December 2016
Maple Lane Gazette
From Dodd’s Desk...
Season’s Greetings Maple Lane Families!
I believe that in order to support our students in and out of school, staff and families must have
a shared understanding of children’s learning and work as partners to meet their academic and
social-emotional needs. The staff at Maple Lane is committed to communicating regularly and
constructively with parents. Report cards are sent home every quarter and parents are asked to
review them. Feel free to address any concerns or questions with your child’s teacher. The report
card summarizes the progress that each child is making toward the Common Core Standards and
it formalizes the commitment that the child, family and school make to improve progress over the
upcoming quarter.
In addition to the rigorous academics taking place at Maple Lane, November was a month where
we took the time to give thanks. We celebrated our Maple Lane family by having classrooms prepare food for our annual Thanksgiving Feast “Among the Stars.” Members of our Board of Education, upper administration, Therapy Dog volunteers, and Sterling Heights Police and Firefighters
were all able to join us as we enjoyed a delicious meal. Thanks to all of the staff and students
who make this event possible every year!
On December 20th, we will showcase the talents of our students in our Christmas Play “Once Upon a Christmas.” In this wonderful play, we tapped into the acting, singing, and backstage talents
of our Maple Lane performers! This play would not have happened without our very own Ms. Linda, who wrote and directed it for us. Thank you to Ms. Linda for sharing your talent with us!
As cold weather quickly creeps upon us, please be mindful of inclement weather. If your child or
your family needs assistance with warm coats, boots, hats, mittens, etc. please contact our
School Social Worker Ms. Stegall. We’d be happy to assist and certainly want to make sure everyone is dressed for the weather. Also, you may watch the local news stations for any report of
snow days. If “Macomb Intermediate School District” is closed, that means Maple Lane will not
have school.
UPCOMING EVENTS!
Enjoy the holiday season and, as always, know we are here
1/4 ~ Return to school
to support your child
1/5 ~ Hall of Fame Lunch
and your family!
On Tuesday, December 20th, Maple Lane
Jack Dodd, Ed.S.
Principal
Students and Staff put on a Christmas
play called “Once Upon a Christmas: A
Giving Tale.” Students did a fantastic job
with it and everyone enjoyed watching it!
Pictures to come in the next newsletter…
1/9—1/13 ~ Maple Lane Spirit Week
1/13 ~ Therapy Dogs
1/20 ~ MLK & Black History Activities
1/27 ~ Bowling Field Trip
1
The students in R-2 have been working hard on their behavior goals. We
have 3 students that made their November monthly goal with at least
80%. Congratulations to Elizabeth, William B. and William B. We would
like to also congratulate Derrick for having his Christmas drawing selected
as a picture for the annual MISD Christmas card! The students have also
been busy building their Christmas Lego Village. Their designs are self created and decorated. Derrick and William B. constructed the Ski Lift/Lodge,
Liz constructed the Movie Theatre, William B. constructed the Train Station, Dekyn constructed the Winter Cabin, Troy constructed the House,
and Gaven constructed the Toy Factory.
LEGO
VILLAGE!
Seasons Greetings from the staff and students in Room 3! We have been
very busy Christmas Elves making many Christmas decorations and ornaments AND of course—Christmas Cookies of all kinds! December is a very
busy month at Maple Lane School as many of our students are preparing for
our annual Christmas Play. This year the play is called, "Once Upon A Christmas—A Giving Tale.” Some of the students in Room 3 are singing in the
choir, and others are busy making props and decorations for the play. We
are (even with all of these activities) still working very hard on all of our
reading and math skills. Many students are getting ready to go into the next
reading and math levels. Hurray for Room 3!!! With winter closing in on
Michigan, we are learning all about frost, ice, and snow and how and why
they happen when they do. We are comparing seasons- how are they the
same? how are they different? We hope to see you all at the Christmas
Play, and we hope that enjoy it. From Room 3 to You:
Merry Christmas and A Very Happy and Healthy New Year!
