News From Fort Zeller Elementary
February 2024
Principal's Message
With the second half of the year well under way, I want to thank everyone for your continued support of our students, teachers, and school as we collectively strive to provide optimal opportunities for learning each and every day. In addition, I want to also thank our PTO for working hard to make the first half of the year such a success with so many amazing events for our students.
Everyone at Fort Zeller values the important contributions families make towards a student's success in school. There is no question about it—success at school starts at home. Families are the most significant influence in a student's schooling. Families model both spoken and silent language in front of their children. One of the most important elements of a great school is the partnership between the school and families who work together for the best interest of all students.
As we are well into the 2023-2024 school year, I encourage you to reach out to your child’s teacher anytime you have concerns, questions, or are curious about what they are experiencing at school. I am super proud of the work that occurs between 9 AM and 3:30 PM, but also know what an impact it can have when all adults are “in the know” about how a child is doing. Thank you for being amazing parents who care about Fort Zeller. We could not have a better school community! Thank you for your continued support of our amazing school. As always, my door is open and I welcome you to email or call anytime that you have questions, comments, or concerns. Take care and thanks again for your continued support!
Important Information
1. Parent Request for Classroom Form - When making class assignments, the building principal must take many factors into consideration. Examples of these factors include the following (but are not limited to):
• The total number of students in each class.• The balance of boys and girls, both within a class and between classes.
• The balance of students with special needs.
• Academic recommendations from IEP and/or Data Team.
• Teacher/Team recommendations to separate some students from others.
• Teacher/Team recommendations to keep some students in the same class.
• Recommendation(s) from previous year’s teacher(s).
Parent requests will only be considered for educational reasons. If the form below is received between March 1st and March 31, 2024, provides educational reasons for the request, and does not conflict with other factors described above, the principal will make a reasonable effort to accommodate a parental request. ONLY non-preferred teacher request forms will be reviewed and considered.
***Completion of this form does not guarantee the request will be granted.
2. Flexible Instruction Day Packets (FID) - Our K-5 teachers are working on sending packets home on February 9th in preparation for future snow days. I ask for your help to follow the teachers' written requests and put these packets in a safe place so our students can be ready to work when a FID day is necessary. Please reach out to our teachers if you have any questions or concerns.
3. February Parent/Teacher Conferences - These conferences are not for all students and by teacher invitation only. If you do not receive an invitation for a conference, but would like to talk to your child's teacher, please feel free to reach out to them at any time.
4. Camp Innovation - Thanks to awesome reviews from parents, teachers and — most importantly — campers, Camp Invention® returns to ELCO INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL the week of June 17-20 with an all-new program!
Kids in grades K-6 will team up for exciting STEM challenges, like designing a light-up ball game, starring in a prototyping game show and more! Spots are filling up, so visit invent.org/mylocalcamp to register today! Use promo code SUM25 by 3/27 to save!
5. Drop Off - With the weather being cold and for student safety, please remember that parents SHOULD NOT drop students off prior to 8:30 unless you see a staff member outside greeting students and the doors are opened. Students dropped off prior to staff being available are out in cold weather and unsupervised which is not safe.
6. Power School Forms - We are still looking for a number of families to complete the required forms on Power School. These forms provide us with up-to-date important information. Please see below for more information. If you need help, please make sure to contact our office.
LOOKNG AHEAD
Feb. 2 (Day 3)
- Groundhog Day
Feb. 3 (Saturday)
- PTO Roller Skating Party @ Mt. Gretna 11:00-1:00 pm
Feb. 5: (Day 4)
- 100th Day of School
- PTO Coin Wars Begin
- School Board Meeting @ 6:00 pm
Feb. 7: (Day 2)
- Raider Readers
- World Read Aloud Day
- PTO Meeting @ 6:30 pm
Feb. 9: (Day 4)
- Family Groups
Feb. 15: (Day 4)
- Early Dismissal @ 11:30 am
- Conferences (by invitation only) 12:15-3:45 pm
Feb. 16: No School
- Act 80 Day
Feb. 19: No School
- President's Day
Feb. 20: (Day 1)
- School Board Meeting @ 6:00 pm
Feb. 23: (Day 4)
- PBIS Assembly @ 10:15 am
Feb. 27: (Day 2)
- Math/STEM Night at Fort Zeller 5:00-6:30 pm (Information below)
Students and Class of the Month
Kindergarten - Rylen W. (Zurick AM) & Harmony C. (Yocum AM) & Jayden M. (Breiner)
First Grade - Brody Z. (McDonnell) & Rosealyn M. (Booth)
Second Grade - Wyatt M. (Frederick) & Skyler L. (Lucky)
Class of the Month - Mrs. Kane's Second Grade Class
During the month of January, we were focused on courage. Throughout the month of February, we are focusing on honesty. Honesty means that we are truthful in what we say and do.
