AMS Prince Newsletter

AMS Prince | December 2021

Dear AMS Families,

We are only a few days away from winter break! The past few months have been very different for our school community, but I’d like to thank everyone for adapting to the new ways of doing things to help keep our staff and students safe and healthy.

Providing a safe, positive, inclusive learning environment while celebrating cultural diversity is always our goal. Thank you for being a part of pour school community. It is always great to see a school community come together in midst of difficult times. Thank you for your continued support and collaboration on behalf of our scholars.

The instructional level of the school remains high and the expectations of the teachers to push the students forward as much as possible is evident by our most recent iReady scores. This trend will continue into the new year. We want the students to be ever more independent and self-reliant. You can help making your child responsible for returning homework back to school on the day it is due, and by ensuring that your child attend school on a regular basis.

December is always a busy month, and we are finishing up Spirit Week at AMS. We have loved seeing a strong show of school spirit and good cheer. Both students and staff have participated making this spirit week one of our best. Student musical performances were recorded, and we will be sharing the video soon via dojo and Facebook.

Please be sure to enroll your child for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year. This can be done through SchoolMint. The deadline is January 21, 2022.

Wishing you holidays filled with fun and laughter, and the very best wishes for a prosperous new year.

Sincerely,

Sandra Lomeland

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Grade Level Updates

Happy Holidays from Kindergarten! In November, we enjoyed many Thanksgiving related activities and learned about the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims, Native Americans, and all about turkeys. We compared the way Pilgrims lived long ago with how we live now and were interested to find out that some of the chores Pilgrim children had to do are similar to chores our parents expect us to do now. We also compared the way we celebrate Thanksgiving today and the way it was celebrated by the Pilgrims. In Math we learned about odd and even numbers, telling time to the hour, counting by two’s, counting dimes and pennies together, and practiced our adding 2’s math facts. In Writing we worked on getting better at writing sentences by using adjectives to make them more interesting. We continue to become better readers by practicing our decodables and working on sight words. Some of our favorite stories this month included The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, White Owl, Barn Owl by Nicola Davies, Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, and A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting.

First Grade is dashing through the end of the second quarter! Social studies is a major focus during this holiday season. We just wrapped up learning about Families Long Ago and are learning about holidays around the world. During this month we will be learning about different holiday traditions around the world. We will be creating a holiday passport to document all of the countries that we discuss such as Italy, Germany, India, and Mexico. Mrs. Twitchell’s class created and wrote about snowmen in disguise, while Mrs. Ornstein’s class illustrated and wrote about what it would be like to be trapped in a snow globe!

In science, the first grade classes will work on their science fair projects. The first grade team hopes to soon begin the research process as we plan our experiments. As we move through each step of the science fair process, students will be recording all important information into their own science fair journal.

In math, students are now working with adding multiple single digit numbers and naming fractional parts of a whole. Students have begun to learn their subtraction math facts, and how to add two and three digit numbers with and without regrouping.

Second grade is excited that we are almost halfway through the year. We are making great progress in our curriculum and rebuilding those skills lost during home learning. In math we are struggling with subtracting two-digit numbers, especially if that requires regrouping. Practice makes perfect so if your student is struggling, please have them do a little extra practice. We are on our way to mastering lines of symmetry and adding two-digit numbers. In science we learned all about how heat from the sun and other sources is important to our daily survival. We also learned how too much heat could be bad for us. In social studies we learned about the first Thanksgiving and a little bit about how the settlers came to America and settled here. In reading we are still learning our basic phonics rules to sound out and spell words. We are also memorizing the sight words to become more fluent readers. Reading topics vary depending on the classroom. We are learning many good things about science and social studies through reading though. We have already completed our standardized testing and have been extremely pleased with the results. Most students are showing tremendous growth in math and reading as the year is progressing. If you are unsure of your student’s progress, please reach out their teacher to get more information. We appreciate all you do at home to help support your student’s success and we hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Hello 3rd grade parents,

We are so excited with all of the fun and exciting activities that we are working on this month. We are still very focused on learning and teaching the students all we can before they go on break for a little over 2 weeks. We need them to stay focused and at school to teach them what they need before our big test in April.

Ms. Brooks’ class is working hard on the writing process- writing a narrative story and either a favorite trip or a factual text about a country in the world.

Ms. Bonilla says with the science fair coming up, the kids are super excited to get started on their science fair projects. They are all participating and doing well with the learning the basics such as the scientific method.

Ms. Holbert continues to work on Open Court reading and strengthening the phonics skills of her scholars.

3rd grade is a focus year for our scholars and there is a lot to cover before they take the state assessment. If it is possible your scholar will benefit by giving them time to work on I-Ready. I-Ready works on what they need to work on and the skills that they need to strengthen for the success of their state assessment. Students can log in through Clever.com with their school Google account and play the learning games and continue to learn on their path to success. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to your scholar’s teacher.

It’s hard to believe we are at the end of quarter 2. For the remaining three weeks of school we will be reviewing topics before students take their math midterms. Homework for math will be handed out in class as we will not be completing normal lessons. In science we are learning about Volcanoes and earthquakes. Science fair projects will be graded over the break and then students will have a chance to improve their grade during the second semester.

Hello Dear Parents and Students,

Check out what is new in 5th grade Math and Science!

Math: We just took our second round of iReady testing and the improvement from the last test was AWESOME to see! We are working hard on topics such as finding averages, adding and subtraction fractions, converting units of measurements, and much more.

