SOLWAY TIGER’S TOP NEWS SOLWAY'S PRINCIPAL'S CORNER Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled for March 5 and March 6 after school and March 7 (7:35-4:20). Therefore, there will be no school for students on March 7 and 8. You should have received information in the Tuesday packets regarding your conference schedules. We hope that all of you can make it at the scheduled times. This is an important opportunity for school staff to share information about your child’s educational program. You will be able to see the learning process that is taking place at school and share ideas about what is best for your child. Daylights Savings Time is March 10. Remember to spring your clock ahead an hour. As the temperatures warm up and the snow starts to melt, please keep in mind that students are outside for up to a half an hour before school and at recess. It continues to be cold when they are outside for these extended periods. The still need warm coats, hats, gloves, and boots. We continue to have snow in the playground area and as it melts, it gets very muddy in areas. Please be sure that students are dressed appropriately. If you make purchases online, please consider making your purchase through the SchoolStore.com website and select Solway School. The site includes purchases from Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Old Navy and many other popular stores. Solway receives a certain percentage of sales from these retailers. MCA and MAP testing will be coming up in April and May. It is an opportunity for students to demonstrate what they have learned and how they have grown academically. Until testing time arrives, we will be working very hard to prepare students. Factors that can be most beneficial and parents can help with is ensuring good attendance and practicing at home. Have a great month!!! Tami MRS. WRIGHT’S & MS. KELLER’S KINDERGARTEN Hello Kindergarten families, Can you believe it’s already March? This school year is whizzing by! We have come such a long way from the beginning of the year, and we are so excited to share all of our growth with you at our Spring conferences this week. In February we talked a lot about kindness and love, going along with Valentines Day. We touched on President’s Day a bit and the Kindergarteners made
Transcript
SOLWAY TIGER’S TOP NEWS
SOLWAY'S PRINCIPAL'S CORNER
Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled for March 5 and March 6 after school and March 7 (7:35-4:20). Therefore, there will be no school for students on March 7 and 8. You should have received information in the Tuesday packets regarding your conference schedules. We hope that all of you can make it at the scheduled times. This is an important opportunity for school staff to share information about your child’s educational program. You will be able to see the learning process that is taking place at school and share ideas about what is best for your child. Daylights Savings Time is March 10. Remember to spring your clock ahead an hour. As the temperatures warm up and the snow starts to melt, please keep in mind that students are outside for up to a half an hour before school and at recess. It continues to be cold when they are outside for these extended periods. The still need warm coats, hats, gloves, and boots. We continue to have snow in the playground area and as it melts, it gets very muddy in areas. Please be sure that students are dressed appropriately.
If you make purchases online, please consider making your purchase through the SchoolStore.com website and select Solway School. The site includes purchases from Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Old Navy and many other popular stores. Solway receives a certain percentage of sales from these retailers. MCA and MAP testing will be coming up in April and May. It is an opportunity for students to demonstrate what they have learned and how they have grown academically. Until testing time arrives, we will be working very hard to prepare students. Factors that can be most beneficial and parents can help with is ensuring good attendance and practicing at home. Have a great month!!! Tami
MRS. WRIGHT’S & MS. KELLER’S KINDERGARTEN
Hello Kindergarten families, Can you believe it’s already March? This school year is whizzing by! We have come such a long way from the beginning of the year, and we are so excited to share all of our growth with you at our Spring conferences this week. In February we talked a lot about kindness and love, going along with Valentines Day. We touched on President’s Day a bit and the Kindergarteners made
SOLWAY TIGER’S TOP NEWS George Washingtons in Art class. February is also Dental Health month, so we talked about keeping our teeth clean and healthy! We also celebrated our 100th day of school and did several counting to 100 activities. We have been really focusing in on our sight words, letter names and sounds, and phoneme segmenting. Some kiddos are beginning to be able to sound out and read shorter or CVC words, so any practice of this skill at home would be a fantastic help! Our Math focus has been on teen numbers (recognizing that a teen number is a ten group PLUS however many ones), addition and subtraction story problems, and more/less/equal. Our final social/emotional lesson with Peacemakers is this week and we are so sad to see our teacher, Stacy go! We have learned so much this year about breathing, problem solving skills, how to be good friends, and how to keep ourselves in the circle of peace instead of the circle of hurt. These skills make such a huge difference, not only in school, but in everyday life for all ages. We are so thankful to have the opportunity to fill our toolboxes with skills with Peacemakers, and we will continue to reinforce those skills in our classrooms. We are hoping that March really does go out like a lamb and that we can start to see some signs of Spring in the coming month. Please continue to send snowpants, warm coats, hats, and mittens every day!
