The Eagle Eye - Glenn Stephens Elementary School

EAGLE EYE
Glenn W. Stephens Elementary School
120 South Rosa Road
Madison WI 53705-4441
(608) 204-1900
Dates to Know
March 2016
Issue 7
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK
(Disponible en español en la página 2)
March 8
® Early Release # 10:50 am # Parent Teacher Conferences
March 15
® Big PTO Meeting # 6:30 pm - Gym
March 21 - 28
® Spring Break # No School
March 23
® Newsletter submission deadline
April 2
® Fun Fair # 10 am # 2 pm
April 12
® PTO Meeting # 6:30 pm - Gym
April 15
® No School # Professional Development Day
April 22
® Early Release # 10:50 am # Staff Development
April 22
® Newsletter submission deadline
The Eagle Eye
Dawn Tuescher, editor
The Eagle Eye is published monthly during the school
year. E-mail your Eagle Eye submissions to
[email protected]. The deadline for
submissions is posted each month in the ! Dates to
Know" above.
Dear Families,
As February comes to a close we have continued to invest in
our school improvement plan. The theme of Stephens - Put
the Child First: Culture, Collaboration, Core - has really
rung true this past month.
Culture: Many classrooms learned about the Chinese New
Year, observed Read Your Heart Out in honor of African
American Parent Involvement Day, and celebrated the
famous 100 days of school. These are ways to learn about
some of the different celebrations of our students and to
celebrate our own school culture as well. In addition, the
PTO so generously provided each and every student and staff
member with a Stephens t-shirt! This is a way to show off
our Stephens$ Eagle pride.
Collaboration: All of our teacher teams have participated in
professional development regarding writing during this
month. They are working on building in more opportunities
for collaboration among students. Ask your child if they do
! turn and talk" or if they have a turn and talk partner. Turn
and talk is an opportunity for children to be talking to each
other using academic language. So when a teacher asks a
question instead of one person being able to answer, all the
students have an opportunity to talk about the content. It was
an important time away from the students for their
professional development and leads to more collaboration.
(Principal’s Desk continues on p. 2)
Eagle Eye Page 1
Principal’s Desk (continued from p. 1)
Core: After report cards we continue to look at how we can
best serve our students. We look at the curriculum set out for
us and make our adjustments to fit everything in before the end
of the year. This year 3rd to 5th graders will be taking the WI
Forward exam. This is replacing last year$ s Badger Exam, and
the WKCE for the several years before that. We are still
learning about it and how it will be, but sounds like 4 hours of
reading and math for 3rd, 4th and 5th and then an additional 3
hours of science and social studies for the fourth graders. Our
testing window will be in late April. This test will be on the
computer. I will be sending out more information as I get it.
We did make a decision to work this summer with UW Health
to provide a mindfulness training for staff that would carry on
into the fall. This is very exciting work!
Please make sure you have signed up for parent teacher
conferences on March 8th! We look forward to seeing you.
Sarah Galanter-Guziewski
Principal
del escritorio de la directora
Queridas Familias,
Estamos llegando al final de febrero y continuamos
invirtiendo nuestro tiempo en el plan de mejoría escolar.
Nuestro lema realmente ha sonado cierto este mes,
Stephens Pone al Niño Primero: Cultura, Colaboración,
Currículo y Mentes en Acción.
Cultura: Muchos salones aprendieron sobre el Año Nuevo
Chino, tuvimos nuestro día de Read Your Heart Out en
honor al Día de Participación de Padres Afroamericanos y
celebramos los ! Famosos 100 Días" de la escuela. Estas son
maneras de aprender acerca de algunas de las diferentes
celebraciones de las culturas de nuestros estudiantes y
también para celebrar nuestra propia cultura escolar.
Además, el PTO proporciono generosamente camisetas para
todos y cada uno de los estudiantes y miembros del personal
de Stephens! Esta es una manera de mostrar nuestro orgullo
de águilas en Stephens.
del escritorio de la directora (sigue de la pagina 2)
Colaboración: Todos nuestros equipos de maestros han
participado en el desarrollo profesional sobre escritura
durante este mes. Ellos están trabajando en la construcción
de más oportunidades para la colaboración entre los
estudiantes. Pregúntenle a su hijo/a sobre lo que significa "
girar y hablar" o si tienen un compañero/a de conversación
para girar y hablar. Girar y hablar es una oportunidad para
que los niños/as se comuniquen entre sí utilizando un
lenguaje académico. Así que cuando un maestro hace una
pregunta en lugar de que solamente una persona pueda
responder, todos los estudiantes tienen la oportunidad de
hablar sobre el contenido. Fue un tiempo importante para su
desarrollo profesional lejos de los estudiantes y que
conducirá a una mayor colaboración.
