DECEMBER 2017

. . .in this issue . . .happenings in the classrooms…

. . .after school program… . . . .from the book nook… .

. . .P IC… . . .counselor’s corner… . . .nurse’s notes… . . .pe and health.. .

PRINCIPAL’S CORNER.. .

This year the state of Wyoming has adopted a new assessment system called WY-TOPP. Sundance Elementary will no longer assess students using the PAWS Assessment, as last year was the final year for PAWS. The Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress (WY-TOPP) is a system of interim, modular on-demand, and summative assessments in English language arts, mathematics, and science. The WY-TOPP interim assessments in reading and mathematics are adminis-tered in fall for grades 3-10, in winter for grades 1-10. In spring, the interim reading and math assessments will be ad-ministered for grades K-2.

The WY-TOPP science assessment is administered in grades 4, 8, and 10. The WY-TOPP writing assessment is administered in grades 3, 5, 7, and 9. The WY-TOPP summative assessments are administered late-spring in grades 3-10. The students receive immediate feedback on their scores and the problems that they answered incorrectly.

The writing assessment will be a segment within the ELA summative assessment. The writing assessment will include 1 stand-alone prompt. Because of the adaptiveness of the exam, students in grades 3 and 5 will be presented with an opinion or an informative/explanatory prompt. Test Dates: Winter Interim window January 16, 2018-February 9, 2018 (Grades 1-10) Spring Interim window April 16, 2018-May 11, 2018 (Grades 3-10)

K-2 Program Monday– Math & Craft Night

Tuesday– Reading & Cooking Night

Wednesday– Math & Construction Night

Thursday– Reading & Free Choice Night

3-6 Program Monday– Board Games & Building Night

Tuesday– Science & Engineering Night

Wednesday– Cooking & Technology Night

Thursday– Reading & Free Choice Night

There is always homework, reading, and/or

enrichment activity time until 4:00 PM. If your

child had homework that you would like us to

follow through with please let their classroom

teachers know. If they do not have homework,

alternative activities will be provided.

On occasion, Ms. Bonnie from the Public Library,

Sara Hooper from the Extension Office, Raesha

Sell from CCNRD, and Ranger Joe from Devil’s

Tower will visit the after school programs for

some fun activities and to share their

knowledge with the students.

Additional information or registration paperwork

can be found on the website or by calling the

school office.

November in Ms. Courtney’s room was busy. We continued our learning of how to decompose numbers, and memorizing our math facts to 20, always working toward excellence. In Reading, we continued to work on different strategies. This month we learned to make sure we reread so that we understand the text, and how to identify the main topic and key details in our nonfiction stories. We loved learning more about the United States symbols in Social Studies, and began our unit on Careers. We did a fun Science investigation about different bird beaks.

3-6 After School Studies Program

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ~Nelson Mandela

For the last couple of weeks, second grade has been work-ing hard on creating a presentation that includes in-formation about the student, their families, and their herit-age. This project allows stu-dents to practice their typing skills, conduct re-search, and have quality conversations with their family. They then used their speaking and listen-ing skills when their families came in to listen to them present. In math, we have tackled arrays.

During November we began new units of study in

all subject areas. We studied place value in

math, began a new nonfiction unit in reading

workshop, and worked diligently during writing

and social studies to compile our family project. Thank you for your help at

home with gathering the information. This project covered speaking and

listening standards, two writing standards, and a social studies standard.

We also greatly appreciate all parents who were able to join us for our

presentations. After Thanksgiving we began a Wyoming Agriculture in the

Classroom unit on Wyoming’s public lands. We are anxious for the month of

December and all of the excitement that the holiday season brings.

The past month has been a whirl wind! The Kindergarten, with the help of the 6th graders, wrote articles in the newspaper about how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey. The Student Council spent time with us helping the students write their letter to Santa! Finally, the class put on a performance of The First Thanksgiving for their fellow students. The class continues to work on their sight words, reading, and syl lables. Next month we wi l l begin middle sounds and vowels. The students are working hard on their writing skil ls and their drawings. In Math they are writ ing numbers to 20 and counting to 100. It has been an amazing year and we are very Thankful in Kindergarten!

Strep Throat or a Cold This time of year we start to see a lot of colds and sore throats. So, there is always the

question, “Is my sore throat from strep or a cold?

Some of the differences between strep throat and a sore throat from a cold include:

At the November 15th PIC meeting,

the traveling bake sale scheduled

for December 7th was discussed.

