Mustang Messages … 2017
The mission of Rudolph Matas Elementary School is to maintain high academic
achievement by meeting the diverse learning needs of every student.
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Please mark your calendar to attend Parent/Teacher Conferences on February 20th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. No appointments are necessary. This is an important opportunity to speak to your child's teacher regarding his or her progress in school. We are in the third nine week marking period of the school year. As usual, you may call school at 733-6200 to make an appointment during theteacher’s planning period to discuss any concerns. Your child's academic success is always a team effort among the student, parents and school. I look forward to seeing you on Monday, February 20th between 4:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Mrs. P. Helmstetter
Pre-K – Wow, it’s already February! Our theme for this month is “I Build! I Create” We will learn tools and machines, things that can be constructed (like homes, schools, cars, planes, Mardi Gras floats, etc.), and things that we can create (like dances, paintings, drawings, words, sentences, stories, and our very own Mardi Gras floats). Of course, we will be creating a special Valentine’s Day for our parents. Also, we continue learning letters, letter sounds, rhyming words, shapes, counting objects, creating patterns and much more. We are looking forward to the Matas Parade on February 24. Come catch some beads from us! Congratulations to Nastassja Valladares who is our Student of the Month!
Kindergarten - Can you say busy? We definitely can in kindergarten in February. Mardi Gras is coming so we are working hard to get our Matas Parade ready to roll! The parade will be Friday February 24th at 10:00am. Parents will pull us in decorated wagons or walk with us, while we wear our favorite costumes and throw beads to the first through eighth graders. Our whole family is invited to come and join in the fun! It is not only a treat for us but for the whole Matas family as well so everyone should come out to celebrate our Mardi Gras celebration! Despite all of this fun, we will also be working hard in class to master those Kindergarten skills we need. Progress Reports will be sent home to indicate how we are doing in class. We will be testing our reading skills and working on our sight words, and writing skills. No matter what is going on, we need to stay focused, do homework nightly and keep up our routine to learn best. Reviewing sight words nightly, reading nightly, writing nightly and practicing our math skills is extremely important to our school success. Like we said, we are busy!
Ms. Davis – Kindergarten Special Ed - During the month of February, we will continue working on letter recognition and letter sounds. Students will continue working on site words. We will also work on identifying numbers and counting objects. On Friday, February 24, 2017, we will have our Krewe of Matas Parade at 10:00am. Along with my assistants, we will continue to assist your child with his or her educational and social needs.
First Grade - The first graders are working hard in the third quarter! Everyone is becoming more fluent in reading and math. We are starting a measurement unit in math. This is a skill easily reinforced at home using real objects. It is important to stay fluent with the math facts though. Please help your child by making or buying addition and subtraction flash cards to use for review. Did you know your child has access to Lexia and Iready at home? Please have your child try to login to the Clever site and work on Lexia and Iready math. We will be exchanging Valentines on February 14. If you wish to, please purchase or have your child make
Valentines to pass out. Congratulations to the January Students of the Month. They are: Mrs. Roux-Sebastian Amaya, Mrs. Wilbert-Mila Nguyen and Mrs. Vignes-Katie Walker.
Second Grade - February is fast and furious! We will pack as much learning into our short month as we possibly can. I’m sure you’ve noticed we have started learning how to measure everything in sight. Our literature focus is on nonfiction text features. We are also finishing up our stories about kids who
excel. The third nine weeks social living project will be due in March. February is the perfect month to learn about many famous Americans. There are so many great people that have
contributed to our country. Finally, we will dive deep into New Orleans culture traditions related to Mardi Gras. Second grade agrees that King Cake is yummy!
Third Grade - Welcome to the wonderful month of February!So far third grade has been having a very productive new year.This month in Reading, the students will begin their book study ofThe Louisiana Purchaseas well as read various other nonfiction articles. The students are continuing to develop their comprehension and writing skills each day. In English, we are beginning our unit on adjectives.In Math, we will be moving on to fractions.In Science, we will be learning about the Solar System, and in Social Studies, we are learning about Native Americans and Louisiana Explorers.Please continue to check your child’s test folder each week since these grades will be included on the Interim Reports sent home the week of February 13th.Parent Conferences will be held February 20th from 4pm-7pm. Congratulations to our February Students of the month: Brenton Sigur, Brooke Foster, and Brennan Moses, and Sydney Ledbetter. As always, thank you for supporting your child’s learning!
Fourth Grade - In the month of February, students will be covering Informational nonfiction texts and learning how to use multiple sources to write an opinion paper. Math will be getting into decimals and fractions. Social Studies will begin to involve the children in the government.
