The Pride
Central Elementary's Little Lions Family Newsletter
March 2020
Dear Lincoln Central Community,
With March comes Spring and we are ALL looking forward to it! While the excitement of budding trees, warmer weather and longer days - daylight savings time begins March 8th at 2am - has us hopeful, we need to be sure we are staying safe and healthy.
We welcome you to utilize a free resource, our "Notes to School" download. Please scroll down to view. Using this resource will help with clear communication to our teachers and the office.
The response to our PJ/Book Party has been a great success. We are looking to forward having our teachers and volunteers read some favorite books to our students while our parents, guardians, teachers and administration deepen relationships and understanding of Home/School Partnerships.
This month's newsletter continues to include MANY links and attachments so please be sure to scroll to the end. We value your feedback and ask that you continue to reach out directly and also complete this year's SurveyWorks survey. You can take the short survey online between February 3rd and March 25th. To take the survey, please click HERE .
This newsletter will continue to be sent our Skyward portal and can also be found on our website under the "Parent Resources" tab.
Many of you have asked about receiving text and email messages to be alerted to any delays or cancellations. Please click HERE to do so.
Please do not hesitate to makes suggestions or alert me to any inaccuracies. Thank you in advance for your cooperation!
Best,
Mrs. Saravo
COVID - 19 Lincoln Public Schools Communication
Upcoming Events...
Important Dates
March 4th 6-7:30pm: PJ/Book Party with Home/School Partnership Discussion with Mrs. Saravo, teachers and Assistant Superintendent McNamara
March 5th: 6:30 PACT Meeting
March 9th -13th: Reading Week
March 11, 2020: Next Early Dismissal
March 13th: Irish Step Dancers Assemblies
March 20th: Trimester 2 Report Cards sent home
April 29th: Spring Picture Day
June 12th: Field Day
Save the Date
June 11th: Fifth Grade Celebration
Volunteers Needed: Please let Amy Vincenzi, amyh7@msn.com, or a board member know if you are available to help with any part of the night!
Fall Picture Day: Monday, October 5, 2020
Kindergarten Registration
Lonsdale and Saylesville: Saturday, March 7th
Northern and Central: TBD
Details to follow - Please click HERE to view the advertisement in the Valley Breeze
PACT Sponsored Events
LOVE NOTES
For those on the lookout for the Love Notes - envelopes will go home in late February with a St. Patrick's Day theme (no school on Valentine's Day). Students really enjoyed this event last year.
POP ART
Mr. Drolet's Pop Art Event for his 3rd grade class will be held on March 6th from 1:00-2:30 PM. If you are able/willing to volunteer please contact Allison Lugar anlugar@gmail.com or Mr. Drolet droletj@lincolnps.org.
Field Trips (ALL ON HOLD)
Third Grade
3/25: State House
5/21: Arnold House/Chase Farm
6/4: Audubon Society
Fourth Grade
5/19: RI Philharmonic
Fifth Grade
5/28: RI State House
School - Student - Family Partnerships Matter
This Month's Focus: Test Anxiety
The following excerpt is posted on pbs.org by Katie Hurley, a LCSW.
A first-grade girl was experiencing chronic stomachaches, but her pediatrician couldn’t find anything wrong. Her mother was appropriately baffled. This otherwise happy-go-lucky young girl enjoyed playing outside, building fairy houses, and going on playdates. She liked her teacher and talked about her constantly.
Yet every Monday morning, the stomachaches hit right before it was time to leave for school. Her mother thought that perhaps the transition back from the weekend was the issue. Lots of kids have difficulty on Monday mornings, right?
As her daughter and I began to talk in my office about the “problem with Monday,” the truth came out: Monday was timed test day.
Every Monday morning, she had to take a timed math test, and every Monday morning, she felt a rush of anxiety that prevented her from answering the questions. Months later, just the thought of timed tests caused her to panic — and that triggered the stomachaches.
