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School Links:   Policies     Website     Calendar    Volunteer Application

School Office Hours

M-F 7:45 to 3:45

ph: 575-652-4006

April at a glance

• April 10-21, State testing. Please ensure your child is here on time and well rested. Click here to see the schedule. 

• April 13, Staff Meeting at 3:30

• April 19, Governing Board Meeting at 6:30. Click here for zoom invitation. 

• April 12,  PAC and Equity Council Meeting @ 6:00 

• April 26, Move-A-Thon, 8:30 to 10:30

Class updates

3rd Grade: English

No update

 3rd Grade: Spanish

Ninguna actualización

4th Grade Class Updates: English

Language arts: We are reading a novel as a class, and we love our Wednesday morning “Buddy Reader” time with our Kindergarten friends! We are also working on writing narrative and informational text on a variety of topics. 

Math: We are reviewing all of our fractions work and learning about geometry, including how to measure and draw angles.  

Science/Social Studies: We’ve talked about and demonstrated the effects of erosion on our Chihuahuan Desert, and we’re studying six major human body systems. 

Spanish: We are studying the human body systems and using cognates to match Science vocabulary to their Spanish counterparts. 

4th Grade Class Updates: Spanish 

Artes del lenguaje: ¡Estamos leyendo una novela juntos, y nos encanta nuestro tiempo de "Buddy Reader" los miércoles en la mañana con nuestros amigos de Kindergarten! También estamos trabajando en escribir textos narrativos e informativos sobre una variedad de temas.

Matemáticas: Estamos revisando todo nuestro trabajo de fracciones y aprendiendo sobre geometría, incluyendo cómo medir y dibujar ángulos.

Ciencias/Estudios Sociales: Hemos hablado y demostrado los efectos de la erosión en nuestro Desierto Chihuahuense, y estamos estudiando seis sistemas principales del cuerpo humano.

Español: Estamos estudiando los sistemas del cuerpo humano y usando cognados para hacer coincidir el vocabulario de Ciencias con sus contrapartes en español.

5th Grade Class Updates: English

ELA:  We are about to finish up Esperanza Rising and the students are deciding what final book we will read.  We are also working on writing letters including the greeting, body, and closing.

Math:  We are continuing our journey of algebraic expressions.  We are also working on the Real Game of Life; students are creating their budgets assuming they will go to work immediately at high school.  This will be followed up by refiguring the numbers with a trade school or college education.

Science:  Students created slideshows about different ways to produce electricity and will soon begin presenting to the class.  Our class hydroponics garden is currently growing beautiful marigolds.  Students will bring home their dissected owl pellets this week.  The 5th Grade Science Fair will tentatively be on Friday, 4/28.  Dr. Brown continues to surprise us with amazing STEM activities that really allow students to understand the workings of science.

Social Studies:  We wrapped our discussions of Pearl Harbor, WWII, and the first nuclear weapon and its relationship to NM.

You can find  more on our class website:  https://sites.google.com/jpaultayloracademy.org/5thgrade/home

5th Grade Class Updates: Spanish 

ELA: Estamos a punto de terminar Esperanza Rising y los estudiantes están decidiendo qué libro leeremos para finalizar el año. También estamos trabajando en escribir cartas, incluyendo el saludo, el cuerpo y el cierre.

Matemáticas: Continuamos nuestro viaje de expresiones algebraicas. También estamos trabajando en el Real Juego de la Vida; los estudiantes están creando sus presupuestos asumiendo que irán a trabajar inmediatamente en la escuela secundaria. A esto le seguirá la reconfiguración de los números con una escuela de oficios o educación universitaria.

Ciencias: Los estudiantes crearon presentaciones de diapositivas sobre diferentes formas de producir electricidad y pronto comenzarán a presentarlas a la clase. Nuestro jardín hidropónico de clase está cultivando hermosas caléndulas. Los estudiantes traerán a casa sus gránulos de búho disecados esta semana. La Feria de Ciencias de 5to grado tentativamente será el viernes 28 de abril. La Dr. Brown continúa sorprendiéndonos con increíbles actividades STEM que realmente permiten a los estudiantes comprender el funcionamiento de la ciencia.

Estudios sociales: terminamos nuestras discusiones sobre Pearl Harbor, la Segunda Guerra Mundial y la primera arma nuclear y su relación con NM.

Puede encontrar más en el sitio web de nuestra clase: https://sites.google.com/jpaultayloracademy.org/5thgrade/home

Hello Phoenix Families!

There are plenty of volunteer opportunities coming up! We would love to have you join our amazing group of JPTA volunteers! If you're interested, here is the link to our Volunteer Application:

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

The first page of the application includes easy-to-follow instructions on how to complete the volunteer process. It's quick and easy! Volunteers are required to have a Background Check only once unless there is a break in volunteer service of one school year or longer, excluding summers.

If you have any questions feel free to email me anytime! Thank you and have a fantastic weekend!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Volunteer Coordinator

J. Paul Taylor Academy

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

¡Hola familias Fénix!

¡Se avecinan muchas oportunidades de voluntariado! ¡Nos encantaría que se una a nuestro increíble grupo de voluntarios de JPTA! Si estás interesado, aquí está el enlace a nuestra Solicitud de Voluntariado:

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

La primera página de la solicitud incluye instrucciones fáciles de seguir sobre cómo completar el proceso de voluntariado. ¡Es rápido y fácil! Se requiere que los voluntarios realicen una verificación de antecedentes solo una vez, a menos que haya una interrupción en el servicio voluntario de un año escolar o más, excluyendo los veranos.

Si tiene alguna pregunta, no dude en enviarme un correo electrónico en cualquier momento. ¡Gracias y que tengas un fantástico fin de semana!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Coordinador voluntario

Academia J. Paul Taylor

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

Happy Spring Break, JPTA Community,

Math News

7th grade students represented our school and the Southern New Mexico Chapter this past Saturday at the State MathCOUNTS competition in Albuquerque.  Students had a great time and we learned a lot about this math competitoin.  We hope to return!

6th Grade is wrapping up the Ratios Unit and when we return from break, they will dive into Expressions, Equations and Rational Numbers.They have learned how to interpret and determine equivalent ratios by using diagrams, tables, and double number lines. They have learned the terms "ratio", "rate", "equivalent", "per", "unit rate", "constant", "at this rate", etc.

7th Grade is wrapping up the unit on Proportional Relationships and Percentages. Students have learned how to calculate a percent of a total and related it to interest, depreciation, tax, tip, commission, mark ups and discounts. When we return from break, 7th graders will work on Rational Number Arithmetic (positive and negative numbers) and apply them to expressions, equations and inequalities.

8th Grade has wrapped up their study of slope and linear relationships and have moved into Linear Equations and relationships. They watched a video and analyzed a "fast food order" from a MadTV skit to understand why we combine like terms (and how they get combined). We are currently working on understanding "Zero Pairs" and how equations are manipulated (and that there's no "one" correct way to solve problems!) When we return from break, they will continue with manipulating equations, and we will do a short study of exponents, scientific notation and pythagorean theorem to finish out the year.

** Next week is Spring Break! "Pi day" falls during the week (3/14). Consider having some "pi" on 3/14, and try some of these fun "pi-day" activities with your family. There are things everyone can do! Sing some songs, learn as many digits of pi as you can, do some pi art, etc. Some of the activities require a purchase (choose the "free" stuff!!)

https://mathgeekmama.com/math-resources/pi-day-goodness/

7th Grade Social Studies

The class is finishing up Chapter 4 - A Time of Change. Students have created a slide show about how New Mexico changed as explorers entered and settled in the state, as well as the many wars that took place between 1810-1900 involving New Mexicans. When we return from break, we will look at New Mexico's transition from territory to statehood as students study the time period from 1850 - 1920.

6th Grade SLA

Students have finished their Spanish Culture Project and will present them this week (Tue/Wed) to their peers. Students selected a country with Spanish influences and have spent this quarter researching various topics about the country. These included Basic Demographic Facts, Historical sites, Holidays and festivals (and compared them to the USA), Famous art/artists and music/composers, Fashion/clothing styles, Traditions and customs, Foods, Education, Family/Fun activities to do, Government and concluded with one topic of their choice (Native animals/plants, Home styles, etc).

Music News

Congratulations JPTA students for a great Spring Concert!!!     

Thank you to all of the participants, staff, and families who helped make this concert possible!

Hello Phoenix families here’s what’s been happening in PE/health at JPTA:

Kinder through second grade students have learned about the circulatory system. They have learned that veins carry deoxygenated blood and arteries carry oxygenated blood, and that exercise, fruits and vegetables, and water keep their heart healthy. The kids have also had an opportunity to experience drumfit using fitness balls and drumsticks. This fun pe activity incorporates creative movement and physical fitness principles such as endurance and strength training. Lastly, the kids have learned how to front roll and log r9oll in gymnastics stations. 

In 3rd-5th grade, the kids have learned the physical fitness components of flexibility, strength and endurance, how to determine their heart rate and why it’s important to measure during exercise. They’ve also participated in fitness stations and drumfit. Next week the 5th graders will practice social awareness by teaching the first graders how to tie their shoes using cardboard models and songs. 

In middle school, students have learned about the circulatory system, as well as heart, disease and prevention strategies. They have also created their own high intensity interval training workouts using different exercises targeting flexibility, strength and endurance.  Lastly, they have learned about rigid, porous and healthy boundaries and how this helps build positive relationships with others (SEL). 

Noticias de Matemáticas

7 estudiantes representarán a nuestra escuela y al Sur de Nuevo México este sábado en la competencia estatal MathCOUNTS en Albuquerque.

- Sexto grado está terminando la Unidad de Razones y cuando regresemos de las vacaciones, se sumergirán en Expresiones, Ecuaciones y Números Racionales. Han aprendido a interpretar y determinar proporciones equivalentes usando diagramas, tablas y rectas numéricas dobles. Han aprendido los términos "razón", "tasa", "equivalente", "por", "tasa unitaria", "constante", "a esta tasa", etc.

- 7mo grado está terminando la unidad de Relaciones Proporcionales y Porcentajes. Los estudiantes han aprendido cómo calcular un porcentaje de un total y relacionarlo con intereses, depreciación, impuestos, propinas, comisiones, aumentos y descuentos. Cuando regresemos de las vacaciones, los estudiantes de 7º grado trabajarán en la aritmética de números racionales (números positivos y negativos) y los aplicarán a expresiones, ecuaciones y desigualdades.

-El grado 8 ha terminado su estudio de pendiente y relaciones lineales y se ha movido a ecuaciones y relaciones lineales. Vieron un video y analizaron un "pedido de comida rápida" de un sketch de MadTV para comprender por qué combinamos términos similares (y cómo se combinan). Actualmente estamos trabajando para comprender los "pares cero" y cómo se manipulan las ecuaciones (¡y que no hay una "única" forma correcta de resolver problemas!) Cuando regresemos del descanso, continuarán manipulando ecuaciones y haremos un breve estudio. de exponentes, notación científica y teorema de pitágoras para terminar el año.

** ¡La próxima semana son las vacaciones de primavera! El "día de Pi" cae durante la semana (3/14). Considere tener algo de "pi" el 14/3 y pruebe algunas de estas divertidas actividades del "día de pi" con su familia. ¡Hay cosas que todos pueden hacer! Canta algunas canciones, aprende tantos dígitos de pi como puedas, haz algo de pi art, etc. Algunas de las actividades requieren una compra (¡elige las cosas "gratis"!)

https://mathgeekmama.com/math-resources/pi-day-goodness/

Estudios sociales de 7mo grado

La clase está terminando el Capítulo 4: Un tiempo de cambio. Los estudiantes han creado una presentación de diapositivas sobre cómo cambió Nuevo México a medida que los exploradores ingresaron y se establecieron en el estado, así como las muchas guerras que tuvieron lugar entre 1810 y 1900 que involucraron a los nuevos mexicanos. Cuando regresemos de las vacaciones, veremos la transición de Nuevo México de territorio a estado mientras los estudiantes estudian el período de 1850 a 1920.

SLA de sexto grado

Los estudiantes han terminado su Proyecto de Cultura Española y los presentarán esta semana (martes/miércoles) a sus compañeros. Los estudiantes seleccionaron un país con influencias españolas y han pasado este trimestre investigando varios temas sobre el país. Estos incluyeron datos demográficos básicos, sitios históricos, días festivos y festivales (y los compararon con los EE. UU.), artistas/artistas y música/compositores famosos, moda/estilos de ropa, tradiciones y costumbres, comidas, educación, actividades familiares/divertidas para hacer, Gobierno y concluyó con un tema de su elección (animales/plantas nativos, estilos de hogar, etc.).

Noticias Musicales

Felicitaciones JPTA students por un fabuloso concierto de primavera.   

Gracias a todos los participantes, profesores, y apoderados que hicieron posible este concierto.

Hola familias de Phoenix, esto es lo que ha estado sucediendo en educación física/salud en JPTA:

Los estudiantes de kínder a segundo grado han aprendido sobre el sistema circulatorio. Han aprendido que las venas transportan sangre desoxigenada y las arterias transportan sangre oxigenada, y que el ejercicio, las frutas y verduras y el agua mantienen el corazón sano. Los niños también han tenido la oportunidad de experimentar drumfit usando pelotas de fitness y baquetas. Esta divertida actividad de educación física incorpora el movimiento creativo y los principios de la aptitud física, como la resistencia y el entrenamiento de fuerza. Por último, los niños han aprendido a rodar al frente y rodar con troncos en las estaciones de gimnasia.

En 3.° a 5.° grado, los niños han aprendido los componentes de la aptitud física de flexibilidad, fuerza y ​​resistencia, cómo determinar su frecuencia cardíaca y por qué es importante medirla durante el ejercicio. También han participado en estaciones de fitness y drumfit. La semana que viene los alumnos de 5º practicarán la conciencia social enseñando a los de primer grado cómo atarse los zapatos utilizando modelos de cartón y canciones.

En la escuela intermedia, los estudiantes han aprendido sobre el sistema circulatorio, así como sobre el corazón, enfermedades y estrategias de prevención. También han creado sus propios entrenamientos de entrenamiento por intervalos de alta intensidad utilizando diferentes ejercicios enfocados en la flexibilidad, la fuerza y ​​la resistencia. Por último, han aprendido sobre límites rígidos, porosos y saludables y cómo esto ayuda a construir relaciones positivas con los demás (SEL).

Hello, JPTA Community!

We have one more exciting week of school and activities before Spring Break! 

IMPORTANT:

Please be sure your volunteer packets (link in my signature) and background checks (https://www.aps.gemalto.com/nm/index_NM.htm) are completed. We can no longer allow volunteers who do not have a completed background check to chaperone field trips. If you are involved with the students in any capacity as a volunteer, we require a background check to be on file. If the cost of a background check ($44) is discouraging you from volunteering, contact me so arrangements can be made to cover the cost. Please request assistance before obtaining the background check, as reimbursement is unavailable.

Volunteer Opportunities:

MUSIC: SPRING CONCERT Tuesday, March 7th

Volunteers are needed to work the ticket tables and to help in the lobby. We also need volunteers to monitor students in the tuning rooms and sit with them in the auditorium. 

Follow the link to sign-up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084DADAA28A7F58-jpta8

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR from March 6-10 in the JPTA Library.

We need volunteers for the fair on: 

Monday, March 6th

-One volunteer from 9:30 am to 11:20 am

-One or two volunteers from 12:30 pm to 1:20 pm

If you can help with either of these times, please respond to the PAC email with the subject: No running club for 3/3/23 and announcements.

Thanks to a group of helpful book fair volunteers we filled most of our needed classroom visit times for the week. We might need additional help and will send out info if needed.

**A full book fair class visit schedule will come out on 3/4/23 so that you know what days your student(s) are visiting the fair.

We have a lot of volunteer opportunities coming up after Spring Break for our last quarter of school. There will be field trips, the Move-a-thon, and end-of-the-year activities. Please consider taking care of your Volunteer Packets and background checks so that you may join the ranks of our super volunteers! We'll need and welcome your help!

Thank you all, and have a wonderful weekend!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Volunteer Coordinator

J. Paul Taylor Academy

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

ART NEWS

Hello students and families! There are some important announcements in our Art world this week so please read all the way through! Please join us at NMSU for a workshop tomorrow, Saturday, March 4th, from 1:00-2:30 pm to learn how to weave a landscape! Extra credit will be given to students who attend! The workshop will be held in Devasthali Hall on NMSU campus. I will be present taking attendance and participating (yay!). 

In other news, our 4-8th graders have completed their Doodle for Google art and the completed work was shipped off to Google headquarters in California, this past Wednesday. Even if we do not have any winners this year, I am very proud of our students and what they are capable of! Either way, it is an exciting process to be a part of, and the chance to win a scholarship from Google is even more exciting! 

Lastly, we have our Art to Remember announcement! Our virtual art gallery is ready, and families will be able to begin placing orders now. Here is our personalized school link: 

https://arttoremember.com/school/ztnnu4

If your student does not pop up via name search, do not worry. We are still waiting on a handful of student works to be uploaded to the site. They should be available in the next few days, and I will send out a mass email with his update.  

Please keep your eyes on your email for more information. I will be sending physical handouts home with ordering information towards the end of March. You can STILL order your items now by searching for your student's name using the link above. Thank you for helping our school raise funds!

Let me know if you have any questions, and thank you for all of your support!! 

Ms. Monica 

¡Hola, comunidad JPTA!

¡Tenemos una semana más de clases y actividades emocionante antes de las vacaciones de primavera!

IMPORTANTE:

Asegúrese de completar sus paquetes de voluntariado (enlace en mi firma) y verificaciones de antecedentes (https://www.aps.gemalto.com/nm/index_NM.htm). No se permitirá que los voluntarios que no tengan una verificación de antecedentes completa, sean chaperones en las excursiones. Si está involucrado con los estudiantes en cualquier capacidad como voluntario, requerimos que se registre una verificación de antecedentes. Si el costo de una verificación de antecedentes ($44) lo desalienta a ofrecerse como voluntario, comuníquese conmigo para que podamos hacer arreglos para cubrir el costo. Solicite asistencia antes de obtener la verificación de antecedentes, ya que el reembolso no está disponible.

Oportunidades para voluntarios:

MÚSICA: CONCIERTO DE PRIMAVERA Martes 7 de marzo

Se necesitan voluntarios para trabajar en las mesas de boletos y para ayudar en el vestíbulo. También necesitamos voluntarios para monitorear a los estudiantes en las salas de afinación y sentarse con ellos en el auditorio. Los voluntarios no tienen que pagar por su entrada. 

Siga el enlace para registrarse:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084DADAA28A7F58-jpta8

FERIA DEL LIBRO SCHOLASTIC del 6 al 10 de marzo en la biblioteca de JPTA.

Necesitamos voluntarios para la feria en:

lunes, 6 de marzo

-Un voluntario de 9:30 am a 11:20 am

-Uno o dos voluntarios de 12:30 a 13:20

Si puede ayudar con cualquiera de estos horarios, responda al correo electrónico del PAC con el asunto: No hay club de corredores para el 3/3/23 y anuncios.

Gracias a un grupo de voluntarios del Bookfair, llenamos la mayoría de los tiempos necesarios para visitar el salón de clases durante la semana. Es posible que necesitemos ayuda adicional y enviaremos información si es necesario.

**El 4/3/23 se publicará un calendario completo de visitas a la clase de la feria del libro para que sepa qué días su estudiante (s) visitará la feria.

Tenemos muchas oportunidades de voluntariado después de las vacaciones de primavera para nuestro último trimestre de clases. Habrá excursiones, el Move-a-thon y actividades de fin de año. ¡Considere encargarse de sus paquetes de voluntarios y verificaciones de antecedentes para que pueda unirse a las filas de nuestros súper voluntarios! ¡Necesitaremos y agradeceremos su ayuda!

¡Gracias a todos, y que tengan un maravilloso fin de semana!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Coordinador voluntario

Academia J. Paul Taylor

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

NOTICIAS DE ARTE

¡Hola estudiantes y familias! ¡Hay anuncios importantes en nuestro mundo del arte esta semana, así que leanlos hasta el final! ¡Por Favor acompáñenos en NMSU para un taller el sábado 4 de marzo, de 1:00 p.m. a 2:30 p.m. para aprender a tejer un paisaje! ¡Se dará crédito extra a los estudiantes que asistan! El taller se llevará a cabo en Devasthali Hall en el campus de NMSU. Estaré presente tomando asistencia y participando (¡sí!).

En otras noticias, nuestros alumnos de 4.° a 8.° grado completaron su Doodle Google y el trabajo completo se envió a la sede de Google en California el miércoles pasado. ¡Incluso si no tenemos ningún ganador este año, estoy muy orgullosa de nuestros estudiantes y de lo que son capaces de hacer! De cualquier manera, es un proceso emocionante del cual formar parte, ¡y la oportunidad de ganar una beca de Google es aún más emocionante!

Por último, ¡tenemos nuestro anuncio de Arte para recordar! Nuestra galería de arte virtual está lista y las familias podrán comenzar a hacer pedidos ahora. Aquí está nuestro enlace personalizado de la escuela:

https://arttoremember.com/school/ztnnu4

Si su estudiante no aparece a través de la búsqueda de nombre, no se preocupe. Todavía estamos esperando que se carguen en el sitio un montón de trabajos de estudiantes. Deberían estar disponibles en los próximos días y enviaré un correo electrónico masivo con su actualización.

Por favor, mantenga sus ojos en su correo electrónico para obtener más información. Enviaré folletos físicos a casa con información de pedidos hacia fines de marzo. TODAVÍA puede ordenar sus artículos ahora buscando el nombre de su estudiante usando el enlace de arriba. ¡Gracias por ayudar a nuestra escuela a recaudar fondos!

Déjame saber si tienes alguna pregunta, y gracias por todo tu apoyo!!

Senorita. Mónica

 JPTA Community,

Friday, my wife, and I attended the funeral services of Mr. Paul Taylor along with many other staff.  We were in good company with a large showing to include many within the four generations of the Taylor family, community members, friends, and dignitaries who included both our Governor and Lieutenant Governor.  

The JPTA community wishes to express our love and gratitude to the Taylor family.  Thank you for sharing Mr. Taylor with us as anyone who has had the good fortune of knowing Mr. Taylor can so easily speak to his multitude of saintly attributes.  I’m a better person for having known him.  Equally, I consider myself blessed to have had one of Mr. Taylor’s great-grandson’s and currently a great-granddaughter, their mother, Brooke Ratje, and of course Brooke’s mother, Mary Helen Ratje, one of seven children of Mr. and Mrs. J. Paul Taylor and Mary Daniels Taylor who were married for 63 years.

Mary Helen, your eulogy was beautiful.  You captured highlights of your father that memorialize many meaningful elements of his life.  We continue to be blessed to have you as part of our school and your steadfast willingness to carry forward many of Mr. Taylor’s attributes along with so many of your own is a true blessing to our school community.

2nd Grade – Here is what's happening in 2nd grade.:

Reading- We are completing our Syn/Ant videos and working with compound words.

Math: Shapes have taken over plus we are number talking about fractions, patterning, and story problems.

Spanish: Restaurant Vocab in preparation of our upcoming walking field trip. We will be using what we know to order in Spanish while eating at Matteo's.

Projects: Our extended community beautification project is taking us on two walking field trips this next week. We will be visiting the historic mesquite district and visiting Mateos among other businesses in the downtown mall area. Then on Friday we will be walking the Alameda restaurant district eating at Peter Piper Pizza and finishing our day with a visit to the railroad museum.

3rd Grade

Hello JPTA Family! This is what we are currently learning in 3rd Grade:

Math: For the past couple of weeks, students have used shapes and number lines to learn the basic attributes of fractions, including that they are whole shapes divided into equal parts. This past week's focus was understanding equivalent fractions.

History/ELA: along with our weekly creative writing Doodleloops, our students recently finished research projects on the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. This culminated in presentations to a large group of parents and then a peer presentation to the 4th Graders. During this project, students worked with small groups to conduct independent investigations of their Wonder and designed slides which included text blurbs and images to support their presentations. Not only that, but they also met the high standard of only culling information from academic resources (no Wikipedia! No random Google search!) and compiling a bibliography/references page for all of their texts and images. I am so proud of their hard work!