2
The students of R-4 have been on a roll in the month of December!
They have been working hard on their reading stamina. They are
up to 30 minutes of silent reading, per day!
They just finished Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. It took
place in Japan, when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. They
have also enjoyed bowling and the therapy dogs. We look forward
to Christmas break. Have a great holiday!
December Newsletter
R-5 is celebrating the season by brightening the holidays for others.
Each student shared his own idea for spreading joy to others:
Ian: I can brighten someone’s holiday season by asking someone if they want
to play.
Dominique: I can brighten the holiday season by helping my mother.
Liam: I can brighten someone’s holiday season by walking the dog, painting a
picture; being mature and being a good friend.
Adam: I can brighten the holiday season by cleaning the living room for my
mom.
Cody: I can brighten someone’s holiday season by riding four-wheelers with my
cousin.
Quintin: I can brighten someone’s holiday season by giving them a hug.
Paul: I can brighten someone’s holiday season by giving my dog a kiss.
Brian: I can brighten someone’s holiday season by giving someone a hug or
helping my mom do chores.
Keaton: I can brighten someone’s season by asking a friend to play with me.
Come by and see what our classmates are “wondering” about on our Winter
Wonderland display!
3
In December, R-6 earned 500 STAR Bucks to earn the Game Cart. We are
reading another Michigan Chillers book, Catastrophe in Caseville, because we enjoyed the other book so much, and the author Jonathan Rand said this was his
favorite book. We also started reading the book Holes. When we finish the book,
we will watch the movie and compare and contrast the two. In math, we have
worked on geometry; 3D shapes, perimeter, area, types of lines. We are looking
forward to enjoying the holiday break with our families.
Here are some of our holiday traditions:
Cory- We build a special snowman that looks like Santa.
Justin- We have big parties at our house.
Patrick- I am singing in the Christmas Choir at my church.
Grant- We open our presents to see what is inside.
Chris- We make a big breakfast on Christmas Day.
Andrew- We open presents on Christmas Day
All of R6 wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Pokemon Story by John Suminski:
Hi my name is Johnny Suminski. I’m a Pokemon trainer. I got my first Pokemon.
His name is Torchic. I’m so happy because this has been my dream since I was a
little kid! Ok, so I’m going to go catch some more Pokemon so I can get my first
Pokemon gym badge.
Chapter2
Ok, I’m in Vermailion City right now and I just caught Spearow and also a Nidron
too. Now I’m going to the forest in Vermailion City so I can go to Pewter City so I
can get my first gym badge.
Chapter3… To be continued
Snow Day Stories from Room 7:
I played in the snow. It was frozen cold. I made an igloo. It was cool inside. I shoveled. Then Monday, me and mom went to her work and mom helped me buy something I wanted. Then mom let me play her huge tablet. She lets me play her tablet
every time I’m with her.—James
I woke up. I snow blowed. The snow blower didn’t have enough gas. So my mom
and I plugged in the electric snow blower. I got money for snow blower the neighborhood. I was tired. I went home. I drank hot chocolate. Mom and I bought Christmas presents for my mom, dad, Josh, Shelby, and Emily.—Eric
I played in the snow. I built a ramp out of snow and slid down the ramp with my
sled. I played with my friend. His name is Stephan and I played with my brother.—
Trevor
On my snow day, all I did was played on my tablet and shoveled All day. I got a
new game and my mom helped me shovel. Then I went to sleep.—Reno
4
December is a month of colder weather and holiday celebrations! We are leaning about holidays around the world and sharing our own family traditions. We
spent one Enrichment Friday making holiday crafts and reindeer food!
Ask your student about our newest addition to R-10, Sally, the hamster! The
students are working hard to earn five safe days in a row to be eligible for our
class pet job.
Congratulations to Nicolas and Tony for making it to DRIVE B for having over
15 days in a row of safe behavior!
