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Yates Elementary School
February 2015
Newsletter
Mark Kirk, Principal
Cheryl And rew s, As sistant Principal
Mr. Kirk, Principal
February Calendar
Dear Yates Parents & Families,
It is time to turn the page on the second marking period and head into the second semester of the school year. Your children have progressed so much
since September, especially in the areas of Reading and Math. There are
many reasons for the progress that is being seen, not the least of which is the
support of parents and families with student learning. I look forward to seeing
how they continue to grow as young mathematicians in the days ahead!
As we move into the second semester, I wanted to share the following information about important news and upcoming events and dates:


If you need to meet with a teacher, please contact them to schedule a date
and time that works well for both of you. We do ask that meetings with
teachers take place at times apart from student arrival and dismissal, as
well as during the classroom instructional day. Your child(ren)’s teacher(s)
can provide details on their times of availability. Thank you to everyone for
helping to support this request.
We will be having our 2nd marking period student recognition ceremonies
for grades 3, 4, & 5 on Tuesday, February 10th. The times are as follows:
*9:30 am-
4th grade
*10:30 am –
5th grade
*1:00 pm –
3rd grade
2-6 National School Counselor Week
3
Report Cards Issued
6
Quarterly Teacher &
Staff Planning (PM)
Students Dismissed @
12:15 pm
9- Yates Stand Up
13 Against Bullying Week
11 Helping Hands 9 am
12 Family, Fun & Fitness
6 pm – 7 pm
16 Presidents Day –
Schools Closed/Offices
Open
Students will be recognized for achieving honor roll, perfect attendance
and/or citizenship honor roll during the second marking period.
19 PTA General
Membership Meeting
6:30-8:00 pm
4th grade Music
Program

Report cards will be issued to students on Tuesday, February 3rd.
25 Helping Hands 9 am

Yates will be hosting the annual Family Fun & Fitness Night on Thursday,
February 12th from 6:00-7:00 pm. Mr. Bourgeois is planning a great night
of fun and excitement and will be joined by representatives from the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame as well. We hope to see many families out for this
exciting event!
10 PTA Board Meeting 5:30 PM

Most grade levels have field trips remaining this year. Please consider
serving as a chaperone on a field trip.
13 Students dismiss @ 12:15PM

Students will dismiss early at 12:15 pm on Friday, February 6th for teacher
and staff quarterly planning.