Science: We have focused this quarter on weather patterns. We have made model clouds in class, constructed could-identifying field books, and analyzed temperature data to learn more about climates around the world.

Spanish: We are reading short stories in Spanish about the everyday experiences of people and challenging our comprehension by answering questions about each text.

That's all for now!

Kevin Hartzell, on behalf of 3rd Grade

4th Grade

The fabulous 4th grade Phoenixes have been busy doing fun stuff! Last week we got to visit the planetarium and experiment with virtual reality goggles (big shout out to Mrs. Montoya for setting up the amazing opportunities with NMSU). We planted new veggies in the garden, made tacos with lettuce leaves, practiced for the upcoming Spanish Spelling Bee, and continued working on fractions. We've also been researching important figures in American Black History, then sharing what we've learned with end of day announcements; so far, the 4th graders have shared information about Ruby Bridges, Clara Belle Williams, Rosa Parks, and more. 

5th Grade

5th Grade successfully delivered hundreds of Valentine Grams and are now starting to plan the field trip to Silver City.  The students worked hard to create a budget, business plan, and graph how much money they made.

ELA: We are working on reading comprehension with our class book.  We are continuing to work on writing complete, grammatically correct sentences and expanding our thoughts into more complex essays.

Math: We finished up our Measurement and Data Unit by completing the Valentine Math Lab and computing the volume of our Valentine mailboxes.  Next we will look at algebraic expressions (letters are jumping into math!).

Science:  We recently dissected owl pellets and started building our "Robot Crawlers" which we will continue to work on next week.  We also visited the traveling Planetarium and the students used VR to explore the universe.  We still have our hydroponics going and students are trying new plants.

Social Studies: We are now learning about our first president of the U.S. and next we will be learning about the Civil War.  

Spanish:  We continue working with our 1st grade buddies and also labeling the school in Spanish.

Check out our class website for photos and updates:  https://sites.google.com/jpaultayloracademy.org/5thgrade/home

Honoring Mr. Taylor

In our continued effort to honor our wonderful namesake, please take a moment to visit the Caring Bridge website to see pictures and information about Mr. Taylor.

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jpaultaylor/support 

In addition to this site, visit the Friends of the Taylor Family Monument for information about, “Keeping the Tradition Alive” as Mr. Taylor earlier expressed the work conducted through this website.  This is a 501(c)3 organization supporting the life and work of Mr. Taylor

https://jpt100th.com/taylorfriends/ 

Mr. Taylor’s Services

Lastly, here is a little information about Mr. Taylor’s funeral services.  

Rosary: Thursday, February 23rd at 6:00 PM @ Basilica of San Albino, Mesilla, NM.

Funeral: Friday, February 24th at 11:00 AM @ Basilica of San Albino, Mesilla, NM.

The funeral will also be livestreamed through Getz Funeral Home: 

https://www.getzfuneralhome.com/Streaming_Services_1618964.html 

Obituary: 

https://www.lcsun-news.com/obituaries/tnm072642 

Albuquerque Journal: 

https://www.abqjournal.com/2572695/j-paul-taylor-conscience-of-new-mexico-legislature-dies-at-102.html 

Grant County Beats, Flag Ordered at Half Mass: 

https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/non-local-news-releases/76589-governor-orders-flags-to-half-staff-in-mourning-for-j-paul-taylor

Santa Fe New Mexican: 

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/death-notice-j-paul-taylor/article_47c94b6a-afe0-11ed-a18a-379c44256faf.html 

KTSM, El Paso:

https://www.ktsm.com/news/las-cruces-political-icon-j-paul-taylor-dies-at-age-102/ 

Student Council

On February 9th and 10th, 7 student delegates traveled to Albuquerque to represent J. Paul Taylor Academy in the annual New Mexico Student Council Association.  The students reported learning lots of information and have heightened interest continuing their work as Student Council members.  In addition, the team won first place for their Community Services project.  Nice work, delegates!

Kinder Corner – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IgZryZl3MYnjoMRTeAxgpglnt8XHbzAlvjDd1TBRx9c/edit# 

As you may know parent teacher conferences will be held next week on Thursday the 23 and 24. The kindergarten parent/teacher conferences will be a little bit different since I have a professional development and the services for Mr. Taylor. I have scheduled the parent teacher conferences on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Please feel free to sign up. If you cannot make it we can always schedule for some other time just let me know. 

Sign-up Here

Happy Valentine’s Day celebration was a success. We had a ton of fun. 

In math,  we will continue to learn how many to five. Within this month we will be talking about coins and how much they represent. We began with learning about pennies and their colors. We will continue to talk about them creating a nickel. The important factor is that we can create groups of five but also take them apart. One of the fun activities that we worked on was using ten and twenty frames as a game and they had to use memory to count down the numbers. 

In language arts we will be starting a new unit called Technology at Home and School. Within this unit we will be working on drawing inferences. The students will be thinking deeper into the stories about information that may not be talked about. Some of the key vocabulary words we will be talking about are; future, outerspace, appeared, and vanished.

In science we will make sure our garden bed is well water so the kale we planted is well nurtured.  

Important information:

We will be celebrating the following birthdays of the month: 

• Mrs. Marys on February 10 view here

• Bridger on February  11  view here

Here is the February sign-up sheet for snacks. Also, if we can add a healthy drink to the snack that would be great. Students are drinking lots of water throughout the day and they could use a little something different. Thank you to the parents who have brought additional snacks, they really come in hand when the day is empty. 

Last but not least thank you to those parents who reached out and asked about a wishlist here is the link below. 

1st Grade Update

First graders are learning about community helpers this quarter. We had a visit from a sonographer who brought a small sonogram machine and we got to use it to look at her arm.  We worked in small groups to create towns. The towns have 3-D buildings that  represent important community helpers.  In science, we are learning about the sun, moon and stars and had a visit from an engineer that works at NASA. He showed us photos of the sun, Earth and moon and explained how the Earth revolves around the sun.

First graders are doing activities from a kindness curriculum this semester. (kindness.org)  Their favorite activity is the kindness buddy activity. They met with their buddy and made a special signal that they will make to each other from across the room when I ring a bell. It instantly brings a smile to their faces. 

Next week we will have a visitor from the Children's Reading Alliance. She will tell us about her organization and help us set up a book donation. During the first two weeks of March we will be collecting new and gently used books to donate to this organization.  This will be a project that we work on with Kinder and Second grade.

Honrando al Sr. Taylor

En nuestro continuo esfuerzo por honrar a nuestro maravilloso homónimo, favor de tomar un momento para visitar el sitio web de Caring Bridge para ver fotos e información sobre el Sr. Taylor.

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jpaultaylor/support

Además de este sitio, visite el Monumento a los Amigos de la Familia Taylor para obtener información sobre "Mantener viva la tradición", como el Sr. Taylor expresó anteriormente el trabajo realizado a través de este sitio web. Esta es una organización 501(c)3 que apoya la vida y obra del Sr. Taylor

https://jpt100th.com/taylorfriends/

Servicios del Sr. Taylor

Por último, aquí hay un poco de información sobre los servicios funerarios del Sr. Taylor.

Rosario: jueves 23 de febrero a las 6:00 PM @ Basílica de San Albino, Mesilla, NM.

Funeral: viernes, 24 de febrero a las 11:00 AM @ Basílica de San Albino, Mesilla, NM.

El funeral también se transmitirá en vivo a través de Getz Funeral Home:

https://www.getzfuneralhome.com/Streaming_Services_1618964.html

Obituario:

https://www.lcsun-news.com/obituaries/tnm072642

Diario de Alburquerque:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2572695/j-paul-taylor-conscience-of-new-mexico-legislature-dies-at-102.html

Latidos del condado de Grant, bandera ordenada en media misa:

https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/non-local-news-releases/76589-governor-orders-flags-to-half-staff-in-mourning-for-j-paul-taylor

Santa Fe Nuevo México:

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/death-notice-j-paul-taylor/article_47c94b6a-afe0-11ed-a18a-379c44256faf.html

KTSM, El Paso:

https://www.ktsm.com/noticias/las-cruces-politico-icono-j-paul-taylor-muere-a-los-102-años/

Consejo estudiantil

El 9 y 10 de febrero, 7 delegados estudiantiles viajaron a Albuquerque para representar a la Academia J. Paul Taylor en la Asociación Anual del Consejo Estudiantil de Nuevo México. Los estudiantes reportaronn haber aprendido y han aumentado su interés en continuar con su trabajo como miembros del Consejo Estudiantil. Además, el equipo ganó el primer lugar por su proyecto de Servicios Comunitarios. ¡Buen trabajo, delegados!

KInder

Rincón de kínder: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IgZryZl3MYnjoMRTeAxgpglnt8XHbzAlvjDd1TBRx9c/edit#

Como sabrán, las conferencias de padres y maestros se llevarán a cabo la próxima semana, el  jueves 23 y 24. Las conferencias de padres y maestros de kindergarten serán un poco diferentes ya que tengo un desarrollo profesional y los servicios para el Sr. Taylor. He programado las conferencias de padres y maestros los martes, miércoles y jueves por la noche. Por favor, siéntase libre de registrarse. Si no puede venir, siempre podemos programarlo para otro momento, solo hágamelo saber.

Registrate aquí

La celebración del Día de los Enamorados fue todo un éxito. Tuvimos un montón de diversión.

En matemáticas, continuaremos aprendiendo cuántos a cinco. Dentro de este mes estaremos hablando de monedas y cuánto representan. Comenzamos aprendiendo sobre los centavos y sus colores. Continuaremos hablando de ellos creando una moneda de cinco centavos. Lo importante es que podemos crear grupos de cinco pero también desarmarlos. Una de las actividades divertidas en las que trabajamos fue usar cuadros de diez y veinte como un juego y tenían que usar la memoria para contar los números.

En artes del lenguaje, comenzaremos una nueva unidad llamada Tecnología en el hogar y la escuela. Dentro de esta unidad estaremos trabajando en hacer inferencias. Los estudiantes pensarán más profundamente en las historias sobre información de la que no se puede hablar. Algunas de las palabras clave del vocabulario de las que hablaremos son; futuro, el espacio exterior, apareció y desapareció.

En ciencias, nos aseguraremos de que la cama de nuestro jardín tenga agua de pozo para que la col rizada que plantamos esté bien nutrida.

Información importante:

Al comenzar el año, solo quería recordarles a los padres que el desayuno se sirve puntualmente de 7:30 a 7:50 am en la cafetería. Si su estudiante va a desayunar en la escuela, asegúrese de que esté aquí durante este tiempo. He permitido que los estudiantes coman en la clase si llegan tarde, pero ahora ocurre con frecuencia y está empezando a interrumpir la clase para nuestras rutinas matutinas. La jornada académica comienza a las 8:00 am. Gracias por su comprensión. 

Celebraremos los cumpleaños del mes:

• Mrs. Marys on February 10 view here

• Bridger on February  11  view here

• 
  

Aquí está la hoja de inscripción de enero para snack. Además, si podemos agregar una bebida saludable a la merienda, sería genial. Los estudiantes beben mucha agua durante el día y les vendría bien algo diferente. Gracias a los padres que han traído refrigerios adicionales, realmente son útiles cuando el día está vacío.

Por último, gracias a los padres que se comunicaron y preguntaron sobre una lista de deseos, aquí está el enlace a continuación.

Actualización de 1er grado

Los estudiantes de primer grado están aprendiendo sobre los ayudantes de la comunidad este trimestre. Recibimos la visita de un ecografista que trajo una pequeña máquina de ecografía y pudimos usarla para ver su brazo. Trabajamos en pequeños grupos para crear pueblos. Los pueblos tienen edificios tridimensionales que representan importantes ayudantes de la comunidad. En ciencias, estamos aprendiendo sobre el sol, la luna y las estrellas y tuvimos la visita de un ingeniero que trabaja en la NASA. Nos mostró fotos del sol, la Tierra y la luna y explicó cómo la Tierra gira alrededor del sol.

Los estudiantes de primer grado están haciendo actividades de un plan de estudios de bondad este semestre. (kindness.org) Su actividad favorita es la actividad del compañero de amabilidad. Se reunieron con su amigo e hicieron una señal especial que se harán el uno al otro desde el otro lado de la habitación cuando toque una campana. Instantáneamente trae una sonrisa a sus rostros.

La próxima semana tendremos un invitado de Children's Reading Alliance. Ella nos contará sobre su organización y nos ayudará a organizar una donación de libros. Durante las primeras dos semanas de marzo estaremos recolectando libros nuevos y usados ​​para donar a esta organización. Este será un proyecto que trabajaremos con Kinder y Segundo grado.

Music News

Music students are practicing and preparing for the upcoming Spring Concert on Tuesday, March 7th at NMSU!  We need many volunteers to help the concert run smoothly.  A sign up form will be sent out in the next few weeks.  Please consider volunteering. Thank you for your support!

Orchestra students interested in volunteering to play at the Charter Fair should contact Mrs. Espinoza by Wednesday, February 15th!

--Saturday, 2/18 Charter Fair at the Plaza 11:00-11:30am (weather permitting)

As time allows, we do folk dancing on Fridays!

PE / Health

Hello Phoenix Families!! Lots has been happening in PE/heath the last couple weeks. Here’s an update on what we have covered:

The K-2 grade kids have been practicing different yoga poses to help improve their strength, flexibility, mobility, balance, emotional regulation and mindfulness. In our yoga lessons, the students have had the opportunity to create their own poses and have learned yoga vocabulary in Spanish. Lastly, the kids learned the game called bocce ball. This awesome game was taught by special guest Jenny Matsler who has won multiple medals in the Special Olympics!! She is also Ms. Melissa’s awesome sister!! The kids loved having Jenny at the school and represented JPTA well. 

The 3-5th grade students have also learned about the many benefits of yoga and have been writing yoga stories. In this project, groups are writing stories with a beginning, middle and end that incorporate yoga poses. When they are finished, they will present their stories to their class who will follow along with the poses. Third, fourth and fifth graders also learned how to play bocce ball and absolutely loved it!! Fifth grade students finished their archery unit and did very well with it. Ask them the whistle commands used on an archery range and how to hold an arrow!! I am already securing a date to borrow the NASP trailer again in September!! 

Middle school students completed their personal  smart goals which we will revisit in a month and the archery unit. Although we had some “hiccups” to start with archery, they did very well with it and I was very impressed with their progress. In the next couple weeks, middle school will begin their own student-created health projects. We will also continue playing fun games related to all the SHAPE standards and benchmarks. 

Thank you for your continued support with the JPTA PE/Health Program!! 

Coach Sells 

Art Class

Hi JPTA families! In Art, all classes have been learning about Pablo Picasso and Cubism, and how he influenced the world of art through this movement. Students learned about how to use shapes to depict everyday objects, and we also studied Picasso's painting, "Three Musicians", 1921.  

4th-8th grade classes are working on a Doodle for Google design, which is a national art contest where winners will receive scholarships and google gear. This serves as our "test year" for this contest and if all goes according to plan, the contest will become an annual project! Parent signatures are required for final submissions, so please stay tuned for directions on this as the submission date nears (February 22nd is the submission date, and February 17th is the due date for the project itself). Please note, no work can be entered without a legal guardian's signature on the entry form. 

Please visit this link for more information:  https://doodles.google.com/intl/en_us/d4g/ 

I will keep you up to date with more information as submission time nears, so stay tuned!! 

Art to Remember fundraiser update!!! We have all student artwork submitted, and it is being prepared to ship off to the AtR company for uploading to our students' personalized links. We will begin the ordering process on April 1-10th. Please keep an eye out for emails regarding the ordering process towards the end of March. It will come faster than we think! 

Thank you for your beautiful support, and please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions! 

With Kindness, 

Ms. Monica 

Noticias musicales

¡Los estudiantes de música están practicando y preparándose para el próximo Concierto de Primavera,  el martes 7 de marzo en NMSU! Necesitamos muchos voluntarios para ayudar a que el concierto funcione sin problemas. Se enviará un formulario de registro en las próximas semanas. Por favor considere ser voluntario. ¡Gracias por su apoyo!

¡Los estudiantes de orquesta que estén interesados tocar en la Feria Charter deben comunicarse con la Sra. Espinoza antes del miércoles 15 de febrero!

--Sábado, 2/18 Feria Charter en la Plaza 11:00-11:30 a. m. (si el clima lo permite)

Si el tiempo lo permite, ¡bailamos folclóricos los viernes!

Educación Física / Salud

 ¡Hola familias Phoenix! Muchas cosas han estado sucediendo en educación física/salud en las últimas dos semanas. Aquí hay una actualización de lo que hemos cubierto:

Los niños de K a 2 grado han estado practicando diferentes posturas de yoga para ayudar a mejorar su fuerza, flexibilidad, movilidad, equilibrio, regulación emocional y atención. En nuestras clases de yoga, los alumnos han tenido la oportunidad de crear sus propias poses y han aprendido vocabulario de yoga en español. Por último, los niños aprendieron el juego llamado bocce ball/bochas. ¡Este increíble juego fue enseñado por la invitada especial Jenny Matsler, quien ganó múltiples medallas en las Olimpiadas Especiales! ¡Ella también es la increíble hermana de la Sra. Melissa! A los niños les encantó tener a Jenny en la escuela y representaron muy bien a JPTA.

Los estudiantes de 3.º a 5.º grado también han aprendido acerca de los muchos beneficios del yoga y han estado escribiendo historias de yoga. En este proyecto, los grupos escriben historias con un principio, un medio y un final que incorporan posturas de yoga. Cuando hayan terminado, presentarán sus historias a su clase, quienes seguirán las poses. ¡Los estudiantes de tercer, cuarto y quinto grado también aprendieron a jugar a las bochas y les encantó! Los estudiantes de quinto grado terminaron su unidad de tiro con arco y les fue muy bien. ¡Pregúntales los comandos de silbato que se usan en un campo de tiro con arco y cómo sostener una flecha! ¡Ya estoy asegurando una fecha para tomar prestado el tráiler de NASP nuevamente en septiembre!

Los estudiantes de secundaria completaron sus objetivos personales que revisaremos en un mes y la unidad de tiro con arco. Aunque tuvimos algunos “contratiempos” al comenzar con el tiro al arco, lo hicieron muy bien y quedé muy impresionado con su progreso. En las próximas dos semanas, la escuela intermedia comenzará sus propios proyectos de salud creados por los estudiantes. También continuaremos jugando juegos divertidos relacionados con todos los estándares y puntos de referencia de SHAPE.

¡Gracias por su continuo apoyo con el Programa de salud/educación física de JPTA!

Entrenadora Sells

Clase de arte

¡Hola familias de JPTA! En Arte, todas las clases han estado aprendiendo sobre Pablo Picasso, el cubismo, y cómo influyó en el mundo del arte a través de este movimiento. Los estudiantes aprendieron cómo usar formas para representar objetos cotidianos, y también estudiamos la pintura de Picasso, "Tres músicos" de 1921.

Las clases de 4.° a 8.° grado están trabajando en un diseño de Doodle para Google, que es un concurso nacional de arte donde los ganadores recibirán becas y equipo de Google. Este sirve como nuestro "año de prueba" para este concurso y si todo sale según lo planeado, ¡el concurso se convertirá en un proyecto anual! Se requieren las firmas de los padres para las presentaciones finales, así que esté atento a las instrucciones a medida que se acerca la fecha de presentación (el 22 de febrero es la fecha de presentación y el 17 de febrero es la fecha límite para el proyecto en sí). Tenga en cuenta que no se puede ingresar ningún trabajo sin la firma de un tutor legal en el formulario de inscripción.

Visite este enlace para obtener más información: https://doodles.google.com/intl/en_us/d4g/

Los mantendré actualizados a medida que se acerque el tiempo de presentación, ¡así que estén atentos!

¡¡¡Actualización de la recaudación de fondos Art to Remember!!! Hemos enviado todas las obras de arte de los estudiantes y se están preparando para enviarlas a la empresa AtR para cargarlas en los enlaces personalizados de nuestros estudiantes. Comenzaremos el proceso de pedido del 1 al 10 de abril. Esté atento a los correos electrónicos sobre el proceso de pedido hacia fines de marzo. ¡Llegará más rápido de lo que pensamos!

¡Gracias por su hermoso apoyo, y no dude en comunicarse con cualquier pregunta!

con amabilidad,

Srta. Mónica

Friday, February 3rd:

Math - Ms. Rupp

All students have been receiving and submitting their assignments through Canvas. Parents/Guardians have been invited to “connect” to their child(ren) on Canvas to see their progress and receive regular updates on assignments and grades. If you have not yet done so, please connect!

6th grade continues to work on Equivalent Ratios. We are moving into “seeing” these equivalent ratios on a double number line diagram. This will help students to begin identifying a “unit rate” and comparing ratios. We are spending extra time on this unit as it is a big foundation to 7th and 8th grade concepts of Proportionality and understanding Linear Equations. Students are working toward creating a poster about a specific ratio.

7th grade is working on the Proportional Relationship extension from 6th grade ratios. They are applying fractions and repeating decimals to this concept and converting word problems/scenarios into equations. Ask your child(ren) about what “half as much again” means!

8th grade is comparing descriptions, equations, tables and graphs. They continue to practice drawing and labeling detailed graphs (each axis with labels, units and scaled appropriately). 

The Academic Competition/MathCOUNTs group is getting ready for an Academic Competition on Feb. 16. There will be a MathCOUNTS competition on Friday, Feb. 17

ELA - Ms. Fielder

6th grade- Students in 6th grade have done a wonderful job presenting their Folklore projects. They each picked a folklore of their choice: Myth, Legend, Fable, Fairy Tale, or Tall Tale.  They read about it, summarized the folklore, describe their connection to the story and embed a video in their presentation.  Students are also reading Non-fiction in Time for Kids called: “Music for All” and answering critical thinking questions. 

7th - Students are currently completing their Newspaper Article for an event that took place in 2022.  They have read an event in Time for Kids, summarized it in their own words, then transferred information onto Adobe Express. Students are also brainstorming topics for a Persuasive Essay. 

Here are a few: 

8th - Students have just completed their Winter Challenge slides of what they did over Winter Break.  Several of them have already submitted their video for the challenge, and I am excited to see how well they do.  They did a fabulous job creating a poster for Martin Luther King day.  We discussed what they know about him, what he did, how did his life impact history etc.  It was a nice discussion and recap of this great historical figure.  Currently, students are working on their Informational Essays/Speeches closely following the outline that has been given.  

Social Studies

6th Grade - 6th graders are also working on their Historical Projects closely following the rubric given. Research and gathering of information, illustrations, and pertinent facts are so important for this project. 

7th grade social studies is creating either a children’s book or a book jacket about explorers/exploration groups that had an effect on the discovery/colonization of New Mexico.

Middle School Spanish Language

6th grade SLA students continue to work on their Spanish Culture Project - researching specific information each day about the country of their choice. This project will culminate with a slide/Adobe presentation at the end of the quarter.

8th Grade

SLA - We have completed our “Book Tasting” project that we will be doing on February 14th for Valentine’s Day. Students will be reading books in Spanish as well as English cafe style.

ESPANOL

Matemáticas - Sra. Rupp

Todos los estudiantes han estado recibiendo y enviando sus tareas a través de Canvas. Se ha invitado a los padres/tutores a "conectarse" con sus hijos en Canvas para ver su progreso y recibir actualizaciones periódicas sobre tareas y calificaciones. Si aún no lo ha hecho, ¡conéctese!

Sexto grado continúa trabajando en proporciones equivalentes. Nos estamos moviendo hacia "ver" estas proporciones equivalentes en un diagrama de recta numérica doble. Esto ayudará a los estudiantes a comenzar a identificar una "tasa unitaria" y comparar proporciones. Estamos dedicando más tiempo a esta unidad, ya que es una gran base para los conceptos de proporcionalidad y comprensión de las ecuaciones lineales de los grados séptimo y octavo. Los estudiantes están trabajando para crear un póster sobre una proporción específica.

El 7° grado está trabajando en la extensión de la relación proporcional de las proporciones del 6° grado. Están aplicando fracciones y decimales repetidos en este concepto y convirtiendo problemas/situaciones verbales en ecuaciones. ¡Pregúntele a su(s) hijo(s) qué significa “la mitad de nuevo”!

