Upcoming Events​

• April 3-7: Spring break (no school)

• April 12: Late Start 9:15 / Wear your grade level t-shirts

• April 13: Kindergarten Registration Event 3:30-5:00pm at Chambers / Panda Express Fundraiser (code 913486)

• April 14: Progress reports sent home with students

• April 19: Late Start 9:15 / Wear your grade level t-shirts

• April 20: 2nd Grade Music Performance 7pm (family and friends invited)

• April 21: Spirit day: Go green for Earth Day (wear green) / Popcorn Friday (volunteer opportunity)

• April 22: PTA Paradise Pond Park Appreciation Day (9am to noon)

• April 25: PTA Board Meeting (virtual)

• April 26: Late Start 9:15 / Wear your grade level t-shirts / After school playdate

• May 3: PTA sponsored Family Tech Talk @ 7pm

Click here to see our spirit days throughout the school year

 

Principal’s Message

It is hard to believe that spring break is already upon us. This is an exciting time of year because we start to see tremendous student growth from where they started in September. We continue to be thankful for your partnership so we can work together to help students succeed at high levels.

 

Superintendent Chamberlin sent an email to all families earlier today and I want to include some of that email again here: Protecting our Kids from Gun Violence Recent incidents here in UPSD and across the nation remind us that gun safety is everyone’s responsibility. If you are a gun owner, it is very important that you do everything you can to keep your firearm away from children. For information on responsible gun ownership, click here. Thank you for doing your part to keep everyone safe by keeping weapons away from children and teaching your students to report any safety concerns to district staff immediately

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Reminders/Notifications

Kindergarten Registration Event: Thursday April 13th 3:30 - 5:00 at Chambers Primary

1.Learn about the Kindergarten Program

2. Receive Registration Support

3.Meet the Principal

4.See Kindergarten Classroom

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Yearbook Sales (repeat): 3/07 - 4/19. (Final quantity of yearbook sales must be received by Picvato by 4/19, after 4/19 the window to order more online will be closed.) You can order a yearbook by clicking the following link: Yearbook Sales - Chambers Primary

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Monthly Specialist Updates

 

MARCH MUSIC CLASS HIGHLIGHTS:

 

Kindergarten: Students have been busy practicing steady beat and singing! We sang the game song, Burnie Bee, and students each had a turn to show the steady beat and to fly around the group like a bee. We’ve been practicing echoing simple melody patterns. Students have enjoyed using beat buddies, drums, rhythm sticks, and beanbags. I am so proud of the growth in these students.

 

1st Grade: 1st graders have completed a listening/responding unit on The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. Students were able to identify tempo (fast/slow), dynamics (loud/soft), pitch (high/low), articulation (smooth/separated), and how the music made them feel. You may have seen some of the papers come home. We also learned about the instruments of the orchestra and made connections between the music and the specific animals each piece represented. Each worksheet also helped students practice writing musical vocabulary and had listening maps to follow. We were able to also use movement to feel the music and show steady beat, articulation, and pitch. It was a very fun unit! We were also able to fit in some practice reading rhythms using quarter notes, paired eighth notes, and quarter rests.

 

2nd Grade: 2nd graders have started working on their upcoming performance of a Barnyard Moosical! Mark your calendars for April, 20th @ 7pm! Students are practicing their singing, concert attitude and memorizing the lyrics. It will be a very sweet show! Invite your family and friends. Watch for more info coming soon.

 

3rd Grade: Third grade has been working on identifying, reading and performing rhythms using quarter notes and rests, paired eighth notes, half notes and rests, whole notes and rests, paired sixteenth notes and paired eighth notes with 2 sixteenth notes. We practicing reading rhythms using Orff method rhythm syllables, so you may hear your students saying words like “ti-ti,” “ta,” “tikatika,” “tika-ti,” and “ti-tika.” I’m incredibly proud of their work! 3rd grade also learned about Nina Simone for Women’s History Month. We read the beautiful book Nina: A Story of Nina Simone by Traci N. Todd and illustrated by Christian Robinson. Students used their listening journals as they listened to her popular hit, I’m Feeling Good.

 

4th Grade: WOW! Congratulations to 4th grade for their beautiful performance of the musical Positive! I am so proud of them! Their hard work and excellent concert attitude was noticed by all. YAY!!! We celebrated with some candy and by watching our evening concert. I’m also proud to let you know that these students also managed to continue learning about rhythms. Students now know how to read paired sixteenth notes, dotted half notes, and paired sixteenth/eighth notes. So much excellent learning is happening as these students get prepared to enter 5th grade.

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PE HIGHLIGHTS

 

This month was the introduction of a bean bag/hula hoop unit for all students. Students played Star Wars tag using hula hoops as the Empire Soldiers and pool noodles for the Jedi Knights. This was an excellent way to continue working on accuracy skills and aiming at a target.

 

Hula hoops were used for a hula hoop shuffle game. Students must stay inside the hoop and travel by sliding their feet. Traveling in the hula hoop has also been a great exercise for the three sets of strong thigh muscles. The hamstring, quadriceps and adductor muscles get such a major workout that students play for 10-15 minutes before we move to our second activity.

