Principal’s News Dear Parents and Friends of SES, Although it is hard to believe, we have passed the first quarter mark on the school calendar. The initial

Principal’s News

Dear Parents and Friends of SES,

Although it is hard to believe, we have passed the first quarter mark on the school calendar. The initial marking period ended several weeks ago and we are already preparing for the Christmas holiday season. SES pupils have enjoyed a solid start to the year and, in particular, we are most pleased with their attendance thus far. Please continue to ensure your child’s presence in school each day. We are happy to report that over 96% of SES parents attended the recent parent-teacher conferences in order to review first quarter report cards. Seven classes enjoyed 100% parent participation. It was also encouraging to see nearly 220 grandparents visit during our annual “Grandparents Day” held on November 19th.

Recently SES students in grades one through five were presented with over three hundred awards for attendance, academic achievement, and citizenship. We are very proud of our students’ achievements and know that your support and encouragement will help ensure your child’s continued success. Thanks for all your assistance; together we can help every child succeed at SES.

Enjoy a peaceful holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

A Title 1 SchoolDECEMBER 2010

“Where Eagles SOAR!”www.qacps.k12.md.us/ses/WELCOME.HTM

SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY

UpcomingEvents

12/11 Breakfast with Santa 8:00 am Cookie Walk and Bazaar 9:00 – 1:00

pm

12/13 Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting

4:00 pm

12/14 PTA Meeting

6:30 pm

12/15 Winter

Concert Grades 2 & 4

and 5th Grade Band 6:30 pm

12/22 ½ Day 12 pm

dismissal

12/23 – 1/2 Winter

Break

1/3 School Begins

Wow! Is it really December already? A big thank you to all of the parents who helped to make our Thanksgiving Feast a success. It was enjoyed by all. Now it's time to get ready for Christmas. We will have our Holiday Party on Monday, December 20 and Polar Express Day will be Tuesday, December 21. We will enjoy a special surprise on Wednesday, December 22, which is also a 1/2 day of school. We have begun our new unit on "The Five Senses". Be sure to talk to your child about what they see, hear, smell, feel and taste in the world around them. Continue identifying colors and shapes in everyday things. We want to wish everyone a safe, healthy and happy holiday!

This is a wonderful season to use environmental print to encourage reading, writing and math skills with your child. Help your child to read many of the seasonal phrases that are displayed. Have your child write lists for you. These lists could be names of family members, favorite foods or a wish list. Remember to have your child use the sounds they hear in the words in their attempts to do the writing. There are so many ways to strengthen math skills in different places during this season. You can have your child identify numbers in signs, he/she can count special things and, of course, practice counting backwards when counting down until December 25th. This is also a great time to use word problems for addition and subtraction, especially when doing holiday baking. The most important thing about December is to remember to treasure the time with your family. Best wishes for the holidays, Mrs. Beres, Mrs. Munson and Mrs. Nuse

Welcome to December! We have been accomplishing much over the past few months, and look forward to continuing onward as the end of the calendar year approaches! In Math, we will begin Unit 4: Measurement and Basic Facts. We will be measuring to the nearest inch, telling time on the quarter hour, and developing our basic addition facts up to 20. Please practice with your child at home, it makes a big difference in their Fact Power. We will begin Theme 4 in Reading, entitled Family and Friends. Students will work more heavily with sight words and beginning and ending consonant clusters. We will continue practicing our short vowel sounds. We are moving into Earth Science and will begin looking at different types of soil found in our area. In Social Studies, we will explore how many countries around the world celebrate winter holidays, and how the United States is a mixture of all types of cultures and beliefs. It will be fun to see what traditions we have borrowed from friends around the world! Please remember to keep warm and healthy for a strong finish to 2010!

