The Sloan-HendrixElementary / Middle School Newsletter

No. 113 March, 2010

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” Dr. Seuss

Who are you? That may have been the question that many children were wondering last Tuesday, March 2nd at Sloan-Hendrix Elementary School. In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, the teachers and students in grades K – 3rd were allowed to dress-up as a storybook character for the day. Roaming the halls, you could spot Jennifer Grisham as The Cat in The Hat, Stephanie Lewis made a perfect Pocahontas, and Carolyn Smith was a wonderful Amelia Bedelia. Kay Wells made a beautiful Queen of Hearts. Andrea Roark made a good, mean Miss Roark is Missing instead of “Miss Nelson is Missing” and Stacey Wilson portrayed “The Old Woman Who Named Things.” Ann Whiteside, student intern, got in on the fun as “Fancy Nancy Pajama Day.” Beth Gosha became Ira in “Ira Sleeps Over” and Terri Smith looked just like the little girl in her book, “Hooray for Reading Day.” Retha Taffer portrayed Freckleface Strawberry and Chris Murphy made a very creative tree from “Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom.” Jonna Kincade portrayed Fern from “Charlotte’s Web” complete with her pretend baby pig in a stroller and Becky Foreman became “Ladybug Girl” for the day. The students did a wonderful job of participating in the event. Some of the student characters included Laura Ingalls Wilder, Alice in Wonderland, Freckleface Strawberry, Pocahontas, along with several princesses and cowboys. Some of the Dr. Seuss characters that dressed up for the day included Thing 1 and Thing 2, Sam I Am, and a Wocket in my Pocket. Part of the day’s activities consisted of guest readers coming into the classes and reading to the students. Some of the guest readers included: Mr. Walton, school superintendent, who read “I Saw an Ant on a Railroad Track” and Mr. Tate, school principal, portrayed and read “Mr. Grump.” Dana Wells came down the hall dragging her lamp to read “Mary Had a Little

Family Literacy Day at Sloan-Hendrix School

Lamp.” Laura Hubler from the Imoden City Library stopped by to read the book, “I Wanna Iguana” to the kindergarten children. Some of the classes, enjoyed listening to their students’ parents participate in the read aloud time.

Students in grades 4th – 7th were al-lowed to wear a hat to school on Dr. Seuss’s birthday since he wrote the famous book, “The Cat in The Hat.” Fourth grade classes read “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” by Dr. Seuss. For science, they made oobleck. It dripped and formed slimy green puddles on the classroom floor. Was it a liquid or a solid? Was this a good kind of weather to come down from the sky? They had fun discussing many ques-tions centered on oobleck! What a creative

activity. “We teach our children how impor-tant it is to read, but we also want to teach them how enjoyable it can be to read,” stated Becky Foreman, literacy coach. The children also received a special treat in getting to go to the McCurley gymnasium and enjoy eating popcorn while watching the movie, “Horton Hears a Who.” Foreman stated, “We have been able to celebrate Family Literacy Day in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday the last few years and it has been so much fun. The children enjoy dressing up in character costumes and the teachers do a wonderful job of participating. It reminds children of exactly what we want them to learn-- reading can be fun.”

Shara Phares, school counselor, along with her daughter, Lakyn, kindergarten student, read and demonstrated some of the actions that took place in the book “The Recess

Queen,” a story about bullying on the playground.

The Sloan-Hendrix Elementary / Middle School Newsletter No. 113, Page 2 March, 2010

Dates to remember:March 23—Parent/Teacher ConferenceMarch 25 & 25—Spring BreakApril 2—Good Friday (School in session)April 5-9—SAT testing Grades K-2April 12-16—Benchmark Exams Grades 3-8May 4—Law. Co. Track Meet Grades 4-6May 14—High School GraduationMay 18—Preschool GraduationMay 25—Kindergarten GraduationMay 27—Elementary/Middle School AwardsMay 31—Memorial Day (School in session)June 1—Last Day of School

Congratulations!The winners of our 2010 Sloan-Hendrix

Employee Diet were:1st place-Randy Gholson and Teresa Lawrey2nd place- Bobbie Duncan and Andrea Roark

Their teams had the highest % of weight loss, over 8 weeks.

