Paw Print Issue 9 - May

Kaufman Paw Print
May 2015
Volume 9, Issue 9
Upcoming Events
Mornings with Mom
5/1
Gr 3 Envision Expo
8:00
5/1
Gr 2 Envision Expo
2:00
5/1
Teacher Appreciation 5/4-5/8
Week
Gr 1 Field Trip
5/4
Gr 3 Field Trip
5/8
Math Benchmark
Gr 1 & 2
5/12
Science Benchmark
Gr 1-4
5/14
Social Studies
Benchmark, Gr 2-4
5/21
Kinder Music Program
6:30 PM
5/21
Kinder Field Trip
5/22
School Holiday
5/25
Gr 4 Music Program
6:30 PM
5/28
PTO May Fun Day
5/29
A Note From Mrs. Oliver
Can you believe it is already May, and our school year is almost over? It
seems like yesterday that we were beginning our new year, and now we are
approaching the end with June 4 just around the corner. We are extremely
proud of the high standards our students have set for themselves and the
academic and personal excellence they have achieved throughout the year.
We appreciate all of our parents and families for your continued support for
your children and our wonderful school.
It has truly been my privilege and honor to serve my first year as a principal
with the students, staff, and parents of Kaufman Elementary. Kaufman is an
incredibly special school, and I am grateful to be a part of this fantastic school
community.
I hope the remainder of the year is wonderful and that all of our students
make amazing memories before summer arrives!
Sincerely,
Tina Oliver
Gr 1 End of Year
Awards, 10:00
6/1
Kaufman Needs Crossing Guards!!
Gr 2 End of Year
Awards, 8:15
6/1
Gr 3 End of Year
Awards, 1:00
6/1
Kinder End of Year
Awards, 8:30 AM
6/4
Gr 4 Awards and
Clap Out, 9:30 AM
6/4
Last Day of School
6/4
The CISD Police, who is in charge of the crossing area and crossing
guards, is accepting applications for crossing guards. Our staff
members will be unable to perform this duty next year, so in order to
sustain the crossing area, they are in need of applicants. The pay is
approximately $10.50 per hour, and although it is only about 30 minutes
in the morning and afternoon, you would be paid for 2 hours a day. You
could even job share (split am/pm, alternate days) between several
crossing guards. If you are interested, please call Officer Pete Vollmer
at 936-672-0128.
Kindergarten
The end of the year is upon us. Our children are blooming like May flowers. We will be
finishing up our end of the year testing throughout this month. Please continue to read
nightly with your child and ask those important comprehension questions. In math, we are
reviewing addition and subtraction, making graphs, data, counting to 100 and Personal
Financial Literacy. We will culminate the end of the year with studies of wild/exotic animals,
oceans and dinosaurs. Mark your calendars with these dates: May 4-8-,Teacher Appreciation Week, May 7th-Teacher Appreciation Luncheon, May 5- Cinco De Mayo Activities, May
14th-Volunteer Luncheon, May 21-Music Program at 6:30 PM, May 22-Field Trip, May 29thPTO Fun Day, June 4th- Awards at 8:30 in our classrooms! We have thoroughly enjoyed
having your children this year. They have come so far since the 1 st day of school. It is hard
to believe they will soon be First graders. We would like to thank all the parents for all the
support you have given us this year. Have a wonderful and restful summer!
First Grade
What a fantastic year for First Grade! We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of YOU,
parents, for your participation and support this year. We were able to make learning leap off
of the pages because of your support and involvement! Also, the time and energy you
spent working on homework with your child, reading nightly, and making sure they were
prepared each day made the year a fantastic one for students and teachers alike. Please
keep up the reading, writing, and counting over the summer! Some great reading titles for
entering second graders to check out over the summer are:
Frog and Toad, Franklin, Fly Guy, Fancy Nancy, Magic School Bus, and Magic Tree House.
Some kids who are moving on to more lengthy chapter books might enjoy the Hank The
Cowdog or the Boxcar Children books. Don't forget about nonfiction reading as well. The
kiddos are fascinated with picking out nonfiction text elements such as titles, subtitles,
captions, glossaries, charts & graphs, and bold words. Magazines such as National Geographic Kids, Highlights, and Time Kids are great both in paper form and online.
Keep up with those activities that strengthen that little pencil grip. If your child is not excited
about practicing handwriting, have them try other activities that keep those little fingers
limber, such as beading, building with clay or play-doh, braiding, playing legos, or racing to
pick up tiny objects with tweezers. They'll never know they are strengthening their pencil
grip at the same time!
Continue counting over the summer! In CISD, we believe that students learn basic math
facts by developing number sense and understanding number relationships. Repeated
practice with effective strategies creates reflective students who can think flexibly! Get a
jump on second grade Fact
Fluency, which includes addition facts with sums to 20 and
their related subtraction facts.
As always, we wish you all a blessed and safe summer from all of your First Grade
Teachers.
Second Grade
May is a very fun month in second grade. The most exciting week in second grade is coming at the end of May. Our classrooms will be transformed into Camp Learned-A-Lot! This is a week to explore favorite topics such as space, insects, dinosaurs, and other fascinating units of
study. The students will participate in creative crafts, outdoor team building games, and exciting centers in a camp-like environment. The students are busy earning camp tickets for good behavior to spend on camp admission and other bonus activities. There will be more information sent home about Camp Learned-a-Lot.
End-of-the-year testing will begin very soon, and your child's teacher will update you on your child's progress as soon as testing is completed.
You may wish to schedule a conference if you have concerns about your child's readiness for third grade.
As we send your children on to third grade, there are several ways you can help them over the summer. Encourage them to read, read, read,
and tell you about their books as they read. We have been working hard all year to build up their comprehension and fluency skills and hope
they continue to grow in their reading habits over the summer. Research shows that students who do not read during the summer months can
lose several reading levels. We want your child to maintain strong reading skills and be ready for third grade challenges.
Help your children continue writing about a variety of topics they enjoy. Ask them to write letters, stories, poems, lists, instructions, or anything they can, to keep current in their writing skills. Also, summer is a good time to practice math facts of all sorts – addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division. Please continue to reinforce and practice the skills we worked so hard on in math this year. W hen August comes
around again, you will be glad you helped your child.
We are so proud of the accomplishments of our second graders this year. It has been our joy and privilege to partner with you
on this learning adventure.
Third Grade
What a great school year this has been! Our third graders have worked so hard this year preparing for the STAAR test and have had many successes.
We are so PROUD of their hard work! Our STAAR relax day with games and reading time was a ton of fun! We enjoyed our day of relaxation after the
STAAR test was over. Thank you parents for all of the support you have given your children and us as teachers. We are so very grateful for each of
you!
Our school year is not yet over. Please continue to read with your child every day. Any kind of non-fiction is great for reading practice. Things like
menus, flyers, programs, newspaper, etc.., all work great for reading for information In Math, we will finish the year with Personal Financial Literacy and
more problem solving. This unit is full of vocabulary that will help our students start thinking about their future. We will talk about training and education past high school, as well as income, spending, the importance of saving, credit, interest, and charitable giving. We will also continue with problem
solving (multi-step word problems using all operations.) Please continue to integrate Math in your daily conversations with your kiddos. For example,
telling time, asking questions about schedules and how much time has passed, measuring for recipes while cooking, fractions, as well as practicing
flash card facts with all operations. All 3rd graders should be fluent in their Math flash card facts. This will help them be more confident 4th graders. In
Science, we will finish out the year studying plants and their life cycles, how to protect our Earth, and keeping our body's healthy.
Our field trip to Minute Maid Park is planned for May 8th. We are looking forward to a fun time! Please remind your child about expected behaviors
and manners. The cost of the trip is $6.25 per child and $10.00 for adults. If you have not filled out the parent volunteer form on the CISD web site for
this school year, please do so. We will be having a picnic outside of Minute Maid Park so everyone needs a sack lunch that day. Make sure your child
wears comfortable shoes because we do a lot of walking on this field trip.
It has been a great year! We have enjoyed your children and getting to know each of them. Thank you again, for all of your help and support while
making this a team effort!
Fourth Grade
Is it possible that we are already at the end of the school year? Fourth grade has had a wonderful school year, and we’ve finished our
STAAR tests! Students and teachers both have worked very hard to prepare for these tests, and we are proud of the effort put forth
by students on the two long days of testing last month.
In fourth grade we are entering one of the busiest times of the year, so please mark your calendars for these upcoming dates.
Friday, May 15th: 4th Grade Visit to Vogel
Wednesday, May 20th: Fine Arts Day with the Houston Symphony at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Thursday, May 28th : 4th Grade End of Year Program at 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, June 2nd: 4th Grade Water Day
Wednesday, June 3rd : 4th Grade Talent Show
Thursday, June 4th: 4th Grade Awards and Clap Out at 9:30 a.m.
