Hoots Out to Our Families!
Elliott NEWS 2012-13
August 24, 2012
Principal’s Corner
Thank you for sending us the BEST students in Lincoln! We are off to a great start!
The newsletter will be coming home about twice a month in your child’s Friday Folder. We hope it helps keep the lines of communication open between home and school. If you would like an email copy, instead of paper, let us know by emailing skirkla2@lps.org . We will also put a copy on the Elliott Website home page: http://wp.lps.org/elliott/
News from Mrs. Mona Manley, Elliott Principal:
I want to thank you all for making the start of the school year such a successful one! Our students are learning the procedures and routines that will keep time on task high and will promote great teaching and learning for all.
I know the new arrival procedures are different. I want to thank you for your help. You are welcome to have breakfast with your child and walk them to the gym but we ask that you leave out Door 10 so that we have room in the gym for the morning routine. If you want to make sure that your child makes it to class, you will need to come up stairs after breakfast and check in with Jacye at the entrance and wear a visitor badge. You can then sit outside the child’s room waiting for them to make their way up.
Classroom Visits:
We love having volunteers and visitors at Elliott. We ask that visits are prearranged with the classroom teacher and are kept to 30 minutes. If you want to volunteer for longer, you will need to make a schedule with the classroom teacher. Thanks for helping us keep disruptions to the instructional program down.
Early Release Professional Learning Community Days:
All Lincoln Public Schools Elementary Schools will dismiss 1 hour and 20 minutes early –at 2:18 p.m. on the following dates for teacher staff development time:
–Tuesday, August 28th
–Tuesday, September 25th
–Tuesday, October 30th
–Tuesday, November 27 th
–Tuesday, December 18 th
–Tuesday, January 29st
–Tuesday, February 26 th
–Tuesday, March 26th
–Tuesday, April 30th
Please make arrangements for your child to be picked up early on these dates.
News from the YMCA Elliott Community Learning Center:
OWN It! Elliott’s New Character Education Movement!
This year at Elliott we will be starting a new character education movement called OWN It! OWN It! stands for being Outstanding, Wise, and Noble, all traits that we feel our Elliott Owls should know and exhibit. The focus of this program will be on teaching children about various good character traits and helping them see how having these traits could positively affect their lives. We will be focusing on a different trait each month, starting in August.
During the school day, you will see….
In the YMCA program, children will have specific lessons about the monthly character trait each Monday in which they will model the behavior, teach vocabulary related to the behavior, and talk to the kids about “heroes” who especially exhibit this behavior. Staff will wear special OWN It! shirts to remind students how important this program is. Students will receive tickets for exhibiting the trait throughout the week and there will be a drawing for a prize each week. Prizes will all consist of the opportunity to spend some extra time doing something fun with an adult. Once a month on the last Thursday of the month from 5:00-5:20pm we will have a special OWN It! Awards Ceremony in which several students will be honored for consistently exhibiting good character. Students who win an OWN It! Award will receive the special OWN It! t-shirt so they can help spread the word about the importance of good character choices. As the year goes on, there will be many other fun activities related to this program so be on the lookout for even more to come!
Here is a list of the character traits we will study throughout the year:
August – Outstanding, Wise, Noble
September – Honesty
October – Caring
November – Respect
December – Responsibility
January – Tolerance
February – Teamwork
March – Courage
April – Perseverance
May – Integrity
Attendance:
We will continue to focus on attendance. An important part of school success is regular, on-time attendance. We will carefully monitor the attendance of each student and work with families to minimize the number of student absences and tardies. Lincoln Public Schools considers attendance a problem when a child misses 5 days of school.
Please call the school at 436-1136 by 9;00 a.m. if your student will be absent or tardy. You may also call and leave a message on the voice mail.
Breakfast and Lunch Prices: Breakfast is served from 7:40 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. beginning Tuesday, August 14th. The cost of breakfast is $1.20. The reduced breakfast price is 30 cents. School lunches cost $2.05. The reduced price is 40 cents. Students may deposit money into their cafeteria account on the first day of school or at Open House on August 9th.
Free/ Reduced Lunch Applications:
Fill Out a New Free and Reduced Meal Application Starting July 19
Each new school year a free and reduced meal application must be completed. Failure to do so will cause your children to lose meal benefits. Please read your letter of “Notification of Receiving Free and Reduced Meal Benefits” carefully. Children not listed on the letter will not receive meal benefits. You will need to complete a free and reduced application for any child who does not appear on the letter as well as for your other children. Until the free and reduced application is approved you will need to send money or a sack lunch for those children not approved for free or reduced meal benefits. The “Notification of Receiving Free and Reduced Meal Benefits” letter must be saved to verify your free or reduced status with other programs. We do not mail a second copy.
Complete Free and Reduced Meal Application On-Line
The free and reduced meal application may be completed on-line at lps.org. Fill-in your information as prompted and submit. A notification letter will be mailed to you.
Pay for School Meals on the Web
Pay for school meals on-line. Go to lps.org and look on the left side for “Buy Student Meals” and follow the directions. There is a small fee (20 cents for check debit, $1.95 for credit card) for using this service. You may also use this site to monitor your child’s lunch and breakfast account.
Arrival and Dismissal Plan:
Please find the arrival and dismissal plan changes included in this week’s Friday Folder.
Office Hours:
Office hours are 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. You may call in absences before or after these hours and leave a message on our answering machine. If you have questions, please give us a call (402-436-1136).
Personal Items:
Please mark your child’ personal items with a permanent marker: coats, jackets, backpacks, etc.
IMPORTANT DATES:
• Early Dismissal—Professional Learning Community Time: School dismisses at 2:18 p.m. on Tuesday, August 28th
–Every Wednesday at 9am, Parents are invited to stop by for coffee in Portable 406. You can meet with our Family Care Coordinator, Kristi Morrow and with the CLC Site Supervisor, Kristi Chambers. Everyone is invited.
–Monday, Sept. 3rd. No School. Labor Day Holiday.
–Tuesday, Sept. 4th 9-11am, Family Literacy Starts. To apply call school at 402-436-1136 and ask for Kaitlyn.
–Monday, Sept. 24th, 4:30-5:30pm, Elliott Parent Advisory Group, Everyone is welcome. We will meet in the cafeteria.
• Early Dismissal—Professional Learning Community Time: School dismisses at 2:18 p.m. on Tuesday, September 25th
–Thursday and Friday, Sept. 27-28th, Grades 3 and 5 will go to UNL Morrill Hall in the morning. Make sure your children arrive to school in time so they don’t miss the bus.
Have you TURNED IN
–Free/ Reduced Lunch Applications are due in the office by the middle of September. Otherwise, you will be charged full price. A new application must be completed EACH year.
–Updated shot records and necessary paperwork turned into the office.
–Learning Compact—Please take time to review the Learning Compact with your child/ren. It is located at the end of the handbook. Additional compacts will be available at Open House for you to sign on August 9th . The Learning Compacts are a requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
–Updated phone numbers in the office so we can contact you in case of an emergency or illness.
