Saturday, January 20, 2018

1.20.18

Hello Hoover Rockets,

Eco-Action Assembly



On Wednesday, January 17th, our partnership with General Motors kicked off with an assembly.  The GM team helped our students learn the importance of recycling plastic water bottles.  The students learned how long it takes a plastic water bottle to decompose in a landfill (450-1000 years)!  We learned how we can measure the amount of bottles that we are recycling at Hoover and who will benefit from our efforts.  The sleeping bag coat is made from water bottles at a facility that employs homeless folks that live in a shelter. After they work for 4 weeks, they move out of the shelter. Our Hoover recycled water bottles will be keeping folks warm on these cold days. The General Motors team shared the use of recycled materials in automobiles.  We are excited to get our plastic water bottle recycling program underway.  Ask your Hoover Rocket how long it takes for a water bottle to decompose? Did you know that 152 GM facilities have a 0 waste program? That means they send nothing to the landfill. 70% of the water bottles used today are NOT recycled.  Out students learned that they can make a difference in any environment!

The sleeping bag coat is made from 31 recycled pastic water bottles.  












Here are the Internet links to videos and other educational resources that support the ideas from the GM Recycling Assembly.  Your Hoover Rocket might enjoy watching them again and sharing with you the importance of recycling. 

The amount of time it takes for trash to break down is staggering

General Motors turns water bottles into car parts, air filters and coat insulation

Plastics in the Ocean Infographic
by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program

How Plastic Bottles Are Recycled Into Polyester – great overview of the entire process from National Geographic

Plastic to Polyester - How Our Recycled Fleece is Made by Craghoppers

Plastic Resin Identification Codes

Material Decomposition – How Long it Takes for Trash to Decompose

How Long Does it Take Plastic Bottles to Decompose?
and

What's an Engineer? Crash Course Kids #12.1

How Are Plastics Recycled – a well done and short video
Did you know that while listening to your child read you can try some other options besides giving them the word or saying "sound it out"?

Instead of simply telling him to “sound it out,” try these tricks:
  • Say nothing. Give him a chance to figure it out.
  • Say, “Look at the picture.”
  • Say, “Let’s get the first sound.” 
  • Say, “What would make sense?” Even if he gets the wrong word, you can say “Yes, it’s a kind of house, but the author chose a different word. Look at the first letter and see if you can get it now.” 
  • Say, “Chunk it.” Are there smaller words in the bigger ones (e.g., ‘going’ has the word ‘go’ in it)?
  • Say, “Let’s reread.” Before you tell your child the word, see if he can re-read the sentence and get it with a “running start.”
  • Say, “Close your eyes. Now look again.” Have him close his eyes, open them, and see if his brain can just “get” the word as a sight word, without trying to sound it out.
  • Say, “Say it like a word.” Decoding will only take you so far. If you know how to make the sounds come together like a word you know, it makes reading so much easier. It’s not about saying the sounds faster; it’s about saying them like a word. Country can be sounded out as “cow-n-try” or “count” “try.” But if they “say it like a word,” they are more likely to get to country. You can use a slinky to help them literally “see” what it looks like when they say stretched out sounds. Have them collapse the slinky as they “say it like a word.”
  • Skip the word and come back when they have the context of the sentence (be sure they do). 
  • Look at word families. If your child knows ‘at’, they will more easily be able to identify ‘hat.’ 
  • Get the main word first, then add on prefixes or suffixes. You can use your finger to cover up parts of the word while your child gets the main word. 
  • Tell them the word. You do not want to hinder the comprehension of a story by belaboring a single word. Instead, give your child the word and have her re-read the sentence so that the word sticks in her mind for the next time she encounters it! 
If your child misreads a word:
Ask yourself:
  • Does it matter? Saying ‘house’ instead of ‘home’ or misreading a character’s name won’t change the meaning of the story. Let it go. 
Tell her to:
  • “Check it:” Does it look right, sound right, make sense? 
  • Make a picture in your head.” What word doesn’t fit?”
  • “Flex it.” This is the way to tell your child to try the other sound the letter makes (e.g., long vs short a, or ‘j’ for g, as in giraffe).
Ask him:
  • Does it fit the picture/story?”
  • “Does that sound like a word you know? Say it like a word.”
  • What is happening here and how does this sentence fit in?”

