Ford PTA December 2016

news

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FORD PTAsends

Warmestthoughts

and best wishes

for a wonderful holiday

and a very

happynew year!

Jo Ann Ford Elementary210 Woodlake DriveGeorgetown, TX 78633(512) 943-5180http://georgetownisd.org/ford

Jessica McMullen, PrincipalDonna Barnes, Assistant PrincipalKaren Cavanaugh, CounselorBrenda Oser, Secretary

EXTENDED DEADLINE: ORDER MORE ART TO REMEMBER GIFTS

Sunday, 01/15

Place your orders online at https://order.arttore-member.com of your child’s artwork on useful custom products.

MUSTANG MEALTIME@ FISH CITY GRILL

Tuesday, 01/03 - All day!11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Another opportunity to support your PTA - and - feed the family, both lunch and dinner. Show your Mustang Pride!

MUSTANG MEALTIME @ DAIRY QUEEN

Monday, 12/125:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Bring the whole family for dinner and a treat! Remember to let them know you’re a Ford Elementary Mustang!

Principal’s PenHappy December! It is amazing to me that I am sending out the December newsletter – it feels like the first third of the year passed by so quickly! As the holiday season approaches, it is with heartfelt warmth that we take an opportunity to acknowledge the commitment of the stu-dents, parent/guardian community, and staff of Ford Elementary School. Together we focus ev-eryday on the learning and wellbeing of our children. To walk through our halls, one sees children intrigued by new concepts and passionately discussing their ideas, parents volunteering to help events and activities run smoothly and staff working collaboratively to ensure everything from the supervision of Mustangs during play time to customized and designed lesson plans center around engaging curriculum for each and every child, and that a value is placed on instructional time optimized for student learning. With the turning of the leaves in November, our school had many opportunities for families to be engaged at Ford Elementary! We were so proud to recognize and honor our Mustangs who participated in the Reflections Fine Arts program at our First Annual Creative Arts Award Ceremony, our students, staff, and Ford families helped us to come together to honor and show our support for our Veterans during our amazing Veteran’s Program, parade, and breakfast, our students and families showed their support for Ford Student Council and helped many of our teachers dress like turkeys for our “Naked Turkey” contest and parade, we welcomed many of our Ford families to enjoy Thanksgiving lunch with our Mustangs, and had a tremendous response to our #EveryKidVotes program for National Election Day @ Ford where every student had the op-portunity to participate in the voting process! When we arrived back from Thanksgiving break, we

Principal’s Pen continued...

We learned so much in November. Honor was our character trait. Honor is letting someone know that you see how valuable they really are. In guidance class this past month, students came and learned about honor. In K-2nd grades, I read the story Duck for Presi-dent. It was a great way to discuss honor, and it happened all during the election and Veteran’s Day celebration at school. We talked about all the people that we honor: president, parents, teachers, vet-erans, etc. We also discussed how we honor those people: listen to them, obey them, follow rules and laws and tell them thank you for all they do. For grades 3-5th, we used parts of the Chick Fil -A core curriculum with four mini videos that talked about honor. One of the fa-vorites was a song that was about shout-outs. We talked about what a shout out is and why we do that. I demonstrated a shout out….”I want to give a shout out to all the cafeteria ladies who get up very early every morning and come to school to fix our meals.” Each person in class then had to give a shout out to a partic-ular person and tell why they were given that shout out. They really did a fabu-lous job on them! Students will be able to cash in their honor bucks soon.

Next month will be focused on Joy k

The GT referral window has ended and GT testing will begin next year. Kindergarten Jan. 3rd - 24th Grades 1-5th Jan. 25th - Feb. 17th Kindergarten students who qualify will be served by March 1st.

