Pomona Elementary School
January 2016 Newsletter
News from the Principal
Happy New Year! I hope this newsletter finds you rested and ready for the
New Year. This is always an exciting time of year. We are transitioning to 2 nd Semester and finishing up our 1st Semester work. Our school continues to make strong
academic growth. Just before we left for Winter Break we completed our winter
benchmark testing. The growth in all of our students was exciting to see! All of our
students are making solid academic and social growth and we are proud of the work
they are doing.
Have you been trying to look for a New Years Resolution? If the answer is
yes here are some ideas that will help support your child and help out the school:
Join the Pomona PAC, we meet on the first Tuesday of the month.

You can be a parent volunteer at the school, we love having parents come in to
help (so do the kids).


Check in with your child’s homework and reading log every night. Most
teachers have something to do for homework daily. If not, reading for 20
minutes and working on math facts is always a good thing to do.
Reward their efforts! Our students are working really hard all day at
school. Celebrate this with them at home. It shows them that learning is
important and exciting.
I am excited to start the new year and I look forward to seeing our students
and our school continue to grow. As always, I can be reached by email at
[email protected] or by calling the school.
We are on Twitter! Follow us @PES_Panthers. I try to post updates and pictures
throughout the week.
Thank You
Chris Braaten, Principal

Important Information
Thank you everyone who supported our Panther card fundraiser. We were able
to raise $10,003 which will be used for playground equipment , to support our
PAC, and to start a teacher grant program through PAC. Panther cards are still
available for purchase at the front office for $10.
They are valid until October 31, 2016.
 Purchase your Youth Pomona Panther T-Shirt today! They are $12 each.
Important Dates
 PAC Meeting - 2nd
Tuesday of Every
Month 5pm-6pm in
the Library
 Winter Break—Dec
21st thru Jan 4th
 Jan 5th—Students
Return to School
 Jan. 18th—No School
Martin Luther King
Day
First Grade News
Dates to remember
Martin Luther King Monday, Jan.18 (No School)
Valentine's Party Thursday, Feb. 11
No School Feb. 12 and 15 (Presidents' Day)
NO SCHOOL Feb. 16 (Professional Development Day for Teachers)
Reading: Good Habits, Great Readers Unit 5, students will learn essential skills for reading and learning from
nonfiction. As teachers, it is the utmost importance for us to teach children about the features of nonfiction and
give them concrete strategies they can use to get the most out of the text.
Writing: Students will write a personal narrative using specific adjectives to describe nouns in vivid detail. The
students will be working on their penguin research projects as well.
Math: Everyday Math, Unit 6 is about developing fact power. Knowing the basic facts is as important to
mathematics as knowing words by sight is to reading. By now, your child should have begun to master many addition and subtraction facts. Learning the facts takes practice. It is not necessary to practice for a long time, but
it is important to practice often. Later in this unit, children will extend their time-telling skills by learning to tell
time to the nearest 5 minutes and by representing the time in digital notation, as it appears on a digital clock.
Science and Social Studies: Students are studying arctic animals; specifically penguins and polar bears. Your
child will also complete a guided research project. All work will be done at school:) We will continue to study
notable people, places and holidays as they occur.
Second Grade News
We have recently finished our winter iready testing in math and reading and are happy to see
how much our students have grown. As we move into January we will be working on understanding story grammar and literary devices . This will include alliteration, puns and humor. We will
use this as a basis for writing, and have students explore writing humorous stories, jokes and
idioms. In math our unit will be “Whole number operations and number stories.” This will involve
adding multiple addends and introduce trading or borrowing in subtraction. Our focus in science will be fossils and dinosaurs. Time lines will also be covered through this unit and we will
review it as it pertains to social studies also.
3rd Grade News
Third grade has just finished I-ready and Reading Plus testing. Your student will share this information
when they receive their report card in January. Please feel free to call if you have any concerns.
We are excited to announce that Ariel Drewry is December’s ABC student nominee. Also, the Si Se Puede
student for November was Violeta Suarez-Silos. Way to go 3rd graders!
Our students have been working hard on Math skills and Reading skills. Please continue working on Math
facts and reading daily to retain the progress they’ve made this far!
Students have taken the preliminary Spelling Bee test. We will be notified sometime in January of the students that qualified to compete in the Spelling bee.
At this time, 53% of our students are proficient in their addition/subtraction facts test. Please continue to
practice! We will begin testing with multiplication facts starting in January and want all students to be proficient in addition/subtraction by this time! If they are not, they will have the option to come in for our early
