Greetings Spotswood Families!

I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of spring! It’s hard to be-lieve we only have nine more weeks of school left. Over the next sev-eral weeks students will work hard to prepare for the end of the year assessments. In kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, students are preparing for the end of year PALS literacy assessments to help us gauge mastery of the important literacy skills that must be in place for them to be successful readers. Students in third grade will be prepar-ing for the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments in Read-ing and Mathematics. In fourth grade, students will be preparing for SOL assessments in Reading, Mathematics, and Virginia Stud-ies. Please be on the lookout for more information about these as-sessments and how you can help your child prepare to do their very best, so they can show all that they have learned this year! It is with great pleasure that I announce Spotswood’s 2017 Rotary Club Code of Ethics winners, Dolores Munguia-Cruz and Danny Maldonado. These two very deserving students were chosen based on the following criteria: truthful-ness; consistency; dependability; integrity; service to and concern for others; friendliness; depth of com-mitment and reverence. We are very proud of Dolores and Danny. They will be honored at a luncheon at JMU and their pictures will be included in a special supplement to the Daily-News Record. I also have the pleasure of announcing our Spotswood Educator of the Year, Mrs. Koren Dellinger! Mrs. Dellinger has been an educator for more than 17 years and has taught fourth grade at Spotswood for the last three years. She is invested in and committed to each student's success and continually seeks new ways to engage and motivate her students to learn each day! Mrs. Dellinger is one of the most loving and encouraging educators. She has had a great impact the lives of many stu-dents!! She is a tremendous asset to our school and division and it is a great honor to recognize Mrs. Koren Dellinger as the Spotswood Teacher of the Year!! Finally, we will be sending home our parent classroom placement forms on Monday, May 8th. We would greatly appreciate your input as we begin to create classroom placements for students for next school year. You know your child best and the type of classroom environment that will be most effec-tive to support their social, emotional, and academic growth. Please make sure you complete this form and send it back to school by Friday, May 19th. Thank you for your support as we begin to conclude the 2016-17 school year! Ms. Blosser

Volume 10 Edition 3

A Note from the Office

April 2017 Spotswood E lementary Schoo l

Knightly News Title I School

UPCOMING EVENTS

APRIL

19: Spotswood Singers—Choral Festival at HHS, 7:00PM

20: Dual Language Parent Info. Night, 6-7PM

21: Student Health Fair

MAY

13: SES Fun Day, 10AM—12PM

JUNE

7: Last Day of School for Students

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Clothes Closet—Mrs. Koren Dellinger

Our Clothes Closet day is fast approaching. We are excited to know that we will be having our Spring Clothes Closet during our Fun Day on May 13th. There will be many activities happening that day at Spotswood, including our Clothes Closet. Nothing makes our hearts happier to know that we can give out thousands of pounds of clothes to our families. Our staff, friends and local churches saves and donates clothes throughout the year, just to make this event possible. We welcome our families to come and enjoy taking bags of clothes home to their families. Please come and take ad-vantage of our upcoming clothes closet on May 13th from 10-12.

Fun Day: Home School Relations,

Mrs. Lori Leatherman and

Mrs. Koren Dellinger

Come One, Come All …to Spotswood’s Spring Community Event. Come for a day filled with games, food, and surprises! This is a free event sponsored by Gus Bus, Title I, PTO, the SES library, and the SES Home School Relations Correlate. We look forward to sharing a day of fun with you on Saturday, May 13 from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. More information will come later in April.

A Message from the School Office

At Spotswood we are always trying to promote health and wellness for our students

to help them be as prepared to learn as possible. To accomplish this, we offer

healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks each week. How can you help? If you are

planning to send in snacks or celebratory treats for your student’s homeroom, you

could aim to avoid sweets and opt for healthy options instead. Thank you for your support!

Knightly News

Volunteers

Ms. Deb Cook We continue to be so thankful for our community volunteers! If you would like to explore ways in which you might be able to support our students and teachers, feel free to reach out to Deb Cook (Assistant Principal) for more in-formation. Volunteer orientations happen twice monthly (by appointment) and generally last approximately 30 minutes. Volunteer opportunities include: lunch buddies, helping with reading and math instruction in the classroom, supporting classroom teachers with re-source collection and preparation, recess help, and specials support. If you have a particular skill, talent, or passion, we are happy to work with you to see how we can maximize your strengths to support our students.

Movie Ratings, Parent Information

Mrs. Andrea Skaflen TV Guidelines for Elementary Aged Children:

Horror Movies are generally not appropriate. Kids have great imagina-tions and are less able to differentiate reality and fantasy.

Know your child. What may be appropriate for one child may not be a good idea for a same aged peer. Always try to watch a new show with your child in order to ensure that it is appropriate.

Remember that children often repeat what they hear. Minimize any TV, movies, video games, or music that contains explicit language.

Use the ratings as a guideline. R rated movies and M rated TV and video games are not appropriate for this age group.

Explicit sexual content is not appropriate for this age group. CommonSenseMedia.org is a great tool to determine if a TV show, movie, or video game is appropriate for your child.

If you ever have questions about media guidelines or any other

concerns related to your child, please don’t hesitate to contact

Mrs. Adamek or Mrs. Skaflen.

