Dear Crossroads Parents,

Happy November! We are so thankful for such a supportive community. Our virtual parent teacher conferences were very well attended. It was a great opportunity for our teachers to build the school-to-home connection. Our parents and the PTA stepped up to provide our teachers with soups and sandwiches for dinner. On day two, there were tons of snacks and drinks AND a coffee truck showed up. Thank you to our PTA and parents for taking care of us. Your efforts help keep our spirits high.

We're also thankful for our amazing staff. At our last staff meeting we recognized our Employees of the Quarter. From our support staff we recognized long term sub Kayla Landreth and our Division Secretary Amy Schnell. From our certified staff, we recognized fourth grade teacher Mrs. Katie VanderPloeg and third grade teacher Mrs. Jenny McConnaughhay. We truly do have a staff who cares very much for our students!

Last, but not least, we're thankful for our amazing students. Each day our students show up to give their all to represent their House and to do amazing things. Our students work hard to follow the expectations of being caring, respectul, and responsible. One example of this is how well our kindergarten students are working to grow as readers and writers. We all make a great team!

Thank you, thank you, thanks!

Dr. Damian Fay & Mrs. Kristen Henson

damianfay@wsdr4.org

kristenhenson@wsdr4.org

Twitter:@Corgi_Tales

Instagram: crecorgi_tales

This month we were so excited to get every student their House t-shirt. Thank you PTA! The students look so good, and we love seeing all of the House colors in the hallways and classrooms on Wednesdays, our House color days.

We also ended the month with our House Challenge. Each classroom divided into houses and they competed as a House in the Paper Tower Challenge. Each group was given 10 pieces of paper and they had to work together to make the tallest tower possible!

We celebrated our October Students of the Month during lunches. Students were nominated by their teachers and they had the opportunity to spin the wheel and earn points for their House! It was great to see all of the students cheering on and celebrating their classmates!

All of our car riders and our daycare van riders will go to the gym at the end of the day. Once in the gym, a staff member will call students’ names over the radio for them to come out to meet their vehicle. A staff member will escort students to each car.

PLEASE READ: We are no longer allowing parents to walk up to get their children. You will need to drive through the pick-up line.

We sent home lime green car tags with all students on their first day of school, 8/24. If you need additional tags, please check in the main office. ***PLEASE USE A THICK MARKER TO FILL THESE OUT***

When you drive through the car lanes, please have the lime green car tag on your dashboard where we can see the names of your students. If you do not have the car tag, we will have to check your ID, radio the office, and wait for them to clear you before we can call your child out. As you can imagine, this will slow down the process for everyone.

A few other things to keep in mind with this process: Please remember, we do not accept dismissal changes after 3:00 pm. Also, our primary focus is student safety and 3:20 is a critical time when children can potentially get lost in the shuffle; it is imperative that we streamline the secretaries’ time to focus only on emergencies that arise. With that in mind, please understand that we will not permit access to the office after 3:20 to check out a student. Please plan accordingly so we aren’t caught in the position to have to tell you no. Also, remember that you are responsible for calling in to change if your walker will become a car rider during the days with inclement weather. We will no longer be sending a text about rainy day dismissals.

The expectation is all parents will have the lime green car tags ready to go by August 30. If you have any questions or thoughts, please let us know.

Please review our arrival and dismissal maps below:

Arrival Map

Dismissal Map

A friendly reminder if your student(s) are in need of ANY medication during the school year I will need an order from their doctor along with the medication. This does include over the counter medications like Tylenol or Ibuprofen. Please only drop off medications if you have an order or it has already been sent to the clinic. Any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out. My email is amandawhiteaker@wsdr4.org Have a safe and healthy remainder of the year!

Happy November Corgis!

October was a busy month but it sure was a lot of fun!

We finished our big fundraiser, Raise Craze, last month and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the results! Our students completed 2,703 Acts of Kindness and raised $37,199. We didn’t meet our goal but we came really close and couldn't be prouder! A big thank you all who worked so hard to make this fundraiser a success - we couldn’t have done it without you!

Thank you to everyone who came to our Cold Stone dining night last month! It was a huge success and we made almost $500. We hope to see you at Dukes BBQ on November 10th from 4pm – 7pm for our next dining night. Come out to support our school and a restaurant owned by a Crossroads family. Don’t forget to tell them that you’re there with Crossroads!

Another highlight of the month was the arrival of the house shirts! Thankfully they arrived just in time for house color day. It was so much fun to see the kids walking around school that Wednesday, so proud to wear their house name. We were thrilled to be able to provide these shirts for the whole school! Again, thank you to everyone who supports our fundraising efforts. Your donations make it possible for us to support our school this way.