There will be no school for students on Monday, February 16th in honor of
Presidents Day.
March Calendar
11 Helping Hands 9:00 AM
12 Conference night 4 – 7 PM
18 Spring Pictures & Class
Group Pictures
19 Picturing Poe Program for 3-5
graders (During School Hours)
19 General PTA Meeting
As always, if you have questions or concerns, please contact the main office at
881-5054. Thank you for your continued support of Yates Elementary School
students and staff.
1st Grade Performance 6:30PM
25 Helping Hands 9:00 AM
27 Spring Dance 6:30PM–8 PM
Kindergarten News
2015 is off to a great start in kindergarten!! We have enjoyed learning about maps and globes! Google Earth showed
us Yates Elementary from a birds eye view! Skip counting by 5's and 10's gets you to 100 way faster than counting by
1's. Recognizing and knowing the value of coins helps us to buy our milk and snack at lunch! Of course in order to
have money, we have to earn it!! It is fun looking at all the different jobs we can be when we grow up! Who knows?
Maybe some of our kindergarteners will be teachers in the future! We could even have a future president! George
Washington and Abraham Lincoln are famous Americans that helped our nation be what it is today!! While listening
to fiction stories we know the characters, settings and can predict the problems and sometimes the solutions! We
continue to read daily, work cooperatively in centers, and write our thoughts down in Writer's Workshop! Thanks so
much for all your support in making kindergarten the best we've ever seen...in the year 2015!!
First Grade News
Happy February to our first grade families. The second half of the school year is here! The children will continue to
work on reading, writing, and math skills in preparation for second grade learning next year. Please read with your
child every day and practice sight words. . These are key factors that help children learn to read! Home reading is
required and assessed on the report card. The 100th day of school is coming soon! We will be celebrating with many
reading, writing, and math activities. Don’t forget to bundle your child up when it is cold! We cannot allow them
outside without proper outerwear. Report Cards will be distributed this month. Please keep in mind that the report
card grades are a reflection of the entire marking period.
Second Grade News
Our second grade students are getting ready to travel back in time to explore the culture and contributions of the
ancient Egyptians. We are all very excited about our students’ STEM explorations to measure the flooding of Egypt’s
Nile River. In math, we are studying geometry and in reading we will continue our study of nonfiction text. We encourage you to read both fiction and nonfiction at home as well, and ask questions to ensure your child comprehends what has been read. The children are enthusiastically learning how to write in cursive and are eager to master
the entire upper and lowercase sets of letters. As always, we appreciate your help in having your child here on time
each day to offer them full benefit of each day of second grade learning.
Third Grade News
WOW! It’s the 3rd marking period. Time is flying! Third Graders have been working hard to use a variety of different
strategies for multiplying, dividing, adding, and subtracting. We continue to work on ’proving’ our answers whether
it’s in math or reading. Students are asked to highlight, underline, or circle important information (numbers in mathematical problems and key words or phrases for reading comprehension) to help them better answer and understand
material. Continue to practice multiplication tables facts at home as we do what we can in class with the time we
have. SOL testing will be here before we know it! Please continue to have your child/children complete homework
and to talk with you about strategies – strategies – strategies! We continue to thank you for your home support and
in making sure that your child is at school every day for each new learning experience.
Fourth Grade News
Happy New Year! It is hard to believe it is 2015 and we are entering the third marking period. You should be very
proud of your child's hard work and determination in 4th grade! They have been working hard to show persevere as
they grow into problem solvers and endurance as we are finishing up benchmark testing. In math, students will be
learning about fractions and decimals. It is important that they continue to work on the skills they have previously
learned and mastered. In reading, students are working on applying close reading strategies as we continue to analyze and evaluate fiction and non-fiction texts. During social studies, students are learning about the colonial economy and the American Revolution. At the end of February, all 4h graders will take a field trip to Colonial Williamsburg
where they will be able to make real life connections to many of things we have been learning this year. Please
have students continue to complete their homework each night as it is a spiral review of new concepts we are learning and concepts that were previously taught. Thank you as always for your continued support, without your help
and encouragement our children wouldn't be nearly as successful!
Fifth Grade News
Fifth grade has been busy learning! We are continuing to read a variety of text and have begun a new strategy,
close reading, to help us better understand what we are reading and to help us answer a variety of questions. In
Math, we are continuing to work on fractions: adding, subtracting, simplifying and converting mixed numbers to fractions. We will also be learning all about geometry. Animal and plant cells are up next for Science. Please encourage your child to bring home their Science notebook to study and reinforce what we are learning about in class.
Thank you for all your support at home! We couldn't do it without you all!
COUNSELOR CORNER
Hello, Yates Mates! It’s Ms. Pulley, your School Counselor! My job as the counselor is to make sure students
are HAPPY, HEALTHY, and LEARNING. The character trait for January was HONESTY! The character trait
for February is TOLERANCE. Students will learn tolerance means to accept others’ differences!
Check out our Stand Up Against Bullying Week!
Monday, Feb. 9th
Team Up Against Bullying: Wear your Favorite Team Shirts!
Tuesday, Feb. 10th
Remember the “Golden Rule:” Wear Gold or Yellow!
Wednesday, Feb 11th
Sweats Day, Don’t Sweat Bullying: Ask for Help!
Thursday, Feb. 12th
Put a cap/stop to bullying: Wear your favorite hat!
Friday, Feb. 13th
Stand Up Against Bullying! Wear Pink! Our Fourth Annual THINK PINK DAY!
Cyber bullying Tips:
Many of our students have cell phones and tablets which they use for educational & entertainment purposes.
However, many of our students need reminders from staff and parents/guardians on how to deal with cyber
bullying. Our 5th graders had a special classroom guidance lesson on this topic; however, please feel free to
share this information with your children who have access to the internet or cell phones.







Inform a parent or guardian immediately if you receive an inappropriate message
Do not respond to a message that contains cyber bullying
Do not forward that message on to others
Print out the evidence if you can
Do not delete the evidence
Block the bully from your phone, profile, or email address
Report the bully’s phone number, screen name, or email address to the phone company or website
*SPECIAL INFORMTATION: 5th Grade Students, Parents & Guardians*
 Middle School Transition Workshop on Thursday, March 12 th at 4:30 and 6:15pm at Yates Elementary School presented by Ms. Pulley, School Counselor.
 District Wide NNPS Middle School Welcome Night at ALL NNPS MIDDLE SCHOOLS on Thursday,
March 19th at 6pm.
Yates Elementary
73 Maxwell Lane
Newport News, VA 23606
Phone:
(757) 881-5450
Fax:
(757) 930-1417
E-mail:
AdminStaff.Yates@nn.k12.va.us
We’re on the Web!
http://yates.nn.k12.va.us/
Did you know...
Chronically absent students on average score 15 – 20% lower on state
assessments than students who attend school more regularly.
(BERC consortium at John’s Hopkins 2009 study)
How can parents help?
 Arrange family trips, activities and vacations during school holidays
so that children miss as little school as possible.
 Establish good routines at home to ensure on-time arrival at school
every day. Our instructional day begins at 9:05 am and ends at
3:35 pm.
Artwork Due:
2-20-15
Order Deadline:
3-27-15
PTA NEWS
Hello Yates Families! The PTA would like to thank you for your continued to support! Thank you
to everyone who helped to support the holiday shop. It was a huge success and the children had a
lot of fun! We are collecting items now for next year. If you are interested in donating or helping
please let us know. Please see the announcements below for some of our upcoming events. Please
email me anytime at president@yatespta.org.
February
10
PTA Board Meeting
5:30 pm
11 & 25
Helping Hands
9:00 am
12
Math Family, Fun & Fitness
6 pm – 7 pm
19
PTA General Membership Meeting
6:30-8:00 pm
(4th grade Music Program)
March
10
PTA Board Meeting
5:30 pm
11 & 25
Helping Hands
9:00 am
19
PTA General Membership Meeting
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm