Conferences and more...

Conference Information:
Conferences are being scheduled for October 9th and 10th.   A conference slip with the specific time and date for your conference will be sent home this week.  Teachers will be collaborating to ensure sibling conferences are back to back, so parents can attend all of their children's conferences within a certain time frame.  Conferences will be no longer than 20 minutes.  If you feel you would like more time, please contact Mrs. Wright in advance and arrangements will be made for a longer time slot.  Discovery strives for 100% attendance during conferences, so please let your child's teacher know if a conference time doesn't work so it can be rescheduled.  

Wednesday, October 9:   
9:00-3:50 Full day of School
4:00-8:00pm  Conferences Scheduled

Thursday, October 10:
No School
8:00am - 8:00pm  Conferences Scheduled

Friday, October 11:
No School
No Conferences


Student Responsibilities:
Parents should be checking student homework folders nightly for homework and work that has been graded.  Please take time to look at all work that comes home, assisting your child in understanding the concepts he/she may have missed on the written work.  It is crucial that students begin to think critically, using skills to solve problems.  This also includes developing the ability to read, understand, and follow directions completely.  As I have been grading classwork, I am finding students are not completely answering the questions that were asked and students are not proofing or checking their work before handing it in.  Reading to obtain information and writing to provide information are skills we are developing  this year.  Please encourage your child to interpret the directions and/or the questions being asked before you tell them what it is asking.  This will help students to think critically, while taking ownership of their learning.

Lunch Bunch:
At Discovery, we really only have three rules: 

Act Safely,
Be Respectful, And
Care Enough To Be Responsible In All That You Do.

To reward students who continuously demonstrate Safety, Respect, and Responsibility, we have started a Friday Lunch Bunch group.  Each week, students who turn homework in on time, act responsibly in class and out of class (specials, hallway, playground, lunchroom, etc.), and demonstrate respect towards teachers and classmates have the opportunity to each lunch and a treat in the classroom on Fridays.   If you would like to provide a small treat to be shared by the students, please contact me and I will put you on the treat schedule.  Treat ideas can include:  muffins, cupcakes, chips, fruit cups, cheese/crackers, popcorn, etc.

Our goal is to have 100% of our students joining this group each week. 


Halloween Party:
Discovery's first party is just around the corner!  Thursday, October 31 from 2:45-3:45 is the Halloween Party.  Students, staff, and parents are encouraged to dress up to enjoy the "spooktacular" festivities.    Costumes will be allowed from 2:30 to 3:50 and must be appropriate for school. (Skimpy costumes, masks, weapons, hoods, and gore are not allowed.)

We are in need of a few parent volunteer in planning this party.  Planning will include organizing treats and a few classroom activities.  In the past, students have decorated cookies, used toilet paper to wrap a mummy, pumpkin painting, and more.    Please contact Mrs. Wright by October 4th if you
are interested in planning or participating in any of the Halloween party activities.


PTA News:
    

Discovery Night at Farmstead Pumpkin Patch is tomorrow, Monday, Sept. 30th from 4-9pm.  The cost is $4 per person, or $3 if you wear your Discovery Elementary spirit wear.  For directions, visit www.FarmsteadFestival.com or call 922-LOST.

Our next PTA meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 4:05.  Parents are encouraged to come see what is planned for this exciting school year!

Popcorn Friday is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 4 at last recess.  Only.25 cents will buy a bag of yummy popcorn.

Licorice Friday is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 18.  Only .25 will buy two pieces of scrumptious licorice!  This is also our Spirit day!  The classroom with the most students wearing Discovery Spirit wear will win the coveted Discovery Bronco for the month!

