Hello Families and Supporters,
Happy Friday and Happy Snow Day! We hope you are all staying safe and enjoying the deluge of snow that we have gotten yesterday and overnight. We hope all the kiddos get outside for some snow fun today!
I have been out sick much of this week and want to send a huge thank you to the rest of our school staff for keeping things running in my absence. Thank you as well, to the volunteers who filled in to help out in the main office when Leaf had to be out 2 days this week at the same time as me.
Our Board of Trustees has many committees and welcomes parents to join those committees. One of those committees is the Rural Life Lab Committee and this year, we have had a few parents take interest in and join this committee to help us build a rigorous agriculture curriculum. Myself, Mrs. Hull, and the instructional staff are working with this committee on continuing to grow our curriculum for agricultural learning activities One aspect that we are putting into play immediately is the idea of having a Monthly Agriculture Theme for the rest of this year.
February is Black History Month and as such, The Rural Life Lab Committee has chosen for our Monthly Agricultural Theme to be Black Agricultural History. In various classes, we will be learning about the contributions made to agriculture by Black Americans. We will learn about people like George Washington Carver, who did work growing peanuts and soybeans and taught us the importance of crop rotation, Benjamin Banneker, whose work with weather and astronomy has provider farmers important information that impact crop growth, and George Crum, who invented one of today's most popular foods, the potato chip! If you want to read about some of these people and others to learn for yourself, you can check out these websites:
https://www.ffa.org/diversity-inclusion/black-history-month-innovators-in-agriculture/
https://blog.aghires.com/black-history-month-5-agricultural-innovators
Did you know that our modern concept of the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs that help some of our local farms as well as help some of us get local produce, started in the 1960's and was the brainstorm of a Black man, Dr. Booker T. Whatley? Here are a couple of resources to learn about him and this contribution: https://www.oneearth.org/csas-and-regenerative-agricultures-ties-to-black-history/
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
Nutrition Tip with Ms. Taylor:
A snowy weekend ahead calls for a healthy cookie to keep you and your family warm and nourished. This oatmeal raisin cookie recipe is sure to please and low in sugar too! Try it out with your kiddos and let me know what you think! Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Servings: 12 cookies Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Ingredients -3 large, ripe bananas -1/2 cup nut or seed butter of your choice -1 tsp vanilla extract -2 cups rolled oats -1/2 cup raisins Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. In a large bowl, add the bananas mashed, nut/seed butter, and vanilla extract. Mix well. 3. Add the oats to a blender to coarsely ground for 8-10 seconds. 4. Add oats to the banana mixture and mix well. Fold in the raisins. 5. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, scoop cookies onto the baking sheet and flatten slightly. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. *Can be stored on the counter for up to 3 days, then should be refrigerated.
Messages for Families Report Cards:
The report cards for the second marking period were sent home electronically or in paper copy yesterday and today. If your child was in school yesterday and you did not receive a report card via either method, please reach out to your child's teacher. If your child was absent yesterday and you did not receive their report card via either method, you should receive it when they return to school next week. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions about the content of their report cards.
New 4th Grade Teacher:
We are pleased to welcome our new 4th grade teacher who will be starting on Monday. You can read a bit about Ms. Chelsea below:
Chelsea Lembo (Ms. Chelsea) is an experienced educator with a joint degree in Elementary Education and Creative Arts in Learning from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She was a 5th Grade Teacher and the Lead Science Teacher for the Elementary Schools at West Intermediate School in Wilmington, MA before moving home to Central New York in 2018. Chelsea moved to Boston in 2004 to study theater at Emerson College. Since returning, Chelsea worked as part of the educational department for a local arts non-profit and theater as a curriculum writer, coordinator of educational programming, and at times camp/class teacher. She started a small educational business where she engages young people with new learning and hobbies through geocaching, table-top roleplaying, crafting, and other creative outlets. In addition to teaching, Chelsea's passions include the outdoors, spending time with her dog Harvey, dance, and theater. She teaches theater camps in the summer with organizations like LeMoyne College and Marcellus Parks and Rec. Chelsea is very excited to be your child's teacher for the remainder of the school year and is eager to get to know them as a class and individually.