Stay warm!
Emily Keller and Carisa Wright
MRS. SHERWOOD’S & MRS. JOHNSON’S FIRST GRADE
Dear Parents, It’s hard to believe that we are in the month of March already. Conferences are being scheduled for March 5th, 6th and 7th. Students will not have school on March 7th or March 8th. We look forward visiting with you about your son/daughter’s growth in their academics. Dr. Seuss’s birthday in on March 2nd. Read one of your favorite books to your son/daughter. There will be NO homework packets for the month of March. If you child turned in all four February homework packets, he/she will receive a reward in the next week or two. Please remember to check backpacks for spelling lists and upcoming events. Also, please remind your child to bring his/her library books back by Thursday so they can check out new ones. Please encourage your son/daughter to read at least 15 minutes a day. This is one way of becoming a better reader. With the continuing cold weather in the forecast, please have your child wear cap, coat, snow-pants, boots and mittens. Keep Warm!
SOLWAY TIGER’S TOP NEWS
Mrs. Johnson Mrs. Sherwood
MRS. BERG’S SECOND GRADE Dear Parents, Wow! This year is flying by so fast! I hope that your children are enjoying their time in second grade. I know they are learning A LOT! In language arts we will be learning about many different components of writing stories and what genre a story belongs to. We will be having several special days/ weeks like coming up. The kids have so much fun when they have everything they need to participate in special days, so please make sure they’re prepared. They’ve worked very hard this year, so they deserve some fun days (when they’re still learning, but they don’t even know it!) The spring is a very busy time for us. I’m going to be giving the kids more and more responsibilities as the year is winding down to better prepare them for 3rd grade. This included things like projects to be done at home and brought to school and research projects. You can help your child by making sure you’re checking their take home folders so you can remind them what they need to do. Some kids haven’t been bringing their folders with them. Make sure your child has their red take home folder and yellow homework folder so you know what we’re working on in class.
We are also going to be going on a few field trips this spring (yay!). It is very important that I get the permission slips back so your child can participate. If you ever have questions about something we’re doing in class, please don’t hesitate to call. Thanks for all your hard work to have your child be successful at school! Mrs. Berg
MR. BLUMHAGEN’S 2nd & 3rd GRADE HelloSolwayfamilies,Thismonthinsecond/thirdgradeyourstudentwillcontinuetoaddtothelonglistofthingsthattheyhavealreadyputintheirbrainssofarthisyear.ThisMonthinreadingandlanguagearts,wearelearningalotaboutinformationaltextandtheworldthatwelivein.Wearedivingintodifferentpartsofnaturethatwehopetogainnewknowledgeon,aswellasthingsthathappenedmanyyearsago.Wearealsolearningalotabouttakingourtimeandcheckingourworkwithwhatwehavebeenreading.Oneofourgoalsasaclasshasbeentobeabletogobackandfindtheanswertoanyquestionwemayhaveinthestorywithouthavingtoguess.We
SOLWAY TIGER’S TOP NEWS alsocontinuetoworkhardonquarterlyreadinggoals,tohelpboostourfluencyandstamina.Inmaththismonthwearegoingtobeexploringthefeaturesofnewshapesandthefunnytermsthatcomewiththem!Yourstudentwilllearnlotsandlotsaboutpolygons,perimeter,area,rhombus’,andmuchmore!Wealsocontinuetoworkalotinmathwithourmathfactsandfactfamilies.(Wearegettingmuchbetter!)Finally,wehavestartedtalkingabouttimeduringmathclassandwhatweknowabouthowitworks.Secondgradersarecontinuingtobuildtheirskillsonreadingananalogclock,whilethethirdgraderswilllearnhowtoaddandsubtractelapsedtime.Helpusboostthisskillbyhavingyourstudentanswersomequestionsabouttimeasyouareoutandaboutinyoureverydaylives.Wewouldliketothankallofthefamiliesthathavehelpedgettheirchildtoschoolonadailybasisduringthesecoldmonths.Iknowitcanbereallytoughwiththeweatherbutweappreciateyoumakingitapriority!Ilookforwardtogettinganotherchancetospeakwithlotsofyouthiscomingweekatconferences,andsharingallofthewonderfulthingsyourchildhasdonethisyear.Mr.Blumhagen MR SLOUGH’S THIRD GRADE
