TES  January Newsletter               2009-2010

Title 1 Targeted Assistance School

“To  engage every student  in the learning process and provide a nurturing and
challenging environment for all students”

P.T.O. News:  TES P.T.O. expresses thanks to everyone who helped with the most recent events—Bingo, Breakfast with Santa and Secret Santa Shop.  Thanks to all who donated and /or worked at one of the events.  ANNOUNCING THE TOP THREE SELLERS from the Corbi’s sales!!!!!  Congratulations to Savannah Stewart, Caitlin Mills, and Angelica Sichette.  Top seller prizes are on the way to these individuals.

Enjoy the goodies!

JANE LOWE DAY:    Last year, a Jane Lowe Day was established by the Talbot County Public Library. On January 12, our third and fourth grade students will be working with a storyteller, Noa Baum.  The students will participate in a workshop on storytelling.  On Thursday, January 21 at 4 p.m. Ms. Baum will be at the St. Michaels Branch, Talbot County Free Library for children and families.  This event is open to the public.

THANK YOU CARING STUDENTS!  December is the month of caring and we certainly have students that exemplify that character trait.   After hearing about the tragic loss of a home in Bozman, our sixth grade students wanted to do something to help the family.  Money jars were placed in the community and at school.     A total of  $400. was donated for the cause and deposited in the designated account at Talbot Bank.    Sincere thanks to our students and community for your compassion and donations.    Also, the food drive last month that was sponsored by the sixth grade brought in over 400 items for the food pantry here at TES.   “Do what you can do show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place.”—Rosalynn Carter.  Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little.  Together we can do so much.”  We have had some exemplary examples of seeing her quote in action during the past few months!  Please read the principal’s desk to hear about the caring first graders demonstrated to others.

January Highlights to Remember

Jan. 1            SCHOOL CLOSED
Jan. 4            School in session
Jan. 12            Noa Baum, storyteller at TES for 2nd annual Jane Lowe Day
for grades 3 and 4
Jan. 18            NO SCHOOL Martin Luther King Jr.
Jan. 22            D.A.R.E. graduation for 5th grade 10:45 a.m.
Jan. 25            Second marking term ends
Jan. 26:        NO SCHOOL  Teacher in-service
Jan. 27         Third marking term begins



K-12 Accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

From the principal’s desk:

Our students had the opportunity to hear about and see artifacts from another culture via the experience of Mrs. Fox’s sister.
Over the past several weeks, students in our kindergarten, first and second grade classes have been studying the country Tanzania.  Tanzania is a country in southeast Africa and is home to Lake Victoria and borders Mt. Kilimanjaro. Students have studied the geography of the area, the culture, and the animals.  Mrs.Fox,’s sister, Meghan Horton, has been volunteering at an orphanage named Forever Angels in Tanzania for the past few years in Mwanza, Tanzania.  Last week, Ms. Horton came to TES to share stories, pictures, and artifacts with the students.  In addition, the students presented her with over 100 Christmas gifts they had collected for the babies at the orphanage.  Now each child at the orphanage will have something to open on Christmas day!
The orphanage she is volunteering at is called Forever Angels.  Please feel free to visit the website http://www.foreverangels.org for more information.  Forever Angels is a non-profit orphanage that cares for children under the age of 5.  They are currently caring for over 50 children.   The students really enjoyed this experience.

School Improvement:  Grades 3, 4, and 5 have just completed the second math benchmark.  Our staff scored and reviewed students’ BCR responses.  On the math BCR, students are given a question with two steps.  Step A is the response for the direct answer for the question.  Step B is the area in which students write to explain why their answer is correct.  Additionally, students are asked to use what they know about (fractions, pictographs, or a specific math skill.) in their explanation.  Also, they are prompted to use words and/or numbers in their explanation.   A BCR (brief constructed response) is the written communication piece in which students apply math knowledge and explain their “thinking” as to how they got the answer.  We know that there is more than one way to get a correct answer.  So the explanation allows for different thinking to still be correct!   From the students’ response, we can better understand where math errors are occurring as well.

Attached to the newsletter is an informational flyer about Compass Learning.    The flyer gives you the information for students to log in at home.  This is a new program for our students this year.  Students can use the program.  Teachers will be able to monitor the students’ work.  Hopefully over the winter break, students will engage themselves using the program.  If you have any questions about the program, feel free to talk with your child’s teacher.

Attendance Update:  Thankfully, we are getting back to normal in school attendance. Attendance has been good and it appears for the moment, the flu has diminished somewhat.  However, continue to practice good hygiene to eliminate the spread of germs.  Students at school have been great at hand washing routines.  Here’s to a healthy 2010 school year!

D.A.R.E. will be finishing on December 18th and graduation will be on January 22nd.  Officer Tim Conners also visited each of the other classrooms during his D.A.R.E. time at TES.  We are looking forward to hearing the winning D.A.R.E. essays.