We think of test anxiety as something that crops up when teenagers take the SAT or some other important exam, but the truth is that even very young children can experience it. With the increase in tests and assessments at the elementary school level, more and more young children are experiencing symptoms of test anxiety.
There are a few steps you can take to help your child tackle this problem before it becomes overwhelming.
1. Ask questions to clarify.
Often, the process of saying their worries out loud helps young children work through their feelings. Understanding the thought patterns that trigger anxiety can help parents develop strategies to target specific concerns. Try asking these questions:
- How do you feel when you first see the test?
- What’s your biggest worry about taking a test?
- Do you feel worried when you think about a test or only when you see the test?
Questions like these help us to avoid assumptions about why kids feel anxious. For example, the girl I spoke with was not anxious about her skills — rather, she was afraid of falling behind her peers in the timed-test sticker chart.
2. Teach test-taking basics.
Young children have very little experience taking tests. Kids may feel empowered simply by talking through basic strategies, such as reading the directions, asking questions about the directions, looking for questions they know they can answer right away, and passing over tricky questions for a moment.
3. Talk to the teacher.
Some young children become overwhelmed by things like timed math computation tests and spelling tests because they look at the whole page instead of focusing on one answer at a time. If this is the case for your child, the classroom teacher might be able to implement some simple solutions such as using a piece of paper to cover the majority of the page so that your child only focuses on one line at a time.Other kids experience anxiety when they look around and see everyone working quickly. They become distracted by the noise of the pencils scratching on the papers. A quick fix for this is a privacy shield at the desk or being seated in a separate area at the back of the room.
4. Encourage positive self-talk.
Cognitive reframing is a great way to help young children cope with their anxious thoughts. We can teach kids to “boss back” anxious thoughts by replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. So when their brain signals that something is too hard, they can say, “You don’t worry me! I know how to do this!”
5. Teach relaxation strategies.
Visualization exercises are great for little kids because they tend to have active imaginations. Practice these when your child is calm. Ask him to close his eyes and identify a place he feels happy, confident, and relaxed. Encourage him to share details about the sights, sounds and scents in his calming place. As he shares, cue him to take deep breaths. Then on test day, remind your child to close his eyes and visualize his calming place when he feels anxious.
- Watch how Arthur and his friends practice relaxation techniques in advance of a school-wide test.
6. Bolster confidence.
The bottom line is that test anxiety can feel like a confidence killer. Instead of focusing on the actual tests being taken, help your child find their inner strength in other ways. For many children, increasing free play and outdoor play is a confidence booster. In the context of play, kids challenge themselves and work through their fears. This builds confidence that can positively impact your child across all areas of life.
Test anxiety can feel overwhelming for little kids, but if it’s addressed quickly, you’ll find that your child will likely build test confidence over time.
THANK YOU!
SurveyWorks is Here!
Dear Parents:
The Rhode Island Department of Education is currently administering its yearly SurveyWorks Parent Survey, which is an opportunity for parents to provide feedback about our school and our children’s opportunities to learn. The survey results are most useful when all parents participate, so I am writing to ask you to participate in this survey.
Your views on matters like the safety of your child at school, the way students are taught, the condition of the school, and how connected you feel to this school are important. By taking this short survey you can help our school leadership and our parent-teacher organization to make improvements to our school. Responses are anonymous and cannot be linked to any individual; no one can tie your responses back to you.
You can take the short survey online between February 3rd and March 25th. To take the survey, please click HERE .
Thank you,
Mrs. Saravo
Guidance for School Administrators from The RI Department of Health
The precautions to help prevent colds and the flu can help protect against COVID-19.
RIDOH recommends that schools continue education about good hygiene. Students, staff, and volunteers should be reminded to:
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If unable to wash, use alcohol-based hand sanitizers
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
- Cover your coughs or sneezes with a tissue or your sleeve (not with your hands)
- Stay away from people who are sick and stay home when you are sick
Schools should follow their regular cleaning and disinfection program.
