September Newsletter
Whiteman Elementary
Welcome to Whiteman Elementary!
Greetings Whiteman Families,
I am thrilled to be the principal at Whiteman Elementary! This will be my third year as principal at Whiteman Elementary. My husband and I are truly excited to be living here and being part of the Whiteman Community! We have two kids that attend Whiteman! Garrison is in 3rd grade. He loves to fish and play sports. Hailey is in 5th grade. She loves swimming and softball. My husband and I are as well HUGE fans of water and love spending time on the lake!
I am fortunate to work alongside the amazing teachers at Whiteman Elementary as we embark on this year ready to create a culture of learning that includes engaging, rigorous, and relevant work in our classrooms.
I want to extend a special, year-long invitation to our families to join us at school activities and events whenever possible. Whiteman Elementary wants, needs, and values your involvement and support in your child’s education! Active participation is key to the success of your young Panther during his/her elementary school years.
Again, I welcome you to Whiteman Elementary and to our wonderful learning community!
Go Panthers!!
Mrs. Jessica Stewart
No School Friday, August 30th or Monday, September 2nd
Immunization
Planners for 1st-5th Grade
Important Dates
September 4-9th- Major Savor Card Fundraiser
September 6- Shirt Sales End.
September 20-PTO Family Book Bingo Night
September 20-27th- Fall book Fair
September 27- Early Dismissal at 1:00 Homecoming Parade at Knob Noster
September 24- Fall Pictures
September 26- Character Assembly Integrity/Cooperation
United Through Reading
Free and Reduced Lunch Application
Leader In Me
Whiteman Elementary staff is excited to introduce Leader in Me to our new families and be in our second year of implementation, which we believe is having a profound effect on the staff, students, and community of our school. Students are taught and practice the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The Leader in Me program empowers young people to make positive, effective, and responsible choices by introducing and reinforcing the 7 Habits, a set of leadership and life skills from Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Starting last school year, we began implementing The Leader in Me program as an introduction to personal leadership. The Leader in Me provides students with activities that will help them learn practical character and life skills that will lead to those positive choices. Written to appeal to their age level, students are presented with fun activities designed to get them thinking. Your student is about to embark on an exciting journey and our hope is that you will ask your student how he/she is doing along the way. Having your student re-teach the content to you will give him/her an even deeper understanding and will give both of you an opportunity to learn together! When taught and practiced in a school environment, these 7 habits have been proven to improve academic engagement, comprehension, and performance by strengthening individual work habits and improving social interactions. They help improve student performance and support school success by helping to foster the qualities of independence (goal-setting, organization, time management, and planning); interdependence (teamwork, conflict management, creativity, and analytical skills); and renewal (fun, desire to learn, and good health & hygiene). The staff at Whiteman Elm. has made the commitment to model and implement the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in order to provide a caring and nurturing learning environment for our students. Teaching students and developing leaders is what we do! Through the teaching of the 7 habits, our staff is working together with students to create a school that maintains the dignity of children through productive interactions while fostering positive relationships with parents and other community members.
Safety Drills
Student safety and wellness is of paramount importance at Knob Noster R-VIII Schools. Emergency preparedness drills will be conducted in each building to give instruction and practice in proper actions by staff and students. Emergency exiting procedures will be posted near the door in each instructional area. Instruction regarding fire drills shall be given early in the school year, and drills shall be held regularly throughout the year. Any concerns with safety should be reported immediately to an administrator. I just wanted to inform parents of the drills and let you know we performed an intruder , fire, and tornado drill in August.
Bucket Fillers for Staff
We would love your help for a staff builder. We discuss with our students about being a Bucket Filler, and will be doing more of this in our Student Lead Teams. We would like your help in filling our teacher's buckets for the school year by making cards, letters, pictures made by our parents and students. It doesn't have to be fancy, but we will be giving our staff an opportunity to write to their colleagues, but we wanted to add the best bucket filler compliments which come from our students and teachers. We are doing this activity on September 4th during our PLC meeting. If you would like to participate and send in cards, pictures, or personal notes from your child or you, we would greatly appreciate it. I add a word document of all staff names and roles in the building. You can be specific or general. We will be accepting them in the office. Your child can turn them in to the teacher or to the front office. Thank you in advance for making this great!
Stay Connected with Us
Knob Noster School District- 1st Lego League Ages 9-14 years old
Transportation Changes/Bus Transportation
We understand emergencies arise to have to make transportation changes. Please call the office 660-563-3028 by 2:00 on M, T, Th, and Friday and by 1:00 on Wednesdays. If you know prior to the vent, please send in a note.
Bus route information is located on the school website with the most current pick-up times. http://www.knobnoster.k12.mo.us/p_a_r_e_n_t_s/school_bus_information
We ask families to allow +/- 5 minutes for pick-up times throughout the school year.
Parent Pickup
Lunch Visitors
* You may choose to bring your child a lunch or eat a school lunch. Please call the office before 9 if you would like to order a school lunch too.