Currículo y Mentes en Acción: Después de las libretas de
calificaciones seguimos buscando formas en que podamos
servir mejor a nuestros estudiantes. Nos centraremos en el
plan de estudios establecido y haremos ajustes para
adaptarlo a todas las áreas antes que finalice el año. Este
año los estudiantes de tercero hasta quinto grado estarán
tomando el examen ! WI Forward" . Este examen es el que
reemplazara al examen Badger del año pasado y al WKCE
de los años anteriores. Todavía estamos aprendiendo acerca
de este examen y cómo va a ser, pero parece que tomara
alrededor de 4 horas de lectura y matemáticas para los
grados 3ro, 4to y 5to y luego 3 horas adicionales para
ciencias y estudios sociales para los estudiantes de cuarto
grado. Este examen se llevara a cabo a finales de abril.
Este examen se presentara en el computador. Según vaya
recibiendo más información al respecto se las estaré
enviando.
Tomamos la decisión de trabajar este verano con UW
Health para proporcionarle entrenamiento al personal, en
Mentes en Acción % Meditación$ , este entrenamiento
continuara hasta el otoño. Este es un trabajo muy
emocionante!
Por favor asegúrense de registrarse para las conferencias de
padres y maestros del 8 de marzo! Esperamos verlos ese
día.
Sarah Galanter-Guziewski
[email protected] o al 608-204-1902.
Eagle Eye Page 2
News from the Advanced Learning
Department
Yahara River Writer¶s Contest
This fall, all of the 5th graders at Stephens were given the
opportunity to submit a piece of writing into the Yahara
River Writer$ s Contest. This contest is Dane County
wide and open to students from grades 5 through 8.
Students could compete in one of 5 events: poetry, short
story, editorial, cartoon and cover design. The best 5
school entries from each category went on to be judged
amongst the schools in the Madison Metropolitan School
District. I am pleased to announce that from this large
pool we had one student from each of the following
categories; poetry, short stories, cartoons and cover
design who had their works selected to continue onto the
greater Dane County judging. We will now have to wait
until March to find out the competition winners.
Math Fest
On February 24, eight students representing our 4th and
5th grade will be competing in Mathfest. This is an
annual event organized by the Advanced Learning
Department and will involve all the elementary schools
in the Madison school District. This year at Stephens we
had an in- school math bowl to determine competitors
and all 4th and 5th grade students were given the
opportunity to participate. The winners from this
competition were chosen to compete at Math Fest West.
At Math Fest students will compete in both individual
and group competitions. Awards will be given for
participation and for high performances for each grade
level and event. We wish our students luck!
Haiku Poetry Competition
In the month of January our 4th grade classes worked on
Haiku poetry. Students were then encouraged to submit a
haiku poem into the Greater Dane County Haiku
Competition. Winners will have their poem included in
an anthology and students and their families will be
invited to attend an official reading of their poetry and
celebration of their achievement.
Nora Montgomery
Advanced Learner Instructional Resource Teacher
BOX TOPS UPDATE
Thank you to all the families and staff who saved up,
counted and submitted their Box Tops over the past
few months. So far your efforts earned $746 for
Glenn Stephens! And we expect another great total
for our upcoming semi-annual deadline. GREAT
JOB EVERYONE!
Q: What products participate in the program?
A: Lots of them, and the list is not limited to processed
foods. Look for the hot pink Box Tops rectangle. A
sampling includes Ziplock, Hefty, General Mills, Land
O$ Lakes, Scott paper products, Horizon Organic milk,
Yoplait, and Avery office products. You can get a
complete list at http://www.boxtops4education.com.
Remember, each Box Top is worth ten cents!
Q: What do I do with them?
A: Just cut them out and deposit bundles of them in the
plastic folder hanging outside the main office. We$ ll
take them any way you want to send them, but
ultimately we count them into small baggies of 50 box
tops each (bonus certificates are counted separately). So
if you do count your Box Tops please be sure the bonus
certificates separate, and use a marker to indicate ! 50"
on the bags that you$ ve counted, to save us from recounting.