ELCO Food Pantry & Caring Closet
The ELCO Raider Food Pantry is Open!
The ELCO Raider Food Pantry is now open and available for the ELCO families. With the support of our ELCO staff, local businesses and churches, we are able to provide our ELCO families with an additional resource.
If you are in need of immediate assistance or you'd like to donate to the ELCO Raider Pantry, please reach out to Kelly Smith, ELCO Social Worker, at 717-306-3242 or the ELCO Food and Nutrition Department, at 717-306-3270 for a confidential appointment to the pantry.
Counselor's Corner With Mrs. Brosius
Happy 2024, Families! I hope your New Year is off to a wonderful start! Here is what we’ve been up to with Mrs. Brosius this month and what’s coming up in February!
R.E.A.C.H. Lessons
In January, our Kindergarten students met a Little Spot of Anxiety, our newest Little Spot friend. We talked about what Anxiety means (being scared, nervous, or worried) and how to blow our worries away! In First grade, we learned about the Power of Yet! We talked about things we can’t do YET and what we need to do to reach our dreams (practice, take classes, get help from someone who knows, have a positive attitude, etc.) Second graders learned about diversity. We drew self-portraits and learned more about each other through the similarities we share and the differences that make our classroom (and each other) so fun!
Here's what we’ll be doing in February:
Kindergarten: We’re going to meet A Little Spot of Sadness and continue talking about how to manage big emotions!
First: A new Little Spot, A Little Spot of Empathy, is going to help students learn about empathy – what it means, why it’s important, and how to show empathy to others!
Second: We will be working on Career Lessons using our new career exploration and planning platform: Smart Futures!
Small Groups
I’ve started a whole new round of small groups. Some of these groups meet over lunch time and some meet during other times of the day. Below is the list of groups I am currently running. If you have any questions about small group counseling, please reach out to me!
Stress Busters (K, 1, 2)
Super Self (1 and 2)
Changing Families (K and 1)
Friendship Detectives (K, 1, 2)
Self-Control Surfers (K and 1)
Feeling Identification (1 and 2)
PBIS
Our students are doing such a fabulous job of following our 3 “Bee” Rules: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Ready to Learn. So far this school year, they have filled 2,270 Bee Cards and counting! Our students are the best and we are so proud of them for all of their hard work!
Library Sparks - Mrs. Davis
Kindergarten explored winter stories and hibernation this month featuring Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Polar Bear in the Snow by Marc Barnett. We focused on the skill of retelling a story with kindergarten students remembering details and timelines from our stories.
First Grade focused on text features this month, learning how illustrations and font effect the presentation of information. We shared Time to Sleep by Denise Flemming and discovered animals that hibernate during winter. First grade culminated the hibernation theme with an Arctic Animal Keynote activity where they practiced putting animals in ABC order, graphing animal counts and sorting animals into categories based on how each animal survives winter i.e. hibernate, migrate or adapt.
Second Grade expanded their knowledge of research, learning about analyzing and presenting information. Second grade read the book Hibernation by Robin Nelson, chose an animal and with a partner, created a poster to share with their class. Did you know that ladybugs hibernate? We discovered lots of animals who sleep through the winter!
What's Happening in Music
All students will be playing instruments this month! Students will be playing the Tubanos, Bells, Zylophones and Metallophones. Students will be listening to stories and discovering new instruments through our listening activities.
First and Second grade are playing xylophones and discovering the how Orff instruments make sound. They will be listening to musical stories and exploring new music genres.
