Highcroft Hotline
May 3, 2020
Highcroft's Mission
At Highcroft, we help learners grow in a safe, caring community where ALL are valued and supported to become leaders.
Upcoming Events
May
- May 4-8: Teacher Appreciation Week
- May 4: May the 4th Be With You - Star Wars Spirit Day
- May 5: Teacher Appreciation Day
- May 6: School Nurse Appreciation Day
- May 6: Board of Education Meeting, 7:00 pm
- May 7: Look Like Your Teacher Spirit Day: Dress Up To Look Like Your Teacher
- May 8: No eLearning School on Fridays
- May 12: Virtual Field Day
- May 15: No eLearning School on Fridays
- May 21: Last Day of School
- May 21: School Spirit Day: Wear Your Highcroft Spirit Wear
Lucas Letter
Greetings,
Last week. I shared the importance of practicing empathic listening, Habit 5 - Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. This week, I share the lesson of Habit #6 – Synergize. Habit #6 is the habit of working together. In the sixth story from the book, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, students learned about teamwork. The kids from 7 Oaks used their assets to synergize to win a soccer game against the Big, Bad Badgers. Helen Keller summed it up perfectly: "Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much."
Habit #6 - Synergize is when two or more people work together to create a better solution that neither would have thought of alone. It's not your way or my way, but a better way. Talk about the equation: 1 + 1 = 3 (or more). How is that possible? One person + another person = 2 ideas + many more than either of them would have thought of alone. Synergy is taking good ideas and making them better by working together. Discussions can focus on other examples of synergy in nature, history, literature, and personal experiences. For example, synergy happens in nature when a flock of geese heads south for the winter. They fly in a V formation because, due to the updraft, the entire flock can fly farther than if each bird flew alone.
Our community synergizes regularly. One of the more memorable moments of synergy for me was when the students, staff, and caregivers worked together to craft Highcroft's mission. All voices came together to hear, honor, and push ideas to arrive at one guiding message! It was the essence of synergy!
In partnership, and be well!
Dr. Cartelia Lucas
Principal
clucas@parkwayschools.net
Congratulations Are In Order
Congratulations to Mrs. Madison Gerling on being nominated for Parkway Alumni Association's 2020 Albert Award! It is an extreme honor to be nominated for this award which recognizes exceptional new educators.
We would also like to congratulate the following students who were awarded a grant from the Parkway Alumni Association's Granting Dream program:
- Mallory in Ms. Tilden's Class
- Josh in Mr. Noble's Class
- Olivia in Mrs. Cornell's Class
Highcroft Highlights
Click the button below to see community activities and videos we have shared. As we continue to create and share things, the site will be updated.
Specialist Office Hours
Please
click here for our specialists' office hours. This document shares with you the times our specialists are available to respond to communications and their email addresses so that you are able to communicate with them about assignments in their content areas.
Musical Notes
Mr. Spector, Music Teacher
Below are two articles which explain the value and importance of music education. “Nearly everyone enjoys music, whether by listening to it, singing, or playing an instrument. But despite this almost universal interest, many schools are having to do away with their music education programs. This is a mistake, with schools losing not only an enjoyable subject, but a subject that can enrich students’ lives and education. Read on to learn why music education is so important, and how it offers benefits even beyond itself.”
https://nafme.org/20-important-benefits-of-music-in-our-schools/
https://teachingwithorff.com/wholehearted-attention/
Highcroft Sweeties and families, I miss you all so much! I am sorry that right now we would be amidst our annual spring musical season. Take this time to watch a movie musical with your family. Try sharing with one another the parts of the movie you liked and the reasons you like them: the music, the dancing, the singing, etc. Next year, we will make our musical season the best ever! But for now, please know that I miss all of your smiling faces!
Musically yours,
-Mr. Spector
Counselor Corner
Cindy Beeler Grades K,1,2,4 cbeeler@parkwayschools.net
Scharma Banks Grades 3,5 sbanks@parkwayschools.net
Each week our hope is that our families are safe and happy. We love hearing from our Highcroft students through the Counselor Check In. Please feel free to contact us if you need any support as we continue to work our way through this time.
Coping Tool for Children
You may have seen an increase in anxiety and worries in your child as our days go from one to the other. It may become difficult as we have come to count on our traditions for the end of the school year closure. In our counseling office, we often refer to anxiety as our “Worry Bug”. When we “feed” into our worries they can grow too big to handle. Don't Feed the Worry Bug is a short story about not feeding into worries. Please contact us if your child needs a private meet up with one of us to discuss their worry bug.
Guidance for Parents
During this confusing time for children, we may see changes in behaviors and increase of negative behavior. When children are struggling with negative behavior, a powerful tool may be focusing positive attention to the moments they are doing the right thing. This is an excellent article on The Power of Positive Attention.
Resources
Parkway Meal Assistance
Operation Food Search
Technology Request or Assistance
Charter Spectrum Internet
Emergency Food Stamps
Drive-thru Emergency Diapers
Emergency Resources
911/Take your child to the ER
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Behavioral Health Response Crisis Line: 1-800-811-4760
Saint Louis Crisis Nursery: 314-768-3201
Salvation Army: 211 (mortgage, utility bills, clothing, medication bills, etc.)
Strings Update
Mrs. Woods, Strings Teacher
I am enjoying seeing and hearing students play their instruments using Flipgrid! It's a great way to feel connected, musically, to each other!
I am posting new activities to our Strings Google Classroom every Monday morning.
As I have said, I'm also offering a tuning session every Wednesday from 10:00-10:30 am through Google Meet. Feel free to stop in anytime. Directions to access the Meet are in our Strings Google Classroom.
There are also some great free phone apps you can download to tune your own instrument at home:
Iphone - Tuner Lite by Piascore or Cleartune
Android - Gstrings
May Acts of Kindness Calendar
Virtual Gotcha
A Virtual Gotcha is used to recognize students when they display our ROSE Values. Please consider submitting a Virtual Gotcha for your child to be recognized.
Click Here to Complete the Form