Dear Parents, Happy March! I look forward to seeing each of you at the conferences on March 5th, 6th and 7th. Your students are excited that you are coming in to talk about their progress in all areas of school. Remember that there isn’t school for the kids next Thursday or Friday. Enjoy the extra days with them. I continue to use the Remind App to do a majority of my communicating with my parents. If you aren’t receiving it but would like to, please: Text 8101 with the message @slough3 Thank you for the continued support with reading at home and the weekly homework packets. The door is always open and feel free to stop in. Mr. Slough
ART NEWS
SOLWAY TIGER’S TOP NEWS Hi! We are cruising right along in art! Kindergarten has been learning more about colors and shapes and are currently finishing up a project for Dr. Seuss’s Birthday! First grade has been busy working on collage animals. Second grade has been working on a drawing project that they are going to paint with watercolors. Third grade has also been exploring more into color and are currently working on a winter silhouette drawing which they will be painting with watercolor. We are having a blast creating art! Ms. Marsh PHY. ED. NEWS Happy March! Spring is just around the corner, however it is hard to tell with the weather as of late. Your children have continued to stay active in Physical Education class. The students are working
hard, making some very good progress and burning up lots of energy!! We are finishing up with Jump Rope for Heart. When I have a tally of the final totals the students of Solway raised for the AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION I will put it in Aprils newsletter. Your children have continued having fun with many group activities and a variety of station activities. I hope you all have a wonderful month of March. Rich Morehouse Physical Education Teacher TITLE I NEWS Thank you for working with your children. We can see their improvement in reading. To help children with reading comprehension, it is helpful if they understand fiction. I found an article in the February 2019 “Reading Connection” that recommended the following ideas: Create a storyboard: Filmmakers use a series of drawings called a “storyboard” to write movies. Let your youngster try this idea to visualize a book’s plot. Have your child divide a sheet of paper into eighths and sketch simple pictures (one per box) as
SOLWAY TIGER’S TOP NEWS he/she reads. Tip: Draw arrows from box to box will show the sequence. With the storyboard, your child can retell the story or write a summary. Map the characters: Understanding a book’s characters will help your child grasp the story. Encourage your child to make a character chart while reading. He/she can divide it into three columns: one for basic facts (name, age), one for traits (shy, brave), and one for actions (goes to the beach, makes the softball team). Predict the future: To forecast what will happen in a book, your child has to think about what has taken place so far. Ask your child to make predictions as he/she reads and jot down ideas (best friend will move away, Dad will recover). Suggest that he/she write his/her own ending about two-thirds of the way through. Your child will enjoy seeing how it compares to the real one! Dr. Seuss’s Birthday is March 2nd. These are a few of the quotes he said about reading: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” “You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.” “You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.” Have a wonderful month! Jennie Johnson and Bonnie Wentzel
LIBRARY/
TECH NEWS
Solway Media Center News: March 2019 Celebrating "Read Across America!":
The Scholastic Wild West Book Fair: “Saddle Up and Read!” Thank you for making the bookfair such a success! We earned $1,500 as a library fundraiser. Parents may come into the library and we will create a community member account for you. You may check out extra books for your child or yourself this way. We love to share our books and resources! More Computer Lab News: We are using a new keyboarding site in grade 3 called Typing Club. Students may access this from school or home at this address: https://solway-elementary.typingclub.com/ They sign in with their Accelerated Reader Username and Password.