Kindergarten will be learning about drum circles and practicing new rhythm patterns on Tubanos.
A Note From ART - Mrs. Panza
This month in art class we reviewed the elements of art in all grade levels and…
1st grade Art: focused on creating art while experimenting with tools! First grade artists used washable markers and drew a snowperson shape and horizon line on wet watercolor paper. The colors will spread creating a fuzzy, washy effect. Some of the colors were very light or faint. We worked back into the artwork and created additional details with drawing tools to finalize our winter work.
2nd grade Art: focused on looking at artwork carefully. We worked collaboratively to respond to the work of artist Charley Harper. Students worked together to determine “what we see,” how the art is organized and moods/feelings that are suggested in the collection of artwork. Students also worked independently to state preferences about the artwork of Charley Harper.
Kindergarten Art: This month in art class we reviewed the elements of art and then focused on continuing our collage unit. Artists worked with paper, glue and scissors to create a penguin shape. We are working on adding details to make the artwork look complete (details for the penguin and making the background look more interesting. Finally we will prepare the artwork for display!
Get Moving in Physical Education - Mr. Babiarz
In February, we will begin a new unit that includes some more exciting gross motor skills. Students will be working on perfecting their rolling, throwing and catching skills in a variety of fun challenges and games from bowling to bocce!
What's Happening in Kindergarten
What's Going on in 1st Grade
January: In January, first graders started exploring CVCe words with the long vowel a , i, o, and u sounds. They were taught what the soft c and g sounds make like in words cent, page and fudge. The digraphs kn, wr, gn, and mb, were introduced, with a very sneaky silent letter like in words knock, wrist, gnat and lamb. Plus suffixes -y and -ful were touched on. The focus in math has been place value, with students reading and writing numbers to 120. They also are learning many interesting facts about Penguins and talking about winter fun.
2nd Grade Updates
We started this month by setting goals for the new year! We tackled a new chapter in math which focused on 3-digit addition with regrouping. Next, we will start 3-digit subtraction and continuing on improving in our spring math curriculum. The second graders have been working hard on benchmark testing, which included reading fluency, reading comprehension, and 2nd grade math skills. In our ELA curriculum, we focused on learning about different schools around the world, studying comprehension skills and strategies such as main idea and details and text and graphic features. It’s hard to believe we are finishing our 2nd marking period! Thank you families for all you do to help set up your child for success by sending your child to school rested and ready to learn.
Reading Corner
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Wednesday, February 7th is World Read Aloud Day, and we have a few fun events to celebrate this very important day. Before describing these events, the following is a brief description about World Read Aloud Day. In 2010, the organization LitWorld created World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) to celebrate the power of reading aloud to children. World Read Aloud Day has now become a global movement with millions of readers, writers, and listeners coming together from communities all across the world to honor the joy and power of reading aloud.
The first way Fort Zeller will be celebrating World Read Aloud Day is holding our monthly Raiders Read event. Students will listen to a story be read aloud by one of our friends from the high school and then complete a fun activity. Finally, we will have a school-wide “Zoom” read aloud with children’s author and illustrator Anna Raff. Some of Anna’s stories include the following: The Day the Universe Exploded in My Head, You Make Me Sneeze, You Are Not a Cat, The Ups and Downs of Gravity and many more! Anna will be reading aloud her newest story, which will be released mid-February, You Make Me Sneeze. She also will be answering questions from our students. Finally, Anna will be visiting us in May and present at our annual elementary Family Literacy Night. If you would like to learn more about Anna, check-out her website, http://www.annaraff.com/illustration.
We are SO EXCITED to celebrate World Read Aloud Day!!
Social Media #ELCOexcellence
ELCO School District is growing our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels. Click on the icons and follow along!
Why:
Celebrate our students.
Keep parents, students, alumni, and the community in the loop of what is happening in our district.
Promote the great things happening such as athletics, activities, and other events.
Build an ongoing conversation about the positive impact our district is making in the lives of our students!
What do I need to do?
If you are on these social media channels – follow us!
Help promote these accounts to your family and friends.
If you aren’t on these platforms – that’s OK. The district will continue to provide communication through traditional channels.