- Clean hard surfaces (desks, tables, countertops, sinks). Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces (door handles, faucets, railings), bathrooms and health rooms. Use alcohol wipes to clean keyboards.
- Use “EPA-approved” disinfectant to clean high-touch surfaces and patient care areas.
- Clean the surface first to remove all organic matter. Thorough cleaning with soap and water will remove most microorganisms.
- Custodial staff is trained to use disinfectants in a safe and effective manner and to clean up potentially infectious materials and body fluid spills.
If you have any questions or concerns, please call the nurse’s office.
Cathy Villeneuve RN
334-2800 ext. 2
THEME: Imagine A Story
Monday March 9th- Dress as a book character or your future self
Mr. Len Cabral presentation
1:00-1:45 K-2 & 2:00-2:45 Grade 3-5
Wednesday March 11th-Half Day for PD (Just a reminder for planning guest readers)
Friday March 13th- Instead of all teacher's swapping classrooms at the same time, arrange among your grade level team to read to their class.
Daily break at 10:00 each morning to listen to a guest reader on the PA.
ACCOUNTABILITY
In April and May, your child will take part in the RICAS Assessment. In the past, we have found that ramp-up sessions have been beneficial in increasing students’ performance and strengthening their test taking skills. In previous years, these sessions have proven to have a positive impact on students’ scores.
As with our daily ELA and Mathematics classes, this before-school program will not only continue to focus on English/Language Arts and Mathematics topics but will also focus on test-taking strategies and navigating the assessment platform. Many students need multiple opportunities to experience the format of these tests using computers. Having extra time in the morning allows the students to have a stronger foundation for the test.
Our program will begin on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 and continue through Thursday April 2, 2019. We will meet with students on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:45-8:40 am. Children must arrive at 7:40 am in order for us to begin promptly at 7:45. Please arrange your own transportation on the scheduled dates.
ELA group will meet on Tuesdays: 3/10, 3/17, 3/24, 3/31
Math group will meet on Thursdays: 3/12, 3/19, 3/26, 4/2
The students will enter the building at the pick up door entrance (down by 4th grade classrooms) and proceed to our classroom. Please do not come to the front door - that is for Y drop offs only.
RIDE ASSESSMENT CALENDAR (kindly note changes)
School Secretary: Mrs. Arena
Mrs. Arena's email...
Friendly, reminders...
1. Please send notes to the classroom teacher in the morning if there is a change in dismissal plans.
2. Please call Mrs. Arena PRIOR TO 2:30pm to arrange alternate pick-up dismissal plans.
3. When attending events at school and taking pictures and videos, please realize that many families would rather keep their children's pictures off of social media; we respectfully ask that you post responsibly.
4. Please realize these respectful requests are being made to avoid any confusion with dismissal plans and to keep children calm - WE LOVE THEM TOO! :)
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION - DATE TBD FOR NORTHERN & CENTRAL
THE VALLEY BREEZE (with edits by Mrs. Saravo to call out important details and details specific for Central families)
1/29/2020
Lincoln Schools hold registration March 7 and 21
LINCOLN – Lincoln Public Schools is holding registration days for kindergarten and 1st-grade students new to the school district for the 2020-2021 school year.
Registrations are by appointment only and can be made by calling the school. The days are Saturday, March 7, from 9 a.m. to noon at Lincoln Middle School for children who live in the Lonsdale and Saylesville Elementary School regions, and TBD for children who reside in the Central and Northern Elementary School regions.
Children who will be 5 years old on or before Sept. 1 should register for kindergarten at this time. Children now attending kindergarten outside Lincoln Public Schools who will enter 1st grade in Lincoln in September must also register.
Original birth certificates and three original proof-of-residency documents are required at registration.
Documents include:
1. For parents who are homeowners: A mortgage statement and utility bill (gas, electric, telephone, cable) or car insurance statement, Rhode Island car registration, or excise tax bill.
