FEBRUARY, 2014
FROM THE DESK OF THE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL………
As we continue to dig out of the snow and cold, students and staff are embracing the second semester and all of the great learning activities and events that are coming up!
Upcoming Events:
- Friday, February 7th - Skating Field Trip to Skate Express in Watertown
- Monday, February 10th - Smiles4Life Dental Visit
- Tuesday, February 11th - Jump Rope for Heart Assembly @ 1:15PM
- Thursday, February 13th - MARKET DAY pick-up
- Friday, February 14th - EARLY RELEASE students dismissed at 11:30; No PM 4K or EC
- Monday, February 17th - 100th Day Celebration in Grades K-2
- Friday, February 21st - Kindergarten Screening and Child Find Day at JC Elementary
- Thursday, February 27th - Vision Screening starts for 5K, 1st and 2nd Grade
- Monday, March 10th - Parent-Teacher Conferences 1-8 PM (Student Led Conferences)
ROLLER SKATING PARTY
To celebrate all the great behavior we have had here at JC Elementary, students in grades K-5 have the opportunity to go roller skating on Friday, February 7th, at Skate Express in Watertown. Thanks to Friends of Our School for providing half the cost of this event so all students could have fun! Speaking of Friends of Our School……..this event was sponsored through the sales of Kwik Trip cards which the organization still is selling. The school gets 1% of the cost of the card purchased and provides us the opportunity to have students participate in these kinds of fun activities. So, if you need a quick gift for someone, or just want to purchase a card, contact Michelle Kieckbusch at 699-2511 to purchase a Kwik Trip card…..the kids say . . . THANK YOU!!!!!
REPORT CARDS
Heading into the Second Semester of the 2013-2014 school year, remember Johnson Creek Schools has paperless report cards. What does this mean? Families and students will be able to access quarterly reports via Skyward Family Access. Report cards will be available to view February 4th after 12Noon. Special needs students will also have their progress reports available via Skyward also.
By going paperless, it allows Johnson Creek Schools to be environmentally friendly and cost/time effective.
If there is a need for the paper copy, please contact your child’s building secretary to make arrangements. Paper copies will only be sent home to those parents that make these arrangements.
STUDENT LED CONFERENCES
This spring, Johnson Creek Elementary School will again have student led conferences. These conferences will provide an opportunity for your child to reflect upon their successes during the year and provide you with examples of what they have learned in each academic area. We emphasize that these are student led conference and that teachers will be attending as observers, but not as active participants.
We will be scheduling these on Monday, March 10th, from 1:00-8:00PM. We view this as an extremely positive opportunity for these students to emphasize their strengths, acknowledge their weaknesses, and with you present, plan for the end of the year. Please make every effort to be part of this new format. This is an opportunity to open up or improve lines of communication with your students about their education. We strongly encourage you to be a positive part of this conferencing process.
Why student led conferences?
Student Benefits
- Accountability for their learning
- Students learn to evaluate their own progress
- Students gain greater commitment to school work and learning
- Builds self confidence and self esteem
- Encourages student/parent communication
- Builds communication and critical thinking skills
- Places responsibility on the student and parent
- Allows students to become actively involved
Parent Benefits
- Increases the amount of information given to the parents
- Learn more about their student’s learning and skills
- An opportunity to help their student set positive goals
- Active participant in their student’s learning
- First language communication
- Eliminates standing in line waiting for a conference
If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact your child’s teacher. We look forward to seeing you on March 10th!!
Kindergarten Screening/ Child Development Screening
Four year-old Kindergarten screening will take place on Friday, February 21st. Registration for this screening is currently underway. Please call the Elementary Office at 699-2511 to register. Your child must be 4 years old on or before September 1st, 2014, to enter 4 year old Kindergarten in the Fall. If you have questions, please call the office.
If your child will be five-years old, is currently not in four-year old Kindergarten, we will also be doing screening for your child on Friday, February 21st.
Child Development Screening will give parents information about how their child is developing in fine motor, speech and language, social/emotional skills and cognitive areas. Child Development is for all children ages 2 ½ to 5 years of age who are not planning to attend kindergarten, regardless of whether their parents believe the child is having developmental difficulties. Sometimes parents just want to know how their child is doing. If you would like more information on this, please contact Kim Ryan at 699-2511.
Information about Boxtops for Education:
Thanks to all of you who support the BoxTops for Education Program at Johnson Creek Elementary. During this school year we have earned $1,157.00 through your generosity. If you are sitting on boxtops, please turn them in at the school, the JC Banks, or the Public Library. The next turn in date for payment during this school year will be the 3rd week in February.
A few things to be aware of.....
Boxtops have expiration dates
- Bonus point forms have expiration dates
Please, when cutting the very small boxtops, leave a little room around the perimeter. The tops are bundled in groups of 50 and wound in a rubber bank. These very small tops are hard to bundle.
- When submitting the Box Tops for Education or the Campbells Labels for Education, Please cut off the coupons from the labels or boxtops and separate the two types of labels, we get a large volume of donations and we don't have the manpower to do that much clipping.
Also, go to www.boxtopsforeducation.com and register. You can earn extra points for our school and find coupons for many of the products that carry boxtops on their wrappers.
Many thanks to all of you.
STUDENTS OF THE QUARTER
Second quarter Students of the Month will be announced at our Monday, February 4th POPS assembly. Please check the website Monday afternoon to check out our awesome students!
