Griffin

May 18-22

Can it be? Yes, it is actually the last week of kindergarten for our grasshoppers.  These last few weeks have gone by so quickly. 

We will be trying to maintain our normal schedule along with planning many fun activities for this last week we are together.

Monday:  Game

We will be playing games throughout the day and even with our 5th grade buddies.  Your child is welcome to bring a favorite game from home.  Please make sure they can explain the rules and directions. 

Tuesday:  Ocean Day

Wednesday:  Hat Day

Your child may wear a favorite hat to school.

Thursday:  Reading Day

We will spend the entire day reading and listening to stories.  Our fifth grade buddies will be visiting us one last time and sharing  a book they have written.

We welcome any and all guest readers this day.  Just send me an email to let me know what time you'd like to come.

Friday:  Outside Centers Day

We will enjoy scooters, hula hoops, waterballoons...with all of our wonderful volunteers. 

We have enjoyed working with your amazing children this year.  We have seen so much growth in them in all areas.  Thank you for all you have done to make this year a success.

Thank you to Harrison's dad for coming to read to us on Friday.  The class thoroughly enjoyed the book.

A Message from PTA

On behalf of the entire Sope Creek PTA, we wish to thank the many, many parent volunteers who gave their time and talent to make each of our enrichment and family fun events a huge success. We could not have done it without you.  We hope you have a happy summer!
Barbara Dyck and Lisa McDougall
PTA Co-Presidents

It is hard to believe, but the PTA is already making plans for the new school year.  We need volunteers to help in several areas:

Monday, August 3rd (8:30am - 12:30pm) - Volunteers needed to stuff PTA Membership packets and to deliver school supply packets to the classrooms.  We will start at 8:30am, but volunteers are welcome any time.  Sign up sheets are posted on the PTA office door (2nd grade hallway) or you can contact Lisa McDougall, maclisa@comcast.net.

Thursday, August 6th (one hours shifts, any time between 11:30am and 4:00pm) - Volunteers are needed to help at Meet and Greet.  Please contact Sally Wright, szwright@bellsouth.net, if you are able to help.

Friday, August 7th - Volunteers are needed to help at the Teacher Back to School Luncheon.  Help is needed any time between 10:30am and 1:00pm.  Volunteers are also needed to donate drinks and/or desserts for the luncheon.  Again, sign up sheets are posted on the PTA office door, or you can contact Lisa McDougall, maclisa@comcast.net.

May 11-15

Thank you for all of your help with Field Day.  The children had a ton of fun.  We also got to have our ice cream sundae party.  The class earned this by collecting compliments for good behavior.

 

This week we will be discussing the holidays of Memorial Day, Flag Day and Fourth of July.  Please help us by collecting margarine tubs, oatmeal and Pringles containers, and tubes from toilet tissue and paper towels.  We will use these to create instruments for a parade.  Please send these in by Thursday.

 

We will also continue practicing subtraction strategies. 

 

From administration:

 

 

Turn in your Health and Nutrition Fruit and Veggie Consumption sheet on Monday!  We hope you had fun tracking all the colorful foods your child consumed during the week.

 

Box Top Betty says, “LAST BOX TOPS ARE DUE TUESDAY!  Thank you for making this the best Box Top collection year EVER!  Each Box Top Rewards Coupon is worth 10 cents to the school.  Remember to collect Box Tops all summer for next year’s collection.  Also, sign up for more deals at http://www.boxtops4education.com/AboutBoxTops/News.aspx

 

Papa John Pizza Night Tuesday – The Sope Creek Foundation’s last pizza night of the year is Tuesday.  Feed your family and earn money for the Foundation.  Let Papa John know you are from Sope Creek and turn in your receipt on Wednesday to the Sope Creek Foundation.

 

 

Jessica R. Appleyard
Sope Creek Elementary

More Career Day Pictures

Career Day Pictures

 

May 4 - May 8

Career Day was a wonderful success.  We met with a deli worker from Publix, financial planner (and army ranger), fire fighters, Cobb Power workers and a UPS driver.  Pictures will be coming shortly.

 This week we will focus on mothers.  In addition to reading and writing stories, we will compare animal mothers to their young.  

We will continue with addition facts to 10 and begin subtraction.

We will be collecting pennies on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  All the proceeds will go toward Relay for Life.

This Friday is field day.  We will be serving sack lunches again.  Please discuss this with your child as we will need to take a lunch count on Thurs.