PreK News

Kindergarten News

Grade 2 News

Grade 1 News

During December second grade will continue to work hard on learning more reading and math strategies. We will begin our third reading theme on Neighborhoods and Communities, finish up our Science unit on skills and processes, begin the Write Traits program and use addition and subtraction skills to add money, make change and figure out word problems.Early December brings the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore to our grade for some fantastic hands on learning about animals. How exciting!Certainly you would have noticed if your child is missing some articles of clothing. Right? If so, check out the lost and found box in the cafeteria. You may just find what you are looking for.Everyone in second grade is participating in a buddy reading system. Each week or every other week, depending on the class, we team up with the 4th graders for partner reading in the afternoons. The kids love it and it is a great way to practice our reading skills.Make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the cold winter days ahead. Label all items with your child’s name.Be sure to encourage the joy of giving and helping others this holiday season. Make the six Character Counts pillars part of your daily lives.Reminder - End of year/holiday celebrations will be held on Wednesday, December 22nd. Please watch for more information coming home. You may contact your child’s teacher if you are able to volunteer to help out.

SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLA Title 1 School

DECEMBER 2010“Where Eagles SOAR!”

www.qacps.k12.md.us/ses/WELCOME.HTM

December will be busy in grade 5! We will be learning about how fractions, decimals, and percents are related in math. We will be studying explorers and early colonies of North America in social studies. This month's big learning topic in science is space so that when we visit the Smithsonian on December 16, we will have many great ideas to share with our families. In reading, we will be drawing conclusions, finding main ideas, paraphrasing, and studying author's purpose when reading a variety of texts and short stories. Please encourage your child to read every day and study math facts for mastery. Thank you for supporting our learning topics with all you do at home for our students.

Grade 3 News




TreesWe have purchased 9 trees for our on-going science project. Each classroom has a white pine, red bud, and red oak tree to care for and learn about. We will be working after the holiday break to determine which place is the best to plant the trees based on the needs of the tree and animal life in the Sudlersville Area. We only collected about $70 of the $90 needed, so please keep sending in money to help support this project. Thank you to all the students and parents who have already contributed. State ProjectAfter talking with many of the parents at parent/teacher conferences, it sounds like many of our students are already working hard to gather information about their state. We hope the enthusiasm continues as you work with your child to complete this project. A parent suggested that your child write a letter to your child's state Chamber of Commerce telling them about this project. The chamber of commerce will send your child a package in the mail with loads of information that will be useful to him/her during this assignment. Student InternsThe interns will finish up their fall semester with us on December 10th. They will return full time after the winter break on January 23, 2011. They will begin taking over more of the responsibilities and working hard to help your child succeed. Please welcome them.

Grade 4 News

It is hard to believe that we only have a few weeks left in the month of 2010! December will be jam packed with learning as well as fun events. Please come to the first annual “Breakfast with Santa/ Cookie Walk” event on Saturday, December 11thth, 2010 beginning at 8:00 a.m. The third graders are also looking forward to our next field trip which will be on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 to the Maryland Science Center. The permission slips were given out during parent conferences. Please let us know if your child can attend! Please remember all field trip chaperones must complete a volunteer form and go through a short volunteer orientation before joining an SES field trip. We look forward to a fun day of exploration and excitement before the holiday break. In Math, we just began Unit 4, “Multiplication and Division.” In Reading, we continue to practice BCR’s as well as the “big 8” reading skills. Remember to have your child read, read, and read over the winter break! Thanks for all of your support in 2010. We wish you all a very happy holiday and a prosperous New Year. We look forward to seeing you in January of 2011! Mrs. Bildstein, Mrs. Leventhal, Mrs. Thren

Grade 5 News

MUSIC PROGRAM

The Winter Concert is

December 15th at 6:30 pm.

Grades 2 and 4 and 5th grade beginning band students will

be participating. Students performing should report to their classrooms

by 6:00 pm. Band students should report

to the music room by 6:00 pm with

their instruments and music.