El octavo grado está comparando descripciones, ecuaciones, tablas y gráficas. Continúan practicando a dibujar y etiquetar gráficas detalladas (cada eje con etiquetas, unidades y escalas apropiadas).

El grupo Competencia académica/MathCOUNTs se está preparando para una competencia académica el 16 de febrero. Habrá una competencia MathCOUNTS el viernes 17 de febrero.

ELA - Sra. Fielder

6to grado- Los estudiantes de 6to grado han hecho un trabajo maravilloso presentando sus proyectos de Folclore. Cada uno eligió un folclore de su elección: Mito, Leyenda, Fábula, Cuento de hadas o Cuento fantástico. Lo leyeron, resumieron el folclore, describieron su conexión con la historia e incluyeron un video en su presentación. Los estudiantes también están leyendo no ficción en Time for Kids llamada: “Música para todos” y respondiendo preguntas de pensamiento crítico.

7. Los estudiantes actualmente están completando su artículo de periódico para un evento que tuvo lugar en 2022. Leyeron un evento en Time for Kids, lo resumieron en sus propias palabras y luego transfirieron la información a Adobe Express. Los estudiantes también están haciendo una lluvia de ideas sobre temas para un ensayo persuasivo.

Aquí hay algunos:

8º - Los estudiantes acaban de completar sus diapositivas del Desafío de invierno de lo que hicieron durante las vacaciones de invierno. Varios de ellos ya enviaron su video para el desafío y estoy emocionada al ver qué tan bien lo hacieron. Hicieron un trabajo fabuloso creando un cartel para el día de Martin Luther King. Discutimos lo que saben sobre él, lo que hizo, cómo su vida impactó la historia, etc. Fue una buena discusión y resumen de esta gran figura histórica. Actualmente, los estudiantes están trabajando en sus ensayos/discursos informativos siguiendo de cerca el esquema que se les ha dado.

Ciencias Sociales

6to Grado - Los estudiantes de 6to grado también están trabajando en sus Proyectos Históricos siguiendo de cerca la rúbrica. La investigación y recopilación de información, ilustraciones y hechos pertinentes son muy importantes para este proyecto.

Estudios sociales de séptimo grado está creando un libro para niños o una cubierta de libro sobre exploradores/grupos de exploración que tuvieron un efecto en el descubrimiento/colonización de Nuevo México.

Idioma español de la escuela secundaria

Los estudiantes de SLA de sexto grado continúan trabajando en su Proyecto de cultura española, investigando información específica cada día sobre el país de su elección. Este proyecto culminará con una presentación de diapositivas/Adobe al final del trimestre.

Octavo grado

SLA - Hemos finalizado nuestro proyecto de “Probar libros” que realizaremos el 14 de febrero por San Valentín. Los estudiantes leerán libros en español y en inglés al estilo café.

Friday, January 27th:

Volunteer Corner: 

Thank you to those of you who have volunteered for the various opportunities and field trips we've had in the last couple of weeks. Also, to those who have turned in volunteer packets and completed background checks! If you have yet to, the volunteer packet (link included in my signature) consists of only a few pages and takes less than 5 minutes to fill out. For the background check you register online (https://www.aps.gemalto.com/nm/index_NM.htm), and then you will need to be fingerprinted at Security Concepts. You may call Security Concepts before heading over, their phone number is (575) 526-4151. Just this last week, we had a couple of parents complete the entire process in a matter of hours. I assure you everything is quick and easy!

Current Volunteer Opportunities:

Donations of feminine hygiene products (pads) are still being collected through the end of this month. You can drop off donations at the front office.

The Running Club can always use volunteers! Please make sure you have a volunteer packet and background check completed.

Contact me with any questions or concerns. Thanks again, and have a terrific weekend!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Volunteer Coordinator

J. Paul Taylor Academy

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf 

3rd Grade

Math: we are combining operations now, meaning we are working with problems like (8x4) + 3. It’s been exciting to watch so many students grapple with this challenge and fit it together. Very soon, we will be starting on fractions--exciting!

ELA: For Creative Writing, each student writes a weekly short story. On Monday, they begin by writing a plot diagram. Once that is complete, each student drafts their story. On Tuesday, they then evaluate their own work by reading it aloud to themselves and fixing any mistakes. On Wednesday, this is followed by a peer review that covers the same questions. Finally, after students have polished their writing, they practice reading their stories aloud with fluency, focusing on delivery and theatrics. This process culminates on Thursday after lunch when we gather in a circle and read out our creations to the enjoyment of everyone!

As for informative writing, our main focus has been a research project on the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. This has been eating up most of our afternoons and it has been cool to dig deeply into one topic in search of answers to our many questions.

Science: We just launched a module on cloud formation! Our most recent experiment involved creating model clouds inside plastic cups and observing their features.

SLA: Currently on hiatus while we finish up our 7 Wonders Project.

That's all from us for this week!

Kevin Hartzell, on behalf of 3rd Grade

4th Grade

The 4th grade class has been busy reading three novels (ask them which one is their favorite so far), reading with our Kindergarten buddies, harvesting greens from the school garden (we sent home 2.2 lbs of greens recently), figuring out how to make equivalent fractions using multiplication and division, counting and writing numbers to one hundred en español, becoming morpheme magicians (ask about our newest prefix -un), creating digital Science posters, and investigating soil and erosion. Soon, we will be helping the 3rd and 5th grade classes on another Spanish project, writing essays, practicing for the Spanish spelling bee, exploring geometry, and much more. 

These pictures were taken during our field trip to Mesilla, where we visited Mr. Taylor's house, took a walking tour of the plaza, and enjoyed a yummy lunch from Andele's! 

5th Grade

The kids have really set a plan in place for this semester.  They are looking at the following projects for the remainder of 5th grade:

-Game of Life (financial literacy and creating a real-world budget),

-Team up to create Robot Crawlers,

-Poetry Presentations and Individual Poetry Collections,

-Use Adobe Character Animator to write a script and create an animated movie,

-Dissect Owl Pellets,

-Run a Valentine Fundraiser (More information to be sent out),

-5th Grade Science Fair in April,

-Create a Spanish comic,

-Write letters to our new Pen Pals in Vic sur Aisne, France (we are very excited about this!)

Math:  We are working on Measurement and Data.  Students are learning about the standard and metric system.  In our final project for this unit, we will have a Valentine's Math Lab and students will take their knowledge of measurement to calculate area, volume, and perimeter of Valentine Mailboxes.

ELA:  Students will be creating a personal collection of poetry and present their collections.  As well, they will work on letter writing skills for our French pen pal experience. 

We will continue to work on our writing and grammar skills with daily 5 minute homework.  In addition, we are working on cursive lessons as many of the 5th graders missed this skill during COVID. 

Science:  Wednesday's STEM Days are moving along very well.  Students are trying many new hands-on science activities. 

Social Studies:  Students created a timeline of American events they would like to study further this year.  We are having many great discussions about our nation's history.

Spanish:  Student recently translated a short story and then answered questions in Spanish!  We are making strides to recognize sight words in Spanish.

Viernes 27 de enero:

Rincón de Voluntarios:

Gracias a aquellos que se han ofrecido como voluntarios para las diversas oportunidades y excursiones que hemos tenido en las últimas semanas. (Y aquellos que entregaron paquetes de voluntarios y completaron verificaciones de antecedentes) Si aún no lo ha hecho, el paquete de voluntariado (enlace incluido en mi firma) consiste de unas pocas páginas y le tomará menos de 5 minutos completarlo. Para la verificación de antecedentes, debe registrarse en línea en (https://www.aps.gemalto.com/nm/index_NM.htm), y luego deberá tomar sus huellas digitales en Security Concepts. Puede llamar a Security Concepts antes de llegar, el número de teléfono es (575) 526-4151. Si necesita ayuda en español, comuníquese con Julia Rivera-Tapia al julia.rivera-tapia@jpaultayloracademy.org, y ella le puede asistir. En esta  última semana, un par de padres completaron todo el proceso en cuestión de horas. ¡Le aseguro que todo es rápido y fácil!

Oportunidades disponibles para los voluntarios:

Las donaciones de productos de higiene femenina (toallas) aún se están recaudando hasta finales de este mes. Puede dejar las donaciones en la oficina principal.

¡El Running Club  siempre puede usar voluntarios! Asegúrese de tener un paquete de voluntarios y una verificación de antecedentes completada.

Contácteme con cualquier pregunta o inquietud. ¡Gracias de nuevo y que tengas un excelente fin de semana!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Coordinadora de voluntarios

J. Paul Taylor Academy

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf 

3er grado

Matemáticas: estamos combinando operaciones,, lo que significa que estamos trabajando con problemas como (8x4) + 3. Ha sido emocionante ver a tantos estudiantes lidiar con este desafío y superarlo. Muy pronto, comenzaremos con las fracciones, ¡ que emocionante!

ELA: Para escritura creativa, cada estudiante escribe una historia corta semanal. El lunes, comienzan a escribir un diagrama de trama. Una vez que se completa, cada estudiante redacta su historia. El martes, evalúan su propio trabajo leyéndolo en voz alta y corrigiendo cualquier error. El miércoles, es seguido por una revisión en parejas que cubre las mismas preguntas. Finalmente, después de que los estudiantes hayan pulido su escritura, practican la lectura de sus historias en voz alta con fluidez, enfocándose en  su voz y la teatralidad. ¡Este proceso culmina el jueves después del almuerzo cuando nos reunimos en un círculo y leemos nuestras creaciones para el deleite de el grupo!!

En cuanto a la redacción informativa, nuestro enfoque principal ha sido un proyecto de investigación sobre las 7 Maravillas del Mundo Antiguo. Esto ha ocupado la mayor parte de nuestras tardes y ha sido genial profundizar en un tema en busca de las respuestas a nuestras preguntas.

Ciencia: ¡Acabamos de lanzar un módulo sobre formación de nubes! Nuestro experimento más reciente involucró la creación de modelos de nubes dentro de vasos de plástico y la observación de sus características.

SLA: Actualmente en pausa mientras terminamos nuestro Proyecto 7 Wonders.

Eso es todo de nuestra parte por esta semana!

Kevin Hartzell, en nombre de 3er Grado

Cuarto grado

La clase de cuarto grado ha estado ocupado leyendo tres novelas (pregúnteles cuál es su favorita novela hasta ahora), leyendo con nuestros compañeros de kinder, cosechando verduras del jardín de la escuela (recientemente enviamos a casa 2.2 libras de verduras), averiguando cómo hacer fracciones equivalentes usando la multiplicación y la división, contando y escribiendo números hasta cien en español, convirtiéndose en magos de los morfemas (pregunte por nuestro prefijo más nuevo -un), creando carteles digitales de ciencia e investigando el suelo y la erosión. Pronto estaremos ayudando a las clases de 3.° y 5.° grado en otro proyecto de español, escribiendo ensayos, practicando para el concurso de ortografía en español, explorando geometría y mucho más.

Estas fotos fueron tomadas durante nuestra excursión a Mesilla, donde visitamos la casa del Sr. Taylor, hicimos un recorrido a pie por la plaza y disfrutamos de un delicioso almuerzo de Andele's.

5to grado

Los niños  han establecido un plan para este semestre. Están analizando los siguientes proyectos para el resto del quinto grado:

-Game of Life (alfabetización financiera y creación de un presupuesto del mundo real),

-Únete para crear Robot Crawlers,

-Presentaciones de poesía y colecciones individuales de poesía,

-Uso de  Adobe Character Animator para escribir un guión y crear una película animada,

-Diseccionar popo de búho,

-Ejecutar una recaudación de fondos de San Valentín (se enviará más información),

-Feria de Ciencias de 5to grado en abril,

-Crear un cómic español,

-Escribir cartas a nuestros nuevos Penpals en Vic sur Aisne, Francia (¡estamos muy entusiasmados con esto!)

Matemáticas: Estamos trabajando en Medición y Datos. Los estudiantes están aprendiendo sobre el sistema estándar y métrico. En nuestro proyecto final de esta unidad, tendremos un laboratorio de matemáticas de San Valentin y los estudiantes utilizarán sus conocimientos de medición para calcular el área, el volumen y el perímetro de los buzones de correo de Valentine.

ELA: Los estudiantes crearán una colección personal de poesía y presentarán sus colecciones. Además, trabajarán en las habilidades de escritura de cartas para nuestra experiencia de amigos por correspondencia en francés.

Continuaremos trabajando en nuestras habilidades de escritura y gramática con tareas diarias de 5 minutos. Además, estamos trabajando en lecciones en cursiva, ya que muchos de los alumnos de 5.° grado perdieron esta habilidad durante el COVID.

Ciencia: Los Días STEM del miércoles están avanzando muy bien. Los estudiantes están probando muchas actividades científicas prácticas nuevas.

Estudios Sociales: Los estudiantes crearon una cronología de eventos estadounidenses que les gustaría estudiar más este año. Estamos teniendo muchas discusiones excelentes sobre la historia de nuestra nación.

Español: ¡Unl estudiante tradujo recientemente una historia corta y luego respondió preguntas en español! Estamos avanzando en el reconocimiento de palabras de uso frecuente en español.

JPTA Community,

Volunteering at JPTA

Hello JPTA families!

There are a couple of important announcements and reminders this week. 

First, I'd like to extend a big thanks to all of you who helped restock the Teacher and Staff Kitchen this week. It's a tremendous help for our busy staff to have snacks available on the go. We're grateful!  

IMPORTANT:

Please make sure your volunteer packets are turned into the front office and your background checks (https://www.aps.gemalto.com/nm/index_NM.htm) are completed if you are volunteering or would like to. We can no longer allow volunteers who do not have a completed background check to chaperone field trips. If you are involved with the students in any capacity as a volunteer we are requiring a background check to be on file. If the cost of a background check ($44) is discouraging you from volunteering please reach out to me or Mr. Ahner and arrangements can be made to cover the cost. 

We NEED and welcome your help! We understand that volunteering is a sacrifice of your time and we greatly appreciate it. We want the volunteer process to be as streamlined and painless as possible. I will personally walk you through everything if you need the help and are considering becoming a volunteer, or if you have volunteered before and need to complete your background check. It's necessary to be firm with our volunteer policy. Our students' well-being and safety are of the utmost importance. We also must be compliant with NMPED's rules and regulations. Thank you for your understanding! If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to email me.

Volunteer Opportunities:

The Running Club is always looking for volunteers who have an enthusiasm for exercise, running, and the crisp morning air! Maybe you would like to handle the spreadsheet? Or you could help pass out sticks? Volunteer packet and background check on file, please. Running Club is held Fridays at 7:35 am depending on the weather. Send me an email if you have any questions!

Donations of feminine hygiene products (pads), gallon and sandwich ziplock bags, and sanitary wipes for migrants, are still being accepted through the end of January. Contact Mrs. Julia at julia.rivera-tapia@jpaultayloracademy.org with any questions!

1st grade: Ms. Elizabeth is still in need of volunteers to organize the classroom library. It will be a one-time project but may last for several days depending on the hours put in. Right now, it is divided into chapter books, leveled readers, and picture books. Ms. Elizabeth would like to organize the library by subject and then separate fiction and non-fiction. She would like it to be more user-friendly for both the students and herself. She needs a person/people who have an idea of how to organize the library and is open to suggestions. 1st grade also needs volunteers who can listen to students read. Ms. Elizabeth's personal goal is to read with kids 4 out of 5 days a week. It would be helpful if she could have a volunteer listen, and also help in sounding out words and giving feedback on areas of need for each student. Times: Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday 9:45-10:45. Friday afternoon. If you are interested in helping out with 1st grade send me an email and I will facilitate!

4th grade: Ms. Hernandez is still looking for parents to help with academics. Specifically, math and writing. In class with small groups, once a week for 30 minutes. Ms. Hernandez could also use help making copies. If this sounds like the opportunity for you send me an email and I can connect you!  

Thanks again, and have a great weekend!

Brooke Ratje

Volunteer Packet Link - http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

Kinder Corner Newsletter

English

This past week students were assessed on I-Station and in class assessments. We were not able to complete all the assessments due to students being absent so we will complete them next week. More information to follow. 

In math, our calendar for the month is working on teddy bear buttons. The students have already seen the first set of patterns in the bears sweater and vest.  Please ask your students what they have noticed in the bears buttons. Please ask your child to sing you the song we have been learning. The songs tune is Where is Thumbkin

Where is triangle? Where is triangle?

Here I am! Here I am!

How are you today, sir? Very well I thank you.

Run away. Run away.

Where is square? Where is square?

Here I am! Here I am!

How are you today, ma’am? Very well I thank you.

Run away. Run away.

Where is circle? Where is circle?

Here I am! Here I am!

How are you today, sir? Very well I thank you.

Run away. Run away.

Where is rectangle? Where is rectangle?

Here I am! Here I am!

How are you today, ma’am? Very well I thank you.

Run away. Run away

In language arts/science, students will be making observations of how our weather has changed and we have moved into winter. We are continuing to work on characters. This next week we will be working on writing a story about characters. Students will write at least three sentences by themselves working on their sounding out and letters. 

Important information:

As we begin the year, I just wanted to remind parents that breakfast is served promptly at 7:30-7:50 am in the cafeteria. If your student will be having school breakfast please make sure they are here during this time. I have allowed the students to eat in the class if they come in late but it is now occurring frequently and is starting to disrupt the class for our morning routines. The academic day begins at 8:00am. Thank you for yourunderstanding. 

We are in need of a couple supplies. If you can donate some supplies we would really appreciate it. 

●      clorox/lysol wipes

●      5 oz paper cups

●      small paper plates 

●      package of baby wipes

Here is the January sign-up sheet for snacks. Also, if we can add a healthy drink to the snack that would be great. Students are drinking lots of water throughout the day and they could use a little something different. Thank you to the parents who have brought additional snacks, they really come in hand when the day is empty. 

Scholastic books - Parents, in the students backpack they have a scholastic flier. If you would like to purchase books for your child please feel free to order from the website or from the flier. https://orders.scholastic.com/YYP3N

Last but not least thank you to those parents who reached out and asked about a wishlist here is the link below. 

Amazon wishlist

1st Grade

First graders recently celebrated the 100th day of school! We spent the day doing activities related to the number 100. In math we built, with 100 blocks and played a dice game called “race to 100”.  We counted out 100 beads and made bracelets, necklaces, and rings to wear in our parade.  In ELA we worked with partners to come up with 100 words to read and we wrote about what we would be doing when we are 100 years old.  In the afternoon we participated in a rotation with second graders and kindergarteners. In each classroom we had different activities. We played bingo, created with pattern blocks, and made a snack mix with 100 pieces of food.  At the end of the day, we had a parade in the hallway where we wore our 100-day headbands and our 100-bead jewelry. It was a super fun day!

2nd Grade

Writing: We have started Phase II of our journal writing. Now the students are responding to a question using key words we have identified as important for our answer. Of course, our writing is going to stay in Cursive.

Reading: Books Clubs are getting going again and we are moving forward. We will get back to the stations next week!

Math: We have started part of a new curriculum that involves a lot of discussion and partner work. So far, the students have really been engaged and enjoying the variety of activities this program is offering for Math Stations. Please see the pictures...

Spanish: We are moving our vocabulary out into our community. We will be concentrating on learning different parts of a community and the key vocabulary that goes with each unique part of the community. I hope to take some walking "tours" soon so that students have a connection to the vocabulary AND the opportunity to use it.

Science: The students will be presenting their Moving Models of the Phases of the Moon next week. Working in partnership, they had to present a proposal and diagram of their vision and then they could create representations of the phases of the moon in a 3-dimensional way. The students have planned this out themselves the whole way and I am very proud to observe them using critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Everyone seems to be excited!

Projects: We will be moving into an Extended Community Beautification project. We are in the idea mapping phase of this big idea so there will be more details to come!

Espanol

NO ES DEMASIADO TARDE. Aún hay tiempo para ayudar a las niñas y mujeres inmigrantes que están pasando por nuestra ciudad. Si tiene la oportunidad y le gustaría ayudar, favor de mandar toallas sanitarias a la escuela. La oficina estará aceptando donaciones hasta el fin del mes. 

Voluntariado en JPTA

¡Hola familias de JPTA!

Hay un par de anuncios y recordatorios importantes esta semana.

Primero que todo, me gustaría extender un gran agradecimiento a todos los que ayudaron a reabastecer la cocina de personal esta semana. Es de gran ayuda para nuestro personal (que siempre está ocupado) tener  botanas disponibles para llevar. ¡Estamos agradecidos!

IMPORTANTE:

Asegúrese de que sus paquetes de voluntariado se entreguen a la oficina principal y que se verifiquen sus antecedentes  penales (https://www.aps.gemalto.com/nm/index_NM.htm) si es voluntario o desea hacerlo. No podemos permitir que los voluntarios que no tengan una verificación de antecedentes completa sean chaperones en las excursiones. Si está involucrado con los estudiantes en cualquier capacidad como voluntario, estamos solicitando una verificación de antecedentes para nuestros archivos. Si el costo de una verificación de antecedentes ($44) lo desalienta de ser voluntario, comuníquese conmigo o con el Sr. Ahner y se pueden hacer arreglos para cubrir el costo.

¡NECESITAMOS y agradecemos su ayuda! Entendemos que ser voluntario es un sacrificio de su tiempo y se lo agradecemos. Queremos que el proceso de ser voluntario sea lo más sencillo posible. Lo guiaré personalmente a través del proceso si necesita ayuda y está considerando convertirse en voluntario, o si ha sido voluntario antes y necesita completar su verificación de antecedentes. Es necesario ser firmes con nuestra política de voluntariado. El bienestar y la seguridad de nuestros estudiantes son de suma importancia. También debemos cumplir con las normas y reglamentos de NMPED. ¡Gracias por su comprensión! Si tiene alguna pregunta o inquietud, no dude en enviarme un correo electrónico.

Oportunidades para voluntarios:

¡El Running Club siempre está buscando voluntarios que tengan entusiasmo por el ejercicio, correr y el aire fresco de la mañana! ¿Quizás te gustaría manejar la hoja de cálculo? ¿O podrías ayudar a repartir palitos? Se requiere verificación de antecedentes en el archivo, por favor. Running Club se lleva a cabo los viernes a las 7:35 am dependiendo del clima. ¡Envíame un correo electrónico si tienes alguna pregunta!

Las donaciones de productos de higiene femenina (toallas sanitarias) para las niñas, mujeres y migrantes, todavía se aceptan hasta finales de enero. ¡Comuníquese con la Sra. Julia en julia.rivera-tapia@jpaultayloracademy.org si tiene alguna pregunta!

1er grado: La Sra. Elizabeth todavía necesita voluntarios para organizar la biblioteca del salón de clases. Será un proyecto de una sola vez pero puede durar varios días dependiendo de las horas dedicadas. En este momento, se divide en libros de capítulos, libros de lectura nivelados y libros ilustrados. A la Sra. Elizabeth le gustaría organizar la biblioteca por tema y luego separar la ficción y la no ficción. Le gustaría que fuera más fácil de usar tanto para los estudiantes como para ella. Necesita una persona o personas que tengan una idea de cómo organizar la biblioteca y que esté abierta a sugerencias. El 1er grado también necesita voluntarios que puedan escuchar a los estudiantes leer. La meta personal de la Sra. Elizabeth es leer con los niños 4 de cada 5 días a la semana. Sería útil si pudiera tener un voluntario que escuche y también ayude a pronunciar las palabras y dar retroalimentación sobre las áreas de necesidad de cada estudiante. Horario: Martes, Miércoles o Jueves de 9:45-10:45. viernes por la tarde Si está interesado en ayudar con el primer grado, envíeme un correo electrónico y se lo facilitaré.

4to grado: la Sra. Hernández todavía está buscando padres para ayudar con lo académico. Específicamente, matemáticas y escritura. Grupos reducidos, una vez a la semana durante 30 minutos. La Sra. Hernández también necesita ayuda para hacer copias. Si esto suena como la oportunidad para usted, envíeme un correo electrónico y puedo conectarlo.

¡Gracias de nuevo y que tengan un gran fin de semana!

Brooke Ratje

Enlace del paquete de voluntarios: http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

Kinder

La semana pasada, los estudiantes fueron evaluados en I-Station y en las evaluaciones de clase no pudimos completar todas las evaluaciones debido a la ausencia de algunos estudiantes, por lo que las completaremos la próxima semana. Más información a seguir.