 

Students also played Jumping Beans. Students are tagged on their shoe with a bean bag after they are divided into two teams. Jumping over the bean bags to avoid being tagged as the “beans” (bean bags) are being thrown is where the jumping beans game title comes from. To simplify Jumping Beans to ensure success (at the Kinder and 1st grade levels) students will throw bean bags into various hula hoops while standing on a poly-spot. As their accuracy improves, the distances between the hula hoops and students become greater.

 

The original plan was to have our basketball unit during March Madness. However, the program rehearsals for 2nd and 4th have pushed that out to next month.

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LIBRARY HIGHLIGHTS

 

This month K-2 students have been reading the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award books. They will have the opportunity to vote on the title they like best, and our school will submit our top choice to the Washington Library Association in May.

 

Third and fourth grade spent the month coding. Students completed a set of lessons on Code.org where they used block code to create their own Star Wars game. These lessons, and hands-on experience, introduced students to computer science education, coding, programming, etc. I hope it was able to get some students excited about the field of computer science.

 

In April, students in kindergarten will be reading nonfiction books on sharks. They will also learn about Eugene Clark, the shark lady and fearless scientist. They will finish this unit with a S.T.E.A.M activity.

 

In first grade, students will also focus on nonfiction. They will learn that Butterflies are beautiful and quiet and gentle and sparkly . . . but butterflies can be GROSS! They will also complete a S.T.E.A.M activity.

 

Second grade will be focusing on technology. Students will extend their understanding of the human body by creating a nutrition presentation using Google Slides. Lessons will instruct them how to center align a title, change font, change text color, use bullet points to list items, and add an image of various foods. T

 

hird and fourth grade will focus on digital citizenship. The lessons will focus on these three questions: How do I tell the difference between trustworthy and false information on the web? What should I do if I witness cyberbullying? How do I keep my personal information private online?

 

In April, we have so many special things to celebrate including Poetry Month, Ramadan and Earth Day. You can access our April Choice Board here to learn more about these special events. Also, the Pierce County Library is hosting two wonderful events over Spring Break at the University Place location. The first event is the Raptor Encounter by The Raptor. He will bring several of his raptor ambassadors for an educational program about birds of prey. The second event is the Taiko Drumming performance and educational presentation by Japan Creative Arts. You can learn more about these events here.

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Assistant Principal’s Message

Hello Chambers families!

Thank you for another great week! Many students anticipated spring break and worked hard to make it through the week. I hope that all families can spend some time together next week and take the time to be present and in the moment. As we return from spring break, we will enter our busy school season. There will be plenty of activities, exciting experiences, and a strong finish to an academic year. To allow you time to schedule accordingly, I wanted to alert our third and fourth-grade families that the state testing dates are as follows:

 

Smart Balanced Assessment Dates:

● English Language Arts: May 24 and 25

● Math: May 31 and June 1 Thank you in advance for supporting your student during this assessment window. As a school, we will continue to work to pursue our goal of having 95% of all students at school daily. This is in connection with the Washington State attendance laws (RCW 28A-27).

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Yours Truly,

Mrs. Vaughan

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Chambers Primary PTA 

Hope everyone has a wonderful spring break. Below are some new updates and repeats for your reference. Check out the new Family Tech talk on May 3!!

 

Panda Express Fundraiser on April 13

You can purchase an online order from any Panda Express, anywhere in the United States with our virtual code - 913486. Do you have out-of-town friends or family who like Panda Express? Encourage them to order and support Chambers Primary! Chambers PTA will get 28% of all sales that use the code. We will be using the funds for STEAM night and staff appreciation in May. Check out the Facebook event that you can share on your personal page - (3) Panda Express PTA Fundraiser | Facebook

 

Popcorn Day April 21

The next popcorn day is April 21 and we are looking for one more volunteer to help make popcorn between 1000 and 1130am. Check out the signup here: 2022 -2023: Popcorn Friday - April 21st 2023 (signupgenius.com)

 

Message from FACE Chair

Thank you to everyone that came out to the playdate at the sound. The weather was perfect! I love getting to see all the kids that attend Chambers! I can’t wait to see everyone again on April 26th!

Technology is changing fast, and many of us are struggling to stay one step ahead of our kids. Please join us on May 3 at 7pm for a presentation and Q&A (hosted by an Internet safety expert from global cybersecurity leader Trend Micro) about the risks kids today face online. We’ll cover social media and gaming insights, privacy and security issues, and more. Join this free event on Zoom (link provided in future newsletters).

 

Clothing Donations Needed! (Repeat) The school nurse is in need of size 8, 10 and 12 pants, for boys and girls. If you have gently used or new pants you'd like to donate, please bring them to the front office; you may also send them to school with your student.

 

Earth Day/Park Appreciation April 22 Celebrate Earth Day by volunteering your time in UP's natural beauty on April 22. Join us and Drum Intermediate and Sunset PTA to help restore Paradise Pond Park. We will be picking up trash and building trails. We will be there from 900am to noon. Tools will be provided, but bring your own if you can. UP Refuse and Recycling will be providing drinks and snacks.

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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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