SOLWAY TIGER’S TOP NEWS What is TypingClub? TypingClub is an educational platform for keyboarding. It is web-based and fully customizable, so your students can practice in class, at home, or wherever an internet connection can be found. Students are already familiar with the layout of the program because the design is very similar to popular games. Each lesson provides instant, meaningful feedback that encourages students to continue practicing.
Why Teach Keyboarding? Typing faster is not the primary objective of keyboarding; rather it is a desired side effect. Once your students are able to type with all ten fingers without needing to look down at the keyboard, their overall productivity when using a computer will improve dramatically. When typing with two fingers, the visual and frontal cortices of the brain are forced to focus on where individual keys are located. Keyboarding removes this burden, enabling students to work on things like sentence structure and grammar while they type. To help students in the classroom, the best thing you can do is to make sure students are not looking at the keyboard. Mackin Via is our ebooks website available for your reading pleasure! To get to it log into the Solway website at: http://solway.bemidji.k12.mn.us
Now go to Student and click on the Mackin Via icon. School: SOLWAY ELEMENTARY, BEMIDJI, MN User ID: solway Password: ebooks Enjoy reading our 38 ebooks from any internet connected computer. Millionaire Club Party: Students that read over a million words in the Accelerated Reading program by the end of May will be invited to join the Millionaire Club. They will pick a hardcover book of their choice and receive a certificate at the End of Year Award Ceremony. Thank you Solway PTO for sponsoring this award.
Book, DVD & Magazine Donations: Do you have gently used Kindergarten-4th grade books, DVDs or magazines that you are no longer in need of? Please consider donating them to the Solway Library. We will use them for gifts, incentives, and library check out. Thank you to all who have donated items in the past ~ we really appreciate your generosity!! Just label as "donation" and send in care of Julia Simons/Solway Library. Thanks for your support! Thank you to so many families who have donated books and magazines over the year. You have made such a difference! We collect used laser and ink jet cartridges as a library recycling fundraiser for our school. Turn them in at the Ink Collection box at our library. We
SOLWAY TIGER’S TOP NEWS receive money to buy books, supplies and technology for our school. Thanks for helping your Tiger have fun checking out books and returning them at our Solway Media Center! Your help is needed and appreciated… It’s important that your child is able to check out books since we have daily silent and Accelerated Reading times. Thanks for taking the time to read to/with your child and help with book care. We’re listing class checkout days for your convenience: Students must bring all books back to renew or return on the following days: Tuesdays: Thursdays: Mr. Blumhagen Mrs. Johnson Mr. Slough Mrs. Sherwood Ms. Keller Mrs. Berg Mrs. Wright Remember: Students are welcome to check out books during library hours any day of the week! We are excited to share our online library catalog called Destiny. You can access the catalog from any web-based computer. Log in to Solway's website at: http://solway.bemidji.k12.mn.us You may search school resources like the Library Catalog or link to other educational websites, parent pages, or student accounts. Click on the left side of the website under "Browse Library". Thanks for sharing your love of reading with Solway Students!! Happy Reading-- Mrs. Simons, Media Specialist Mrs. Bolte, Media Assistant We Succeed When Our Tigers Read!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
***************************** Thank you to all parents for
monitoring your students lunch accounts. Keep up the good
work. ****************************************
Cloverbuds Meeting Date Solway Tiger Cub Cloverbuds monthly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12th from 2:45 to 4:15 p.m. *****************************
