april08

Our last PTA meeting included a special guest speaker, Dennis Mitchell, who provided ways to deal with discipline in the home. I have found some additional information that you will also find useful.

The first pitfall is ignoring the behavior and waiting “too long or too late” to discipline a child. That’s because inappropriate child behaviors seldom evaporate. They grow. If you repeatedly turn a blind eye to small infractions, they may soon grow into a bigger problem that forces your action and may not be as easy to solve. Therefore, it’s best to address and correct small inappropriate behaviors as quickly as they are noticed. You may have to look directly at the child, shake your head, point a finger, or offer a quick verbal correction several times each day. If you don’t get the results you want from issuing a verbal correction, shaking your head, or pointing your finger you must take additional action quickly.

The second pitfall is taking misbehavior personally, and coming on too hard and too strong for all inappropriate behavior. It’s best to think “small consequences” and a “fast chance for the child to learn and change the behavior” rather than reacting personally or giving a big punishment. If this doesn’t work then you can take stronger actions. When you focus on big punishments rather than teaching correct behavior, you may back yourself into a corner and not have any room left to operate. Careless behavior for spilling milk should not receive the same response as fighting.

The third pitfall is trying to make a rule and penalty for everything. It’s impossible. That’s why it’s better to believe children aren’t fully educated regarding acceptable behaviors. The only way to avoid the “too many rules” pitfall is to limit the number of rules to no more than seven. One rule that covers almost everything is “being careful and kind”. That may be too broad for younger children, but if you are consistent with your rules this will have a strong impact. Don’t assume the simplest rules such as good manners are just known. Someone had to teach each of us.

The fourth pitfall is believing discipline is negative, it’s not. It’s a positive, and self-discipline is a valued character trait. One of the better ways to motivate children to choose appropriate behavior is to commend them for good behavior and improvement. For example, if a child starts to show responsibility by doing chores and forgets to take out the trash one day do not overreact. Remind the child that he has done well all week and if he takes care of the trash today, he’ll have a perfect record.

The final pitfall is not searching for the reason for the misbehavior. Remember, all behavior is with purpose. A child behaves appropriately for a reason and inappropriately for a reason. Unless you know the reason for the misbehavior, you don’t have the vital information needed to take action. However, once you know the reason for the misbehavior, you’re positioned to take the next effective step.

A big thank you to Nicole Ireland for having Dennis Mitchell speak at our last general meeting. Dennis has some excellent parenting tips using humor and creativity to deal with children.

The nominating committee is still looking for interested parents to be involved with the PTA Board next year. There are many spots available on the committees such as Yearbook, Breakfast with Santa, and Health and Safety Fair. If you are interested, please contact Sharon Tipton at 936/273-2933.

Anger is a natural human response and a feeling that everyone experiences from time to time. Anger if not controlled, can be destructive and very hurtful to the individual or others. In elementary students, anger may lead to tantrums or other explosive behavior. It’s important that as parents we model healthy ways to express anger and teach strategies for making good choices. On April 18^th, Montgomery County Youth Services will be presenting FRED at Armstrong’s Health and Safety Fair. FRED is a conflict resolution program that teaches parents and students how to stay calm and make good choices in stressful situations. Hope To See You There!

Our “Pasta for Pennies” campaign is coming to a close. April 10^th is the last day for donations. We look forward to exceeding last year’s campaign totals, so send in that “spare” change! Thank you for your continued support in the fight against leukemia and lymphoma cancers.

Reminder: Please do not send medication to school with your child, this is against school policy. A parent must sign a permission form in the clinic for any medication to be administered at school. Also, with the temperatures beginning to rise outside make sure your child stays well hydrated. You may want to send a water bottle to school with your child, check with his/her teacher.

It’s hard to believe that the end of the year is just around the corner. As the end of the year approaches, students want to make sure they have met their yearly AR goal for their grade level. Second graders need to have 50 points, third graders need to have 75 points, and 4^th graders need to have 100 points in order to attend the AR movie at the end of the year. They must also have a comprehension level of 80%. The last day for AR is May 16. May 16 is also the last day for book checkout.

We are heading to the end of our first year of school. During these last nine weeks of classes, students will be asked to identify some high frequency words (“I”, “see”, “a” in English & “yo”, “mama”, “papá” in Spanish). In math children will sort objects into groups by an attribute and begin to explain how the grouping was done. They will also demonstrate part and whole with real objects. Students will learn to locate Texas on a map. In health children will understand the need for exercise and rest.

April is here and Kindergarten is busy getting ready for first grade. We are working on knowing all 25 sight words and reading groups have begun. Word families are really cool and they help students learn to read.

We really enjoyed studying about frogs and learned so much about the lifecycle by raising our tadpoles. In April, we look forward to our study of plants and we hope to even grow a few plants of our own.

Math is beginning to look like first grade as well. We will work on fractions, place value, and greater than and less than. Reviewing sorting and patterning will also happen in April.