Greetings from The Health Room! Don’t forget to eat foods with calcium during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Calcium is an important mineral that helps build strength in bones and teeth. Muscles and nerves also use calcium to work properly in the body. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. Milk and many cereals are usually fortified with Vitamin D. Bone mass builds in the body strengthening the structure of the bones until we are about 30 years old. If we do not get enough calcium to strengthen the bones when we are young there is an increased risk that our bones will be weak when we are older. The recommended daily calcium intake in children ages 4- 8 is about 800 mg/day. (That is 3 glasses of milk a day.) Calcium intake for children ages 9-18 should be 1300 mg/day. Statistics show that about 30% of children ages 4-8 do not meet these recommendations. Percentages alarmingly rise for the older school age child! Dairy foods contain a higher concentration of dietary calcium. Examples include milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese. Those who have trouble digesting lactose in milk can try a lactose supplement when eating dairy products or try lactose free milk, soy, almond, or rice milk. Other food sources include fortified orange juice, leafy greens, broccoli, beans, corn tortillas, oranges, and canned salmon. It is also important to exercise. The more you work your bones the stronger they get. Weight bearing exercises such as walking, running, jumping, and skating help make the bones sturdier. Serve your family foods with calcium. Foods with calcium can be easy and quick to prepare and they are filling too. Don’t forget to leave calcium rich milk and cookies for Santa. Christmas and New Year Blessings




The "Be A Reading Hero" reading incentive is now over. There were 205 students that participated in October. They all received a variety of prizes donated by the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Department. Hopefully we can meet or exceed that goal for November. Each child will receive a free book for participating in November. Thank you for supporting the reading incentive. We will start a new reading incentive in January. Be looking for information coming home about it in January.

We are no longer collecting Sunny D labels. We collected 180 labels and we will be receiving our 180 free books some time in January. Thank you to all who helped with this promotion.

Please continue to read with your child during this busy time of year.

Happy Reading & Happy Holidays!!!Kelly EmbertSES Media Specialist

Media News

We really enjoyed our November assembly, “Balls in the House!!”We will not have a cultural arts assembly until the end of February.SES-PTA appreciates the support of Queen Anne’s County Cultural Arts, who, in part, support the SES assemblies.

Cultural ArtsHealth Room

MeasurementWe use math to measure everyday! Children need to learn many things about measurement. Younger children learn to compare lengths and sizes of objects. They can sort objects from shortest to longest, narrowest to widest, lightest to heaviest. Next, we use tools to measure to the nearest inch or centimeter. Then we measure more precisely, to the nearest ½ inch or ¼ inch or even 1/8 inch. You can get your child to help you measure objects at home. Have them help you cut and measure gift wrap for the holidays. We also measure volumes when we are cooking- ½ cup of sugar, 1 ¼ cup of flour, a quart of milk. With holiday baking time here, this is a great time to practice measuring in the kitchen together. The more often children see these types of measurements being used at home, the more likely they will be to learn about them at school. We measure time- starting with telling time to calculating how much time has passed. Children need to see both types of clocks- analog and digital- so they can easily tell the time. Ask children to set a timer and see how long a commercial or song is. Have them help tell time so the family can get somewhere on time. Older children can even help figure the time a family needs to leave in order to arrive at a destination on time. Tell them something like this: “It takes 20 minutes to get to Uncle Bob’s house. We need to be there in time for dinner at 5pm. When should we all be in the car?” Measurement is all around us and you can help your child be more successful at school when you talk about and do measuring together at home.




