Welcome Back Armstrong Parents!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing break, although it always feels like we could use just a couple more days J As usual, we have a lot of activities coming up in the Armstrong Area! Specific information about our upcoming field studies to Crystal Bridges and JA Biztown as well as our Living Museum project are lined out in this newsletter. Please read through the entire newsletter and let Mrs. Moore or Mrs. Smith or your child’s homebase teacher know if you have any questions.
Some FYIs:
- Please remember to return your home ‘n backs to the tubs in the cafeteria or the front lobby. Any items that need to be returned have your students give to their homeroom teacher.
- Don’t forget to check the lost & found and the lunchbox table on a regular basis!
- Our 5th Annual Mayo Trivia night is coming up!! Please look for information and sign-ups in your child’s home and back. This is an awesome event that gives you a chance to get to know other Mayo parents better as well as help raise money for the school. This is not limited to Mayo parents and teachers; feel free to invite friends and family. We hope to see you there!
Crystal Bridges- Our next Field Study is coming up at the end of January and we are very excited! We will be traveling to Bentonville Arkansas to visit the Crystal Bridges Museum in our triad homebase groups. We will be taking a blue bus and leaving as close to 7:45 as we can and returning before the end of the day. We encourage parents to attend this trip; in fact, each triad needs at least 3 more adults to accompany us. Parent admittance is free and those who join us are encouraged to ride the bus so there is not a hold up in security. Please let Mrs. Moore or Mrs. Smith know if you intend to join us for this field study.
January 28th- Hewitt, Moore, Najera
January 29th- Molina, Smith, Guss
Biztown – Don’t forget that we are still in need of parents to commit to volunteering that day with us from 9-1:30. As we get closer to the date it is worrisome that we still don’t have the required amount of adults so please consider helping; the kids will be so appreciative! Please consider volunteering, it’s an awesome experience! As a volunteer you will be required to watch 2 online training videos. Email Mrs. Moore or Mrs. Smith if you would like to volunteer.
Those parents who have committed to volunteering will be receiving a confirmation letter in your child’s home and back today. If you receive the confirmation letter, visit https://www.juniorachievement.org/web/ja-ok/ja-biztown-volunteer for your required training.
As a part of the curriculum, students are allowed to fill out job applications and participate in a job interview. We will be doing these interviews on two different days. Students in Moore, Hewitt and Najera homebases will be completing their interviews on Wednesday January 20th and the students in Smith, Guss and Molina homebases will be completing their interviews on Wednesday January 27th. On these days we will allow the students who are interviewing to wear business casual/church best attire.
The homebases are scheduled to go to Biztown as follows:
· February 8th: Najera, Hewitt, Moore- still needs at least 3 more volunteers!!
· February 9th: Smith, Guss, Molina- still needs at least 2 more volunteers!!!
Living Museum – Living Museum assignments were handed out and students began their research before the Winter Break. We will be putting our research on hold until after our visit to JA Biztown and then we will begin back in full swing. All students will have ample amount of time in their year-long theme class rotation to research their assigned person, however; research outside of school if also encouraged if you are able, but not required.
This project will culminate in a presentation and a five paragraph essay that will be written in your child’s literacy class. For the presentation your child will be required to make a tri-fold poster (this will be completed at school) and they will also be required to dress up as their person (this will be completed at home). There will be more details coming home about costume requirements the closer we get to our presentations. The Living Museum Presentations will be held on March 4th. There will be a schedule sent home of times beforehand and we are encouraging all parents to come and visit if they are able. Please let Mrs. Moore or Mrs. Smith know if you have any questions.
Mayo Application Window and Tour Dates – The application window for PK students is open! Applications should be available online and parents can visit http://www.tulsaschools.org/enroll for additional information. Incoming PK students of current Mayo students receive sibling preference. However, you MUST still complete the online application by the deadline on Friday, January 15. Existing parents will need to obtain a letter from Mr. Joslin before submitting the application. The lottery will be held on Wednesday, February 4 at Thoreau at 6:00PM. You do not have to be present. Notification letters are scheduled to be sent out Thursday, February 11.
