Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Science Night-Save the Date

Thursday, May 14
6:00-7:00
 Hot dogs, chips, & lemonade
Hands-on science experiments for every age level!

Monday, April 27, 2015

Sacajawea Carnival- Fun for All!


Sacajawea's annual spring carnival on Friday was a fun and successful night. Families across the community came together to eat, play games, and win prizes.  The event was hosted by the PTO and the proceeds from the carnival helps pay for field trips and other special events at the school. Each grade level had a booth that students could test their skills at and win tickets.
  • Kindergarten: ABC game
  • 1st Grade: Guess how many gummy bears
  • 2nd Grade: Store where students practice counting money
  • 3rd Grade: Rubber ducky races
  • 4th Grade: Frog launcher and measure the distance the frog travels
  • 5th Grade: Plot the coordinates



 


There was also a Book Walk run by Mr. Webster where the prize was a free book. Firefighters from a local fire station brought their fire truck and allowed the students to climb on and pretend to be a firefighter. The firefighters even took part in the "steer roping" that 4th grade had set up. Volunteers from Deer Flat Refuge center also came out and shared some really cool animal hides and gave students information about their programs.




Another fun part of the evening was the raffle.  There were so many different baskets full of school supplies, beauty products, outdoor fun stuff, and many other things that had been donated by parents, teachers, and local businesses.  All in all it was a wonderful night for teachers, staff, and Sac's students and families to relax and have fun.


Special thanks to:
Our president and treasurer: Sherman and Nathaniel (and families)
Our Volunteers who headed up the following areas for the first time ever:
  • Mellisa Hughes - The carnival game captain
  • Val Blackburn - The captain of the kitchen
  • Danielle Straight and her dad Wes Straight - Our raffle captains
  • Debbie O and Tami B - Our community fair captains
The CHS Seniors who volunteered their time helping to run the booths and serve food 
And last but certainly not least the Sac team of teachers and staff who all stayed late and worked so hard reaching out to families.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Metales M5 - A Great Brass Experience at Sacajawea

The Metales M5 Mexican Brass concert was a fantastic experience on Friday afternoon.  Great music!  So engaging for our students.

The Mexican Brass quintet exposed our students to all kinds of different music.  We learned about cannons, fugues, jazz, and they connected music to current topics, such as the scoring of movies.  We learned about the types of musical instruments.

I loved the way the musicians got involved with the audience, even sneaking up on them.  Some of our students were surprised out of their britches to suddenly hear a trombone whispering right behind them.  The tuba player wandered his way right through the audience.  We could see the techniques they used to adjust their tone.




The group was funny.  This gives our kids something to think about, as many of our students will choose to join 6th grade band next year (or the year after for our 4th graders).


This concert was paid for by the Sacajawea PTO and was brought to us by Caldwell Fine Arts.  Thanks for your support.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Pie Time! 1st Grade Celebrates Reading Fluency


The first grade students are working diligently to improve their reading fluency. They recently suprpassed a goal of 53 Words Per Minute (WPM) (average for 1st grade) and got an average of 56 WPM. This goal is a great accomplishment, Mrs. Friddle, Mrs. Saunders and Mr. Miller all got the taste of pie, needless to say it got a little messy! This was to celebrate their student's successes in reading. The kids are having fun and their reading skills are truly developing. Their next goal is to get to 60 words per minute, which will mean that Mr. Webster will be getting a some pie time as well. So... if you see a first grader remind them to READ, READ, READ!!










Friday, April 17, 2015

Using Data to Help Our Kids

Mrs. Hoilien’s reading intervention students track their fluency on this graph. Each week the bar grows to show growth.
Like many schools, at Sacajawea Elementary, we regularly use data to guide our instruction. We have measurable school-wide goals in reading, math, and in writing as well as in the area of maintaining a safe and positive school environment.  We try to make these goals clear to our students, families and staff. Our staff holds monthly “data meetings,” studying actual measurements from our reading, writing and math assessments.  This data helps us to better serve kids.

Additionally, teachers and students have set goals in their own classrooms. Tracking individual growth is a big motivator.  First grade has a “Read-O-Meter” chart in the hall to track fluency. Fourth grade has a rocket in their hallway that tracks individual growth in learning their Math facts. At Sacajawea, we use data to help understand and celebrate what is working and to guide our next steps to make sure that the needs of all students are being met.
Third grade students earn book charms for every 8 words per minute growth they make in fluency.

3rd Grade Reading Charms Show Growth
1st Grade has a "Read-O-Meter" in the hall to track fluency growth.


Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Sacajawea Carnival is Coming!



Friday, April 24th
5:00 - 7:30
Games
Food
Raffle
Fun
Community Fair

Can't wait to see you there!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

3rd Quarter Awards


 


Friday, April 3 the 3rd Quarter Awards Assembly was held. Awards were given out for citizenship and academics. Each grade level had a special word cloud created by Mr. Webster that highlighted what the teachers said about the award recipients and their achievements.

Kindergarten




1st Grade





2nd Grade








3rd Grade





4th Grade









5th Grade






Monday, April 13, 2015

Show What You Know! Ready for ISAT 2.0


On Friday, April 10 the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students and their teachers got together to hold a pep rally for the upcoming ISAT 2.0 test.  The purpose of the pep rally was to build momentum for the testing and set goals for the students to try their hardest. Each grade level shared a skit, chant, or cheer to show their excitement.

  • 3rd grade did a Perseverance Chant while holding signs reminding students to keep trying and always do their best.
  • 4th and 5th grade teachers put on a skit teaching students the proper way to prepare for the test: get a good nights sleep,  have a positive attitude, eat a healthy breakfast, and come to school on time.
  • 4th grade ended the rally with an ISAT cheer sang to the tune of YMCA.
Please help keep the excitement for testing going at home.  Remind your child to do their best, ask them how the test went, and praise them when they show you the perseverance awards they are earning during testing.