December Principal's Update

Families, 

In December, our emphasis within the IB Profiles is on the attribute of caring, and the timing couldn't be more fitting. With initiatives such as the Joy Shop, Giving Tree, and the overall spirit of the month, instances of care are plentiful. additionally, December signifies the commencement of the second marking period. We appreciate the successful beginning and extend our gratitude for your ongoing collaboration as we enter this new phase! 

12/22/23 Reminder!

12/22 is a half day of school. Please contact the attendance office if you are picking your child up on the half-day. Our parent pick-up is at 11:25, and our buses pull away from the school at 11:45! 

Applications for QUEST 

According to applications we receive, 93% of the people who apply to be part of QUEST do so because of word-of-mouth. That is, they've spoken with a current QUEST family and it has sparked their interest. 

We will be sending out applications for the 2024-2025 school year in the near future, with an application deadline, for new potential Kindergarten families, by February 2. Please join me in celebrating and getting all the good from QUEST out into the community. Your opinions are a huge help! 

Testing Save-the-Date & Need-to-Know

This year's NYS assessments in ELA and Math (grades 3-8) as well as Science (grades 5 & 8 only) will be administered as computer-based assessments. In preparation for the transition to testing on Chromebooks, we will be holding a computer-based testing simulation on January 18th. In addition:  April 15-16 (ELA), April 29-30 (Math), May 14 (Science) during the school day. This short simulation will be for practice purposes and does not count as an assessment or grade for students. 

I hope you and your family are afforded a restful break at the end of this month. 2024 will be here before we know it, and I remain confident that it will be a great year for our QUEST community. 

Be well,

Derek Warren

QUEST Principal 

Level Updates

Kindergarten:

Kindergarten is in full swing. Our kinders were able to experience their very first QUEST Feast. They had a blast! They visited the creek for a nature walk and demonstrations. They also ate a feast prepared by their hallway community! They are looking forward to exploring their new planner “Let’s Celebrate”. During this planner they will inquire and explore celebrations and holidays. This is a perfect time as they prepare for their upcoming celebrations! JOY Shop is right around the corner to. Kids will have the opportunity to purchase homemade gift for their family members. Many of the homemade gifts will be made by QUEST students and families.

Winter is upon us too! KInders will preparing for outdoor weather by practicing becoming independent when dressing themselves in their winter gear! We are excited for it to snow so we can get outside for some winter play!

Tip for Kinder parents: Have your littles practice dressing in snow gear. Time them. See if they can continue to beat their time each practice!

 

Primary:

The primary team has been hard at work! We are just finishing our planner How The World Works. The kids have learned all about land features and slow and fast changes in nature. We are now beginning a social studies planner under How We Express Ourselves. The central idea is families are diverse and change over time. We will be inquiring into characteristics that define a culture, how artifacts help us to learn about the past, how tradition and heritage shape culture, and how culture is expressed. We have asked each family to send in some artifacts or pictures of artifacts to help us. It is a great time to tell family stories and share traditions!

We also finished up our personal narrative writing unit. We will continue to write narrative small moment stories so please keep reminding kids of stories that have happened to them that they can write about at school! We will be moving into writing nonfiction stories and asking them to be experts on topics they can write about. Please keep reading with your child each night. Fiction and Nonfiction make good read alouds. We will continue to send home books for the kids to read each night so please be a cheerleader for your developing reader!

Thank you for all of your support!

Elementary:

Currently the Elementary Level classrooms are wrapping up a unit of study on Indigenous Cultures. Students learned about the Haudenosaunee and researched about other cultures to explore the unique way of life that each group of people had. Some classes shared their knowledge through presentations and plays during the Thanksgiving Feast Day celebrations. The Elementary level also enjoyed hearing Perry Ground, a member of the Onondaga Nation, share stories from the Haudenosaunee Culture. Later in December, members of the Parma Historical Society will be joining us to discuss the Haudenosuanee connection to our local area, along with sharing some artifacts.

Our next planner is a science based unit about forces and how information is transferred. Students will be engaging in a variety of hands-on lessons to investigate different types of forces, see how waves can transfer information, and learn about binary code.

Intermediate:

Intermediate students are well into the routine of the school year and working hard! For inquiry, the intermediate grade level is currently immersed in the Early Human planner where they are exploring the transition from the Old Stone Age to the Neolithic Era. Reading groups have begun and for writing, students are finishing up their informational unit and working on their final pieces. In 6th-grade math, we're concluding the ratios, rates, and percentages unit and moving on to fractions. In 5th-grade math, the focus is on solidifying multiplication and division skills while also working on volume. Upcoming in January will be the sled race, in December classes will start preparing their designs and the sled building process.

Special Areas:

All students have been learning a variety of dances during their Music and PE classes this month! Next week we will welcome guest judges from all over the district to check out our dances! Everyone will get a chance to show off their best moves during our Annual Dance Showcase on Thursday, December 21st at 9:00am. Families are welcome to join, but please note that there will be limited space and standing room only since the whole school will be in the gym at that time. Although standing room is limited, we will record the performance and share it out for all to view.

Health Office Updates

6th go 7th Grade Information Night

Math Club

Giving Tree

 

Student Council

 Student Council recently had their first meeting, and it went great!

PTSO Update

 

Library Updates

Did you know that students have access to thousands of e-books on their Chrome books? Students can access SORA from home on their Chromebooks in a few easy steps.  

• Visit
  https://soraapp.com/home 
• If SORA doesn't login automatically, choose Monroe 2-BOCES and Hilton Central School District. 
• Use the "Explore" tab at the bottom of the screen to find e-books and audiobooks. Students can borrow two books on SORA at a time for approximately three weeks. Books are returned automatically- no need to worry about due dates. Students can check what they have borrowed, as well as return or renew books by clicking on the "Shelf" tab at the bottom of the screen. 
• SORA is also available as an app and follows the same steps to sign-in! Search Sora, by OverDrive Education in the Apple App Store or Google Play. 

Mrs. S recommends these SORA titles for December 😊
Another Christmas by Susan L. Roth
Chanukah in Chelm by David A. Adler
The Lemon Sisters by Andrea Chang
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
The Bell Bandit by Jacqueline Davis 

Happy reading 😊 

Band Students of the Month and Perfect Attendance

 

Here are the Band Students of the Month for November!

McKenna Barton

Chiryn Burdick

Caleb Davis

Carmine DeLucia

Dominic Dimino

Olivia Duque

Witt Duque

Emma Green

Jonathan Green

Mason Hacker

Alexis Koch

Maeve Law

Ben LeBeau

Skyler Lucas

Matt Mammarello

Nicholas Munding

Ani Nabewaniec

Carter Picente

Jacob Sauer

Alex Schuler

Vinny Sciortino

Greyson Sullivan

Sarah Wayner

Spencer Wendel

Colin white

Colin Witcher

Cadence Yerry

Jason Zornow

Here is perfect attendance for this semester of band

Zaiden Achter

McKenna Barton

Sophia Case

Olivia Duque

Witt Duque

Jaxon Eakes

Spencer Floyd

Armando Freytes

Jordon Gangross

Gabby Gotham

Avery Green

Alexis Koch

Skyler Lucas

Jacob Merrill

Nolan Meyer

Evelyn Pestilli

Alex Pincelli

Parker Place

Olivia Plaisted

Torryn Reed

Alexander Schuler

Patrick Shaw

Sebastian Smyth

Liam Stevens

Evan Szczepanik

Sebastian Szczepanik

Adeline Warren

Olive Warren

Gavin Webber

Cadence Yerry

Jason Zornow

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