Sope Creek Elementary

National Handwashing Wek

Let's keep Sope Creek Elementary healthy!

The goal of National Hand Washing Week is to work together and decrease the spread of infectious diseases by practicing a few simple steps.

The 4 principles of handwashing awareness:
1 .Wash your hands when they are dirty and before eating.
2. Do not cough into your hands.
3. Do not sneeze into your hands.
4. Do not put fingers into your eyes, nose, or mouth.

Henry the Hand is asking everyone to spread the word, not the germs! This is especially important this year with the flu season approaching.

The correct way to wash hands:
1 Wet hands with warm water and use soap.
2. Rub hands together, making sure to scrub all areas.
3. Rub for a minimum of 15 seconds.
4 Rinse thoroughly, then dry hands on a clean towel.
5. Turn faucet off with the towel, not hand, to keep away from re-contamination.

Do you want more information about handwashing?  Check out these great sites:
www.henrythehand.com
www.scrubclub.org

HET Lunch & Learn

Please join us in the Media Center on December 9th at 11:30 am for a presentation about the Highly Effective Teaching (HET) Model.  Sope Creek has been working toward the implementation of this model for the last several years.  The model is based on instruction that includes and fosters the nine bodybrain-compatible elements:

1. Absence of Threat / Nurturing Reflective Thinking
2. Meaningful Content
3. Enriched Environment
4. Movement to Enhance Learning
5. Choices
6. Adequate Time
7. Collaboration
8. Immediate Feedback
9. Mastery / Application

Please join us to learn more about how Sope Creek is moving forward with the model and how it impacts student learning.

Principal for the Day: Foundation Auction Outing

Dear Sope Creek Community,

I am Mark Legate, the school Principal for the Day. Sope Creek is a well-run school.  In the morning, I got to observe 4th Graders learning from Arden Baila, Visiting Author.  I went to all of the third grade classrooms.  They were really quiet when I walked in, and they were working really hard on their tests.  When I went to the second grade classrooms, they were outstanding on their behavior.  I took yearbookk pictures for fourth grade PE, and they were catching the balls well and playing Ultimate. 

When I went to the media center to see how Kids' Care Club was doing, they had collected a lot of boxes of food.  When we went to go see the second grade, Mrs. Lance and Ms. Mauldin's Monarchs were on an electricity hunt.  They learned that they had electricity in thier bodies.  Fifth grade teachers were working.  They were really quiet because they were working really hard.

I think being a principal is a really important job because you are the boss of everybody, and if you don't take charge, everybody will do what they want to do.

Sincerely,

Your Principal, Mark Legate

*Principal for the Day is one of the items available at the Teacher Outing Auction sponsored by the SCES Foundation.  This year, it was a raffle item at Octoberfest.  Congratulations to Mark for winning the raffle and for doing a great job as the Principal!

Dear Sope Creek Community,

I am Mark Legate, the school Principal for the Day. Sope Creek is a well-run school.  In the morning, I got to observe 4th Graders learning from Arden Baila, Visiting Author.  I went to all of the third grade classrooms.  They were really quiet when I walked in, and they were working really hard on their tests.  When I went to the second grade classrooms, they were outstanding on their behavior.  I took yearbookk pictures for fourth grade PE, and they were catching the balls well and playing Ultimate. 

When I went to the media center to see how Kids' Care Club was doing, they had collected a lot of boxes of food.  When we went to go see the second grade, Mrs. Lance and Ms. Mauldin's Monarchs were on an electricity hunt.  They learned that they had electricity in thier bodies.  Fifth grade teachers were working.  They were really quiet because they were working really hard.

I think being a principal is a really important job because you are the boss of everybody, and if you don't take charge, everybody will do what they want to do.

Sincerely,

Your Principal, Mark Legate

*Principal for the Day is one of the items available at the Teacher Outing Auction sponsored by the SCES Foundation.  This year, it was a raffle item at Octoberfest.  Congratulations to Mark for winning the raffle and for doing a great job as the Principal!

Successful Thanksgiving Food Drive!