Gail made a flyer and will get that

out to the public. Gail and Ashley will

help on the bake sale day but will need two more people to help. Movie

Nights were discussed and the December 1st movie night was moved to

December 8th due to the Sundance Parade of Lights. Decker’s Market

donated water and popcorn for this years movie’s nights and PIC wants to

extend a huge thank you to them for their continued support of our

children! PIC is still collecting Box Tops and Our Family Brand labels– just a

reminder that the Campbells Soup label program is no longer doing the

Labels for Education. The next PIC meeting will take place on December

19th at 3:15 PM.

Symptoms of Strep Throat:

Sore throat that comes on rapidly

Difficulty swallowing or painful swallowing

Loss of appetite

Headaches

Fever, sometimes greater than 101* Fahrenheit

A raw, red appearance to the back of the throat

White pus on tonsils

Tender, high lymph nodes in neck

Rash

Absence of a cough, stuffy nose, or other

upper-respiratory symptoms

Treatment: Strep Throat needs antibiotics.

Symptoms of sore throat from a Cold:

Sore throat that gets better after 1-2 days, or is worse in

morning and better as day goes on.

Runny nose or stuffy nose

Cough

Watering eyes

Low grade fever: Under 101* Fahrenheit

Mild body aches

Treat the cold with rest, fluids, gargle with salt water

and any over the counter cold/fever reducing med-

ication that is recommended by your doctor. Re-

member we cannot give any medication at school

without a doctor note and parent note.

Fun Fact: The largest overdue fine for a library book was $345.14. The book was 47 years overdue!

-Grammerly.com

The Scholastic Book Fair was a huge success! Congratulations

to Keaton Mills for winning the wild west trivia contest and to

first graders Tyler Schmidt, Paisley Cundy, Benny Wilen, and

Macy Barfield, for correctly guessing how many candy nuggets

were in the estimation jar.

We Were Caught Being

Awesome in October!

Book Tweet of the Month: Annika Haugen reviewed

Crossover by Kwame Alexander. She says, “In

Crossover, the setting is mainly at the basketball

court and Josh’s house. The main problem is that J.B.,

Josh’s twin, is completely ignoring him. I think other

people should read this book because it showed that

Josh is pretty brave, and Josh has to go through

really hard stuff. I think you should read this book to

find out what happens.”

Hoping everyone has a safe and meaningful Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…

warmest wishes for you and your dearest ones. So very thankful for all the wonderful staff, students, parents, and supporters of Sundance Schools and Crook County School District #1.

Ms. Alice Willey

OCTOBER

LITTLE

BULLDOGS

preparing today for success tomorrow

In 5th grade we

watch the news

every day. We have 3

groups for Math and

Language Arts. We

have 12,000 reading minutes and are learning

converting in Math. Also, we will try to fig-

ure our Ted Ed riddles and figurative language.

We will play Prodigy but first we have to fin-

ish IXL before we can play Prodigy. These are

some things we do in 5th grade. By: Parker S.

Ms. Love's class has been busy. In Language Arts and Science, we finished our Spider research, celebrated Veterans and wrote about their importance in our own lives. We are learning about the rules for using apos-trophes in possessive nouns and plural, possessive nouns. In Math we are building on our multiplication fact fluency, and using the Order of Operations in equations. We now know, "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" to help us remember.

November in Mrs. Ludemann's third grade has flown by! We have worked so hard and finished up our narra-tive writings, sending those on their way with a publish-ing party. We have starting committing our multiplication facts to memory with fun songs to help us remember how to skip count. Point of view has been our focus in reading and we are continually working on our fluency. We gave thanks together before the Thanksgiving break and are looking forward to our big auction next month! We will see who has saved enough to win big :)

November was an eventful month with the sixth graders participating in the Veteran’s Day Assembly! Aspen Jones and Keaton Mills were chosen to read their patriotic poems to the

Veterans! We also enjoyed coming together to share our food for “stone soup” before Thanksgiving break. With only three weeks left until the holidays, we have many concepts to

still learn! In Language Arts we have been analyzing the author’s tone and how it impacts the reader’s mood. This is knowledge students will need to utilize throughout the year. We

also covered informational text structure. Students were able to identify, examine, and create different nonfiction passages to match with each structure. Many children typically

struggle with reading informational text. Therefore, I always encourage family members to expose their child to other pieces of reading materials, such as newspapers or magazines.