More information for each of these events will be coming home soon. Please check your child’s Tuesday Folder carefully for no tes
regarding these fun events.
The fourth grade teachers would like to thank all of the parents and grandparents who have helped make this a successful school
year. We would especially like to thank our room parents. Our special days would not have been quite so special without your help!
Thank you for all you have done.
Thank you for entrusting your children to us daily. We don’t take that responsibility lightly, and we are very proud of the students they
have become. We look forward to the remainder of the year and wish them luck as they move on to fifth grade. Enjoy your summer!
ART
Our Creative Cats are working hard to finish up few things before we say "goodbye" for the summer. Here is a list of
some of those things- Fourth grade is working on optical illusions and pastel diptychs created from sketches of their
wire sculptures. Third grade is finishing radial scratch art designs and aboriginal art pieces. Second grade is almost
finished with Vincent Van Gogh inspired Sunflowers and Jackson Pollock inspired watercolors. First grade is making
collages in style of Eric Carle. Kindergarten is finishing printmaking, learning about Pablo Picasso, and their Kinder
art books. They are especially excited to take these home and show their families all of the wonderful things they
have learned in art class this year!
We would also like to congratulate both Presli Wright and Allison Twilla for being chosen as our April Artist of the
Month! Both of these girls work hard to increase their artistic skills, follow directions, set good examples, and are
always helpful to others. We couldn't be more proud of all their efforts in and out of both of our art rooms! Be sure to
check our Kaufman Happenings to see who will be our final Artist of the Month this school year for the month of May.
We would also like to ask all of our second grade Creative Cats to check and see if they might have taken home a
blue denim art room smock by accident. The students that played the dancing goats in this year's musical used them
as part of their costumes. If you find any, please return them to Mrs. Rowley.
Thank you for another wonderful, fun-filled year. We both hope you all have a restful and safe summer break and
look forward to more art adventures when you return in August!
Until then, HAPPY CREATING!
Mrs. Gregory and Mrs. Rowley
Music
Wow! It is hard to believe that the year is already near its end! Our young musicians have made so much progress this year!
They have learned many new songs and games and have played lots of instruments. We can read new rhythms and melodies,
and can even write our own songs! During the month of May, we will be reviewing all of the musical elements we have learned
throughout the year, and playing our favorite singing and movement games.
All 4th graders in Conroe ISD will be enjoying a free concert presented by the Houston Symphony Orchestra at the Mitchell
Pavilion on Wednesday, May 20th. This is a great opportunity to learn about the instruments of the orchestra and listen to some
wonderful music! The students will leave Kaufman around 9:00am and will return around 12:30pm. They will need to bring a sack
lunch that day. Permission forms will be going home soon!
Kindergarteners will be presenting their grade level music program, "The Little Red Hen", on Thursday, May 21st at 9:00am
(school) and 6:30pm (family and community members). The front doors will open at 6:15pm. We hope to see you there!
During the summer, please further your child's musical experiences by listening to music - any type will do! As you listen, ask
questions about the instruments or voices, or how fast, slow, loud, soft, high or low the sounds are. You can also explore
new sounds by "playing" with your voice or using ordinary things (pencils, pots and pans, etc) to make new sounds and
patterns. On a personal note, I would like to give a thank you to everyone who has helped make all of our programs a success!
Thank you for the beautiful stage decorations and props, and for encouraging your child to do their very best. Have a musical
summer!
PE
We are keeping very busy in P.E. class being active and physically fit!
Our 3rd and 4th graders have the opportunity to participate in the Spring Fun Run at Oak Ridge High School in
the month of May. Our Kaufman Cougars always represent us very well with their great speed and endurance!
Our older students are also ready to start their Racquet Unit. This unit is one of their all time favorites consisting of tennis, racquet ball, and scoop ball. All of these activities are great for improving their eye-hand coordination. Our younger Cougars will also have fun revisiting some of their favorite rhythmic and manipulative
activities while also hitting the healthy heart track. Parents, please encourage your children to stay active and
moving this Summer. Remember that "Seven days without EXERCISE makes one weak." :)
Physical Education Department
Library
It is hard to believe the school year is almost over! We have really enjoyed helping students fall in love with books.
We would like to give a HUGE shout out to our SENSATIONAL weekly library volunteers: Angel Frank, Kathleen Johansen, Pam Brightman, Sandi Brown, Dawn Trevino,
Kim Lower, Ami Corkhill, Rebecca Watt, Tina Reyna, and our Spectacular Liaison, Helda Martins. We could not have survived the school year without your
help.