bird practice before school or for lunch bunch to work on these skills.
4th Grade News
Snowshoeing at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison
4th grade students will be going up to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on
Wednesday, January 20 (Ms. Blacker’s and Mr. Wofford’s classes) or Friday, January 22
(Mrs. Nadiak’s class) to learn about snowshoeing and how people, plants, and animals adapt to
survive in the winter. We will spend time exploring part of the park on snowshoes, doing several science experiments, and playing some games in the snow. All of the activities focus on
winter adaptations that are used by everyone and everything that live and visit this spectacular ecosystem in the winter months.
We are looking forward to a fun day of learning in the snow!
5th Grade News December
All fifth grade students have been working hard on their 1491 projects, researching and writing, and finally presenting. Many types of presentations were created for this project. Some
students produced Prezi’s, others did oral presentations, and some created videos for a website! Stay tuned for additional information on the website.
Reminder – Lunch Bunch will be starting after winter break for students yet to be proficient
in Math Facts (54 or more correct in 3 minutes). All students are expected to read for 20
minutes every day.
Counselor’s Corner
Thanks you for supporting your child’s attendance and ensuring your child is here and on time each school day.
(We also appreciate you keeping your child home when he/she is sick). Good attendance is directly related to student academic and social/emotional success! We are very proud of our 95 students with perfect or outstanding
attendance in the 2nd quarter. Perfect Attendance means a student was here daily with no tardies and no absences. The following students earned Perfect Attendance Awards: Jiovanni, Alexandra, Samantha, Dayton,
Willow, Aubrey, Brandon, Sydnee, Kaale, Trenton, Jared, John, Cameron, Samuel, Nyssa, Alejandro, Vivian,
Stahsic, Isabella, Andrez, Josalynne, Mercedes, Joseph, Raul, Christopher, Wendy, Isabella, Trinity, Damaris,
Julian, Ethan, Noah, Katie, Zachariah, Donovan, Jacob, Sarah, Octavia, Dakota, Tashi, Sabastine, Luca, Jeremiah,
Samuel, and Dallas. We are also very proud of our students who earned Outstanding Attendance which means
students were here daily with only 1 absence or having less than 3 tardies. The following students earned Outstanding Attendance Awards: Andrez, Amelia, Yaretzi, Olivia, Sean, Stephanie, Orion, Xander, Chloey, Maggie,
Makenna, Yasmin, Chance, Jason, Delilah, Jordyn, Isabelle, Izabella, Ivan, Harry, Jasmine, Adrian, Darius, Brandon, Devyn, Angelique, Joshua, Logen, Lexis, Carter, Ashlin, Lucas, Jessica, Stephanie, Kayden, Tiger, Ethan,
Chandler, Jonathan, Mae, Namgyal, Joaquin, Madison, Spencer, Danica, Lucille, Benjamin, and Dylan.
December’s Panther Race winners include the following classes – Mrs. Fuller, Ms. Connelly, and Mrs. Cline.
Thanks for earning your Panthers by Practicing Respect, Accepting Responsibility, Working Hard, and Staying
Safe.
The Second Step unit for January for Kindergarten – 5th Grade continues to focus on
Managing Emotions – being able to recognize strong emotions, to use strategies to help one calm down, and to
ask in assertive ways what they need or want. As students are better able to control their emotions they will be
able to use others skills such as problem solving, to help them get along better with others and make good choices.
I have started new group counseling for all grade levels this month. These groups include helping students with
family changes in Go FISH group, managing anger in Cool Cats group, increasing friendship skills in Lean On Me
and Girl’s World Groups, learning healthy ways to deal with stress in Stress Relief group, and skills to increase
academics in School Success group. For more info, you can reach me at 249-2514.
Last month, Student Council with Power Patrol from Mrs. Nadiak’s Class sponsored some Energy Saving Days
which included Lights Out, Recycling Recess, Recycling Relays, Book Swap, Walk/Bike to School saving fuel, and
Bedhead Day saving water.
Sharon Brown
Licensed School Counselor
From the Health office January 2016
Rhinovirus is particularly active during the fall and winter months. Why? Because
rhinovirus loves the low humidity. Also, when the humidity is low, your nose dries out and is more
susceptible to infection. But, despite what many think, studies show that one thing that doesn’t
cause a cold is cold! Facts: There are 250 different kinds of cold viruses! But rhinovirus is by
far the most common (Rhino means “nose” in Greek-think rhinoceros.) with over 100 different
varieties, rhinoviruses are responsible for almost 35 % of colds.
Fact: Studies show that one thing that doesn’t cause a cold. IS THE COLD! The best thing you
can do to lower your chance of catching a cold is to WASH your hands a lot. Rhinovirus can survive three hours outside someone’s nose. If it gets on your fingers and you rub your nose, you
have caught it! Get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluid.
12 Days of Christmas in a Health Tech office
On the 12th day of Christmas my teachers sent to me: 12: coughers coughing 11: itchers itching
10: sneezing kids 9: fevers spiking 8: students aching 7: limpers limping 6: fainters fainting 5: pink eye 4: allergic reactions 3: lost teeth 2: diabetics and a child with lice in the hair!
Wishing you and your family a healthy and happy holiday!
Mona Stonehocker
Pomona Health Tech