Reading News

Thanks for working so hard during our first marking period! I am excited for the new projects to come! I hope you are too! We will be studying Kwanzaa in Kindergarten, First Grade will be working on fall leaves and warm and cool colors. Second grade is exploring drawing from life. Third grade is studying the famous artist Henri Rousseau. Fourth Grade will be exploring picture writing and Native American Art. Fifth Grade is working on color theory and Claude Monet. We are all so busy!Congratulations to December's Artists of the Month:Kindergarten: Colin Gray (Mrs. Beres)First Grade: Ashley Lopez (Mrs. Davis)Second Grade: Ashlyn Simonetti (Mrs. Troyer)Third Grade: Delilah Kolanda (Mrs. Leventhal)Fourth Grade: Luke Schauber (Mrs. Settelmaier)Fifth Grade: Ruth Murdoch (Mrs. Holden)Congratulations! This year, their art is hanging in the "Artist of the Month" Gallery, next to the Art Room door. Stop in and see the incredible art!Thanks,Cassie Hosler SES ART

READING: STRATEGIES FOR PARENTS Parents often ask for help in working with their children's reading. Here is a list of strategies that will help you to help your child become a better reader. 1.Read To Them Just as your child learned about speaking from your demonstrations, she will learn about reading through your modeling of it. Read to your child everyday. 2. Uninterrupted Reading Remember that the most important aspect of reading is constructing meaning. Does it make sense? Don't interrupt them for every little mistake, if it makes sense. Focusing readers on reading to make sense is what is most important. 3.Skip and Go On Too often we have readers who will not take any kind of risk in an attempt to read something unknown. They use no other strategy than sound-it-out or ask for help. So, when a reader comes to something he doesn't know and cannot identify, after a very brief sounding out attempt, ask him to skip the unknown word and read on to try to gain the meaning through the context of the rest of that sentence.

Art News Math Matters

Thanks to all our wonderful volunteers at SES! You are greatly needed and appreciated. Please remember that with each new school year, you are required to complete the Volunteer Application and Volunteer Information sheets. You must also attend the orientation/training session for each school year. This is because of the utmost concern for our student’s safety and well-being. If you have not completed the paperwork or attended an orientation/training, please do so and you will be covered for the entire 2010-2011 school year. I will be offering another orientation/training session on the mornings of December 16th and 21st just prior to the 3rd and 5th grade field trips. You are welcome to attend on either of these dates. The Sister School/Earth Day Event planning committee is in the process of planning for the event to be held on April 20, 2011. You are invited to help in the planning – just contact me or Mrs. Leventhal if you are interested in participating. We will also be holding a PAC (Parent Advisory Committee) meeting on Tuesday, December 13, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. after the SIT meeting. A notice will be sent home and all are invited to attend. Have a wonderful Holiday! Elaine Butler, Parent Coordinator x209

Parent Involvement




Box Tops for September The top 3 classes were:Mrs. Bennett = 436Ms. Pierson = 402Ms. Holden = 342

For the month of October The top 3 classes were:Mrs. Thren = 431Ms. Eber = 327Mrs. Munson = 302

I would like to give special thanks to Gretchen Blackiston, Sadie Rogers, Haley Stallings, and Nathan Short for helping me on a Monday morning (deadline day) to get the Box Tops sorted, dates checked, bagged and ready for mailing out. These 4 students gave up recess, specials, and or lunch time to help me out! We sent in over $832.00 worth of Box Tops. SES please keep up the good work! !

Remember to collect those Box Tops and Campbell Labels during the holidays as well!

Look in the lobby for the collection box to put your Coke bottle caps and/or codes. There will be one in the teacher’s lounge as well. You can also go online and enter these codes and donate to SES. The school receives points which add up quickly. The more the merrier! Go to:mycokerewards.com/schools. Right now they are running a chance to win one of two $25,000 playgrounds, or there are 10 runner-up prizes of $5,000 in P.E. and athletic equipment. So lets go register! !Thanks so much,Lollie Dixon

4. Predict To Make Sense When your child comes to a word they don't know and they are unable to sound it out, try covering the unknown word up with your finger. Then ask the child to predict a substitute word that would make sense.

5. Modified Cloze Procedure Block out words that could easily be predicted based on meaning and replace them with a blank. With the unknown words eliminated, the non risk-taking reader should be more willing to try to predict instead of sounding out.

