The Cape St. Claire Gazette

Dear Cape St. Claire Families,

It is hard to believe that we are almost 4 months into the school year! Our Soaring Seagulls have learned so much already and have had many great learning experiences. I am looking forward to more learning and fun as the school year continues.

Please take time to review the curriculum updates from our amazing instructional staff. We sincerely hope that these monthly updates provide you with a glimpse into the exciting topics and concepts your children are learning and exposed to daily.

As a reminder, the weather is becoming increasingly colder. Please make certain that your child has outdoor gear to help protect them from the cold temperatures. Hats, gloves, and heavier coats are essential for recess in the upcoming weeks.

Finally, take time to enjoy time with family during our Winter Break which begins on December 23rd. We look forward to seeing everyone back and ready for learning on Thursday, January 2nd.

In partnership,

Tamara Kelly-Molock- Principal

Rochelle Barrett- Assistant Principal 

The School Counselor’s Corner

Toy Drive:

Starting December 1, we will be collecting toys for needy families.  If you would like to donate, please send in unwrapped new toys.  The toys will go to The Sharing Foundation to help assist needy families for the holidays.  Sports items are welcome as well!  Be on the lookout for a flyer with more information soon. 

If you are in a position to need assistance this holiday, please reach out to me as soon as possible.  I have some limited resources to help.  hbachman@aacps.org

Counseling Lessons:

In November, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders had lessons on substance abuse prevention.  The younger children learned about responsibility.  They were able to list their responsibilities at school and at home.  Many reported they help with chores and are responsible for pets! 

In December we will focus on responsible decision-making, dealing with peer pressure, and respecting differences.

5th Grade Parents:

Magothy River Middle is ready to start talking about middle school to your students!  The AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) teacher would like to invite you to an information night. AVID is a national program offered in grades 6-12 in Anne Arundel County.  This program prepares students in the academic middle for college and career readiness.  The core component is the AVID elective, which supports students as they tackle the most rigorous classes.  In the AVID elective, we teach academic and social skills not targeted in other classes, create a positive peer group for students, and develop a sense of hope and personal achievement through hard work and determination. For more information: AVID Information Night Flyer

Mrs. Bachman

hbachman@aacps.org

410-222-1685

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. 

PBIS: Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports

We are off to a great start this school year! Students are excited about our Soaring Seagull of the Day initiative. It is great to see the smiling, proud faces of the students who earn them daily.

Children can earn individual recognition with a seagull feather for following the school rules. Classrooms can earn pompoms for their Class Respect Jar and earn group recognition. Classroom celebrations are occurring and students remain excited about them. Our quarterly event will occur early next month; it is extra recess. That is always a favorite event with our students.

The PBIS committee oversees spirit days too. We will have spirit days on the second Friday of every month. Here is a list of the sprit days for this school year!

· December 13th: Wacky Sweater Day

· January 10th: Dress in your best!

· February 14th: Wear Red

· March 14th: Decade Day

· April 11th: Superhero Day

· May 9th: Mismatch Day

· June 13th: Beach Day

We are excited to promote school spirit and positive behaviors through our PBIS program. Cape St. Claire is truly #TheFlockThatRocks!

Dear Parents,

We are entering the cold, flu, and allergy season. The health room has a few friendly reminders.

Please do not send your child to school if he/she has or has had: 

• A fever of more than 100 degrees within the last 24 hours. A student may return after they are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication. Please send in a note with your student on the day they return for absence purposes. 

• Vomiting or diarrhea within the past 24 hours.

AACPS does not allow any medication, including over-the-counter medicines and cough drops, to be administered or carried by a student without a signed order form. If you need a medication administration form, please get in touch with the health room or find it here: https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/Documents/DSFSS/SSSP/SHS/medforms/medicationform404.pdf

If you have any questions please refer to page 6 of the parent handbook or call the health room. 

 Tips for staying healthy and preventing the spread of illness:

• Get plenty of rest

• Stay hydrated

• Wash your hands

Thank you for working with us to keep Cape St. Claire Elementary School healthy! 

Brooke Johnson, BSN, RN
School Health Nurse 

Cape St. Claire Elementary

Phone: 410-222-1689

Cultural Arts

Triple E: Global Studies

Our first project modules in many grade levels have wrapped up or will be shortly. This means that students will be moving into their second project modules for the year. 

PK-Marine Models

K-Tinkering with Tools

1-Galimotos

2-Make Way for Ducklings

3-Fantastic Contraption

4-Water Harvester

5-Ruins Rover

Recyclable Materials Needed:

• Paper towel rolls

• Toilet paper rolls

• Cereal boxes

• Printer paper box lids

Many of these projects will require recyclable materials. Please see the list above for much-needed items. If you have any to donate please send them in to your student’s Triple E teacher. 