Winter School Closures:
In the case of school closure due to inclement weather, we will post on Spectrum (https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/weather/closings) when our school is closed. For the most part if Homer Central Schools are closed, we will be too since we fall within their district's geographical boundaries, but there may come a time when we need to close and they do not. If your local district of residence is closed, there will be no bus transportation provided for your child on that day. If we are still open and it is safe for you to transport them, please do. If it is unsafe or you are unable to transport them, please keep them home. It will be an excused absence
Remote Learning Preparations:
Should we have an abundance of snow days this winter, we may choose to make some snow days remote learning days. Information will be sent out via email if this is the case. All teachers are preparing for the possibility of us having to go remote either due to an abundance or snow days or due to COVID quarantines. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you do not receive information about how to access their google classroom.
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, if you choose to have your child vaccinated, please send an email to Mrs. Leaf (leaf.carmer@truxtonacademy.org) and Mrs. DeHart (tdehart@homercentral.org) 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.
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. Upcoming Dates: 1/31- 2/11- NWEA MAP Growth Winter Testing- All grade levels 2/4- Report cards sent home 2/14- Board of Trustees Meeting 7PM- In-person and on zoom To join via Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/91567143586?pwd=cGM3bjZlemxGTGVtUmMwRk5WdG5iQT09 Meeting ID: 915 6714 3586 Passcode: 9ia1fw 2/17- PTO Meeting 5:30 PM 2/21- 2/25- Mid-Winter Recess: NO SCHOOL 3/12- Open House 10AM- 12PM (please see attached flyer and share with interested potential families) Updates from the classrooms: Ms. Elliott (K): This week in Kindergarten we: *Finished learning how to write all of our uppercase letters *Went on a scavenger hunt to search for beginning letter sounds *Reviewed different kinds of emotions and how we could express our feelings to one another *Learned all about Groundhog's Day *Celebrated two awesome birthdays and did fun activities :) Mrs. Francis (K/1): This week in K/1 we:*continued to work with digraphs and practiced writing words (by listening to the sounds they hear). *learned the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts and read several non-fiction texts. *counted objects in Mystery Bags and saw how necessary double checking is for accuracy. *worked on getting more words on our persuasive writing piece. Some students are at the editing and final copy stage. *started our unit on wood and learned about natural vs. man-made woods and compared and contrasted several wood samples. *decided on encouraging positive hallway behavior as the driving focus of our PBL project on how we as a class can help our school be a better and safer place. Ms. Smith (1st): This week in first grade: *We have been learning that good readers do not give up when they reach tricky words! They use all the strategies in their toolbox and persevere!*We learned about the digraph TH! TH makes two sounds: the TH sound as in this and TH as in think. *We made our third H brother, Thinking Theo! *We learned about the power of choice and how we are responsible for making our own choices. *We have been doing very fun experiments which help us learn how to fight germs using a combination of soap AND water. Ask your students about the experiments they did! *We have been practicing our writing by writing How to Stories. This week we wrote about how to make a sandwich! Ms. Jess (2nd): Ask your Second Grader about...-their grow tower sprouts -our new classroom library books -counting coins -how to celebrate the Lunar New Year -Groundhog's Day and how they feel about 6 more weeks of winter - Elizabeth Blackwell and her struggles as the first woman doctor Ms. Madysen (3rd): This week in third grade we:-finished up our addition and subtraction unit in math -looked at the three ways to spell words that have the "f" sound (ph, gh, f) -analyzed the cover of our latest Storyworks Magazine -took a scavenger hunt through our new Storyworks Magazine -finished our opinion pieces about Balto and Togo -began letter writing and wrote our first draft to our Pen Pals in Atlanta, GA -began our geography unit by looking at the seven continents and oceans. Have a great weekend! Ms. Sara/ Mrs. Hull (4th): Thanks to Mrs. hull for holding down the fort in 4th grade while Ms. Sara was out sick. Fourth graders are working hard this week to complete winter assessments and still finding time to learn some pretty cool stuff. Our exploration of fractions continues along with a new exploration of extraterrestrial life in the universe. Ask your fourth grader what type of life most scientists expect to find in outer space. We are looking forward to getting to know our new teacher starting next week. Señora H (Spanish): In Spanish, we learned the words arriba (up) and abajo (down). Everyone also enjoyed learning a fun song about la marmota (the groundhog)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IORSE9xy5L0 Mrs. Boyden (PE): This week in PE we have been learning and practicing basketball skills! Mrs. Boyden (Makerspace): This week in Makerspace we started to prepare for an upcoming project with Mr. Sutton in the community center Makerspace to laser engrave our names in our own handwriting into pieces of wood! Check out our facebook and instagram pages for pictures of our students' learning throughout the year: https://www.facebook.com/truxtonacademy
- Sara and the Truxton Academy Team