En matemáticas, en el calendario para el mes de enero los estudiantes están trabajando en botones de ositos de peluche. Los estudiantes ya han visto el primer conjunto de patrones en el suéter y el chaleco de los osos. Pregunte a sus alumnos qué han notado en los botones de osos. Pídale a su hijo que le cante la canción que hemos estado aprendiendo en inglés. La melodía de la canción es ¿Dónde está Thumbkin?

Where is triangle? Where is triangle?

Here I am! Here I am!

How are you today, sir? Very well I thank you.

Run away. Run away.

Where is square? Where is square?

Here I am! Here I am!

How are you today, ma’am? Very well I thank you.

Run away. Run away.

Where is circle? Where is circle?

Here I am! Here I am!

How are you today, sir? Very well I thank you.

Run away. Run away.

Where is rectangle? Where is rectangle?

Here I am! Here I am!

How are you today, ma’am? Very well I thank you.

Run away. Run away

En artes del lenguaje/ciencias, los estudiantes harán observaciones de cómo ha cambiado nuestro clima y nos hemos mudado al invierno. Seguimos trabajando en los personajes. Esta próxima semana estaremos trabajando en escribir una historia sobre personajes. Los estudiantes escribirán por lo menos tres oraciones por sí mismos trabajando en sus sonidos y letras.

Información importante:

Al comenzar el año, solo quería recordarles a los padres que el desayuno se sirve puntualmente de 7:30 a 7:50 am en la cafetería. Si su estudiante va a desayunar en la escuela, asegúrese de que esté aquí durante este tiempo. He permitido que los estudiantes coman en la clase si llegan tarde, pero ahora ocurre con frecuencia y está empezando a interrumpir la clase para nuestras rutinas matutinas. La jornada académica comienza a las 8:00 am. Gracias por su comprensión.

Ayúdanos a celebrar nuestros cumpleaños del mes:

●      Aurora el 13 de enero haga clic aquí para ver el vídeo

Anthony, el papá de Aurora, me ha pedido que comparta la invitación de cumpleaños de Aurora con todos ustedes. Esperan verte allí.

Necesitamos un par de materiales.

Si puede donar algunos suministros, se lo agradeceríamos mucho.

●      clorox/lysol wipes

●      5 oz paper cups

●      small paper plates 

●      package of baby wipes

Aquí está la hoja de inscripción de enero para snack. Además, si podemos agregar una bebida saludable a la merienda, sería genial. Los estudiantes beben mucha agua durante el día y les vendría bien algo diferente. Gracias a los padres que han traído refrigerios adicionales, realmente son útiles cuando el día está vacío.

Scholastic Books:  Padres, en la mochila de los estudiantes tienen un folleto escolar. Si desea comprar libros para su hijo, no dude en pedirlos desde el sitio web o desde el volante. https://orders.scholastic.com/YYP3N

Por último, gracias a los padres que se comunicaron y preguntaron sobre una lista de deseos, aquí está el enlace a continuación.

Amazon wishlist

1er grado

¡Los estudiantes de primer grado recientemente celebraron el día número 100 de clases! Pasamos el día haciendo actividades relacionadas con el número 100. En matemáticas construimos con 100 bloques y jugamos un juego de dados llamado “carrera hasta el 100”. Contamos 100 cuentas e hicimos pulseras, collares y anillos para usar en nuestro desfile. En ELA trabajamos con compañeros para encontrar 100 palabras para leer y escribimos sobre lo que estaríamos haciendo cuando tengamos 100 años. Por la tarde participamos en una rotación con alumnos de segundo grado y kindergarten. En cada aula teníamos diferentes actividades. Jugamos al bingo, creamos con bloques de patrones e hicimos una mezcla de bocadillos con 100 piezas de comida. Al final del día, tuvimos un desfile en el pasillo donde usamos nuestras diademas de 100 días y nuestras joyas de 100 cuentas. ¡Fue un día súper divertido!

2do. grado

Redacción: Hemos comenzado la segunda fase de redacción de nuestro diario. Ahora los estudiantes están respondiendo a una pregunta usando palabras clave que hemos identificado como importantes para nuestra respuesta. Por supuesto, nuestra escritura permanecerá en cursiva.

Lectura: Los clubes de libros se están poniendo en marcha nuevamente y estamos avanzando. ¡Volveremos a las estaciones la próxima semana!

Matemáticas: Hemos comenzado parte de un nuevo plan de estudios que implica mucha discusión y trabajo en parejas. Hasta ahora, los estudiantes han estado realmente comprometidos y disfrutando de la variedad de actividades que ofrece este programa para estaciones de matemáticas. Por favor vea las fotos...

Español: Estamos moviendo nuestro vocabulario a nuestra comunidad. Nos concentramos en aprender diferentes partes de una comunidad y el vocabulario clave que acompaña a cada parte única de la comunidad. Espero hacer algunos "recorridos" a pie muy pronto para que los estudiantes tengan una conexión con el vocabulario y la oportunidad de usarlo.

Ciencias: Los estudiantes estarán presentando sus Modelos Móviles de las Fases de la Luna la próxima semana. Trabajando en grupo, tenían que presentar una propuesta y un diagrama de su visión y luego podían crear representaciones de las fases de la luna en forma tridimensional. Los estudiantes han planeado esto por sí mismos y estoy muy orgulloso de observar que estan usando el pensamiento crítico y las habilidades para resolver problemas. ¡Todos parecen estar emocionados!

Proyectos: Nos mudaremos a un proyecto de Embellecimiento Comunitario Extendido. Estamos en la fase de la planeación de ideas ¡así que habrá más detalles por venir!

JPTA Community,

A couple of opportunities:

State Program: Free Tutoring for PreK-8 Students 

Enrollment continues for PED's tutoring service in partnership with Paper for students in grades preK-8 from New Mexico Title I Schools. Participating students will receive 20 hours of tutoring at no cost to families. Parents can sign students up here. Information sessions in English and Spanish for parents and guardians are on various days Jan. 3-25. Questions? OutofSchool.Tutoring@ped.nm.gov

Volunteer Corner:

PAC invites you to help us stock the JPTA Teacher & Staff Kitchen during the week of January 16 - 20th.

We have polled the staff and compiled a list of items that we think will provide them with some yummy snacks for when they are on the go. Please see the sign-up link below.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084DADAA28A7F58-jpta7

Starting Monday, January 16th there will be a collection inside the front office for you to place items in. We will be collecting items all week and adding them to the cabinets. If you are bringing items that need to be refrigerated please bring them to the office and let Bonnie or Alejandra know.

Thank you for your support!

Physical Ed and Health

Happy New Year Phoenix Families!! We hit the ground running in PE/Health. Here’s what we are currently covering:

In K-2 grade, we are reviewing routines and procedures and most importantly, the zones of regulation to get back into the swing of things at school. The kids have done great at recognizing their emotions and finding strategies to “get ready to learn!” The second graders learned the “new” routine of retrieving pedometers and recording their steps at the end of class. As the year progresses, the students will continue using their pedometers and set goals for themselves.

Lastly, kinder, first and second graders are learning skills related to soccer. These skills include dribbling, passing and shooting. You can support your child by making sure he/she wears tennis shoes to PE and has a water bottle. 

In 3rd-5th grade, students are learning all about SMART goals and had the opportunity to identify goals that fit the acronym or not. Soon, they will create their own personal and academic SMART goals. In addition to goal setting, the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders are reviewing soccer skills to prepare for class tournaments next week.  They are super excited about playing games against each other!!  Next week, fifth graders will also participate in lessons to prepare for archery which will begin January 23rd. 

In Middle school, we’ve discussed why people fail and succeed at their goals. And just like the elementary kids, we’ve learned how a SMART goal is written. In the next couple of weeks, the students will have a chance to write their own SMART goals that they will reflect on throughout the year. In PE, student have played games focused on teamwork and cooperation. They’ve also gotten some expert tips in soccer from Coach Jerrell from Americorp. Next week, they will learn archery basics to begin shooting on the range on our playground. 

I am currently looking for volunteers to help me supervise kids during archery lessons. Please let me know if you are interested!!

Coach Sells 

Music and Orchestra students are practicing and preparing music for the Spring Concert. Students have a weekly playing assignment posted in Canvas. Students who are absent may check online for the assignment and record and upload a video in Seesaw.  Families interested in having access to Seesaw to view the recordings, please contact Mrs. Espinoza.  On Fridays, when time permits, students collaborate and learn folk dancing.  We are very thankful for the generous donation of a piano that will be used in the music room.  Many violin and viola students still need to order shoulder rests.  Please visit our JPTA Orchestra Page for information about instrument supplies and practice tips.  For kinder through third grade, please visit the K-3 JPTA Music Page.

It is so wonderful to see everyone back from winter break! Now that we are back in the swing of things, we are all hard at work preparing amazing art for our annual fundraiser with the company, Art to Remember! Here is a quick sample of the parent notice that will go out soon:

ART

Our school is participating in a creative fundraiser with Art to Remember that allows you to purchase keepsake products customized with your child’s art. Right now, children are busy creating colorful, fun artwork, and soon you will receive a personalized order form. Here’s what you can expect": 

* Over 50 keepsake products featuring your child’s artwork 

* Many of the products are less than $15

* A percentage of every order goes right back to our school!!    * Safe secure online ordering at ArtToRemember.com  

(You can even share your order code with other family members and invite them to place an order!)   

* Guaranteed satisfaction :)

Thank you! (Stay tuned for more information!) 

Ms. Monica 

Comunidad JPTA,

Un par de oportunidades:

Programa estatal: Tutoría gratuita para estudiantes de PreK-8

Continúa la inscripción para el servicio de tutoría del Departamento de Educación (PED) en asociación con Paper para estudiantes en los grados pre kínder a octavo de las Escuelas Título I de Nuevo México. Los estudiantes participantes recibirán 20 horas de tutoría sin costo para las familias. Los padres pueden inscribir a los estudiantes aquí. Las sesiones de información en inglés y español para padres y tutores se llevarán a cabo varios días del 3 al 25 de enero. ¿Preguntas? OutofSchool.Tutoring@ped.nm.gov

Esquina de Voluntarios:

PAC le invita a ayudar a abastecer la cocina de los maestros y personal de JPTA durante la semana del 16 al 20 de enero.

Hemos mandado una encuesta al personal y tenemos una lista de los artículos que creemos que les proporcionarán deliciosas botanas durante el dia. Por favor, consulte el enlace de registro a continuación.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084DADAA28A7F58-jpta7

A partir del lunes 16 de enero, habrá una recolección dentro de la oficina principal para los artículos. Estaremos recolectando artículos durante toda la semana y agregándolos a los gabinetes. Si trae artículos que necesitan ser refrigerados, tráigalos a la oficina y avísele a Bonnie o Alejandra.

¡Gracias por su apoyo!

¡¡Feliz Año Nuevo Familias  Fenix!! Empezamos a trabajar en Educación Física/Salud. Esto es lo que estamos cubriendo actualmente:

En los grados K-2, estamos revisando las rutinas y los procedimientos y, lo que es más importante, las zonas de regulación para volver al ritmo de las cosas en la escuela. A los niños les ha ido muy bien en cuatro renonocen sus emociones y encontrando estrategias para “¡prepararse para aprender!” Los alumnos de segundo grado aprendieron la “nueva” rutina de recoger los podómetros y registrar sus pasos al final de la clase. A medida que avanza el año, los estudiantes continuarán usando sus podómetros y establecerán metas para ellos mismos.

Por último, los alumnos de kínder, primero y segundo grado están aprendiendo habilidades relacionadas con el fútbol. Estas habilidades incluyen driblar, pasar y disparar. Puede apoyar a su hijo asegurándose de que use tenis para ir a educación física y tenga una botella de agua.

En 3.° a 5.° grado, los estudiantes están aprendiendo todo acerca de las metas SMART y tuvieron la oportunidad de identificar las metas que se ajustan o no al acrónimo. Pronto, crearán sus propias metas SMART personales y académicas. Además del establecimiento de metas, los alumnos de 3.°, 4.° y 5.° grado están repasando las habilidades de fútbol para prepararse para los torneos de la clase la próxima semana. ¡Están muy emocionados de jugar entre ellos! La próxima semana, los alumnos de quinto grado también participarán en clases de preparación para tiro con arco que comenzarán el 23 de enero.

En la escuela intermedia, hemos discutido por qué las personas fracasan y tienen éxito en sus metas. Y al igual que los niños de primaria, hemos aprendido cómo se escribe una meta SMART. En las próximas dos semanas, los estudiantes tendrán la oportunidad de escribir sus propios objetivos SMART sobre los que reflexionarán durante el año. En educación física, los estudiantes han jugado juegos enfocados en el trabajo en equipo y la cooperación. También recibieron algunos consejos de expertos en fútbol del entrenador Jerrell de Americorp. La próxima semana, aprenderán los conceptos básicos de tiro con arco para comenzar a disparar en el campo de nuestro patio de recreo.

Actualmente estoy buscando voluntarios para ayudar a supervisar a los niños durante las lecciones de tiro con arco. ¡¡Por favor hágame saber si esta interesado!!

El entrenador vende

Los estudiantes de Música y Orquesta están practicando y preparando música para el Concierto de Primavera. Los estudiantes tienen tareas semanales via Canvas. Los estudiantes que estén ausentes pueden verificar en línea la tarea y grabar y subir un video en Seesaw. Las familias interesadas en obtener acceso a Seesaw, por favor contactar a Mrs. Espinoza. Los viernes, cuando el tiempo lo permite, los estudiantes colaboran y aprenden bailes folclóricos. Estamos muy agradecidos por la maravillosa donación de un piano que será usado en la sala de música. Muchos estudiantes de violín y viola necesitan comprar apoyador de hombro. Por favor visiten nuestra página de orquesta donde encontrarán información sobre accesorios necesarios para los instrumentos y ayuda para estudiar. JPTA Orchestra Page. Para los grados kínder, 1, 2, 3 por favor revise K-3 JPTA Music Page.

Nuestra escuela está participando en una recaudación de fondos creativa con Art to Remember que le permite comprar productos de recuerdo personalizados con el arte de su hijo/a. En este momento, los niños están ocupados creando obras de arte coloridas y divertidas y pronto recibirán un formulario de pedido personalizado. Esto es lo que pueden esperar: 

*  Más de 50 productos de recuerdo disponibles, todos con la obra de arte de su hijo/a 

* Muchos de los productos westan menos de $15 

*  Un porcentaje de cada pedido vuelve a nuestra escuela        * Pedidos en línea seguros y protegidos en         ArttoRemember.com 

(Usted puede compartir su código con otros miembros de la familia e invitar los a ordenar) 

* ¡Satisfacción garantizada!  

Muchas Gracias!! (Mas informacion por venir!)

Maestra Monica 

Dear Phoenix Family,

I hope the New Year is ringing in nicely and all is well.  We’re off to a great start into our second semester.  Instead of doing a grade band report this week having only been back for two days, I wanted to dedicate this week’s newsletter to our volunteer program and Governance Council recruitment.  

Best,

Eric

From Brooke Ratje:

Hello JPTA families!

I hope everyone is settling into the school routine easily after a restful break. My name is Brooke Ratje. I've worked in the kitchen as Miss Sarah's assistant for the past year and a half. I'm a proud Lunch Lady! Students know me as Miss Brooke. In addition to my duties in the kitchen, I've recently taken up a new role as Volunteer Coordinator.

JPTA has amazing students and families! Many of you are already actively engaged in volunteer opportunities within the school. I would like to remind everyone that there are many ways to be involved. If you're thinking of becoming a volunteer, and haven't already done so, please fill out a Volunteer Application (you can find the link included in my signature). I'd like to encourage potential volunteers to also complete a background check. Here is the link to register and complete an online application: https://www.aps.gemalto.com/nm/index_NM.htm

Current volunteer needs include: 

Mrs.Julia is looking for donations of feminine hygiene products (pads), gallon and sandwich ziplock bags, and sanitary wipes. As well as volunteers to help package kits for the migrants at the U.S./Mexico border. Donations and volunteers will be needed now through Friday, 1/13/23. Please consider helping, this is an excellent community service opportunity! If you have any questions please email Mrs.Julia at julia.rivera-tapia@jpaultayloracademy.org

4th grade: Ms.Hernandez is looking for parents to help with academics. Specifically math and writing. In class with small groups, once a week for 30 minutes. Ms.Hernandez could also use help making copies. If this sounds like the opportunity for you send me an email and I can connect you!

1st grade: Ms.Elizabeth needs volunteers to organize the classroom library. It will be a one-time project but may last for several days depending on the hours put in. Right now it is divided into chapter books, leveled readers, and picture books. Ms.Elizabeth would like to organize the library by subject and then separate fiction and non-fiction. She would like it to be more user-friendly for both the students and herself. She needs a person/people who have an idea of how to organize the library and is open to suggestions. 1st grade also needs volunteers who can listen to students read. Ms.Elizabeth's personal goal is to read with kids 4 out of 5 days a week. It would be helpful if she could have a volunteer listen, and also help in sounding out words and giving feedback on areas of need for each student. Times: Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday 9:45-10:45. Friday afternoon. If you are interested in helping out with 1st grade send me an email and I will facilitate!

Soon, volunteer opportunities will be included in the JPTA Parents Weekly Update, stay tuned!

Please reach out to me with any questions you might have.

Thank you wholeheartedly. It is so wonderful being a part of the JPTA community. I enjoy the students so much, and I look forward to working with you all in this new capacity!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Volunteer Coordinator

J. Paul Taylor Academy

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

From our Governance Council:

You picked JPTA for your child for a reason. Now, your school needs you. 

Please consider donating your time and skills to the JPTA Governance Council. 

The GC provides oversight of the JPTA administration, which includes fiscal and policy management. If browsing spreadsheets and bringing inspired questions about the direction of the school sounds like your version of a good time, then we’d love to have you onboard. 

Parental involvement is key to your student’s education and the success of JPTA. Charter schools in New Mexico must have a GC to ensure a school functions efficiently and remain financially sound. The time commitment is just a few hours a month, at your pace, and done from home. 

Currently, meetings are online, and information is supplied in advance for review. Required trainings are free, only 10 hours per year, and are provided online through the state.

You might have questions, and we’re happy to answer them. To learn more about becoming a JPTA GC Member, contact Jerry Wallace, Membership Committee Chair, at jerry.wallace@jpaultayloracademy.org or call (575) 621-5588. 

Querida familia Fénix,

Espero que el Año Nuevo esté entrando de buena manera y que todo esté bien. Hemos tenido un gran comienzo en nuestro segundo semestre. En lugar de hacer un informe de banda de calificaciones esta semana después de haber estado aqui dos días, quería dedicar el boletín de esta semana a nuestro programa de voluntarios y al reclutamiento del Consejo de Gobierno.

con respeto,

Eric

De Brooke Ratje:

Buenas tardes familias de JPTA!

Espero que todos se estén adaptando fácilmente a la rutina escolar después del descanso. Mi nombre es Brooke Ratje. He trabajado en la cocina como ayudante de la señorita Sarah durante el último año y medio. ¡Soy una señora orgullosa que prepara los almuerzos! Los estudiantes me conocen como Miss Brooke. Además de mis deberes en la cocina, recientemente asumí un nuevo rol como Coordinadora de Voluntarios.

¡JPTA tiene estudiantes y familias increíbles! Muchos de ustedes ya participan activamente en oportunidades de voluntariado dentro de la escuela. Me gustaría recordarles a todos que hay muchas maneras de participar. Si está pensando en convertirse en voluntario y aún no lo ha hecho, complete una Solicitud de voluntario (puede encontrar el enlace incluido en mi firma). Me gustaría alentar a los posibles voluntarios a que también completen una verificación de antecedentes. Aquí está el enlace para registrarse y completar una solicitud en línea: https://www.aps.gemalto.com/nm/index_NM.htm

Las necesidades actuales de voluntarios incluyen:

La Sra. Julia está buscando donaciones de productos de higiene femenina (toallas sanitarias), bolsas ziplock de galón y sándwich, y toallitas higiénicas. Además de voluntarios para ayudar a empacar kits para los migrantes en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México. Se necesitarán donaciones y voluntarios desde ahora hasta el viernes 13/01/23. ¡Por favor considere ayudar, esta es una excelente oportunidad de servicio comunitario! Si tiene alguna pregunta, envíe un correo electrónico a la Sra. Julia a julia.rivera-tapia@jpaultayloracademy.org

4to grado: Ms.Hernandez está buscando padres para ayudar con lo académico. Específicamente matemáticas y escritura. En clase con grupos pequenos, una vez a la semana durante 30 minutos. La Sra. Hernández también necesita ayuda para hacer copias. Si esto suena como la oportunidad para usted, envíeme un correo electrónico y puedo conectarlo.

1er grado: Ms.Elizabeth necesita voluntarios para organizar la biblioteca del salón. Será un proyecto de una sola vez pero puede durar varios días dependiendo de las horas dedicadas. En este momento se divide en libros de capítulos, lectores nivelados y libros ilustrados. A la Sra. Elizabeth le gustaría organizar la biblioteca por tema y luego separar la ficción y la no ficción. Le gustaría que fuera más fácil de usar tanto para los estudiantes como para ella. Necesita una persona o personas que tengan una idea de cómo organizar la biblioteca y que esté abierta a sugerencias. El 1er grado también necesita voluntarios que puedan escuchar a los estudiantes leer. La meta personal de Ms.Elizabeth es leer con los niños 4 de cada 5 días a la semana. Sería útil si pudiera tener un voluntario que escuche y también ayude a pronunciar las palabras y dar retroalimentación sobre las áreas de necesidad de cada estudiante. Horario: Martes, Miércoles o Jueves de 9:45-10:45. viernes por la tarde Si está interesado en ayudar con el primer grado, envíeme un correo electrónico y se lo facilitaré.

Pronto, se incluirán oportunidades de voluntariado en la actualización semanal para padres de JPTA, ¡estén atentos!

Comuníquese conmigo con cualquier pregunta que pueda tener.

Gracias de todo corazón. Es maravilloso ser parte de la comunidad JPTA. ¡Disfruto mucho de los estudiantes y espero trabajar con todos ustedes en esta nueva capacidad!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Coordinadora de Voluntarios.

J. Paul Taylor Academy

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

De nuestra Mesa Directiva :

Usted escogió JPTA para su hijo por una razón. Ahora, tu escuela te necesita.

Considere donar su tiempo y habilidades a la Mesa Directiva de JPTA.

El GC (por sus siglas en inglés, Mesa Directiva) supervisa la administración de JPTA, que incluye la gestión fiscal y de políticas. Si navegar por hojas de cálculo y hacer preguntas inspiradas sobre la dirección de la escuela suena como su versión de un buen tiempo, entonces nos encantaría tenerla a bordo.

La participación de los padres es clave para la educación de su estudiante y el éxito de JPTA. Las escuelas chárter en Nuevo México deben tener un GC para garantizar que una escuela funcione de manera eficiente y permanezca financieramente sólida. El compromiso de tiempo es de unas pocas horas al mes, a tu ritmo y desde casa.

Actualmente, las reuniones son en línea y la información se proporciona con anticipación para su revisión. Las capacitaciones requeridas son gratuitas, solo 10 horas por año y se brindan en línea a través del estado.

Es posible que tenga preguntas y estaremos encantados de responderlas. Para obtener más información sobre cómo convertirse en miembro de JPTA GC, comuníquese con Jerry Wallace, presidente del Comité de Membresía, en jerry.wallace@jpaultayloracademy.org o llame al (575) 621-5588.

Happy Holidays!  

We are closing out the semester and well into our winter.  The students are doing great and I’m super proud of all the hard work by the students and staff.  I’m looking forward to the future as we continue to watch our students grow and blossom.  

Parents of 7th and 8th Grade Students

A representative from St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire reached out to me to inform me of potential scholarship opportunities for students in our area to attend St. Paul’s.  It’s a highly reputable boarding school that I’m familiar with from my earlier years in East coast private schools.  The school has a very significant endowment allowing for support in attendance and in helping them branch out to families who may not otherwise know of them or pursue such prospects.