Thank you for supporting Glenn Stephens!
Lisa Hofmeister
[email protected]
SAFE ARRIVAL
204-1908
If your child will be late to or absent from school,
please contact the school’s
Safe Arrival line at
204-1908 by 9 a.m.
Please speak clearly and slowly, and spell the last
name of your child.
Don’t forget to tell us the name of your child’s
teacher or the room number. If your child will be
arriving late, be sure to indicate if he or she will
need a hot lunch.
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Talent Show
The 2016 Talent Show was held on Friday, February 19th. Over 100 kids participated in acts, chorus, stage crew
and master of ceremony roles. Normally the Talent Show is in May, but was moved to February because of the
school wide Arts event in May. This year there was a wide variety of acts and the show was completed in 90
minutes at the evening show. Singing, dancing, piano, violin, comedy, basketball - lots of talent from 4K through
5th grade.
The Talent Show is a long standing tradition at Glenn Stephens. One fifth grade family with four children just
finished attending their 14th Talent Show this year. Anne Murphy said, "Our son Ryan was on his first one in
Kindergarten in 2003 and we've had at least one child in it every year since then!"
Thank you to Ms. Haugen who coordinated all three chorus groups for the second year. Having chorus participate
allows about 50 student to perform who might not otherwise have a Talent Show experience. The chorus is open
to Kindergarten through 5th grade students.
Thank you to Jeanne Duffy who has been on the Talent Show Committee for at least six years and is now done
having only a 5th grader left at the school. She did a lot of work behind the scenes and her many years of
expertise supervising the stage crew and MCs on the right side of the stage will be missed. Thank you!
Our DJ Bobby Pagas
makes the show look and
sound professional and
his steam gets the crowd
going every time!
Another big THANK YOU to the Marriott West for loaning us the blue drapery you see that makes the stage what
it is. They have been super kind and generous by loaning us their property year after year. Our custodians
Summer and Jim do a great job putting up the stage. Also thank you to our great MCs and stage crew who made
the show flow!
We are in need of at least two new Talent Show Committee members. The more help - the less work per person.
Work on the 2017 Talent Show will start in March of 2017. The greatest time commitment is for the Act Review
day in April and the day of the show in May. Basic knowledge of Excel is required. The ability to use mail
merge would make the job easier. It$ s a very fun and rewarding volunteer opportunity. If you$ re interested,
contact PTO at [email protected].
That$ s a wrap!
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** Health Break **
Rethink Your Drink
by Ivy Speich
I learned why we should not eat or drink a lot of sugar:
1. Sugar makes you hyper and then cranky - when you eat or drink sugar, it goes into
your blood. When you have too much sugar, your blood sugar level gets high, you get hyper,
and it is hard to concentrate and learn. When your blood sugar is raised, your body pushes it
back down with something called insulin. If you eat too much sugar, the insulin pushes back
hard to make your blood sugar go down again. When it goes down too low you feel tired and
grumpy.
2. Sugar gives you cavities, and it’s not fun to have drills in your mouth - As you
know, too much sugar can cause tiny holes to form in your teeth. When that happens, you
have to go to the dentist a lot. The dentist has to drill a little hole in your tooth, clean out the
cavity,and fill it up with fillings. If you keep eating a lot of sugar and forgetting to brush and
floss your teeth, you might need an even bigger dental surgerys, that is called a root canal.
3. Too much sugar can even make you sick - When you are healthy, you are able to
learn, concentrate and play. If you eat too much sugar and other unhealthy food it is harder to
play and exercise. If you eat sugar too often, your body will have to work harder in order to
push your blood sugar back down. Some people even have to take medicine for the rest of their
lives because their blood sugar is to too high or low. Sometimes, that is from having too much
sugar for a long period of time. We are kids and our body still can work very well. Learning
good food habits now will help you stay healthy when you grow up.
Those are some reasons you should not eat or drink too much sugar! Look how much sugar is found
in these drinks:
SparklingWater
0 Grams of sugar
Honest Kids juice box
9 Grams of sugar
Mott's Apple juice
28 Grams of sugar
Chocolate Milk
28 Grams of sugar
Cool Blue Gatorade
34 Grams of sugar
Coca Cola
65 Grams of sugar
Mountain Dew
Orange SunnyD
28 Grams of sugar
77 Grams of Sugar
Bottled Water
0 Grams of Sugar
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