October/November 2016

www.flippenelementary.org

UPCOMING EVENTS December 19-30

Semester Break

January 02—

Professional Learning Day

January 05

School Spelling Bee

(for classroom winners)

January 13

Skate Night 6-9 (Starlite)

January 16

MLK, Jr Day (No School)

January 19

PTO & Math Night 6 –7pm

January 20

Student Council 6-8pm

February 10

Children’s Ball

February 13—February 17

Book Fair

February 16

PTO and Student Led

Conference Night after 3rd

grade performance

February 20– 24

Winter Break

Pre-K Special Education Dual service classes at Flippen Elementary

are getting more and more students, as the journey through the

Unique Learning Curriculum moved from “The Changing Tree” in

October, to exploring the “ Space“ in November and embracing vari-

ous “ Traditions “ in December.

As the school year progresses, we are making arrangements and

scheduling meetings in order to determine appropriate Kindergarten

placement for our students.

Data collection, monthly checkpoints in

Unique Learning System, working on IEP

goals and objectives are daily priorities in

the preschool classrooms.

We are excited to see student improve-

ment in areas of cognition, adaptive, fine and gross motor skills, per-

sonal-social and communication, as we focus on developing students

who can perform to the best of their abilities.

We wish you all a Safe and Happy Holiday Season,

Banks, Buhai, Peterson, Granato

Teen numbers has been our focus in Math during the months of October and No-

vember. We have learned that a teen number starts with a “bossy” one and that it is

made up of a group of tens and extra ones. The students completed activities in

which they would put teen numbers in order, count on from a given number and

were able to compose and decompose the teen number into groups of tens and

extra ones.

In November, we attended our first field trip of the year to Southern Belle Farm. The students were able to pick their

own pumpkin, find their way through the corn maze, pet several different farm animals, and learn about where dairy

products come from. It was a good time had by all.

To help your child become a better reader, please make reading an everyday activity at home. As you read together,

stop throughout the story and ask “why” questions such as; “ What problem did ___ have ?” ,“How did ____ solve

the problem?”, “What would you have done?”, “What do you think will happen next?”.

We are conferencing with students regularly and helping them track their own progress. Our second set of S.M.A.R.T

goals have been set for the year. If you were unable to come in during Student Led Conference Night please contact

your child’s teacher and set up a time for you child to share what they have been working on.

Here it is already!!! Half the year is gone (19 weeks), and it is the Holiday Season

and we have two weeks off. When we come back from break in January it will be the

start of a busy time in P.E. class.

The third, fourth, and fifth graders will be starting to practice for the FITNESSGRAM test and also take the

test. The students have been working on some of the components of the test like push-ups and sit-ups in our warm-

up exercises. I have stressed our warm-ups every time the kids come into class. FITNESSGRAM consists of

height, weight, push-ups, sit-ups, sit & reach (flexibility), and Pacer test (endurance).

We will also be preparing for the Jump Rope for Heart event which is a fun time for all. The Kindergarteners,

first, and second graders will be working on their skills jumping rope to prepare for it. Jump Rope for Heart is

sponsored by the American Heart Association. The students raise money to help kids who have heart problems and

they receive gifts from the AHA for their contributions. We finish that up with a fun event for all our students at

school with jump rope activities where some students get to show off their skills jumping rope in front of the

whole school.

Then before we know it, we will be preparing and participating in our end of the year school Field Day competition

which is fun for all of us at Flippen Elementary.

PLEASE continue to encourage your students to work hard in P.E. class to get more physically fit. Also remind

them to always wear their sneakers or tennis shoes on their P.E. days so they can always participate.

First graders are on the move!! We are excited about

beginning the new year with a happy start. We are looking

forward to our PTO performance on January 19th. Our

students will be sharing information about our world and it’s

many continents. In social studies, students are beginning to

learn about American Heroes, and Lewis and Clark with

Sacagawea. Our next hero we will learn about is Harriett

Tubman. Students also are currently learning about measur-

ing and time in mathematics. However, we will be soon explor-

ing shapes and fractions. In language arts, students are learn-

ing about sentence structure and grammar concepts along with

writing informational pieces. In science we are exploring and

investigating the many uses of magnets.

Students of the for December:

Mrs. Fitterer - Mohamed Barrie & Shamari Tolliver

Mrs. Harris – A’layah Francis & Levi Rose

Mrs. Shepherds – Elijah Froman & Thalia St. Rose

Mrs. Shell - Ayaan Khan & Karianna Lowe

Mrs. Wilson – Camille Sanders & Selina Burge

SPOTLIGHT ON ATTENDANCE

The BAM award was created to encourage student attendance. We announce the Best Attendance for the Month (BAM) and hang a banner outside the classroom doors of the classrooms with the best attendance on each grade level each month.

