Huy Elementary/A. G. Bell School

1. Eagle Eagle The The Gazette Gazette Huy Elementary/A. G. Bell School 1545 Huy Road Columbus, Ohio 43224 Mission:Each student is highly educated, prepared for leadership and service, and empowered for success as a citizen in a global community. • Bird’s Eye View • Special Events for the Month of May • Children’s Day Event from 12:00 – 2:00 PM • 4 CCS Family Day at The Columbus Museum of Art 1:00 - 5:00 PM • 6 PTA Meeting at 6:00 PM • 7-8-9 OAA Tests Grades 3-4-5 • 13 Career Day at Huy/A.G. Bell School • 16 Spring Music Concert at 2:00 p.m. • 20 Field Day • 28 Kindergarten Celebration • 29 Last Day for Students • Awards Assemblies: 9:30 Grades 1-2 • 10:30 Grades 3-4-5 News from the Principal’s Perch Dear Parents, This month will mark the end of the 2013-2014 school year. I am pleased with the many accomplishments of the students and staff members. Please carefully check the ‘Dates to Remember” section of this newsletter for important events during the month of May. The Ohio Achievement Assessment will be given to all third, fourth and fifth grade students beginning May 7, 2014. Successful test-takers are confident, prepared, relaxed and well-rested. You may help at home by reassuring your child, ensuring a good nights rest before the test, and providing a healthy breakfast. Encourage your child to overcome test anxiety by practicing positive thinking! The Ohio Achievement Assessment measures how your child is doing compared with other students, schools and districts in Ohio. The test also shows area that may need additional work. The test results are expected to arrive in June, 2014. During the summer months your assistance is needed as students will need to continue to read each day. Please insist that your child read silently, read to someone else, or listen to someone read everyday. Our local library is an excellent resource for appropriate reading materials. Our building will also be a summer school site, and I encourage you to sign your child up for this summer learning opportunity. More information regarding summer school sill be sent home soon. Our students learn about the world through their experiences. Kindness is an important trait that we nurture in all our students. Thoughts lead to words, and words lead directly to actions. Your child will be more likely to speak nicely to others if he/she is used to thinking kindly. The words your child chooses can affect her/his behavior toward people as well. Encourage your child to avoid negative labels. Doing good deeds on a regular basis can make kindness a habit. Encourage your child to watch for ways to reach out to others. Our world is often unkind; please help your child grow to become a kind and caring person. I also encourage you to go outside with your child as they enjoy the beautiful weather. Should your child wish to play on the school playground this summer, I encourage you to supervise your child closely. Our school grounds are popular with a number of older children and adults and I wish for your child to remain safe at all times. A few staff members are planning to retire at the end of the school year. Please congratulate Mrs. Blankenship, Mrs. Murdick and Mrs. Pyle for their many years of dedicated service to our students and wish them well in their retirement. Parents and families are crucial to support the learning process. Please consider participating in our school Parent-Teacher Association during the 2014-2015 school year. Your input is valued and appreciated. Marcia Orvets, Principal http://www.columbus.k12.oh.us/applications/schoolwebsites/SchoolProfile.nsf/(WebHome2)/Huy_Elementary_and_A.G._Bell_Program Volume 3 Issue 8 May 2014 Columbus City Schools does not discriminate because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex or handicap.

2. Nest Notes News from the Classroom Nest Notes News from the Classroom News From Preschool I It’s hard to believe that the school year is almost over. During the month of April Preschool I classes were very busy practicing for Parent Breakfast. Our performance was spectacular! Thanks to all the parents that were able to attend. Also during the month we worked on our Spring unit. Everyone was ready for some warm weather. Next month we will be taking a trip to Innis Woods Metro Park. This trip is open to all parents, so if you would like to join us mark your calendar for May 23. We would like to take time to thank all parents for supporting your child’s learning. News From Kindergarten Thank you to all the parents that came to chaperone on the zoo field trip. The students had an amazing time and learned from the experience. In reading, we have been hard at work learning their letters and sounds. We have been decoding and writing words and sentences. We also have been working on characters, setting, and plot. In math, we have been working on counting to 100. We are learning to add and subtract numbers to 10. In science, we are comparing living and nonliving things. We learned about the parts of the plant and what a plant needs to survive. In Social Studies, we learned about the Earth, our country, our state, our city, and our street. We also talked about resources that we can reuse. We will go on a field trip to Slate Run on Wednesday, May 14th! We will have the kindergarten performance on May 28th at 9:30. Hope to see you there! Thank you for all that you do to support your child’s education! Mrs. Pyle, Mrs. Mickley, Mrs. Lewis, Ms. Lustic, Mrs. Peebles, and Mrs. Whitson News From Preschool II We have had a wonderful spring so far, and we hope that everyone enjoyed their spring break. The month of April has been very exciting and even though it has been a short month, we have learned many new things. This month we discussed spring, plants, pets, and read many Pete the Cat books. We had a great time performing for all of our parents and family at the Parent Breakfast. We worked really hard and the students were very proud to "rock in their school shoes". As the year is coming to a close we look forward to many fun things happening in May. We will go on a field trip to Innis woods and have fun at field day. The children have displayed curiosity and really enjoyed learning throughout this school year through opportunities in daily reading, writing, social studies, science, math, language, music and movement, art, and cooking. It is amazing to see the growth that our students have had!​ 2

