DRUMMOND DISPATCH

DATES

1/17 ........ 5:30 ..................................PTO Meeting2/1 ....................................................End of 2nd Trimester2/2 ....................................................NO SCHOOL2/8 .......... 4:00 ..................................DR Papa John’s Night2/14 ........ 4:00 ..................................Parent/Teacher Conferences2/15 ........ 11:55 ................................Early Dismissal 12:00 ................................Parent/Teacher Conferences2/16 ..................................................NO SCHOOL2/19 ..................................................Presidents’ Day – NO SCHOOL2/21 ........ 5:30 ..................................PTO meeting in library2/26 ........ 5:00 ..................................SIT meeting in library2/27 ........ 4:00 ..................................DR Cane’s Night2/28 ........ 9:00 ..................................Kindergarten Registration for 2018-2019 5:00 ..................................Kindergarten Registration for 2018-2019

FEBRUARY 2018

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School HoursClasses are conducted at Drummond from 8:50 AM – 3:35 PM. If your child is being dropped off after 8:50 AM, you will need to sign him/her in at the main office.

Also, dismissal begins at 3:35 PM. Due to safety reasons, we do not dismiss stu-dents from school after 3:15 PM.

Attendance HotlinePlease contact the Drummond Attendance Hotline at 314-213-8519 anytime that your child will be absent from school.

314-213-8519

Early Release Days

As a rule of thumb, the district has an early release day each month for the purpose of staff taking part in professional development. Dismissal on these days is 11:55 AM.

Papa John’s NightEach month, our local Papa John’s hosts a Drummond Night. Each child will receive a coupon/flyer to present at the time of your order. Papa John’s shares a portion of their proceeds to Drummond, which is used to fund student activities throughout the school year.

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-10--1-

WelcomeEarly ChildhoodJoanne Cadwallader – early

childhood special education paraprofessional

Ashley Felton – early childhood special education paraprofessional

Kendra Goldman – secretaryCollins Harris – occupational

therapistSanbria Hulsey – early

childhood special education paraprofessional

Annie Neu – early childhood special education paraprofessional

Tina Riley– early childhood special education paraprofessional

Brittany Stevens– early childhood paraprofessional

Pamela Stubblefield – early childhood special education teacher

Khalida Wukawitz – early childhood special education paraprofessional

Bridgeway Alexander Bureck – fifth-grade

teacherJosie Chapman –

paraprofessionalErika Felder – assistant after-

school care instructorJennifer Hopkins – cookNatasha Malone – second-

grade teacherKendra Worsham – counselor,

shared with Parkwood

DrummondAlexis Anzalone – fourth-grade

teacherHenry Cima – custodianAntoine Donson – SSD teacher

assistantAdrienne Draper – in-school

suspension supervisorCatina Gaddy – lead cookHeather Jacobson –

kindergarten teacherJacob Johnson – vocal music

teacherSierra Plume – paraprofessionalMelissa Reynolds – counselorMichelle Stewart – clerkAndrew Woerther – library

technology aide

ParkwoodGregory Anderson – behavior

interventionistSarah Fee – vocal music

teacherChristina Livingston –

kindergarten teacherAudrey Masek – kindergarten

teacherAnn Randle – SSD teacher

assistantShani Thompson –

paraprofessionalMegan Wessels –

paraprofessionalVeronica White – clerk

Remington TraditionalTamika Dukes – art teacher

Rose AcresSandra Sullivan – cook

Willow BrookKatharine Ackman – fourth-

grade teacherRhonda Daniels –

paraprofessionalAlyssa Lipson – fourth-grade

teacher

HolmanVeronica Lampe – cook Lakeisa Robinson – custodianShayla Ross – cook, shared

with transportation as a bus aide

Ryan Shea – language arts teacher

Pattonville HeightsLori Alanis – ELL

paraprofessionalAnn Bean – cook Joe Groceman – custodianLydia Hobson – guidance

secretaryLauren Jordan – math teacherStephen Lee – iLearn

technology aideChristine Rehg – secretaryTerri Sallee – science teacherAmy Stillman – cookMitko Varadinov –

paraprofessional

New hires continue on next page

The Pattonville School District Board of Education is committed to providing exemplary educational opportunities for ALL children. In order to accomplish this goal, partnerships with parents, business leaders and district patrons must continue to be actively developed in order to engage the entire community as the district strives for educational excellence. As such, the Board has adopted the following Areas of Emphasis for the 2017-2018 school year:

• The district shall develop a multi-year plan to implementK-12 personalized, competency- based learningenvironments that provide ongoing feedback to students ontheir growth toward high school course content readinessand lead to success-ready graduates.

