Dear Students and Families,
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and had a chance to rest, relax and spend time with friends and families. It’s been awhile since I’ve updated you so please excuse this lengthy email!
First, I’d like to congratulate the Fourth and Fifth grade classes on their accomplishments in the Top Cut Beef Contest which was sponsored by the New York Beef Council and NY Ag in the Classroom. Fifth grade won 1st and 2nd place and fourth grade won 3rd place for their beef recipes and presentations. Speaking of NY Ag in the Classroom: First grade students placed 3rd in the Mac-n-cheese contest with their recipe called Worms in dirt. From what I understand it was a rendition of chocolate mac-n-cheese made with real chocolate cheese!
A special thanks to Mrs. Boyden, our PE teacher, for researching a new program that she’s bringing here on February 10, 2023. As you may know, Mrs. Boyden is originally from Buffalo and her favorite sport is hockey. As part of her hockey unit, she has arranged for the Buffalo Sabres to come here to teach grades 1-5 in hockey. Kindergarten will have some special time with the Buffalo Sabres too! As part of their visit, they will be providing students with t-shirts and a ticket to attend a Sabre’s Hockey Game! In addition, they will be providing us with some hockey equipment to be added to our PE inventory!
If you have not signed up for Class DOJO with your teacher, please do so. Class DOJO along with our email system will be the way we are reaching out to families in the case of an emergency such as an early closing due to weather or lockdown/lockout situations.
Speaking of weather! We have already used 2 of our 3 snow days this year. Please know that if we need additional days they will be used, in order, as follows:
January 30, 2023
March 20, 2023
April 3-7, 2023
Finally, if you are interested in helping your child to read from home and have the ability to attend this class, I highly recommend this to you: https://www.thereadingleague.org/parent-courses/
Upcoming Dates
1/9 Coffee with Kerryanne at 10AM and 5:30PM
1/9 Board of Trustees Meeting -7pm - Open to the Public
1/16 No School-Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
1/20 December Student of the Month Celebration and Breakfast
1/27 January Student of the Month Celebration and Breakfast
1/30 No School for Students-Professional Development Day for Teachers
Updates for the Classrooms:
Kindergarten
This week in kindergarten we:
*Created and designed beautiful wind instruments while learning how various objects can make different sounds
*Learned what a Native American is and how they use different parts of the buffalo to live (Ask your kiddo which part of the buffalo gets wasted!)
*Discussed different combinations to make 6,7, and 8 while practicing addition and subtraction
*Read, spelled and wrote chains of one syllable words in which one sound is added, substituted, or omitted
*Collaborated with the 5th graders - Together we read the stories they made for us and created an illustration of our favorite part :)
First Grade-(Before Christmas update)
This week in first grade we:
-WON 3rd PLACE IN THE MAC AND CHEESE CONTEST!
-learned about Diwali and Rangoli
-learned about Hanukkah and how to play dreidel
-had Ms. Smith make a KWL chart about Christmas! Ms. Smith learned so much from our first graders! Thank you for being wonderful teachers!
-watched a fifth grade volleyball tournament against the teachers! Way to go fifth grade!
-read the book, 'The Mitten'
-watched the read aloud, "Over and Under the Snow"
-made Christmas arts and craft projects with Ms. Laurie!
-made our own musical instruments with Mrs. Carr!
-watched a movie, "Polar Express" with the whole school
-talked about the winter solstice and the beginning of winter by reading, "The shortest day"
Second Grade
Ask your Second Grader about...
-their New Year's goals for school and home,
-what non-fiction topics they have read about this week,
-how paying attention to details, asking questions and help them learn new things from non-fiction books,
-how they figure out what their non-fiction books are teaching them,
-being hired by Sticker Sally to work at our new Sticker Store in math,
-how their stickers are related to tens and ones,
-writing about their non-fiction books,
-what life cycle stages we can observe with our mealworms right now,
-what life cycle stage our brook trout are in,
-our new character trait of the month.
Third Grade
Ask your 3rd Grader about:
*the Doubling Rule in spelling and when to apply it (also called the 1-1-1 Rule)
*their SMART goal for school and what they are going to do to meet their goal
*what expository writing is and what it is meant to do
*their topic for their first expository writing piece
*the relationship between division and multiplication
*the acronym CUBES and how we apply it to help us solve math word problems
*Rocky the owl (and their first guided attempt at writing a paragraph telling about Rocky)
*our new science unit on the human body and what Mr. Bones is teaching us
***how we are going to push ourselves to be OUR best selves by showing effort and focus throughout our day- we gotta show what we know!
Fourth Grade
The fourth-grade had a relaxing holiday break and were back to school ready to learn about scientist, inventor and Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin. Students will continue to review multiplication and division skills and have started a unit on standard and metric measurement.The class continues to study the Colonial period of New York State. Each student has chosen a role as a colonial tradesman, will research their trade, and prepare detailed reports on their crafts for presentation. For science the students have researched prehistoric creatures and environments and are finishing up PowerPoint slide presentations to share their information with their classmates.
