Kenmore Elementary 2475 Singerly Road Elkton, Maryland 21921 Phone (410)996-5060 Fax (410)996-5467

Rose Clark, Principal
George Whisner, Local Support Teacher

Kenmore Cubhouse News

February 2008

A Message from Ms. Clark…

“Virtue is the music of the soul, the harmony of the passions; it is the order, the symmetry, the interior beauty of the mind; the source of the truest pleasures, the fountain of the sublimest and most perfect happiness.”
Mary Collyer

            February is a month when many people like to show they care about you and what you are doing. Here are some special gifts that you could extend to someone special:

The gift of listening….
But you must really listen. No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response. Just listening.

The gift of affection….
Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.

The gift of laughter….
Clip cartoons, share articles and funny stories. Your gift will say, “I love to laugh with you.”

The gift of a written note….
It can be a simple “Thank you for the help” note or a full sonnet. A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime, and may even change a life.

The gift of a compliment….
A simple and sincere, “You look great in red,” “You did a super job” or “That was a wonderful meal” can make someone’s day.

The gift of a favor….
Every day, go out of your way to do something kind.

The gift of solitude….
There are times when we want nothing better than to be left alone. Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.

The gift of cheerful disposition….
The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone, really it’s not that hard to say, Hello or Thank You.

Front Door Security Lock and Car Loop Entrance/Exit Doorway

Our front door is now locked all of the time for security purposes. A buzzer has been installed to the right of the double doors and a door release is located in the main office to allow entry by visitors. Please ring the buzzer. Someone will visually look to identify the person at the door. If you are recognized the door will be released and you may enter. If you are not recognized you will be asked for identification. We do have a television monitor in the office so we can review identification and the individual’s purpose for coming to our school. Please be patient. Please share this change with a grandparent or another relative or friend that may be coming to our school for the first time. Remember we want our children to be as safe as they possibly can be.

An important reminder:  Students should not be arriving earlier than 8:45. This is more critical than ever because the front door is locked and entrance is monitored. Our staff members are preparing for the day until the official arrival time of 8:45. Please do not drop children off prior to 8:40; we do not want anyone standing outside of our building unsupervised. This is the perfect opportunity to begin using the car loop drop-off procedure or having your children ride the bus if they have not been doing so.

You will notice that the gymnasium door may be slightly ajar in the mornings and in the afternoons during the cold weather season. Leaving the door wide open for 10 to 15 minutes brings in too much cold air; our gymnasium has not been warming up very quickly. This will help us conserve energy and have a warmer environment for everyone in the morning classes.

Congratulations to our “Young Authors”
           
We congratulate the following students who entered Cecil County Public Schools’ “Young Authors Contest” this year:
Mia Aloise, Lars Barclay, Abby Brown, Conlan Foster, Emily Herbstritt, Lindsay Jones, Shane Matthews, Braidyn Nicholson, Emma Pettitt, Cortni Potts, Jose Ramirez, and Shelby Roelke

And Special Congratulations to Our Winners
representing Kenmore!
Mia Aloise
Abby Brown
Conlan Foster
           

Two Items of Importance
THANK YOU!!
Thanks to everyone who helped support our annual Joe Corbi Pizza sale.  Our school earned a profit of $2,000. 

Brea Nicholson, Tanner Butler, and Sean Osborne were the top three sellers.  They will each receive a $50.00 savings bond from the school. We appreciate your continued support of all our school activities.

A Word from Mr. Whisner
What does a quality classroom look like from a student’s point of view?  This was the topic of a discussion I recently had with one of our fourth grade classes.  Though it was a fourth grade class, their ideas would apply to any classroom.  Qualities such as respect, cooperation, participation, and caring were described.  Our next step was to identify what the students are doing that is contributing to the development of a quality classroom.  Many positive attributes were listed. We then talked about what the students are doing that might be getting in the way of achieving a quality classroom.  They were quite honest.  Finally, our discussion turned to actions that students could take in order to bring themselves closer to a quality classroom. 

I think that we as adults often assume that students have internalized parent, school, and community expectations for their conduct and choices.  I also think that we should not assume.  Working through a discussion as I did with this fourth grade class served to remind them of the expectations for a quality classroom, taught those students who may not have completely understood what is meant by quality classroom, and put the responsibility for achieving a quality classroom with the students. 

As we move into the third marking period, please talk with your student(s) about what they are doing to establish quality classrooms.  We all have our part to play, what is theirs?

Counselor’s Corner
FEBRUARY’s Character trait is …
Honesty
You can show this trait by doing the following:
…telling the truth
…being trustworthy
…never stealing someone else's possessions or ideas

Congratulations to the following students for being chosen as the Character Kids for their classes for the months of November and December. The Character Trait they displayed was Caring….