This will continue to build their comprehension, while exposing them to real-world events. For figurative language this month, we focused on hyperboles. Students are continuing to

use these literary elements to enhance their expository and narrative writings. For vocabulary, we are still studying Greek and Latin prefixes. Students are encouraged to study the

meanings throughout the week. In Science, we are doing a unit on Motion and Forces. Sixth graders are using their math skills to find velocity, distance, and time. They also had to

solve problems with positive and negative acceleration. In the month of December, we will continue on with different types of Friction. In 6th Grade in Mr. Klopp’s class we are

in the middle of our Greek Gods and Goddesses research project. The students are working very hard at getting their tri-fold boards prepared and are on the computers taking notes

and typing their captions. In Mathematics one group is working on Positive and Negative rational numbers while my other group is completing a chapter on the division of deci-

mals. We are MAP testing next week in Mathematics and Language Arts. We will then be able to check their progress from their MAP test in September. Only 3 weeks until the

Christmas break…Whew the school year is flying by. I am very proud of the student’s effort thus far and I know they will continue to soar. Have a wonderful December.

PE DEPARTMENT

In Miss Needhma’s class in science we have just finished up our unit on the skeletal system. We

will now be learning about our digestive system, healthy eating, and personal hygiene. In

social studies, we have continued our study of Native Americans. Currently, we are working

with partners to research a particular plains tribe and create poster reports. In math class,

we are exploring multiplication and division. In reading, we are reading Helen Keller and

learning of her many accomplishments. Our big project this month will be the fourth grade

annual bake sale. The proceeds from this sale will be used to purchase items for the food pan-

try and other charities of the fourth grade’s choosing. This project teaches many skills such as

measurement, making change, comparison shopping, researching organizations, graphing, and

community service. The bake sale will be held during lunch on December 14 th.

November has been a busy month in

Mrs. Disney’s 4th grade. Students

have been spending time learning

about their skeletal system, mus-

cles and how their reflexes work.

We are now branching out into some specialized parts. We are working on learning how the

eye works and spent some time dissecting cow eyes. Students found them to be rather fasci-

nating. Each student chose a Native American tribe from our area on which they are doing

some research. They will create a poster of their information and share this with the class.

We will be working on a number of our standards with this project ranging from social studies

to a number of reading, writing and language standards. With the holiday activities ramping

up, if you are doing some baking have your 4 th grader help to practice their fraction work from

math. They are working with the basic fractions and finding ones that are equivalent as well.

With all of these areas reading is still used in every area. Students are reading fiction, non-

fiction, and some are working on some drama and their acting skills to get a better under-

standing of how drama really works. The end of the second nine weeks is creeping up quickly

so we are trying to sample all genres of text as much as possible. As December approaches, we

will be saying good-bye to our student teacher, Jaylinn Lohr, as well. We will miss having her

with us. She has been a pleasant addition to our room this fall and we wish her well in all her

future plans.

In the season of gratitude I would just like to thank you all for

the opportunity to have fun with your kids on a daily ba-

sis. My job is pure joy and those students are the reason

why! We have had an awesome start to quarter 2. We began

with wrestling and had the chance to learn from real ex-

perts... Mr. Hartwig, state champ and Mr. Broderson. college

national champ and 4 time coach of the year. They spread

their knowledge with all of our potential wrestlers. This may

have been one of my favorite units because of how excited

the students were about it. We will begin our fitness pre-

testing after the Thanksgiving break. Students will be ex-

pected to do their very best on tests such as: the mile run,

perfect push-ups, perfect sit-ups, chin-ups, sprints, endur-

ance sprints, wall sits, and the sit and reach. After the pre-

tests we will be working out to increase our fitness lev-

els. These workouts will last 2 months. We will post test and

get our scores for the presidential challenge. You should see

a significant difference in your student after the post

test. Just a quick note we had one incident last year during

our fitness unit with a students having low blood sugar. This

occurred because the student did not eat breakfast before

school. Please make sure your students are eating a proper

diet while they are working out. We would like to make sure

no students get light headed during running in particu-

lar. Thank you for your attention on this matter. The encour-

agement unit is going strong. For the first two weeks of No-

vember, Miss Needham’s 4th grade and Mrs. Fremont’s 1st

grade won encouraging class awards, with Annie Harmon

being the individual most encouraging to his/her classmates.

As for the 2nd two weeks, the best two classes for encour-

agement were Mrs. Inghram’s 2nd grade and Mrs. Ludemann’s

3rd grade. The most encouraging individual is Klase Hento. We

have really come a long way in our vocal leadership which

brings us together as one big team! -Coach

5th & 6th Grade Veteran’s Day Program

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December 2017 Happenings

@ Sundance Elementary

December 7th Pic traveling bake sale

December 12th 1st & 2nd grade Christmas program, 7 PM, SE Gym

December 14th 4th grade bake sale

December 20th School release at 2:05 pm

December 21-january 2 Christmas break, school resumes January 3, 2018

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