Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Principal's Message



May, 2015



Dear Canyon View Parents,

As students prepare for summer, many parents ask their child’s teachers what they can do to support their child academically over the eleven-week vacation.  The “summer slide” is a real issue for students, and we want to ensure that we equip our students and their families with the tools needed to keep academic skills sharp over the summer so that our students can hit the ground running when they return in August. 

According to a recent study conducted at Duke University, students’ summer learning losses are greater for math than for reading – all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, lose about 2.6 months in their grade-level equivalency in computational ability over the summer.

The “summer slide” is certainly not limited to math, and we strongly encourage all of our students to make reading a consistent part of their summer routine.  Participating in the Canyon View Summer Reading Program is one way to stay motivated to read over the summer months.  Information on this program was sent out last week to all Canyon View households. 

Another way of countering this slide is through the routine practicing of reading and math skills.  Below, you will find various websites and educational apps that our grade level teams recommend for their students.  Many of these recommended websites and apps were used throughout the school year, and this will provide some consistency for our students this summer.    

Whether you choose to use the recommended websites or other resources that can be found online, having your child complete as little as 30 minutes of reading or math each day this summer will make a difference.  Literacy and numeracy are essential to every child’s success, and we want to ensure that our children are moving forward, rather than sliding backwards over summer.

On behalf of the entire Canyon View staff, I want to thank all of our parents for their continued support this year, and I wish our students and their families a wonderful and safe summer vacation!

Sincerely,

Rob Henikman
Principal



Kindergarten:
Language Arts:
Reading comprehension sorted by grade level K-5 (free sign-up): www.readworks.org
Sheppard Software (various subject areas): www.sheppardsoftware.com
www.abcya.com 
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/clf/tguidesitemap.htm
www.storylineonline.net

Math:
www.khanacademy.org
www.interactivesites.weebly.com/math.html
www.dreambox.com/parent-subscriptions.  You can try it for free for a week, after that it is $12 per month.  Worth giving it a try for a few days.
iPad Apps:
Hyper Blast Math
Spelling Bug
Phonics Awareness
Tiny Bop Human Body


First Grade:
Language Arts:
Reading comprehension sorted by grade level K-5 (free sign-up): www.readworks.org
www.abcya.com 
www.PBSkids.com
Story Starters for writing: www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/
For Spelling and decoding Practice: www.galacticphonics.com/
More decoding/reading practice: www.abcfastphonics.com/

Math:
Thinking Blocks for math problem solving: 
General Math Concepts review: www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm
Math Facts Cafe for math facts practice: http://www.mathfactcafe.com/


Second Grade:
Language Arts:
Worksheets covering multiple language arts skills: www.k12reader.com  
Books read online: meegenius.com or storylineonline.net
Free e-books: www.oxfordowl.co.uk
Reading comprehension sorted by grade level K-5 (free sign-up): www.readworks.org

Math:
Problem Solving: www.thinkingblocks.com (this is also an app)
Reviews all major math concepts in 2nd grade in game form: App (not website) 2nd Grade Splash Math
Interactive games to review math concepts: www.adaptedmind.com
Interactive games to review math concepts: www.ixl.com/math/grade-2


Third Grade:
Language Arts:
www.abcya.com Review important reading, grammar, and math skills!  FUN!
Dance Mat Typing: Practice your keyboarding skills!
(Practice strengthening your reading fluency & comprehension!  Type on-line book reports!)
(Review key reading and math skills by answering multiple choice questions correctly!)
(Young authors can use comics to tell their stories)
(Publish original works of writing in a digital story format)

Math:
www.khanacademy.org
Multiplication.com: www.multiplication.com/games/all-games (Practice solving multiplication facts with accuracy!)

Typing:

Science:


Fourth Grade:
Language Arts:
Reading comprehension sorted by grade level K-5 (free sign-up): www.readworks.org
Reading/Language/Spelling: www.spellingcity.com
www.readwritethink.org/

Math:
www.khanacademy.org
www.classzone.com 

Science & Social Studies:

Fifth Grade:
Reading:
Reading comprehension sorted by grade level & targeted skill K-5 (free sign-up): www.readworks.org
Scholastic Reading: www.scholastic.com
www.noredink.com

Math:
www.khanacademy.org
Thinking Blocks: www.thinkingblocks.com
Hooda Math: www.hoodamath.com
Math Playground: www.mathplayground.com
Cool Math Games: www.coolmath.com

Science:


Specialists:
www.setgame.com/set/daily_puzzle (this is a daily visual reasoning puzzle/game)

Read Strong:
www.reading.org/InformationFor/Parents.aspx
www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources
www.teachers.cr.k12.de.us/~galgano/dibel2.htm
www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html
www.scholastic.com/bookwizard

iPad apps:
Thinking Blocks (there are separate versions for each math operation, including fractions)
Phonics Tic Tac Toe
StoryKit (kids can pair their writing with pictures they take)

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Note from the Health Office


A Note from the Health Office

Reminder to please pick up any medication from the Health Office by Noon on the last day of school Wednesday 5/20/15. Medication not picked up will be discarded.

Bring copies of new immunizations (if any) to school with your completed Health History/Emergency contact form (which you will be receiving over the summer) to the health office when you come to meet your teacher on
August 5, 2015

If anyone is interested in volunteering to do vision and hearing screening in September please contact me before the end of this school year.

Many thanks! Have a safe, healthy and happy summer!

Vivien Petersen R.N.
ECMS School Nurse
209-8104

Friday, May 1, 2015

Principal's Message

Dear Canyon View Families,

The end of the school year is finally upon us and the last few weeks of school are always the busiest!  The K-5 teachers are currently wrapping up another great year of learning, and a lot of time and effort are going into making the final days of the school year special for each and every one of our Canyon View students.  Over the next 13 days, our students will be finishing up their grade level assessments and projects, and their teachers will be working on third trimester report cards (which will be sent home with students on May 20). 

Last night, our 5th graders performed for their parents their end-of-the-year musical, Willy Wonka.  The classes have been working on this project since October, and the performance was a smashing success!  In fact, everyone liked it so much, that we had the 5th graders perform it again at a school-wide assembly this morning.  The levels of excitement, engagement, and transfer of skills to an authentic performance task was outstanding, and we want to give a huge congratulations to the students and their teachers for the work they put into making the performance such a special experience.



On Friday, May 15 at 8:15 a.m. we’ll be hosting our final Spirit Assembly where we will be recognizing groups of hard working students who have put forth tremendous effort and consistently showed perseverance and demonstrated good character throughout the year.  Publically recognizing students is an important part of who we are as a school, and we are always looking for creative ways to celebrate our children and build an inviting and supportive learning community!  If you can make it to our final assembly of the year we would love to see you there!

I want to thank all of you who took the time to complete the Spring Parent Survey.  The feedback received from our community will inform our strategic planning process to identify areas for improvement.  We recognize the importance of listening to our community members, and we sincerely value your input as we continue to work towards creating the optimum learning environment for all of our students.  Thank you!

Finally, I wanted to thank all of our amazing volunteers who have helped us throughout the year.  Whether you were able to volunteer in the classroom or help out during one of our many school-wide events, we are sincerely grateful for your contributions and your unwavering commitment to our children!         

Have a wonderful weekend!

Rob Henikman
Principal