Earlier this week, they had a representative Zoom in about their program to our students in 7th and 8th grade.  If you and your child are interested in this high school prospect, please reach out to Enrique Granados (egranados@sps.edu) who would be very happy to provide more information. 

3rd Grade

Math: We have been recently reviewing place value and redistributing numbers in addition and subtraction as we prepare to apply these themes to Multiplication.

ELA: This week's focus has been on Plot Structure. We have taken notes on a couple of episodes of Australian Public Media's excellent show, Bluey. We now are using this knowledge of Plot Structure to improve our creative writing!

Science: We are wrapping up this semester with a look into how arctic animals adapt to cold weather.

SLA: This week, we have been doing a lyrics study of "Dos Oruguitas" and we will continue throughout the week to use those words and study other vocabulary related to los bichos (bugs).

Middle School English Language Arts

6th graders- Students have been finishing up their Folklore interactive booklet.  We will be going into different types of folklore such as: Tall Tale, Fable, Fairy Tale, Myth, and Legend and understanding what each one is and giving examples.  When they return, they will be working on a Myth and Legend project that will entail working on research and study skills, citing resources correctly, presentation and speaking skills.

7th graders- Students have been researching a topic of their choice they are passionate about for a “Persuasive” essay and speech.  We have looked at examples of persuasive writing and looked at a persuasive outline to help collect thoughts, ideas, and information together in order for it to flow smoothly and be organized.  They have also worked on grammar skills such as identifying run-on sentences and rewriting them correctly.

8th graders are still working on their scripts for the Mock Trial for the Tell-Tale Heart.  We have a full blown courtroom going on with a judge, prosecuting/defense attorney, bailiff, court reporter, witnesses, jury, and narrator.  We will be having Sherry Booth who is an attorney to listen and see what they have so far, and give feedback on some of the work they have been doing.   Students are working well together and ensuring they have cited evidence from the text and incorporating courtroom language into their discourse. We are hoping to have a performance ready to go the second week into the New Year.  They have also worked on grammar skills such as combining sentences, filling in missing words and using context clues to recognize word meanings.  Also, a big thank you to 8th graders who helped with countless decorations for our Winter Dance we had on December 13th.  

Middle School Math

6th graders have been working on understanding decimal operations. They leafed through grocery store flyers to find deals to create a menu for a “dinner party” with a $50 budget for 8 people. The menu had to include a main dish, 2 side dishes, and a dessert. This week, they are applying what they have learned to small group projects analyzing measurements of a tennis court or the distance between hurdles on a track. When we return from break, we will start working with Ratios and Proportions, learning what double number line and tape diagrams are and how to use it, and then moving on to Unit Rates and Percentages.

7th grade has completed a study on circles. They have learned the difference between circumference and area, as well as why the equation for circumference is πd and why the equation for the area is πr2. They also proved the relationship between circumference and area by dividing a circle into wedges and looking at it from an “unraveled” viewpoint. Last week they applied “reasonable” numbers to a circle problem and created posters in small groups. Today (Thursday, Dec 15), they will be presenting these ideas to the 4th-grade class to show them where Math appears in the world! When we return the class will start working on Proportional Relationships and Percentages, then move on to Rational Numbers.

8th grade continues to work with slope and linear equations. The students can take an equation and graph the line described by the equation. They graphed a laser tag game, caught turkeys and created a stained-glass window design. When we return, they will continue working with systems of equations and more graphing.

This week, 7th and 8th graders have been developing their compass skills by creating an icosahedron.  See pictures.

Middle School Science

6th Grade

Thermal Energy

o   Temperature is a fundamental part of human life. From the daily highs and lows reported on the news to the settings on an oven, temperature measurements are ubiquitous, reflecting the critical role that temperature changes play in one’s experiences of the world. Although the sensory experience of temperature is intuitive, this intuition obscures the true nature of temperature and why it changes. To understand heating and cooling, students will go beyond intuition to discover that observed temperature changes can be explained by the movement of molecules, which facilitates the transfer of kinetic energy from one place to another.

o   In their role as student thermal scientists, students work with the principal of Riverdale School, a fictional school, in order to help choose a new heater system. The principal is considering two proposed systems, both of which would use water to heat the school. However, these systems differ in important ways. How these two systems work serves as the anchoring phenomenon for this unit and the explanations students make allow them to recommend to the principal. The water heater system uses a small amount of warmer water to heat the school. The groundwater system uses a large amount of slightly cooler water to heat the school. Throughout the unit, students are called upon to analyze the differences between these two systems at the molecular scale and to explain how and why they will heat the school. To do so, students make use of the Thermal EnergySimulation, which provides evidence about the molecular nature of temperature and its relationship to kinetic energy. At the end of Chapter 3, students make a recommendation to the principal in favor of the system that will heat the school more during the winter.

NM Scientist Case Study

o   Students worked on a research project where they researched scientists from NM and reported their findings.  It was a Humanizing NM Scientist Project.

7th Grade

Phase Change

·       Taking on the role of student chemists working for the Universal Space Agency (a fictional agency), your students will investigate the mystery of the methane lake on Titan. 

NM Scientist Case Study

·       Students worked on a research project where they researched scientists from NM and reported their findings.  It was a Humanizing NM Scientist Project.

8th Grade

Light Waves

·       The Light Waves unit helps students gain a deeper understanding of how light interacts with materials and how these interactions affect our world, from the colors we see to changes caused by light from the sun, such as warmth, growth, and damage.

·       In this unit, students investigate a specific change caused by light: skin cancer. 

NM Scientist Case Study

·       Students worked on a research project where they researched scientists from NM and reported their findings.  It was a Humanizing NM Scientist Project.

Middle School Social Studies

Students presented their Ancient Rome projects and did an amazing job.  I will be posting pictures soon.  Currently, students have been given a Social Studies Historical Project of their choice.  They were given a rubric to follow and encouraged to dress up for their presentations. Students will hopefully get a chance to present having these completed by the end of January.

Hello all, 

I hope this note finds everyone well and warm.  It’s was a little cold up in Albuquerque.  Ms. Rivera-Tapia and I have traveled up north for the annual Public Charter Schools of New Mexico conference.  It’s been nice to connect and re-connect with colleagues in the charter world.  It’s also nice to attend sessions reminding me of the most important aspect of education which is not filing reports and tracking data.  There are so many elements of education which I’m passionate about and from which I’ve lost my focus in the day-to-day minutia of running a charter school.

I finished the conference with two overarching thoughts; we do a lot right! And, there’s lots of room for growth.  I say this with the utmost confidence and determination to continue to find ways of innovating and improving our practices.  Lastly, thanks to all of you, community members, students, parents, Governance Council, and staff, for your continued contributions to our school community. WE are the J. Paul Taylor Academy community.

-Mr. Ahner

4th Grade Update

The top two spellers from 4th grade (Lina & Jaxon) participated in the school Spelling Bee Thursday! They didn't win, but they had a good experience and are ready for next year!  This week the class also studied plant parts and their functions, tested their knowledge with a fun online Jeopardy game. They made a winter root salad that included beets, carrots, and ginger. The 4th graders are studying countries that are in the World Cup soccer tournament, wrote reports in Spanish about the country they chose, and will present slideshows to their classmates next week. 

5th Grade Update (For photos and more updates, please visit 5th grade's class website:  https://sites.google.com/jpaultayloracademy.org/5thgrade/home)

In 5th Grade we are busy with lots of projects during the last couple of weeks this semester.

Math: We are using our fraction skills to create a class cookbook.

ELA: We finished up our U.S. Tourism magazine using persuasive articles.

Science: Our hydroponic strawberries are happy and growing.  This week we also talked about "excited" molecules and created snowflakes in the classroom.

SS: Students have mastered approximately half of the state and capitals.  We have also mapped out key historical US events they would like to study as a class next semester.

Spanish:  We continue to play Jeopardy and Kahoot to increase our conversational Spanish and we also work with our 1st grade buddies weekly.

5th grader, Ephrem Settles, won the 2022 JPTA Spelling Bee !!!!  Congrats to all participants who represented their classes!

We have a few activates this weekend, so please pay attention to these opportunities!

Holiday Bazar – A chance to stock those stockings and get some of your holiday shopping done!

Art Expo – See the flyer (above) for the students retablo art exposition.

JPTA Equity Council

JPTA is on the path to establishing our Equity Council, as directed by the New Mexico Public Education Department. This is a group focused on ensuring resources and support are provided   to meet the social, emotional, and educational needs of all students. Please take a brief moment to send me your contact information, if you are interested in becoming a member. For more information, contact Julia Rivera-Tapia at julia.rivera-tapia@jpaultayloracademy.org

Kinder Corner (More info by clicking HERE)

In math, we continue our number corner. During calendar time we will complete our exploration between two/three-dimensional shapes. Later on, we will see this again as our curriculum loops.  In December we will have a different focus which will be using shapes with a bear. We will be talking about where the position of the bear is such as in front of, behind, on top of, etc.   

In Spanish, we will be working on how to order food items at a restaurant. Our focus will be on commands like yo quiero, me gusta, me puedes dar etc. This week we have also added other parts of our bodies. Students learned the following: frente (forehead), codos (elbows), and cuello (neck), costillas (ribs).

In language arts, students will be continuing to talk about nouns. We will be learning a song about seeds and soil. This is special because it has the tune of the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We will also be working on creating sentences that include nouns (person, place, or thing). For example the sentence we created on Monday was Williamgoes to Andales Doghouse to eat french fries. 

·       William would be considered both a noun and a subject but since we haven't reviewed subjects just yet they have learned that he would be considered a noun.

·       During this week the kindergarten class was able to enjoy going to the playground in company of the fifth graders. They were so caring with them that they even played duck duck goose with some of them.

Project-based learning  

·       Our school-wide theme for project-based learning is “Community Connection”. Our key question is “How do we connect as a community?” Within our grade band, we are working with the students to learn who they are, what they like, how to talk to one another and ask questions about each other. Students will be grouped within the grade levels and will interview staff and administrators. 

·       For this quarter, the second community connection we will be working on is making care packages for the homeless. Students will decorate bags and will be putting them together. More information to come.

1st Grade

First graders have been learning about adjectives and recently completed a "How To" writing piece.  In the upcoming weeks we will work on writing a descriptive paragraph about our favorite holiday traditions.  We are looking forward to a visit to Mr. Taylor's house and exploring Mesilla.  

First graders have also enjoyed working in our garden bed and will be harvesting radishes and making salsa with Mrs. Barham next week. On Friday, we will wrap up our STEM unit by constructing gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and icing.  After the break we will be celebrating the 100th day of school with a day full of fun activities. 

2nd Grade's World

Reading: Book clubs are working hard to complete their chapter books and will be starting to work on book projects and Reader's Theater the last week.

Math: SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are counting money and giving change! Some students are "shopping" in our mall and the "store owners" are giving change for "merchandise purchased".

Spanish: We are expanding our vocabulary to include more school-wide words like positions in the school and items located in different rooms. 

Science/SS: We are creating moving models to display the phases of the moon.

Projects: We are working to create a project that will impact our extended community that are experiencing homelessness. 

Weekly Update for November 18, 2022

Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope this update finds you all enjoying the beginning of the holidays and ready to give thanks with family and friends.  I know that I’m grateful for my personal family and my Phoenix family.

Mock Trial

About a week back, we had 7 7th grade students, Soraya, Nilasha, Avelyn, Ava, Mason, Leonor and Mikayeel, travel to Albuquerque to participate in a mock trial program.  The Phoenix 7 were prepped by Shaharazad (Sherry) McDowell Booth, Attorney at Law, Aunt of a JPTA student and former Governance Council member.  

Ms. McDowell, along with the hard work of Mr. Alvarez, the school liaison, worked tirelessly with the students to study cases and prepare for their competition up North.  Together, they traveled to face some highly competitive teams that have participated in this event for many years.  (https://www.nmact.org/activities/mock-trial/)

As a Director, I could not be more proud of my community.  This competition took considerable time, courage, and dedication by all the students and chaperones.  Thank you, parents, for providing the necessary accommodations for the students to prepare and participate in this event.

To better understand the impact of this program on the students, I interviewed Soraya, our All-School President.  “The Mock Trial competition crated an amazing learning opportunity and an incredible chance to be in a real courtroom,” stated the President.  “It was a lot of hard work, but the payoff was to be ready to be in the courtroom.”

Just talking with Soraya about this opportunity made it so clear that these types of opportunities are truly priceless.  I firmly believe that Ms. McDowell and Mr. Alvarez created a memory of a lifetime.  When I asked Mr. A about the experience, he stated with a big smile, “I was so proud of our students!”  Again, this is a testament to the sponsors and students dedicated.

In addition, Soraya talked about the benefit of being exposed to different career options, the opportunity to speak in public, and the chance to meet students from other schools.  When I asked if we should try to offer this again in the future, Soraya said, “Yes!, It’s a big deal because it offers the opportunity for new experiences and activities at our school.”

J. Paul Taylor Academy offers the opportunity to learn. I think we dig deeper than many other schools in our desire to help our student truly understand.  When we do this right, it creates grit in our students, and it becomes apparent when students show an increased desire to learn.  This is authentic learning; when our students engage in activities with such rigor and dedication, we get to see education at its best.

PE and Health

We’ve accomplished so much in PE/health since fall break!! And the weather has gotten much colder so please remember to have your child check the weather and dress appropriately!! Here’s what we have covered in PE/health in the past couple weeks:

In elementary school (3-5), we continued working on our catching and throwing skills using short and long lacrosse sticks, and hockey sticks. We reviewed offense and defense skills and played small-sided games. As the kids played games, they had the opportunity to work in teams, resolve conflict and show understanding and empathy to others, all SEL skills important for overall health. 

In K-2 grades, the kids learned how to throw a frisbee and pass and strike using a hockey stick. Lastly, La Piñon conducted a Body Safety presentation (picture below) to teach the kids how to identify good and bad touch, their “safe person” and how to advocate for their personal safety. 

In Middle School, the kids used their problem solving and critical thinking skills to create their own games in small groups. During this process the kids had the opportunity to try out and refine their ideas as well as teach each other. One game that was created was based off a popular show and another off the video game Mario Cart!! I can’t wait to share the games created by the middle school kids to the elementary kids!! 

When we get back from Thanksgiving break, the kids will learn tennis and soccer!! We will also explore social awareness more in depth and possibly through a SEL service-learning project. 

Art

Hello JPTA FAMILIES!!! We have a lot happening in the world of JPTA Art these days. We have come upon a wonderful opportunity to partner with NMSU in creating some amazing Retablos (Ex-Votos) for NMSU's current Community Ex-Voto Exhibition. I have decided that the whole school is going to participate in the creation of these Ex-Votos! For my 4th-8th graders, these Ex-Votos will be due November 29th (for 4th and 5th) and 30th (for MS). The k-3 classes will finish their projects on these days as well. Once these creations are completed, they will be delivered to NMSU Art Gallery for display until December 22nd! Please stay tuned for a day when all JPTA families will be invited to see the JPTA Retablo Show! 

Late Notice! -Also, this Saturday, November 19th at 1:00 pm, at the University Art Museum, there will be a GREAT workshop opportunity for all students and families! We will learn about how to make Ex-Votos with digital animation. Please join us if you are able to, and bring your iPad or smartphone! The free app you can download on your device is called R4VE. I have personally used it and it is a fantastic and simple photoshop app. Each student who attends will receive extra credit worth one entire assignment (100 points). That is a pretty good deal in addition to these workshops being super fun and educational!  Hope to see you there and let me know if you have any questions!!

Music

Kinder through third graders have been folk dancing, composing, and working on Autumn and Thanksgiving songs and activities that practice rhythm patterns and notenames.

Fourth through eighth graders are all learning new notes through new repertoire and holiday music, along with some occasional folk dancing. Middle School students have also chosen a topic of study to work on specific skills in small groups such as holiday music, piano, ukulele, xylophone, drumming or extra practice on an instrument.

Students may volunteer to perform at the Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, Dec. 3rd at 10:00 or 11:00. Please contact Mrs. Espinoza if your student might be interested in performing a selection by themself or together with a group!

Weekly Update, albeit a little late!  Please enjoy...

Student Council

I’m very proud to have Student Council in our school.  Over the previous two years, Oliver Settles and Paxton Rogers, 2022 graduates, had set out on a journey to help initiate a Council.  After proposals and much work, we just did not get far enough to launch, much of that was due to lack of motion on my part.  This year, Ms. Fielder and a handful of students really push ME to get this back on track; a Student Council that would offer new leadership opportunities to our students while creating new conduits for students to be involved with more aspects of our school program.  Congrats to Ms. Fielder, the students who pushed for a Council and all the students who ran for positions.

-Eric Ahner, Director

I am so excited to share with you our Student Council members for the year 2022-23 at J Paul Taylor Academy.  I have been teaching at J Paul Taylor for 13 years now, and we have never had a student council, but not for lack of trying.  Because of the pandemic back in 2020-2021 it put a halt on a lot of things middle school teachers desired to do regarding this process. 

However, this has been one goal of mine for a while now, and to see it start to come to fruition was very rewarding to see.  I started the process back in mid-September and thirty-two students were present at our first meeting.  After the application process, the number of students dwindled down to 19.  Two other teachers and I went through the applications looking for candidates who responded to the questions thoroughly using an evaluation rubric and then called our top candidates for an interview.  It was very exciting to see the enthusiasm and well-spoken interviewees share their vision for their school.  

Upon our return from fall break, the candidates then had a week to campaign and put themselves out there by creating posters and making their voices heard to classmates. Then on October 10th, in the cafeteria, Student Council elections were held.  We had over 100 people present consisting of 5-8th graders, parents, relatives, and staff all listen attentively to each candidate’s speech.  THEY WERE ALL AMAZING!! 

Our student body then went in, class by class, to the library to cast their vote. Voting stickers were given that said “I Voted”.  A big thank you to Mrs. Montoya who helped with setting everything up, the ballots and ballot boxes to give each student the authentic experience of voting. 

Since their election they have participated in the Southwest District Leadership Conference in Deming, NM this past October.  They had the opportunity to see how student council members represent their school through government, school spirit, and relationship building.  Also, at our first student council meeting, we had Centennial students come and demonstrate some of the community events they have done, answer Q & A questions, and learn how meetings are run.  All the information was very helpful, but most importantly, relationships with other schools are being formed and connections being made.  (A BIG Thank you to Ms. Julia for being their support that day). 

Several of these students have also recently participated in Moot Court this past weekend in Albuquerque. 

The rest is history….

I look forward to seeing our Student Council members gain leadership skills and take the initiative over and beyond to serve not only their peers, but our community.  

Ms. Fielder                               

Student Council Advisor

Elected positions:

School President- Soraya Kamali

Vice-President- Avey Barham

Secretary- Nilasha Basnyat

Treasurer- Kira Hammond

Historian - Ephrem Settles

8th Grade Class Rep. - Briella Matthews

7th Grade Class Rep. - Mason Rogers

6th Grade Class Rep. - Laura Penn

5th Grade Class Rep. - Tad Montoya

6th Grade

Math

6th Math as finished up a unit on Fractions - they completed most of a 13-page project about Building a Bakery to show what they understand about fractions. We are moving into Decimal operations and the class has started by planning a dinner party with a budget of $50 for 8 people. They used supermarket flyers to find a main dish, 2 sides, and a dessert.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QsvYiamn9qLjRFT7A

Science - Traits and Reproduction

We are still investigating Darwin’s Spiders and are beginning to end the unit with Explaining Variations in Running Ability.

English Language Arts

Students have been writing a first rough draft for their fictional short story.  They have worked on developing the following: Exposition, characters and character traits, the problem and steps to how the problem is solved in the story.  Also, they have been practicing their critical thinking skills by reading nonfiction text and passages for Time for Kids and on NOREDINK using evidence from the text to address questions.

Social Studies

Students have taken their second assessment on Ancient Rome and reviewed it to understand key concepts, vocabulary, and history of Rome. They will soon be presenting their group's timeline, structures, newspaper, and story on Romulus and Remus. 

7th Grade 

Math 

Students have finished their unit on Slope and proportional relationships. This week, they put their knowledge to the test as they tried to determine the height of a tall object (Light Poles in the parking lot, and Mr. Ahner’s height) using shadows and heights of known objects. We will next be looking at properties of circles in a short 2-week-long unit.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vp8zoTxvWXyTQz5w5

Science - Phase Change

Taking on the role of student chemists working for the Universal Space Agency (a fictional agency), your students will investigate the mystery of the methane lake on Titan. One team of scientists at the Universal Space Agency claims that the lake evaporated while the other team of scientists claims that the lake froze. The apparent disappearance of the lake serves as the anchoring phenomenon for the unit, and the student's assignment is to determine what happened to the lake. Motivated to understand phase change more deeply, students gather evidence from the Phase Change Simulation, several articles, and physical investigations of phase change. They learn that the molecules of a substance move differently when that substance is in different phases. They also learn how the kinetic energy of molecules and the attraction between the molecules affect the way in which the molecules move. Students use this newfound understanding of molecules, kinetic energy, and attraction, as well as evidence about the conditions on Titan, to explain what they think happened to Titan’s mysterious lake.

English Language Arts

Students have been working on diagramming the short- story “Charles” by Shirley Jackson.  They have been addressing specific literary elements, completing two-character analysis, and using excerpts from the text to address critical thinking questions pertaining to the story.  Students have also been working on grammar skills such as capitalization on specific names and things, helping verbs, and easily confusing words.

Spanish Language Arts

Students have been working on their specific projects for this quarter on commercials, skits, and countries.  They have also worked on speaking and writing classroom phrases in Spanish such as go to your seat, pass me the paper, please, keep your voice down, I don’t understand. 

Social Studies

The students have selected a project and have been creating Navajo-inspired sand paintings, Apache-style housing (wickiup or teepee), or Puebloan pottery.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/fBy6ZfJbec2Y1J1z8

8th Grade

Math

Students have been working on dilations and are now looking at the definition of “similarity” and “congruence” in math. They used past knowledge of transformations (translating, rotating, and reflecting) and then added dilations to create emoji pictures.

Science - Light Waves

The Light Waves unit helps students gain a deeper understanding of how light interacts with materials and how these interactions affect our world, from the colors we see to changes caused by light from the sun, such as warmth, growth, and damage.

o   In this unit, students investigate a specific change caused by light: skin cancer. 

§  Taking on the role of student spectroscopists working for the fictional Australian Health Alliance, students investigate why Australia’s cancer rate is so high, analyzing real data that scientists might consider. 

§  This problem serves as the anchoring phenomenon that students focus on throughout the unit. Students use the Light Waves Simulation, conduct hands-on activities, read articles, and watch videos to gather evidence about how light interacts with materials. The Sim allows students to observe how light carries energy and how this energy causes materials to change when it is absorbed. Students can simulate manipulating the wavelength of light, observing that different types of light have different wavelengths and that different types of light can change material in different ways. Students also learn that when energy from light is not absorbed by a material, it can be either reflected or transmitted. Students apply these ideas to construct an argument explaining the high skin cancer rate in Australia, citing both low ozone levels in the atmosphere and low levels of melanin in the population.

English Language Arts 

Students have been reading the short story - “The Tell-Tale Heart” and recognizing rising action events, climax, falling action, and resolution to diagram the story. Class has been divided into groups and individuals assigned a specific role for the “Mock Trial”. Also, students have been working on a variety of grammar skills such as capitalization for specific names and things, helping verbs, and responding to critical thinking questions for specific passages in a story.  Upon our return from Thanksgiving break we will be going into brainstorming topics to prepare for an argumentative essay and speech.

Social Studies

• American Revolution

• Declaration of Independence

• United States Constitution

**This week, we also had a visit from the Arrowhead Robotics team. Students had a chance to design and then build their own Lego robot and watch and guide a demo-bot outside.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zuaWZ3UxqMnMkKS19

 Happy Friday Everyone,

I wisht to extend my gratitude to PAC and all the volunteers who have given much time and attention to the Fall Festival and the Schoolastic Book Fair.  Both events were/have been amazing and the JPTA community is better for it!  Parents, thank you for helping to carry the weight with these activities which enrich our students’ opportunities while attending our school.

Daylight Savings Reminder

Please remember that daylight savings “ends” this Sunday at 2:00am.  Spring forward and FALL back, so we set our clocks one hour earlier.