The students will begin to study Life Science. The following are the students of the month for February. Congratulation to: Lena Abedali (Ms. Vieites) Joseph Jacobs (Ms. Haas) and Gabrielle Davis (Ms. Landry)
Fifth Grade - Congrats to our February Students of the Month: Mason Scholl, Ruby Heausler, and Brianna Berteau. In Math, students are learning how to add, multiply, and divide fractions. In Social Studies, students are starting a unit on the 13 colonies. In Science, students are learning how to classify plants and animals. In Reading, we are continuing to read the novel Birchbark House and using the RACE strategy to answer text dependent questions. We are studying a unit on verbs in grammar and finishing a unit on analyzing information from several sources to support the author’s point of view. We are asking our students to continue to practice the RACE strategy in each subject when answering open response questions. Students should be Restating the question, Answering the question, Citing evidence, and Explaining how their evidence supports their answer.
Sixth Grade/Seventh Grade/Eight Grade - Middle school is continuing to have a fun and educational school year! Students are excited about the Mardi Gras dance on February 24th, as well as the Mardi Gras holiday. Students and teachers are preparing for computer based LEAP tests, and teachers encourage students to begin using typing.com so that they may build up their typing skills. Teachers are sure that all students will do their best on the test! Teachers want to remind middle school students to continue to study every night and complete homework, as participation is a large part of their grade in the 3rd nine weeks!
P.E. News - In January, we learned the games of golf, kickball, and softball/baseball. Our middle school boys have been competing in many different leagues this year. The latest one has been kickball. In February, we will have guest speakers from JPSO and the LSU Nurses. They will cover topics such as health, exercise, and safety. Our third graders have just begun a program that targets the brain and addiction. Once a week, our partners from Action Against Addiction come teach the students. We look forward to another great month.
Art Facilitor - Soon will be Mardi Gras. In Art students will create art about this joyful time of the year. They will learn about mixing primary colors in order to paint an art work using the colors green, purple, and yellow. Other classes will look at George Rodrigue's Blue Dog pictures which will inspire the students to make their own Blue Dog Mardi Gras pictures. Some students will make abstract Mardi Gras art while learning about Kandinsky's abstract works of art.
Mrs. Larkin’s Class – MD Special Ed - Mrs. Larkin’s class would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. We’re missing snow on the ground outside but we’ll have a lot of wintery activities in the class to create. Our theme for February’s unique theme is History - My Country: Yesterday and Today. The first book shared is Long Ago or Today? It shows the differences between cars, phones, TVs, how we listen to music and how we moved from typewriters to computers. The second book, America: Yesterday and Today explains some of the history of America. We used covered wagons, lived in log houses, hunted and planted crops, traded for what we needed, and we chose a leader.
Ms. Hilliard/Ms. Young - Special Ed - Ms. Young and Ms. Hilliard's class Unique learning system February unit is titled, “Resources by Region." This unit uses maps to explore the geographical and man-made resources of our country and where they are located. The students will also locate landmarks using relational vocabulary. The class will also enjoy activities relating to Mardi Gras and it's festivities.
Ms. Pinckard – Autistic – Our class is ready to travel! We are beginning a geography unit and plan to visit several of the 50 states. We plan to stop a few places as we go, including the Grand Canyon, Empire State Building and Disney World. Our trip stops in our favorite state, Louisiana, where we will participate in Mardi Gras!
Library - Parents, please ask your child questions about books. Who writes the book? What is an illustrator’s job? Where is the index located in a book and why is it useful? What protects the pages of the book? What holds the book together? What is the name of the system used to organize books in the library? You can take an active role in your child’s education by asking them what they have been learning in school. This not only helps them to remember what they have learned, but also shows them that you are interested in their education. We have been learning about the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr., and how we can work toward accomplishing his dream. We will begin learning about the value of the dictionary, guide words, and that is a reference book. We will soon take part in our annual “Dictionary Parade!” in the library.
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FEB 9 CANES NIGHT 4-8
FEB 12 LITTLE RASCALS PARADE 12PM
FEB 16 INTERIM REPORTS ISSUED
FEB 20 TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY 11AM-4PM (STUDENT HOLIDAY)
PARENT/TEACHER CONF. 4PM-7PM
FEB 24 KREWE OF MATAS – 10:00 AM
FEB 27 NO SCHOOL MARDI GRAS HOLIDAY 2/27-3/3
Parents please make sure you have a rainy day dismissal plan for your child.
School Office: 733-6200