Hello Families and Supporters,
Happy Friday! What an awesomely busy week we had here at Truxton Academy! We celebrated Valentine's Day, celebrated our 100th Day of School, and got to make potato chips in our cooking lessons with Ms. Taylor. I got to see our second graders celebrating a big accomplishment with the parachute today in PE class. They worked together as a team to pop balls off the parachute all the way up to the ceiling and were successful. Hearing their joy was so heartwarming!
We are off from school next week for Mid-Winter Recess. Students will return on 2/28. We wish all of our students and families a restful break and look forward to us all returning refreshed and renewed.
Cooking with Ms. Taylor:
This week the kids had their monthly in-school kitchen field trip, and it was a tasty one! Homemade potato chips were on the menu, and they listened to a story about how potato chips were invented. Ask your kids about the very fussy customer in the book! We also learned that the inventor of potato chips, George Crum, made the first potato chips in a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, NY. If you're interested in the book it's called Mr. Crum's Potato Predicament by Anna Renaud & Felicita Sala. If you'd like to make your own potato chips, here's how: Slice potatoes very thin, heat up oil in a deep frying pan, and immerse the sliced potatoes until crispy on both sides. Remove from the oil to let them cool down and set on paper towels to soak some of the oil up. Before you devour them, throw them in a bowl and toss with salt!
We are Hiring:
We currently have openings for the following positions:
- Teaching Assistant
- Social Emotional Specialist (Social Worker or Social Emotional and Academic Intervention Teacher)
- Substitute Teachers
- Teacher of the Arts
All positions are posted on indeed.com.
If you know anyone who is interested, please ask them to send a resume and cover letter or letter of interest to sara.petitmcclure@truxtonacademy.org
Messages for Families
Erin's Law:
Erin's Law is a law that went into effect last year. This law, intended to keep children safe and protected, requires that schools provide lessons which teach students about child abuse, bullying, and internet safety. We have partnered with the Cortland Child Advocacy Center for these lessons. This week, one of their staff members came in to do the first lesson with the students. There will be a follow up lesson in March. Please see the attached letter with some information about the lessons.
Note from the Main Office:
1) Thank you to those who have returned paperwork for this upcoming school year. If you haven't yet, please return the 2022-2023 school year paperwork as soon as possible. As a reminder, the transportation request is due no later than April 1, 2022 in order to have local district transportation for your student(s). Please email Mrs. Leaf (leaf.carmer@truxtonacademy.org) with any questions.
2) Please have your child check the lost and found for missing items. We have several mittens and gloves missing their pairs!
At-Home COVID Testing Kits:
We received more at home testing kits today. If your family would like a testing kit, please reach out to Mrs. Leaf if you'd like to receive one. Families who have already received some, may reach out for additional ones as long as supplies last.
Ways to Help Our School
Sign up for and use Amazon Smile with Truxton Academy as your chosen charity
Amazon Smile is a division of amazon that donates a portion of sales from many items to a variety of charities and nonprofits. Truxton Academy is one of those nonprofits. If you are purchasing items from amazon, please go to https://smile.amazon.com/ and choose Truxton Academy as your charity of choice. Purchases you are making anyway will benefit our school.
Clothing Donations:
We are in need of extra clothes for our older kids who have spills or get clothes wet at recess. Our closet of borrowable clothes is in need of pants in size 8, 10, and 12 for both boys and girls.