HELP WANTED (JPTA volunteer@ home needed)

At JPTA our teachers and students care for the environment through using reusable microfiber cloths for basic cleaning tasks in the classroom. Would you be willing to pick up our microfiber cloths at school occasionally, launder them, and bring them back promptly? They could easily be combined with a laundry load of dark towels. For many years we had a volunteer parent who helped our school in this way, and she even helped for a full year after her student's graduation. Could you be our next hero? Please contact tanya.ewing@jpaultayloracademy.org or elizabeth.schutte@jpaultayloracademy.org with questions or to volunteer for this simple and much-appreciated task. 

3rd Grade

History and Social Studies: As a part of 3-5 Grade Band project, 3rd Grade recently built dioramas to highlight their autumn activities and ofrendas to honor loved ones who have passed away. These constructions are on display in the hallway until Friday of this week at which time they will go home to decorate our student's homes.

ELA: Students have been growing their creative writing skills by responding to a prompt and illustrating and writing their responses. Our current focus is using sequence signals to tell the reader how time is passing and presenting our writings with verbal fluency (natural tone of voice, expressiveness, reacting to punctuation).

Math: It's been a fun week of studying patterns, including a couple of days spent playing sudoku. Building up pattern awareness helps our brains process mathematical data, especially multiplication and division knowledge.

SLA: In conjunction with learning about Dia de los Muertos, we watched the movie Coco last week. This week, we have done a vocabulary study of the comedic song Un Poco Loco.

4th Grade

The 4th graders have been busy investigating magnets, observing and thinning our baby carrot plants, solving multi-step equations and reviewing other math concepts, reading with our Kindergarten buddies, and much more. 

This week, we visited the book fair in the library, are getting better and faster with our typing skills, and we got to sit in on a guest reading session with Ms. Julia in the kindergarten class! 

5th Grade

5th grade has been busy working on several projects in our class.  We are about half way through our fraction unit and will be starting our class cookbook right after Thanksgiving Break so we can have real world experiences with fractions.  We are wrapping up our United States Tourism Magazine which students will share with their families and other grades in our school.

We are also continuing our STEM centers at least twice a month!  In the past few weeks 5th graders have learned about momentum, gravity, and inertia as they built roller coasters.  They also took a trip to NMSU STEM Lab and used 3D pens and circuitry to make a working carousel....while they were there they also used VR technology to explore our universe.

In our hydroponics garden we recently planted strawberries and lettuce so in the next few weeks we can begin to harvest from our class garden.  Check out our class website for lots of great photos and experiences our 5th graders are engaged in.

5th Grade Class Website

Happy Weekend All,

While I’m out of town this weekend, I can’t wait to hear how the Fall Festival turns out tonight.  PAC has really gone above and beyond to create this amazing opportunity for the JPTA community.  Speaking of above and beyond, kudos to the middle school team for taking on a haunted house experience.  Ms. Fielder and a group of students have really made an amazing investment of their time on this project.  I asked if there was a staff member who’d be willing to shepherd the process and she has done so with full vigor; thank you!

Parent/Teacher Conferences:

The week of the November 7th will be our fall parent and teacher conferences. I have requested in-person conferences as I firmly believe that face-to-face connections are very important.  And, as we continue to embrace a return to in-person schooling, this only makes sense…to me!

Thursday and Friday are the primary days of the P/T conferences where teachers will be available after classes and until 5pm on Thursday and 8 to noon on Friday.  Some teachers have flexed to alternative times to accommodate.  If you are unable to make an in-person conference, you may request a Zoom.  If you scheduled a Zoom and wish to switch back to in-person, please reach out to your teacher(s).

Concert:

Speaking of great face-to-face opportunities, how about that concert last Tuesday?  Wow, it was so incredible to hear the progress made by the students and see the incredible turnout at NMSU’s Atkinson Hall.  We filled the house!  Congratulations to all the students and job well done to Mrs. Espinoza!

Kinder Korner: 

Kinder parents, click here for more detailed info: Kinder Corner Newsletter 10.28

This week in social studies we will be exploring the different cultures who celebrate Halloween and dia de los muertos. For Halloween we will be talking about the traditions that come with the past such as where it originated which was in England. The first settlers to come to America adopted this tradition only to change it a tad bit. Did you know that instead of pumpkins being lit it was actually turnips? Well that is what we will be talking about in connection with the garden. For dia de los muertos we will be talking about how cultures like to remember their loved ones who have passed away by lighting candles in front of their picture so they are never forgotten. 

In math we are exploring patterns. If you have time, ask the students about the poem we learned this week. We are still working on memorizing, but here it is in case you need a prompt. Since we are coming into November the student will be working on differentiation of 2 and 3 dimensional shapes. 

In language arts we continue to talk about consonants and how when we say them, our air flow stops. When we say vowels, the air flow continues. We also talked about the importance of titles of books, authors, and their illustrators. We are still working on consonant vowels and consonant words to improve. This week we will practice completing sentences. 

In Spanish, we will be working on reinforcing the names of colors. We worked on this a little at the beginning of the year but they will be able to continue. 

Leaf Poem

Red, green, yellow brown

Look at the leaves as they come down

Red, green, yellow, brown

The leaves are blowing all through town

Red, green, yellow, brown 

The wind lifts them up and sets them down

Red, green, yellow, brown

The wind and the leaves are a pretty sight

Chorus

Leaves going up, (clap 2)

Leaves to the right, (clap 2)

Leaves going down, (clap 2)

Leaves to the left (clap 2)

Red, green, yellow, brown

The leaves are blowing all through town

 1st Class Class:

First grade is having a lot of fun this month! We had a pumpkin day this week. During pumpkin day we learned about the life cycle of the pumpkin and carved pumpkins. We worked on implementing strategies of how to compromise and how to incorporate everyone's ideas in the drawing of the jack o lantern's face.   In science this month we are working on engineering activities and in social studies we are learning about wants versus needs.  We recently began implementing a new math curriculum and have started out practicing the commutative property with addition and activities related to skip counting.  In Reading we continue to enjoy reading for fun during flashlight Friday.  We are looking forward to more opportunities to work in the garden. We are garden growers for two beds. We are currently growing sage, rosemary, parsley, radishes and carrots.  

2nd Round Rascals:

Hello Everyone,

We are staying very busy in 2nd Grade this quarter! First I would like to acknowledge how amazing the children did at Ms. Espinosa's Fall Music Concert. I am so proud!!!! I witnessed friends comforting other friends because of how nervous each other were and others breathing their way back into a manageable emotional mindset. I am constantly reminded how amazing this school is and Tuesday night's performance was just the latest proof that JPTA rocks! 

I would also like to point out that 2 of our 2nd Grade school sisters have chosen to bypass other individual "punch card prizes" to "buy" the class a Special Snack. Some of the other prizes they chose not to get were ice cream, prize box, slushy/ice cream, special pens, etc... I cannot tell you how special it is to observe your students actively care about their classmates. I was blown away by these girls' generosity and needed to share how much 2nd grade is growing academically AND socially.. 

Here is what is up in 2nd:

Writing: We just started our writing journals where the students are challenged to complete a writing prompt, have it edited, and then support their writing with an illustration. 

Reading: We have been investigating the Bossy R spelling rule (3-part investigation), using adjectives to describe (-er & -est), and our book clubs are about to kick off with the students reading chapter books and then doing a Book Project.

Math: We are always Math Sprinting plus measuring length with Standard/Non-Standard Units of measure. Now we are challenging ourselves to compare lengths of different items.

Science: We are beginning a study of the Solar System (Planets) that will conclude with a presentation to the school. The students have chosen teams and will be working toward creating a presentation about the planet they picked. 

Project: We are working to transition into thinking of an extended community project of collecting products for care packages for soldiers that are not home for the holidays. The students will be working to develop a donation letter to distribute, develop a logo we can include in our packages, packaging actual items, along with finding addresses and preparing the packages for delivery. 

Spanish: We will be expanding our vocabulary to include words that are part of our school as a whole. The students are thinking of challenging last year's 2nd Grade (current 3rd Grade) to an "El Showdown" Battle Royale. I can feel their confidence/comfort building!!!!!

Buenas Tardes Phoenix Family,

Fall Festival – Saturday, October 29 from 3 to 6pm

Please remember that we have the fall festival coming up next Saturday!  We hope to see many of you there.

6ht Grade Emma Update

I’ve been slow getting out updates regarding Emma in 6th grade, our student who was in a car accident last week.  She is still in very serious condition and being kept in medically induced a coma.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Emma in her recovering and to her family as they navigate these challenging times.

We have started a staff fundraiser to help the family while they are caring for Emma.  I’d like to expand the fundraising efforts.  Over the next week, we’ll try to start a GoFundMe, or similar platform, fundraising effort.  Before we do this, we will accept cash or checks at the school on Monday and Tuesday only.  This will allow 100% of received funding to go directly to the family.  

Specials Updates

Music

Music students are doing excellent work in preparing for the upcoming concert! Kinder & 1st graders and 2nd & 3rd graders are collaborating together on their pieces and they have enjoyed rehearsing together.  Orchestra students are refining their skills and making great strides in music techniques in each class.  These next few days, we will be having our final dress rehearsal practice performances.  Several 5th-7th grade students will join the 8th grade Orchestra for the grand finale.  We look forward to seeing you at the performance!

PE/Health

In K-2 grade in SEL, kids are continuing to learn about and practice self-management and self-awareness. Oftentimes, in class I will check in with the kids and ask what zones they are in. This check-in allows students the opportunity to identify their current emotions and find strategies to help them better focus and learn. In PE, students are learning how to underhand and over-hand throw. We are also working on catching. Ask your child the cues we use for each of these skills and practice at home using rolled up socks!!

In 3-5 grade in SEL, kids are learning the zones of regulation. We’ve discussed what regulating our emotions looks like and the different levels of emotions a person can experience. In the next couple of weeks, we will explore self-regulation strategies. In PE, we are reviewing overhand and underhand throwing and catching for games we will start playing for the holidays!!

In Middle School, we are finishing up our nutrition unit discussing what influences our food choices. In the next couple of weeks we will discuss how to plan heathy meals and manage weight. We will also explore body image and eating disorders. In PE, we are playing lots of games using the SEL skills of responsible decision making and social awareness. The kids really like the game called benchball!! 

Lastly, our La Crosse after school students played a game on our playground with kids from Hillrise and Holy Cross. They did an amazing job and I am very proud of them for trying something new and being a part of a team outside of school!! Go Phoenix La Crosse team!! 

Art

In the JPTA Art world, we are working on all sorts of great projects! Many classes are learning about pointillism and Georges Seurat, the 3-5th grade Art Club is successfully underway, and we have an exciting opportunity this Saturday, October 22, to join a collage workshop at the NMSU Art Gallery at 1 pm. Bring photos or anything you are grateful for to this workshop to include in your collage (something you won't mind cutting up). Finished pieces will be displayed in one of the NMSU Art Galleries. Please join the fun in making art and checking out the awesome art galleries. If you attend, you get to use this experience for extra credit. You may trade this workshop for any assignment of your choice in class. The whole family is welcome to participate. Let me know if you have any questions!!

JPTA Family,

I hope this late weekly newsletter finds you all well.  Our first week back to school, overall, was a success.  While the goings-on in the building were filled with academics and generally good spirits, the news of our family who was in an accident has shaken many of us.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any updates to provide, and I will seek more information this week, assuming the family is in a position to provide this.

I plan to push out report cards which should arrive to you as a digital link.  Historically, our middle school program has graded on a traditional A through F grading system.  The lower elementary program has focused more on standards-based skills and provided grades on a 1 to 4 proficiency scale.  We also used “Exemplary, Satisfactory, Needs Improvement” (E-N-S) grading in various classes.  For simplicity’s sake, we have done away with E-N-S and with few exceptions, all K-5 grade classes use 1 to 4 and grades 6th, 7th, and 8th, traditional grading.  The exception is a few of the specials classes which have a single grade in place of standards, lending themselves to more traditional grades.  

New Report Card Legend:

4=Advanced Proficient             A= 90%-100%

3=Proficient                             B=80%-89%

2=Partial Proficient                     C=70%-79%

1=Novice                                      D=60%-69%

F=0-59%

P= Pass

I=Incomplete

As an educator, I prefer measuring a student’s proficiency as they related to standards which should be the focus of our teaching.  This pushes toward proficiency of skills sets as they align to the standards associated to grade and content areas. As students get older, however, we typically send them off to traditional high schools that used an A thru F grading system.  As such, we feel it’s necessary to transition our students toward the traditional system in preparation of their futures.  

We currently don’t have grades or measurable standards on our Spanish report card sections.  We hope to change this in time so that our students progress and performance with the Spanish language is also being more specifically monitored and reported.

SCIENCE | Social Studies 8 | Advisory 7

6th Grade Science - Traits and Reproduction

In the Traits and Reproduction unit, students take on the role of student genetic researchers, working with the fictional bioengineering firm, Bay Medical Company. Bay Medical Company is attempting to breed spiders with the type of silk that can be used for medical applications (e.g., to create artificial tendons). The student genetic researchers are faced with the challenge of explaining how the silk flexibility traits of closely related spiders can vary, which serves as the anchor phenomenon for the unit. To explain this mystery, students create physical models, read articles, and observe genetics in action, using the Traits and Reproduction Simulation. This powerful and engaging digital tool allows students to observe and breed spiders, making connections between what happens inside cells and how this affects the traits of an organism. Through their research, students learn about the role proteins, genes, and sexual reproduction play in trait variation. They are able to apply what they have learned about spiders to a human context.

7th Grade Science – Rock Transformation

Understanding the geologic history of specific regions on Earth helps us understand how rock forms and transforms and how matter cycling on Earth is driven by different sources of energy. The Rocky Mountains and Great Plains are two iconic locations in the United States that have a shared geologic history, which serves as the anchor phenomenon that students investigate in this unit. Students are motivated by the discovery of the surprisingly similar mineral composition of rocks from the two locations. Geologists examine rock formations to learn about the history of the rock. In this unit, students play the role of student geologists as they investigate different ways rocks form and change. Using physical models, a digital simulation, and hands-on activities as well as information gathered from data and science texts, students investigate the cycling of matter (rock material) on Earth and how energy from the sun and from Earth’s interior drive different rock transformation processes. Students use their new understanding to explain how these processes caused rock material from the Rocky Mountains to eventually become part of the Great Plains.

8th Grade Science – Magnetic Fields

Space exploration generates excitement and captures imaginations, while also leading to major breakthroughs in science and technology. However, the rockets used to launch spacecraft are very expensive, and most can only be used one time. To prepare for future large-scale space projects, such as space colonization, scientists must find a cheaper and faster launch system. NASA scientists believe that a promising technology already exists in the form of electromagnetic launch systems, but the technology needs further development. In the role of physicists working for the Universal Space Agency, a fictional agency that resembles NASA, students investigate the unexpected results from one test launch of a magnetic spacecraft. While scientists at the USA were testing the launch system, they found that the spacecraft in their third test traveled much faster than expected, and it's this unexpected outcome that serves as the anchor phenomenon for student investigations in the unit. Was there an error in magnet alignment? Was there an unexpected energy increase in the launcher system, or was there more magnetic force? Motivated to understand what affects the movement of magnets, students use the Magnetic Fields Simulation, hands-on activities, and evidence from science articles to learn about magnetic force. Students gain an understanding of how magnetic force causes motion and the relationship of magnetic force to kinetic and potential energy. Students use this newfound understanding, as well as evidence about the spacecraft test launches, to explain what they think happened in the third test. They then apply their knowledge to analyzing three designs for a magnetic roller coaster launcher.

8th Grade Social Studies

• Civics

  • Forms of government

  • Political Parites

• United States History

  • French and Indian War

  • Slavery in America

Middle School News: 

ELA | Social Studies 6 | Advisory 8

Currently, students in 8th grade (ELA) are presenting their books/plays on Shakespeare.  We have had students present the following works of Shakespeare: Midnight’s Summer Dreams, Othello, Hamlet, Julius Cesar, and King Lear.  They are also working on grammar skills such as recognizing prepositions, pronoun/pronoun shifts, and adjectives correctly.  Also, students are working on a Haunted House Activity that entails them taking the role of a real-estate agent and selling their homes, making bids by posting descriptive paragraphs on their home. They will be creating a listing of their haunted house showing square footage, rooms, highlights of the house, selling price, and other descriptors to make their house appealing to the seller.

7th grade ELA- Students just completed their Financial Literacy presentations and are currently working on literacy elements rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.  We are still on the story “Charles” and learning about direct/indirect characterization and will be comparing and contrasting the story with using multi/media “Dennis the Menace”.  They are also working on a variety of grammar skills such as easily confusing words, prepositions, and pronoun shifts.

6th grade- In Social Studies students just took a quiz on the Roman Empire to check for understanding and completing their projects on the Roman Empire.  They will be displaying their work really soon.  In ELA students are writing their own short story.  They have completed a fictional story planner including setting, characters, character description, problem, solution, etc. Also, they are working on giving elaborate details that include colors, sounds, and more details for their setting.

MATH | Social Studies 7 | Advisory 6

We have explored a fun new website, 99math.com this week.

6th Math: We are finishing up the unit on Dividing Fractions - we have gone from learning “why” we divide fractions using the algorithm of “Keep-Switch-Flip” that students learned in 5th grade, to being able to explain how to divide fractions with diagrams and the algorithm. Students will be starting a Fractions and Decimals project that will continue into the next unit.

7th Math: In Q1, students learned about proportional relationships and how they look in tables and equations. This quarter, we have started by looking at what proportional relationships look like on a graph and learning/reviewing how to read, plot, label graphs, and write a “story” based on information they see on a graph.

8th Math: We returned to school this week and reviewed finding angles where lines crossed using information already given. The class also learned about parallel lines cut by a transversal, and what adjacent, corresponding, alternate interior angles and alternate exterior angles are.

7th Social Studies: Students are studying about the Ancient People of New Mexico. So far, these include the “Basket Makers”, “Anasazi”, and “Mogollon” groups. We will continue by learning about the “Ancestral Pueblo” and “Non-Pueblo Indians” (including the Navajo and Apache groups)

SLA | PBL - How can we connect AS a community?

This quarter, student projects will focus around a workshop theme. Students are preparing a “lesson” to share back in a workshop session during SLA night (looking at December 08).

 Phoenix Phamily,

Alas, fall break has arrived.  It’s incredible that we are wrapping up the first quarter of the school year.  We’ve had a great start to the school year with lots of activities during the day, increased Spanish instruction from last year, new after-school activities, the 102nd birthday celebration of Mr. Taylor, and a wonderful celebration of Mexican Independence Day, 16 de septiembre.

We hope that you all have a nice break, and we look forward to continuing our hard work in the second quarter.

Hope you enjoy the great sibling photos provided my Ms. Hernandez, 4th grade teacher!

Stomach Bug

FYI, many students have experienced a stomach bug the last few days.  Hopefully we don’t have too many students starting their vacation with an ick, but thought I’d pass that along.

3rd Grade 

Hello everyone! Here is a summary of what's been going on in 3rd Grade as we end the quarter:

Math: We have reinforced clock skills, equipping students to read and use our daily agenda independently. Otherwise, we are drilling times tables to increase fluency and using that knowledge to decipher 2-and-3-digit multiplication problems. As we wrap up this week, we are making scale models of rulers in order to prepare for the building projects we have coming up next quarter that will activate knowledge of area and volume.

ELA: We have studied parts of speech including affixes (which include prefixes and suffixes), pronouns, and proper nouns. In writing, we have discussed subject and predicate agreement. Students also completed a research project which involved a lot of informative reading and writing.

History and Social Studies: Our class researched the symbolism and history of the Mexican Flag and presented our findings through verbal presentations to their families, Kindergarten, and 2nd Grade. This project gave us a lot of opportunities to practice research skills and synthesis of information. We also practiced strong presentation skills, including using reference notes, eye contact, audience awareness, using visual aids, and speaking clearly. Presentations were delivered in Spanish and English.

SLA: in addition to our History presentations, we have worked on vocabulary building and fluency.

Science: We concluded our scientific investigations this quarter by using fossil evidence to answer, "Can we outrun a dinosaur?" SPOILER: none of us can.

4th Grade

The 4th grade class has been busy working on multiplication, investigating energy, listening to two different novels (and starting a new one after the break), giving presentations both individually and with groups, and much more. 

Our 4th graders performed their one-act plays during the school's 16 de septiembre celebration, and they had a good time participating in the many activities that were available during the fiesta. 

We are enjoying helping get more classes involved in the school garden, making recipes in class, and becoming "buddies" with our Kindergarten Phoenix family members. This week, the 4th graders helped Kindergarten students work in the garden and gave them a tour of the school library and will continue spending time with them every Wednesday for reading activities. We are excited to wrap up this first quarter of 4th grade and we are looking forward to so much fun learning in the next quarter! 

5th Grade

5th Grade has been up to exciting things!  

We finished up our first math unit with flying colors, started brainstorming ideas for a tourism magazine, began our STEM Science Wednesdays (2.5 hours of weekly hands-on science activities), our United States Project is ongoing, and we have 3 field trips lined up next quarter.  

We also have started a new 5th tradition in collaboration with Branigan Cultural Center; we will create an ofrenda each year honoring those who have influenced or been a part of our JPTA school community.  There will be a community exhibit in front of Branigan Cultural Center in November so please be sure to stop by and check it out.  

Check out our class website for more news and pictures: 

https://sites.google.com/jpaultayloracademy.org/5thgrade/home

 JPTA Community,

What a day!  The 16 de septiembre was an amazingly celebrated day here at JPTA.  Aside from perhaps our last 8th grade graduation, it’s the most populous event we’ve had in some time.  Thanks to all who joined us for the morning and special thanks to the staff and students who made the event so momentous.  I especially enjoyed the jalapeño eating contest.  Well, at least entertaining for those who watched.  It was a great day and we look forward to our holiday Fall Carnaval, October 29th!

Kinder

Kinder Parents, click here for more detailed info!!

Kindergarten will resume with our normal daily schedule. This week our big focus will be in math. It is a memory match with teddy bears. The students will be able to replicate what is on the board so it gets their mind thinking. The next project we are going to work on is seasons. The students have already taken mental pictures of what trees look like and they will find the importance of each piece. We are going to be making papier-mâché tree so if you can please save any toilet/kitchen towel rolls and bring them to our class. Also, if you have any newspaper that you have already read and would like to donate to us please send it on in. 

Reminder: Please don't forget to send an extra change of clothes and a water bottle for the students. We have three birthdays this month so help us celebrate them.  

1st Grade

First grade has been busy! We have been practicing a new dance, La Raspa, for our fiesta on 9/16. We have also been working with the fifth-grade class on Spanish food vocabulary. 

In math we started a unit on geometry and looked through magazines to find examples of two-dimensional shapes.  In ELA we are becoming vocabulary experts as we explore words from our fiction texts. We are also reading non-fiction texts about animals. We are drawing the animal and labeling the parts (eyes, ears, legs, wings, etc.) of the animal. 

In science we are experimenting with light and sound.  We did an experiment to see what types of materials light shines through and we looked at pictures to see how people communicate using light or sound.  During our project time we are interviewing adults in our community and asking questions in both English and Spanish.  

2nd Grade

In 2nd Grade we have been really busy. Here is what's going on in 2nd Grade:

Writing: We are wrapping up our learning and practicing with Cursive. When we return, we will be using Cursive exclusively! 

Reading: We have been studying our long vowel rules intensely. We also have been working on nouns and their many functions: singular and plural (-s, -es, -ies, & irregular). Possessives will be next!

Math: We are concluding our investigation into subtraction with regrouping. We will be putting both practices into motion next week as I challenge the students not only to solve the equations, but also to balance back and forth with the operations. 

Spanish: We are practicing with our "La Clase" Vocabulary. We have played games with them and have actually put the vocabulary into use with simple speaking parts and with some writing. We will be moving our vocabulary to our extended community when we return from break.

Science: We have ended our quarter studying the 3 Phases of Matter. We will have done 3 experiments; Ooblek, 3 Phases, and Dancing Raisins. We will investigate space when we return from break.

Projects: We will be discussing as a class where we would like our Projects to go next quarter. We will still have the focus of "Building Community". 