JUMP ROPE FOR HEART
On February 11th, Carrie Nevins from the American Heart Association will be a guest speaker at an assembly to kick off our annual participation in Jump Rope for Heart. Last year the kids at Johnson Creek Elementary raised over $3,500! This year students will have the chance to earn extra prizes as an incentive for raising money for the American Heart Association, in addition to the traditional prizes!
Like last year, students that reach a certain level of money raised will get to throw a pie in the face of Mr. Probst at an all school assembly. Jump Rope for Heart will wrap up at the Reading and Fitness Night on February 28th from 6 to 7:30 PM
OLYMPIC LITERACY FAMILY NIGHT
There will be a Family Literacy Night on Friday, February 28th, from 6:00-7:30. Families are welcome to come for all or part of the evening. Children should pick up a passport when they arrive. They can visit five classrooms (colors of the olympic rings) for activities with a sport theme. Activities will include read alouds by high school athletes, sight word and Olympic bingo, a book walk, read to the Read Dog, making words/word searches, literacy activities on ipads/chromebooks/Smartboards, a progressive story, and literacy games. Before leaving, the children turn in their passport at the book table to select a new book to take home!
Starting February 7th (the opening night of the Olympics), there will be a challenge to read 22 minutes at home each night (since this is the XXII Winter Games) until the final night of the Olympics. There will be a form coming home to be completed. All forms need to be in by February 24th.
We will announce the gold, silver, and bronze medal winners of the book challenge the following Monday at POPs (yes there will be real medals)! The children will do a book exchange during the school day of Family Fun Night. The students may bring in a gently used book that they are willing to put into the exchange. They may bring those books in at any time. They will receive a ticket when they bring the book in. Finally, we are creating a wall of our favorite quotes from stories we have read! Notes will be coming home the beginning of February with more details!
For our Healthy Theme,there will be heart healthy activities going on in the gym that night (Zumba, Just Dance, Jump Rope). We hope you come ready to read and exercise with staff! Don’t forget to wear comfy clothes to exercise in!
We also will be holding our Basket Raffle. Friends of Our School will be having their basket raffles that night to raise money for field trips.
So, don’t forget to bring in your money and bid on some great baskets, rumor has it there’s a chocolate basket, nachos basket, movie basket, and many more!
Everyone is welcome to join in the fun . . . hope to see you there!
Belonging: A Vital Part of School
Research points to parent involvement as an important factor in student progress and success at school. When parents are involved in their child’s education, they show that they value education, and thus instill similar feelings in their child. Parents who feel welcomed at their child’s school develop a sense of belonging and are inspired to contribute to a positive learning environment. This in turn leads to a higher quality of education.
How can you as a parent build and nurture a mutually beneficial relationship with your child’s school? How can you get involved? Here are some ideas to help you get started:
- Decide how you want to become involved in school. Are you available to tutor or aide during the day? Can you help design activities for use in the classroom? Can you serve on a committee?
- Make yourself available to your child’s teachers. Give them a way and a time to reach you when they want to inform you of progress or a concern. Ask how to contact your child’s teachers during or after school hours. This shows your desire to open a line of communication between yourself and the school.
VISION SCREENING
This year, Johnson Creek Elementary has partnered with Maranatha College School of Nursing to provide vision screening for all of our 5K thru 2nd graders. Dates for this service start February 27, March 11, 18, 20. We will also screen any other child if needed. Referrals for further testing, if needed, will be sent home in the following weeks. We look forward to this partnership to provide services to our students.! Thank you Maranatha Nurses!
LOVE AND LOGIC….PARENTING TIPS by Dr. Fay
Like most couples, my wife and I are not immune to the occasional bout of Kid-Related Marital Friction (K.R.M.F). While brief, low-intensity episodes of K.R.M.F are probably unavoidable…and may even give kids a healthy picture of human relationships...protracted and intense ones can cause lasting pain for everyone involved.
The source of most unhealthy…and unnecessary…friction comes from the myth that parents always have to be on the "same page" when it comes to their parenting styles. When we stumble onto this rocky path, our primary objective focuses on changing the person we believed was wonderful enough to marry. Ironic! Like a wedge splitting a log, this trap tears us and our kids apart.
It’s far healthier to remember this truth:
Arguing about having different parental approaches does far more damage than having different parental approaches.
At our parent and educator retreat this summer, one of our great speakers, Dr. Foster Cline, will provide strategies for helping parents with different styles become great marital and parental team members. Tips will include:
• Put your marriage first. Kids behave better in the context of a healthy, supportive marriage.
• Celebrate your agreement over core values. Write these down. You’ll likely discover more agreement than you thought.
• Agree to parent differently as long as you are both supporting these values. There are a lot of different ways to get the job done.
• Don’t allow your kids to manipulate you against your spouse.
• Never take sides with your kids or sabotage your spouse’s actions.
Monica and I are far from perfect people, far from perfect parents, and have a typically imperfect marriage. Nevertheless, when we remember these key truths, we face a lot less K.R.M.F!
Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible. If this is a benefit, forward it to a friend.
Dr. Charles Fay
XCEL BOOT CAMP
Xcel Fitness hosts a boot camp Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 5:25 AM to 6:15 AM. This total body fitness class is instructed by Trent Probst, our elementary physical education teacher. Participants also receive nutrition counseling along with strategies for outside of class. Feel free to drop in and try out a class. The cost is $55 for an entire month or a drop in rate of $5 per class.
Please remember to check out the Elementary Website for any new information and activities that happen! Thank you for all you do for your child and our school. We enjoy working with you and your child.
Kris Blakeley
Elementary Principal
No comments:
Post a Comment