APRIL 2019

A Message from the Principal, Mrs. Pierre-Jerome

Greetings JC Mitchell Family! I hope all of our students had an enjoyable Spring Break with their families. We are so happy to have our students back with us. I would like to thank Mrs. Bergman and Mrs. Zegers for their hard work on organizing our fabulous Zoom Day! Thank you also to Officer Kasprow, Mrs. Hinton, Mrs. Mahesan, Mrs. Sattler and Mrs. Valladares for helping to process all of our relatives that joined their students for lunch! Officer Kasprow along with Coach Kluthe, Mr. Harris, and Mrs. Newson made sure our parking went smoothly as well. Thank you to our entire staff for contributing to the best Zoom Day to date! We have begun our busiest season of the year. Testing starts this month and we are confident that no matter what assessment your child participates in, FSA ELA, Math, (gr. 3-5), Science (gr. 5) or the Florida Alternate Assessment for the students in our Exceptional Education Department (gr. 3-5) your child will excel. Our students are prepared to show what they know. As we get closer to the end of the school year, please continue to get the children to school on time. Every minute is precious here at J.C. Mitchell. Thank you for all you do to partner with us in your child’s education.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER April 2 – FSA-3rd Grade Reading, 4th, & 5th Grade Writing April 3 – FSA-3rd Grade Reading April 3 – SAC Mtg 6PM, PTA Mtg 6:30 PM April 3 – Safety Patrol DC Trip Parent Night-6:30-7:30 PM April 5 – Spring Bash – 4-7 PM April 17 – Music Club Concert-6:30 PM April 18 –McTeacher Family Fun Night-McDonalds-4-7 PM April 19 – NO SCHOOL – Good Friday May 1 – SAC Mtg 5:30 PM, PTA General Mtg-6PM

1st & 2nd Grade perform @ 6:30 PM May 8 – KINDERGARTEN Round-Up-6:30 PM May 17 – Literacy Breakfast-Grade 5 – 7:15 AM May 17 – Volunteer Breakfast - 8:15 AM

Message from our PTA President Rachelle St. Louis

Hello JC Mitchell Family! I hope everyone had a great Spring Break! Special thanks to all of the volunteers that helped last month during Top Banana. PTA sponsored special treats for nearly 600 students for a job well done in the 2nd trimester! Let’s kick off the Spring Season with a Spring Bash! FREE EVENT! Activities will include bounce house, rock climbing wall, face painting, arts & crafts and MORE!

McTeacher Family Fun Night April 18, 2019, 4-7PM

MUSIC CLUB CONCERT APRIL 17, 2019

6:30 PM J.C. Mitchell Cafeteria

Come out to hear the music club perform. A fun,

lively, energetic evening. This is a night you sure don’t want to miss.

We need your help on the 2019-2020 PTA Board. In order to continue our work as a local PTA we need volunteers who can come on board and make a difference. We are in need of Board Members and volunteers who can chair events, commit to volunteering at certain events, and just be an advocate for children at JC Mitchell Elementary! More information to come in your child’s backpack on joining the team. If you’re interested, contact us at jcm.pta@gmail.com

Zoom Day note - We want to thank all Zoom Day volunteers for their assistance in helping to make Zoom Day run smoothly. We appreciate your time and willingness to make Zoom Day a memorable day for our students.

Come to see your favorite teachers and Ms. PJ work behind the

counter! 20% of all proceeds will be donated back to our school! The class with

the best attendance will win ice cream!

SAC = School Advisory Council PTA = Parent Teacher Association MEETINGS: Wed. April 3, 2019-SAC 6PM, PTA 6:30 PM Wed. May 1, 2019-SAC 5:30, PTA General Meet-6PM PTA BOARD – 2018-2019 PRESIDENT – RACHELLE SAINT-LOUIS VP OF MEMBERSHIP-KAREEMA GEORGE VP OF BUSINES PARTNERSHIP-BIANCA FRAKER VP OF LEADERSHIP-SANDIE DOMANDO RECORDING SECRETARY-JUDY KACZMAREK CORRESPONDING SECRETARY-JENNIFER JONES TREAURER-SHARON HOWELL EMAIL: jcm.pta@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.jcmpta.org