Children's Book Week is COMING!!!!
May 4th - 10th
Students are encouraged to show their love of reading by participating in the daily themes throughout the week.
Monday: Cougars are FREE to Read! (Everyone is encouraged to wear patriotic colors.)
Tuesday: Cougars are LOCO about Books! (Everyone is encouraged to dress crazy from head to toe.
Wednesday: Peace, Love and Books! (Everyone is encouraged to dress in “ hippie” /groovy attire.)
Thursday: Cougars are Wild about Books! (Everyone is encouraged to wear animal print.)
Friday: Say “ ALOHA” to GREAT BOOKS! (Everyone is encouraged to dress in Hawaiian attire.)
Here are some important upcoming dates involving the library:
Children's Book Week
Last week to check out
Last day to take AR Quizzes
Last AR Store
All library books due
Week of May 4
Week of May 18
Friday, May 22
May 25 - 29
Friday, May 29
Please make sure your student returns ALL library books on time. A small token will be given to each student who clears their library record on or by their last library time.
Students may clear their library record by returning their books or by paying for lost/damaged books. Your money will be refunded if you pay for a lost book and find it
later.
Please remember that parents are ALWAYS welcome in our library. YOU may check out books too! We support Dr. Stockton's READ FOR A BETTER LIFE initiative:
students are encouraged to read 20-30 minutes each evening to encourage a life-long love of reading and learning!
Keep Reading, even in the summer! The Kaufman eBooks will be available and the Montgomery Public Library has many exciting reading programs too! Also, students
can earn a FREE BOOK from Barnes&Noble bookstore.
Step 1: Read any 8 books and record them in the Reading Journal (you can find this on their website: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/summer-reading/379003570/ )
Step 2: Bring the completed Reader's Journal to your local B&N store.
Step 3: Choose a FREE Book from their selection on the Reading Journal list at the store.
Have a wonderful summer AND…Keep 'em Reading!
Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Martin
Clinic Information
If your child has medication in the clinic please stop in to pick it up. We are not able to send medicine home
with your child. All emergency medications should remain until the last day of school. Any medication
remaining after June 4, 2014 will be discarded.
Have a safe and healthy summer.
Parent Information Meeting
Incoming 5th Graders to Vogel Intermediate
Learn all about Vogel Intermediate and ask any questions you
may have. You will learn about our daily schedule, clubs, learning
communities and fine arts opportunities. You will also be able
to meet the administrators and support staff.
We hope to see you there!
Wednesday, May 13 - 1:00pm and 6:00pm (repeat session)
PTO News
THANK YOU!
A big thank you to all the volunteers and to Kroger for helping to make Mornings with Mom such a success. We couldn’t do
it without you.
Earn money for the school just by shopping. Simply log into your Kroger account, scroll to the bottom of your account information and choose Kaufman Elementary PTO. Organization #90144 https://www.kroger.com/ Even if you enrolled in
this program last year, you need to update your enrollment once a year. Thank you for your support!
GENERAL PTO MEETING
There will be a general PTO meeting on Thursday, May 7th at 1:30. Future Cougars are welcome! We will begin planning
May Fun Day this month. If you are interested in working on our May Fun Day committee, but cannot attend the meeting,
please email us at [email protected]. We will need many volunteers that day to work the various games and activities.
YEARBOOKS
Yearbooks are no longer for sale online. They will be available for purchase at May Fun Day on May 29 th on a first come,
first serve basis.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES FOR 2015-2016
Pre-packaged school supplies will be available for sale again this year. We are working with School Tool Box who delivers
the supplies straight to your door. You will be able to personalize your order as well. For example, you can add additional
boxes of crayons if you’d like extras, or you can take off the scissors if you already have them. All orders can be placed
online beginning May 1st. Please visit www.schooltoolbox.com to place an order.
BOX TOPS
Thanks to all those who save box tops. We earned $2,075.60 for the spring collection. Last collection date for this school
year Is May 8th. Don't forget to save over the summer. 2015-2016 has new incentives for winning Cougar Classes. Box
tops will be collected each month next school year.
STAY UPDATED
Search for and like “Kaufman PTO” on Facebook and register for weekly emails on our webpage at
www.friendsofkaufman.digitalpto.com to stay updated.
A note from the Registrar….
If you are moving out of the CISD district, please
contact the Registrar to complete the necessary
paperwork.