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Physical Education

Ms. Joy Button and Ms. Angela Leffel Spring is here! This is a great time to get outside with your kids for family fun and exercise. This year students have been learning how to take care of their bodies through good nutrition, healthy choices, and regular exercise. Warmer weather means more opportunities for outside activities. Consider taking walks together in your neighborhood or park. There are great walking trails at Hillandale Park, Purcell Park, and the Arboretum at J.M.U. Spotswood Elementary has its own track that can be used for walking or biking together. If you have transportation outside the city, there are nature trails in the George Washington National Forest and in Shenandoah National Park. Warmer weather also means getting out the sandals and flip flops. Remem-ber to send athletic shoes for your child for p.e. and recess, to avoid injuries or having to miss activities. We have extra shoes in the gym, for p.e., but a student’s own shoes will fit better. For students, there are many summer camps offered in the summer. There are camps at James Madison, Eastern Mennonite, Blue Ridge Community College, and Bridgewater College. The Harrisonburg Recreation Department also offers many programs and camps, which are cheaper than the college programs.

Knightly News

Art

Mrs. Jenna Kosowski SES Artists have been exploring clay the past few weeks. Working with this medium develops motor skills, creative problem-solving abilities, and confi-dence. All students learn about where clay comes from, what an artist can make with it, as well as the many stages it goes through before a piece can be brought home or put on display. The following clay sculptures have been created at SES: pinch pots with texture (Kindergarten), turtles (1

st Grade),

elephants (2nd

Grade), coil pots (3rd

Grade), and cupcakes (4th Grade). The

pieces we have been working on have been made with a lot of love and the artists cannot wait to show off their work soon! Lastly, if you’re looking for a fun and free art activity, please visit the Massanutten Regional Library. The HCPS annual art show is on view through March 30

th in celebration of Youth Art Month!

Music

Mrs. Heather Eberly Please welcome Mrs. Jamie Rothe to the music room. She is our long-term music substitute while Ms. Eberly is on maternity leave. We so are glad she is here to get to know and make music with the students at Spotswood. In celebration of Music in Our Schools Month, the kindergarten, first, and second grade students attended the annual Tiny Tots concert at Harrison-burg High School in March. It is always so much fun to see all of the instru-ments playing on stage. On April 6, the second grade classes sang the opening song at our Heritage Night. We were so proud to share this mean-ingful song with friends and families.

The Spotswood Singers will travel to Harrisonburg

High School on April 19 to prepare for our annual ele-

mentary choral concert with the other H.C.P.S. elemen-

tary schools. The concert begins at 7:00. To prepare for

this event, we will practice on March 28, April 4, and

April 18 until 4:30.

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Knightly News

Library

Mrs. Jamie Baugher and Mrs. Dianne Murray Hello from the SES Library! Our Spring Scholastic Book Fair will be May 10- May 17. Every class at SES will attend the Book Fair during their scheduled library time, and the Book Fair will also be open during the Community Fun Day, May 13, from 10-2. If you can attend Fun Day, your child enrolled SES can receive a free book priced $4.99 or less from the Book Fair, even without a purchase! We have books for all ages, ranging from preschool to adult and have other items for sale such as posters and school supplies. Many books at the Book Fair are priced around $4.00. We also hope to have a variety of books in Spanish. Please remember to send your child’s money in an envelope or plastic bag-gie with your child’s name and teacher's name on it in case money is mis-placed on the bus or at school. Be on the lookout in Monday folders for a re-minder that the Book Fair is coming in April. Thank you for purchasing items from the Scholastic Book Fair to support the SES Library!

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Knightly News

Spanish

Mrs. Carrie Gutierrez Recently students have been learning aspects of Spanish culture around the world during Spanish class. Piñatas and chocolate from Mexico, flamenco from Spain, and a virtual trip to Machu Picchu in South America were some highlights of these units. In upcoming weeks we will be studying animals and habitats. Feel free to contact Mrs. Gutierrez if you are interested in vol-unteering during Spanish class or finding out more about what your child is learning. Congratulations to the following 4th graders who won their classroom spelling competition during Spanish class and participated in the SES Spanish Spelling Bee on March 24th. They all did an amazing job. Ashley Marti-nez Lanza, Maynor Hernandez Sanchez, Nayarelis Rosa Velazquez, Amy Sanchez Lanza, Ashley Chavez Gomez, Jeymi Mendoza Pacheco, Luis Nieves Lopez, Joseph Funez, Miguel Osorto Osorto, Marta Gebretsadik, Aley-sha Castro Alvarez, Emerson Molina, and Gissel Gomez Garcia. Ashley ML, Miguel, and Luis spelled the most words correctly and represented Spots-wood at the city-wide Spanish Spelling Bee on April 5th. Miguel took second place overall and will advance to the state bee!

Yearbooks The school year is quickly rushing to completion. We want you and your stu-dent(s) to be able to relive the magic of the 2016-2017 school year for-ever! A Spotswood Elementary School yearbook is a wonderful way to high-

light new and old friendships, “see” past and present teachers, and have a space to collect kind notes from members of the Spotswood community. Yearbooks will be available for purchase after Spring Break for $15. Be on the lookout for information in your student’s school folder.

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