Hannah Matthews          Cesar Limon
Mitchell Jones                 Evan Shrewsbury
Jenny Martin                   Jewlyn Kamrud
Andrew Noel                   Jaion Braywood
Madeleine Hurm            Gabrielle Stringer
Jeb Williams                    Randy Jones
Madalyn Granger           Anya Poteet
John Mobley                   Haley Bosler
Kalet Kitts                        Renae Blomquist
Logan Fehlman              Matthew Hurm
Kyle Jones                      Ciera Stringer
Julia Selestock               Frankie Shamrock
Jewel Strong                   Jose Limon
Jenny Martin                   Rachel Pirkey
Kaiden Williams             Brianna Bailey
Nathan Reynolds           Megan Sizemore


Kindergarten:
Mrs. Vaughan would like to welcome Alexis Storm.  Ms. Storm is a senior at the Unviersity of Delaware.  We are so glad to have her as part of our Kindergarten team.

Alphafriend: Larry Lion
Word Family: it – bit, fit, hit, kit, lit, pit, sit
Word Wall Words: it, his, did
Reading: We started a new theme “Sunshine and Raindrops”. This theme is about all kinds of weather. This week we will read Chicken Soup, What Will the Weather Be Like Today? and Checking the Weather. We will be discussing and identifying fantasy and realism in stories.

Math: We will be counting orally by ones, twos, fives, and tens. We learned that pennies are worth one cent, nickels are worth five cents, and dimes are worth ten cents. We will practice counting pennies by ones, nickels by fives, and dimes by tens.

Pizza Hut Book It Reading Program: January reading logs are due Thursday, January 31. Pizza Hut coupons will be attached to the February 4th newsletter.

Everyday Math Games: We’ve been to the computer lab and visited this site. You can visit this site at home and play the following games to reinforce what we’re learning at school: The Monster Squeeze and Spin a Number.

Reminders to Student/Parents:

-Practice numbers 0-30.
-Practice birthday, phone number, and address.
-Practice word wall words frequently.
-If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at school.

Thank you for your help and support!

News from the Second Grade:
We are so excited to have two student teachers joining us this marking period in the second grade. Ms. Wolbert is working in Mrs. Jones classroom and Ms. Schneider is working in Mrs. Quinn’s room, both are seniors at the University of Delaware. What a great time for us to all learn from one another! The children sure love having them in class tooJ.

The second grade team is working on planning a field trip to Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey for the end of February or early March. We will be in touch with you as soon as we can get the plans finalized. We will request chaperones for each class and we will have a random drawing if lots of interest is made.  On this field trip we will be learning mainly about sea creatures, but we also we learn about several different types of animal habitats. Fortunately, the trip coincides with our newest theme in language arts “Amazing Animals”.           

On Thursday, February 14, 2008 our class Valentine’s Day party will take place at 2:45 p.m. We are asking students to begin bringing in their Valentine’s for students on Wednesday of this week, no earlier please. We would like to have students bring in items for our party in a new way this time.

Another reminder… Some students need to be reminded to bring in their Book Logs each Friday, and to complete at least ten minutes of reading per night.  We know that they can do it! Reading at home is a great time for children to improve their skills and it is very important for their growth.

All of the second grade teachers have noticed that many students do not have the needed school supplies. Please ask your children if they have scissors, gluesticks, crayons, pencils, and journals. It is quite important due to the fact that we do many activities requiring these supplies.

Mrs. Quinn and Mrs. Jones


News from the Third Grade:
We are extremely happy to welcome two UD student teachers who will be with us this marking period.  Mr. Scott Dellosso is teaching with Mrs. Repole and Miss Mansky is teaching with Ms. Malinowski.  It is always great to get some fresh, innovative ideas from new teachers, and send them off into their chosen profession with some old tried and true ideas.

We have completed Theme 3 in Reading and have begun Theme 4, Animal Habitats.  Our Readers/Writers Workshop writing piece for this theme is a research report on an animal written in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.

We are still working on Australia, Sound, and Math Unit 5.

The students who beat their best SRI score for the second marking period were treated to a pizza party.  There were 26 students eligible tfor the party.  WOW!

Some please remembers: look at your child's assignment book EVERY night and initial that you have seen it EVERY night,  return Friday folders on the next school day with your signature on it, return reading logs on the next school day with your initials, we are still collecting can tabs, Boxtops for Education, and Campbell's point certificates.


News from the Fourth Grade:
4th graders (and their teachers) are looking forward to our trip to Franklin Institute on Tuesday.  All classes have completed the magnetism part of our science unit, and have started into forming electrical circuits to light bulbs.  We have also read about Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison.

Next week we will begin o new unit in Math on fractions and their uses.  Also included in the unit is chance and probability.  If your child does not have immediate recall of multiplication facts, now would be a good time to practice them.  Students truly need to know those facts in order to form equivalent fractions.

In language arts, we are reading stories about problem solvers.  Students are writing to persuade.  Grammar focus is on adjectives.  This is a reminder that all 4th graders are expected to turn in a Reading Log every Monday.

