Hello Families and Supporters,
Hello Families and Supporters,
Happy Friday! What a beautiful end to the week. We have had with some unseasonable sunshine and warmth. Many classes got outside to enjoy the weather this week. We also had students making cheese with help form some volunteers. This cheese was used on the pizza for lunch today and the leftover whey was incorporated into smoothies for breakfast for some extra added protein. Students in first grade, second grade, and our K/1 class took a virtual field trip to a Christmas Tree farm, and the K/1 class had a special visitor who did some nature activities with them. See below for more classroom updates.
On Tuesday (12/21), we will have our Winter Concert. As was shared last week, this concert will take place on zoom this year. The concert will include musical performances as well as story reading by students at all grade levels and 3rd and 4th grade students will introduce each performance. Please join us at 5:30 virtually to see all of the hard work the students have put into these performances. This live showing will be recorded and available for families who are not able to join at this time.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71186403120?pwd=UzBUbEdxTzZWVWhWa3RQRHpicmNXdz09
Meeting ID: 711 8640 3120
Passcode: K3V991
Messages for Families Family Survey:
Thank you to those of you who have already completed the survey. We have had more than half of our families share feedback with us. This feedback will be helpful as we plan for the remainder of the school year. If you have not taken the survey yet, please do so. We will keep it open over the weekend to give time for more responses. Please respond by the end of the day on Sunday. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YGYSSSN
A Note from the Nurse: If a child needs to sit out of PE or Recess we require they come in with a medical note. Please make sure that we are notified if they have to sit out and also notified of when they can participate again. COVID Vaccination Information: Now that there is a vaccine available for children ages 5- 11, some families are choosing to get their children immunized against the COVID-19 virus. This is not a required vaccine, however, it is important that we know if you are choosing to have your child vaccinated for contact tracing and quarantine decisions. Please send an email to Mrs. Leaf (leaf.carmer@truxtonacademy.org) and Mrs. DeHart (tdehart@homercentral.org) if you choose to have your child vaccinated after they receive each of the shots. You do not need to send in copies of the cards at this time, as Mrs. DeHart is able to look it up once she is notified. A Note from the Office: Please have your child check the lost and found for any of their missing belongings. There are many gloves and articles of winter gear that have been found. Nutrition Tip with Ms. Taylor: Feeding your kids vegetables can be difficult...especially if they're picky eaters, which most children are! If you've been looking for a way to squeeze more veggies into your children's diet, look no further! The secret is all about how you hide the vegetable(s) in the recipe to mask the taste of it. For example, the sweetness of fruit in a smoothie will mask the taste of spinach or kale that you've added in. Try this pineapple spinach smoothie recipe out for breakfast or a snack: 2/3 cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt (can be swapped for dairy free option), 1 banana, 1 cup fresh or frozen pineapple, 1 cup fresh baby spinach, 1/4-1/2 cup water/coconut water/milk( can be dairy free), and add ice to make the smoothie thicker. In our January menu you'll see Super Hero Pasta as one of the offered lunches. Super Hero Pasta has been a favorite in our house since my son was little, and went through a very long stage of not touching vegetables! I created my Super Hero Pasta recipe then, and it's been a hit ever since! I only use green vegetables in this recipe, and whichever ones I have on hand at the moment. You could use zucchini, spinach, and avocado, which is technically a fruit, but the smoothness is really necessary to bring the Super Hero sauce together. Simply pick your pasta and combine all green veggies together in a food processor with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper to create your own Super Hero pasta your family will love! WAYS TO HELP OUR SCHOOL:
3-4 STEAM Enrichment Program Dog Treat Fundraiser We have our presale link for our STEAM Team dog treat fundraiser. Students have worked hard to provide a delicious, natural and fun treat for our furry friends. Treats can be sent home with students or picked up at the school on Thursday, December 23. Please indicate in the comments which you prefer. Thank you!https://www.signupgenius.com/go/904084EA5A82DA2F85-dogtreat PTO Fundraiser: Treat your taste-buds and support the Truxton Academy Community at the same time! Hollenbeck’s Cider Mill has graciously partnered with the PTO on a Pie Sale Fundraiser from next Wednesday, 12/15 – Sunday, 12/19. Mention Truxton when you purchase any of their delicious pies during that period and TA will receive 10% to support our students and school. Hollenbeck’s encourages you to order ahead but will honor this deal on impromptu purchases as well. Email