6. Line Marker Some readers have trouble

focusing on lines of text or get distracted when there are several lines. Have your child use a word or line marker such as an index card or his finger to act as a guide to help her stay on track with the text.

Sounding out words you don't

know is an important strategy for students, but I wanted to share other strategies with you to use with your child. I'll share more strategies next month.

I hope you and your families

have a Wonderful Holiday!Remember to read together!Mrs. Thurber Reading Specialist

http://mycokerewards.com/schools




Sudlersville Even Start Family Literacy Program News Sudlersville Even Start Family Literacy Program (“Sudlersville Even Start”) on behalf of the Queen Anne’s County Board of Education has applied for the Women and Girls’ Fund grant to help facilitate a Women’s Psycho-Educational and Mental Health Support group to meet for 2 consecutive 6 week sessions in the Spring of 2011. The grant application was submitted in partnership with Mid-Shore Council for Family Violence and Corsica River Mental Health Services. Hopefully, by April of 2011 we will have good news to share. On November 17th, 2010 Sudlersville Even Start hosted a Thankful Feast enjoyed by over 70 participants and staff. Everyone was able to enjoy this event in the two portable classrooms….believe it or not. Participants were offered the opportunity to create a quote of thanks which were used to create a “Thankful Wreath.” See the November 2010 issue of “Woman’s Day” for the craft idea. The experience was “heart-warming” for all. December happenings….Sudlersville Even Start parents and students will assist in decorating the Judy Center Partnership Christmas Parade float which will be used in the Centreville Christmas Parade on December 3rd, 2010. All Sudlersville Even Start families are invited to attend. Also, Sudlersville Even Start staff are preparing for a site visit to be conducted by a newly formed Even Start program from Baltimore, Maryland on December 7th, 2010. This visit is an effort to provide guidance during the “start-up” phase of their new program. A brief walk-through of the school will occur to introduce the Pre-K teachers to their Program Coordinator. In addition, a visit to Family Support Services to view the Birth – 3 year old program and a short preview of Sudlersville Even Start “Gap Child” services and Adult Education classes at the Sudlersville Elementary School site will also occur during the visit. We are very excited to assist them in their future successes to provide adult education, parenting education, early childhood education, family literacy and home visiting as our program has done for 10 years in the Sudlersville area. And last but not least, Sudlersville Even Start families will enjoy a visit by Santa, a cookie walk and an ornament creating experience to be conducted in collaboration with community partner, Sudlersville Memorial Library. This event will be held at the Sudlersville Memorial Library from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm on 12/20/10 for all Sudlersville Even Start Family Literacy Program participants, staff and community partners.

Saturday, December 11th 8 – 9:00 am Breakfast with Santa 9 – 10:00 am Pictures with Santa 9 – 1:00 pm Holiday Bazaar 9 am Cookie Walk and Santa’s Workshop

**We are still in need of cookie donations. If you would like to donate some homemade cookies, please call Tammy at 410.725.0915.

DON’T MISS THIS HOLIDAY EVENT AT SES!!!!!

Thankful Wreath Created by Sudlersville Even Start

Participants

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1

Baltimore Zoomobile @SES (PK,2)

2

3 4

5 6 Faculty Meeting

7

8

9 10 11PTA EventCookie Walk, Breakfast with Santa

12 13 SIT Team Mtg2:50pm

14 PFY Showcase PTA Meeting 6:30pm

15

Winter Concert1:15 Dress Rehearsal6:30 Performance

16 Grade 5 trip to DC

17 18

19 20 21Grade 3 trip to Md Science Center

22½ day NOON Dismissal

23Winter Break

24Winter Break

25

26 27Winter Break

28Winter Break

29Winter Break

30Winter Break

31Winter Break

January 1Happy New Year!

January 2 January 3Back to school!




DECEMBER

Documents

Principal’s News Dear Parents and Friends of SES, Although it is hard to believe, we have passed the first quarter mark on the school calendar. The initial