Dear Parents and Friends,

Happy New Year! We hope that all of our families had a relaxing extended break and that your holidays were filled with fun, friends, and time with family. Students’ second report cards will be sent home on January 31. We all want our children to continue to grow both academically and socially as we transition into 2018 and with your help we are sure they will be successful. As principals we are frequently asked by parents and family members what can be done to help. Please consider the following:
⦁ Keep an open line of communication with your child’s teachers. By staying in touch with your child’s teachers you will have a better understanding of special assignments and more specifically your child’s strengths and needs. The Parent Portal is available to each parent through our website. If you are unfamiliar with this tool, please call the main office for assistance. Through the Parent Portal you can conveniently check on your child’s academic progress as his or her grades are posted.
⦁ Take time to celebrate your child’s achievements both big and small. Our students work tirelessly each day and they should be praised for their hard work and dedication. Remember to point out your child’s accomplishments as there are many each and every day!
⦁ Try to establish a consistent routine and good study habits. Having a consistent time and quiet place to study and complete homework can make a huge difference in your child’s performance. Additionally, these routines can help students as the winter months inevitably transition to spring and recreational activities increase.
⦁ Ask your child how they are doing in school and be sure to check homework folders, paying close attention to any written comments from the teacher. By doing this, you will better understand the areas the teacher sees your child excelling in and also those areas that may need additional attention.

As we begin the New Year our PTO has several fun events planned. The next event scheduled is the attended a PTO meeting you may want to consider coming to see all the exciting things they are doing for our students and their families. The next PTO meeting is scheduled on 1/8/18. A School Messenger call will go out the Friday before the meeting.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or either myself or Kimberly Eller. On behalf of the faculty and staff at Kenmore Elementary, Mrs. Eller and I wish you a healthy and prosperous New Year!
Mr. Joshua Mangold: Principal
Mrs. Kimberly Eller: Assistant Principal

Pre-K
Welcome back and happy 2018! Ms. Martin and I hope you had a super holiday filled with family and friends. I can't believe we are almost half way through the year! We will start back with discussing the season of Winter and continue learning about our Alphafriends! Soon we will approach our 100th day. Look for updates to come on how we will celebrate this achievement! Happy New Year!
~Mrs. English and Ms. Martin

Kindergarten
We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season! We will begin the New Year reading and writing about winter. Fair Hill Nature Center will visit us to teach us all about hibernation and other things animals do in the winter. We have been working hard on letter sounds and will begin learning word families. Please continue to practice the sight words that come home. We are excited to begin our Kindergarten Sight Word Club. In math, we are continuing our work with numbers to 20 and will soon begin exploring addition within 10. We are looking forward to celebrating the 100th day of school in February.
As a reminder, please send in a set of extra clothes for the current season if you haven’t already. Additionally, please remind your child to leave their toys at home. We will have a special day for children to bring an item from home for “show and tell”. Thank you for your continued support in making each kindergarten day a success!
~Mrs. Heckert, Ms. Hendrickson, and Mrs. Moss

First Grade
Happy New Year from the first grade team! 
In January, your child will practice counting by 10 and will identify and write two-digit numbers to understand place value. Your child will continue reading fantasy texts with an author study involving Syd Hoff. In writing, students will be learning about book reviews and opinion pieces. By the end of the marking period your child will have written their very own book review based on their opinion of a book we will read in class. We are so proud of all the progress they've made so far. Please encourage your child to continue practicing their word wall words and spelling words. We hope that you had a wonderful holiday season! 
~Ms. Carr, Mrs. Kurucz, Mrs. Oswald, and Mrs. Moss

Second Grade
We ended 2017 on a high note in second grade! We are continuing to explore fiction and nonfiction texts across the curriculum. We finished reading two great mysteries and now we are reading about different indian tribes. Please continue reading with your child and asking them questions about what they are reading! In math, we worked hard to add and subtract two digit numbers. We applied this in one and two-step story problems. In January, we will begin exploring time and coins. We are proud of all of their effort! Please encourage your child to continue practicing their basic math facts! In social studies, we finished our citizenship unit and are beginning to learn about maps, globes, landforms, and communities. Thank you for all that you do to make your second grader successful! Happy New Year!
~Mrs. Mullinix, Mrs. Perrine, Mrs. Boyko, & Ms. Bands

Third Grade
Happy New Year! We will be ending this marking period reading stories about Paul Revere, maps and globes, and the water cycle. We will also be practicing our writing skills in our daily journal entries.
As we begin the third marking period, we will be reading the book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and Grandfather's Journey. We will continue learning writing skills, as well as grammar skills.
In math we have been working on creating and interpreting bar graphs and picture graphs. We also have developed our addition and subtraction strategies. Looking ahead, we will be moving on to multiplying by multiples of ten and solving 2-step word problems involving addition and subtraction.
The second marking period will end our time in social studies with communities, and we will begin science once again.
~Mrs. Bosler, Mrs. Fuller, Mrs. Combs, and Mrs. English