Science: We just finished our plant unit and now are learning all about water. We will look at the water cycle, water waste and conservation, water treatment, and much more. We are also -starting our Science Fair projects!

We have less than a month until the end of Quarter 2 and I am so proud of how hard 5th grade is working!

Alison Biehl

Hey, all and happy holidays! 6^th and 7^th graders have been taking some time to learn about the elements of drama and do some staged readings of the Lindsay Price play “Hoodie” and a selections from a play of scenes called “Ten and Two” also by Lindsay Price. As we move into the final few weeks, classes will be going back into the Collections text book to finish up the final few texts that include poetry and informational pieces centered around sensation and perception to prepare for the mid-term exam. Please keep in mind that any late work will be due by Monday, December 13^th and that final grades will be heavily influenced by these last few weeks of assignments without much time to catch up if things are not turned in. Thank you all for the hard work so far this semester. Looking forward to an amazing end to the semester.

Best,

Mr. Moore

Greetings, AMS families,

In English class, students have wrapped up their fictional narrative writing unit and have returned to reading short stories from the Collections curriculum. Since the second quarter has been primarily focused on how to establish effective writing, students have observed how academic writing differs from texting friends and posting on social media in its formal tone and technical design. For students who haven’t had much practice writing academically since the pandemic broke out in March of 2020, quarter two has provided a satisfying challenge. I salute the scholars for working hard to break bad writing habits and for their personal resolve to refine their writing voices.

As a reminder, upon returning from Thanksgiving Break, students will have until Thursday, December 16th to make up any outstanding missing work for quarter two. Please reach out via Dojo if you’d like to establish an action plan for ensuring your student’s final grade matches their academic potential.

As always, thank you for your continued support,

-Mr. Faraday

Best,

Mr. Moore

Greetings, AMS families,

As always, thank you for your continued support,

-Mr. Faraday

Specials

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Hello AMS Prince families, we have been busy crafting and creating in the studio as usual! Students made beautiful fall themed directed drawings of pumpkins, turkeys, cornucopias, and dried corn. We have also been learning about Surrealism. Many grade levels created surrealism collages with magazines and had a blast using their imaginations making the silliest nonsensical projects! Not only did the magazine collage challenge students in their cutting skills, but it also allowed them to create artwork that had balanced focal points and told a story. In connection to stories, students have also made leaf bookmarks with hanging acorns. Soon our centaurs will be finishing up all their fall projects, and we will begin our winter projects! The winter projects will focus on building drawing and painting skills, learning more techniques when cutting, and practicing weaving. Stay on the look-out for all the projects coming home with your kiddos each week!

Mrs.

From the Music Department,

We are working with all the students to prepare them for our Winter Recital which will be on Thursday, December 9th in the morning. Due to Covid-19, the recital will video recorded and put on our YouTube channel for you to watch. Grades 3 and 4 will be singing holiday favorites as a choir and grades 5-8 will be performing holiday inspired songs on either guitar or piano. Rock Band Club has begun and is working with the students to prepare them for playing in the recital as well.

We are also teaching music theory and aural skills where we ask the kids to sing melodies and rhythms that we play for them. They are expected to proficiently read music as well as understand how to play the music on their instruments. We also teach about music history and instruments of the orchestra. Our goal is to have our musician scholars be well-rounded with a musical education that enhances their academic careers.

Musically Yours,

Mrs. Kashtelyan & Mr. Nigro

Last week

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day by coloring the Thanksgiving picture that has the Chinese character on it. The students learned how to say, “ Happy thanksgiving” and “ Turkey”. We reviewed the conversation of “ Hello” and started to pronounced the Pinying

Moving forward

This week and Last week are the holiday weeks. We don’t have the full time to learn. For that, I just wanted to wrap up what we learned which are the “Hello” conversation and familiar with the “Pinyin” system. Some classes are starting to create students’ Chinese name, learning the difference between the Chinese name and the English name. We are going to learn “How to introduce yourself and others by introducing their names” for the next topic.

Regards,

Xinagjun Lu

From the P.E. Department

As we approach the end of Quarter 2 (and the year 2021), we have some exciting and important news from the P.E. Department. I am proud to announce that our school will be offering two SPORTS for Middle School students (grades 6 - 8) for Quarter 3: Girls Volleyball and Coed Flag Football. If your scholar is interested in playing one of these sports, certain requirements must be met.

The following DOCUMENTS must be completed and signed by 12/1 (Wednesday) : Athletics Fee Payment Agreement, Consent and Release of Liability Form, Student Athletic Code of Conduct, Transportation Permission Slip,and a sports physical must be completed using the Physical Evaluation Form.

Coaches will want to hold tryouts soon and will be limiting the number of players on the AMS teams for each sport. Students wanting to try out for these sports should move quickly, and get the necessary documents completed and signed ASAP. After tryouts, timely payment of the $45 participation fee must be made, and uniform deposit will need to be collected BEFORE athletes receive a uniform. All paperwork and forms can be requested at the front office, or directly requested from me. We also have a Sports Physical Voucher at FastMed to get a quick and affordable physical. Also, families could bring the Physical Evaluation Form to their family doctor to fill out upon completion of a sports physical.

There will be more details released in the coming days, and I thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as we get this process started. I thank you for your commitment to our school, and I am incredibly excited to be bringing sports to our campus this year! If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me via ClassDojo or email: [email protected]

Gratefully,

Coach Langlais