After that, we turned our focus to the second annual Pumpkin Glow. What a fun night! The displays were incredible and the pumpkins were amazing. And the line kept on going. If you weren’t able to join us, check out the video on our facebook page of Dr. Fay and Mrs. Henson enjoying a ride through the event. A big thank you to all of the volunteers who helped with the event, especially our social event chairs Kelly Hartnett and Carrie Branson.

At the end of the month, we provided food during Parent-Teacher Conferences. Thank you to all of the families who made contributions to help keep our teachers fed during these crazy days. We provided dinner on Wednesday evening and on Thursday, we started the day with breakfast and snacks and kept them going in the afternoon with a visit from Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee Truck. We know how hard our teachers work for our students and we were happy to do what we could to support them during these busy times.

Veterans Day Virtual Assembly

On Wednesday, November 11th, 2021 Crossroads Elementary will be honoring the Veterans who have served our country. Due to gathering restrictions, we will not be able to hold our traditional Veterans Day assembly in person this year. Instead, we are going to create a virtual assembly for the students to view in the classroom. This video will include as many of the aspects of our traditional assembly as possible, including honoring specific Veterans and our student essay contest.

If there is a Veteran or a current service member that you would like honored in this video, please send a photo of the Veteran or your student with the Veteran to corgipta@gmail.com no later than November 4th.

To participate in the essay contest, please write a short paragraph describing “why it is important to honor Veterans” and submit it to our annual Veterans Day essay contest. All essays must be turned in to the office no later than November 3, 2021 for your chance to read it on camera for our Veterans Day virtual assembly. You must include your name, teacher, grade level and guardian email. Two students from each grade level will be chosen for this honor.

For more information on how you and your students can participate please visit our website at crossroadspta.org/veteransday.

We look forward to this opportunity to honor Veterans and to share a deeper meaning of Patriotism with our students, as well as to continue this long-standing Crossroads tradition.

Stay tuned, we’ve got lots of fun events coming up!

11/9 – General PTA Meeting

11/10 – Duke’s Dining Night Out

11/11 – Veterans Day Virtual Assembly

12/2 – Panda Express Dining Night Out

1/11 – General PTA Meeting

1/19 – Canned Food Drive Begins

Keep an eye out for emails and social media posts for more information!

If you want to stay informed about the PTA, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Talk to you next month!

The Crossroads PTA

21-22 School Calendar

• WSD 2021-2022 Academic Calendar

November 3

• House Color Day

November 9

• PTA General Meeting at 7:00 pm

November 10

• House Color Day
• PTA DIning Night Out at Duke's BBQ

November 11

• Veterans Day Virtual Assembly

November 15

• WSD Late Start

November 17

• House Color Day

November 19

• Support Staff Appreciation Day

November 24

• No School

November 25

• No School

November 26

• No School

Cafeteria Information

• Link to Child Nutrition page on the WSD website
  
• A'la carte will be offered K-6 at lunch only beginning 10/4
• Elementary A'la Carte Permission Letter
• All meals will be eaten in the cafeteria
• Breakfast served 8:20 am to 8:35 am

Buying Lunch

• Students will enter a lunch pin number
• Teachers have a card with the pin number on it for the first few weeks of school
• Teachers will send home the pin number and a practice number pad

Bringing Lunch

• Label all lunch bags
• Send items students can open by themselves
• Anything opened will be thrown away

Recess Information

• Supervision is provided by our Noon Duty staff and classroom teachers
• Dress for the weather
• Label clothing items
• Avoid parking along the playground
• Visitors are not allowed at recess

Tips from the office

• All adults visiting Crossroads must sign in at the office and obtain a visitors sticker
• Call the office by 9:15 am if your child is absent
• If your child arrives after 8:35 am, please walk them into the office
• Let the office know of any dismissal changes before 3:00 pm
• Students cannot be checked out from the office after 3:20 pm
• Be sure to update any changes to your contact information in the office

Parent Portal - FAQs

SIS Parent Portal

How do I make changes to my contact information and email address?
Parents may make changes through the parent portal for their email, telephone numbers and emergency contacts. Addresses must be changed in person with office personnel.

Can I call and give my email address over the phone?

Email addresses may not be added over the telephone with the office staff.

What if I have forgotten my Parent Portal password?

Please call the office to request your password to be reset. Once the password is reset, you will receive an email with the Parent Portal login information.