Taken from:  Comprehension and Decoding Strategies

Learn how to support your developing reader during this exciting learning period by Michelle Anthony.
Youth Making a Difference project applications are due next Friday, January 26th. This is a program that encourages and recognizes volunteer efforts by K-12 students. The purpose of the campaign is simply to help reinforce the importance of volunteerism. Encouraging our children to give back to our community at a young age will improve the community and help promote a lifelong service ethic. Service projects that students completed over the SUMMER can also count towards this project. 
The forms stating the student’s projects need to be turned in by Friday, January 26th. The projects need to be completed and turned in to Hoover by Friday, March 23rd. We hope to see many Hoover Rockets at Franklin High School on April 24th from 6-8pm for the celebration!

WINTER BLAST
Hoover’s Winter Blast is right around the corner on Friday, February 2nd from 6-8:30pm. We hope you will save the date for an evening of family fun. Activities will include, but not limited to:  carnival type games, food, and raffling off the themed baskets. Information about the baskets went home last week with your child via backpack mail.
Winter Blast is a fantastic event and we would love you to join us. We are going to have so much fun! Please consider signing up for at least one, but not limited to one, shift to help out with this HUGE event for our Hoover Rockets.  They have so much fun and it is so great to see their smiling faces all night!
**Also if you have older children (middle school aged or older) please consider sharing this information with them to earn volunteer credit for their organizations or just to return to their alma matter to help out!
A great way to avoid lines the night of Winter Blast is to buy advance tickets for food/games and also raffle tickets for the themed baskets. Ticket information will go home via backpack mail the week of January 22nd.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time should you have questions or concerns. THANK YOU so much for your time and consideration in serving our AMAZING kiddos! They sure do appreciate your help!!!

Science Fair

Does your child ever wonder how things work? Are they curious about the world around them? Here is an opportunity for your child to test their curiosity! Hoover Elementary is having our First Annual ALL School Science Fair on Thursday, April 26th. We will celebrate this along with our school Art Fair and Ice Cream Social. This science fair is optional for all students, but we are hopeful that our AMAZING Hoover Rockets will be excited to take on this challenge. Your interest and encouragement will help to make this a valuable learning experience for your child. Families with multiple Hoover students are welcome to work on a Hoover Science Fair project together. Please watch for more details to come home in the coming weeks. 

Jan. 22                  Star Lab
Jan. 24                  Star Lab
Jan. 25                  Nuts About Science
Jan. 26                  YMAD Form Due
Jan. 26                  Skatenight
Jan. 26                  Vision Rescreening KG, 1st, 3rd
Feb. 1                   Kindergarten Registration 2018/19, Nuts About Science
Feb. 2                  ACAT Applications Due
Feb. 2                  WINTERBLAST 6-8:30 p.m.
Feb. 6                   Hoover Highlights
Feb. 9                   Spirit Day Career Day
Feb. 12-16            Box Top Contest
Feb. 13                 PTA Meeting 6:00 p.m.
Feb. 13                 Family Fitness Night 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Feb. 14                 Count Day (A portion of our funding is based on our attendance on this day.
                             You can help Hoover by sending your Hoover Rockets to school today).
Feb. 19                No School Midwinter Break 
Feb. 20-26           WIDA Testing for ELL Students
Feb. 28                1/2 Day Dismissal 12:10 Professional Development in the PM for staff
March 1               Book Bingo Night 6-7:00 p.m.
March 2               Spirit Day Book Character Day
March 7               KG Parent Information Night for new families
March 9              1/2 Day Dismissal 12:10 End of 2nd Trimester Work Day in the PM for staff
March 23             YMAD Project Due