Horizon ElementarySchoolSeptember/October 2019 Newsletter

Principal's Post

Happy Fall, Horizon Suns! In case you haven't heard, we have GOOD NEWS to celebrate!We recently learned that Horizon is ranked #11 in the State ofIndiana...and that's the highest we've been ranked since theschool opened. There are almost 2,000 elementary schools inIndiana, and we are in the top 1%. WOW! In the �rst year of ILEARN testing, when there were manyvariables and uncertainties, our teachers and students did aphenomenal job! The Horizon Suns are shining bright! Thisachievement is the direct result of hard work, dedication, andeffort. To celebrate, we had a Royal Celebration on Monday &culminated the day with an all-school celebration in the gym.Here is the link to a brief video of that assembly:https://youtu.be/5YX4q1W9obA All the kids and staff weregiven a crown or tiara and a special treat during the day. Ourmessage to the kids is this: when you work hard, learn a lot,and do your best...you can achieve great things. Number 11 isa great accomplishment! The �rst grading period is �ying by, and here we are, just a fewweeks away from Parent-Teacher Conferences. We hope eachand every parent will attend parent-teacher conferences todiscuss your child's progress. As we enter the month of October, our Lifeline isOrganization. Being organized is such an important skill forstudents to develop. We practice it every day by doing thefollowing:

Keeping things neat and orderlyPutting papers in our folders where they belong (insteadof shoving them in our tote or backpackKeeping all materials in their proper place: pencils in thepencil box, crayons in the tote, library books on the shelf,homework in the "return to school" pocket of the folder,etc.Writing down assignments and/or making a "to do" listAnd more!

On behalf of our entire staff, we thank you for supporting us.Thanks for checking your child's agenda each night, readingwith them, signing their reading calendars, practicing mathfacts and sight words, and so much more! Our school'sgreatness is due, in part, to the outstanding partnerships wehave with families. We want you to know we appreciate allyou do! For the kids, Tressa Decker, Principal

Mandatory Curriculum Information - IMPORTANT

Indiana law requires that all schools provide age appropriate and research based instruction on child abuse and child sexual abuse to students in kindergarten throughgrade 12. Penn-Harris-Madison has partnered with the Family Justice Center, YouthService Bureau of St. Joseph County and the St. Joseph County Special Victims Unit toprovide this instruction for our students. In November, staff from the Family Justice Center and Youth Service BureauSt Joseph County will present a series of age appropriate, short animated videosthat will be followed by a short session asking the children what they learned fromthe videos, did they understand the messages etc. This curriculum, designed bythe Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at Eisenhower Medical Center, is called the“Protect Yourself Rules.” The program’s main goal is to educate children about what to do whenconfronted with abusive behavior, safe and unsafe touches, going to a parent oranother trusted adult if they are confronted in an unsafe situation, and that it is nottheir fault. An “Unsafe Touch” is de�ned as touching private parts of the body thatare covered by a bathing suit. Stranger safety, Internet safety and other situationsare also presented. The curriculum can be viewed at http://�ghtchildabuse.org/. To learn more about the program, an optional parent information night willbe held at 5:30 pm on Tuesday October 15th at Schmucker Middle School, 56045 N

1st Grade News

Mrs. Niedbala's class is practicing communicating using theirmathematical language at their math stations. They arelearning to express solutions clearly and logically by using theappropriate mathematical terms. They are participating andcollaborating in a mathematics community.

Bittersweet Rd. Click the link below to access the electronic permission slip to notify us of your wishes foryour student to participate in this curriculum. Please note that if you have more than one childattending a P-H-M School, you must complete a permission slip for each child from theschool they attend. Electronic permission slips are posted on each school's website.https://horizon.phmschools.org/mandatory-curriculum-permission-slip

Dressing for the Cooler Weather

Please be sure your child is dressed for the weather. With fall temperatures here, it's time toput away the shorts & short-sleeves and bring out the long pants & long-sleeves. Remember,we go outside for recess every day unless it's raining, there's lightning, or if it's below zero, andyour child needs to have the proper attire (warm enough clothing, proper shoes, etc.). Thanks!

Preschool News

We loved Blue week! We made making Grover faces and readsome blue stories too, Grover, Blueberries for Sal and LittleBlue Truck. Little Blue Truck is a great friend so we had manytalks about being like Blue! We also had fun with chalk andour sensory table. We are learning to be great friends in preschool!

3rd grade News

Third graders are having a great start to the 2019-2020 schoolyear! In writing we began by writing and sharing our personalnarrative stories. Students are enjoying Science and SocialStudies rotations that include units over rocks and minerals,levers and pulleys, maps, local history, economics,government, engineering process, simple machines, plants, and animals. SmART has alsobeen a favorite in September as the students created their own colors through mixing colors.The individual color names these students came up show the creativity and uniqueness eachchild possesses. We are excited for what else is to come this year in 3rd grade!

5th Grade News

In 5th grade, we believe in the bene�ts of reading. According toone study, students reading 20 minutes a day end up readingover 3,600 minutes in a school year, around 1,800,000 millionwords, and on average score in the 90th percentile on readingtests. Students reading �ve minutes a day end up readingaround 900 minutes in a school year, just 282,000 words, and generally score in the 50thpercentile on reading tests.

2nd Grade News

The second graders have been learning about the life cycle ofbutter�ies. They are watching this amazing process. This ispart of our science curriculum.

4th Grade News

Horizon's fourth grade students have been busy since thestart of the year! First we met and now we are getting toknow one another. We've been working on doing the rightthing and treating people right! That's the Horizon way. Ms.Rehlander's class just completed a geography unit on theUnited States. Mrs. Pond, Mrs. Lira, and Mrs. Briones havebeen busy learning about Life Science. They've dissected�owers to learn more about their parts and life cycle. We alsoparticipated in our �rst SMart lesson which introduced us toerosion and deposition. We carved soap!!