News from the office:

Thursday, May 7th from 9:00- 10:30 - Kindergarten Sneak a Peek.
If you or someone you know is a parent of a rising Kindergartner, please be sure to join us for the Kindergarten Sneak a Peek.
The student will get a taste of what his/her new school will be like while parents will be given the opportunity to learn more about Sope Creek and all it has to offer.


Friday, May 8th is Field Day.  

The week of May 4th - 8th is "Eat Your Fruits and Veggies Week" at Sope Creek.  Students will have an opportunity to track their fruit and vegetable intake and enter the results into a drawing for a special prize.  One winner per grade level will be announced on Monday, May 11th.  During the week of May 4th - 8th, students should track their fruit and veggie consumption.  Tracking forms are available on both the Sope Creek blog and the Sope Creek PTA blog.  All forms should be turned into the front office on the morning of Monday, May 11th.  Please contact Natalie Rogers, fluffyjune@yahoo.com or Robin Zeldin, rrzeldin@aol.com with any questions.

The Sope Creek Community Outreach PTA Committee is currently taking applications for the Dr. Karen Looft Memorial Scholarship.  Any Walton or Wheeler graduating senior who is also a Sope Creek alumni is eligible to receive this award.  Additional details as well as the application are available on the following site:  http://sopecreeklibrary.typepad.com/pta_events/2008/03/community-outre.html.  The due date is May 15th.

CALENDAR UPDATES!

As the year has progressed, we have had to make some changes to the published PTA Calendar.  Please make the following revisions:

Thursday, May 7th:  Kindergarten Sneak-a-Peek 9:00- 10:30

Friday, May 8th:  Field Day   |   Rain Date:  Wednesday, May 13th

Awards Days:
Thursday, May 14th:  1st & 2nd Grades
Monday, May 18th:  3rd & 4th Grades
Wednesday, May 20th:  5th Grade

Relay for Life/Braves:
This week is your last chance to buy a raffle ticket to see a Braves game this summer! For only $10 you can buy a raffle to win tickets to a game on May 15, June 5 or June 26! Please support your Relay for Life team! The drawing for our winners will be Friday, May 8th! Don't miss out!

 

April 27th - May 1st

The students have begun counting down the days until the end of school.  I'm so proud of their behavior this past week.  It can be very difficult with schedule changes, sunshiny days and summer vacation on the horizon, but they have been wonderful.

Here is what's up for this week:

Monday:  continue with testing schedule              afternoon performance practice

Tuesday:  regular schedule           boxtops due       Sope Creek night at the Braves' game

Wednesday:  regular schedule         morning performance practice         Birthday Book Club

Thursday:  performance begins at 8:15     

We'd like the girls to wear a flowered dress or skirt.  Think spring garden party. 

We'd like the boys to dress up as farmers.  Some suggestions are jeans, suspenders, bib overalls, plaid shirts, bandannas, boots, straw hats...

Friday:  Career Day     Presale packets due

In-between the practices, performances, speakers and assessments we will be doing some classwork, too! 

This week we are observing bugs.  We will classify bugs into insects and spiders.  We will be reading fiction and nonfiction books about bugs.  How appropriate for the Grasshopper classroom.

We'll continue with addition in math.  The class is using the strategies of: acting it out, modeling, and drawing a picture to solve word problems.  They will also be creating some of their own problems to share with the class.

I realize I have forgotten to thank some of our past volunteers and so belated thanks go to:

Anthony's mom.....center parent

Alexis' mom.....guest reader

Jackson's dad......guest reader

Olivia C.'s dad.... center parent

Callie's mom.....guest reader and center parent

and to Olivia C.'s dad and and Ella's mom for being our guest reader and center parent this past week.

Due to Career Day we will not need to have a guest reader or center parent this week.

From the office:

The Braves raffle for Relay for Life:
Raffle tickets for the Braves game are on sale now through May 8th. For $10 a raffle ticket you have the chance to win 4 tickets to see the Red Sox or the Brewers or 2 tickets to see the Diamondbacks. For $25, you can get one raffle per game! Please check the Sope Creek Blog for more information or stop by the front office for an order form. The drawing will be held on May 8th, so purchase your raffle tickets today! Thanks for support SC's Relay for Life Team.

CALENDAR UPDATES:

As the year has progressed, we have had to make some changes to the published PTA Calendar.  Please make the following revisions:

Thursday, May 7th:  Kindergarten Sneak-a-Peek

Friday, May 8th:  Field Day   |   Rain Date:  Wednesday, May 13th

Parents. 