October B.A.M

Award Winners

K – Henderson

1st – Shepherd

2nd

– Wooley

3rd

– Duke

4th – Wiernicki

5th – Marquez

November B.A.M

Award Winners

K – Doster 1

st – Shell

2nd

– Wooley 3

rd – Patterson

4th – King

5th – Bonner

Where is the time going? Second Grade has been very busy this past nine weeks. We’ve

been reading stories from informational to narrative. We’ve been enjoying many new books

and stories as we reach our individual smart goals. We’ve been practicing our addition and

subtraction strategies…did you

know subtraction is the opposite of

addition? We’ve been traveling

through Georgia visiting the

Coastal plain, the Piedmont, the

Appalachian Plateau, and the Blue

Ridge Mountains. Little did you

know, Georgia has so much to of-

fer. We’ve been learning the im-

portance of friendship and stand-

ing up against bullying during Red

Ribbon week. We had a lot of fun

on our field trip going back in time

to actually experience the Creek

way of life. We participated in

bead making, tasting journey cakes,

hunting with blow guns, and listening to old Native American legends.

Looking forward to more to come in the new year! Happy Holidays!

“Flippen, let’s congratulate the following students for

making the Henry County Honors Chorus.

Khayati Zobnina Jasmine Jackson Bailey Young Oscar Del Amo

Elijah Downey

Mrs. Lott would also like to thank

all of the students that auditioned.”

"Henry Has Talent is accepting audition forms now. The deadline to submit your application is January 21st. See Mrs. Lott for more details if you are interested."

October

Students of the Month

Lan Farmer

Khloe Chaguay

Titus Pummer

Samiyah Washington

Caleb Hunt

Destiny Rivas

Sara Gao

Christopher Madden

Andrew Wood

Nhu Tran

3rd Grade News Third graders have been working diligently these past

two months! Third graders have been working really

hard to become better readers. We are doing a lot of

close reading and digging deep into making sense of what we read. Don’t forget that our fluen-

cy goal for third grade is to read 120 words (or more) per minute. Fluency can be improved at

home if children read their books out loud nightly. Don’t forget to read every night! Parents

please check to see that your child is reading their library books every night. Time spent read-

ing can be recorded on a reading log for the Book It! Program and Six Flags Read to Succeed

form. Who doesn’t love a free ticket to Six Flags and free pizza?!

We have also been working on writing. An excellent way to help your child with writing

is to have them write thank you notes, write about the trips taken over the holidays, write

about why they should get a certain gift, or write a letter to a family member. Practice typing

using www.typing.com!

Third grade has also been working hard to become experts of multiplication and divi-

sion. We have been practicing daily. Please help support our hard work by practicing for 5 - 10

minutes daily with flashcards. We have been learning about perimeter and area as well. Over

the holiday break, your child can work on several programs or websites to help with math in-

cluding www.multiplication.com, DreamBox, and Prodigy.

In Science and Social Studies, we have been busy

learning about rocks, minerals, fossils, Frederick

Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and Mary McLeod

Bethune. We had a great time mining for rocks

and minerals at the in-school field trip! We did

many fun experiments with the rocks and miner-

als. The famous Americans we are studying are

also helping us learn about good character traits.

We look forward to the second half of our school

year!

Upcoming Important Events for Third Grade

February 16th – Third grade PTO performance. We would love for all

third graders to participate in this fun activity. September

Students of the Month

Nola Vukojevic

Aaron Ferrell

Elijah Ward

Maliyah Frazier

Riley Ard

Alexa Bennetti

Tobe Ugonabo

Naila Mohammed

Science: What will the weather be? That is a question 4th graders are trying to determine as

we study the water cycle and how it relates to the weather. The students are also learning

about the different states of water and how this water is in continuous movement from the

earth, to the earth’s atmosphere, and then back to earth. Did you know that the water you

drink today could have been sweat on a dinosaur’s nose? Eww!!

Math: What are fractions and when will I ever use them? Sound familiar? The students

have started to learn how to create equivalent fractions (with and without models). They will

also learn how to simplify fractions, list fractions in order from least to greatest, and add and

subtract like denominators. When possible, talk to your child about fractions and how you

use them in your daily life.

ELA: Wow! We have been learning about many different things in ELA! We now un-

derstand that there is an order of adjectives that we should use when we are writing

(OPSHACOMP.) We have also been studying about and learning how to use prepositions

and prepositional phrases. Our writing has taken a turn for the better because of all of the

writing practice we’re getting nowadays. Encourage your child to write, write, and write some

more whenever they can! We have also been reading a lot. We are at the stage now where

we are reading to learn, and boy are we learning a great deal! Let’s work together to motivate

our children to learn to gain a love for reading!

Social Studies: Why did we declare independence from the British? In a very fun activi-

ty, a student was chosen to be king. He/She taxed the stu-

dents with Skittles and unfortunately got to take a rather large

bag of candy home at the end of the day. The “colonists” were

shouting “NO FAIR!” They really got a taste of taxation without

representation! We also studied other events that led us to the

Revolutionary War. Prior to studying about the colonies, we

had to learn how the colonies came to be. The teachers did a

daily read aloud of Blood on the River. The children were very

interested in this historical fiction book.