• All students in grades 6 through 12 have a graduation life-readiness plan which they develop and regularly monitorprogress within and between academic levels.

• Career education programs will continue to become amore integral component of the total educational programand will include students participating in extended learningopportunities, emphasizing district partnerships with localbusinesses when possible.

• The district facilities plan will be updated as appropriateand implemented utilizing bond issue and district operatingfunds.

The district will continue with the following:

• Proactive strategies will be implemented to promotecontinued improvement in student responsibility, citizenshipand overall character with an emphasis on buildingrelationships and an understanding of socioeconomic,cultural and ethnic differences.

• Safety for students, staff and community will continue tobe evaluated and improved.

• Parents, staff and students will continue to develop,modify and implement school improvement plans based ondata and research.

• The district will continue to implement and identifystrategies to increase the percentage of students involvedin extracurricular programs provided at the elementary andmiddle school level to support the development of highlycompetitive programs at the high school.

• The district will continue to use resources efficiently to achieve district goals.

• The district will continue legislativeadvocacy for public education.

Adopted by the Pattonville Board of Education on June 27, 2017.

Board AreasFor the 2017-2018 School Year

of Emphasis

Student/Parent Handbook

2017-2018Robert Drummond Elementary

Pattonville School District2017-2018 Board Areas of Emphasis

Drummond’s Spelling Bee Winners

Drummond’s Spelling Bee was held January 10th and many 1st through 5th graders partic-ipated. All students who participated should be very proud of themselves for doing their best. They all worked very hard. 3-5 graders took a written test with 100 words. 1-2 grad-ers took a written test with 50 words. Congratulations to Gabby Kellner. For the sec-ond year in a row, she took 1st place in the 3-5 grade bee with 79 words spelled correctly and will represent Drummond at the St. Louis Post Dispatch Spelling Bee in early March. Olivia Hoffmann achieved 2nd place with 76 words correct, and Elias El-Ghazal placed 3rd with 68 words correct. Congrats to all three of these terrific spellers! Congratulations to Ma’Khaya Green. She took 1st place in the 1-2 grade bee. She spelled 50 words correctly. Peyton Felder-Turner earned 2nd place and spelled 49 words correctly. Aryanna Clay, Chad Brown, and Ayanna Vailant tied for 3rd place with 48 words spelled correctly. Congrats to all five of these fantastic spellers!

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Connecting with Twitter

Using social media is a great way to get connected with school and your child’s classroom. Many of our staff use Twitter to share the aMaZiNg things happening in our school community. Check out just a few of the recent tweets and follow us to stay connected-

NOTE Worthy News

“Jazz Up”YourFebruaryforBlackHistoryMonth!

Heythere,allyoucoolcats!Thingsareswinginginmusicthismonth!DuringthemonthofFebruary,studentswillspendtimeinmusicclassrecognizingblackmusicians,composers,andperformers.Manyofthesemusiciansworkedinjazzmusic.JazzisAmerica’soriginalartform,andeverybitofitshistoryandtraditionoriginatesinblackAmericancultureandheritage.Takesometimetoreaduponsomeofjazz’s

legendarymusicians.“Focusyouraudio”,andgolistentosomeoftheirhits:

Duke Ellington PopularSong:ItDon’tMeanaThing,IfItAin’tGotThatSwing-Born:April29,1899-Died:May24,1974DukeEllingtonplayedthepianoandwrotemusic.Heisrememberedforleadingajazzorchestraandforwritingover1,000piecesofmusic.