*Your child may choose one friend to sit with them at the parent table( the end of the class table) during lunch.
*Please do not share food with any students beyond your own due to allergies and nutritional guidelines.
* Enjoy this special time with your child and their friend. They love to have you visit!
Star Testing
Q: What are Star Assessments?
A: STAR ELA/ STAR MATH/STAR LITERACY are short tests that provide teachers with learning data. Star tests are computer adaptive, which means they adjust to each answer your child provides. This helps teachers get the best data to help your child in the shortest amount of testing time (about one-third of the time other tests take).
Your child may take a Star test for early literacy, math, reading, or other subjects of their teacher’s choice.
Q: What do teachers do with Star Assessments?
A: Teachers analyze the data they get from Star Assessments to learn what students already know and what they are ready to learn next, to monitor student growth, and to determine which students may need additional help. Star Assessments are heavily researched and scientifically proven to help teachers guide each student on his or her unique path to mastery.
Q: What do Star Assessments do for my child?
A: By pinpointing exactly what your child knows, teachers can personalize your child’s practice to keep them growing. Plus, short test times ensure your child spends more time learning and less time testing.
Q: Can we use Star Assessments at home?
A: No, Star Assessments are only used at school by teachers to gain insight to guide instruction. However, your child’s teacher may send home reports of your child’s Star results and growth.
Q: How can I help my child with their Star Assessments?
A: The best way to help your child with Star Assessments is to help them understand why they are taking the test: So their teacher knows exactly how to help them learn! For anxious children, it may be important to tell them that they cannot fail a Star test—as long as they do their best, the data generated from the test will help their teacher teach them more great things!
Q: Where do I go if I have questions?
A: Your child’s teacher is the best source of additional information about your child’s progress with Star Assessments. Renaissance is committed to protecting student privacy and will not share data with anyone outside your child’s authorized school staff.
Attendance is Very Important
It is very important to let the office know of the reason for being absent. Please call the office and let the secretaries know if your child will be absent for the day.
Perfect Attendance – If your child has perfect attendance (absolutely no minutes missed from school) at the end of each quarter, he or she will receive a reward celebrating the accomplishment. If they have zero minutes missed the entire year students receive a special certificate and two tickets to a Royals Baseball Game. Tardies and early check-outs are counted against the student’s minutes.
Regular and punctual patterns of attendance will be expected of each student enrolled in our school district. Students should strive to maintain a good attendance record, because there is a direct relationship between school attendance and grades, citizenship, and success in school.
Frequent absences of students from regular classroom learning experiences disrupt the continuity of the instructional process. The benefit of regular classroom instruction is lost, and cannot be entirely regained. The entire process of education requires regular instruction, classroom participation, learning experiences, and study in order to reach the goal of maximum educational benefits for each individual student. The regular contact of the students with one another in the classroom and their participation in well-planned instructional activities under the supervision of a competent teacher are vital to this purpose. As educators, we hope that you will spend quality time in our schools by visiting classrooms, going on school study trips, or volunteering. We value you, as parents, and we appreciate your support of us in our efforts to educate your child. The primary purpose of the district’s attendance rules and procedures shall be to change behavior, not to punish students.
It is recognized that an occasional absence from school may be necessary under certain conditions. However, every effort should be made by students, parents/guardians, teachers
and administrators to keep absences and tardiness to a minimum. There are NO excused or unexcused absences. An absence is an absence. If the absences are in excess of five (5) absences per semester with accompanying low grades, the following actions may be taken:
Letter to parent or guardian indicating the number of absences.
Action Plan conference with administrator
Referral to social worker or school resource officer
Report to Division of Family Services
Possible recommendation for retention.
In accordance with the Johnson County Education Court, when a student's attendance rate reaches 92%, a referral may be made to the Johnson County Juvenile office and the Johnson County Prosecuting Attorney. Further action may be taken through the Johnson County Court system if attendance continues to decline. This policy follows the rules and regulations of the Missouri Compulsory Attendance Law (167.031 RSMo.).
PTO Information
Major Savor Cards
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· Major Saver cards can be purchased via cash, check, online at www.majorsaver.com, or create a CUSTOM LINK for your child that can be shared via social media or email. This link will automatically credit the online sale to your student when friends and family use the link to make their purchase! This year’s card is attached for your viewing pleasure.
Character Assemblies
Each month we recognize character students. If your child is chosen you will get a phone call or be informed by the teacher that your child will be recognized during the character assembly. You are welcome to attend to celebrate with your child. We have tentative dates scheduled below for the school year.
August- No assembly
August/ September 26 - Integrity/Cooperation- Habit 1
November 1 -Respect- Habit 2
November 22 -Empathy- Habit 3
December 20-Compassion- Habit 4
January 31 -Responsibility- First 8 Days
February 28 -Acceptance -Habit 5
March 27 -Self- Control- Habit 6
April 24- Service - Habit 7
May 21- Perseverance FIrst 8 Days/ TBA last day of school