Erin with any questions at pto@truxtonacademy.org. Please see the attached flyer and spread the word. Food Drive: Volunteers are collecting food donations from now until Monday December 20th to give to students over the upcoming school break. If you would like to donate there is a list foods needed. Any additional questions please contact Courtney Harrington, parent, by email at nharrington687@gmail.com or (607)427-1108. Upcoming Dates: 12/21/21: Winter Concert 5:30 Live on Zoom Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71186403120?pwd=UzBUbEdxTzZWVWhWa3RQRHpicmNXdz09 Meeting ID: 711 8640 3120 Passcode: K3V991 12/24/21- 12/31/21: No School- Winter Holiday Break 1/3/22- School Resumes Updates from the classrooms: Ms. Elliott (K): This week our kindergarteners: * Were introduced to the beginning, middle, and end strategy when retelling a story * Learned 2 new sight words "My" and "Me" * Began to add and write addition number sentences * Learned who archeologists are and what they do Mrs. Francis (K/1): Ask you K/1 student about:*making their reading less choppy *solving subtraction problems in the game Build and Remove *all they know about Diwali (especially the amazing rangoli sand art videos we saw) and Ramadan *a virtual field trip to a Christmas tree farm (and how safe it was for Mrs. Francis!l *fun Winter activities with Mrs. Elaine *the good and not so good foods they tried in our taste test Ms. Smith (1st): Ask your first grader: *What the difference between a conifer and deciduous tree is *what did they learn about how Christmas trees are made *what is a non-fiction book *what are some new shapes they learned about *what is one thing they learned about solids, liquids, and gases Ms. Jess (2nd): Ask your Second Grader about...-making mozzarella cheese, -their virtual field lesson to Rocking Horse Farm in Jamesville -the lifecycle of a Christmas tree and what the life of Christmas tree farmer is like, -identifying your Christmas tree -3D shapes and their faces and vertices -what non-fiction books they read this week Ms. Madysen (3rd): Ask your third grader about...-learning in our outdoor classrooms all afternoon Thursday -how to play Capture 5 using a 100 chart -how researchers take notes -how nonfiction readers find the main and supporting details of a text -what ideas they contributed to our reestablished classroom rules and how they plan on following them. Ms. Sara/ Mrs. Hull (4th): Fourth graders continue to learn about environments and climate change this week through exploring non fiction texts and other resources. We switched gears in ELA to begin working on the mythological play King Midas as a way to collaborate with our friends learning from home. In math, we have been working on word problems involving multiplication and division. Students have been relating multiplication equations to division equations and using their knowledge of this relationship to solve word problems. Students in school had the opportunity to help out with baking treats for our dog treat fundraiser and helping to prepare our new composting system. Have a great weekend! Señora H (Spanish): In Spanish we have been learning and singing lots of songs about winter (el invierno) and snow (la nieve). Enjoy the songs with your children by using these links: Here is one about a "copo de nieve" or snowflake that the kiddos really liked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdJZV6333Ww Here is one from Rockalingua that they like to sing along to. K and 1 did a coloring page that goes along with this song: https://rockalingua.com/videos/winter-timbo-and-friends Here is another fun song that some of the students watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huz6P1srks8 Mr. C (Music and Enrichment Drama): In music and after school we spent the week preparing for Tuesday's concert. We can't wait to celebrate the holidays and share our winter concert performances with you! Mrs. Boyden (PE): This week in PE we worked on moving on a scooter by learning and practicing different ways to move and playing a variety of games to practice those ways and incorporate previous learned skills like throwing. On Thursday I turned the gym into scooter town where students had different stations (carwash, grocery store, bank & playground) but they first had to go to "work" to do some exercises to earn money to pay to play at the stations around town. Friday was our biweekly free day that students earned and they got to vote off their favorites game list the game we play. Mrs. Boyden (Makerspace): 3& 4 grade finished their first maker mat projects. We have been doing them for three weeks and students had free choice on what they chose to work on but they had to submit a maker plan for every project they wanted to complete. I have attached those sheets for you to see. K-2 has been working on Elephant & Piggie Challenges. This week we did "I Love My New Toy" where they had to draw a plan for a new toy for Piggie then create it out of play dough and share it with the class. Check out our facebook and instagram pages for pictures of our students' learning throughout the year: https://www.facebook.com/truxtonacademy Thank you for your continued support of our school family! Have a great weekend!
- Sara and the Truxton Academy Team