To encourage students to read without assigning the 20 minutes a day reading homework, all5th graders have been given the "40 Book Challenge". It is a goal that is speci�c, measurable,achievable, manageable, and relevant (a SMART goal!). By Thursday, May 21, 5th graders needto push themselves to read 40 books! Ten of them can be picture books, class-read novelscan be included, with the rest of the books being chapter books in the 700+ lexile range (or attheir lexile range.) These titles can be included in their Go for the Gold school-wide readingincentive as well. So many great books...so little time...

MUSIC Notes from Mr. West

The new school year is off and running! Welcome to our newmusic teacher, Mr. Marks (pictured below), who joins Mrs.Chettleburgh and Mr. West in the music room! We have kicked off our W.I.L.D. year in music by a review ofSolfaegio, notation, rhythms, the most basic of music readingskills. Grades 1 and 2 are currently playing Boomwackers (picturedleft). Grades 3 and 4 are learning to play the ukulele and 5thgraders are creating a step dance routine! Additionally, TheHorizon Show choir has started rehearsing songs for aconcert that's based on Rock and Roll music that they willperform in November! There's always something happening inthe Horizon Music Room. Check out Mr. West’s weekly blog to stay up to date with yourchild's music education!http://blogs.phmschools.org/jwest

Hula Hoop Showdown Hula Hoop Showdown Football

IMC News You Can Use

This past month or so we have been getting to know each other. We have been gettingstudents acclimated to the Library, understanding where to �nd things and when to returnbooks that have been checked out. So allow me to outline the expectations for checkout:1. Preschool friends are allowed to check out 1 book for 1 week.2. Kindergarten and 1st-grade friends are allowed to check out 1 book and 2 books in a bagalso for 1 week.3. 2nd and 3rd-grade friends are allowed to check out 2 books along with 2 books in a bag for2 weeks.4. 4th and 5th-grade friends are allowed to check out up to 3 books for 2 weeks. If you have any questions or are looking for an opportunity to help in the Library, feel free tocontact me at aselmon@phm.k12.in.us.

P.E. News You Can Use!

Hula Hoop Challenge:Students in PE started the year by doing this problem-solving activity. They were instructed tojump on two feet through a line of hoops and play Rock-Paper-Scissors against the opposingteam member. The object of the game was to choose a line to jump through and steal thatteam's collection of cones. We had a LOT of fun with this. Soccer:We started our �rst sport unit at the beginning of the month. The weather cooperated so wellthat we were able to be outside almost every day! First, we began with a few drills and skillspractice like passing, trapping and keep away. Then students were allowed to play a real gameduring some group stations. Football:During the football unit the past few weeks in September, students were practicing skills likethrowing, catching and punting! Group Stations will begin this week!

Students of the Month for August/September-- Courage andCuriosity

Kindergaren Studentsof the Month

Lilah Joseph, Austin Selmon,Lyla Thomas, AvaBelle Varga,

Adalyn Post, Leo Guo, LylaVitale-Price, Gio Santiago

1st grade Students ofthe Month

Mason Eldridge, MackenzieParks, Lizzie Nowak, Kat

Morrison, Finley Gableman,Yeon Kim, Riley Thompson,

Haelyn Burkhart, Zaina Chua

2nd grade students ofthe Month

Annaliesse Abel, MarlissaHunt, Piper Waech, GiselleJackson, Jeffrey Lindley,Isabella Robinson, CasenCarlson, Shelby Bohner,

Hudson Stopczynski, AndrewNwanganga

3rd grade Students ofthe MonthRegan Pankiewicz, SloanBengtsson, Jacorey Caggiano, NolanChaput, Ethan Bokum, Westley Wilds, Brody Davis, Sophia Carper, Kelly Horne, Shawneen Cox

4th grade Students ofthe MonthZoe Anderson, Jayden Wakes,

Parker Gableman, LaurenWalker, Dongwook Kim, JamesSavannah, Kennedy Lundquist,

Jack Sagarsee

5th grade Students ofthe MonthNiley Vidmar, Trey Johnson,Audrey Walker, Matis Saint-Jean,Jamison Infante, KJRemington,Bryce Evans, Greyson Goebel,Reese Collins, Flynn Glotzbach

Upcoming Events at Horizon

October 1, 2019Clay Fire Dept. visit PreschoolClay Fire Dept. visit 1st Grade October 7-11, 2019Scholastic Book Fair Week 7:30a-3:00p Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, FridayWednesday 7:30a-6:00p October 11, 2019Grandparent/VIP Day (guests must RSVP online; 1 guest per child) October 14, 20195th grade to Planetarium (Osbeck/McCaskill)5th-grade smARTKindergarten smARTYankee Candle Fundraiser Pack Due October 15, 20193rd grade to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, MI October 16, 20194th-grade smART2nd-grade smARTEnd of 1st Grading Period October 17, 2019Celebrity Readers in Kindergarten October 18, 20195th grade to Planetarium (Shenk, Nowak, Fairbotham)1st-grade smART3rd-grade smART October 19, 20193:00pm - 4:30pm -- PTO "Trunk or Treat" (come show off your decorating skills) October 22, 2019Parent/Teacher Conferences (2:30pm - 7:00pm) October 23, 2019Parent/Teacher Conferences (2:30pm - 5:00pm) October 25 and 28, 2019Fall Recess Day-NO SCHOOL October 31, 2019 - HALLOWEEN!(Note: Students are NOT to bring candy or dress in any kind of costume at school)1st-grade Celebrity Readers