Sunset News

Volume 58, Issue 5 January 2012

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January 2012 Parents:

Happy Holidays to each of you and your families!

Holidays can be described with many adjec�ves

and one of the main ones is “STRESS”. I hope

that you will de-stress and have a wonderful,

relaxing vaca�on with your kiddos. So, here is

this Grandma’s answer to stress, along with a

photo of my precious li+le ones.

Blessings,

Mrs. Farmer

Se+le into the joy of the season and the

joy of the child yours is!

Treasure every moment, as they

go by too quickly!

Read to and with your child, you

will both Reap many benefits!

Enfold them in your arms several

�mes a day telling them how special they are!

Snooze some; it will refresh you!

Snicker a lot; laughter releases those

endorphins that make us feel much be+er!

Weds. Jan. 4—Back to School

Tues. Jan. 10—Health Screenings—3rd, 5th and new students; StarGATE Parent Meeting @630 pm

Thurs. Jan. 12—PTA meeting @3:30 pm

Mon. Jan. 16– Martin Luther King Jr. Day—No School

Tues. Jan. 17—School Board Meeting

Weds. Jan. 25th—deadline for Newsletter submissions

Fri. Jan. 27—Souper Bowl Labels and Box Tops Deadline

Tues. Feb. 7th—4th & 5th program

Con

Back to School

PTA meeting

Health Screenings;

StarGATE

No School Board meeting

Souper

Bowl

Last Day

Newsletter

deadline

Sunset School Spirit Gear

Make It Your Own:

Choose from any of the 100’s of products, select your style, pick your colors and create your own personalized gear.

Every order helps Sunset School.

www.spiritgeardirect.com

Sunset Collects & Recycles

Box Tops For Education Just look for the Box Tops logo on hundreds of products like Cheerios®, Hamburger Helper®

and Kleenex®, in almost every aisle of the store. All you need to do is clip and drop them in the bin in the front entry. each one is worth 10¢ for your school. www.boxtops4education.com

Labels For Education Clip and save UPCs and beverage caps from participating products.

Drop them in the bin in the front entry. www.labelsforeducation.com

Pop can pull tabs

Place your tabs in a baggie and drop them in the bin in the front entry.

Cody Recycling Center 602-16th St. Take your aluminum cans in, ask them to credit Sunset School and at the end of the year they give us a donation.

Young Authors is coming soon!

It is that time of year again. The past few years we've had a big increase in the number of students that want to do Young Authors. What is YA? It's a time to meet after school from 3:15-4:00 and go through the writing process and write a story and publish it. It can either be a fiction, non-fiction, or a book of poems. It is for grades K-5, and we only work with students in our building. It is also VOLUNTARY.

Sunset School will pick one book from each grade level and category, and it will be judged with other students in the district. One book will go to the state level in each category and grade level. Our school district will have a big celebration for ALL writers the first part of March. An author is invited and the awards are announced at that time. This is sponsored by the Cody Reading Council and the Wyoming State Reading Council. It is the biggest event that is done in the state for young authors.

This has been a very valuable after school activity for our Sunset School Young Authors, but we need help to keep it going. Parents please email me, if you are available to help every Tues., and what grade level you'd prefer. We would like to start on Tues. Jan. 24 and continue through February 28.

Rindi Plambeck, rplambeck@park6.k12.wy.us

Our next Parent-Teacher Association meeting will be held on Thurs. Jan. 12th at 330 pm in the Art/Science room.

All parents and staff are invited and encouraged to attend.

Health Screenings for students in grades 3 & 5 and new students will take place on Tuesday, 1/10. Areas assessed are vision, hearing, height, weight and body mass index. Please contact the school nurse if you do not want your child to participate.

Windy Smith, RN

School Nurse

Teacher Wish Lists

Your PTA has set up an account at www.teacherwishlist.com so that the staff can post the things they would love to have in their classrooms and at Sunset. Parents and philanthropists can look at the wish lists and grant some wishes! Thank you for supporting our Sunset School.

Sunset Elementary School PTA

Sunset School Parent-Teacher Association

President—Lisa McDonald, 250-4633

sunsetpta@nazdorovya.com

Vice President—Becca Manchester

Secretary—Bobbi Moss

Treasurer—Ashley McCarten

@SunsetPTA

Breakfast is not served after 8:10 unless there is a late bus. If you want your child to have breakfast, they must be in the commons getting their breakfast before 8:10.

Thanks.

Mrs. Farmer

The Absaroka Figure Skating club will be hosting one hour of free ice on Sun., Jan. 8th from 2-3 p.m. for anyone who is interested in our club ice skating lessons. Lessons begin Jan. 15th and will end mid-March. We offer lessons for ages four and up. Adult lessons will be available if we have enough

participants.