3. Nest Notes News from the Classroom Nest Notes News from the Classroom News From First Grade News From Second Grade Mrs. Cerino, Mrs. Hancock, Mrs. Jemison, and Mrs. Shough On April 24th, second grade students welcomed special visitors from the 2nd and 7 Foundation. College students from ODU read a book to the classes and each student went home with a new book! The 2nd & 7 Foundation was started by three former Ohio State football players (Luke Fickell, Ryan Miller and Mike Vrabel) who wanted to continue to give back to the community after their playing days at OSU were over. The Foundation has written six books and is currently working on the seventh, to be released in the spring of 2014. Each book contains a positive message and the characters always learn a valuable life lesson. The students and teachers enjoyed the visit and the story! In Math this quarter, we finished up our money unit and have started discussing measurement in inches and centimeters. After making measurements, we are putting our data onto a line plot. We can analyze our line plot and answer questions about our data. We will also be learning about arrays which will prepare students for multiplication and help them see that there are more efficient ways to add numbers. For example, if there are four students and each has five pencils, we can make a number sentence of 5+5+5+5 or 4 x 5. Find ways to talk about math at home so students can see how important and useful math can be! All second graders will be studying history, government, and economics over the next nine weeks in Social Studies. Please talk with them about community workers, transportation, shopping for goods, earning money, community services, and community leaders. We had an awesome time learning all about Science this year! We are wrapping up the year, learning about our Environment, animal habitats, and animals that are extinct. The most exciting thing that we're doing this Spring is our Mealworms! We each have our own mealworm to observe and watch turn into a beetle! As we wind down the year we want to thank all first grade parents for a fabulous year. We are so proud of all the reading our first graders have done at home. This is reflected in their reading levels here at school. As we move into the summer be thinking of some way your child can hold onto their reading level. This is the most important thing you can do to prepare them for next year. We offer summer school here at Huy. We will send home information for you. The local library is a fantastic resource. We are fortunate to have one of the best library systems in the country. Take advantage of what it has to offer your child. You can also help your child this summer be practicing math facts. We suggest math card games and board games. Look for information coming home about a lot of fun activities planned for the last month of school. Please continue to keep your child in a routine of early bedtime, arriving to school on time and leaving on time. These routines help create improved behavior and focus for your child as they transition between the school and summer vacation. News From Third Grade The school year is quickly coming to a close and we would like to thank you for all of your support at home this year. Please continue to work with your child on the multiplication facts and listen to him or her read to you every night. Remember that the OAA is May 7th for Reading and May 8th for Math. Please make sure that your child has a good night sleep and eats a good breakfast for those days. Each child should be here on time each day. We will begin the testing at 9:15. Any student that is not in the classroom by that time will not be able to take the test with the class. The student will have to make up the 2 ½ hour test. Please make sure that your child is on time. Thank you for your help. Have a safe wonderful summer. Mrs. Dreyer, Miss Grice and Mrs. Murdick 3