Ella Fitzgerald

PopularSong:Summertime-Born:April25,1917-Died:June15,1996

EllaFitzgerald’snicknameis“TheFirstLadyofSong”,becauseofheramazingsingingvoice.Musicianswereimpressedbyhow

wellshecouldimprovise(“comeupwith”)asolo,makinghervoicesoundlikeaninstrument.

Louis Armstrong PopularSong:WhataWonderfulWorld-Born:August4,1901-Died:July6,1971LouisArmstrong’snicknamefromearlyonwas“Satchmo”,commentingonhislargelips(“satchel”mouth).Armstrongplayedtrumpetandsang.Hewasbestknownforhistrumpetplaying,aswellashisfamous“scatsinging”(singingasolo,butusingmade-upwordsinsteadofsayingrealsentences).

Herbie Hancock

PopularSong:Chameleon-Born:April12,1940

HerbieHancockisajazzlegendthatisstillaliveandplayingmusic!

Heplayspianoandkeyboards.Hisfunkyplayingandkeyboardeffectshavechangedthewaythatpeopleplayjazzmusic.

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5 Ways to Make Reading FunHelp your child develop a love of reading with these easy tips

By Barbara RowleyParenting.com

1. Resurrect the read-aloud.Reading out loud is not simply a stepping-stone to learning to read silently; it's also a way to build vocabulary, attention skills, and comprehension, as well as--perhaps most important--a love of reading. If you're already doing the one-on-one bedtime story, think about ways to switch up the sessions: Read over breakfast.

5 Ways to Make Reading FunHelp your child develop a love of reading with these easy tips

By Barbara RowleyParenting.com

1. Resurrect the read-aloud.Reading out loud is not simply a stepping-stone to learning to read silently; it's also a way to build vocabulary, attention skills, and comprehension, as well as--perhaps most important--a love of reading. If you're already doing the one-on-one bedtime story, think about ways to switch up the sessions: Read over breakfast.

5 Ways to Make Reading FunHelp your child develop a love of reading with these easy tips

By Barbara RowleyParenting.com

1. Resurrect the read-aloud.Reading out loud is not simply a stepping-stone to learning to read silently; it's also a way to build vocabulary, attention skills, and comprehension, as well as--perhaps most important--a love of reading. If you're already doing the one-on-one bedtime story, think about ways to switch up the sessions: Read over breakfast. Encourage siblings to read out loud to each other or to the family pet. Alternate pages or chapters with your child. Or gather the whole family together for a group read-aloud.2. Take it on the road.Books are the ultimate portable entertainment--they're durable and impervious to a few drips of water (at least the non-electronic variety), and easy to read in the sunlight. Keep a chapter book in your bag to pull out while you're waiting at a restaurant, sitting poolside or on the beach, hanging out in a tree house, or while camping in a tent with a flashlight.3. Bring stories to life.Read horse books before your child goes to horseback-riding camp, Little House on the Prairie before you tour a pioneer village, a bio of a favorite baseball or football player before you visit a sports hall of fame.4. Be a reading buddy.If you see your child reading when you aren't, grab your own book and cozy up (well, as close as he'll let you) to read beside him. Prefer a scheduled approach? Try DEAR--Drop Everything and Read--sessions, in which the whole family reads at the same time.5. Make books a basic.Look at reading material like food and clothes: You wouldn't leave the refrigerator or the closet empty, so don't let the bookshelf go bare, either. Find a librarian or a teacher who keeps current with what's new and popular for kids, or play the cool card: Get a respected teen to tell your tween what books he enjoyed.

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Music News

News From EARLY CHILDHOOD2018-2019 Preschool Enrollment

The early years of a child's life are pivotal years for growth and development. Pattonville School District understands that a child's natural curiosity is fueled through a rich and challenging learning environment. Now is the time to start your child's love of learning at PSD!

Open enrollment for the Pattonville Preschool for the 2018 - 2019 school year will be February 1, 2018 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm and February 2, 2018 from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Pattonville Learning Center.

Call 314-213-8105 for more information or stop by the Early Childhood office, located at the Pattonville Learning Center.