Fourth Grade
In fourth grade math we’re finishing up factors and multiples and ready to move on to fractions. Fractions will take us right up until the end of the 2nd marking period. Please continue to work on memorizing the basic math facts. Students should know addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts; this makes almost everything we do in math easier!
As a reminder, you are able to access the Pearson enVision Math Program at home with your child. We hope the following directions will be helpful:
⦁ Go to ⦁ http://www.ccps.org
⦁ Select “Students”
⦁ Select “PowerSchool” - have your child log in using the login they use at school.
⦁ On the main PowerSchool page, left side bottom is the link to Pearson Math (enVision)
This will take your child directly to the enVision math page. From here they can select “Classes” to view videos and access extra practice activities and games that go with each lesson.
In reading news, many students have completed their first ten books in the 40-Book Challenge! Students should be recording each book they read and having parents sign a chart for every ten books. Completed charts get turned in and students then sign the class chart for the number of books they are up to. We look forward to seeing each student continue to develop their love of books and reading through this fun, year-long challenge!
~Mrs. Ide, Mrs. Sessions, and Ms. Bands

Fifth Grade
Happy New Year!
During English Language Arts fifth grade will finish up the second marking period solving the mystery in our shared reading book The Westing Game. Students have engaged in this book and are wanting to read more every day. We will finish our integrated reading book A Single Shard, about a Korean pottery maker.
This marking period we will be returning to science. We will begin the marking period learning about structures and properties of matter. During the second half of the marking period, we will explore space systems. The students will engage in activities and possibly a planetarium here at Kenmore to help aid in their understanding of Earth’s systems.
In math we have been focusing on division of whole numbers and will be finishing up our division unit dividing decimals!  In the third marking period, we will begin our next unit focusing on fractions. The students have been doing a great job in class and really enjoy using the Chrome books almost daily during our math lessons. Remember, your child can log into their math account anytime to access videos, games, and activities to help them practice their math skills at home!
~Mrs. Fetterolf, Mrs. Rose, Mrs. Woollens, and Mrs. Combs

Media Center
During snowy months what makes the library a busy place? The book club of course. From January until the beginning of March the book club will be meeting during lunch to read, talk about books, and read more. We are meeting on Thursdays. Students who participate in the club will get dibs on some pretty neat literature.

Spring Book Fair:
It’s coming! I am planning to run the Scholastic Book Fair in May; the week before Memorial Day. The money will be used to buy new books and materials for the library.
Mr. Mychalus
School Librarian
Kenmore & Charlestown Elementary

Art
Greetings!
We are buzzing in the art room with fun holiday activities and fifth grade just completed creating the new Gym Fitness Fruits and Veggies! The previous art hung in the gym for 18 years and now fifth grade will leave their mark on Kenmore! The rest of the grades have completed the color unit, and now we have moved on to clay. We are creating cottages, coil pots, birds, pinch pot fish, flowers, and lollipops! Looking forward to creating with Kenmore Elementary students this winter!
Yours in Education,
Kendall Clark

 
Counselors Corner

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  
January is often a time when people set-goals in order to help them be the best they can be!  Over the next few months I will be working with the upper grades on topics such as goal setting, time management, test-taking skills, and a growth vs. fixed mindset!  I will be working with the primary grades to be the best they can be with topics such as - listening skills, goal setting, self-esteem and Personal Safety!

INTERN ALERT: Ms. Sydney Molod, a University of Delaware Health and Human Services major, will be working with me this Spring Semester starting in February. She is super excited to get to know our Kenmore kids and explore the School Counseling profession!

THE GREAT KINDNESS CHALLENGE
Kenmore will take part in The Great Kindness Challenge during the week of January 22 through January 26.  Help spread a little kindness this week at home too! Please visit http://www.greatkindnesschallenge.org/ for more information!

PERSONAL SAFETY CURRICULUM PREVIEW
There will be a Personal Safety Curriculum Preview opportunity on January 24, 2018 from 2:10-4:00. If you would like to look over the Personal Safety materials that will be used for your child’s grade level, please rsvp at jsteczak@ccps.org or 410-996-5060.

PBIS RELATED - Be Positive - Be Productive - Be Prepared
We are so proud to announce that our Marking Period 1 Green Zone celebration was a huge success! 99% of our students had no ODRs and 3 or less MIRs during Marking Period 1 and were able to participate in all of the outdoor yard games that were set up for them on the back field. A great time was had by all and thank you to the parent/grandparent volunteers who helped out during this event. Thank you to the parents and teachers who donated the many yard games for our event.

MP 1 Disc. Data    MIRs    ODRs
August                    0          0
September               3         1
October                   6          1
November               1           0

COMING UP…In January we will hold our Marking Period 2 Green Zone celebration...BOARD GAME DAY! Please stay tuned for more information regarding this event.
Mrs. Jen Steczak

Upcoming Events

January 2 through January 16 Joe Corbi Pizza Fundraiser
January 8 PTO meeting – 6:00
January 15 School closed – holiday
January 19 PTO sponsored sock hop – 6:00 – 7:30
January 23 End of 2nd marking period
January 30 Joe Corbi Pizza pick up 4:00 – 5:30
January 31 Report cards issued to students
February 12 PTO meeting time 6:00
February 19 School closed - holiday
February 26 3rd marking period Mid-Term reports issued to students

JOE CORBI FUNDRAISER

Our annual Joe Corbi Pizza fundraiser will run from January 2 through January 16, 2018. The pizza kits will be available for pick-up on Tuesday, January 30 from 4:00 – 5:30. Information and order forms have been sent home. The monies collected from this fundraiser will be used for resources to enhance our curriculum.

Please remember our Box Top for Education fundraiser runs all year and is easy! Just clip those box tops and send them in to your child’s teacher(s).

Visit www.boxtops4education.com for more information.