For parents who are renting: A lease agreement (must be notarized or accompanied by a notarized letter from the landlord) and two utility bills (gas, electric, telephone, cable) or car insurance statement, Rhode Island car registration, or excise tax bill.
2. A notarized affidavit is also required for residency.
3. A recent physical, including vision screening and immunization records with month, date and year of shots for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DTap 5), polio (IPV 4), measles, mumps, rubella (MMR2), chicken pox (varicella 2), hepatitis b (3), lead (date and result) or a certificate from a licensed physician stating that your child is not subject to immunizations because of medical reasons, must also be presented at registration.
Registration will not be accepted without original birth certificate and proof of residency documents, including notarized affidavits and immunization records.
Registration packets are available at www.district.lincolnps.org or by calling the schools. Enrollment is based on space availability.
Please call Mrs. Arena at 401.334.2800 to schedule your appointment.
Chronic Absenteeism is a measure of how many students miss a defined number of school days for any reason. Rhode Island defines Chronic Absenteeism as the percentage of students who miss 10% or more school days during the year (or 2 days per month).
Why it matters...
Research shows that chronic absenteeism is associated with a number of negative consequences for students, including lower achievement, disengagement from school, course failure, and increased risk of dropping out.
District Leaderboard
Statewide Leaderboard
Lincoln Schools / Statewide
As of 02/28/2020, Lincoln Central ranks 25th out of 264 schools reporting. Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 5.5%. There are 22 students missing 10% or more of school. (10% = 11 days)
As of 02/24/2020, Lincoln Central ranks 34th out of 281 schools reporting. Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 6.5%.
As of 02/07/2020, Lincoln Central ranks 49th out of 227 schools reporting. Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 8%.
As of 01/31/2020, Lincoln Central ranks 31st out of 217 schools reporting. Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 7.5%.
As of 01/27/2020, Lincoln Central ranks 30th out of 265 schools reporting. Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 7.5%.
As of 01/17/2020, Lincoln Central ranks 37th out of 234 schools reporting. Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 6.3%.
As of 01/06/2020, Lincoln Central ranks 45th out of 219 schools reporting. Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 6.5%.
As of 12/16/10, Lincoln Central ranks 47th out of 264 schools reporting. Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 5.3%.
As of 12/09/10, Lincoln Central ranks 22nd out of 273 schools reporting. Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 4.1%.
As of 11/30/19, Lincoln Central Elementary ranks 31st out of 231 schools.
Our current chronic absenteeism percentage is 5.6%.
Camp Invention
Dear families!
If your child loves to tinker and build, has a great imagination, and loves to have fun, please consider Camp Invention this summer. The camp will run during the week of July 13 to July 17, 2020. Our instructors are all certified teachers and are excited to spend the week with your campers. Don't wait too long to sign up. Last year our camp sold out by the beginning of April. Grab a spot for your child now!
Feel free to visit the link below and scroll down to the bottom to explore some videos of this year's program. It looks like so much fun!! You can register through this link, too.
https://www.invent.org/programs/camp-invention
ALUMNI DISCOUNT:
If your child attended the program before, there is an amazing discount that our alumni can take advantage of. (Check your emails, too... There is a friend discount code that you can pass along to other people interested in the program.) All Alumni receive $35 off their registration using promo code D35CAMP
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT:
Save $25 when you register your child by March 31, 2020. Use the promo code ELEVATE25 when you register
Parent Pick Ups & Buses
It is very helpful to arrange clear transportation plans with your child. If there is a change in your plans, please make every effort to send a handwritten note in with your child. If there is an emergency and you need to contact us via phone, please make every effort to do so by 2:30pm. Please AVOID emailing/texting teachers to change transportation plans, as teachers may not check email until after dismissal. The safety of our students is very important to us and we thank you for your cooperation!
Parent Pick-Up Procedures
A respectful request regarding parties...
