March Newsletter
2021-2022
A MESSAGE FROM MR.PORTER
Dear John Tuck Families,
We are closing in on Spring Conferences and then Spring Break! We are making some serious learning progress with students and our staff is working double time to find ways to support each student. We are gearing up for a great Spring that will include STEAM Club, Running Club, The Fun Run, OMSI Assembly, Field Trips and lots of additional activities to help our students stay engaged and excited for learning. I hope everyone can prioritize making conferences so you can learn more about the successes and opportunities for growth for your child. If you haven’t scheduled your conference time, please reach out to your child’s teacher asap.
Here are some food for thought items to help your student be successful in school and growing socially, emotionally and academically:
Supporting Your Child at Home so they Can Reach Their Learning Potential at School:
Research is very clear that the foundation of every child’s life and the primary determinant of their social, emotional and academic growth is a strong home and school environment and support system. Here are some essential home components for every child’s health and wellbeing at school:
Every child needs a minimum of eight hours of sleep per night (nine or ten would be optimal). Keeping a common bedtime and wake up time is also shown to be essential to helping children’s brains grow as well as helping them stay healthy and emotionally regulated.
Children need healthy food the majority of the time. Fresh, unprocessed foods and plenty of protein are key to student physical and brain development. Limiting sugar and preservative intake is highly beneficial to keeping students healthy as well. Stay away from energy drinks as much as possible as they have been shown to have extremely negative effects on the health of children.
Spend quality time with your kids. Every child desires and needs positive quality time with their parents. Playing games, building things, exercising, reading, making meals, taking a drive, going to events. These are all extremely important times to help build healthy relationships and help children stay emotionally healthy. Children need quality time with parents daily.
Monitor screen time and especially what children are accessing on devices and TV. There are many positive ways for children to use technology, but there are equally as many negative and harmful aspects out there. Children don’t have the self control or ability to know what is good, bad or harmful to their minds and development. Children need adults to be constantly monitoring what they are accessing on digital devices and watching on TV. Brain research shows that quality sleep is severely hampered when humans don’t stop their screen time at least one hour before going to bed.
Get your children involved with healthy activities. Exposing children to healthy life experiences in order to fully develop socially and emotionally. There are many free or low cost community organizations that are great opportunities for your child to explore interests and get involved. Examples, Redmond Parks and Rec, Girl and Boy Scouts, Redmond Library, 4-H, John Tuck After School Programs etc.
Gylling’s Greetings
Happy Spring! It’s that time of year where we’re diving deeper into our social/emotional curriculum, Second Step. This program teaches students critical skills, such as:
Skills for learning: how to focus their attention, listen, stay on task, and advocate for themselves when they need help.
Empathy: how to understand their own feelings, as well as others.
Emotion Management: how to process their emotions, and how to calm big emotions like worry and anger.
Problem Solving: how to work through problems that come up.
You can also preview the curriculum online: go to www.secondstep.org and enter in your child’s grade-level activation key.
Kindergarten Activation Key: SSPK FAMI LY70
First Grade Activation Key: SSP1 FAMI LY71
Second Grade Activation Key: SSP2 FAMI LY72
Third Grade Activation Key: SSP3 FAMI LY73
Fourth Grade Activation Key: SSP4 FAMI LY74
Fifth Grade Activation Key: SSP5 FAMI LY75
Please reach out to me if you have any questions about the program and/or need more information.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Gylling
amanda.gylling@redmondschools.org
541-923-4884
Traffic & Safety
Dear John Tuck Parents,
We are requesting your support with regard to student safety and traffic concerns both before and after school. I fully acknowledge that our lack of a designated parking lot is a challenge for our school community. Currently we are experiencing challenges with drivers stopping in the middle of the street and asking students to load through traffic, parking on Birch (which needs to be a drop off and pick up area only in order to facilitate traffic flow and keep things moving) and parking in no parking zones, including crosswalks.
If you could please assist by doing the following we would greatly appreciate it:
1. Please do not park in the drop off and pick up zone on the school side of Birch street. If you would like to remain at school to visit with neighbors and other members of the school community, please park on one of the adjacent streets or in the church parking lot across the street.
2. Please don't stop in the middle of the street to have your children load or unload.
3. Please don't park in the crosswalks and yellow zones.
As a friendly reminder, students can be dropped off anytime between 8:45 and 9:00 and will not be tardy. Students can be picked up anytime between 3:25 and 3:35 (2:25 and 2:35 on Wednesdays) each day. If everyone quickly pulls in and loads/unloads during those 10-15 min windows, we should be able to safely facilitate the process for all students.
Thank you for your assistance!
CHESS CLUB ANNOUNCMENT
Family Access Network
Note from FAN:
* Just when we thought we were on the cusp of enjoying warm weather Central Oregon unpredictability kicked in and threw us for a loop. If you are in need of winter weather resources please reach out.
* The first and third Thursday of every month there's food distribution at Redmond High School from 3:00-4:30.
* The Big Brother Big Sister Mentoring Program is available for children age 8 and up. They serve Jefferson, Crook, and Deschutes counties. Their contact information is 541-312-6047, email bbbsco.org. Check out their website at http://www.bbbsco.org/
* Community Resources: https://www.deschutes.org/health/page/community-resources-english
My contact information:
Tom McCall, 541-526-6400 ext 4715
John Tuck, 541-923-4884 ext 4126
Text number, 408-335-4806
Email, kelly.johnson@redmondschools.org
OSU Extension Service- SNAP-Ed | Family and Community Health
March is National Nutrition Month! Even small changes in eating habits can improve overall health. Follow these tips from the USDA Dietary Guidelines and MyPlate.
- Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
- Eat a variety of colorful vegetables
- Choose fruits for snacks or desserts
- Look for whole grains listed first on the ingredient list – make half the grains you eat whole grain foods
- Mix up the types of protein foods you eat to include beans, lentils, and seafood, as well as different lean meats.
- Choose low-fat or fat-free dairy milk and yogurt