Reflections Artwork is due Friday, November 8. 
The theme this year is:   "Believe, Dream, Inspire"
For more information visit:
http://www.pta.org/programs/content/cfm?ItemNumber=2897
or contact Michelle Hall at chicago_halls@hotmail.com

National Walk to School Event:
This year we will be Dancing to school on Wednesday, October 9th.  Below are a few of the details:

• Our walk will begin at 8:00 in the morning.
• We will have two teams. One team will start at the parking lot behind Maverick. The other team will start at the park in the subdivision behind the school. Parents are welcomed to walk too!
• Meridian Police and Fire departments will be located at both locations.
• Meridian mayor will be here to walk/dance with us and will speak when we all arrive at the school.
• There will be at DJ at the school!
• BEST of all...freebies for all students who participate!
• Just a friendly reminder:   this event is a walk TO school event.  We will NOT be walking home FROM school....regular after school routines will be expected. 

   

Curriculum, Volunteers, and Upcoming Events

This week is shaping up to be a busy, productive week!   We will be concluding learning about the regions of the U.S.A., while continuing to explore decimals, fractions, and place value, identifying narrative elements of a story, and writing using dialogue.

Below are a few items of interest:

5th Grade Curriculum:
Please click on the 5th Grade Curriculum link for an overview of 5th grade curriculum.  On the Meridian School District website, you will find valuable information about PACE and student resources for practicing curriculum skills. 

Parent Volunteers:
This year, I have had an extraordinary amount of parents offering to help in and out of the classroom.  I will be contacting each of you soon to plan your assistance.  Thank you!!

Upcoming Tests/Events:
Please note: Reading (fluency and comprehension), Written Language (handwriting, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraph format, etc.), and Word Study (spelling, identifying spelling patterns, understanding meanings, etc.) are skills that are assessed weekly by informal and formal assessment methods.   All of the following dates are on the Calendar tab to the left of this page. 


11th  Individual Picture Day
12th  Ped (root word) Test
13th  Scholastic Book Orders due

17th  Back To School Night 
 19th  Wordly Wise Lesson 1 and 2 Test
16-Oct 4:  MAP testing for Reading and Math


Discovery PTA is on Facebook! 
If you have a Facebook account and want to stay up on the happenings at Discovery Elementary, search for and 'like' the Discovery Elementary PTA facebook page. 

Odds and Ends....

What a great class we have!!  I am so impressed by the dedication and pride all students are demonstrating in class, to myself and classmates, and on the playground.   We are well on our way to earning our first Marble Jar Party!

Please be aware of the following items:

~  This "Home" page is where I will post a "weekly newsletter".  It will contain important dates, notes, upcoming testing dates/info., and much more.    Each time I post in this "Home" page, you can be notified by entering your email address in the box to the left called "Follow By Email".  An auto-generated email will be sent to you with a link to the blog.  This is a great way to be sure you don't miss anything. 


~  Homework Folders:  Every evening your child should be coming home with a "Homework" folder and log in his/her binder.  Please help him/her get into the habit of showing you the homework list.  If a check is by the item, he/she completed it in class.  If there is not a check, then he/she needs to complete it that evening.  This folder must be brought back to class each morning.  If parent and child communicate about the Homework folder items, then homework middle school routines will be established and easier to transition.   Homework that is not turned in when due, will need to be done during recess.

Any work that is not legible, will be redone.  Please stress to your child that neatness and organization in classwork is part of being a responsible citizen in the classroom. 

~Word Study (Spelling):
This year, we will be doing the Words Their Way spelling program.  We will have a pretest on Mondays and a post-test on Fridays.  During the week, students are to complete activities at home as homework.  A letter is in your child's binder, behind the 'word study' tab, that discusses the weekly homework activities. 

~Curriculum Items:
There is so much to learn this year and student's need to be aware of all items they will be tested on.  I will put test dates in the "Calendar" tab as well as on student homework logs.   I will post items that students will be tested on in the "Curriculum Items" tab to the left of this page.   Root words will be found under the "Root Words" tab. 

~ The following items can be found by clicking on the "Calendar"  tab:

+Friday, September 6:  Popcorn Friday ....only .50cents for a bag of scrumptious popcorn!
ABC's of Discovery Mustangs Poster is due this day also.
+Wednesday, September 11:  Picture Day
+Tuesday, September 17, 5p.m.:  Back to School Night.   (Parents only please.)