Counselor’s Corner We hope everyone had a relaxing

Spring Break! April ends our Character Counts Awards with the trait of Citizenship: Helping out your school and community, protecting the environment and most importantly, being a good neighbor. April is a busy month with the start of testing season and we wanted to remind everyone to RELAX (parents and kids!) Make sure your kids eat well, sleep well, and engage in fun activities so they are not crammed with only school work and tests. Balance is key! Third, fourth, and fifth grade students received test anxiety/test strategy classroom guidance lessons, but if any child needs more individualized counseling regarding this issue please don’t hesitate to reach out to your counselors. J. C. Mitchell is participating in Pennies for Patients this month, a service learning program that helps raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). Through Pennies for Patients our school can earn gift cards for supplies and your child earns fun thank-you gifts.

jenna.benjamin@palmbeachschools.org lara.fajardo@palmbeachschools.org.

ESE News – On March 9, 2019, we had six students participate in the Palm Beach County Special Olympics Games at John I Leonard High School. Following the Opening Ceremonies, the athletes participated in Track and Field Events. All the athletes had a great time and they made us very proud! We would also like to thank the families, Ms. Traylor-Delphin, Mrs. Ranieri, and Mrs. Slade who came by to cheer on our J.C. Mitchell Team. The Area Summer Games will take place on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at William T. Dwyer High School. Please, try to come out and support our amazing athletes!

Science Fair Information: Thank you for all the students who turned in a science project in February and for all the parents who helped their students complete the project. JCM had a total of 22 1st and 2nd place winners in our school fair. Of the 22 winners we sent 16 1st place winners to compete in the district fair. I am elated to announce that we had a total of 10 winners that placed in the district fair. If you see or know these students, please congratulate them.

1st place James Ethridge 2nd place Liam Kraev

2nd place Loulia Sharabi & Victoria Morales 3rd place Ms. Burton's 2nd grade class

3rd place Emma Maxwell 3rd place Emmanuel Montensino

3rd place Dayton Howell Honorable mention Caleb Caponera

Honorable Mention Mrs. Valentin's Kindergarten Class Honorable mention Mrs. Zeger's 1st grade class

YAY!!!!! J.C. Mitchell!!!

ESOL News: Thank you parents for your help and support during the ACCESS testing these past few weeks. As you may know, the Florida State Assessments will soon begin for grades 3, 4 and 5. Please make sure the children are getting a good night sleep and eating a healthy breakfast each day. This will enable them to really focus on the test questions. All active ELL students are entitled to extra time on the state assessments. PLEASE encourage your children to use their extra time and their translation dictionaries and glossaries when taking their assessments. They are encouraged to use these accommodations in class as well.

Daily reading is also very important to improve fluency and comprehension. I cannot say enough about our public libraries right here in Boca Raton. The Spanish River and Downtown libraries have SO MANY resources for our students and families. Making regular trips to the library with your children can be very beneficial to their academic success. Allowing the children to look through the books and choose a book to read will help foster a lifelong love of books.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the ESOL Program, please call Mrs. Kindred at (561) 750-4927.

Thank you to THE FRESH MARKET for their very

generous donation of food for our FSA parent night!

Kindergarten News – We hope all of our families had a pleasant Spring Break! We are looking forward to our last few months together and hope you are too. In April, we are embarking on more nonfiction reading and writing. We want our children to be able to use pictures and knowledge to help them read words and identify that nonfiction authors use words and photographs to teach information. In Writing, we are writing "how- to" books where our children will teach procedures such as getting ready for bed by drawing pictures and writing words. In Math, we are just beginning a unit about numbers 20 and beyond. By the end, children are expected to count from 0 to 100 and also start at a given number (start at 64 and stop at 72) as well as skip count by 10s (65, 75, 85...). In Science we will be discussing living and nonliving things. We will be scheduling parent conferences soon if you have not yet had a second conference with your child's teacher. Look for more information coming home soon! 1st Grade News –. We hope all of our JCM families had a relaxing and fun filled spring break. It is wonderful to see our 1st graders back in school and ready to learn. Zoom Day was a GREAT SUCCESS and we sincerely appreciate all our volunteers for their help in running the various activities. During the next several weeks, we will be learning about money and how to tell time in math. These essential skills will help your children understand how the knowledge they learn in school conveys to real life. Here are a few simple and fun ways for you to apply money and time lessons at home.