Happy February from Mrs. Todd’s music room! We have been accomplishing so much in music class this year. Kindergarten and 1st grade have been working on songs, movement activities and learning how to match pitch when we sing. We have also been trying out different instruments such as the drums, triangles, wood blocks, xylophones, and learning how sound is produced. We’re also exploring different literature…if we can sing or add instruments to a book, we will! Second grade has focused on reading rhythms, folk songs, singing canons, and learning more mallet skills with our barred instruments. Meanwhile, our third graders finished up our folk dance unit and have been learning ALL about the Orchestra instruments; they can tell you what family each instrument belongs to and why! Fourth and fifth grade students finished up their guitar unit, and we’re looking forward to our world drumming unit happening soon. Fourth grade is planning on starting recorders soon so we can get ready to learn our “Link Up” songs when we go to the Symphony in May, and our fifth graders are finishing up learning the repertoire for the Pattonville All-District Choral Festival. We can’t wait to sing at the concert with all the choirs! Remember to keep asking your children what they’ve been learning recently, and keep learning and listening to ALL types of music! - Mrs. Todd

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Kindergarten Grade News

1

Celebrating Drummond’s 100th Day of School!In addition to counting and writing about 100, here are a few of the

many ways KK had fun becoming 100 days smarter in Kindergarten!

Celebrating Drummond’s 100th Day of School!In addition to counting and writing about 100, here are a few of the many ways KK had fun becoming 100 days smarter in Kindergarten!

News From KK

Our kindergarten year is halfway over! We are learning so much and have made so many friends this year. We have all increased our reading skills and love to read books all day long. We have also learned many sight words which help us read more books. In math we are working on addition. This is an easy skill to work on at home. Just get out crayons or blocks, make two small groups of each and add them together. The 100th day of school is just around the corner. We will do many fun activities centered around the number 100.

Please make sure you are completing your homework each week. Also, make sure to wear tennis shoes to PE.

News From KL

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News From 1KS

1st Grade News

What’s New in 1KS?

Reading: The last reading comprehension strategy students learned and continue to practice was visualizing. Students visualized (created mental images, smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings) from books they listened to and read themselves. Students are now practicing asking questions and wondering about texts before they read, as they are read, and after they read. Writing: The children’s latest writing focus was on adding detail and writing more sentences. They are now taking that skill and using it towards writing stories with a beginning, middle, and end. At the end of the unit, students will publish one of their stories. Social Studies: Students in 1KS completed the economics unit in social studies. They learned how people (adults and children) can earn money and how they have choices as to what to do with that money. Some of the choices discussed included spending, saving, and/or donating the money.

News From 1S1S Class News: February

We have been very busy since the New Year started in our first grade class! The new calendar year marked the beginning of several new units in reading, science, and writing. In our reading series, students are beginning to ask questions, or wonderings, about texts read aloud and to themselves. We are enjoying reading books like An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni, George Washington and the General’s Dog by Frank Murphy, and Down the Road by Alice Schertle. A great way to support your child’s reading at home is to have them predict what might happen next in a book, or ask them what they wonder about the book. Any kind of reading at home, whether done independently or with you, can only help your child develop the necessarily skills to succeed.

In addition to a new reading unit, we began a new science unit. Students are learning about the different elements of sound, such as pitch, volume/intensity, and vibrations. At the end of the unit, we will be creating our own musical instruments! Finally, we have been working very hard on our personal narrative stories. We are working on “telling more” by adding details to the beginning, middle, and end of our stories. The students are really enjoying this unit, as it allows them to write about their own lives. Everyone is really excited to share his/her writing during our Author’s Celebration!

What’s New in 1KS?

Reading: The last reading comprehension strategy students learned and continue to practice was visualizing. Students visualized (created mental images, smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings) from books they listened to and read themselves. Students are now practicing asking questions and wondering about texts before they read, as they are read, and after they read. Writing: The children’s latest writing focus was on adding detail and writing more sentences. They are now taking that skill and using it towards writing stories with a beginning, middle, and end. At the end of the unit, students will publish one of their stories. Social Studies: Students in 1KS completed the economics unit in social studies. They learned how people (adults and children) can earn money and how they have choices as to what to do with that money. Some of the choices discussed included spending, saving, and/or donating the money.