Our first day of lessons will be early on Sun., Jan. 15th at 12:00 due to a Quake game. Our lessons are on Sunday afternoons from 2:00-5:00 p.m.

If you cannot register on Sun., Jan. 8th please arrive at the rink at 11:30 on Sun., Jan. 15 to

register for lessons.

Please call Tonia Reed at 587-2847 or email her at treed@tctwest.net for questions or a registration

form. We hope to see you on the ice.

Page 4 Sunset News

Mrs. Olson’s 1st Grade Class Happy New Year, 2012! Wow, did we have a lot of fun learning in December. The Nutcracker performance was wonderful and the kids were engaged and asked a lot of questions. We had fun creating gingerbread houses and going to the Park County Library and meeting with our 4th Grade Buddies again. In January we will continue writing stories. We have 2 Christmas-themed travel books ready for you to enjoy, so watch for them. We appreciate your comments on them. We will be starting a math unit on penguins, focused o n m e a s u r eme n t s a n d comparisons, as well as learning some things about penguins. In Science we will continue our focus on balance and motion and things that roll. We are looking forward to a fun and educational month ahead. Happy 2012!

Mrs. Reinker’s third grade class has been busy like always!! They have finished a reading competition between the girls and the boys and the girls won!! Another reading competition is underway so keep logging your minutes. We are excited for Christmas break but we know we will be ready to come back in a couple weeks. Merry Christmas!!

In January, Mrs. Hill’s Third Grade class will focus on subtracting 2 and 3 digit problems in Math. We will also begin a unit on Geometry. In Writing, we will continue to work on the five parts of a friendly letter. In Science, the third grade classes will be rotating to different units. Our class will be doing a unit on Matter and Energy with Mrs. Reinker. Happy New Year! We are looking forward to an AWESOME 2012!

Sunset 4th graders have shown incredible growth in Reading this first trimester, and are doing well in their differentiated Reading, Math, and Words Their Way groups. The school year has started off well for all of us. TOWN was a success, as well, and students are reading like crazy to meet the Second Trimester goal in order to participate in the second go-round of TOWN. Just a reminder to keep up on the latest information on our facebook page (look for us and ask to join the group at: Sunset Elementary 4th Grade), as well as on our website ( http://www.park6.org/webpages/CGalagan/). Up-to-the-minute news flashes can be found at both of these locations.

Fifth grade is having their floor hockey tournament on Dec. 22 at the Rec. Center. We have been working on Geometry in math. We will be taking our MAP Math test near the end of January, so be practicing those multiplication and division facts. We completed our MAP Reading assessment last week and are proud of the progress students are making. Have a very Merry Christmas! We look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Page 5 Sunset News

Miss Pinney

December has been busy performing at our Holiday performances and working on our music foundation and beginning to prepare for our musical. What and enjoyable time it has been being able to share the gift of music with the Cody elementary schools and community. As we return in January, we will continue growing in rhythmic skills, listening skills, part independence, singing skills, writing music, reading music, movement, and instrument techniques using mallet and percussive instruments.

Our next performance will be on February 7th and will feature our 4th and 5th grade students in the musical, “Kids for America.” The Drum ensemble will start their weekly rehearsals on Tuesday, January 10th and Honor Choir will start their weekly rehearsals on Thursday, January 12th. Enjoy the Holiday Season and break. See you in 2012.

Mrs. Baumstarck

D u r i n g t h e Second Step G u i d a n c e Activities we l e a r n abou t Character Education; which is a method for developing skills to become successful adults.

Currently, we are learning about Citizenship; which is one of "The Six Pillars of Character".

Citizenship is teaching children that they are citizens of many groups-their class, their family, their community, and their country. Every citizen has a responsibility to follow the rules, obey the laws, respect authority, contribute to the group, protect the environment and conserve resources.

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Parents: please help Sunset School communicate better with parents by going to www.park6.org and under Schools, use the delta and select Sunset Elementary School, then go to the TeacherSites and select School Counselor. On Mrs. Baumstarck’s front page is a survey for parents to participate in. The survey asks basic questions about communication with school.

Sunset Student Council: President – Natalie Call; Vice President – Mason Merager; Secretary – Jillian Easum; Treasurer – Karsyn Smith

Why is there no school on January 16th?

It is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., graduated from Morehouse College (B.A., 1948), Crozer Theological Seminary (B.D., 1951), and Boston University (Ph.D., 1955). The son of the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, King was ordained in 1947 and became minister of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Ala. He led the black boycott (1955-56) of segregated city bus lines and in 1956 gained a major victory and prestige as a civil-rights leader when Montgomery buses began to operate on a desegregated basis.

King organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which gave him a base to pursue further civil-rights activities, first in the South and later nationwide. His philosophy of nonviolent resistance led to his arrest on numerous occasions in the 1950s and 60s. His campaigns had mixed success, but the protest he led in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963 brought him worldwide attention. He spearheaded the Aug., 1963, March on Washington, which brought together more than 200,000 people. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

King's leadership in the civil-rights movement was challenged in the mid-1960s as others grew more militant. His interests, however, widened from civil rights to include criticism of the Vietnam War and a deeper concern over poverty. His plans for a Poor People's March to Washington were interrupted (1968) for a trip to Memphis, Tenn., in support of striking sanitation workers. On Apr. 4, 1968, he was shot and killed as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel (since 1991 a civil-rights museum).

James Earl Ray, a career criminal, pleaded guilty to the murder and was convicted, but he soon recanted, claiming he was duped into his plea. Ray's conviction was subsequently upheld, but he eventually received support from members of King's family, who believed Ray to have been the victim of a conspiracy. Ray died in prison in 1998.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday is a national holiday, celebrated on the third Monday in January.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright ©2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved

Congratulations to Jaime Reinker and Karen Skoric for earning the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification!!! Congratulations on an incredible accomplishment!!!

How About Better Parents? By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Published: November 19, 2011

IN recent years, we’ve been treated to reams of op-ed articles about how we need better teachers in our public schools and, if only the teachers’ unions would go away, our kids would score like Singapore’s on the big international tests. There’s no question that a great teacher can make a huge difference in a student’s achievement, and we need to recruit, train and reward more such teachers. But here’s what some new studies are also showing: We need better parents. Parents more focused on their children’s education can also make a huge difference in a student’s achievement. How do we know? Every three years, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or O.E.C.D., conducts exams as part of the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which tests 15-year-olds in the world’s leading industrialized nations on their reading comprehension and ability to use what they’ve learned in math and science to solve real problems — the most important skills for succeeding in college and life. America’s 15-year-olds have not been distinguishing themselves in the PISA exams compared with students in Singapore, Finland and Shanghai. To better understand why some students thrive taking the PISA tests and others do not, Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the exams for the O.E.C.D., was encouraged by the O.E.C.D. countries to look beyond the classrooms. So starting with four countries in 2006, and then adding 14 more in 2009, the PISA team went to the parents of 5,000 students and interviewed them “about how they raised their kids and then compared that with the test results” for each of those years, Schleicher explained to me. Two weeks ago, the PISA team published the three main findings of its study: “Fifteen-year-old students whose parents often read books with them during their first year of primary school show markedly higher scores in PISA 2009 than students whose parents read with them infrequently or not at all. The performance advantage among students whose parents read to them in their early school years is evident regardless of the family’s socioeconomic background. Parents’ engagement with their 15-year-olds is strongly associated with better performance in PISA.” Schleicher explained to me that “just asking your child how was their school day and showing genuine interest in the learning that they are doing can have the same impact as hours of private tutoring. It is something every parent can do, no matter what their education level or social background.” For instance, the PISA study revealed that “students whose parents reported that they had read a book with their child ‘every day or almost every day’ or ‘once or twice a week’ during the first year of primary school have markedly higher scores in PISA 2009 than students whose parents reported that they had read a book with their child ‘never or almost never’ or only ‘once or twice a month.’ On average, the score difference is 25 points, the equivalent of well over half a school year.” Yes, students from more well-to-do households are more likely to have more involved parents. “However,” the PISA team found, “even when comparing students of similar socioeconomic backgrounds, those students whose parents regularly read books to them when they were in the first year of primary school score 14 points higher, on average, than students whose parents did not.” The kind of parental involvement matters, as well. “For example,” the PISA study noted, “on average, the score point difference in reading that is associated with parental involvement is largest when parents read a book with their child, when they talk about things they have done during the day, and when they tell stories to their children.” The score point difference is smallest when parental involvement takes the form of simply playing with their children. These PISA findings were echoed in a recent study by the National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education, and written up by the center’s director, Patte Barth, in the latest issue of The American School Board Journal. The study, called “Back to School: How parent involvement affects student achievement,” found something “somewhat surprising,” wrote Barth: “Parent involvement can take many forms, but only a few of them relate to higher student

performance. Of those that work, parental actions that support children’s learning at home are most likely to have an impact on academic achievement at school. “Monitoring homework; making sure children get to school; rewarding their efforts and talking up the idea of going to college. These parent actions are linked to better attendance, grades, test scores, and preparation for college,” Barth wrote. “The study found that getting parents involved with their children’s learning at home is a more powerful driver of achievement than parents attending P.T.A. and school board meetings, volunteering in classrooms, participating in fund-raising, and showing up at back-to-school nights.” To be sure, there is no substitute for a good teacher. There is nothing more valuable than great classroom instruction. But let’s stop putting the whole burden on teachers. We also need better parents. Better parents can make every teacher more effective