As the weather begins to cool off, the fun is really beginning at Edgewood Elementary School. We have a wonderful November on the horizon, and we are so excited! The Best Me Challenge is in full effect, and we have seen the benefits of this positive behavior support program. One of the key tenets of the Best Me Challenge is “Caring for Others” and “Celebrating Each Other.” We have an awesome opportunity to put these two Best Me characteristics into action with our Community Pals Luncheon in mid-November. Community Pals is a great tradition in the Homewood City Schools that we get to take part in this year. At this event, Edgewood will host City of Homewood workers from all branches for a full Thanksgiving Feast. The Edgewood CNP and the Edgewood PTO will combine efforts to make this a memorable event for our city workers. 

November also plays host to our annual Turkey Trot, 5th Grade Colonial Day, and Veteran’s Day Program. Our students, teachers, and parents all pitch in to make these three endeavors awesome each year. 

As we look toward our Thanksgiving holiday, there are many things to be thankful for. Edgewood Elementary enjoys its success because of the people in and around our organization. On behalf of the administration of Edgewood, THANK YOU to our wonderful students, parents, teachers, staff, and community for helping us continue to maximize our potential and provide a world-class educational experience for all. We cannot express in words how much we appreciate all of the support!

Dr. Matt Kiser, Principal

There is truly no place like Edgewood! Each day, I am so proud of our teachers and students. The learning, both socially and academically, is the best around.As part of the Best Me initiative, our teachers and students focused on the expectation to “Take Risks - Try something new” during the month of October. Teachers taught lessons about what taking risks means in various situations and areas of the school building. As we are learning each day, students are encouraged to push the limits and grow in what they already know as well as learn new things. In doing this, many of our students tried something that they have never tried before. Sometimes, this can be a little bit uncomfortable, but it is worth it when a child has new learning or a deeper knowledge of something. Edgewood is a great place to take these risks, and we ensure our students are comfortable and supported throughout the process.

I hope you are following teachers and classes on Instagram. I always love seeing the many hands-on activities that students are participating in in the classrooms. Some of my favorites are the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative activities. In 5th grade, students made aquariums and terrariums. They observed these for a few days, and then they put them together to see what happened. It was a great experience. In 3rd grade students learned about motion and built cars to race. Students learned a lot from this experience, and it will be one that they remember for a long time. Continue to look for these great experiences on social media, and ask your child what he/she learned from it.

Thank you all for the wonderful support that you give Edgewood. We couldn’t do what we do everyday without the parents, students, and community that we have. We are truly grateful and look forward to a great November!

Laura Tate, Assistant Principal

Fall Highlights in the Library

New Books! The Library is full of that new book smell! We are excited about adding titles from the Eyewitness series, the Who Was… Biography series, and various Graphic Novels series.

Speaking of Graphic Novels, I get lots of questions about these books: Should my kid really be reading comic books? Aren’t these ‘baby books’ since the AR level is so low? Can you get my kid to read a ‘real book’ instead? Graphic Novels do look like comic books, and AR tends to identify them around a second grade reading level. But…Mrs. Gerontakis and I agree, Graphic Novels are great! These books help build inferring skills as they have minimal text and students must study the illustrations; they build comprehension skills through action-filled, complex story lines and a variety of characters; they encourage reading a variety of genres because the Graphic Novel format is used for realistic fiction, fantasy, mystery, even informational! Of course we want students reading various text formats, so don’t be discouraged if your child loves Graphic Novels. They are enjoying reading "real books!"

Kindergartens are Using Shelfmarkers! Now that our kindergarteners understand the process of checking out and returning Library books, they are mastering the art of using a shelfmarker. This tool allows students to take a book from the shelf and replace it correctly if it is not the one they would like to checkout. These kids are doing a fine job with this fine-motor skill! With this new ability, kindergartners are able to choose books from the Fiction North Section and the Information Section. I love watching them explore this new freedom of choice! While it does mean they might be checking out some ridiculously fat, fact-filled information books or very wordy picture books, their choices give parents a new opportunity to see what topics their child finds interesting. (During our lesson on Information books, we look at the various text features and discuss that we can skip around and that we do not have to read the entire book. And it is always totally acceptable to take more than one night to read a book!)