What’s New in 1KS?

Reading: The last reading comprehension strategy students learned and continue to practice was visualizing. Students visualized (created mental images, smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings) from books they listened to and read themselves. Students are now practicing asking questions and wondering about texts before they read, as they are read, and after they read. Writing: The children’s latest writing focus was on adding detail and writing more sentences. They are now taking that skill and using it towards writing stories with a beginning, middle, and end. At the end of the unit, students will publish one of their stories. Social Studies: Students in 1KS completed the economics unit in social studies. They learned how people (adults and children) can earn money and how they have choices as to what to do with that money. Some of the choices discussed included spending, saving, and/or donating the money.

What’s New in 1KS?

Reading: The last reading comprehension strategy students learned and continue to practice was visualizing. Students visualized (created mental images, smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings) from books they listened to and read themselves. Students are now practicing asking questions and wondering about texts before they read, as they are read, and after they read. Writing: The children’s latest writing focus was on adding detail and writing more sentences. They are now taking that skill and using it towards writing stories with a beginning, middle, and end. At the end of the unit, students will publish one of their stories. Social Studies: Students in 1KS completed the economics unit in social studies. They learned how people (adults and children) can earn money and how they have choices as to what to do with that money. Some of the choices discussed included spending, saving, and/or donating the money.

There is a lot of learning going on in 2K in 2018. We finished learning about plants and seeds right before winter break. We got to make seed spreaders and share them with the class. Now we are learning about American Symbols. The Bald Eagle is our favorite symbol and we are wondering how that crack got in the liberty bell. We like Social Studies a lot but can’t wait to start our next Science Unit. We love to read in 2K! We have just right book bags that we get to take home each week so that we can keep improving our reading. We have been learning that good readers wonder about stories before, during and after reading. Asking questions about the stories helps us understand what is happening in the story. We had a great time celebrating the 100th day of school and we are looking forward to all that we will get to learn between now and the end of the year.

2nd Grade News

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News From 2K

3rd Grade News

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The students of 3DT have been soaring through the New Year! In particular, students have been busy mastering mul-tiplication and division strategies! They have been using our place value blocks and pictures to solve single and multi-digit problems. We are also working hard at our multiplication fact fluency for 1-9 facts. During our Reader’s Workshop, students have been learning all about nonfiction texts, particularly biog-raphies and narrative nonfiction pieces. They have been prac-ticing how to ask questions during their reading and search for answers in the book. Additionally, we have been learning all about text features such as the table of contents, index, glos-sary, and diagrams, to name a few! We know that using these features helps us to be great readers of nonfiction. In writing, our focus has been on developing characters, settings, and plots for fiction pieces! Students are hard at work publishing these creative stories! 3DT has been learning about culture and diversity and how this makes us unique! We have partic-ularly been learning information about the culture in France, Brazil, and India. Keep up the great work, 3DT!

News From 3DT

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News From 3M

3M is ready to take on 2018! We wrapped up 2017 with learning about how other countries celebrate the holidays, over the course of four weeks. Then right before break, students enjoyed Third Grade’s Polar Express Day. When we returned from Winter Break, we wrapped up our unit on multiplication. We are excited to begin multi-digit multiplication next! Students have also been working hard on identi-fying shapes and their attributes, telling time and elapsed time, and solving area and perimeter problems during calendar. In homeroom, we have been hard at work! We re-cently started our timed multiplication quizzes and we are working hard to earn our ice cream sundaes! Our favorite time of the day continues to be anytime we can read. We love reading anywhere- outside (when it was still warm in December!!), inside, under our desks, in the library, on the floor- it doesn’t matter, as long as we are reading our books! We always look forward to Classroom Book A Day, as well. We are now 100 days into classroom book a days! We have been working on wondering and questioning while reading narrative nonfiction texts. Our writing pieces at the moment are some of our favorites, because we get to write fiction pieces! Many of us are enjoying creating magical characters, or superhero char-acters. We are excited to begin Junior Achievement and learn all about communities and how businesses are suc-cessful. Make sure to ask us what book we are reading in class- we would love to tell you all about it!