Help up Build our Classroom Libraries:
Here is a wishlist of books for each classroom. You can buy the books through this website or elsewhere. Thriftbooks has used books and sometimes that is a money saving option. Check out the books wanted for your child's classroom or any classroom:
Kindergarten: https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/2beb98c2e6c22338/
First Grade: https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/06f1868ff2b6582a/
Second Grade: https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/8c00ddcdf9f8956c/
Third Grade: https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/21f8fdfdb6f0eed1/
Fourth Grade: https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/beda8187236a301d/
Spanish: https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/66e046cb2e91fcc0/
Makerspace: https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/af7a8e360eb91d94/
Fifth Grade: https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/2ec16518e195dde8/
Upcoming Dates:
2/21- 2/25- Mid-Winter Recess: NO SCHOOL
3/12- Open House 10AM- 12PM
Updates from the classrooms:
Ms. Elliott (K):
This week in kindergarten we:
*Celebrated Valentine's Day and our 100th day of school
*Learned about 3-D shapes with geometric solids
*Used interactive writing to create a new page for the books we've been reading
*Had a kitchen field trip and made homemade potato chips with Ms. Taylor
*Learned about Barack Obama, Jackie Robinson, and Ruby Bridges
Mrs. Francis (K/1):
Ask you K/1 kiddo about:*our Valentine's Day/100th Day celebrations
*what sound ph says
*George Washington Carver, Barack Obama, and Ruby Bridges
*math games 5 in a row, using >, <, = to compare numbers
*sinking a raft by adding "passengers"
*planting in the grow tower
Have a wonderful Mid-Winter Break!!!
Ms. Smith (1st):
This week our first graders: *celebrated Valentine's day with a small Valentines day party and card exchange!
*celebrated our 100th day of school by making a 100 link chain and 100 cheerio necklace!
*had a read aloud about potato chips and were able to cook and try their own potato chips with Ms. Taylor!
*learned about the four seasons in a year and listened to James Taylor, You've Got A Friend In Me, so many times that we are never going to forget the order of the seasons!
*learned that PH says 'f''
*learned a new Math game which helps us to practice our 'counting on' skills.
*learned how to chunk parts of big words and then crash them together.
Ms. Jess (2nd):
Ask your Second Grader about...-their Valentine's and 100th Day of School celebrations,
-their farm web book they are working on,
-playing Make 100,
-cooking with Ms. Taylor in the cafeteria,
-what they did for Random Act of Kindness day,
-and their rock, paper, scissor competition!
Enjoy the break!
Ms. Madysen (3rd):
Ask your third grader about...-reading a Valentine's Day biography about Milton S. Hershey or "The Man Behind the Kiss"
-writing about what we have been told 100 times for the 100th day of third grade
-the prefixes mis-, in-, non-, pre- and what they mean when they are added to the root of a word
-how to represent equivalent fractions on a number line using 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/3, and 1/6
-how to measure using inches to the nearest 1/4 inch
-reading a map and locating specific countries, the continents and oceans
-what the world would be like if everyone did 1 kind thing.
Have a great mid-winter break and get outside!
Ms. Chelsea (4th):
Ask your 4th grader about:
- Choosing "Just Right" books- Paragraph structure with the hamburger model
- Rounding, comparing, and ways to represent numbers (word form, expanded form, standard form)
- Growth Mindset mini movies
- Math center games
- Fun Friday and Earning Gems!
Señora H (Spanish):
In Spanish, we enjoyed singing and counting to 100 and working with numbers. We also reviewed opposites and how to talk about things I like, me gusta, and I don't like, no me gusta. Here is a fun video that gets the kids moving and counting in Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF717ys9Ask
Mrs. Boyden (PE):
This week in PE we enjoyed some valentines games on Monday and learned about the Winter Olympics Tuesday-Thursday, we looked at the globe and saw how far away Beijing is and that is where they are when we are watching them on TV. We played speed skating, hockey, luge, skeleton and curling! On Friday we had a free choice day that students have earned over the course of the last three weeks of hard work! Check out mrs.boyden_pe on instagram to see photos of all our PE fun!
Mrs. Boyden (Makerspace):
In makerspace this week we did a valentines steam challenge, where students worked in a group and received 15 pieces of different size strips of paper and were given the directions to make hearts out the strips and create a free standing structure! They did amazing!
Check out our facebook and instagram pages for pictures of our students' learning throughout the year: https://www.facebook.com/truxtonacademy
Thank you as always for your support of our students and our school family. Have a wonderful week off from school for our mid-winter break!
- Sara and the Truxton Academy Team