Thanks to all, Mrs. Cavanaugh, Counselor512-943-5182

kicked off our Monday with our PTA Fundraiser Reward Reptile show, where I indeed kissed a python and our students had the opportunity to learn, see, and touch many of the reptiles like a crocodile, tortoise, and albino python! Our 3rd-5th grade students were treated on the last day of November to the University of Texas’s Physics Circus and Science show, thanks to the work and support of Ms. Whitmire! It’s been a truly busy month at Ford in November, and December promises to be just as magical for our Mustangs and Ford Family! We look forward to ringing in the holiday season and providing opportunities for you to join our Mustangs through the month of December! We welcomed Bluebonnet Award Winning Author Chris Barton on Tuesday, Dec. 6th, got into the holiday spirit with Ford Choir’s Holiday Concert at First United Method-ist Church, also on Dec. 6th, our 4th & 3rd grade field trips, our Nutcracker activities on campus, our classroom holiday parties on the 15th, and the Ford Holiday Sing Along in PJs on Friday, the 16th! We hope you all have a wonderful winter break from Dec. 19th- Jan. 2nd. We will be so excited to see our Mustangs back at school on Tuesday, Jan. 3rd!

From all of us at Ford Elementary School, we wish you and your family a beautiful and joyful holiday season. Finally, on a personal note, I would like to wish our students, our parents, our staff and the community a happy holiday and a celebration filled with joy and family. It is moments like this, when we can pause, catch our breath and look back that we realize how privileged and lucky we are to be part of this amazing Georgetown community. In Merry Mustang Pride,Jessica McMullen, Ford Principal

Counselor’s Corner

Counselor’s Corner

PAGE 2 of 8

P.E. NEWSDuring the month of November students learned the names of the muscles and bones in the body. They also learned about volleying and serving, lacrosse, gymnastics and rhythms. Students were encouraged to dribble, walk, gallop, run, tip toe, slide and hop to the beat of the music. Students also had fun dancing and doing Jazzercise. Thank you to Mrs. Boswell and her team from George-town Jazzercise for spending a day with our students and teaching their craft to all our students on Dec 1st! That’s 330 minutes of Jazzercise in a single day! Also a big thank you to Coach Leslie Ellsworth for securing balance beams and wedge mats from her friends at First Baptist church. Students enjoyed practicing hand stands, cartwheels, for-ward rolls and egg rolls to name a few. Lastly, thank you to Georgetown Youth

Lacrosse for loaning us lacrosse equip-ment. The opportunity to participate in the exciting sport of lacrosse is always a favorite with Ford students!

Upcoming Events: Rein-deer Run at San Gabriel Park on Saturday December 10 sponsored by The Locker. I look forward to seeing you at the Fun Run!

Reminders: Please encourage your student to wear rubber sole shoes to PE each day. It is a great idea to pack your extra shoes in your backpack if you wear sandals, crocs, cowboy boots or ugg style boots to school. For safety reasons please wear rubber sole shoes to PE. Thank you for your support with this concern.

Megan Stevenson, PE Teacher

READ @ THE FORD LIBRARY 24/7

Mustang Art News

Order more by January 15th online at https://order.arttoremember.com. Create an online art gallery using the access code located on your catalog. Shop useful custom products that display your child’s artwork!

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday break.

Sincerely,Agnieszka Szatkowski, Art Teacher at Ford Elementary

Our students prepared 550 ornaments for the Ford Christmas trees! They are on display and the students will be able to take their ornaments home right before Christmas break.

We no longer need water bottles.

Thank you to all of you who sent in water bottles with your children, or

This holiday season is the perfect time to give the gift of reading! Spend time reading together every day. Just read below about the benefits of raising strong readers from Raising Bookworms by Emma Walton Hamilton.

Reading skills correspond directly to one’s ability to…– be an informed citizen– communicate effectively– earn a higher salary– succeed in one’s chosen career, and– achieve personal fulfillment

Literary readers are:– 3 times as likely to attend a performing arts event– 4 times as likely to visit an art museum– 2 1/2 times as likely to do volunteer or charity work– 1 1/2 times as likely to attend sporting events, and– 1 ½ times as likely to participate in sports activities.

Read the whole article @ http://raisingbookworms.com/resources/reading-and-literacy-statistics/

You can read everyday, all day at the Ford Library! All you need is the inter-net and a device! Students can read on our many digital shelves. Below is a list of our user names and passwords!

