Good afternoon!
I hope everyone is having a great weekend with your family and friends! Last week, we continued to enjoy the work of your children in and outside of our classrooms. To see their minds in action is one of the greatest enjoyments in education. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to serve your children.
Please read your weekly updates below:
Learning in Progress:
Columbia Elementary Team Picture and Classroom Pictures:
It was a great joy to see our students on Friday in their Tiger Up Shirts and with their big smiles! On Friday afternoon, we had our annual whole school picture and outdoor classroom pictures. We will be sharing more information in the upcoming week once we receive the proofs from HR Imaging. Thank you for all of your efforts to make this an annual success!
COSI ON WHEELS-This Friday
We are looking forward to having COSI ON WHEELS out at Columbia Elementary this Friday. Our theme will be "Astoning Astronomy." Fortunately, we are blessed by a PTO that continues to fund this outstanding opportunity for our students. Thank you PTO! Be sure to wear your Tiger Up Shirt for this great event!
Grades 3-5-Intervention Updates:
Over the past couple of years, we have offered an after school Reading and Math Intervention Program for selected students (not all students in all grade levels) that were struggling in these areas in Grades 3-5. After close observations and discussions, we have decided to make an adjustment of how we are offering these intervention services this school year: To increase our intervention efforts for students and to better serve students, we are going to have three different time periods for students to polish their English Language Arts and Math Skills in Grades 3-5: 10/31-12-16, 1/9-2/24, and 2/27-4/7 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during their recess times.
Not all students, that are selected for these times will go on all days. It will depend on the area/s of the student's need. Meaning that: We will have three areas of focus: Math, Reading Comprehension, and Short Answer/Extended Response Writing Skills. The student will only attend the area of need. This area of need is based on student performance data and teacher input. Parents will be notified if their child is involved in this program through a letter in the upcoming weeks leading up to one of these time periods. Student data and teacher observations will be reevaluated leading up to each session to make sure we are severing the students that need extra help verses wasting the students' time on areas that they have already resolved.
Playground Updates:
Our goal is to renovate a majority of the playground equipment at Columbia Elementary in addition to constructing an Outdoor Learning Pavilion for both school and community use. In over 20 years, we have not updated the existing playground equipment on most of our playground. As Columbia Elementary has been a community hub since 1958, and now we are recently connected to The Ariel Foundation Park and Bike trail, we need to better serve our students, Mount Vernon Community, and visitors of The Ariel Foundation Park. It is well know that there is no other playground in the community near Columbus Road (including at Ariel Foundation Park) where playground equipment is available for children to play with their parents. It has always been the philosophy of Columbia Elementary to allow the community to use our playground facilities after school hours and on the weekends. With a renovated community playground and learning outdoor pavilion at Columbia Elementary, we would not only be better able to improve our students’ health and wellness, but we would also be able to have a positive impact on engaging the families in our community. For these reasons we are focusing our efforts on making this a new reality for our students and community. This project is currently budgeted at $75,000 (depending on available funding).
To date, we have made several efforts to get closer to the $75,000 for this project: We are working very close with our PTO to generate funds through past and future fundraisers (i.e. Mumkins). We have also applied for several grants including the Knox County-Mount Vernon Community Foundation, Rotary Foundation, Lowes Foundation, and we are in the process of applying for The Martha Holden Jennings Foundation Grants. We will continue to seek out more grants for these purposes.
As an ongoing effort to address our needs at Columbia Elementary for both present and future generations of students and community members. We will be surveying students, staff, and parents regarding the true needs of our playground and Outdoor Learning Pavilion. Please CLICK HERE to give your input about our upcoming playground renovations and construction of our Outdoor Learning Pavilion.
Important Upcoming Dates:
10/10-Student of the Month Lunch Pizza Party
10/13-Yes Concert-Grade 1 at 10am
10/14-COSI On Wheels for our students-Thank you PTO!!
10/14-End of First 9wks
10/17-Teacher Workday with No Students
10/17-Columbia Elementary Presenting at BOE Meeting at 6pm-You are welcome to join us!
10/18-Second 9wks Begins
10/21-Grade Cards Go Home
10/25-A New and Improved Trick or Read from 6-7pm-Positive Changes This Year
10/28-Nine Weeks Awards Assemblies-KDG-2nd Grades-1-1:45pm;
Grades 3-5-1:45-2:30pm
10/28-Halloween Classroom Parties (2:45-3:30)-Costumes are welcome
11/2-Nine Weeks Rewards Ice Cream Parties-If eligible-KDG-2-2:45-3:30; Grades 3-5-2-2:45pm
2016-2017 District Calendar(CLICK ON LINK)
State Testing Dates 2016-17 (CLICK ON LINK)
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Thank you for allowing us to serve your children!
Tiger Up!
Matt
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