Hello Families and Supporters,
Happy Friday! This has been a great week at Truxton Academy, while at the same time it has also been a sad week in other parts of the country and a scary time for some parents. At Truxton Academy, we remain committed to reassuring that our students feel safe at school. One of the ways we do this is through continual work on community building within our classrooms and relationship building with students and families. Every student that walks in our doors is loved and valued for who they are and I thank our staff for that. While we have no reason to believe that anything like the tragic event in Uvalde, TX would happen here, an officer from the New York State Troopers came to visit the school and have a visible presence today. These troopers will be coming every couple of days for the next few weeks to schools all over the area and will be walking through our school as an extra precautionary measure. We thank them for their extra vigilance and wanted families to be aware in case your children mention seeing police at the school more frequently.
Commissioner Betty A. Rosa, from the New York State Education Department, sent out an email today with the following resources for families.
These resources can help children and their families cope with loss and grief in the aftermath of these tragedies:
Resources from the NYS Office of Mental Health for New Yorkers Impacted by the Buffalo Shooting
Tips for Teachers, Parents, and Caregivers from the National Association of School Psychologists
Resources from the Coalition to Support Grieving Students
NY Project Hope Website and Emotional Support Helpline: 1-844-863-9314
Resources for Coping with Mass Violence from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Here are a few additional resources for families:
Common Sense Media: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/articles/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-school-shootings Colorin Colorado (this site has updated information on talking to children to the most recent shootings): https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/15-tips-talking-children-about-school-violence Please reach out to the school if you or your child need anything during this time.
On another note, we have made great progress in our garden over the last 2 weeks! Students and teachers have enjoyed learning in the garden alongside parent volunteers and myself. During the time in the garden, students have also made other discoveries. The Kindergarten and 4th grade classes each found a toad when they were working in the garden. I also found a hatched robin's egg in the garden when I was working with the 4th graders. They all passed it around to make sure everyone got a chance to see it. I loved seeing the students work so hard and work together so well during the time I spent out there this week. All classes have done work in the garden this week and this work will continue. Parents, ask your children what their class has planted and ask them for updates as the plants continue to grow and the seeds start to sprout.
Messages for Families
Reminder- No School on Friday or Monday. We look forward to seeing all of our students back in school on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.
Outdoor Learning Preparation: Please remember to send your child with sunblock and bug spray every day as our classes are spending a lot of time outside.
New Staff Member:
This week, we officially welcomed Raina Barber to our team as our 3rd and 4th grade teaching assistant. Ms. Raina has been filling in as a substitute since Mr. Daniel left, but she started full time this week. Here is a little bit about her:
Hello all my name is Raina Barber and I am very excited to join the Truxton Academy family as the 3rd and 4th grade TA! I moved to Truxton in 2015 with my Husband Shaun. We have 3 kids Peyton (12), Nathan (12), and Sienna (6). My background is mostly in the healthcare field. I worked for many years with individuals with developmental disabilities but have always been active volunteering in my kids classes. In my free time I enjoy reading, travel, treasure hunting at auctions, and spending time with my family. I asked the 3rd grade class what they wanted to know about me so here are the answers. My favorite color is teal, I do have very close neighbors, Wilbur and Margaret, I enjoy talking with them. I have 1 dog named Jocco and 3 Hermit crabs, My favorite foods are pasta and raspberries. My favorite country is the United States, we have so many cool things right in our own backyard. If I had to pick outside of the US, I would probably say Scotland. I have 1 brother Ryan, 1 sister in law Melissa, a brand new niece Joanne, and 2 brothers in law. I am 39 years old. And last but not least my favorite toys when I was a kid were Barbies, but now I would have to say Legos.
We are so glad to have Ms. Raina join our team! Please welcome her if you see her.
From the Truxton Academy PTO -
Read-a-Fun Fundraiser: The PTO is also excited that we have started our 2022 Reading Raiser which will run from May 1 - May 31, 2022. We are extending the time for this fundraiser. Please have your children keep reading and reaching out for sponsors. We are really excited to promote reading and help our school raise the necessary money for our ongoing needs. Thank you so much for your support! Keep reading kiddos!
