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1. SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY A Title 1 School & Judy Center Partner JANUARY 2013 Our Mission: The mission of Sudlersville Elementary School is to educate and enlighten each of our students through an engaging curriculum and high expectations (for behavior and achievement) by dedicated teachers and staff with support of parents and the extended community. Principal’s News Upcoming Events JANUARY 1/18Schools Closed Professional Development 1/21Schools Closed MLK Day 1/25 Report Card Distribution 1/28 SIT Meeting 1/29 PAC Meeting @ 6:00 1/31 PBIS Incentive P.J. Day for Identified Students FEBRUARY 2/1 School Spirit/ Movie Night 2/4 PFY Spring session begins 2/6 DNR Assembly Prek thru 1st 2/12 PTA meeting/ 1st Grade Showcase 2/12 Scholastic Bookfair open to parents 4-6 pm -Media Center 2/12-2/14 Scholastic Bookfair in the Media Center 2/18Schools Closed SES is Recognized at the January 9th Board of Education Meeting Congratulations to Ms. Carol Byerly, the recipient of the Shining Star Award. Ms. Byerly is the coordinator of the PFY, after school program. Her organization and attention to detail does not go without notice. Thank you for your contributions to SES! Congratulations to Gracie Inzer, the recipient of the "Hero" Student (Anti-Bullying Award) of the Month. Gracie is a fourth grade student at SES and takes an active role in bully prevention. She was nominated by Alli Embert. Thank you for your contributions to SES!

2. SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A Title 1 School & Judy Center Partner JANUARY 2013 AUTHOR OF THE MONTH By: Mrs. Hampton I am interested in recognizing the creative and fabulous authors we have at Sudlersville Elementary School. When a teacher turns in an excellent student writing sample to me, I plan to provide that student with an “Author of the Week” certificate. I will also include his/her name in our monthly newsletter as an “Author of the Week”. Why is writing important? It deepens our thinking and increases our engagement with reading. A good writing assignment will prompt students to think more deeply about what they have learned. Writing a book review, for example, forces students to ready more thoroughly and critically. As an old saying goes, “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” Additionally, writing gives teachers a window into our students’ thinking and learning. Students may make connections that teachers themselves may have not made. Teachers can also discover what confuses students. Writing assignments provide us with an opportunity to teach students to organize ideas, develop points logically, make connections, elaborate ideas, argue points….all of which are valued skills. Students remember what they write about because writing slows thinking down and requires careful, sustained analysis of a subject. No matter how many years it has been, most of us can remember some paper we have written. Finally, writing is a skill that must be practiced. We need to ensure that our SES students are writing regularly and getting regular practice. It is our responsibility to make sure students are thinking and writing clearly. I can’t wait to see the writings from our “Authors of the Week”!!!! Not pictured are: Devon Yoder, D.J. Boyles, Kassidy Atherholt, Mackenzie Rodriquez, Abby Blackiston CONGRATULATIONS TO: Nathan Johnston Jeraldy Elizondo Alexis McKenzie DJ Boyles Austin Cook Natalie Seward Mackenzie Rodriques Daniel Hernandez Kassidy Atherholt Aaron Buellis MacKenzie Ebling Kaiden Minnick Devon Yoder Abby Blackiston

3. SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A Title 1 School & Judy Center Partner JANUARY 2013 Grade 2 News Pre-K News Kindergarten News Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. To start off 2013, Mrs. Chance’s class will be taking a pretend trip to Mexico. Her class will be learning about the culture. Mrs. Dean’s class will be focusing on the four seasons. Her class will talk about the different kinds of weather, learn how weather affects the environment, and discover how and why the seasons change. Both classes will continue to work on sorting objects into categories, naming shapes, recognizing written numerals, exploring addition and subtraction with objects, identifying letters of the alphabet, their sounds, and writing. This is a wonderful time of the year to do some sensory learning at home. For example, take a cookie sheet and cover it with rice, shaving cream, or sand. Have your child practice writing their name, letters of the alphabet, numbers from 0-10, and shapes on the cookie sheet. This is a great activity to help reinforce your child’s knowledge of letters, numbers, shapes, and their name. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us. The Pre-K Team Just when you think you have a minute to breathe; it’s back to the grindstone. We hope you had a wonderful break. Are you making sure your child is reading every night? We can’t stress enough the importance of this nightly task. It’s good for you to read to them too. Make it fun. New Year already? Happy 2013! Unit themes we will cover this next marking period are Economics, Physics (Heat and Light), adding and subtracting with double digit numbers and writing opinions. All of the students are working hard and making progress. The second half of the year will be more challenging as we prepare the children for third grade. Respect, responsibility and the Golden Rule are important characteristics to teach the children. Treating others the way you want to be treated is the key to a well functioning society. Talking to your children and modeling good behavior will go a long way towards making them really good citizens. Your second grade team is always here for you. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us. Report cards will be sent home on January 25th.  For the first marking period, parent conferences were held to discuss the information on the report card.If you would like to discuss any information on your child's report card, please contact your child's teacher and we will arrange time to discuss any questions or concerns you may have about your child's progress.  For the next marking period, we will be working on reading and comprehending what has been read.  When you read with your child make sure you discuss events that occur in the story, who was in the story, a problem in the story and how it was resolved. New reading logs will be sent home at the beginning of the new marking period.  Be sure to record, on the log,  the books you read with your child so your child can receive an award at the end of the next marking period. Happy New Year! The First Graders are working hard in Literacy Block, please continue to have them read daily and complete their reading logs. In Math we are beginning Topic 7 on Counting and Number Patterns to 120. We have begun our unit on Earth Science and in Social Studies we are learning about land and water. In Language Arts we are becoming good writers. Please encourage your child to write as often as possible, using correct capitalization, spacing and punctuation. Our class books have arrived and will be presented on February 12, 2013 at the PTA Meeting/First Grade show case night. ( If you ordered a book they will be given to students that night after the show case). Thank you for all of your support! First Grade Team Grade 1 News

4. SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A Title 1 School & Judy Center Partner JANUARY 2013 Grade 3 News Reading Situation When student is reading orally they seem to not understand the text. Suggested Strategies for Parents Encourage silent reading before oral reading. Allow students to practice with alone or with a partner before reading-aloud. Reading Situation Child is able to recognize words but has poor comprehension. Suggested Strategies for Parents Have students predict what the story will be about or what they will learn. Make sure the students think about what they already know (access their prior knowledge) before reading. Model the “think aloud” strategy to show that you reflect as you read. Reading Situation Your child lacks confidence as a reader. Suggested Strategies for Parents Use books that students CAN read and are interesting. Use predictable and fun books. Take your child to the local library and check out books that he or she likes. Reading Situation Your child has difficulty recognizing words in the text or story. Suggested Strategies for Parents Encourage your child to predict what would make sense. Start with beginning sounds and then go to rhyming patterns to facilitate understanding. Have the student look for parts of words that he or she already knows. “Jamming January 2013” Happy New Year! We hope that you are staying warm and using the “inside time” as a chance for your child to read as well as complete the weekly reading logs. Thanks to all the parents/ relatives who chaperoned for our field trip in December~ it was a very enriching, exciting trip! Also, many thanks to those who donated and helped with our first annual holiday brunch  January is a busy month! Schools will be closed for “professional development” on Friday, January 18th, 2013 and closed for Martin Luther King’s birthday on Monday, January 21st, 2013. Third grade quarterly reading testing will occur the week of January 21st, 2013 and Math Quarterlies will be administered the week of January 25th, 2013. We will end the month with report cards being distributed. Below, you will find some reading situations that you may find helpful and some suggested strategies to try at home. These strategies were found in “A Quick Reference Guide to Teaching Strategies” By Dr W. Dorsey Hammond a well renowned Education professor at Salisbury University. We hope these are useful to you. Thanks as always for your support. Grade 4 News We have started the new Math log to accompany Math homework.  Our goal with this new log is to help increase automatic recall of multiplication and division facts with all our students before they move on to 5th grade. Please continue to check agendas.  We do record homework and important information in them nightly.  Thank you to all the wonderful parents who volunteered time for the holiday parties. 

5. SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A Title 1 School & Judy Center Partner JANUARY 2013 Health Room Guidance must take the medication for 24 hours before returning to school. Also, your child should not return to school for 24 hours after having diarrhea and or vomiting. These guidelines are in place to protect all students and staff. I’m sure we all agree that students need to be in school to achieve optimal learning. However, in order for our children to perform well and do their best at school they need to be feeling well and be healthy. Stay healthy. Since the cold and flu season is upon us here are some tips that will help keep respiratory infections from spreading. Practicing good “respiratory manners” such as covering your nose and mouth with a Kleenex or your inner elbow every time you sneeze or cough, placing used Kleenex in the trash , and washing your hands frequently will help prevent the spread of these illnesses from person to person. Simple tips to follow to help prevent illnesses are as follows: 1. Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose, and mouth. 2. Do not share food, utensils, beverage containers, straws, pens, or make-up. 3. Avoid close contact with people who are ill if possible. If you or your child becomes ill: 1. Get plenty of rest. 2. Drink plenty of fluids such as water, juice, Gatorade, and popsicles. 3. Eat some chicken soup or warm soup. 4. Saline nose drops might help. Get advice from your physician regarding any over the counter medications. Call your physician if you or your child should develop a fever, rash, thick secretions, or a bad cough. When the colds come sometimes the cough soon follows. The Board of Education has a strict medication policy which limits the use of cough drops in school ( due to the active ingredients they contain they are considered a drug). Ludens is the only brand of cough drops which can be given at school with a parent permission note only. All others require a written order from your health care provider in addition to a parent permission note. Here are some guidelines to follow regarding student illnesses: Students must be “fever free for 24 hours without the aid of fever reducing medication”, in order to return to school. If your child receives an antibiotic for strep throat, pink eye, or another contagious illness, they Recent school violence has triggered some concerns among families, staff and students. Here are some quick tips to help your child feel safe and secure in their surroundings. Talk about the event but don’t dwell on it. Children know when something has happened and if you don’t tell them, others will. Watch for signs of anxiety or fear. (i.e.: change in sleeping, not wanting to come to school, eating habits change) If they are present, encourage them to talk about it. Monitor the amount of news coverage that is watched. The news can be overwhelming for anyone. Be aware of your anxiety about the situation and how that may affect them. We are all human and nothing is more important than the safety of our children. Tell them that trustworthy people are in charge and will keep them safe. This message is so important and should be repeated often. Police will be around more often and drills will be practiced more. This will become more routine with practice. If you child is showing and signs of difficulty as a result of the Newtown tragedy, please don’t hesitate to call me and I’ll be happy to help in any way. Mrs. Webster Sudlersville Elementary School Has a Carson Scholarship Nominee We are very proud of Abigail Blackiston, Carson Scholar nominee from Sudlersville Elementary School. The Carsons Scholars Fund awards $1,000 to students in grades 4-11 who excel academically and are dedicated to serving their communities. Scholarship winners receive the honor of being named "Carson Scholars" and are awarded with an Olympic-sized medal and a trophy for their school to celebrate their accomplishments. Abigail will represent SES well! Congratulations and good luck, Abigail! http://carsonscholars.org

6. SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A Title 1 School & Judy Center Partner JANUARY 2013 Math Matters Home-School Connection There are many ways to practice fractions at home with your child. Get beyond slicing a pizza into equal parts and think of other activities to do with your child. Divide a large pile of objects (cereal, plastic animals, blocks, etc.) equally into 4 piles to illustrate one-fourth. Recombine the group to divide into other fractions. Get out the measuring cups and spoons!  Let your child play with them in the bath to experience one-half cup or one-third teaspoon. Fold a piece of paper into halves, and then into halves again with your child. Open it up to show the division of fourths. Count the rooms in your house and make some fraction facts about them.  One-half of the rooms have windows. One-third of them have pillows. While in the car, mark the passing of time with fractions.  "We are one-third of the way there." "It will take us 20 minutes to get to the library." "In how many minutes will we be half-way there?“ To understand fractions, students must be able to partition a whole into equal portions and understand how the portions are related to the whole. Students as young as grade 1 are asked to partition circles and rectangles into 2 and 4 equal shares and name them with words like half and fourths or quarters. In general, students understand fractions of whole geometric regions before they understand fractions of sets of objects or fractions of numbers. Fractions are also represented on a number line. Students in grade 3 and up are expected to partition and label the spaces between whole numbers using fractions and measure partial increments. Students must also understand how fractional quantities are symbolized mathematically. So, in the fraction a/b, b (the denominator) denotes how many equal parts are in the whole, and a (the numerator) denotes how many equal parts are in the fractional quantity specified by a/b. This type of labeling of fractions using number representation is expected in grade 3 and up. Another essential idea in understanding fractions is equivalent fractions. Two fractions are equivalent if they specify the same quantity. For example, 3/4 and 6/8 are equivalent because they specify the same amount of shading of the whole. Fractions can also be compared and ordered. Students in grades 3 and up are asked to compare fractions with the same numerator, the same denominator by using reasoning. By grade 4, students are expected to add and subtract fractional amounts and solve problems using fractions. Why does my child need this skill? Knowledge of fractions is needed to cook, measure for home-improvement projects, calculate sales prices, understand taxes and earn a living in an increasingly technical work world.Fractions are also used in music and medicine. Even simple sharing involves fractional concepts! Common Core Update: At the end of January, your child will take the benchmark assessment for the second time. We will look at the progress that students are making on grade level math concepts. We will be able to directly compare the fall score on this assessment to the mid-year score. This data will help us address strengths and weaknesses in math instruction. It also helps us see which students are in need of assistance with math concepts. Students will take this benchmark again in the late spring as a way to see progress in the entire year of math instruction. We expect that at least 80% of our students will learn 70% or more of the math concepts for their grade level. Standard of Mathematical Practice #4- Model with Mathematics This math practice asks students to make a mathematical model of a real-world math situation. They need to decide what numbers and what operations may help them solve a problem. They also need to think about the reasonableness of their solution and understand what their solution represents. Students also need to think about what strategies or tools may help them represent and solve the problem. Example-There are seven bananas on the counter. You eat three. How many bananas are left? Students are expected to know that this is a subtraction situation and show 7-3=4 to represent the situation. They may need to act out the story, use counters, number lines or other manipulatives to solve the problem. In the same way, students should be able to tell a math story given a number sentence. For example, when given an equation like 2x6=12, they should be able to say, “There are 2 rows of six eggs in the carton. The total number of eggs in the carton is 12 or a dozen.” Content- Fractions Fractions are numbers that express a quantity, often a part or portion of a whole. Americanism Essay Contest By: Michele Hampton Students in grade 3-8 were provided the opportunity to enter an essay contest sponsored by the American Legion. The topic for the essay is, "What Freedom Do I Enjoy the Most?" Sudlersville Elementary School had two entries. Emily Short, Alli Embert, Jeraldy Elizondo, Ashlynn Kunes and Alex Simonetti chose to participate. This contest is voluntary and students chose to participate or not. The entries will be judged against other students in the county who participated. Good luck to our participants! I appreciate their enthusiasm.

7. SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A Title 1 School & Judy Center Partner JANUARY 2013 Reading Parent Involvement Eagle Squad Congratulations to Mrs. Annette DiMaggio who was nominated for the Maryland Parent Involvement Matters Award (PIMA) for Sudlersville Elementary Title I School. She is being nominated for her efforts in organizing and managing the “Backpack Fridays” Program for our students. There will be a winner selected from all the entries to represent Queen Anne’s County and also one selected to represent the state in the spring. Thank you and good luck Mrs. DiMaggio!   I have been meeting with parents of Kindergarten and 1st grade students who were unable to attend the Reading and Math event held for them in November 2012 to review the take home packet from our Reading and Math Specialists and the Judy Center. The packet includes resources to use at home with your students. If you are a parent of a Kindergarten or 1st grade student and you have not received one and would like to do so, please contact me and I will meet with you. There will be a PAC (Parent Advisory Committee) meeting on January 29th at 6:00 p.m. Any parent interested participating is invited to attend. A notification will be sent home. Please RSVP. Looking ahead – we are having the very popular Math Event at the Millington Food Lion again on March 26th. Look for more information to be sent home soon! Elaine Butler, Parent Coordinator x248 The Importance of Sight Words in Becoming a Fluent Reader Reading is all about understanding what we read. This understanding is dependent on the rapid, automatic, and effortless recognition of words. If children are to read and write fluently with comprehension and meaning, they must be able to automatically read and spell the most frequent words. Readers need to recognize each word as quickly and effortlessly as possible so that they can pay attention to the more mentally demanding task of understanding what they are reading. As children learn to recognize and automatically spell the most frequently occurring words, all their attention is freed for decoding and spelling less frequent words and more importantly, for comprehending what they are reading. *13 words account for approximately 25% of all words in school texts *109 words account for 50% of the words in school texts *the first 300 sight words make up about 65% of all written material It is important for you to practice these “sight words” with your child on a regular basis. You can just “google” – “The Dolch List” and you will find a list of high frequency words from early first grade through grade 3. Start practicing these sight words beginning with your Pre/K and Kdg. students. Sudlersville Elementary School Eagle Squad To Perform for SVFD Ceremony The SES Eagle Squad has the honor of opening the ceremony for installation of 2013 officers of the Sudlersville Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday, January 19, 7:15 pm. SVFD organizer, Pam Wise, said, “We are excited that the SES Eagle Squad can join us to make the presentation of colors so special for our installation ceremony.” Eagle Squad students will feature two new maneuvers—twirling arms and reverse arms. Sergeant-at-Arms Josh Mussetter and student instructor Audrey Karbaum helped lead drill team practices so the squad would be ready for their January performance. Eagle Squad members include Alyssa Apple, Will Brown, Bradley Davis, Savannah Fritzsche, Peyton Gestole, Levi Lofland, Mackenzie Rodriguez, Trenay Wigfall, Brooke Garcia, Kiara Hohrein, Armando Macario-Galan as well as Josh Mussetter and Audrey Karbaum.

8. SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A Title 1 School & Judy Center Partner JANUARY 2013 Media News Our school will be participating in the Delmarva Shorebirds "Hit the Books" reading program again this year. The students will be receiving a bookmark with a letter explaining the program. Please ask your child for the letter and encourage them to participate. The Scholastic Bookfair will be set up in the Media Center during February 12th, 13th & ending on the 14th. This bookfair will raise money to buy more books to support the Common Core Curriculum. "KISS" (Kids Inviting Someone Special) is the theme for the bookfair. Invitations will be sent home with your child inviting someone special to come and shop with them. If you have any questions please call Mrs. Embert at 410-438-3164. Happy Reading!!!! The Judy Center Partnership News The Judy Center’s mission is that all children enter school ready to learn and that families provide the foundation for children’s success. We provide support to the pre-k and Kindergarten classrooms by purchasing materials of instruction, providing professional development and social-emotional lessons. Parent involvement is a key factor to your child’s success in school. We offer many parent workshops as well as family involvement activities throughout the year. Please watch the school calendar for upcoming events and join us! We have a parent workshop on January 24th, 2013 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Read and Rise workshop and the topic is “Telling Our Stories”. The message to our children is, “by sharing my stories, I prepare my child for reading, learning, and life!” Dinner will be provided and there will be activities for the children. This workshop is being offered free of charge to children under 6 and their families. Look for a flyer to come home soon! SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR! Please join us for the Scholastic Book Fair on February 12-14th in the Media Center. It will be open to parents on February 12th from 4-6 pm.

9. SUDLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A Title 1 School & Judy Center Partner JANUARY 2013 Students of the MonthCongratulations to the Students of the Month for the month of December. Caring was the Character Counts Pillar for the month. A big cheer for these outstanding students who were recognized for their outstanding behavior!!!