Testing Time is Near!

March Madness is going on this month in preparing for all of the “Big Tests” that the students will be taking in April. Students in kindergarten will take the MAT8 test on April 7th and 8th. Grades 1st and 2nd will take the SAT10 test on April 7th and 8th. Students in grades 3rd – 8th will take the Benchmark Test the week of April 12th. All schools must take the MAT8, SAT10, and Benchmark Tests. Some facts about assessments that may help you under-stand why assessments are so important to your child’s school include:

All assessments are a way of seeing, understanding, and evaluating. They are a very important tool in a complex educational process.Assessments give us dependable data on whether or not our students are learning what they need to know. Assessments can lead to more effective classroom instruction and better student thinking and learning.

Test taking tips for students that par-ents can help encourage from home include:

Be prepared. If a child is prepared, he/she will experience far less stress while taking the test.Get a good night’s sleep each night dur-ing the week of the test. Arrive early for school. Arriving late on test days causes an increased amount of stress on the child taking the test.Have a good breakfast on the mornings of the test. Let the child know that you know he/she will do well on the test. Confidence is important in learning and test taking.

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Encourage the child to do their very best on the test. Make sure that the child knows that you understand that the test is important.

Make the week of the test a “big deal.” Since the children will not have any homework during this week, this is a good week to get ready for bed earlier than usual. Either before or during the week of the test, go out to eat as a reason to celebrate taking the test. One parent said that they bought “special” comfortable clothes to wear on the days of the test. She basically bought sweatpants and t-shirts with a comfortable jacket. Wearing layers on test days allows for unforeseen temperature changes inside and outside. New clothes can also make a child feel not only more comfortable but also more confident during the week of the test. Another parent shared making the week of test taking a big deal at home by cooking her child’s favorite meal one night and ordering pizza on another night. Since your child will not have homework during the week of the test, it may be a good time to have a family movie night. However, rent the movie and watch it early so that the test-taker in the family is not out late or up late.

Make the week of the test taking important at home just as it is at school. When the family values what is taking place in the child’s learning environment, the child demonstrates more effort in learning. If your child knows that you support the school system, then he/she will understand the importance of an education. With such hard-working students, dedicated teachers, and supportive parents, Sloan-Hendrix Schools can make a difference. We can achieve our goals through effort, persistence, and team-work.

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SH Students are Participating in BSLP

This year 1st and 4th grade students at Sloan-Hendrix Elementary School will be participating in the Black Stallion Literacy Project. The project is designed to bring about the love of reading through the use of horses. The fourth grade students have been able to participate in the project for the last few years. It has always been such a success for our stu-dents. They become so excited about reading the book “The Black Stallion” and participating in the Black Stallion Literacy Project activities.

On Family Literacy Day,Tuesday, March 2, the fourth grade students were introduced to the book, “The Black Stallion.” The fourth grade will read the book and conclude their literary study with a field trip in April to the Equine Center on the ASU campus in Jones-boro where they will see a skit from the book presented by the Black Stallion Literacy Foundation.

The Black Stallion Literacy Foundation introduced the first grade students to the book on Family Literacy Day at Sloan-Hendrix by bringing a horse and pony for the first graders to see and touch. The students were introduced to Big Red and Little Black who are the char-acters in one of the beginning Black Stallion books. After Joy Fisher with the foundation spoke to the children for a few minutes, each child got to pet each of the horses. Then Mrs. Fisher on behalf of the Black Stallion Literacy Foundation provided each child with a copy of the book, “Little Black, A Pony.” The children were so excited with their new books it was hard for them to quit reading it while they walked back to class. In April, the first grade students will take a field trip to the Equine Center on the ASU campus in Jonesboro to have a “Horse Day.”

Brian Hill and Gage Passmore are getting to pet “Little Black” during the Black

Stallion Literacy Project’s event.

Kyle Roark and Dylan Bookout get to pet “Big Red” during the Black Stallion

Literacy Project’s event.

Black Stallion Literacy Project