Hello,
Here we are… May 1st, our last full month of the 17-18 school year! The end of school brings field trips, assemblies, awards, and parties. It also brings the last round of State testing for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. On May 14th, 3rd and 4th grades will take the Math assessment. On May 15th, 3rd and 4th grades will take the Reading assessment. On May 16th, 5th grade will take the Science assessment. Please remember during testing days we are closed to visitors. This includes lunch visitors. As always being well rested and eating a good breakfast always helps when taking a test.
Back in August, we introduced the Ready to Learn Program. This purpose of this program was to promote student independence and ownership of their learning. Ready to Learn also supported one of our Campus Improvement goals. Ready to Learn means that ALL students are on time for school and have all their materials to help them be successful during the day. (i.e. pencils, technology, books, homework, athletic shoes for PE, etc…). As with anything new, we tweaked the program the second and third 9 weeks in an effort to make it better and to make the data collection easier. I previously shared data with you from the first 2 nine weeks. Below is the data from the 3rd nine weeks.
The data is not overly impressive but it is what it is. The Building Leadership Team, which is comprised of teachers, parents, business, and community representatives have looked at the data and will reevaluate the Ready to Learn Program and most likely change it by integrating a similar program under the umbrella of Great Expectations for next year. I do want to share that items dropped off in the office over the year has drastically improved. This is a big positive of the program. My biggest concern is in the area of tardies. One of our campus improvement goals was; By the end of the 2017-2018 school year morning tardies will decrease by 10% over the 2016-2017 school year. We didn’t even come close to meeting this goal.
In the “Tardies to Date†chart above, the “total†for the third nine weeks does not include tardies during the first 5 minutes after the tardy bell rings. After the second nine-weeks it was determined that more data was needed to pinpoint where the tardy numbers were coming from. Based on the data collected, it was determined that the first 5 minutes after the tardy bell rings is where most of our tardy numbers come from. By just taking the number of students tardy during this time and sending them right to class we helped lessened the time lost in the classroom. This is because it takes time in the office to fill out the required information for each child that is late with a tardy slip. Unfortunately, these students are still late as class has already started. We are an exceptional school with high academic standards for our students. The teachers, students, and you work diligently to meet these expectations. Although we meet these high expectations, we do have an area where improvement is needed and that area is students being at school on time and ready for the day.
By no means am I trying to lecture, but it is rarely the students fault when they are late to school. We are talking about elementary students who rely on others to get them to school. Since it is the first 5 minutes of the day where most of our tardies occur, I ask that you leave at least 5 minutes earlier for school. This might mean that your children will have to get up 5 minutes earlier too. Your student wants to be here on time. The office staff can see the anxiety on their faces when they know they are late. It makes for a rough start of the school day for students who are late. I know you can relate to when you sleep through your alarm clock or even forget to set it. Your day just doesn’t start out the same. It’s kind of like getting out of bed on the wrong side. Improving our tardies will continue as a goal next year on our Campus Improvement Plan. Remember the doors of the building open at 7:15am. Students go to their classrooms at 7:35am and our mini rise and shines start at approximately 7:38 for specific grade level. I hope that we can partner together for the remainder of this school year and next year to improve the start of our school day for all of our students. Thank you.
Donna J. Taylor, M.Ed
I love this time of year, especially when the sky is clear and a light breeze is blowing. The colors from the plant and tree flowers warm my heart, making it easy to convince myself to get out and walk.
What I don’t like is the sneezing and itchy nose that sometimes accompanies the weather. Sound familiar? Maybe you get headaches and red, watery eyes or skin eruptions or heavy duty respiratory reactions. And what causes these symptoms? Pollen. The very thing creating the blooms we’re admiring and enjoying is the cause of our discomforts.
So what can we do about it?
There are so many things you’re already aware of…preventive medication, getting plenty of rest, drinking more water, taking OTC probiotics, vitamins, natural herbs and spices, essential oils. But, a word of caution when using non-prescribed items…make sure you check out all the effects as some can cause a serious drop in blood pressure when mixed.
There are a few things you may not have thought of…did you know that washing off welcome mats or replacing them can cut down on the pollen brought indoors? Leaving shoes just inside the door is also a good idea. A new a/c filter helps keep air clean.
If you shower before going to bed and change into fresh clean clothes you might sleep better and awaken without a stuffy nose. Using a neti pot or a similar nasal saline rinse system will clear the nasal passages of pollen thus decreasing the amount of swelling that could take place.
What helped me years ago was consuming local honey on my toast instead of jelly or jam. This year I drank a teaspoon of apple cider whenever I felt the allergies kicking in. Some sources suggest that sugar and fatty foods be avoided during this time as well.
I know this is a load full of information, but I hope it will help to get you and the family through the pollen days ahead of us.
We are continuing our Child Protection Units K-5. In the past two weeks, every grade had a class on touches. We talked about wanted touch and unwanted touch. We also discussed private body parts and how their private areas are covered by their swim suits. In this lesson, correct body terminology was used.
In this unit, they talk about listening to our body to know if a touch is comfortable or uncomfortable. This is an important lesson in keeping our children safe. I told them that if your body is uncomfortable, it is telling you something. We learned that even a kind touch can make you uncomfortable. One of the examples in the upper grades is a kiss from a relative. As a young child you might really like a kiss but as you grow up , you may not.
While talking to the students, I often heard, “My parents told me thatâ€, I love hearing that. Good job parents. Please keep reinforcing this as they grow to become an adult.
Carol Rains, M.S.
Counselor
STAAR Testing on campus Monday, 5/14 through Wednesday, 5/16. CHE asks that there be no visitors on campus that day including lunch visitors.
