Concord Elementary School News
Hello Jackets,
Below you will find information on policies, procedures, announcements and upcoming events. I have also added a new section called Literacy Tips. In this section you will find simple, easy things you can do at home each night to help your child’s reading improve. If you have questions, please call the office 517-524-6650.
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES:
School Start Times: This year we will start and end school ten minutes earlier each day (7:50 am - 2:45 pm). The change in start times allows the middle school and high school to get in four hours before the juniors and seniors leave for the career center. The school building will be opening at 7:35 for students to eat breakfast. We will let all students in at 7:35. The students will be supervised in front of the gym until 7:40 if they are not eating breakfast.
Arriving Late: Students arriving late to school must be signed in at the office by a parent.
Drop- Off Lane: There is no parking in the drop-off lane. If you need to park, please use the parking lot.
END OF THE DAY REMINDER: Please do not pull up in the drop off zones to pick up your students at the end of the day. Please park in the parking lot and walk up to get your child from their teacher.
ANNOUNCEMENTS/REMINDERS:
PTO will collect Labels for Education, please save them and send them to school with your child.
How much is a Box Tops for Education clip worth? Each Box Tops Clip is worth 10 cents for your school. Parents...please continue to collect and save all of your Box Tops. We collect Box Tops all year long. Send in those Box Tops! Thank you!
1/15 NO SCHOOL - MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY
1/20 Jr. FLL Lego Competition at Concord at 8am
1/30 Hearing screenings for K, 2, and 4
1/31 Vision screening for 1, 3, and 5
Fifth grade camp is 2/12-2/16 (see below for more information)
2/14 spring count day
2/16 Half Day - dismissal at 11:05
2/19 No School - Presidents Day
2/28 7th/8th grade and HS Band Pre-Festival Concert (see below for more band information)
3/7 Parent Teacher conferences from 4pm - 8pm
3/9 Half Day - dismissal at 11:05
3/9 or 3/10 Michigan School Band and Orchestra Festival at Western High School for MS and HS band
No School 3/12
End of the second marking period 3/16
No School 3/30
No School - spring break - 4/2-4/6
5/20 K-12 Music Program (Elementary performance to begin at 3pm)
EVENTS:
Preschool and Latchkey Child Care - Concord Elementary School is partnering with ABC Academy again this year. We will be able to provide two GSRP preschool classrooms, one tuition based preschool classroom, and child care before and after school. Please call 517-740-0167 to register your child. There are still open spots in our GSRP and Preschool programs. Call Today!
Coat and Can Drive -Thank you so much for all of the donations in the coat and can drive. We have been able to provide coats and snow pants to many students in need, and many families benefit from the food donations during the holiday season. The generosity displayed by our students and their families was overwhelming! The first grade won the can drive in the elementary school and Mr. Zigray’s first hour won in the middle school.
Hearing and Vision Screenings - Hearing and vision screenings are provided by the health department, and they are free. If the screening identifies and issue, then the health department will send a letter home to alert you of the concern. If you do not want your child screened, please notify the office.
Fifth Grade Camp Information -
All camp spending money and balances need to be paid by Friday, February 8th.
Camp is February 12-16. We will begin loading luggage at 8:15 on Monday, the 12th, so we can depart promptly at 9:15. Please make sure your child arrives at school by this time. They will not be able to ride the bus with their luggage, so please make arrangements for them to be dropped off.
We will return from camp on Friday, Feb. 16th at 10:30. Please make sure your child has someone to pick them up at this time. They will not stay until the end of the school day (this is 5th grade only). The rest of the elementary will be dismissing at 11:05, but they will not be able to take their luggage on the bus, so please make arrangements.
All medication that will be taken to camp needs to be in the appropriate bottle, labeled with your child’s name and given to Mrs. Cook or Mrs. Arbuckle. We will make sure it gets to camp and the correct personnel. Do not send medication in the child’s luggage.
All spending money needs to be given to a teacher so we can deposit it into the student account. Please do not send money with your child.
No electronics of any kind are allowed. Please encourage your child to bring a camera, but nothing too expensive.
Please do not pack any food. There will be plenty of food for them to eat at camp. Food in suitcases tends to attract some of our outdoor friends.
If you would like to send a letter to your child you can mail it or give it to their teacher before we leave on Monday. Make sure if you mail it, it has the school name and student name. The address is: YMCA Storer Camps 6941 Stony Lake Rd. Jackson, MI 49201.
We will be outside the majority of our days at camp. Please pack accordingly!
Music and Band Information -
Feb. 28- 7th/8th and HS Band Pre-Festival concert followed by clinic with Dr. David Montgomery from Western Michigan University. Call time for Middle School is 5 and the performance is at 6.
March 9 or 10- Michigan School Band and Orchestra Festival. Western High School. Times will be sent home as soon as I receive them.
April 7- HS Band performs at the Epcot Center at Disney.
May 20- K-12 Music Program. Elementary perform at 3, 6th Grade Band at 4, 7th/8th Band at 5, HS Choir at 6, and HS Band and Winterguard at 7.
Also, Tuesday Afternoon Lessons run from 3-4 every Tuesday. Come in to get extra help, practice, or to improve your playing test scores.
Literacy Tips:
Phonics - Phonics is the ability to understand the relationship between letters and the sounds they represent. This includes:
Recognizing print patterns that represent sounds
Syllable patterns
Word parts (prefix, suffix, and root words)
Common Consonant Digraphs and Blends:
bl, br, ch, ck, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gh, gl, gr, ng, ph, pl, pr, qu,
sc, sh, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw, th, tr, tw, wh, wr
Common Consonant Trigraphs:
Nth, sch, scr, shr, spl, spr, squ, str, thr
Common Vowel Digraph:
Ai, au, aw, ay, ea, ee, ei, eu, ew, ey, ie, oi, oo, ou, ow, oy
To help a child build phonics, understanding the relationship between letters and sounds is really important.. Some activities you can do with rhyming at home include:
Make letter-sounds and have your child write the letter or letters that match the sounds.
Play word games that connect sounds with syllables and words. (for example, if the letters “p-e-n” spell pen, how do you spell hen?).
Write letters on cards. Hold up the cards one at a time and have your child say the sounds (for example, the /d/ sound for the letter d).
Teach your child to match the letters in his/her name with the sounds in his/her name.
Core 5 - We encourage you to work with your kids on CORE 5 at home. CORE 5 is one way to work with your child on reading at home. CORE 5 is our new computerized, supplemental reading program for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. This program is research based and shows if our students reach their required weekly minutes their reading abilities will improve. Please see below for directions on how to start today!
CORE 5
AT-HOME READING ACCELERATION PROGRAM
Core 5 is an online reading acceleration program. It is a research-based, computer program that is designed to provide instruction to students at their level and increase the pace at which they learn literacy skills. Students have minute goals for each week, and as they complete levels they earn certificates and get provided review work. Students work on this program at school, but would see more benefit and be closer to their weekly minute goals if they work on the program at home too. To access the program, please follow the step by step directions below.
Click log in with Google
Have the student enter their email (student email is first three letters of the last name, then first three letters of the first name, day and month of the birthday, the letter a, @mischools.org - EXAMPLE Joe Smith would be smijoe0101a@mischools.org)
Enter the student password which is 12345678
Click on the CORE 5 icon
The program will open and begin with a warm up