Our first graders continue to work hard to become independent learners as they prepare for second grade. This month we will discover the characteristics of insects and why they are important to our environment. Also, students will read and write about Easter traditions and oviparous animals. In math, learners will explore fractions, identify the quarter and its value, skip count to 100 by twos, create fact families, and use their knowledge of place value to order and compare numbers. We have started working on word problems in math. Students are expected to read these word problems on their own, so please help your child with any words they do not know, but let them read the problems on their own if possible. This will help prepare them for second grade.

First grade will have their music program on April 24th at 9:00. They have been working hard to put on a great show and we would love to see parents there supporting their children. Looking ahead, we will be having our Reading Restaurant on Friday, May 2^nd. Please come join us in your child’s classroom and listen to your child read a favorite piece of literature from this year. More information will be coming in your child’s Monday folder.

I went to a play called Goodnight Moon. There was a bunny and stars everywhere. It was beautiful! The bunny was funny. He did not want to go to bed. I had so much fun and I had lunch at a beautiful park. You should have been there. We had so much fun and the school bus was very bumpy.

Wow! We can’t believe it’s already the last nine-weeks of school. This year has gone by so fast. The 2^nd graders will be going on their field trip to Jesse Jones Park in Humble on April 17. Please, remember to send a sack lunch and a drink. In language arts, we will be reading a variety of genres. The students will find similarities and differences in texts. Also, the students need to keep reading their AR books and taking test. Their 50 point goal will need to be met with 80% correct by May 16. The students are working on their geometry unit in math and love using tangrams. We will also start working on multiplication and division using arrays. The students are really enjoying learning about animal habitats. We appreciate all the support that our students receive from home. Keep up the good work and keep reading for homework!

My classmates and I have been learning a lot in second grade. We have been reading articles. We have read lots of them. They are nonfiction. Also, we are learning how to use a dictionary. In science we are learning about the planets and how they orbit the sun. We learned the sun is a star. In math we learned how to regroup. We also learned about greater than and less than signs. I love learning in second grade!

Please remember that your child should be reading for 15 minutes every night and writing it down in their reading logs. Students are bringing home a language arts packet of homework each week instead of a reading packet. We appreciate all of your help and support in preparing the students for the Reading TAKS test. Remember the Math TAKS test is on April 29^th. Students will begin reviewing material learned since the beginning of the school year in order to prepare for this test. Science has us exploring weather. We will also be looking at how animals change and adapt in different stages of their lives. In social studies we will be examining past and present technology. Classes will be comparing and contrasting technology and how it has changed over time.

In math we are learning about 2 and 3 dimensional shapes. In reading we just started Sarah, Plain and Tall. Also, we are writing stories and learning about the revising process. We also are doing fast on facts where you have to do multiplication facts very fast. The TAKS test was not really that hard. It’s only hard if you don’t try your best. 3^rd grade ROCKS!!!

Spring is here and the reading and math TAKS test will be given at the end of the month. Please continue to encourage your children to work hard in all subjects. Homework is important as well. All fourth graders should get enough sleep, eat a good breakfast, arrive at school on time, and stay the whole day. This month we are reviewing reading concepts using fables and Writer’s Workshop. We continue to stress the importance of reading and believe reading insures success in school and beyond. In addition, fourth graders need 100 A.R. points to attend the movie in May. Our students need to make 4 points weekly to obtain this goal.

In math, we are reviewing all objectives in order to prepare our students for Math TAKS. We are studying ways to conserve water in science and social studies. Our fourth graders have been working very hard this year and we are very proud of them.

When the TAKS test was over everyone in 4^th grade was relieved and joyful. I love fourth grade and I’m sure many other people love it too. When we write our compositions our stories always make a complete circle and we try our best. We wrote about small moments and using “show me” “don’t tell me”. Most of 4^th grade work is easy for me like math and science.

Spring is here and all the art students will continue to study color. The students will examine contrasting colors, intermediate colors, and opposite colors. The students will create collage artwork this month, as well as, look at the collage artwork of Romare Bearden, Eric Carle, and Ezra Jack Keats. It should be a very colorful spring.

It is hard to believe that the fourth nine weeks is now here. As we continue through the year the kindergarteners are still working on steady beat, simple melodic patterns, and rhythm. They are also learning songs to be performed at their graduation program. First graders are working hard to prepare for their upcoming program in April. Second graders will begin to learn about the music staff and note values while third and fourth grades continue the recorder. This year the recorder unit has been lengthened due to the popularity of the new Recorder Karate System. This system mimics karate in that when a student is able to play a certain song and show the skills necessary to play the song well he/she receives a belt(piece of yarn) to tie on the recorder. This allows the child to show others what they have accomplished. Please continue to encourage your child to

We had so much fun with our soccer unit! This month we will be doing our speed stacking unit. It is great for working on fine motor skills, teamwork, and self discipline. Our fourth graders will be extra busy because they will be getting ready for the Future Tiger Challenge. This is a half day event on May 9^th at Conroe High School where fourth graders compete against the other Conroe High feeder elementary schools in various events. We will be having try outs during P.E. for the positions in the events. Only

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