April 2018 www.promontoryschool.org(435) 919-1900

• Yearbooks:

Online ordering for yearbooks is no

longer available. However, the

school ordered a limited number of

extra hard cover and soft cover year-

books. If you would like to claim one

of the extras, please bring cash or a

check to the office. Once they are all

sold, the yearbook will no longer be

available for purchase. Soft cover is

$14 and hard cover is $19.

Important

Reminders • Friday, May 11th: 7/8 Celebration of

Learning—at the Bird Refuge; Best Dress. Mrs. Farrer and Mr. Wallis crews at 6:00 p.m.; Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Wells crews at 7:00 p.m.

• Saturday, May 12th: 7/8 Mystery Game Activity—Sponsored by the student council; 6-9 p.m. at the school.

• Wednesday, May 16th: Orchestra Concert—6:30 p.m. in the Kiva.

• Saturday, May 19th: Mega Celebra-tion & Ribbon Cutting—See flyer on Page 2 for details.

Calendar

Information

Hello, Promontory Families!

Our yearly SAGE testing for 3rd through 8th graders is about to begin. As a school, we look very closely at these tests, and they help us understand where our instruction is strong and where we need to make changes.

While this is only one point of data, it does fully determine the “school report card” grade we get from the state. Please ask your children to do their very best as they represent Promontory School. Some tips:

Make sure your child gets a good night's sleep and eats a healthy breakfast:

Many teachers report that students who don't do well on tests haven't gotten

enough sleep and haven't eaten breakfast on the morning of the test. Doing both of these things will ensure that your child is working at full capacity.

Mega Celebration & Ribbon Cutting We are pleased to an-nounce the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the Outdoor Learning and Adventure Center located adjacent to Promontory School!

The Ribbon Cutting will be held in conjunction with the Celebrations of Learning for the 1/2, 3/4, and 5/6 Communities on Saturday, May 19th. Events will begin at 3:30 p.m. and end at 7:00 p.m.

As part of the festivities, Promontory’s Parent Crew is holding a silent auction to help raise funds to complete pro-jects in our Pollination Garden and to extend our Wi-Fi system to the Adventure Park.

There will also be games and food trucks!

Please see the flyer on Page 2 for detailed infor-mation. We hope to see you there!

State SAGE Tests Begin Next Week! Jamie McKay, PSEL Director

Sod has been placed in the Pollination Garden!

,

It’s time to celebrate being part of Promontory School! Next week April 30 - May 4 is Spirit Week. The 7th and 8th grade student council has invited all the classes to participate in this weeklong event. Here are a list of the week’s activities.

Monday: Hand print sign

All the students will dip their hands in paint and print them on a large poster to hang up in the hall for the week.

Tuesday: Best Dress

Students come wearing their best clothes, ties, modest dresses (no bare shoulders or short skirts), etc.

Wednesday: MegaCrew

Student-council sponsored Mega-Crew

Thursday: Day of Service

This is actually a week of ser-vice. All week long we will be collecting goods for the New Hope Crisis Center. Please bring donations to Mr. Wallis’ room. See list of items below.

Friday: Watermelon party

Each crew will have watermelon to eat.

List of items for donation:

• Canned food • Cereal • Pillows • Hygiene items such as soap,

shampoo, toothpaste etc.

Remain positive:

If we as adults remain calm, we will help our students stay calm. If she gets nervous about the test or is likely to experience anxiety during the test, help her practice some relaxation techniques that she can try once she's taking the test. We have done mindful breathing as a school, and that is a good strategy to remember.

Opting out:

The state allows for you to opt out from testing for your children. This is your right, and your decision to make as a family. Paperwork is available at the office.

Pros and cons of taking the test:

There is no penalty for opting out of state testing. One pro of taking the test is that we get a good and accu-rate snapshot of where kids are in their learning, and the test data is very detailed, so we can see what specific standards we should re-teach to individual kiddos.

There are no cons really; I think some parents are concerned with data being collected by the govern-ment, some worry about test anxie-ty. I think if kids want to go to col-lege, they have to take some big tests, so taking these state tests could be good practice for that. Ultimately, the decision is yours! We’ll support you either way.

I would (gently) point out that our rate of opted out students is more than double the rate in Box Elder School District, and this does, over-all, lower our state grade, which is a shame.

Students who have been opted out will take an alternative pen and paper test to provide important data to the teachers.

These pen and paper tests (or es-says on the computer) will not be reported outside the school.

Thanks very much!

Welcome future kindergarteners! Mrs. Moyer loved meeting and reading a story with next year’s kindergarten students.

Mrs. Harrison’s crew in their morning “Crew Circle”

We are Crew, not passengers We are crew, not passengers We are crew, not passenger

Picture your family on a busy

school morning as you hustle

your youngsters to wake,

dress, eat and otherwise

ready themselves for the day.

Collecting homework, lunch-

es, and extra children for car-

pool is no small task.

You may breathe a sigh of

relief and move your

thoughts to the busy day

ahead as the kiddos exit the

vehicle and enter the school.

How do your students make a

similar transition from “busy,

rushing morning child” to

“confident, happy learner”?

The answer is morning

“crew.”

Each morning every crew at

Promontory starts the day in

a circle. Crew is a time to

help students transition from

“child” to “learner.”

G R I P S is a simple acronym

that describes the purposes

of crew.

G-Greet: Each child is greet-

ed by name (by the teacher

or other crew members) eve-

ry morning.

R-Read: The crew reads an

inspirational quote or pas-

sage. Often the quote focus-

es on one of Promontory’s

Design Principles, such as

“Solitude & Reflection” or

“Collaboration & Competi-

tion.”

I-Initiative: The crew teacher

presents a learning activity

like a challenging math prob-

lem or a group learning

game. The crew completes

the activity and discusses

how it went.

P-Pledge: The crew recites

the Pledge of Allegiance.

S-Schedule: The crew re-

views the planned activities

for the day so each student

can be aware and make

themselves an active class

participant.

The structure of crew al-

lows students to build char-

acter and positive relation-

ships with each other and

with their crew teacher.

Our goal is that each stu-

dent at Promontory has at

least one adult who knows

and supports them well.

So, keeping those crazy,

busy mornings in mind,

please do your best to help

your kiddos get to school on

time.

When they miss morning

crew, they really miss a

major benefit of Promonto-

ry Expeditionary Learning.

Kindergarten

The kindergarten crews continue their study of “Backyard Biology.” They are currently documenting

the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies. In the picture above (left), the AM kindergarten

crew is teaching the school all about bugs in last week’s Mega Crew. They were delightful to watch!

Mrs. Jex’s crew before the

Valentine luncheon. Aren’t

they sharp?!

1/2

Commun i

t y

,

Mrs. Jex’s crew gave an amazing presentation during Mega Crew about community helpers and how they help make our lives better. We also learned what the students want to be when they grow up. What a great Mega Crew!

Brigham City Mayor, Tyler Vincent, visited our 1/2 Community to teach them the duties of a mayor. The students had great questions for him and he was very kind, informative, and entertaining. Thank you, Mayor Vincent!

Mrs. Hinrichsen’s class learned about Ben Franklin and the printing press and completed a printing activity. They also wrote their own newspapers and the picture above (right) shows them selling ads to one another! Busy little entrepreneurs!

Mr. A has been (bravely) teaching the whole school how to play

lacrosse! Do you think he saved all of those shots?

In PE, 7/8 crews are close to

completing a physical fitness

unit. They will then begin

studying archery.

Promontory students had the opportunity to donate $1 and wear blue jeans to school. Proceeds were used to pur-chase books for a local charity. The total amount donated was $267.81 and 40 new books were purchased for the New Hope Crisis Center in Brigham.

Congrats Promontory on Blues for Books!

,

As part of their “Bee Friendly” expedition, the 3/4 community enjoyed a “honey tasting” event. They compared and charted different types of honey using the “Honey Connoisseur Aroma and Tasting Wheel.” While sugar is simply “sweet,” honey can express floral, grassy, fruity, or woody flavors. The students enjoyed this ‘beelicious” research.

Mrs. Guzzetti’s class is planting seeds and

sprouting them in the greenhouse. The stu-

dents enjoyed working outside in the sunshine!

Mrs. Guzzetti’s crew is in the greenhouse with one of her first ever third graders! My how time flies!

Mrs. Reeder’s crew read The Wild Robot and The Wild Ro-bot Escapes by Peter Brown and fell in love with the main character, Rozzum Unit 7124. She taught them many life lessons, such as: don't judge others, work hard, help one another, always keep learning, and choose to be kind. They drafted their own robots and then set to work with cardboard, wire, cups, aluminum foil, masking tape, and tin cans...to carry out their plans. It was a F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C. D.A.Y.

Mrs. Bennett’s crew created masterpieces using pointillism which is a painting technique using tiny dots of color which blend together to create a picture.

3/4

5/6 Community

7/8 Language arts stu-

dents are reviewing the

principles of “on-

demand informative

essay writing.” In these

photos the students

have been split into

8th Graders are learning about Potential and Kinetic

Energy. Here they are doing a Physics Marble Lab.

Students were trying to see which group could get their

marble to roll across the table the slowest.

Our 5/6 community took a trip to

“This is the Place Heritage Park”

in Salt Lake City to experience

what life was like for children in

pioneer days and compare it with

life for children now.

The community is studying child

labor throughout history and

learned that many children were

subjected to harsh working con-

ditions starting as young as age 5.

Students also learned that some children

were “sold” or “rented” out to blacksmiths

to work because their parents could no

longer afford to feed them. They worked

for two meals a day, a place to sleep, and a

chance to go to school. Students then relat-

ed this to working conditions of children in

the industrial revolution and around the

world today. Thanks to parents for driving

to help our students learn!

7/8

teams and are racing to find the correct

letters and words to fill out the acronym

charts. The first team finished was the win-

ner! What an exciting way to review im-

portant material.