The 16 de septiembre fiesta was a huge success. The students did a great job and performed beautifully. I know it was an experience families won't forget. I am so proud of my students! 

16 de septiembre

The J. Paul Taylor Academy 16 de septiembre fiesta is back! This year, the event is during school hours on Friday September 16th from 9:00 to 10:30 AM. Please join us for dancing, a play, face painting, food tasting, and even a jalapeno eating contest! All activities are free! 

Tentative Schedule!

·      9:00 Bienvenidos from Admin

·      9:05 Dancing-K-2 La Marcha

·      9:15 Dancing-Kindergarten: La culebra

·      9:20 Dancing-1st grade: La raspa

·      9:25 Dancing-2nd grade: La chona

·      9:35 Act 1: 4th grade

·      9:40 Act 2: 4th grade

·      9:45 Act 3: 4th grade

·      9:50 Phoenix Awards

·      10:05 Jalapeño-eating contest: Mr. Ahner, Mr. A, Mr. Kevin, Mr. Vince 

·      10:25 Adiós 

**Activities will include flag decorating, taco stand, veggie tasting, sandia y pepino con tajin tasting, photo booth, face painting, dancing** 

JPTA Concert – October 25 at NMSU's Atkinson Hall!  🎶

6:00 K-3 performance

7:00 Gr. 4-8 performance

Concert Attire

**Please dress your best in your school uniform (no need to buy new items)

Khaki pants, short sleeved school uniform polo shirt (K-5 green, Middle School blue), socks and shoes (no sandals or flip flops please)

Please consider volunteering at the concert--we will need lots of help for the production!

Art 

As we wind up the first quarter of the year, grades 3-8 have been working on Jackson Pollock inspired pieces for the last art history lesson, Independent Projects, and Art Evaluations (which helps students learn to think and talk about art on an intellectual and conceptual level like full-fledged artists). The Art Evaluation is replacing the Artist Statement assignment for the time being, as it guides students and their thought processes when it comes to evaluating art in a more direct fashion. 

K-2nd grade are polishing up their drawing skills, enjoying some free-choice art time, in addition to increasing their dexterity and imaginations with some non-objective clay-play (we are using non-drying, non-toxic, plasticine clay that can be used over and over again). We are also fitting in some collaborative projects with homeroom classes as well, in efforts align and reinforce what they are learning in class, such as projects related to stories they are working on, and cursive creatures. 

Picasso said it best when he said, "every child is an artist"- our students are proof that this is true!!! Stay tuned for more from our JPTA students!

Music

Kinder and 1st Graders are singing, playing instruments, and dancing and doing movement activities.

In addition to the above, 2nd and 3rd Graders are playing ukulele!

4th Graders are playing String Orchestra music with open strings and notes on the A and D strings.

5th-8th Graders are making excellent progress in working together & advancing their skills through working on different pieces.

Students are preparing for the fall concert!  Please help encourage students to practice outside of class!

Tues. Concert on 10/25 at NMSU's Atkinson Hall!  🎶

6:00 K-3 performance

7:00 Gr. 4-8 performance

PE / Health

In elementary school, the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders are currently learning how to form positive relationships and how to deal effectively with conflict. We’ve also learned about types of bullying and how to respond to situations that involve bullying. 

The kindergarten, first and second graders are continuing to learn about emotional regulation through physical activity. We are also learning about locomotor, non-locomotor movements, and traveling pathways.

In middle school, students are working on poster and skit presentations about building character for the elementary kids. They’ve also participated in numerous cooperative and team building activities. 

We all look forward to cooler weather to enjoy more PE activities outside!! 

Another Newspaper Article honoring Mr. Taylor for his birthday.

https://www.lascrucesbulletin.com/stories/sep-2-2022,13148

Middle School Primary Class Updates

Ms. Fielder

6th Grade ELA

Students are working on literary elements rising action, climax, resolution and identifying those in our short film.  Students are also answering Essential Questions and having to think about their thinking. 

They also continue to work in daily grammar skills and prepare for. Spelling Test #2 on literature words. 

7th Grade ELA 

Students are reading Short Story- Charles by Shirley Jackson and diagramming story and addressing the following literary elements:  Exposition, Inciting Incident, Point of View, and Rising Action.  Students are also working with a partner on a Financial Literacy project presentation. 

8th Grade ELA

Students are presenting their Social-Emotional Learning projects.  We’ve had several presenters present on Mindfulness & Meditation, How to handle Stress, Effective Communication, Organization, Respect, and Internet Safety.  Students are also working on their Book Poster Assignment on Shakespeare. 

6th Grade Social Studies

In Social Studies students are continuing to learn about the Roman Empire and how their government worked.  Students are building key structures for example: The Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and The Pantheon.  Students are learning key vocabulary words as well. 

Ms. Rupp

6th Grade Math

The class just finished a unit on area and surface area. They designed a tent to accommodate 2-8 people and put together a presentation to show how much material would be needed to create their tent. Models and posters are on display by the middle school bathrooms.

They are getting ready to review fractions and learn how to divide fractions and why the algorithm for dividing fractions works the way it does.

7th Grade Math

Students are learning about proportional relationships, how to determine a constant of proportionality and how to use that information to create an equation. This unit is a base leading into 8th grade units on slope and graphing relationships.

8th Grade Math

We are working with angles and triangles! Students have learned about complimentary, supplementary and vertical angles, and are able to calculate the value of a "missing" angle when other information is provided. We will shortly be moving into transformations of shapes (translation, rotation and reflection).

7th Grade Social Studies 

Students have put together several slide presentations about NM facts. Currently we are focused on the four provinces of New Mexico and their features. Students have also worked on map skills, including identifying locations within New Mexico and creating a legend.

Ms. Garza-Stevens 

6th Grade Science

Metabolism

Through inhabiting the role of medical students in a hospital, students—as they first diagnose a patient and then analyze the metabolism of world-class athletes—are able to draw the connections between the large-scale, macro-level experiences of the body and the micro-level processes that make the body function. By investigating the anchoring phenomenon—a patient whose body systems are not working properly, students learn how body systems work together to provide the trillions of cells in the human body with the molecules they need. By exploring how athletic training improves the body’s function, students learn how energy is released in the cells through cellular respiration and how that energy supports movement and cellular growth and repair. In the final chapter of the unit, your students will consider a new anchor phenomenon to apply what they have learned to determine whether an athlete’s improved performance from increasing cellular respiration could have been the result of blood doping.

7th Grade Science

Plate Motion

The foundational work for the theory of plate tectonics originated in work done by climatologists who were curious about why the fossil record revealed evidence of organisms, such as tropical ferns, in now-frigid places like Antarctica. The work of Alfred Wegener and other scientists combined to create a model of Earth’s crust and interior that could explain continental movement on a colossal scale and over eons of time. With the emergence of new tools, such as GPS, geologists continue to refine their understanding of Earth and the dynamic tectonic processes that still shape it today. In the role of geologists working for the fictional Museum of West Namibia, your students will investigate a fossil mystery: why are fossils of Mesosaurus, a population of extinct reptiles that once lived all together, now found separated by thousands of kilometers of the ocean? This mystery serves as the anchoring phenomenon for the unit and frames the unit on plate motion, prompting students to understand plates, what happens at plate boundaries, and at what rate changes happen on a geologic scale. After determining that there is a plate boundary between these groups of fossils, students determine whether the fossils were separated suddenly as a result of one geologic event, or slowly over millions of years. Students explore plates and plate boundaries through a series of hands-on investigations and engaging articles and videos featuring real-life scientists. Using the Plate Motion Simulation, students create continents, set plates in motion, and watch what happens. This allows them to see in cross-section how the plates and mantle interact at convergent and divergent plate boundaries, observe what geologic events occur when plates move and investigate what types of landforms form due to different types of plate motion. By the end of the unit, students are able to explain that plates are destroyed and rock is added to plates constantly and slowly (and these processes have been occurring for millions of years) due to large-scale plate movement.

8th Grade Science

Force and Motion

Scientists send research instruments into space to collect data on astrophysical objects such as stars, planets, moons, and asteroids. These missions are incredibly expensive and require precise and meticulous planning to avoid failure. The teams of scientists and engineers who work together to design and build the spacecraft usually plan successful missions, but occasionally, costly mishaps occur. When these happen, scientists carefully investigate what went wrong, wanting to avoid future mistakes. In this unit, students engage in authentic work as they take on the role of student physicists working for the fictional Universal Space Agency (USA). They are called upon to assist in the investigation of one recent mishap. Students apply their developing knowledge of force and motion to explain why a space pod failed to dock at the space station as planned. This mystery serves as the anchoring phenomenon for the unit. As they investigate, students will learn about the relationship between force, change in velocity, mass, and the equal and opposite forces exerted during collisions. This complex physics reasoning will be reinforced by the Force and MotionSimulation, a digital environment in which students can manipulate the mass of objects, their initial velocities, and the forces exerted on them as they observe the resulting change in motion. Students can also use this digital tool to simulate collisions and see how different objects are affected during these events. With this digital tool, students gather data about how forces affect the motion of objects, which they use as evidence to explain what happened to the pod. By the end of the unit, students will understand how forces can affect the motion of objects.

SLA (Spanish Language Acquisition)

• Dies y sies de septiembre celebration.

  • Students are working on 3 booths for the celebration.

    • Photo Booth

    • Chips and Salsa

    • Face Painting

• Spanish Comic

  • Students are writing a Comic in Spanish that is about a boy named Mac who loves to eat Ramen,

    • The results have been very entertaining.

8th Grade Social Studies

• Students are working on “Who Discovered America”.

Ask them…they have some great answers.

102 Years of Service

Mr. J. Paul Taylor celebrated his 102nd year of life.  With great honor, we were able to celebrate this momentous event with him.  At a time where finding strong mentors or iconic community members feels difficult, our namesake is most certainly an inspirational education leader to me and an icon within our community and beyond.  Please check out this article with Las Cruces Sun-News: https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/2022/08/24/j-paul-taylor-celebrates-102nd-birthday-with-charter-school-students-legislator-las-cruces-mesilla/65416702007

Safe-Schools Training-Active Shooter Trainings

We have had a professional trainer at our school two times in the past 6 months.  If you are interested in learning a little more about Mr. Vautier, please follow the below link.

James Vautier – POMS  and Associates, Senior Manager – Safety & Security 

https://www.amazon.com/CTLAMP-5811116635-Original-Projector-Compatible/dp/B07TTRF54X

3rd Grade

It's been 6 weeks of school already! I laughed a bit to myself when my in-laws in Georgia sent their "First Day of School!" photos of their kids on Monday...that was so long ago for us! 

Anyway, here is a quick update on what we are working on:

Math: So far, we building the foundations of multiplication, introducing one number at a time. We have covered 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 3, 6, and 9, in that order. By the end of Friday, we *should* finish the set with 4 and 8.

English Language Arts: While our Autobiography Project has taken up most of our ELA learning time over the past couple of weeks, we have squeezed in a study of pronouns and how to use them. Students are working on anchor charts that will go up in our class and hallway.

Spanish Language Arts: We have enjoyed about a month of lessons taught by Middle School students as guest teachers. These one-off lessons have provided us a great opportunity to buff up on key vocabulary while playing games of the Middle Schooler's design.

Science: We have spent this quarter studying animal and human traits and adaptability. Today, we looked at the ways a human body changes while in space--it was cool to watch the students work together to measure their physical attributes and learn how astronauts' bodies adapt to space life.

History: Our Autobiography Projects have been great! Students have worked really hard to use the photos that you uploaded, write captions for each of them, and arrange them on their pages. 

4th Grade

The 4th grade class has been busy! They finished their first group project of the year and have started presenting their slideshows to their classmates; this mini project was about our school garden. They've also been working on collaborating with 3rd graders and 5th graders to organize the upcoming 16 de septiembre celebration for the school. The 4th grade class has been working hard to use place value to compare, order, add, subtract, and round whole numbers up to the millions. They are enjoying their first novel of the year, The One and Only Ivan; they continue to display written work in the hallway, and they will lead the school with the morning announcements next week! 

5th Grade

5th Grade has been busy!  These are a few of the things we are working on: 

-growing vegetables in our classroom, 

-learning about our government compared to other governments

-writing our own Mad Libs

-finishing up our class book "Tuck Everlasting"

-dividing multi-digit whole numbers

-incubating eggs, 

-dyeing wool to spin into yarn and weaving

Check out our class website for details about the exciting learning experiences in 5th grade:  https://sites.google.com/jpaultayloracademy.org/5thgrade/home

Open House a Success!

Tuesday had a wonderful showing for our Open House.  We really appreciate your participation and feel like it was a great opportunity to connect.

Absent from school?

Please contact the front office via:

• email (info@jpaultayloracademy.org); or by 

• calling 575-652-4006.  

Also, reach out to the teacher if it’s more than one day and believe your child can do work while absent.  Please know that leaving for vacations or extended periods of time are challenging on the continuity of education and 10 consecutive unapproved absence can result in disenrollment.  

While I certainly understand that we have circumstances that result in missing school and I believe travel is an amazing way to grow, lateness to school and unexcused absences challenge the teacher and learner. We have lots of two week breaks and a summer break.  Please try your best to fit plans into these windows.  Thanks for your help on this!

Kinder’s Corner

We continue to talk about families. This week we had a fun presentation by Ms. Sarah with fruits. She talked about the importance of having healthy fruits in our diets and did cool color patterns with fruit kabobs. Students practiced the fruit names and the colors in both languages. Once again we take pride in our collaborations with our school and we are one big family. Thank you Ms. Sarah. 

Want to see more about kindergarten class? Click here!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SjgvM0L023Acwoksy6q_-siTytRBNOeDxWO7gXbmmZI/edit 

1st Grade

Project/Social Studies: This month we completed our study into our family traditions. Students discussed their family traditions  at home, then discussed with their peers at school.  Next, the first grader narrowed down which tradition they wanted to present and made a poster and wrote a sentence about their tradition. Soon we will present to the kindergarten and second grade classes.

            Another part of our project is to interview each person in our class to get to know our first grade community. After we interview each person we make a book about them and it is taken home for them to share. The next step in the process will be to interview adults in our school. This will help us get to know our school community better.  We will do this project with a kindergartener and a second grader. 

Science: We are learning about sound and light. This week we did an experiment involving flashlights and how objects make shadows. We also followed the scientific process by investigating how to make a marble float.

Spanish:  We are learning two dances right now. La Marcha will be performed with second grade and kindergarten at Mr. Taylor's birthday party and at the 16 de septiembre celebration. First graders will also perform La Raspa at the 16 de septiembre celebration. We also continue to work with our 5th grade buddies once a week. This week we practiced food vocabulary. 

2nd Grade

Writing: We have started our journey of learning Cursive handwriting. We will be learning groups of letters that follow the same stroke pattern.

Reading: We have shifted into our study of long vowel sounds. We are beginning with a review of the silent e rules and then we will be venturing out to the other long vowel rules. We are also studying Nouns. We will begin with identifying Common Nouns and then move to Proper and Singular/Plural Nouns. We are always working to become as fluent as can be with our Sight Words. We will begin to manipulate them in different ways as we move forward in the year. 

Math: We have moved away from Place Value and started to identify and solve for additional problems with  and without regrouping. We will be working on this skill for a couple of weeks. 

Spanish: We have been working on our Days of the Week and Months of the Year as well as adding some classroom vocabulary. We have also started a game called the "showdown" where students compete against each other to translate English to Spanish. We are also working on our feelings vocabulary and share out at the end of each day. We have been working with K and 1 to practice La Marcha that we will perform for Mr. Taylor's birthday. 

Projects: We are completing our first project; our I Am From... Poem. The students have worked through the writing process and have created a presentation.

Please read about our wonderful Kindergarten Teacher Ms. Castro-Buelna. 

I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My parents are from Cananea, Sonora and moved to the United States about 35 years ago. I completed my studies at Western New Mexico University and graduated with my first Masters Degree in Elementary Education and my second Masters in Educational Leadership and Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education.

In my spare time, I love to travel to Mexico to see my family as well as traveling all around the world. My next trip I would like to do is visit Puerto Rico. As I think about my school years, I remember how difficult my schooling was due to the language barrier I had. The only language I spoke was Spanish when I was in elementary school, and it was very difficult. Now, I am an advocate for those students who have difficulty learning the English language as well as for those students who would love to learn the Spanish language and culture. My goal is to complete my Doctorate degree in Instructional Technology. 

Kindergarten Teaching Assistant Mrs. Maria Marquez, who the kids lovingly call Ms. Mari

My name is Maria Elena Marquez. I was born and raised in Durango, Mexico. I am currently taking classes at NMSU to complete my Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. My husband and I moved to the United States about 8 years ago. I have three children and they are all grown up. In my spare time I love to read historical books to learn more. I am currently taking a class through NMSU that is literature and talks about comics which has been very interesting to me. I also like to spend time with my family. My goal is to complete my degree so I can begin teaching and change the lives of children through learning experiences. 

Student takes flight in Running Club

Running club

Running Club officially started today.  What fun and amazing participation!  Thanks to all the adults and students who made it a great launch today.

Open house

This coming Tuesday, August 16, we will have our open house.  It’ll be the first in-person we’ve had in a few years.  We’ll have two parent sessions in the cafeteria.  While one group is there, the other will be with the student’s primary teachers; middle school will rotate.  Then, we switch after 45 minutes.  If you have two children, you can skip the parent meeting, so you have an opportunity to meet both (or more) teachers.  

Session 1

5:30-6:15pm General Session in Cafeteria. Last name A-N

5:30-6:15pm  Visit homeroom classes and special classes. Last name O-Z

Session 2

6:15-7:00pm  General Session in Cafeteria. Last name O-Z

6:15-7:00pm  Visit homeroom classes and special classes. Last name A-N

PE and Health

In PE/Health, the elementary grade levels are continuing to learn SEL components. Currently, we are exploring self-awareness. Last week, our focus was on self-management; the kids learned to identify different emotions and how they are displayed. We also played bingo and learned calming strategies, factors that influence our emotions and how self-talk impacts feelings. The little kids learned the zone of regulation and are getting acclimated to sharing space in rudimentary physical education activities. In Middle School, we are covering health content specifically related to building healthy relationships.  We’ve practiced communication through games and have learned about negative and positive peer pressure and how to say no to risky behaviors. The middle school kids have enjoyed PE activities every Wednesday and Friday through center and whole group games where I also integrate health content when possible. I’m looking forward to a fantastic year!! Thanks for your support, Phoenix Families!! 

Coach Sells

Art

JPTA students have been hard at work making all sorts of amazing art. One important project that they have been working on is hand-dyed, hand-made flowers for Mr. Taylor’s 102nd birthday (See Above), in every color imaginable. Students will present these to Mr. Taylor on August 24th, during his birthday celebration! 

Ms. Kiser

Music News

Kinder through Third grade music students are singing, folk dancing, and playing instruments. Students are working on notes, rhythms, teamwork, and rehearsing music to perform for Mr. Taylor's birthday celebration. 

Fourth Graders are doing great work in learning to play their new instruments in Orchestra! Fifth through Eighth graders are also doing excellent work in refining their skills through studying new music and reviewing notes, rhythms, and performance technique. Students also have some opportunities for piano, ukulele, and folk dancing. 

Ask a student to sing or play one of their pieces for you!

Mrs. Espinoza

Mr. Taylor rapidly approaches his 102nd birthday!  Thanks for your continued inspiration.  We can’t wait to celebrate you at JPTA!

https://jpt100th.com  

Open House-Mark your calendars!

On Tuesday, August 16th at 5:30 we plan to have an open house for families.  This will be an opportunity to meet in a larger parent assembly and create an opportunity for parents to visit their children’s current teachers.  More details about this event will be pushed out next week and prior to the event.

Meet Ms. Bonnie Montoya, Administrative Assistant

Yvonne “Bonnie” Montoya, born and raised in Tortugas, a small community South of Las Cruces is the youngest of fifteen (15) children, a mother of 6 and a “Nana” of 15.  Bonnie joins J Paul Taylor Academy (JPTA) after twelve (12) years as a Legal Assistant/Office manager for a criminal defense attorney.   Being bilingual, her prior experience within the legal system experience at the University of New Mexico and the University of Idaho brings diversity to JPTA.

Bonnie’s mother who passed 17 years ago was, and continues to be, her inspiration.  Bonnie’s directives to face things and give with all her heart are traits taught and instilled in Bonnie by her mother.  We are very fortunate to gain such a talented addition to our staff.  

Family Literacy Webinar

This fall, NMPED in collaboration with TNTP will be hosting three (3) FREE K-12 literacy workshops for parents and caregivers. 

Register Here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMtceippjgpG9EnKxf1dJ52ADvahcIYNJ7a 

Lacrosse opportunity

This fall, we believe there will be an opportunity for some students to join lacrosse at JPTA.  If you are interested in coaching or assisting, please let Mr. Ahner (eric.ahner@jpaultayloracademy.org) or Ms. Sells (jamie.sells@jpaultayloracademy.org)know of your interest!  

Thanks, Ms. Sells, for helping to create another great opportunity for our students!

What’s happening in middle school?

MATH:

We started the year with Mathematical/Growth Mindset videos and lessons from YouCubed.org's Week of Inspirational Math. Our goal for this year is to create a "deep understanding" of mathematical concepts and topics.

Currently, 6th graders are learning to calculate the Area of parallelograms and will develop reasoning and a formula for the area of a triangle.

7th graders are working to understand scales and scale factors.

8th graders are calculating circumference and area of circles. This week, their two-challenge problem/tasks were to calculate the inside and outside distances of a (running) track, and to calculate the perimeter of a wire picture frame made of numerous circles around a rectangular "picture".

All students continue to assess their math growth through an IXL diagnostic update every other week. Their goal is to gain 100 points over this next year!

7th grade SOCIAL STUDIES will be learning all about New Mexico this year. We have started by defining and identifying primary and secondary sources and are starting to look at the 5 themes of Geography and the 5 regions of the United States.

ADVISORY classes are meeting daily and are learning about "email etiquette" and how to write a proper email.

PBL/SLA classes: Students have been working on Spanish projects to share with elementary classes. In addition to these projects, in my class they have learned the proper "names" and pronunciation of the letters of the alphabet, spelling and pronunciations of numbers 1-100, and asking about and telling time in Spanish, including terms like mid-day, mid-night, in the early morning, in the late afternoon, half hour, and quarter hour.

SCIENCE – Mrs. Stevens

6TH GRADE

• Microbiome

  • In this unit, students take on the role of student researchers as they work out and explain the anchor phenomenon for the unit—a fecal transplant cured a patient suffering from a potentially deadly C. difficile infection. They make arguments that justify continued research of this new treatment. By engaging in sense-making about the same types of data that professional scientists use, they work to understand how having 100 trillion microorganisms on and in the human body can keep a person healthy. In the process, they learn to examine living things at multiple scales, from molecules to single-celled organisms to the overall human body.

7TH GRADE

• Geology on Mars

  • In this unit, students will take on the role as student planetary geologists working to investigate the planet Mars. Students will search for evidence of past liquid water on the surface, a necessary indicator of habitability. Students will observe satellite images and Mars rover data as they consider what may have formed a long channel on the surface of Mars, the anchor phenomenon for the unit. Throughout the unit, students consider two possible claims for what may have formed the channel—flowing lava or flowing water. By comparing the channel on Mars to analogous structures on Earth’s surface and in physical models, students can gather evidence and evaluate whether it supports the claim that flowing liquid water formed the channel. At the conclusion of the unit, students construct arguments for the claim they think is best supported by the evidence.

8TH GRADE

• Harnessing Human Energy

  • In this unit, students assume the role of student energy scientists in order to help a team of rescue workers with an energy problem. Students work to find a way to get energy to the batteries in the rescue workers’ electrical devices, even during power outages.  This serves as the design problem for the unit. First, students are motivated to explore relationships between different types of energy—with an emphasis on kinetic energy and potential energy—and the ways energy is transferred and converted. To solve the rescue team’s energy problem, students research various ways to capture and store energy. Then, students apply their knowledge about energy to design an energy system that can use human kinetic energy to power an electrical device.

8TH GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES (Civics and U.S. History)

• The Roman Republic

  • After Rome’s final king was overthrown but before the Roman Empire began, the Roman Republic laid the groundwork for modern democracy.   

