January 2010 Newsletter
Thank you to Boeing and Payless Shoes !!
We are so thankful to all of the MANY people that have donated their time and money to helping our Colvin families this winter!
Our friends at Boeing and Payless Shoes came out Dec. 7th for their annual Colvin Elementary shoe distribution. Every Colvin student received a brand new pair of shoes, a pair of socks, a new winter hat and a pair of gloves. We are incredibly fortunate to have such caring and thoughtful people in our lives! Please see more pictures of the kindness of others on the last page of this month’s newsletter.
Back By Popular Demand- The Colvin Elementary Knitting Club!
Last year, Ms. Jaime Peterman introduced her Knitting Club to Colvin 4th and 5th graders. As Colvin produced a number of 4th grade knitters last year, Ms. Peterman brought Knitting Club back this year! Fifth grade knitters have been meeting in November and December and will continue to meet in January. We will combine 4th and 5th grade knitting groups in February. Knitting is an ancient skill and pastime and can be done by anybody. It develops motor skills and dexterity. Planning, mathematics, color design, and patterning are used to create different designs and textures. It’s not as hard as it may seem! Imagine a row of little yarn loops going through another row of little yarn loops over and over again. Speaking of yarn- have we got a lot! We received a donation of yarn from the grandmother of Tina Murano, USD 259’s Visual Arts Curriculum Coach. We also received donations from wonderful people all over America through DonorsChoose.org. We have some Thank You notes to write!
Third Graders Go On a Sculpture Tour of WSU
Colvin third graders went on a sculpture tour of Wichita State University this December. Ms. Amy Lawson and Ms. Jaime Peterman decided to do a project about robots after seeing the robot exhibit, “Robots: A Cultural Icon in Contemporary Art” in the Ulrich Museum at WSU. To learn more about this exhibit, go to http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=ulrich&p=/exhibitionfolder/Robots/. We saw many amazing sculptures and paintings featuring robots! The third graders also toured some of WSU’s grounds and looked at their outdoor sculptures. Miro’s mosaic of bird-like creatures was very fascinating to discuss, and we learned that sometimes looking at art upside-down changes our perspective!
Technical Writing in 5th Grade
Technical writing is “step by step” instructions on how something is done. Using this concept as our technical writing unit, Mrs. Smith’s 5th grade class decided to make gifts for their parents. The first step was to get out a piece of paper. In Step 2, we watched Mrs. Smith cut tissue paper and using Mod Podge, she applied the tissue paper to the wooden rectangle or heart. Step 3 was to choose the colors we wanted for each gift, and make our own. Finally, once our wooden pieces were dry, Mrs. Smith put our picture on the front and attached a key ring. When our project was completed, we had to make sure we wrote down the instructions so anyone could do the project by reading our directions. Mrs. Smith said “We killed two birds with one stone.” We were able to do a lesson, and make a gift for our parents all in the same activity.
Good Apple Award Winners!
Congratulations to Mr. Baker and Ms. Fischer, Colvin Elementary Good Apple Award winners for 2009! Both of you go above and beyond your everyday jobs to see to it that all of our Colvin family is well taken care of. Thank you for all you do!
Operation School Bell Makes for Warm Hearts!
Thank you to our friends at Operation School Bell for donating clothes and winter coats. These are retired professionals who volunteer their time through Assistance League of Wichita. They provide for all students in the Wichita School District!
COMMUNITY NEWS
Free Tax Preparations at Colvin Neighborhood City Hall, February – April 15th, 2010 for low income families. Please call 303-8029 week of January 25th for information and to schedule your appointment, no Walk-ins allowed.
Adult Ed class Orientation and Assessment for new (ESOL – English as a second language) students will be Jan 5th, 6th, 7th & 11th at 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Cost is $15 per student for program and materials. Class meets Monday – Thursday at 6:00 – 8:00 pm. For more information, please call 303-8029.
News from the Nurse
For ALL Students that received the H1N1 vaccine on December 4, 2009:
Any student that is 9 years old or younger will need a booster shot after January 4, 2010. Students may get the shot for FREE at the Sedgwick County Health Department Clinic. The FREE vaccine is now available for everyone at the clinic. The hours are as follows:
Health Department Clinic
4095 E Harry
Hours of Operation
Monday - Thursday:
2 – 7 pm
Friday and Saturday:
9 am – 2 pmDon’t Miss the Wichita Public School’s Annual Choices Fair!
The annual Choices Fair allows parents and students to do “one-stop school shopping” to look at the different educational options the district offers for students. This year's Choices Fair is scheduled as follows:
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Century II - Exhibition Hall
225 W. Douglas
5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Open to the public - free of charge
Spanish and Vietnamese translators will be
Available
The district will also hold one Choices Mini Fair for parents to talk to and collect information from the elementary magnet school administrators as follows:
Friday, December 11, 2009
Little Early Childhood Educational Center
1613 Piatt
10:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
NOTE: Attendance at the Choices Mini Fair or the Choices Fair is not required to apply for magnet schools.