BookFlix ford/mustangPebbleGo ford/readCapstone No password requiredFollett Ford/libraryBrain Pop/Brain Pop Jr gisdford/labAND OUR ALL NEW…Learning A to Z see your teacher for passwords

So enjoy the holidays and GIVE THE GIFT OF READING TO YOUR CHILD!

dropped them off yourselves. The or-naments would not have been such a success without your help.

Art to Remember Fundraising products ordered arrived December 6th! If you think you missed an item or would like to order more, you still can. The new deadline is January 15th and those products will arrive after in the spring semester.

Want to be a Volunteer in Art? Please email me at szatkowskia@georgetownisd.org, or call at 512-943-5180, ext. 7937, to find out how you can help.

PAGE 3 of 8

ART CLUB!For their last project this semester, the art club students worked together to create two amazing oversized characters for Ford’s Nutcracker themed Christmas. The characters are the Nutcracker and Clara. They are currently on display on the Ford stage in the cafeteria.

Happy Holidays from the Library!

DECEMBER

newsKINDERGARTEN

THANKYOU

* *Thank you for all

of your support

that you provide

at home and in

the classroom.

REMINDERSDecember 15 Winter Holiday Party (2:00- 2:45 P.M.)December 16 Early ReleaseDec. 19 - Jan. 3 Student HolidayHoliday Break Begins 12/19Return to school 1/3

A PEEK AT OUR WEEKSNov. 28 - Dec. 2 Holiday TraditionsDec. 5-9 Winter Holidays Dec. 12-16 Winter Holidays

BY THE END OF THIS MONTH YOUR CHILD SHOULD KNOW:• Letters of the alphabet and their sounds• Word Wall Words• Counting to 50• Numbers 1-20 (identify, write and match numeral to quantity)• Also-Patterns (ABC); sorting; number lines; one to one correspondence; more and less; positional concepts; fractions; geometric shapes

PLEASE REMEMBER...• To read to your child each night• Have your child read to you the book he/she brings home from school• Continue to practice counting, writing and reading with your child• To help your child study his/her spelling words

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SECOND GRADE THIRD GRADEWow! Time flies when you’re having fun. We can’t believe the first semester is almost finished. Here’s what we’ll be learning this month in all subjects:

MATH• Subtraction up to 100 with regrouping• Problem Solving

SOCIAL STUDIES SCIENCEHoliday Celebrations Objects in the Sky

LANGUAGE ARTS / READINGCharactersProblem/SolutionSettingComplete SentencesABC Order

Third grade has been hard at work this semester! We’re wrapping up math this nine weeks with person-al finance literacy. We’ll be exploring decisions involv-ing income, spending, saving, credit, and charitable giving. In science, we will conduct experiments to test force and motion of various objects. In language arts and reading, we are examining the form and elements of literary nonfiction with a focus on biographies.

Our social studies celebrations unit will conclude with a “Float Parade” on December 16th. Each student will research, design, and create a shoe box float to represent a holiday or celebration from around the world. Finally, our field trip to the Williamson Museum and historic square is Fri-day, December 9th. We’ve been studying the history of Georgetown, so we can’t wait to explore the museum and courthouse and learn more about the history of our town!

PAGE 5 of 8

Don’t miss the Float Parade on Dec. 16th!

Moon Phases, Finances and Raz Kids! Those are the buzz words around the 4th grade these days. The moon phases project will come toan end as the moon charts are due on Friday, December 9th. We will begin work on our highly anticipated Science Fair Projects. There will be several well thought out projects entered in to the competition.

The year is passing by quite swiftly, but in this holiday season,

we would like to expressour gratitude for

our 4th grade families with hard working children and supportive parents.

FOURTH GRADEOur annual trip to the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum took place Wednesday, December 7th. We saw the Imax Film Beautiful Earth, the 4-D film Spirit of Destiny, along with the museum exhibits. In Math, we will wrap up the semester with a personal finance unit. This will entail an in class project where students plan and execute a budget learning about debits and credits.

In Language Arts, we have completed several novel studies while moving in to

the non-fiction arena with the introduc-tion of Raz Kids. Students are enjoying the opportunity to choose non-fiction books within the Raz Kids website. We are opening the computer lab in our hallway at 7:20 in the morning to afford all of our students the time and comput-er resources to participate in this highly accredited program. Our development in writing continues to flourish as stu-dents learn the process of planning and executing a well thought-out expository essay.

On December 15th, we will pull out our passports to travel around the world in our Christmas Around the World event. We will visit Italy, South Korea, Brazil, Australia, and Mexico learning about Christmas traditions and enjoying a tasty cultural treat.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

FIFTH GRADEPAGE 6 of 8

In Math, we recently tested over Topic 3 (the second half) which was multiplying decimals. We are now in Topic 6, Dividing Decimals. We will test over this before the Christmas Break. Following Topic 6 will be Topic 7: Prime and Composite Numbers and Fractions followed by multiplication and division of fractions.

In Science, we are studying the earth, sun and moon as well as reviewing the order of the planets, the sea-sons, moon phases, and shadows. As you are outside this month with your family, take note of the position of the Sun and moon and how that creates the moon phases and shadows on earth. We will test over that unit before Christmas break. After the holidays, we will be studying force and motion.

All 5th grade students should be starting on their STEM projects.

Projects are due on January 18th, 2017.

Please contact your child’s science teacher (Whitmire or Kelley) if you have

any questions.

In Social Studies we are taking a “walking tour” of Williamsburg to learn about daily life in the colonial Virginia capital. In groups students will examine the dif-ferent aspects of colonial life—such as government in the Governor’s Palace, social life in the Raleigh Tavern and religion in the Bruton Parish Church, education at the College of William & Mary(boys only)/Dame School (girls only) and slave life. From chapter 9 we will move on to chapter 10 to learn about the tensions between the colonists and Britain prior to the Revolutionary War. The situations will be compared to the conflict between a child and a parent.

In Reading/Language Arts, we are discussing nonfic-tion text features such as headings, print changes, labels, time lines, table of contents, glossary and their purpose. By understanding text features, students will be able to comprehend the book more easily and know where to look for information. After learning these fea-tures, we will move into text structure in nonfiction. Text Structure allows students to look more closely at the text by describing, sequencing, comparing/contrasting, iden-tifying the problem and solution along with cause and ef-fect. Many of the students are also working in book clubs with various reading assignments. Students should still be reading daily to add to the 40 book challenge.

Collect Box Tops throughout the 2016-2017 year and place them in the box located outside of the front office!

When submitting your Box Tops, please ensure all sub-mitted Box Tops are NEATLY trimmed and NOT expired.

Attach Box Tops to the collection sheet using tape or glue. Please do not use staples.

You can also submit Box Tops in a sealed bag.

Box Tops that are expired and/or do not have the entire date visible on the Box Top cannot be redeemed for our school.

Additional collection sheets are available in the hallway across from the main office.

Box Top collected earns money for our school!

PAGE 7 of 8

Howdy Mustang Partners! Our Annual Spring Ford Family Fun Night will be comin’ ‘round the corner so stay tuned for more details!

The class lists for the 2016-2017 school year have been added to our online directory in Fourleaf. To access our directory, download the Fourleaf app from the Apple App Store (https://appstore.

com/fourleaf) or access from any device at www.fourleaf.net.

For Android users, bookmark Fourleaf to your home screen for easy access to your directory until the app becomes available in Google Play later this year. Any families who are not currently in our directory but would like to join, should go to https://fourleaf.net/ford and enter their email address. If Fourleaf does not recognize the email, the site will send them through the On-line Registration process to request access to the Ford directory. If you the above methods prove unsuccess-ful, please contact Kristi Fluitt for more help (kristifluitt@suddenlink.net.)

FORD PTA DIRECTORY ON

WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT!

FORD PTA WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR

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