• Take your child to the store with you and ask them to help you pick out items from a list. Instruct them to stay within a certain budget and to estimate the amount of the purchase while shopping.

• Have your child look for different types of clocks in your house or wherever you go around town. Describe the different types of clocks (digital and analog) and how they are used to help organize and plan a person's day (for appointments, meetings, classes, etc.)

Also, 3rd-5th grade students will be taking the FSA’s. Please be mindful of this during school hours and remind your children to be respectful and quiet around the school and hallways during this time. Teachers will soon be starting end of the year conferences. Please plan to attend and discuss what your child can do over the summer to continue their learning. The year is coming quickly to end so please keep up with all homework, reading logs and arriving to school, on time, each day! 2nd Grade News – We hope everyone enjoyed their spring break! Thank you so much to all the parents that volunteered at Zoom Day. It was a huge success and many memories were made! April is upon us which means it is time for our 3rd – 5th graders to take the FSA. Even though our second graders do not take the FSA our schedule does change slightly. We will be spending more time in the classroom. Please allow your child extra time outside to play in the afternoon. In our classrooms, we have been exploring fairy tales, folktales and fables. Next time you visit the library; you may want to check out your child’s favorite fable or fairy tale to enjoy at home. Our math lessons are all about reading and interpreting graphs and data. Allow your child to create a graph at home about the family’s favorite food or activity to do together! As always, continue to read daily and practice your math facts at home with your child. Every minute counts! 3rd Grade News – Third Grade - Thank you everyone for coming out to Zoom Day. We were so appreciative to all the volunteers and those that joined us for lunch. The students were very excited for a fun filled day before Spring Break. We hope everyone had a well- rested break. It is time to jump back in and prepare for the upcoming FSA. A few important reminders are to please make sure your child gets a good nights' rest, eat a healthy breakfast, and arrive at school on time. Please make sure to encourage your child to do his or her best. THEY'VE GOT THIS! 4th Grade News – Hello parents, I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful spring break. Now that we are back, we are preparing for the FSA. April 2nd is the FSA writing portion for 4th grade. Students will be working closely with their teachers in small group to strengthen their areas of opportunities. This month we will continue to work on fractions with students in math and then move into geometry by the end of the month. We know that the way we teach math is different from the way that you learned and even the way we learned it but it is important to let your child practice the math the way we have taught them in class because that is the way it will show up on the test. In reading, we are working on comprehension and improving our reading levels. Please have your child read for at least 30 minutes a day to increase reading stamina. 5th Grade News – We want to wish all of our student good luck as they take the Writing FSA (April 2), Reading FSA (5/1 & 5/2)), Math FSA (5/7 & 5/8), and Science FCAT (5/9 & 5/10). We have been diligently working to develop the critical thinking skills that they need, not only to succeed on their FSA's and FCAT but beyond their school years as well. We are proud of all the hard work they have done so far. We know they are ready and we are confident that they will do well. Parents you can assist your child(ren) during this testing period by making sure he/she/they get(s) plenty of sleep, eat(s) a healthy breakfast, and is on time each day. To avoid "morning hassles" consider preparing lunches, packing backpacks, and laying out the following days clothing in the evening. Most important, remember to encourage your child to do well and tell him/her/them that you are proud of all their hard work.

Notes from After-School - March roared with excitement from another visit from "Be Strong" which teaches our students to practice resilience techniques! The students were courageous sharing their stories and experiences during the small group discussion with the Be Strong Team. Next, Orchid Club finished another successful year. Students who submitted their orchid artwork had their pieces displayed at the "Orchid Show". Winners received ribbons and a beautiful orchid for their families to care for. We will continue in April with Yoga on April 1st and 15th and Coach Corey on April 10th. Finally, our wonderful staff will celebrate After-school Professionals Appreciation Week from April 22nd through April 26th, 2019.

ADVERTISE IN OUR NEWSLETTER! If you have a business and would like to advertise in our newsletter, the cost is $20.00 per month and $150.00 for the entire year. Your support helps PTA with production and printing costs. Call Laura in the office at 561-750-4900 if you are interested.