Donations Needed: We need more Lysol Spray cans to help sanitize our PE equipment. If you can donate any, please send them in. ~Empty plastic water bottle donations are needed for a field day activity. ~3rd & 4th grade are looking for smores (gram crackers, marshmallows and chocolate) donations for our end of year Makerspace Project. Please send these donations in with your child or feel free to drop them in the office for Mrs. Boyden. Upcoming Dates- Check out our calendar of events here: https://www.truxtonacademy.org/calendar-of-events 5/26, 5:30 PM- STEM in PE Night, 5:30 5/27- NO SCHOOL 5/30- Memorial Day- NO SCHOOL 6/13- Board of Trustees Annual Meeting Board Meetings are held in person at Truxton Academy Charter School in Room 105. You can also join via Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/91567143586?pwd=cGM3bjZlemxGTGVtUmMwRk5WdG5iQT09 Meeting ID: 915 6714 3586 Passcode: 9ia1fw Updates from the classrooms from week of 5/16 and 5/23: Miss Elliott (K): Week of 5/16- This week in Kindergarten we: *Created lost pet flyers to practice our writing skills *Used our five senses to identify what was in our mystery cups *Practiced reading CVC words while reading "Frank's Ice Pops" *Learned how to solve addition and subtraction word problems on our own using pictures or fingers *Practiced writing sentences by using the sight words we know *Celebrated a friend's special day :) Week of 5/23- This week in Kindergarten we: *Completed the reading and math MAP assessments *Planted spinach, chard, kale and lettuce in our garden *Designed our bed with shapes using sticks and rocks *Celebrated 2 special birthdays (: *Practiced reading 'Ella Sang Back' and 'Lightning Ben' with friends *Began learning how to count to 100 by 5's *Reviewed our letter sounds and lowercase letter recognition *Practiced adding and subtracting with word problems Mrs. Francis (K/1): Week of 5/16- This week in K/1 we:*learned what sound y makes when it's at the end of a word (long i, long e) *learned all about wolves and rocked our wolf quiz! *read about baby farm animals and then took out the listening station and enjoyed fun farm songs. *learned about analog and digital clocks, the parts of a clock, and how to tell time to the hour and the half hour on analog clocks and how to read digital clocks *practiced identifying true and false number sentences *continued working on our nonfiction writing pieces *took apart a piece of burlap and learned about the different threads (weft and warp) *learned about where different fabrics come from (plants, animals, even oil!) *built 3D shapes using playdough and toothpicks and got started our sketches for our playgrounds we we build using the different 3D shapes Week of 5/23- It was a busy but fun week in K/1! This week we: *learned about Meerkats (How do meerkats celebrate Christmas? With Sandy Claws!) *celebrated National Otter Day with fun activities created by our classroom otter aficionado! *finished our Nonfiction unit and presented our writing pieces to our class *played Penny Jar to find the unknown change between a starting number and an ending number (If we start at 17 and end at 9 what did we do? Subtract 8) *saw what happened when different fabrics get wet (terry cloth, satin, and nylon) *released our class butterflies with Mrs. Elaine *worked on our 3D playgrounds *did our math MAP test on the computers *learned about Memorial Day *planted potatoes in the garden Miss Smith (1st): Week of 5/16- This week in first grade we: -reviewed our vowel pairs! -created our own animal that lives in the ocean! -wrote our first paragraph about that ocean animal! -worked on writing complete sentences. -read, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick! -spent a gorgeous morning outside with Ms. Jaime planting onions! -started to learn multiplication and division without even realizing it. -practiced our first grade counting strategies! -read Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day! Week of 5/23- This week in 1st grade we: -read, ‘Hey Little Ant’, and had a good discussion on how we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. -learned about fractions being a part out of a whole. Make a pizza for your kids and ask what fraction of the pizza has your favorite topping! Ask your students what other name 1/2 has. -reviewed the names of shapes and construction of shapes outside in the warm weather! -reviewed solving problems with missing addends outside in the warm weather! -read, ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ and reviewed how to paraphrase feelings. -spent a lot of time doing assessments this week! Students are doing great and working so hard!! -finished our paragraphs on our creatures of the ocean! Ask your student what animal they created and what their adaptations are, where their shelter is, and what zone of the ocean their animal lives in. -watched some documentaries on creatures of the deep! Ms. Jess (2nd): Week of 5/16- Ask your Second Grader about… -planting sunflowers in our garden, -planting a new flower garden with Miss Bella, -poetry with Miss Bella, -reading about jellyfish and octopi, -writing an opinion writing piece about if jellyfish or octopi are trickier, -playing the math game Plus or Minus 10 and 100, -comparing 3 digit numbers, -adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers, -the fle and gle spelling rule, -eating lunch