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Please remember that there is no school on Monday, May 28th as we celebrate Memorial Day. If you are in town on Monday, the Highlander Marching Band will be participating in the Memorial Day parade at 10 am. Have a great weekend!
Fifth Grade Celebration - Monday, June 11th
Fifth Grade Survivor is a new tradition we hope to begin here at Three Fires. This is a fun-filled day full of laughter and great memories! This special day will begin with a Graduation Ceremony in the cafeteria. Following the ceremony, students will return to their classrooms to prepare for the Survivor competition with face paint, changing into their t-shirts and buffs, and grabbing their classroom flag to make their way outside. Lunch will be served picnic style outside the library doors with grilled hotdogs and all the fixings. After lunch, students will work in teams to compete in Survivor games. Time keepers will follow each group and the top heat in each classroom will compete in a final round of challenges to decide who is the ultimate Survivor, winning bragging rights! The day ends with a short ceremony and each classroom’s torches being snuffed out. We hope you can join us for an amazing day and an event you will not want to miss. Fifth grade classroom teachers will be sending the SignUpGenius link soon. Please help us with donations and/or as a volunteer to make this day a memorable one for our students. The tentative schedule is as follows:
- 9:30-11:00 - Graduation Ceremony in the cafeteria
- 11:00-11:40 - Lunch and Survivor set up
- 11:40-12:20 - Picnic Lunch (outside the library doors)
- 12:20-1:20- Survivor Games
- 1:30-2:00 - Dessert and quick Survivor ceremony
What is your child doing in Tech 2?
Have you heard about Dash and Dot? How about the Ozobots or Code to Go? There are many exciting tools that are in the upstairs lab to help your child become a 21st century thinker! Mrs. Cain’s goal is to teach your child how to collaborate with other students by sharing ideas and creating designs and projects. We practice using the skill of communication to help become critical thinkers. This is called the 4 C’s of 21st Century Learning. Students have also become familiar with the Design Thinking process. For elementary aged students, Mrs. Cain uses the LAUNCH cycle to guide them through the process. Look, Ask questions, Understand the problem, Navigate ideas, Create a prototype and Highlight and fix. Then share your work with an authentic audience.
Whether we are coding a robot or building a marble run, the students are using the skills mentioned above to look at technology in a different way. Some of the fun tools you may have heard of besides the robots are as follows:
- Green Screen & apps
- Merge Cube
- Augmented Reality apps
- Problem Solving Web games & apps like Escape The Room
- Stem activities with legos and “crafty” items
This summer as you are spring cleaning or getting ready for a garage sale, there are a few items that would make Tech 2 even more exciting. If you run across any of the following items and would like to donate them to the school, the students and Mrs. Cain would be very appreciative.
- Legos
- Stikbots
- Little figurines of people, animals etc...
- Building Blocks/ wooden blocks - big and small
- Crafty items - fabric, felt, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, beads …
- String and yarn
- Board games and pieces
- Cardboard tubes and boxes
What students are saying about this new type of Learning…
- “I love tech 2 because I get to build video games.”Jackson ~ 4th grade
- “ We like tech class because we can create our own ideas.” Morgan, Matisyn, & Alexandria ~ 3rd grade
- “Mrs. Cain lets us video tape and use cool apps and make marble runs and we learn so many cool things! “My favorite part is there is always fun stuff to do. Like with stikbots.” Layla & Kaylee ~ 1st grade
- “I like this technology because it is very creative and so many varieties to choose from. Mrs. Cain gives us the freedom to be creative and that makes us think outside of the box.” Kyra ~ 5th grade
Food Service Update
Students will no longer be allowed to have a negative balance in their lunch account. Please make sure your child's lunch account has sufficient funds. You can check your child’s lunch account balance at www.sendmoneytoschool.com. Meal Prices: Breakfast is $2.05 and Lunch is $2.70. If you have any questions, please call Amy at 517.548.6387 ext. 84392.
New PTO Officers and Thank You
We’d like to send out a huge thank you to all of our 2017-18 officers for their time and dedication. We appreciate each and every assembly, field trip, festival, hallway decoration, and everything else that our PTO has made possible with their commitment to make our school year the best it can possibly be for our entire Three Fires Community.
Please give a warm welcome to our 2018-19 officers:
- President: Jen Wilson
- Vice President: Lizz Curnalia
- Treasurer: Jodie Austin
- Secretary: Karrie Gusman
Counselor’s Corner - Ms. Nemeth
Summer time! It’s just around the corner! With summer vacation comes free time for children. Lots of it. At times, parents may even wonder what to have their children do during the months where the days are long and the structure of the school year is gone. One simple, low-cost or no-cost suggestion for summertime fun is unstructured time outdoors. There are many benefits to this. Megan Delaney, an assistant professor in the Department of Professional Counseling at Monmouth University in New Jersey, takes it one step further. She shares that research suggests a connection between the increase in anxiety and depression in children and their disconnection with nature. She also says that there is a loss of free play in nature. If children are indeed outside at all, it’s controlled.
We all know that it’s beneficial and fun for children to play outside. Even playing outside for as little as five minutes a day can boost well-being! In addition, time spent outdoors can improve relationship skills, reduce stress and aggression, help with the ability to focus, reduce symptoms of ADHD, and improve impulse control. So.. here are some ideas for summertime fun in the sun!
- Have some “outdoor only” playdates. No tablets or video games allowed! Give your children some basic tools - like a stick, a ball, and a blanket, and let their imaginations run wild!
- Go for a walk outdoors. This can be especially helpful for people with anxiety and struggles with social skills. Walking side-by-side rather than looking the other person face-to-face can help some people engage more easily in conversation.
- Plant a garden.
- Have an outdoor picnic.
- Blow bubbles! This is also a great deep breathing exercise to help children learn to calm themselves. A helpful tip for proper deep breathing is to breathe in through your nose and to fill your belly with air, then exhale slowly through your mouth. Pretend a rope is pulling on your belly or rest your hand on your stomach so you can feel this area expand as you inhale.
- Spend time outdoors with animals. Take the dog for a walk, read aloud outside to the dog, visit an outdoor petting zoo, or play “I Spy” to search for various animals that can be found in your backyard.
- Find some unique rocks in your yard and have your children paint them. Then let them find a special new outdoor home for their beautifully painted rock.
- Visit a local park or playground!
- Play with sidewalk chalk. Let your young Picasso have artistic freedom on your sidewalk or driveway while working on fine motor skills!
- Check with your local library or local newspaper for outdoor adventure ideas.
Summer Lunch Bunch
Once again, The Salvation Army of Livingston County will be hosting its summer meal program The Summer Lunch Bunch at several locations in our community. The Summer Lunch Bunch is a free community meals program that ensures access to plentiful food during the summer months. Summer Lunch Bunch is not just about free food! Just as important is the fun, featuring guest speakers, games, prizes, contests, art, science, nutrition, literacy, physical education and more. Summer Lunch Bunch is a great meeting place for friends, and everyone is welcome! For more information on the Summer Lunch Bunch, please click here.
Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/threefireselementary
Find us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HowellTFE
Find our PTO on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ThreeFiresElementaryPTO/
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