Ellsworth Elementary– Home of the Excelling Eagles

38454 N. Carolina Ave, San Tan Valley, AZ 85140

480-882-3520 Voice / 480-987-8250 Fax

Www.jocombs.org and www.ellsworth.jocombs.org

November Events / Looking Ahead

November 2014

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Champions Against Breast Cancer

11/22—Donuts w/ Dad

11/27 - 11/28—NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving

12/4—Picture retakes

12/11—Orchestra Concert - 6:00

12/16—Kindergarten Holiday Sing

12/16—Band Concert - 6:30

Wednesdays—Wear your college jersey

11/3 - 11/7—Penny Wars for USO

11/7—Progress Reports go home

11/11—Veteran’s Day - No School

11/12—Little Caesar’s Fundraiser

11/18—Hometown Heros

Ellsworth Elementary students had various activities during the month of October to raise

awareness about breast cancer. Students were encouraged to wear pink or white every

Friday. We were able to donate $250 to Banner Ironwood by selling balloons which were

released after the photo. The money will be used to increase awareness of breast cancer.

The school honored 2nd grade teacher Dorinda Oetken who is in the process of fighting

the disease.

November Birthdays! 11/8 - Rachael Schweickert - 1st Grade

11/16 - Nicole Thames - 5th Grade

11/17 - Pam Mapes - 4th Grade

11/20 - Carrie McClure - 3rd Grade

11/27 - Aurelia Aguayo - Custodian

If you would

like to provide

treats for your

child’s birthday,

please let your

teacher know in

advance, so

they may plan

accordingly

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IMPORTANT ELLSWORTH NUMBERS!!! Main Line/Attendance (Mrs. Susan or Mrs. Mary): 480-882-3520

Health Office (Medical Assistant Mrs. Jenne): 480-882-3523

Food Service (Mrs. Kendra): 480-882-3524

Transportation: 480-987-5309

Ellsworth Website: www.ellsworth.jocombs.org

District Website: www.jocombs.org

We are excited to announce that we are planning our first annual career expo. This

event will support our students in planning for future careers and encourage college

readiness. Additionally, this event will serve as an instructional tool. By gaining expo-

sure to different careers, our students will be able to make a connection with the ma-

terial they are presented today to their future careers.

In order to make this a dynamic and productive learning opportunity, we are soliciting

your help. We welcome any professional volunteers who are willing to showcase their

business and talents. Your time is valuable; therefore we are limiting our job fair to a

four-hour block on the morning of January 16th, 2015. During this time, students will

be able to go from booth to booth and talk to professionals about their career choices.

We encourage volunteers to bring tools, photos and reading material that will highlight

their occupation.

Thank you for considering our request and giving your time. If you feel you would like

to support our students by participating in our career expo, or feel like you wish to

learn more about our endeavors, please feel free to contact our school counselor,

Elfida Telles, She can be reached at 480-882-3520 ext: 1015 or emailed at emar-

tinez@jocombs.k12.az.us. Your efforts on behalf of Ellsworth Elementary are very

much appreciated.

Counselor’s Corner

Kindergarten

2nd Grade

Reading: Non-Fiction (Informational Text)

Writing: Writing an informational brochure.

Fundations: Multi-syllabic Words Math: Money Story Problems, Skip-counting, adding 3

or 4 two digit numbers. Social Studies/Science: Comparing and Contrasting

Thanksgiving then and now.

Watch for upcoming news for “Pies and Plays” the

week of Thanksgiving.

Have an Enjoyable and Restful Thanksgiving!

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1st Grade

3rd Grade

Classroom News & Updates

Kindergarten had an AWESOME time during our Octo-ber Harvest Party! Thank you for all your donations and help in making this happen --- Kindergarten par-ents are truly the best! Stay tuned for flyers about November events!!! Reminders: Find us on facebook www.facebook.com/ellsworth.kinder Make sure your child’s teacher has a valid email ad-dress to contact you! PLEASE JOIN OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND COMMIT TO CHECKING YOUR EMAIL REGULARLY. WE ARE UTILIZ-ING TECHNOLOGY AND SAVING TREES BY SENDING HOME LESS PAPER AND USING MORE E-COMMUNICATIONS.

Happy November, families:

Thank you for all parents who attended confer-

ences and our Teach –N- Treat. It was a huge

success! In Reading, continue to have your child

practice the trick words that have been sent

home. Practice them in and out of context.