    • Students will learn the structure of the Roman Republican government as well as the way class and social status informed politics during this time period.

SLA/PBL (Spanish Language Acquisition/ Project Based Learning)- 

• School Wide Theme

·       Community Connection

o   Fall Semester: How do we connect as a community?

§  Classroom and School Connection

·       Students have been working on a “Mi Vida” project that will be displayed on the wall in front of the office.

·       Students have been preparing Spanish lessons to build community relationships with the elementary grades.  

·       Please ask your student if they have presented or taught a lesson to the younger grades and how the lesson went.

·       We are getting great feedback from the elementary teachers.

Advisory-7th Grade:

• Students have been working on planners and organizational skills.

• We just finished an EMAIL ETIQUETTE Workshop and will follow up with email etiquette notes.

  • Students will practice how to write a proper email.

English Language Arts – Ms. Fielder

We started the new school year by establishing Morning Meetings every morning for ALL classes. We have called this CPR-Circle of Power and Respect.  It’s a time to greet students, make announcements for class, share-out, and/ or do a group activity that helps foster classroom community and cohesiveness. 

Currently, all classes are learning about what are animated short-films and how they address some of the literary devices/elements found in literature.  Also, we have discussed why creators create short films. For example:  To visually make the story setting interesting, and help the viewer make a strong emotional connection through the characters traits, expressions, and behavior. More importantly, what is the theme of the story and how they entice the audience through art, animation, music, and sound effects.

6th grade is currently watching the animated short-film - Joy & Heron and answering questions about character, conflict, finding themes through conflict, and connecting text to self.  They are also working on Daily Language Review, correcting and editing sentences, identifying contractions, misspelled words, and adding correct punctuation.  They also are working on completing their ELA interactive notebooks with a photo of themselves to make it their own. 

• 6th- Social Studies- At the beginning of the year we voted on what the class would like to learn and Ancient History of Rome won. We started with a student introduction to Ancient Rome where students used a graphic organizer to color code what they know and don’t know about Rome.  Students used a map on Ancient Rome to highlight key areas such as X-Rome, Y-Greece, W- Gaul.  Currently, we are going over key vocabulary and reading Student Brief #1 on how the Roman Empire began as a small village near the Tiber River, and the tale of Romulus and Remus.

7th grade is currently watching the animated short film- “Alma”. Students have identified the differences between a Guess v. Making Inferences.  They are learning about what is “foreshadowing” in a story, and how the setting changes to create foreshadowing events.  Students are also using graphic organizers to write details about the physical setting before Alma enters a store, after she enters the store, and infer what might happen next in the story.  Students have also finished their One-word Memoirs that describe who they are and four events or characteristics that support that one-word. 

8th grade is also watching the short-film “Alma '' and have addressed making inferences, story details and foreshadowing events.  They are currently looking for clues and evidence that foreshadow events and alter the mood of the film.  Students are also writing in journals and addressing various writing prompts using topic sentences and supporting details.  Students have also just completed a Magazine Cover of themselves using title, headlines, and sub-headlines to tell us a little bit more about who they are.  They are practicing their speaking skills by presenting their magazine cover to an audience and telling us why they chose that cover and their interests. 

• ADVISORY - 8TH GRADERS ARE RESPONSIBLE TO WRITE DAILY IN THEIR PLANNERS ALL ASSIGNMENTS & ACTIVITIES. Morning Meetings are incorporated into this time as well.  

• SLA/PBL- (Spanish Language Acquisition) 

·       SCHOOL THEME:  How can we connect to our community?

• Students have been working on Spanish in the following areas: 

• Variety of foods in Spanish (arroz, leche, mantequilla, queso etc)

• Verbs/Verbos- comer (to eat), comprar (to buy), beber (to drink)

• Write short phrases and sentences using food and verbs Example: Mi gusta beber leche.

• Greeting/Saludos: Hola! Buenos días, Buenas Tardes, Buenas noches

• Despedidas (Adios, Nos Vemos, Hasta Luego, Hasta la vista, Hasta pronto, Hasta mañana

Happy Friday JPTA Community,

School is going strong and fewer COVID cases this week.  …thank goodness!

Garden Activity Cancelled! – Due to a couple issues in the garden, we’ve postponed the garden cleanup activity for this Saturday.  We’ll let you know when it’s rescheduled.

Programs are developing nicely, and we have more Spanish instruction that’s happening as a result.  Below are more details as to what’s happening in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade.

Staff Introduction

As many of you may know, we have acquired a full-time Assistant Director this year.  To help you get to know her better, here is a short bio on Mrs. Julia Rivera-Tapia.

Mrs. Julia Rivera-Tapia graduated from the University of New Mexico with a bachelor’s degree in Education and began teaching in the summer of 2005. In 2009 she moved to New York to obtain a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Columbia University.

Julia is passionate about immersion and bilingual education and witnessing the magic when students begin to read and write! Besides teaching kindergarten, she has been a first-grade teacher, early childhood liaison, an instructional coach, an IB coordinator, and has served as a school leader in many capacities as well as an advocate in non-profit organizations throughout the community. Mrs. Rivera-Tapia moved to Las Cruces last year to become an Administrator at a local charter school. She feels truly fortunate to be able to be a part of this Phoenix family, in her role as assistant school Director. Julia is married to Luis and is a mother to three amazing bilingual children.

3rd Grade 

Hello JPTA Families!

My personal motto for Third Grade this year is: "A strong community yields many rewards." During week one, our students wrote classroom rules for us to follow, articulating a harmonizing motto: "We are Third Grade! Respect! Be Kind! Be Safe!" There seems to be an understood belief between us that a stable social foundation creates a rich environment for healthy brains.

We open every day with our Morning Meeting, greeting one another, sharing our ideas, and bonding through a group activity. These are low-key ways to start the day together, and I always look forward to them. 

In Spanish, we have reviewed some basics like number names and the names of alphabet letters, as well as classroom vocabulary. 

In Reading, we are examining parts of speech, beginning with nouns and prefixes. We have a daily study where we try to find errors in misspelled sentences, identify prefixes and how they change the meaning of words, and learn about various idioms--this week was "spill the beans."

In Math, we are setting a foundation for multiplication by practicing repeated addition, skip-counting, and pattern recognition.

In Science, we are examining dinosaurs and animal heredity--check out the picture to see our students' drawings of imaginary dinosaurs!

In History, we have learned a little bit about Mr. Taylor's life and we will begin an autobiography project next week!

Mr. Kevin Hartzell

4th Grade

The 4th grade class has been busy reading a novel (The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate), using their bodies to spell in Spanish, talking about place value into the hundred millions, and using food from the school garden to make salsa! 

We are starting a mixed-grade level project for an upcoming school-wide event, learning how to play new instruments in music class, and working with several teachers including Miss Melissa and Mrs. Barham! Here are a few photos of the salsa-making session. 

         Ms. India Hernandez

5th Grade

Language Arts & Social Studies:  5th Grade has hit the ground running!  We just finished up our first project of the year: Researching and Presenting NM Native Tribes and Pueblos.  Coming up we will be learning about the 50 states and capitals, history of the United States, and how our government is set up.

Science:  Our class hydroponic garden is set and going.... we have "planted" lettuce, basil, tomatillos, and strawberries.  Students learned about pH and we test our garden weekly.  We have just completed our first "lab" where we learned about using our senses to observe changes.

Math:  We are currently doing a "Multiplication Camp" so students are able to complete 60 single digit multiplication problems in 3 minutes.  They have almost met their goal!  Once this skill is mastered, we will use that knowledge to continue on the path of more complex math that requires multiplication regularly.

SLA:  One of the many Spanish activities we do in 5th grade is to partner up with our 1st grade buddies to work on the pledges in Spanish, counting (eventually to 100), colors, greetings, goodbyes, and emotions.  

Outreaches (STEM and NMFRM):  

-Ms. LuAnn from New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum will be coming into our class once or twice a month to bring in hands on activities for students to try.  The activities are based around cultures and agriculture in NM.

-Starting in September, Dr. Brown from NMSU will be coming into our class at least twice a month to do hands-on STEM projects.

Class Website:  To see photos of the exciting things happening in 5th grade, check out our class website: https://sites.google.com/jpaultayloracademy.org/5thgrade/home

         Ms. Kimberly Montoya

Happy Friday JPTA Community,

Welcome back, Phoenix family, to another wonderful year at JPTA.  We are off to a great start albeit a good handful of COVID cases to boot.  I started the first week sequestered at home with COVID, but I’m back and moving forward full tilt.

We’ve had a good number of COVID-19 cases within our staff and student body; it’s very much still present.  That said, we’re forging ahead, covering classes as best we can and keeping learning on a forward path.  When someone tests positive, we’ll contact families of the students who were in close contact so that you may opt into surveillance testing.  If someone tests postivive, they are out for 5 days and return in a mask for days 6 thru 10.  The state just released the first COVID-19 guidelines since April of last year, so stay tuned to any pending mandates from the state.

Quick Reminders for Pickup

1)    Please don’t walk across the drop off/pick up lane! Parents tend to look over their right shoulder and we’ve had near misses for pedestrians crossing.

2)  Parents walking to pick up, please line up outside and against the fence to the West of the entrance.  We’ll try to get kids out quickly so we have less traffic there and you can be on your way. 

Free and Reduced Lunch Program

If you have not already, please fill out the attached free and reduced lunch form.  Ms. Chester has sent this out and we’ll be making this a priority as we are near an important threshold as a Title 1 school.  Because we are not school-wide Title 1, our school does not gain the same benefit that exists within Las Cruces Public Schools.  Aside from leasing our facility from the local district, we are 100% separate in operations.

Active Shooter Trainings

As an FYI, near the end of last year and prior to the horrific act in Uvalde, TX, we had an active shooter training by a highly experienced trainer and retired police officer in the spring.  Today, he is visiting each classroom to talk to the students and teachers about safety and procedures surrounding lockdown situations.  Because we scheduled this training in the spring, we are fortunate to have him back as his schedule has become very busy.

Volunteer Opportunity

NEXT Saturday (July 30th) from 8:30am to around 10:00am, we’ll have members of La Samilla and JPTA staff helping at our garden.  If you have time and interest, come and help, even if not for the entire time.

K-2 Corner – What’s happening in kinder, 1st and 2nd grade?  

We’ll be working to push out a short update from each classroom once a month in this blast so that you have an idea of what’s happening in your child’s classroom as well as other classrooms.

Project-based learning - 

Our school-wide theme for project-based learning is “Community Connection”. Our key question is “How do we connect as a community?” Within our grade band, we are working with the students to learn who they are, what they like, how to talk to one another and ask questions about each other. Students will be grouped within the grade levels and will interview staff and administrators. 

Kindergarten (Click for Pictures!)

Kinder Class Updates: 

Within the last two weeks, the students have had a blast learning about each other and their classmates. We had a really fun time practicing our shapes using shaving cream. For next week, we will be introducing the hexagon. In math, we are working on tracing their numbers so they can get used to writing the numbers down. In science, we are working on what animals need to survive. Ms. Marquez and I invite you to ask your students to practice counting their numbers in Spanish. 

Important information:

Please don't forget to send an extra change of clothes and a water bottle for the students. 

Here is the sign-up sheet for snacks if you haven’t done so already.

1st Grade

First grade is off to a great start! We are doing team building activities and reviewing things we learned last year in kindergarten. 

This week we are doing an author study on Anna Dewdney the author of the Llama llama books. This has led to us learning fun facts about llamas.  We have started our first project, which focuses on who are the people in our classroom community.  Each day we pick a Special Person of the day and interview them. Then we draw the special person and write one fact that we learned about them. We turn our drawings into a book for the student to enjoy at home.  

2nd Grade

Hello from the land of 2nd Graders! We have been doing a lot of team building and whole group activities in the spirit of getting to know each other and beginning to build our relationships. It has been a very quick 2 weeks but we have stayed busy every step of the way. 

For READING we have been listening to a variety of picture book stories and completing extension activities tied to the stories. 

For MATH, we have begun our discovery into Number Sense and Place Value. We have begun with a review but will quickly be moving up to 100's and beyond. 

In SPANISH we are going to begin filling in our dictionaries to build our vocabulary and getting used to using more Spanish in the class. We will also be learning some traditional Mexican dances to perform for Mr. Taylor on his birthday and for our 16 de septiembre celebration. 

Our Project: I AM FROM... Poems have started with filling in a template. We will now move through the writing process to complete a final presentation in August. That is what is going on in our neck of the woods. 

School Links:   Policies     Website     Calendar    Volunteer Application

School Office Hours

M-F 7:45 to 3:45

ph: 575-652-4006

April at a glance

• April 5, Half Day-Early Release. Active Shooter Training for staff.  Pick up is at 12:00

• April 8-21, State testing. Please ensure your child is here on time and well rested. Click here to see the schedule. 

• April 13, Staff Meeting at 3:30

• April 10, Governing Board Meeting at 6:30. Click here for zoom invitation. 

• April 12,  PAC and Equity Council Meeting @ 6:00 

• April 26, Move-A-Thon, 8:30 to 10:30

Executive Director Message

Hey JPTA Families,

I hope everyone had a nice break and is now off to a great start.  

I sent report cards out during the second week of break and have heard that some families did not review an email with reports.  I resent on Wednesday (3/29/22) as well.  If you don’t see a report card, please email me or the front office and we’ll get a copy to you!

Have a great week!

-Eric

Hola familias de JPTA,

Espero que todos hayan tenido un buen descanso y que ahora tengan un gran comienzo.

Envié boletas de calificaciones durante la segunda semana de vacaciones y escuché que algunas familias no revisaron un correo electrónico con los informes. Los re-envie el miércoles (29/03/22) también. Si no ve una boleta de calificaciones, envíeme un correo electrónico a mí o a la oficina principal y le enviaremos una copia.

¡Que tengan una buena semana!

-Eric

Class updates

Kinder Class Updates: English

Mrs. Mary and I hope you all had a wonderful spring break. Welcome back to school and the countdown begins. We have 8 more Monday’s of school so that means we will be hard-working machines these next couple of weeks. Starting Monday since we are in a new month your student will receive a reading log to show that you all have read a minimum of 15 minutes a night. All they must do is color in one cloud for the 15-minute read. I know the paper states to color each cloud for a book read but you do not need to do this.  

Language arts: We will be working on Unit 6 Stories that have a message. Within this unit students will read folktales from diverse cultures and compare the messages or lessons. The essential question of this unit will be How do we know what is right? This week we will focus on the short e. Spelling words for the week will be met, men, set, ten, net, pen, hen, for, and no. Students will have an optional but highly recommended page of spelling words to work on for the week. 

Math: We will continue to the next unit which we will work on weight and place value. Students will explore weight and capacity, solve addition and subtraction story problems, and continue developing an understanding of place value. During the number corner, students will solve subtraction story problems about frogs and toads. 

Science/Social Studies: Students will be working on an introduction to animal habitats. We will be working on animal history such as where they come from and what they eat. The students will be completing a project about the favorite animal they like. More information about this project will be given soon. 

Here is the March sign-up sheet for snacks. Also, if we can add a healthy drink to the snack that would be great. Students are drinking lots of water throughout the day and they could use a little something different. Thank you to the parents who have brought additional snacks, they really come in hand when the day is empty. 

Last but not least thank you to those parents who reached out and asked about a wishlist here is the link below. 

Amazon wishlist

Kinder Class Updates: Spanish 

La Sra. Mary y yo esperamos que todos hayan tenido unas maravillosas vacaciones de primavera. Bienvenidos de nuevo a la escuela y comienza la cuenta regresiva. Tenemos 8 lunes más de clases, lo que significa que seremos máquinas trabajadoras en las próximas semanas. A partir del lunes, ya que estamos en un nuevo mes, su estudiante recibirá una hoja de lectura para mostrar que todos han leído un mínimo de 15 minutos por noche. Todo lo que deben hacer es colorear una nube para la lectura de 15 minutos. Sé que el documento indica colorear cada nube para cada libro que su estudiante leea,  pero no es necesario que haga esto.

Lenguaje: Estaremos trabajando en la Unidad 6 Las historias tienen un mensaje. Dentro de esta unidad, los estudiantes leerán cuentos populares de diversas culturas y compararán los mensajes o lecciones. La pregunta esencial de esta unidad será ¿Cómo sabemos qué es lo correcto? En esta semana nos centraremos en la e corta. Las palabras de ortografía para la semana serán met, men, set, ten, net, pen, hen, for y no. Los estudiantes tendrán una página opcional pero altamente recomendada de palabras de ortografía para trabajar durante la semana.

Matemáticas: Continuaremos con la siguiente unidad en la que trabajaremos sobre el peso y el valor posicional. Los estudiantes explorarán el peso y la capacidad, resolverán problemas de suma y resta y continuarán desarrollando una comprensión del valor posicional. Durante el rincón de los números, los estudiantes resolverán problemas de restas sobre ranas y sapos.

Ciencias/Estudios Sociales: Los estudiantes estarán trabajando en una introducción a los hábitats de los animales. Estaremos trabajando en la historia de los animales como de dónde vienen y qué comen. Los estudiantes estarán completando un proyecto sobre el animal favorito que les gusta. Próximamente se dará más información sobre este proyecto.

Aquí está la hoja de inscripción de abril para snack. Además, si podemos agregar una bebida saludable a la merienda, sería genial. Los estudiantes beben mucha agua durante el día y les vendría bien algo diferente. Gracias a los padres que han traído refrigerios adicionales, realmente son útiles cuando el día está vacío.

Por último, gracias a los padres que se comunicaron y preguntaron sobre una lista de deseos, aquí está el enlace a continuación.

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First Grade Class Updates: English

First grade is excited to start the fourth quarter. This week we presented our gently used books from the book drive to the Children’s Reading Alliance representatives. The whole school pitched in and we collected 427 books! Thank you to all that helped make this activity possible.

Language arts: In ELA we will begin Unit 8: Observing the Sky. We will read fiction, informational texts and poems related to this topic.  We are reading everyday, learning about compound words and counting syllables in words.

Math: In math this week we are working with numbers 1-120. We are adding and subtracting two digit numbers. Our March number corner is focused on telling time to the hour and half hour, counting forward and backwards from 90-120 and counting money.

Science/Social Studies: We will be observing caterpillars in our classroom and learning about their life cycle. We are also researching famous Americans in S.T.E.A.M.  and plan to present the information to our peers near the end of April.

First Grade Class Updates: Spanish 

El primer grado está emocionado de comenzar el cuatrimestre. Esta semana presentamos nuestros libros usados ​​(en buen estado) a  la colecta de libros a los representantes de Children's Reading Alliance. ¡Toda la escuela colaboró ​​y recolectamos 427 libros! Gracias a todos los que ayudaron a hacer posible esta actividad.

Artes del lenguaje: En ELA comenzaremos la Unidad 8: Observando el cielo. Leeremos ficción, textos informativos y poemas relacionados con este tema. Estamos leyendo todos los días, aprendiendo sobre palabras compuestas y contando sílabas en palabras.

Matemáticas: En matemáticas esta semana estamos trabajando con los números 1-120. Estamos sumando y restando números de dos dígitos. Nuestro rincón de números de marzo se enfoca en decir la hora a la hora y media hora, contar hacia adelante y hacia atrás de 90 a 120 y contar dinero.

Ciencias/Estudios Sociales: Estaremos observando orugas en nuestro salón de clases y aprendiendo sobre su ciclo de vida. También estamos investigando estadounidenses famosos en S.T.E.A.M. y planea presentar la información a nuestros pares cerca de fines de abril.

Second Grade: English

We ended our 3rd quarter with some amazing field trips and our final day together was full of fun and positivity. We are starting off this quarter with a basic review and plenty of comprehension practice. We are also taking our 3rd fluency assessment this week. We will begin meeting consistently with Book Clubs starting on Friday. I am amazed where we have come as readers since July, and could not be more motivated to finish strong!

Language Arts:We are building our understanding of sentence structures by deeply studying subjects, predicates and how nouns, verbs, and adjectives play a role in the S/P agreement. We are also entering the 4th phase of our writing journals where the students are answering the questions independently while still being required to use keywords from the question in their answer. 

Math: We are continuing our daily practices of Math Sprints and our Math Corner. We are finishing up our investigation in 3-D Shapes this week by creating a slideshow about what we have learned. 

Science: We are transitioning into our planet study. The students have partnered up and will be creating a presentation about their specific planet.

Spanish: Every day we practice the names and sounds of the alphabet. We are working with Middle Schoolers to make a community in our classroom. We will also continue to put more new vocabulary into the dictionaries.

 Cada día practicamos los nombres y los sonidos del alfabeto. Estamos trabajando con Middle Schoolers para hacer una comunidad en nuestra clase. También nosotros continuaremos a poner más vocabulario nuevo en los diccionarios.  

Second Grade: Spanish

Terminamos nuestro tercer trimestre con algunas excursiones increíbles y nuestro último día juntos estuvo lleno de diversión y positivismo. Comenzamos este trimestre con una revisión básica y mucha práctica de comprensión. También estamos tomando nuestra tercera evaluación de fluidez esta semana. Comenzaremos a reunirnos constantemente con los clubes de lectura a partir del viernes. Estoy asombrado de dónde hemos llegado como lectores desde julio, ¡y no podría estar más motivado al terminar con fuerza!

Artes del lenguaje: estamos desarrollando nuestra comprensión de las estructuras de las oraciones mediante el estudio profundo de sujetos, predicados y cómo los sustantivos, verbos y adjetivos juegan un papel en la concordancia S/P. También estamos ingresando a la cuarta fase de nuestros diarios de escritura, donde los estudiantes responden las preguntas de forma independiente y aún se les exige que usen palabras clave de la pregunta en su respuesta.

Matemáticas: Continuamos con nuestras prácticas diarias de Math Sprints y nuestro Math Corner. Estamos terminando nuestra investigación en formas tridimensionales esta semana creando una presentación de diapositivas sobre lo que hemos aprendido.

Ciencia: Estamos en transición hacia el estudio de nuestro planeta. Los estudiantes se han asociado y crearán una presentación sobre su planeta específico.

Español: Cada día practicamos los nombres y los sonidos del alfabeto. Estamos trabajando con Middle Schoolers para hacer una comunidad en nuestra clase. También nosotros continuaremos a poner más vocabulario nuevo en los diccionarios. 

Welcome back!

It's hard to believe we are in the final stretch of this school year. Spring is officially here and we have a lot of fun and exciting school happenings coming up! Many classes have field trips planned, Running Club is back, and planning for the Move-A-Thon is underway.

We would love to have more parents join our wonderful group of JPTA volunteers. If you're interested, here is the link to our Volunteer Application:

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

The first page of the application includes easy-to-follow instructions on how to complete the volunteer process. It's quick and easy! Volunteers are required to have a Background Check only once unless there is a break in volunteer service of one school year or longer, excluding summers. If you have any questions feel free to email me anytime! Thank you and have a terrific weekend!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Volunteer Coordinator, J. Paul Taylor Academy

¡Hola Familia Fénix!

¡Bienvenidos! Es difícil creer que estamos en la recta final de este año escolar. ¡La primavera está oficialmente aquí y tenemos muchos eventos escolares divertidos y emocionantes por venir! Muchas clases tienen excursiones planeadas, el Running Club está de vuelta y la planificación del Move-A-Thon está en marcha.

Nos encantaría que más padres se unan a nuestro maravilloso grupo de voluntarios de JPTA. Si estás interesado, aquí está el enlace a nuestra Solicitud de Voluntariado:

http://www.jpaultayloracademy.org/resources/Connect/Volunteering/JPTA-Volunteer-APP-1819SYPDF.pdf

La primera página de la solicitud incluye instrucciones fáciles de seguir sobre cómo completar el proceso de voluntariado. ¡Es rápido y fácil! Se requiere que los voluntarios realicen una verificación de antecedentes solo una vez, a menos que haya una interrupción en el servicio voluntario de un año escolar o más, excluyendo los veranos.

Si tiene alguna pregunta, no dude en enviarme un correo electrónico en cualquier momento. ¡Gracias y que tengas un excelente fin de semana!

Brooke Ratje

brooke.ratje@jpaultayloracademy.org

Volunteer Coordinator, J. Paul Taylor Academy