Students of the Month for

October

Allen

Kaitlyn O’Neill

Christian Spencer

King

Sai Chava

Oscar Del Amo

McKee

Jayden Poole

Raven Quinn

Oravetz

Aaron Mayne

Jasmine Carmichael

Wiernicki

Danielle Freeman

Kevin Zhu

Students of the Month

for November

Allen

Zoe Allen

Hayden Jones

King

Saniyya Burroughs

Ronaldson Michel

McKee

Gabriel Loonam

Ronya Shackelford

Oravetz

Avari Atkinson

John Mays

Wiernicki

Kenadie Ray

Vivaswan Yadav

Science: We are studying the constructive and destructive

forces that change landforms.

Math: In math, we have been studying how to divide decimal

numbers and model them! Division has been a challenge; howev-

er, we are conquering it ONE STEP AT A TIME!!!

ELA: We are working on Text Structures. This includes com-

pare/contrast, cause/effect, chronology, problem/solution, and

comparison. We are also working on research and writing informational papers.

Social Studies: In Social Studies we have been working on our first PBL of the year.

Students have created an invention of their own as we have been learning about multiple

inventions that changed America at the turn of the century.

Driftwood Payment Schedule

September 29 - $75 October 31 - $75 February 10 - $65 March 10 - $60 (Last day for refunds) **Students that have not made any payments have been removed from the list! Contact your child’s teacher if you would like to make the total payments currently due of $150.00

Greetings Fal-

cons! Our Read-

ing Bowl Team

is ready to com-

pete on

January 21st

at

Luella Middle

School. We

hope you will be

able to cheer us

on as we go toe

to toe with 24

other schools in

Henry County to

win the 2016-2017 Reading Bowl trophy. Our 10 Reading Bowl

students have worked so hard this year, reading more than 15

books in preparation for the competition. Congratulations in

advance to these ten students!

Students of the Month for

October

Bonner

Patrick O’Malley

Aanya Superiwala

Farmer

Jiya Patel

Dolce Xayavong

Floyd

Maggie Ray

Mahil Patel

Marquez

Blake Walker

Victoria Terrell

Wells

Tia Monie Jackson

Nick Hadley

Students of the Month

for November

Bonner

Jarrett Leopard

Emily Patterson

Farmer

Dylan Driver

Santavia George

Floyd

Brock Chavers

Aparna Ganesan

Marquez

Dannezzia Clark

Cayden West

Wells

Bailey Rodgers

Caleb Cromer

Red Ribbon Week was full of reminders about staying safe and drug free! We focused on making healthy choices for a

positive life. We showed our school spirit for 3 days by being “Red”y for Red Ribbon Week, showing how smart we are by being a “JEAN”ius for being drug free and by Teaming up against drugs.

During Kindness Week, our food drive and toy drive were a big success!! Thank you to all the students and parents that brought in cans of food and new unwrapped toys! We were able to help out many families in our community from such generous donations!

Mrs. Wiernicki’s 4th grade class decided on their own class project for the holidays. They decided to raise money to sponsor a young child in need. The class raised $280!!!!! With that much money, the students were so excited, they decided to sponsor 2 children, instead of 1!! The students met Mrs. Wiernicki at the store and helped shop and purchase items for the children. Students that were not able to join in the Saturday shopping brought in their own gift to donate. Way to go, Mrs. Wiernicki’s class!! You ROCK!! What a great team building lesson about the spirit of giving!!

Flippen is a Cohort 2017

Personalized Learning School!

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that our plan for

launching Flippen Elementary based on the HCS personalized

learning tenets has been approved! The decision to approve the launch honors the hard

work the design team has undertaken over the past several months, and we are excited

about the bold plan proposed and the possibilities it holds for our students! We are excited

about the positive changes we have already seen at FLES and can’t wait for wide spread

implementation in the 2017/2018 school year.

As we continue on the path toward Personalized Learning we are guided by our core val-

ues and beliefs.

Flippen Elementary School’s Core Values and Beliefs

We believe that all students can learn given the right opportunities and guidance.

We believe every student has unique talents and abilities to share

We believe that teamwork and collaboration between students, parents and staff are

essential to success

We believe students should be active participants in their own learning by setting, mon-

itoring, and mastering goals

We believe in a challenging and diverse curriculum that encourages the creativity, in-

novation and risk-taking necessary to succeed in a global community

We are very excited about the opportunity we have to make a positive impact on our stu-

dents’ education. We appreciate the support from all of you and encourage your participa-

tion along the way. Please contact Ms. Lisa Henriquez (project manager), Dr. Toni

Obenauf (principal), or Ms. Shannon Daniel (assistant principal) for more information, con-

cerns, or questions. Information can also be found on the school website -http://

schoolwires.henry.k12.ga.us/Page/92663.