Keep up with the timed reading and go over

words read incorrectly, as well as, asking com-

prehension questions. In Math, we will be finish-

ing our unit on Relating Addition and Subtrac-

tion and introduce Place Value concepts. In

Writing, we will be focusing on using temporal

words and ordering events in personal narra-

tives. At the end of the month, look forward to

details about our Turkey Trot.

Thank you for all that you do and your support!

Welcome to the 2nd Quarter of 3rd Grade! It

was great to see you all at parent teacher

conferences. We really enjoyed discussing

your students’ strengths. We are excited to start our science unit on

inventions and inventors for ELA and sci-

ence! The students will have a fun time re-

searching inventions. The third graders have done an excellent job

embracing the new curriculum and stand-

ards. We are sadly concluding our multipli-

cation and division units, but we will be re-

visiting the skills frequently. Our next unit

will be about units of length, volume, and

mass. We will then review telling time and

learn how to figure out elapsed time. Thank you for your support and thank you

for volunteering. We really appreciate every-

thing you do at home as well.

5th grade is ready for the most exciting quarter in Math!! We are

multiplying and dividing fractions and building cities using the formula for

volume. In English Language Arts we are engaging in multiple literature

studies! It’s cold, flu, and allergy season so please help your students

stay well rested and fortified with breakfast so that we can maximize

our learning. This quarter flies by so absences have a big impact on

students’ success, and we miss them when they’re gone! Have a restful

Thanksgiving Break. The 5th grade team is sincerely thankful for our

students – we are having such a good time learning with them!

4th Grade

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5th Grade

Wow! November promises to be a very busy month for 4th grade. Stu-

dents will participate in various activities that honor veterans who

served and fought for the freedoms we have. We will wrap-up our

study of myths in reading and move on to biographies. We are now

learning to use multiple methods to solve long division problems.

Please ask your child for their Unit 3 Family Letter as they have been

sent home, It shows and explains the methods we will be teaching in

class. We will round the month out with Thanksgiving and more holi-

day centered academic learning activities. More specific information

about upcoming events will be sent home with students on a continu-

ous basis, so be on the lookout for that. Many thanks to our local vet-

erans and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We are moving right along in 6th grade. Thank you to for your candy

donations for Teach and Treat, as well as participation in all of the other

fundraisers. This month we will be focusing on fractions in Math, memoirs,

autobiographies and biographies in Language Arts and energy in

Science. We will be starting our JA Biztown program in Social Studies. This

is an awesome program that teaches students about everyday financial/

business skills. We will be visiting the JA Biztown facility for our fieldtrip in

January, so we are excited to begin this program with our students. A

HUGE thank you to Mrs. Whitehead for substituting for Mrs. Cotton while

she is on maternity leave! Mrs. Cotton will be returning to Ellsworth mid-

November! We will all miss you Mrs. Whitehead. Thank you for all you

have done! As always please keep updated in regards to your students’

grades by logging into Jupiter Grades. If you need to reset your password,

please contact your child’s teacher. All of the 6th grade teachers would like

to wish you and your family a very happy and safe holiday season!

6th Grade

Dear Ellsworth Parents, Please mark your calendars to attend our Orchestra Concert. Please make a

note that our concert will be hosted in the Multi-Purpose Room at Ellsworth

Elementary located at 38454 N. Caroline Ave., San Tan Valley, on December

11 at 6:00 pm. I am very proud of the progress our orchestra students have

been making. I would love for you to attend to help cheer on these wonderful,

deserving students, See you there!!!!

Sincerely,

Mr. Guido Lavorata,

Director of Orchestra: CTA, Ellsworth, Simonton and Harmon

Music Department

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Guido Lavorata glavorata@jocombs.k12.az.us

Karen Steele

ksteele@jocombs.k12.az.us

Happy November! Title 1 students are enjoying Fall

learning activities and themed

books. We are working toward our

Accelerated Reader point and per-cent goals. Did you know you can

log on to Renaissance/Accelerated

Reader, using your parent username

and password? You can keep track

of your child’s reading log and offer

your support. If you need infor-

mation or assistance, please let me

know.

Bianca Alva

Reading Specialist

Date: Thursday, December 4

If you didn’t get your picture taken on

the original date, be sure to dress ac-

cordingly and smile pretty!