4th Grade News

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News From 4J

What’s Up In 4J?

The students in fourth grade have been working hard. Our math program, Math In Focus, has

presented many exciting challenges to our

students. Most recently, our class

has been working with division.

They are learning the

process of dividing large

numbers. In writing, they are busy editing their fiction pieces. The students are excited to share their creative stories. During reading our students have been working on the comprehension strategy of making inferences. We have read some great stories, including a book of poems called My Man Blue. We also recently visited the Planetarium at Pattonville Heights Middle School. The students enjoyed learning about things in the night sky. Our current science unit is Energy. Our class loves doing experiments involving the transfer of energy to other objects.

News From 4SP

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4SP has kicked off a great new year!

● We’d like to thank our wonderful Library Technology Specialist, Mrs. Buckner, for coming in to our class and teaching us some tips and tricks on how to code. Coding is one of our favorite free time activities. Coding develops academic skills, builds perseverance and a growth mindset, and gains 21st century skills for the future. We have a lot of technology lovers in this class, so we like to use technology throughout our curriculum. ● In Making Meaning we wrapped up Unit 5, which discussed inferencing and what we can infer from our characters’ thoughts and actions in a story. After reading a poem by Nikki Grimes, students used Seesaw to draw and annotate what they inferred from the characters Blue and Damon.● In Writing we just finished our pair conferences. Students have

access to their partners writing piece to critique and give valuable feedback. They absolutely love the student-to-student feedback with Google Docs!

● As for science, we just started Unit 19: Wave After Wave. To kick off this new unit the students had to brainstorm all of the waves they could possibly think of. I was impressed by their answers! Some I didn’t think of at all. Then they sorted picture cards into groupings, such as, “the wave” at a stadium, a water wave, a hand wave, and hair waves. These are all waves you can actually see with your eyes!● Our next chapter in Math is Fractions. We just started learning about equivalent fractions, unlike fractions, and mixed numbers. One of our Warm-Up activities involved the class to split into different numbered groups and each had to make an equal number of pieces from one piece of construction paper. The group of 7 students really struggled on how to make seven equal strips! This helped the students identify that 1/7 is a lot smaller than 1/2; even though the number 7 is larger when working with whole numbers.

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5th Grade NewsNews From 5K

The students in 5K have been very busy. They have been working on their Natural Re-sources Unit in Science and writing about how important it is to preserve these natural resourc-es. They will be publishing their research about their expository nonfiction topic. Keep a watch out for their publishing when passing through the fifth grade hallway.

5K students are enjoying reading and writing with their book buddies. Each student in 5K has a book buddy from 1LW’s class. They meet each week to read books together, discuss the books and write about what they read. Math is exciting in fifth grade. It has been challenging and exciting learning math. They have been exploring new ways to learn about place value, adding and subtracting fractions and long division. The fifth graders in 5K are getting excited about 5th grade camp. 5th grade camp provides the students with outdoor activities and being away from home. Camp will begin on April 17th. A note has been sent home about this fun program. Parents remember parent/teacher conferences will be coming up on February 14th and 15th. The students in 5K are looking forward to showing off their writing pieces to their families during this conference time. Please continue to ask your child about what they have learned for the school day and en-courage he/she to read each night at home. We have many exciting things to look forward to this fourth grade school year!

Written by: 5-K

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News From 5SS

What’s Happening In 5SS?

We have recently paired up with KK for Book Buddies! Every Thursday we read to each other, practice word wall words, and

work on handwriting with our new friends!

We are moving right along in our Decimals unit in math. We are working on understanding thousandths, comparing and

rounding decimals, and rewriting decimals as fractions

and mixed numbers!

We have spent much of our Social Studies time learning about Harriet Tubman and her many achievements as

she traveled along the Underground Railroad!

If you would like to see what we’re up to on a daily basis, follow us on Twitter at @MissShyken!