Upcoming Events​

• February 27: Registration for Kindergarten/new students opens (https://www.upsd83.org/family_resources/k_-_12_student_registration)

• March 1: Late Start 9:15 / Wear your grade level t-shirts

• March 8: Late Start 9:15 / Pajama Spirit Day

• March 11: PTA General Membership meeting/Family Meet & Greet @Podworks 12:15pm

• March 15: Late Start 9:15 / Wear your grade level t-shirts

• March 15 & 16: PTA Fill the Pot Coin Drive

• March 22: Late Start 9:15 / Wear your grade level t-shirts

• March 23: 4th grade music performance 7pm (families and friends invited)

• March 29: Late Start 9:15 / Wear your grade level t-shirts / PTA Afterschool Playdate @ 3:30pm

Click here to see our spirit days throughout the school year

 

Principal’s Message

We had another wonderful week at Chambers! Students did a great job after returning from a long weekend and experiencing a delayed start on Thursday. They were so excited to enjoy popcorn today during recess. Thank you to the parent volunteers that provided this opportunity for all students to enjoy during the school day. It wouldn’t be possible without you and we are grateful for your time.

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Reminders/Notifications

2023-2024 Student Registration (repeat): If you have a student that is going into Kindergarten, registration opens on February 27th. View more information on our district website: https://www.upsd83.org/family_resources/k_-_12_student_registration

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Student Handbook Reminder: We have seen an increase in students bringing personal items and electronic devices (specifically, smart watches) and unfortunately these often lead to disruptions to learning. We ask that these items be kept at home and that if it’s necessary to bring electronic devices to school that they are off and put away during the school day. Here is a reminder from our primary school handbook:

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Assistant Principal’s Message

Hello Chambers families!

For students to be successful in school, they need to be in school. Huge shout out to those families working diligently with me to check in about attendance concerns, updates, and requesting and receiving support. Working closely with families and helping where I can has been so rewarding. I appreciate your willingness to be open, vulnerable, and willing to improve student attendance. We will have a new attendance challenge starting soon! As a school, we will continue to work to pursue our goal of having 95% of all students at school daily. The information below shows our progress toward that goal.

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Our SEL focus will be on respecting personal space as we move into next week. We are seeing an increase in student physical behaviors, and we want to teach all students that personal space should be valued because it is important. We do not solve problems by hitting, kicking, shoving, or resorting to violence. Many students are engaging in “play fighting,” which inevitably results in someone getting hurt. Please remind students that here at Chambers, we are a hands-off school. We are not tagging, slapping, pushing, pulling, grabbing, or hitting to show admiration and care. Please reinforce this same message to your students.

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We have also seen an increase in students using unkind words/inappropriate school language, and I am asking for your partnership as we try to help students understand the power of their words. We are working to help students understand their words have power, their words have weight, and their words can make a lasting impact

 

Thank you for your partnership and collaboration!

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Yours Truly,

Mrs. Vaughan

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Monthly Specialist Update

Library Highlights:

This month students learned all about the contributions of black men and women across the globe. In March, grades K-2 will focus on Washington Children’s Choice Award Books, while 3rd and fourth grade will focus on content related to their classroom learning (Astronomy and The American Revolution). The skills covered at each grade level are as follows:

 

● K-1 - Reinforce library skills taught to date (book selection procedure & organization of the library). Review parts of a story (e.g., beginning, middle, and ending) and the main idea of a story.

 

● 2nd - Reinforce library skills taught to date (book selection procedure & organization of the library, titles, authors, and illustrators). Introduce students to the online catalog elements (e.g., type of material, publication, location, call number).

 

● 3rd, 4th & Challenge- Reinforce skills learned to date (using the online catalog system, fiction vs. nonfiction, Dewey Decimal system).

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March is right around the corner! I have put together our March Choice Board to share with all of you. Within our March Choice Board are a few special celebrations and events to learn about - National Crayon Day, Women's History Month, St. Patrick’s Day, Read Across America, and Digital Learning Day. In addition, there is a special section to introduce students to a very important guest. On March 14th, Eric Ode, a national award-winning children's singer/songwriter, will be coming to Chambers. This section of our March Choice Board features his stories and music. 

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February PE Highlights

➔ Students have continued working with throwing to a target and accuracy.

➔ Cooperative game skills have been our focus this month. Cooperative activities have been a very effective opportunity for all students to understand and manage their emotions.

➔ Students have been able to develop positive relationships and learn to show empathy toward their peers.

➔ Cooperative games are more important than ever as students have had to acclimate to being back in the gym.

➔ Working together to complete a task and problem solve has contributed to more cohesiveness among students in each class.

➔ March will be the start of our basketball unit.