Thank You, Volunteers! Our students and teachers checkout an average of 8,000 books a month. Our volunteers are a large part of making this possible. If you are looking for a flexible and satisfying way to help our school, please contact me about joining our great team of Library Volunteers. These AWESOME helpers spend 10 minutes or more a week or month shelving Library books—whatever and whenever it fits their schedule. Not only is this a Zen way to feel a sense of accomplishment, it makes it possible for our students to use their developing Library skills to find the books they want and need. We love our volunteers!

And don’t forget:
Follow the Library on Instagram: @edgewoodbooks
Checkout out our Little Free Library…and others around Homewood!
Visit the HCS Digital Library via the Library webpage to checkout eBooks; we have over 500 eBooks for kids!

Happy reading!
Fran Woodruff

Wow! What a great job our Edgewood second graders did in the Veterans' Day Program! Thank you so much to the second grade teachers, our technology specialist Mrs. Galafassi, Mr. Dave, Coach Dorough, Mrs. Tate, and Dr. Kiser for all the help and support in making this a success. Thank you, parents, for your help as well; and to those who decorated the stage area, it looked fabulous. I know our veterans were truly touched.  

And now, with barely a moment to catch our breath, we move right into the holiday season, and it’s fourth grade’s turn. The holiday program will be Thursday, December 14 at 6:00 p.m. Stay tuned for more information in your child’s newsletter.

Thank you!
Amy Law

Turkey Trot. We had a great turnout and great weather for the Turkey Trot! A big thank you to Britney Cowart for coordinating the event and assembling an awesome group of volunteers.

Alabama Physical Fitness Assessment (APFA). We have completed the Fall version of the APFA.  All Edgewood students were assessed in four categories: upper body strength (90 DEGREE PUSH-UPS), abdominal strength (PARTIAL CURL-UPS), flexibility (V-SIT TEST) and cardiovascular endurance (PACER TEST). We have been practicing these exercises on a regular basis concentrating on correct form and also getting the students accustomed to listening to the cues/cadences on the CD that is played during the test. All students will take the test, but only grades 2-5 will have their scores recorded on INOW and sent to the state. I will send a copy of the standards home so that you can see what your child is required to do to reach each of the three fitness zones: Needs Improvement (N), Healthy Fitness Zone (H) and High Fitness Zone (HFZ). We will assess the students again in the Spring and hopefully see improvement in each area tested. If you have any questions regarding the assessment, contact me at jdorough@homewood.k12.al.us .

LaCrosse. Homewood Youth LaCrosse coaches will be visiting our PE classes November 14-15. The 2nd-5th grade students will be introduced to the game and will participate in several different lead-up activities to help them learn the basic skills needed to play. Flyers will be sent home with any students that are interested in signing up. If you would like more information on lacrosse, visit www.GBYLA.org

John Dorough

Do you have extra plastic toys at your house? If so please consider sending them to school for drawing! All students will be working on drawing from observation and still life drawing. Please send the toys in a bag labeled ART. Thank you, Edgewood! (Artwork by Emmy Cannady, kindergartener)

SAVE THE DATES!
Talent Show Auditions: Thursday, January 18 beginning at 3:30 p.m. in the EES Little Theatre!
Audition forms will be due Thursday, January 11 at 3:00 p.m.

Mandatory Talent Show Rehearsal:Thursday, February 8 beginning at 4:00 p.m. in the HHS auditorium.

Talent Show: Friday, February 9 at 6:00 p.m. in the HHS auditorium.

Noelle Limbaugh and Kristen McGarrah, Talent Show Co-chairs
edgewoodtalentshow@gmail.com

Edgewood Elementary raised over $600 through BoxTops for Education with our latest submission. Our next submission will be in March, so keep on collecting! When you have saved 25 or 50 box tops, you can go ahead and turn them into the office or save them until the deadline is announced in the Spring.

Also, please check out the Planet Fundraising App to earn money for Edgewood while you shop or eat in the area. There are many businesses that will donate a portion of your purchase to the school, such as Taco Mama, Piggly Wiggly, and Chick-Fil-A. It is an easy way to give back!

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