Thank you!

Mrs. Bathras and Mrs. Shattuck

tmbathras@aacps.org

jshattuck@aacps.org

Music:

The students will be working on rhythm, melodic contour, and various musical forms while singing and playing instruments. 

The band, string, and chorus winter concert is Tuesday, December 17th. 

Ms. Harrison and Mrs. Abbott

Media: 

Rolling into the second quarter,  students will begin "The Hour of Code" in December. During our coding lessons, students will utilize technology and problem-solving skills in our coding programs. We have also begun introducing our centers in media and robots. Reading new books and investigating through research will continue this quarter.

Mrs. Crocker and Mrs. Smith

Art:

Students are exploring the elements of art and principles of design through the following projects:

Mrs. Morris’ Art Classes:

PK - Winter Torn Paper Owls

K - Self-Portraits/Pinch Pots

1 - Symmetrical Monarchs

2 - Bird’s Eye View Snowmen 

3 - Origami Owls

4 - Pattern Mittens

5 - Shibori Dyed Pillows/Miniatures

Ms. Howe’s Art Classes:

K - Winter Landscapes

1 - Snow People Families

2 - Worm’s Eye View Snowmen

3 - Imaginary Island Maps

4 - Emoji Self-Portrait Agamographs

P.E.:

November was another exciting month in PE. All grades complete a unit on balance/tumbling skills (gymnastics). During this unit, the students learned about the center of gravity, base of support, and weight transfer. They learned how to perform a variety of basic rolls and balances. The students were cooperative and safe throughout the unit as they explored these new skills and concepts. Thank you for your support and we are looking forward to another great month in Physical Education!

Mr. Gillette and Mrs. Venturella

Pre-Kindergarten

In Pre-K, we are beginning a new unit on how structures and tools work and how to make or do things. We will explore the form and function of objects through observations, simple experiments, games, and activities. Students will read and write procedural texts that tell someone how to make or do something. We will work on counting and the plus-one pattern. This will lead to informal addition and subtraction concepts that we will explore. We will duplicate and extend color and shape patterns as well. The social skill we will focus on is calming down when we have strong emotions.

Kindergarten

We enjoyed meeting with families at conferences and appreciate the continued support at home to ensure success for our students. Be on the lookout for our permission slip coming home soon regarding our January field trip to the theater to see “Rainbow Fish.”

Reading:  This month in CKLA Skills we will be working on Unit 5. Students will continue to learn the letter sounds, read CVC words, write CVC words and read phrases (2 or 3 words that are decodable), and blending/segmenting words. Please take the time to look over all of the letters and resources that come home with useful information.

Math:  Students have been doing a great job observing, exploring and sorting by attributes.  In December, they will move on to 2 dimensional shapes.  They will work on identifying these shapes, discussing how they are different and using math vocabulary.  

Science/Social Studies: This month in Science and Social Studies students will finish working on Unit 1 by learning how places in our community supply us with goods and services. In Unit 2 we will continue our learning by exploring how transportation is used to move goods and people on land, water and in the air.

1st Grade

First grade had a wonderful first marking period full of learning adventures! We had a blast on our first field trip, seeing Junie B. Jones, The Musical. Students were captivated by the characters and the songs throughout the show. We appreciate all of the parents who volunteered to chaperone the trip.  

In math, we will be learning strategies to subtract within 20. Students will use tools such as number lines and tens frames, along with strategies such as counting on, counting back, near doubles, and fact families to subtract numbers within 20. A great activity to do at home to help your child with subtraction is to practice fact families using flash cards or fact triangles. 

Our new unit in Knowledge is Early World Civilizations. Students will be introduced to the development of early civilizations by examining the fundamental features, including the advent of farming, the establishment of cities and government, and the creation of other practices, such as writing and religion. They will explore countries across the world including early Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Throughout this domain, students will focus on informational writing by creating timelines, collaborating with their peers, and comparing key components.

Our new Skills unit will introduce additional vowel sounds and their common spellings. The grammar lessons will focus on verb identification and verb tense. During this marking period, we will begin weekly spelling lists and assessments. The spelling words are made up of various sound/spelling correspondences that have already been presented and taught for decoding purposes. Please be on the lookout for take-home letters from their activity books, with the list of words that your student is focusing on each week. There are recommended practice activities that you can use as a practice tool at home. 

In Science and Social Studies, we are doing the unit, “I Am Curious About How Things Are Connected.” Throughout this unit, students will use resourceful and creative behaviors to think like a scientist. They will build and design using everyday recycled materials to solve problems. 

We are looking forward to a lot of exciting activities this month. As always, we are thankful for all of your support.

2nd Grade

We have a lot of great topics and ideas to learn about in December.