These next two weeks are going to be a little different for us.  The rest of the school will begin testing on 4/21.  In order for the older students to have blocks of uninterrupted time for testing our lunch and specials schedule will change.  We will have specials from 8:10- 8:50 and lunch from 11:33-12:03.

Although kindergarten doesn't have formal testing, we do have end of the year assessments to complete.  In order to do this we will take a break from our animal study to talk about plants. 

We will continue to work on retelling stories and identifying facts from non-fiction stories.

In math, we are working on adding and telling addition stories.

Braves tickets for Sope Creek Night at Turner Field have started coming home as of Thursday, 4/16. Your child should bring their tickets home NO LATER than Monday, 4/20. Thanks again for your support!

The week of April 20 - 24 is "Turn off the TV" week.  This will be a great opportunity for families to turn off their TV's, computers and video games and spend some quality time playing board games, taking a walk or just talking.

Friday, April 24th is the last TGIF of the year.  Please bring your family and friends to the Chuck E. Cheese on Roswell Road from 3:00pm - 9:00pm for some fun while FUNraising.  This is a great way to support our school.

Friday, April 24th is Spirit Day.

Please make a note of the following important changes to the Sope Creek calendar:

Thursday, May 7th:  Kindergarten Sneak-a-Peek
Friday, May 8th:  Field Day    Rain Date:  Wednesday, May 13th

Awards Days:
Thursday, May 14th:    1st and 2nd
Monday, May 18th:      3rd and 4th
Wednesday, May 20th:   5th

Jessica R. Appleyard
Assistant Principal, Sope Creek
http://sopecreeklibrary.typepad.com/appleyard

March 30-April 3

I'm sure the kids are counting down the days until Spring Break.  We have some fun things in store before the break.

This week our focus is on eggs and animals that come from eggs.  We'll read books, list facts, sort pictures, compare animals, and write stories about eggs and animals that hatch from eggs.

Language Arts:

We will be working on retelling stories and recalling facts.  Our focus will be on h blend words. (ch, th, wh, sh) 

Math:

We are finishing our unit on graphing.  The students will pose questions, collect data and graph the information they collect.

Wednesday:  Farmer Joe will be visiting the class and teaching a lesson on gardening.  He will have two students from each kindergarten class help with the planting during after school.

Thursday:  Library Day      Please make sure your child's library book is returned.

Please help with the following: 

• 2 liter bottles, clear needed asap

• jelly beans

ART DAY WAS INCREDIBLE! Thank you to our Art Day Committee for giving us another incredible day!  What a wonderful way to kick off Spring!

Quack Quack! They’re Back!  Duck Sale Tuesday 3/31 for K, 1 and 2 & Duck Sale Wed 4/1 for 3, 4 and 5

PRESALE/DIRECTORY PACKETS:   Volunteers needed to put together the directory forms and the pre-sale forms on Tuesday, March 31st starting at 9am in the Media Center.

SPIRIT DAY – Friday April 3 – wear your favorite Sope Creek t-shirt!

FOUNDATION SOCIABLES NEWS:

On Tuesday, April 14th Sope Creek will be holding their yearly Football Sociable.  It will be right after school til 4:30 with Walton's own Coach Rocky Hidalgo!  $35 per child 2nd grade thru 5th grades.  Kids will be given a tee shirt, sandwich, snacks and drinks and a few other goodies.  Hosts:  Nancy Garfinkel (garfinks@msn.com), Maureen Lamar(mlamar@na.ko.com), Beth Wiesner  (2m3@bellsouth.net),Lee Oesterling (lee@oesterling.com)

You can email us to sign your child/children up.  Also, send the check with your child/children's name on the check and mark the envelope  Football Sociable.  Their will be a basket in the front office.

Don't miss the chance to sign up for Drama Camp!  Info is on the blog and a flyer will come home with all 2nd - 4th grade students.

March 23-27

The class is doing a fantastic job at tapping out words.  They are using their tapping skills to read new words and when writing stories.  We will continue to practice this skill.

Please remember Friday is Career Dress Up Day.  Your child may dress up as what they would like to be when they grow up. 

Unti of Study:  Animals     We will describe animals appearances, how they move, and where they live.  We will compare and sort animals by different criteria.

Language Arts: 

• We'll continue to practice tapping.
• compare non-fiction to fiction
• identify action words
• use action words in story writing
• retell stories
• make predicitons about stories

Math: 

• Graphing
• comparing amounts
• forming questions
• collecting data

Parents, please remember to return:

•  the take home books within two days of receiving them
• the signed report card envelopes
• the pictures and payment for whatever you choose to keep  (The first class to have pictures and/or payments will receive a prize.)