Picture Re-Take Title I Reading

Character Counts Student of the week Vough Rose - 1st

Rourke Nance - 2nd

Lauren Clark - 1st

Keegan Croft– 1st

Grandin Gustafson - 2nd

Eliza Larsen - Kinder

Wyatt Chesley - 1st

Blake Rainwater - 1st

KiMari Henry - 3rd

Kamren DuBose - 3rd

London Beery - 5th

Jeremy Elsner - 5th

Allison Hernandez - Kinder

Hallie Garcia - Kinder

Julian Girard - 5th

Kali Adkisson - 5th

Brayden Edwards Miller - 3rd

Bailee Rhodes - 3rd

Jayden Wisden - 1st

Justin Murphy - 1st

Cherrish Austin - 3rd

Ayleen Hernandez - 1st

Aleena Jacobs - 2nd

Preston Stratton - 2nd

Joslynn Maltas - 5th

Alyssa Pflugfelder - Kinder

Andrew Ferraro - 5th

Karoline Lazo - 5th

Caydence Ramirez - 5th

Teague Bullard - 4th

Maritsa Contreras - 4th

Cayne Ramirez - 3rd

Austin Woods-Dristy - 6th

Addison Miller - 5th

Kennedy DuBose - 2nd

Help Ellsworth Elementary celebrate

Veteran’s Day

Monday, November 10th

Flag-Raising Ceremony, 8:30am. Jorgi Andersen will be our guest

speaker.

Students will be demonstrating their Character of Champions by

collecting candy (NO CHOCOLATE) to create Candy Care Pack-

ages for our Troops. Students will also write thank you notes to

send over with the candy.

Tuesday, November 11th

Veteran’s Day - NO SCHOOL! Be sure to thank the veterans

around you in our community!

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We are reaching that season once again where flu and other respiratory ill-

nesses are common. Due to the return of this season and the severity of En-

terovirus D68 in the national health news, we would like to remind you of the

best ways to help decrease the spread of disease. Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth.

Cover your cough or sneeze with the inside of your elbow or a tissue.

Never use your hands.

Stay home when you are ill.

Clean commonly touched surfaces.

Stay current on vaccinations including your seasonal flu shot. There have been no reports of Ebola in Arizona and the risk in the school

setting is extremely low, however the ADHS has updated its Ebola prepared-

ness website to provide news to schools and the community to stay up to

date on this issue. www.azdhs.gov/phs/oids/ebola/

From the Health Office

Project Child Find

Children who are not able to speak clearly, display age appropriate mo-

tor skills, learn at the rate of their peers, hear or see at their age appro-

priate developmental level, or use language similar to that of their age

appropriate peers, may be eligible to receive an education prior to entering kindergarten. If you have

concerns about your 2.9 to 5-year- old child, please contact Brendan Stynes, Early Childhood Program

Specialist, Ranch Elementary at 480-882-3538.

You also have a wonderful resource in the Parent Information Network (PIN),

a unit of the state’s special education department: 602-364-4015

J.O. Combs is seeking enthusiastic, caring people interested in substitute teaching. Substitutes may work a flexible

schedule, choosing which days of the week to work and which schools to substitute. To submit an application for Sub-

stitute Teacher, you must have a valid Arizona Teaching or Substitute Certificate. If you have a Bachelor’s degree you

can apply for an Arizona Substitute Certificate. The Arizona Department of Education requires a Fingerprint Clear-

ance Card, official transcripts (Bachelor’s degree) and an application to issue a Substitute Certificate. Contact them at

602-542-4367 or visit their website at http://www.azed.gov/educator-certification/certificate-requirement/teaching-

certificate/ to download the application or for more information.

To obtain information regarding a Fingerprint Clearance Card call the Department of Public Safety (DPS) at

602-223-2279. Once you receive a fingerprint clearance packet from DPS, you may get your fingerprints

rolled at our district office. Please call Diane Posa at 480-987-5300 to set up an appointment.

J.O. Combs Application Process

J.O. Combs accepts Substitute Teacher applications year round. Applications will be accepted online at

https://jocombs.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx. The requirements needed are as follows:

Valid AZ DPS Fingerprint Clearance Card

Valid AZ Dept. of Education Teaching or Substitute Certificate

Resume

Three letters of reference (these may not be from family members)

Two forms of ID All employees born on or after January 1, 1957 must provide proof of an MMR (measles, mumps, rubel-

la) vaccine or documentation of immunity to measles, mumps and rubella.

For more information, please call MaryAnn Cannella at 480-987-5305.