sleeved Sweatshirts
Plain Grey Sweat Pants
Plain Black Pants With Elastic
Waist (no athletic pants)
White Football or Softball Pants
(to knee)
Black Boots
Ballet Shoes
White Tights
Ballet Leotards & Skirts
Oriental Shirts and Pants
Plain Black Suit Coats
Plain Blue Suit Coats
Large Nutcracker Dolls
One HUGE Fake Christmas
Tree-Decorated!
10 Wrapped Empty Christmas
Presents
Please put items in bag with
name of person donating so we
can thank you! Leave in the
office or in the music room.
Poppin’ with Fun
The North Platte Public Library’s Poppin’ with Fun after school program for all
elementary students is held the first Monday of every month from November
until April. Pop in after school and see what’s happening at the public library.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR
YOUR HELP!
Mrs. O’Neill
Third Grade News
The third grade teachers would like to personally thank all our parents that
attended conferences. We also thank all the parents that provided treats and
supplies for our Halloween parties. The kids all had a great time!
Cody third graders continue to work hard on learning their addition and
subtraction facts for Math. The students completed their assessment on addition,
subtraction, rounding, and story problems. Their next unit of study in math is
reading and making bar graphs.
For Social Studies, our third graders will be using the information they
learned about communities to do Native American Indian research for November
and December. The students will learn the different cultures, beliefs, and ways of
life of each of the Indian groups.
In reading, our students are getting plenty of practice using their donated
dictionaries from the Elks Lodge to complete their weekly unit vocabulary sheets!
Please continue to support your child and encourage them to read to meet their
personal AR quarter goals.
Our students are diligently working on learning their lower case cursive letters and are excited to learn enough letters to write their work in cursive.
District Receives Maps
North Platte Public
Schools
4th
Grades received a
large donation from
Farm Bureau in
the form of 17 Agricultural map kits.
Large agricultural
production maps were also purchased for each classroom. Four
Cody students, Lance Henne,
Dominic Martinez, Zak Folchert
and Kylie Engleman accepted the
Farm Bureau donation on behalf of
the school District.
Students to Attend
Bullying Conference
Cody 4th grade students Lance Henne,
Zak Folchert, Erica
Whipple, Jasmine Dannar,
Chase
LenzSchurr and Payton
Smith will be representing Cody at a Bullying Conference on
4th Grade Ag Day
Mrs. Walter’s and Mr. Collins’ fourth grade classes
attended Ag Awareness Day which was held at
the Lincoln County Fairgrounds. Students viewed
various presenters discussing agricultural concepts
such as Nebraska grasses, non-traditional farm
animals, dairy cows, how we produce milk and
horticulture. Students also has a chance to view a
cow provided by the UNL Extension and Research
Facility. The living cow has a hole in it that allows
students to study how the fluid in a cow’s stomach breaks down grass. Mr. Collins and all the
students had a chance to put their hands in the
cow.
Don’t have a cow Mr. Collins!
5th Graders Learn Smart Art
Smart art is a program in Microsoft Word that allows you to use templates to create handy notes. Students used it to review information
they have covered in class. They simply chose a good format to display
the information, and plugged in their own notes/ideas on a specific concept.
By Paxton Smith
By Gracen Morgan
GREEN’S GOODIES
A link between
home and school!
COMING SOON!
I’ve informed students that
we are going to begin
“blogging”. This is an online
process of communication.
Our blogs will contain information that I’ll prompt students to respond to, in addition to kids posting their
own information for others
to comment about. Blog
on!
Homework
CO-OP
Thanks to those who commented on the homework
survey at conferences! I’ve
wanted to adjust our Reading homework, so your
thoughts have helped in my
decision. Most parents
wanted to keep the reading
response paragraph, and
also add a reading log. I’ve
modified the paragraph to
just writing it twice a week.
This way, students can focus on more quality products. Your child may
choose which two nights
they’d like to write their
paragraphs on throughout
the week. I’ve added a log
for students to document
how much they are reading
every day. This needs to be
signed and returned by
Friday, so I can reflect on
your child’s progress accordingly. Comments/
questions, C-me! Thanks!
With this form of ownership in mind, a focus this
quarter will be on cooperation. Working together successfully is a
skill that benefits everyone in life, but it can be
challenging to do at
times. As a teacher, I feel
this is a vital skill that can
only be obtained with a
lot of practice!
This quarter, students
will have several opportunities to succeed together and foster teamwork. This begins in
our seating arrangement, and is carried
into subject areas such
as Science and Math. I
want students to question each other more
and practice reasoning
among their peers. We
also need to learn how
to “agree to disagree” to
promote individuality
Bookworm Learning Lessons
5th
Grade
On a Positive Note:
We have such a high
number of orchestra
students this year. It
is great to see all of
the instruments come
upstairs on Tuesday
and Thursday mornings! :)
The Steppin’ Out for
Education event in
September was a huge
success, and Cody received a check for over
$600 for our participation!
NOVEMBER DATES
@ CODY
Science
Having finished our Body
Systems, we’ve moving
onto studying the Land
and Water of our Earth.
We’ll be learning about our
Earth’s structure and the
different types of rocks and
minerals found under our
feet. We’ll also study the
effects of water and
weather on our planet.
Literacy
We’ve begun our third
theme in Reading. The
next two stories we’ll read
are “Dear Mr. Henshaw”
and “Digging Up Our
Past”. Ask your child to
give you an example of a
generalization.
We’ll be working on adjectives in Writing. Our next
Six Trait is generating
good VOICE!
Math
Here’s where I challenge
students’ math foundation with our old friend,
DIVISION! Children may
find this concept tricky
because this builds on
multiplication facts. How
do they fix this you ask?
PRACTICE, PRACTICE,
PRACTICE! Please see
me about how to help at
home!
Picture Retakes...cheese!
12
Soup Supper, bring bread
13
No School; clean rooms.
14
Webcast Meet and Greet
with Lake and Osgood
24
Turkey Break...gobble
26
Return to school Dec.
1