Nurse's News
Cold season is in full swing, and we encourage parents to keep their children home if their child has a fever over 100 degrees, ear pain that is keeping them awake at night, sore throat with difficulty swallowing, red eyes with drainage, vomiting or diarrhea within 24 hours before school, or a chronic cough. We would like to keep our students and staff as healthy as possible and reduce the spread of any contagious disease.
DONATIONS NEEDED:
The nurse office is taking donations. Boys size Large (10-12) & small (6-7) sweatpants. Girls size small (6-7) sweatpants/leggings/shirts and Large (10-12) sweatpants/leggings/shirts. Please no jeans.
If your child has come home with any clothes borrowed from the school, this is a friendly reminder to please wash and return the clothes as soon as you can.
Thank You! ☺️
PTO
1. On Wednesday, February 7, 2024, at 6:30, our PTO will host its next meeting at Fort Zeller in the library. We hope that you will consider joining our meetings and provide your valuable input to support our students and staff at Fort Zeller.
2. Volunteering: If you have an interest in being a volunteer in your child's classroom or in our school, please use this link, https://www.elcosd.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=918, to complete the necessary paperwork on clearances. Don't hesitate to call our office at (610) 589-2575 if you need additional assistance.
News from Fort Zeller's PTO
Hello Fort Zeller Families!!!
We have some FUN PTO events happening during the month of February! Please read below for more information.
🛼 Roller Skating Party at Mt. Gretna Rollers Skating Rink 🛼
Saturday - February 3, 2024 - 11AM-1PM
Roller Skates and Roller Blades are available to rent
Concession Stand will be open
💰 ⛄️ - 2024 Coin Wars - Starts Monday, 2/5 - 💰 ⛄️
🗓️ February PTO Meeting - February 7 @ 630PM
🔵 Looking for a way to become involved in the PTO?
🟡 Attend our upcoming meetings. We have various positions that will be vacant for this coming school year 2024/2025. It is a great time to learn more about the committees and positions.
❤️🍪 A Little Treat for Someone Sweet! 🍪❤️
Let’s treat the Fort Zeller staff with a variety of cookies!
Drop off - Wednesday, 2/14
Please visit the sign-up for more details -
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F49ADA823A0F9CF8-47450510-cookie#/
📘 Order your 2023/2024 Yearbook 📘
https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/Order/SelectJob?jobNumber=10866224
Fort Zeller Elementary School
Yearbook ID: 10866224
Fort Zeller PTO March Events
🗓️ March PTO Meeting - March 6 @ 630PM
📚 Book Fair - March 25 & March 26
🐄 Mobile Ag Lab - March 25-March 27
🔴 Scan your grocery receipts - Box-Top Rewards
Earn money for our school through Box Tops for Education!
Download the Box Top mobile app onto your cell phone
(https://www.boxtops4education.com/s/get-the-app),
create an account with “FORT ZELLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL” as your participating school, and scan your receipts within 14 days of your purchase.
🔴 January Box Top Offers!
HAPPY FEBRUARY BIRTHDAY!
1 - Reece Kerschner, Axel Garcia & Ezra Hoffman
2 - Thane Wolf
3 - Melissa Gorenbuh
4 - Riley Umbenhauer
5 - Ayden Martin & Finley Moyer
8 - Lucas Torres
11 - Angela Hollinger
13 - Delilah Keener
14 - Dexter Sholley & Mason Jones
16 - Rickey Batz
18 - Emersyn Burkholder
19 - Isabella Matarazzi
21 - Elizabeth Strunk & Nora Ziegler
22 - Dante Cook, Lucas Derolf & Rosealyn Morris
23 - Mae Snyder
26 - Charlotte Lincoln & Rosalie McMullen
28 - Laura Long, Julian DeJesus & Mark Kravchenko
Contact us
Fort Zeller Elementary School
243 North Sheridan Road
Richland, PA 17087
Phone: (610) 589-2575
Fax: 610-589-5815
Email: jhouck@elcosd.org
Website: https://www.elcosd.org/Domain/211
Location: 243 North Sheridan Road Richland, PA 17087
Phone: (610) 589-2575
Twitter: @ElcoFort