During the Knowledge block, we will be finishing up the Greek Myths unit and moving into the War of 1812.  Students will be introduced to an important period in the history of the United States.  Students will learn why it is often called the Napoleonic Wars between France and Great Britain.  Also, Great Britain planned to win back the United States.  In this unit, the students will be planning, drafting, and presenting a persuasive speech.   

In Skills, we will move through Unit 3 for the month of December where we will continue to build new spelling trees to understand vowel sounds.  The students will continue to read through our decodable “Kids Excel” to practice close reading and answering comprehension questions.  We will focus more on writing personal narratives toward the end of the unit.  

During Math, students will use various tools to find sums up to 100, such as base-ten blocks and number lines to decompose and adjust addends. Students will extend their thinking of regrouping, partial sums, decomposing, and adjusting addends.  Towards the end of the month, we will move on to subtraction.  

Lastly, in Science and Social Studies we will continue to dive into our unit “We are digitally empowered learners”.  The students will continue to explore the use of a variety of technologies to communicate with others, navigate various types of technology that can be used to find different types of information and explain how technology enhances their learning.

We look forward to another exciting month with our second-grade students!

3rd Grade

Students have been very busy and working hard in third grade!  We took our first field trip to the Baltimore Museum of Industry and had an amazing time learning about Maryland's economic history.  In reading, we've concluded our unit on the human body and have started studying Ancient Roman Civilization.  Students are learning many different strategies for multiplication in math, as well as discovering how multiplication and division are related.  Continue to practice multiplication facts at home for fluency!  In social studies, we are discussing culture and immigration, while we are focusing on forces and motion in science.  Just a reminder...we will continue to go out for recess, even as the weather gets colder, so please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for outside play!

4th Grade

Math -

Students will multiply by multiples of 10, 100, and 1000, estimate products, use the Distributive Property to multiply,  multiply 2-digit by 1-digit factors,  multiply multi-digit by 1-digit factors, multiply two multiples of 10, and multiply two 2-digit factors.

Resources: 

Math Unit Letter is  linked below:

Unit 6 The Unit Letter includes games you can play with your child as well as strategies that we’ll be using in class.

Math Fact Fluency:  Mastering multiplication facts will be crucial this year.  This is the #1 skill we recommend to help your child with at home.  All students have a First in Math account to practice facts online at home.  Thank you for the support!

Social Studies -

December will bring more colonial learning.  We’ll look at the colonies as a whole, and then individually, finally focusing on Maryland.  

• We’ll be answering important questions, like: 

• How did where people lived affect how they lived?  

• How did the pursuit of freedom lead to conflict? 

What causes people to deny freedom to others? 

Science - 

This month, students will explore “Outrageous Acts of Earth”.  We will analyze maps to determine the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes around the world.  Students will explore what causes these natural disasters and their effects.

CKLA  (Core Knowledge Language Arts)-  We are continuing to read “Empires of the Middle Ages” with a focus on the Islamic Empire.  The students will write a historical fiction piece. Later this month, we will start a unit on poetry. The poetry unit letter is linked below:

 Poetry Letter

5th Grade

We have had a wonderful start to the year with your students and are seeing growth already in 2nd quarter.

So far this quarter, we have worked hard on the multiplication of multi-digit whole numbers (Unit 5) in Math and will work on multiplying decimals (Unit 6) and dividing whole numbers (Unit 7) for the remainder of the quarter. If you would like to support your students with these skills at home, you can have them complete practice problems from their practice workbooks (any pages for Unit 6 will start with 6-#, for example), complete i-Ready lessons, or practice their basic facts for multiplication and division. Any connections you can make between skills we learn in class and things we do outside of school (such as cooking and shopping) are also very valuable.

In Integrated Knowledge this quarter, we are wrapping up our poetry unit and will afterward begin to explore the adventures of Don Quixote and later the Renaissance. Some units have designated take-home pages for your children to complete as homework, so please be on the lookout for communication from your student and their teacher about those. Encouraging your child to read and write at home is also appreciated.

In Social Studies, students will learn about the challenges of a new and expanding nation as they dive into topics related to the War of 1812, Maryland geography in the mid-1800s, and conflict in Maryland and the United States that led to the American Civil War. In Science, students learn about many topics related to stars and our planet. Please see the Quarter 2 Family Newsletter for more information on subjects being taught and for more tips about how you can support your students from home! Please also continue to discuss your expectations for your students at school and encourage them to discuss their goals and progress towards them with you. We are grateful for our partnership with you as we work together to help your children have a successful last year of elementary school!

Cape Families - Please keep in mind that domestic pets, such as dogs and cats, are not permitted on school grounds. Thank you for working with us to keep all students safe!

When visiting the school, please remember to bring your government issued photo ID