Potential Pre-K parents must attend a tour of Mayo and obtain a letter signed by Mr. Joslin, which indicates that the parent attended the tour. Tour dates have been scheduled for:
Wednesday, January 6 @ 8:30AM
We will be conducting separate tours for parents who are interested in any available slots for K-5 for next school year. The window for these applications is Monday, April 4 – Friday, April 22. We have not yet scheduled those tours.
Overnight in OKC- Our Armstrong overnight (for all Armstrongs) is quickly approaching as well. We will be going to OKC on February 18thand 19th. We are currently nailing down last minute details and will get these to you ASAP, but keep in mind that we encourage and appreciate any adults that can attend; in fact, these overnights wouldn’t happen without all the awesome support we get from parents. In your home and back today is an Armstrong T-Shirt order form for the parents only; please send back the order form by January 29th, 2016. We always wear our shirts on the second day of the trip, and student shirts are free of cost to everyone because we include them in our Armstrong Budget. We will be sending an image of what the shirts will look like as well. Thanks to Mr. Najera for designing them!
IMPORTANT 5TH GRADE INFORMATION:
- Next Meeting!! – Wednesday January 13 at 6:30PM in Mrs. Moore’s area. We need as many parents to attend as possible!
- If you wanted to pay in installments and haven’t had a chance to turn your $50 for this month in, make sure you do! It can be brought to one of the three of us or you can get in touch with Mallory Sanstra. If you ever have any questions, please email Mrs. Moore (mooreco2@tulsaschools.org), Mr. Guss (gussal@tulsaschools.org) and Mrs. Smith (embryel@tulsaschools.org).
-If you have not already done so, please turn in your parent payment commitment form. Mrs. Moore is still missing 16!!!! I have attached another copy in case you need it. If I don’t hear back by the start of next quarter I will be calling all the individuals who are still missing one. PLEASE at least e-mail me and let me know who is coming with; we have to have some idea before we can book a hotel!
- 5th grade Thoreau Applications –
All Mayo students have an automatic “in” into Thoreau for their 6th grade year, however; you will still need to fill out an application and return it to the ESC during the application window. The application process for the 2016-2017 school year is now open and available on the TPS website.
-Make sure you are looking into middle schools!! The application deadline is in January and we want every student to be able to go to an awesome school. Make sure that you are applying to ALL middle schools that interest you and your child. Additionally, most middle schools (not Thoreau) ask for a Teacher Recommendation form from applicants. These should be found online and need to be brought to Mrs. Baumgarten who will then have the teachers fill it out and return it to you in a sealed envelope. If you have any middle school questions please feel free to ask your homebase teacher or talk to Mrs. Jennings or Mrs. Baumgarten in the office.
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to email your child’s homebase teacher, Mrs. Smith (embryel@tulsaschools.org) or myself (mooreco2@tulsaschools.org). I hope everyone has a restful and wonderful break!!
Elyse Smith
Lead Armstrong Teacher 4th/5th
Mayo Demonstration
Upcoming Dates:
January 13th – 5th Grade Parent Meeting (6:30PM)
January 14th – Reports of Student Progress sent home
January 15th-18th – NO SCHOOL – Teacher Professional Development and MLK Jr. Day
January 20th – Moore, Hewitt, Najera Biztown Job Interviews
January 23rd – 5th Annual Mayo Trivia Night!!!
January 27th – Smith, Guss, Molina Biztown Job Interviews
January 27th – Mayo Literacy Night àRescheduled for Tuesday, May 3rd
January 28th – Crystal Bridges Museum Field Study (Moore, Hewitt, Najera Homebases)
January 29th – Crystal Bridges Museum Field Study (Smith, Guss, Molina Homebases)
February 5th – Mayo Spirit Day and Early Release (1:00PM)
February 8th – Biztown (Hewitt, Moore, Najera)
February 9th – Biztown (Smith, Guss, Molina)
February 11th – Friendship Parties in Family
February 15th – NO SCHOOL – Presidents’ Day
February 18th-19th – Armstrong Overnight in OKC
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