4. Nest Notes News from the Classroom Nest Notes News from the Classroom News From Fourth Grade Mr. Smith, Mr. Wetmore, Ms. Royse and Mrs. Wilcox The fourth graders represented Huy well for the “All That Jazz” field trip at the Ohio Theater. The students were attentive and enjoyed the music and company of their classmates and 4th graders from many other Columbus City Schools. Thanks to Mrs. Robertson, our music teacher, for organizing a great field trip! As we wrap up the school year there is still so much to learn, and attendance at school is critical! Thanks for getting your child to school on time each day prepared to learn. Please check with your child to see if he or she needs any school supplies replenished—pencils, paper, glue stick, etc. The Ohio Achievement Assessment Testing schedule for 4th grade is as follows: May 7th - Reading May 8th - Math Please be sure your child gets plenty of rest during the entire week of testing and has time for a healthy breakfast each day. Do not schedule any doctor or dentist appointments on these days. This month in Math we are identifying lines and angles, and classifying shapes by properties of their lines and angles. We will also be learning to represent and interpret data through the use of charts and graphs. In Reading the students are learning about figurative language, main ideas and details. Students should be reviewing their Math OAA weekly homework that has been graded and sent home and doing their new assignments faithfully. Remember to do the online OAA practice that can be accessed through the Columbus City Schools website. If you do not have a working home computer with Internet, take the time to bring your child to the library for practice. Students need to prepare well and finish strong! Reminders: Students are not allowed to chew gum at school, so please do not send gum to school with your child. Also, please review the dress code guidelines with your child—no flip flops, slides or open-back sandals, spaghetti straps, or short shorts. Thanks for your support in these areas! News From Fifth Grade Mrs. Adkins, Mr. Gill, and Mrs. Scott We only have about a month of school left this year!!!! Please remind your children that we are at school to learn. Although it is close to the end of the school year we are continuing to learn each and every day. We want your children to build friendships and be able to appropriately socialize but we need to focus on learning while we are here. Our friends from the Columbus Zoo and Chase Bank have an amazing program for you on Saturday, May 3rd. This trip is to celebrate the end of this year’s program with a special event called Zoo Day for all of our students and their families. It is always a lot of fun. There is free food, gifts, wrist bands to ride all day, educational programs, and free transportation. We hope that you take part in such an amazing experience. In Math, we have been working on measurement. We have been reviewing the concepts we have learned this year in preparation of the OAA. Please remind your child that they can always get on their first in math and reflex math at home. Testing dates have been changed to May 7th, 8th, and 9th. Please make sure your child attends school everyday, gets plenty of rest, eats breakfast and arrives on time. Studies show that children do better on tests when they are well rested and eat a good, healthy breakfast. We are focusing on Reading and Writing across every subject area. It is important for your child to read every day! We encourage you to read with your child. 4

5. Nest Notes News from the Classroom • Understanding Math Concepts • Mathematical Practice #2: Reason Abstractly and Quantitatively • Students can “contextualize” take numbers and put them in real world problems: • For example, • if given 3 x 2.5 = 7.5 • Students can create a context: • I walked 2.5 miles per day for 3 days. I walked a total of 7.5 miles. • Students can “decontextualize” take numbers out of the context and work with them mathematically: • For example, • if given “I walked 2.5 miles per day for 3 days. How far did I walk? • Students can write an equation and solve it: • 3 x 2.5 = 7.5 • Reasoning Habits include: • Creating an understandable representation of the problem solved • Considering the units involved • Attending to the meaning of quantities • Using properties to help solve problems • . 5

6. Nest Notes News from the Classroom Nest Notes News from the Classroom • News From Reading • The second Family Literacy Academy will be held on Thursday, May 1 at the Columbus Main Library from 6-8pm. Many fun and informational activities are planned for this special night. If you have any questions, please call the reading CCIT, Mrs. Manley, at Huy. • www.unitedthroughreading.org • This website allows you to videotape yourself reading a book to your child. This is great if a parent is deployed with the military or away from their child. • Columbus libraries have great summer reading programs for you and your child to enjoy! Your child can check our books, read them and return to the library to receive awards! Check with your local branch of the library for details. • There is no better way to help a child become a reader than to read him/her a good book. Reading aloud at home can begin with babies and continue through middle school. • Here are some ideas for reading to your child: • Find a special time to read every day (before bed) • Choose books that your child wants to listen to • Enjoy pictures in the book before, during and after the reading • Use the library to find good books (the librarians will help) • Counselor’s Corner • Family meetings provide an excellent forum to use a problem- solving process. • Guidelines for these meetings can include: • Hold meetings at a regular scheduled time each week. • Agree on the rules for the meeting. Rules may include taking turns talking, listening when others are speaking and permitting parents to veto problem-solving items. • Don’t problem-solve an item unless it’s negotiable. • Pick solutions by consensus. • Stop the meeting or take a break if one person becomes angry or upset. 6