Fifth Grade
This week in 5th Grade:
- Introduced new vocabulary: Antonyms, homographs, homonyms, homophones, multiple meaning words, and especially synonyms, in addition to vocabulary in Ch 1-3 of The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street ( I.e. Ch 1: rumbled, indignation, lease, banister, macaron, racket, inaccurate, skeptical, gnawing, contemplating). Revisiting "in-" and "un-" word parts/meanings.
- Learned about digital tools for understanding and learning new words- Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com.
- Reviewed phonemic spelling and syllabication.
- Read chapters 1-3 of our new book, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, with our book clubs before answering comprehension questions about the text.
- While reading, we practiced reading strategies like Monitoring for Understanding and Asking/answering questions within and about the text.
- A small group investigated and then introduced mind mapping/creating a graphic organizer as a form of helping to visualize relationships/ideas in a story. They will share what they did and learned with their peers, and will use it as a tool for comprehension moving forward.
- Edited our stories to read to our Kindergarten buddies, who listened and helped create illustrations for the final published book that will live in our classroom library!
- In math, we've been working on comparing and ordering fractions by using 1) math reasoning and 2) equivalent fractions. Students learned that when comparing two fractions, they can easily figure out which is larger or smaller if the numerator or the denominator is the same.
- To find equivalent fractions, students practiced finding a common multiple to use as a common denominator, setting up equations to generate equivalent fractions with like denominators, and then using the numerators to compare the two.
- Played Blooket, Gimkit, and a new favorite: Kahoot!
- Introduced our new class pet- a Crested Gecko!- via pictures. He will be joining us in class on Monday! :)
PE/STEM
This week in PE we started our hockey unit in all grades!
We also received some exciting news that Mrs.Boyden is partnering with the Buffalo Sabres Association ‘Student of the Game’ and having them come here to teach some hockey and gift us some equipment on February 10th!
“I am so excited to have Buffalo Hockey come be a part of my PE program for Truxton! I am from Buffalo and love my Buffalo Teams, it’s one of the things I miss most about being home so to have it come here really does mean a lot to me to share a piece of my hometown with my students! I can’t wait!” -Mrs.Boyden
In STEM
K&1 - Did a story STEM activity with Rosie Revere Engineer!
2&3 - Did a New Year Challenge where they had to turn 2023 into something!
4&5 - Did some fun coding activities!
Be sure to ask them all about it!
Rural Life Lab
In rural life lab, we are starting to learn about plants and animals that produce fibers. While 4th grade starts a tower of herbs for the cafeteria, 3rd grade has been harvesting lettuce from theirs. Salad bar win! Meanwhile, the trout eggs have finished hatching and fry are swimming in the tank within easy view. Ask your kiddo if they can estimate how many trout are in the aquarium.
Spanish
In Spanish we learned songs about weather and seasons. We read a book about a bear who likes to sleep. In 4th and 5th grade we also read a book about a curious mouse named Pablito.
Notes from New York Charter
As members of the charter school community, we know how critically important our schools are to the families and 160,000 children served across the state. With the start of the legislative session in Albany right around the corner, now is the time for us to act. Our elected officials need to keep our schools as a priority as they work on new legislation and the 2023-24 state budget. Please take a few moments to sign a letter to Gov. Hochul expressing your support of our charter schools. There are two letters available via the link below: one from families and one from charter schools & supporters. Please select the letter that most applies to you. https://email.nycharters.net/e3t/Ctc/5E+113/d13yQw04/VWfvDJ2gygGvW1VX8g499xbHjW6WXg814VlRH4N6wcHqX2-MK_V1-WJV7CgBMCW4mJrv08f6bMsW8ljqf55yZLX4W4VkbVc4_5TrZF46yQkNF5hCW34-89Y72xLgPW5z90lW5ZFJmKW39d2np90p9kdW7Nc7513h6zZWW8dgx346T9YKQW1NMrPj6Q8X8MW8JJKKv44h5bnW5kLDb086qtQGW20J_fN6rJPjrVCm0_d8sPsKYV3YP4x5gpQCDW4x2HMw4cmcSLW7hxg0468YvZ8W76Y3_01TNLfDW7TzwMm5f6_SJW7w8r3b2QxXF8W5cRXRz1Q3TYTW743rVS8phcyWW1sSkmD4zwXYtVLr8Gd58z2yKW2Jpb4Q93GVYBVDMbC28jCZxZ32My1 Our goal is to send 1,000 letters by January 17th. The Association and Parent Council are also launching a social media campaign (on Twitter and Facebook). Please follow us and retweet/repost: NYCSA Facebook
The charter community’s voice matters, and it’s up to us to ensure that we are NOT forgotten! Happy New Year and thank you on behalf of the entire New York State charter community for taking the time to support great schools for all children.
Best,
Yomika S. Bennett
Executive Director
ybennett@nycharters.net
(518) 218-6816
Nycharters.net
Have a wonderful, safe and healthy weekend!
Mrs. S.
Kerryanne Schenck
Head of School
Truxton Academy Charter School
pronouns: she, her, hersOffice: (607) 842-6252 Ext. 109
Cell: (607) 218-2268