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February Music Class Highlights:

Kindergarten: Kindergarteners have been very active in music this past month! They continue to work on showing steady beat, using their singing voices, playing instruments appropriately at the correct time, and controlling their bodies while dancing and playing games. For Valentine’s Day, the students learned Skinnamarink and The Sleeping Princess, the story of Sleeping Beauty that the students acted out. They really enjoyed acting out the song! They learned Cheer for 100 to celebrate 100 days of school (and helped them practice counting by 10s), and they sang Who Has the Pencil which gave every student the opportunity to sing alone. Students really enjoyed playing instruments along with Chew Chew (focus on fast/slow) and Alice the Camel. I am very impressed with how well kindergarteners play the instruments.

 

1st : First graders have been working on reading, writing, performing and composing using quarter notes, quarter rests and paired eighth notes. For Valentine’s Day the students wrote their own rhythmic compositions and we read/performed each one of them together. These students really enjoyed playing Rhythmic Four Corners as a way to practice aurally and visually identifying rhythmic patterns, and they successfully played I Have/Who Has rhythmic card game. Students also learned a partner/circle song called I Like You. For Black History Month, we listened to the song What a Wonderful World performed by Louis Armstrong and read the beautiful book of the same title by Tim Hopgood. Students have been reading simple melodic phrases using the musical syllables do, me and sol. They each had the opportunity to sing alone with the song Mr. Potato Head. I continue to be so proud of these fabulous singers!

 

2nd : Second graders made really cool, colorful, rhythmic robots! Hopefully you saw these come home in their backpacks. Students practiced writing notes and rests, and we learned about note values. The robot was a great visual for how music note/rest values are simple math. A whole note is worth four beats, a half note is worth two beats, and quarter notes are worth 1 beat. Second graders completed their rhythm assessment for the year, and I’m very happy to report that all students showed excellent growth in identifying, reading, writing and performing rhythms.

 

3rd : Third graders have made me so proud…again! They have successfully learned to play 3 chords on the ukulele AND are able to play songs while strumming the steady beat, changing chords smoothly and while singing! We will continue working on ukuleles as the year progresses, and third graders can look forward to playing them again in fourth grade. For Black History Month, third graders learned the song Lift Every Voice and Sing which is the Black National Anthem. We read the book Sing a Song: How “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Inspired Generations by Kelly Starling Lyons, and we listened to two different arrangements/performances of the piece. Students wrote in their listening journals as we listened to Duke Ellington’s I’m Beginning to See the Light. We learned about Duke Ellington and his contribution to jazz music, and we read the book Duke Ellington by Andrea Davis Pinkney.

 

4th : Fourth graders have been working diligently on preparing, memorizing, and practicing the songs for their upcoming musical performance! This year’s musical is called Positive!, and I cannot wait to share their performance with the school body and again for the community (family and friends). Please mark your calendars for 7pm on Thursday, March 23rd . Students will be wearing their blue Champs shirts that were given to them by our wonderful PTA. If a student can’t find their shirt, no worries! Just wear our school blue color. 4th graders continue to spend time working on reading more complex rhythmic patterns and still enjoy a quick game of Rhythmic Four Corners.

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Chambers Primary PTA 

Chuck E. Cheese Fundraiser Join us for this fun fundraiser today from 3-9pm. The company will donate up to 20% of food and game purchases directly to the PTA. All you have to do is show up, mention you are with the PTA when you make a purchase, and have fun. There is no entrance fee. 4911 Tacoma Mall Blvd, Tacoma, WA 98409. Please contact face@chambersprimarypta.com if you would like assistance with transportation.

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General PTA Membership Meeting/Family Meet & Greet Mark your calendars for the next general membership meeting on March 11 (Sunday @1215). The meeting will be at Podworks (7024 27th St W, University Place 98466). There will be an area for kids to play and space for the adults to engage. Come enjoy snacks!!

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Message from FACE Chair (Michele)

Resource page: The resource page has been updated with summer camps and places to take swimming lessons within the surrounding areas. Check it out on the PTA website https://www.chambersprimarypta.com/family-resources Please let Michele at face@chambersprimarypta.com know if you have any other suggestions for the resource page or need help navigating it or further questions.

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Playdate at the Sound: Thank you to everyone that came out to the after school play date! I enjoyed meeting new people. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I can either answer your questions, send you resources or point you in the direction of the person that will be able to get you the information you seek. face@chambersprimarypta.com

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Rainiers Baseball Game on June 16

End the school year with a Rainiers baseball game with Chambers Primary community (last day of school). This year tickets will be purchased directly from the Rainiers. It will be a fun night of baseball, fireworks and great way to end the year. Purchase your tickets here: https://offer.fevo.com/-sugugse-8508a3a

 

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