PARENT HOMEWORK (assigned by your children):
Cold temps and snow are here! It is recommended that students have a pair of
snow pants that they keep at school to wear throughout the week. I will send
home now pants every Friday to be washed! This tends to be easier then
bringing snow pants to and from school every day. We also ask that students
come to school with gloves and hats to ensure they keep warm during morning
and afternoon recess! We will continue to go outside as long as it is dry
and the temperature—including the wind chill— is above 20 degrees.
Please make sure your student has a pair of tennis shoes at school at
ALL times. We have gym and OT on a DAILY basis and your student
must have tennis shoes to participate.
Room 13 : Tis the Season!
Student in R13 are excited that the holiday season is upon us. They have been
making holiday crafts which will be sent home before break. Another exciting
upcoming event is the holiday play. It will be held at Maple Lane on Tuesday,
Dec. 20th at 1:00 P.M. Room 13 has four students in the play as actors/readers
and two students in the choir. It will be an exciting event!
Academically, students have been on a roll. They are engaging in the writing
process as we learn to add details to our writing. We will be finishing Narrative
Writing at the end of December. At this point, students understand how to
write a story about themselves that includes a beginning, middle and end. They
can also demonstrate the ability to write an introduction of characters, setting,
relevant details, use of adjectives and verbs. It has been exciting to watch
them grow as writers. In January we will begin our unit on writing How-tos.
Staff and students in R13 wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday
season!
Our writing
anchor
charts!
5
This has been a very busy month for R-14. We have been
making Christmas gifts for our families and many students are
practicing for the Christmas play on December 20th. Last week, the
kids got to visit with the Therapy Dogs. Each student brought a
book and read to the dogs, they loved it! On December 15th, the
kids enjoyed a pizza luncheon hosted by the Rotary Club. Students
got to see a magic show, sing Christmas songs, and have Jets pizza for lunch. It was a great time and lots of fun.
Just a quick reminder that we still go outside for recess
even though the weather has gotten colder. Please have
your students bring gloves, hats, and scarves; as well as a
warm coat so they can enjoy recess. Finally, I wish you and
your family a wonderful holiday and a happy new year.
WHAT’S POPPIN’ in PE?
As we waved goodbye to November, all grades K-5 concluded the month with an up
and fun Bowling Pin Mini-unit. The kids worked with bowling pins to practice a number of hand-eye and manipulative skills incorporated into a variety of innovative
games.
With the cold weather rolling in we are ready to stay nice and toasty inside the gymnasium for some December Floor Hockey fun in December! My main focus of all
grade levels is of course safety when it comes to hockey sticks and students. We
spent the first two days of this unit reviewing how to properly hold, move and even
stand with the stick so that everyone in the gym stays safe. We spoke about highsticking and how simple mistakes like getting angry with your hockey stick in hand or
even just spinning around with your stick held too high can cause injury. There is
absolutely NO CONTACT in Maple Lane floor hokey. We will also be featuring out very
own penalty box when we begin games.
Our December unit will concentrate on safe and controlled movement of a ball, beanbag or puck across the gym floor with a hockey stick as well as other floor hockey
skills such as stick-handling, dribbling, passing, shooting, trapping, defensive strategies as well as how to have a face-off. The skills covered will depend on the age and
stage of your student’s class. As always I am always reinforcing the importance of
sportsmanship and teamwork especially when we do get to our scrimmage
games.
As always…
Please encourage your child to wear appropriate footwear for his/her safety.
Sneakers should have a rubber bottom and be secured to the foot properly with
laces or Velcro. If your child is wearing sandals, crocs or dress shoes please remember to pack his/her sneakers in his/her backpack. Safety first!
6
Trevor C. likes The Grinch!
Alivia R. likes Casper’s Christmas!
Reno P. likes The Santa Clause!
Abby H. likes The Grinch!
Lennon P. likes Christmas Vacation!
Patrick S. likes Home Alone!
Stella F. likes A Charlie Brown Christmas!
Justin E. likes Santa Hunters!
Cameron M. likes Elf!
Cory B. likes Home Alone!
Grant R. likes Elf!
7