In Social Studies, we are working through various regions of the United States.

News from the Fifth Grade:
Half way through the year already! Time flies!  This month we are beginning the Revolutionary War in both Social Studies and language arts.  In Social Studies we will begin investigating the reasons why the colonies wanted freedom from England.  Meanwhile, in language arts we are beginning Theme 3: Voices of the Revolution.  The students will be reading three stories about people during the revolution, beginning with Paul Revere.

In Science, we are in the middle of our mixtures and solutions unit.  It has been really interesting to learn about the difference between mixtures and solutions, and the students really enjoyed watching water evaporate, leaving behind the salt that would not filter out earlier.  The salt crystals were really cool!  We will continue our investigating throughout this month.  Start looking for information about our annual Science Fair.  We will be getting that information out to the students within the first week or so of February.

In Math, the magic word is multiplication!  Study those basic facts!  Our next unit is on algebra, which involves knowing multiplication facts.  In the back of Math Journal 1, which should have come home, there are a couple of Activity Sheet pages that have fact triangles.  If you and your child cut these out, they are terrific flash cards.  Covering up the top number hides the product of multiplication basic facts.  Covering up either of the bottom numbers hides the quotient to a basic division problem.  Practice, practice, practice!  Thanks for your help!

Stay warm!

-Mrs. Bosler, Miss Betz, and Miss McGuirk


Music News:
FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER: MUSIC The KES Cubs Chorus is preparing for the Spring Concert. The Cubs Chorus will be performing "I Need A Vacation" by Mac Huff and John Jacobson. The students have begun work on this fun and energetic program and promises to a wonderful performance. They will be joined by the Band on stage for the SPRING CONCERT on MONDAY, MAY 12th @ 7:00 p.m. We hope to see you there!

This year, for the first time in many years, Mrs. Vogeley and Mr. Moon are going to bring the general music classes in grades 2 and 3 to the stage for a music concert! That's right - SECOND and THIRD GRADE GENERAL MUSIC CLASSES will be performing in their OWN Spring Concert. The SECOND and THIRD grade GENERAL MUSIC Spring Concert will take place on THURSDAY, MAY 29th @ 7:00 p.m.! This is new for both Mrs. Vogeley & Mr. Moon here at Kenmore so we are going to use this as a "trial" of sorts for future years. Only the second and third grade general music students will be performing in a spring concert this year!

For the 8th straight year, Cecil County will present a Elementary Honors Chorus. This chorus is comprised of 5 fifth grade students from each elementary schools in Cecil County. The students selected from Kenmore will be attending 5 rehearsals throughout March and April and will be performing April 8th at Rising Sun High School. All interested students from 5th grade needed to audition and be members of the spring KES Cubs Chorus. The selected students from Kenmore Elementary School are Brianna Bailey, Lindsay Jones, Savannah, Rund, Julianna Eckman, and Taylor Prach! Congratulations to these students! KES music teacher Mr. Moon will once again be conducting this group.


Health News:
Hello students and parents,
As you all know, flu season is upon us. What exactly is the flu? Flu is short for “Influenza”, a respiratory illness characterized by fever, headache, tiredness, dry cough,
sore throat and a runny nose. Complications occur mostly among “high risk” people such as the elderly population and infants, also those with congestive heart disease, asthma, and diabetes.

Seasonal Influenza:

1. Highly infectious
2. Short  incubation period
3. Easily transmitted

 Routes of transmission         

1. Large droplets (sneezing, coughing, contact with saliva)
2. Fomites ( any substance that adheres to and transmits infectious material , ie. doorknobs Kleenex, water faucets handles
3. Rarely airborne over long distance

Here are some things you can do this season to lower your risk of “catching the flu”…

1. Promote hand washing and respiratory etiquette (cover your cough / sneeze)
2. Provide hand sanitizer at work stations
3. Provide gloves to money handlers
4. Get a flu shot
5. Clean shared equipment such as phones and keyboards regularly

And most importantly parents, please keep your children home if they exhibit signs and symptoms of the flu, especially if they have a fever or are vomiting. A child must be without vomiting or a fever for 24 hours before returning to school. This means no fever without any medications in their system for 24 hours, ie; Motrin or Tylenol.

I f you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call me anytime between 8:15 am and 3:15 pm.

- Valeri Konoski, RN (school nurse)

News from Mrs. Roy

GET YOUR COPY OF THE 2007-2008 KENMORE ELEMENTARY YEARBOOK!

Yearbooks will be going on sale soon!  Look for information to be coming home in the next couple of weeks.  Anyone who orders a yearbook before March 1st will be guaranteed a copy.  They will be sold for $15.

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES – Please mark your calendar.

“Our Mission: to provide an excellent Pre-Kindergarten through graduation learning experience that enables ALL students to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required for lifelong learning and productive citizenship in an ever-changing, global society.”