The Community Outreach Committee sponsored their annual Thanksgiving Food Drive to help those in need this season.  They accepted donations of canned and boxed foods, as well as loose change to purchase Publix Gift Cards.    We are so thankful for our Sope Creek Community's support and caring!  Questions?  Contact a member of the PTA's Community Outreach Committee. 

Fourth Grade Performance

On Thursday, November 4th, the Fourth Grade students performed "This Is America," a musical review of patriotic songs.  Thank you to the Director, Laurie Towle, and Fourth Grade Teachers & Students for such a wonderful performance!

NASA Contest

Did you know that Buzz Lightyear's quest to travel TO INFINITY AND BEYOND is a dream come true for him?  He is currently on the International Space Station where he is working with scientists to conduct some important experiments on his mission.  They have a problem, though.  Nobody designed the patch to commemorate (celebrate and remember) this space mission!  Would you like to help out?  Tap into your ART SMART and find out how to create a patch for Buzz by clicking here.  The deadline is November 6th, so don't miss your chance to help Buzz!

NASA is also looking for help in designing EXPERIMENTS to conduct on the International Space Station.  Fifth Graders, if you would like to design an experiment for NASA to conduct in 0-gravity or 1-gravity, click here to find out how!

Sope Creek Sun Goes LIVE!

We are excited to announce the new DIGITAL VERSION of the Sope Creek Sun:  a news publication FOR students BY students!  Check out the hard work from our Fourth and Fifth Grade Editors by visiting the Sope Sun Blog:  http://sopecreeklibrary.typepad.com/sope_creek_sun/ !  Bookmark the site and check back often!  You will find quizzes, scavenger hunts, student stories, games, sports, a gallery, and MUCH MORE!

Kudos to the Sope Creek Sun Editors!!!!!!!

I Love a Book Day 2009

Characters jumped from the pages of literature to the Sope Creek hallways on Friday (First Grade I Love a Book Day), and the school's hallways were filled with familiar faces from Frog and Toad to Fancy Nancy to Skippyjohn Jones.  Thank you, First Grade, for your enthusiasm and for getting the entire school excited about reading great books!

HET Overview

On Monday, November 2nd, Dr. Linda Jordan, Associate Professor at Hope College and Senior Consultant with The Center for Effective Learning  presented an overview of the Highly Effective Teaching (HET) Model.  Sope Creek is in our second year of implementation of the HET Model, and we continue to support teachers to implement brain-compatible strategies to maximize student learning.

Thank you to all of the parents who joined us on Monday evening at 6:30 pm in the Sope Creek Cafeteria and hear about the biology of learning, effective instructional strategies, and the development of conceptual curriculum from this dynamic national speaker.

Are you curious about Sope Creek's journey in implementing the HET Model?  Please visit the 2009 Model Teaching Week Blog or the 2008 Model Teaching Week Blog.

Red Ribbon Week 2009

The week of October 26th is Red Ribbon Week!  We will celebrate healthy choices, and each day will have a different theme.  We are looking forward to a week to highlight a variety of healthy decisions!

Monday:  WARM UP to good choices!  Do you have a gently used coat in your closet that you could donate to someone in need?  Bring it in and we will be sure that it gets to someone who needs to stay WARM this winter!

Tuesday:  SOCK IT TO DRUGS!  Stand up for what you know is best for your body, and wear your CRAZY SOCKS to celebrate making good choices!

Wednesday:  WONDERFUL WATER WEDNESDAY!  Did you know that you lose water every time you sweat or breathe?  It's important to stay hydrated and to drink plenty of water!  Drink water instead of juice at lunch or at snack time.  Want more info about the benefits of water?  Click here. 

Thursday:  THRILLINGLY SILLY THURSDAY!  One of the best ways to relieve stress is to  LAUGH.  Learn and practice (a school-appropriate) joke and prepare to tell it during  the day on Thursday!  Need some joke ideas?  Check this site:  Yahoo Kids' Jokes.

Friday:  FABULOUS FITNESS FRIDAY!  Take a walk, exercise, go for a run, do jumping jacks, stretch, or get moving more than you usually do!