outside, -updates on our mealworms, -and an update on our class calf Penny! Week of 5/23- Ask your Second Grader about... -learning about solitary bees such as mason bees and leaf cutter bees, -why solitary bees do not sting like social bees (honey bees) do, -what we will be building to help sustain the solitary bee population to keep more pollinators around, -planting root vegetables, radishes, carrots and turnips in our school garden, -what they learned about Memorial Day, -what they learned about 3rd grade from the 3rd graders, -taking the math and reading MAP assessments, -their blanket fort reward party! Miss Madysen (3rd): Week of 5/16- Ask your third grader… -what volume is and how we measure it, -what mass is and how we measure it, -how to solve multi-step word problems including multiplication, addition and subtraction, -how to find elapsed time using addition and subtraction, -how to classify text structures using five different categories (description, order & sequence, compare & contrast, -how to be a fact finder by reading short, nonfiction passages, -what weather is, how we forecast it, and the different tools used to predict the weather, -what stage they are at with their endangered species writing (graphic organizer, first draft, second draft, final copy) -about our first 4 special days of the alphabet countdown to the last day of school! Week of 5/23- Ask your third grader about:-planning two experiments and getting to test one of them, -discussing and observing the status of the pumpkins and squashes we planted a few weeks ago, -talking to second graders about what to expect in 3rd grade, -completing the spring reading and math MAP assessments, -hat day and having another chance at participating in an Hour of Code, -who they are working with to plan a trip to 3 National Parks and the parks they plan on visiting, -listening to the first two episodes of our new podcast, Six Minutes. Ms. Chelsea (4th): Week of 5/16- Ask your 4th grader about: - multiplying unit fractions by whole numbers - spelling rules for pluralizing words that end in "f" (+ves) or "ss" & "ch" (+es) - what a simile is, and ask them to give you an example! - adding and subtracting mixed numbers - ways to collect and organize data about the garden to help make it even better for next year (thanks to Ms. Jamie!) - conflict, and the different ways it shows up in literature (person vs. person, person vs. self, person vs. beast/nature, etc..) - what a terminal is, and how they used that knowledge to light a bulb using wires and batteries - what their first memory is - the different forms of energy (electrical, mechanical, thermal, light, chemical, and sound) - proofreading marks, what they look like and which is their favorite to use Week of 5/23- Ask your 4th grader about: - Prepositions (connects a noun to a sentence and specifies position) and prepositional phrases (a preposition and its object) - Irregular plural words (feet, moose, mice, etc..) - Compound sentences- how to combine two simple sentences (with a , + conjunction) - How to start a story- what makes an engaging lead? - Place value to hundredths and rounding! - Subtracting with zeros- borrowing only one place to the left. - Math Jeopardy! - What a conversion factor is (the number we multiply or divide by when converting measurements, smaller to larger or larger to smaller units) - Planting melons, marigolds, cover crops, and an assortment of other plants in the garden with Ms. Sara. - Our visit with Ms. Priscilla from Phillips Free Library. She read some of our book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, with us and led a discussion about an important chapter. We asked, "What happens when you think something is impossible? How does it affect how we act? Señora H (Spanish): Weeks of 5/16 and 5/23- In Spanish we reviewed food, pets, numbers and colors. We also enjoyed learning the song "La Vaca Lola".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNLjdPI9zdE The students really love the Rockalingua videos and games. They can log in from home if they would like. There is a lot of free content, but they have access to much more if they log in. Rockalingua.com Username: Truxton Password: 12345 The school's subscription will last through the summer, so this is a great way for the students to learn and stay entertained at the same time. Mrs. Boyden (PE): Week of 5/16- In PE this week we started our frisbee unit! It's a fun, easy activity to play at home, with many game options, ask your child about all the games we played this week with a frisbee! Week of 5/23- This week in PE we had our fitness and health unit! 3rd and 4th graders did the fitnessgram test and improved so much since the beginning of the year!! K-2 learned how to use the playground for exercise too! Mrs. Boyden (Makerspace): Week of 5/16- In Makerspace this week 2-4 finished up their makermat projects and K & 1 learned about the moon cycle and did some moon cycle activities. They brought home a moon cycle journal where they can log each night what phase the moon is in at what time and date to see the phases. Week of 5/23- This week in Makerspace 3rd & 4th grade began our end of the year project making an oven to cook a s'more! K-2 began making cow masks for the Dairy Parade! 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! Enjoy the long weekend for Memorial Day!
- Sara and the Truxton Academy Team