Fierst Lego League Jr. Expo 2020 @ Gordon School March 7th
Positive Behavior Office Referrals
March 6, 2020
FEBRUARY 28, 2020
FEBRUARY 21, 2020
February 13, 2020
February 7, 2020
The importance of drills...
In accordance with state law (§16-21-4, §16-21-5), all schools (public and nonpublic) in Rhode Island are required to perform 15 emergency drills that include fire, lockdown, and evacuation drills. At least one drill shall be conducted each month, and at least one out of every four must be obstructed drills. As part of the required 15 emergency drills, each school must conduct two evacuation drills and two lockdown drills. One lockdown drill shall occur in September and one in January.
Procedures will reviewed with the students so that we are PREPARED AND NEVER SCARED! It is always helpful to have conversations with your children about the importance of being safe and quiet during these drills.
RECESS ROCKS
Our school has been accepted to into the Recess Rocks in Rhode Island training program, generously funded by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island.
The RRIRI partnership, from BCBSRI, Playworks and RI Healthy Schools Coalition, was developed to facilitate an improved recess experience for students and an improved climate for elementary schools across Rhode Island. The training program helps schools rethink recess and develop skills and techniques to successfully engage all students in active play, communicate with students about recess expectations, transition students to and from recess, organize games, and manage student behavior in a positive way.
We’re so excited to join the group of schools already in the Recess Rocks in RI family of 80 elementary schools.
Lincoln Central is one of six schools who were selected for this October 2019 cohort.
Specialized Services
Please click here.
PACT Board Members
Jillian Ruggerio, President
Emily Breguet, Vice-President
Amy Vincenzi, Treasurer
Elizabeth Goolgasian, Events Chair
Jennifer Dibello, Fundraising Chair
Chanthaly Morin, Secretary
Stephanie Gobeille, Fundraising Chair/Events Chair
Calendar of meetings and upcoming events
03/05 @ 6:30
05/07 @ 3:30
PACT Update
March is here! Our next PACT meeting will be Thursday March 5th at 6:30 pm in the Cafeteria. Please join us to discuss plans for the rest of the year! This includes information about a nominating committee being formed for those interested in being a part of the board for PACT for the 2020-2021 school year. If you are interested, or know o someone who is, please contact Jen Dibello at jendibello@icloud.com. All nominations need to be in by April 1, 2020 so that voting for next years board positions can happen at our May meeting.
Other upcoming events include the Lucky Charms which will be coming home with your child in the upcoming weeks. The Providence Bruins are hosting Lincoln Central families again on March 22 at 3:05 pm and sports night will be held at TeamWorks in Warwick again this year on Friday April 24th. Information regarding ticket purchases for these events will be coming home soon.
Fifth grade celebration is being held on June 11. Volunteers are always welcome, please let Amy Vincenzi, amyh7@msn.com, or a board member know if you are available to help with any part of the night!
Field Day information will be coming as soon as we know more!
Thank you for all of your support in making the events put on by PACT a success.
The PACT Board
High Five Fridays
High Five Friday is an initiative rolled out last year to bring our high school student-athletes back to their former elementary schools - dressed in their sport uniforms. The high school students line up and form a tunnel and elementary school students walk through as they enter the building in the morning and high-five each of the high school student-athletes. This was an overwhelming success last year and our high school student-athletes really looked forward to it.
New Date
January 31st @ Lincoln Central Elementary
HANDBOOK & BEHAVIOR CODE
From the cafeteria to the classroom, pay anytime, anywhere from your computer or mobile phone.
PLEASE CLICK HERE
Subscribing and Unsubscribing to the List Serve
To exit a list, send a message to list@lincolnps.org and request "unsubscribe Central"
Parents can also substitute Central with another building name if they want to join LHS, LMS, etc.
Please follow us on Instagram...
About us...
Email: saravol@lincolnps.org
Website: http://www.central.lincolnps.org/
Location: 1081 Great Road, Lincoln, RI, USA
Phone: (401)334.2800
Twitter: @CentralElement5