Siple Scoop
February 1, 2024
A Message From the Principal
Our students and staff are excited to celebrate Valentine's Day together. Our focus on Valentine's Day at Siple is to celebrate friendship. Because of the young age of our students, we often remind them that we don't have boyfriends and girlfriends. We are just friends to everyone and do our best to be kind to all. Valentine's Day parties will take place on Wednesday, February 14th. A few key points to keep in mind:
- Students may bring in Valentine cards. If students bring in cards, they must give a card to each student in the classroom.
- Teachers may have already sent home information about parties and the plans for their classrooms. If not, please watch for that information to come home soon. If you plan to help with snacks/treats for the party remember that they must be prepackaged and peanut restricted. Only send in snacks or treats pre-approved and pre-arranged with the teacher.
- Party helpers will be selected by random draw with priority given to parents that haven't helped with parties previously this year. All party volunteers must have completed a volunteer application and be cleared before helping in the classroom.
- The focus of our parties is on the students in the classroom. For this reason, and due to limited space, please make other arrangements for siblings including babies.
I hope you enjoy a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Christy Flowers, Principal
810-591-5104
National School Counseling Week
We are so fortunate in Davison to have at least one School Counselor in every building. School Counselors are very busy supporting students, families, and staff. Our Siple Counselor, Alexis Liley, does an outstanding job with our students and we greatly appreciate all that she does.
To celebrate School Counseling Week and ALL of the amazing staff at Siple, we will have a Kindness and Friendship Spirit Week February 5th - 9th. Students are invited to join in the fun. A flyer was sent home this week and I am including it below.
Intersession II
You Are Invited!
The Siple Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) would love to have you join the team. parents/guardians are very important team members. You can be involved as much as your schedule allows. Our next meeting is Tuesday, February 13th at 4:00 p.m. in the Media Center. Please join us!
Challenging Academic Potential
The District has already shared this information with parents, but I felt it was worth resending it in case any parents missed it.
Davison is fortunate to offer educational programming targeted to meet the needs of all learners. The Challenging Academic Potential (CAP) program is designed to challenge our academically gifted students in grades one through six.
The CAP program begins in grade one with a cluster classroom and then transitions to full gifted classrooms for grades two through six. CAP then blends into honors and Advance Placement courses during a student’s middle and high school years. The CAP program for first through fourth graders is housed at Central Elementary and Hahn Intermediate for grades five and six.
A virtual Question and Answer meeting with Challenging Academic Potential (CAP) teachers and principals will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 7. A link for the online session will be
sent to parents of K-5 students next week.
To view a presentation about the CAP program, please click on this link:
A parent or teacher can nominate a student to be considered for the CAP program.
Nomination forms can be
found here: Nomination Forms
It's Time for Kindergarten Round-up
Parents, if you have younger children at home we wanted to make you aware that we are now starting the waiting list for Early-5's. Our Early 5's program is for children that will turn 5 between June 15 and December 1, 2024. This is an excellent program to prepare young children for kindergarten. It is a full day program that focuses on kindergarten readiness. To add your child to the wait list please call the Thomson Elementary office at 810-591-0911. Registration for Early 5's is open now.
Information will be sent home soon about Kindergarten Round Up. The age required for Kindergarten and Early 5's is that they must be 5 by September 1, 2024. Kindergarten Round Up has been scheduled for April 15 - April 19, 2024. Appointments for Round-up can be made beginning February 28th by calling the Thomson office at 810-591-0911. All registration calls, even for Siple, are handled at Thomson Elementary.
Davison also offers our amazing FREE GSRP preschool program. Registration is currently underway for the 2024-2025 school year. For more information you can call 810-591-0922.
Help For Parents
COUNSELORS CORNER
Anti-Bullying Presentations
In the month of February the Mrs. Liley will visit classrooms to give a presentation about anti-bullying.
The goals of these presentations are to:
Define bullying
Give ways to prevent it
List suggestions on how to handle bullying
Define an upstander and describe the impact of is individual
One of the most common mistakes students make is the definition. One mean event is not necessarily bullying.
Bullying happens when someone hurts or scares another person on purpose and the person being bullied has a hard time defending him or herself. Usually bullying happens over and over.
After the presentation students will bring home a note to parent(s)/guardian(s). This will detail definitions, prevention, how to handle the bully behavior, and define the role of an upstander. Please be sure to go over this information with your child. Your children are so precious to all of us at Siple Elementary. Thank you for being wonderful parent(s)/guardian(s)!
Cell Phones and Smart Watches
Our school day is filled from start to finish in an effort to help every student reach their highest academic potential. Cell phones and Smart watches can interfere with quality learning time and cause disruptive behavior. If you require your student to have a cell phone or Smart watch at school, please remind them it is to be turned off and packed away in their backpack while at school. I am sharing a passage from the District Parent and Student Handbook 2023-2024 below.
Cell Phones/Electronic Devices: In the elementary and middle school buildings, cell phones, smart watches, and other electronic devices are to be used for emergency purposes only and after school hours. Their use during the school day presents a disruption to the educational process.
Thank you for your help and support with this matter.
Music Notes from Mrs. Odglen
Performance Season has arrived!
2024 Musical Performances:
These events will be performed in the Davison High School Auditorium.
*Letters were sent home from Mrs. Odglen that provided details needed for these performing groups.*
2nd Grade Musical = February 8, 2024
7:00pm in the DHS Auditorium
The 2nd graders need to be dropped off in the DHS Choir room no later than 6:45pm.!
4th Grade Musical = March 7, 2024
7:00pm in the DHS Auditorium
3rd Grade Recorder Concerts = May 7, 2024
This will take place in our Siple Gymnasium. Times will stagger as follows:
Smith = 6:00 – 6:30pm
Eaton = 6:40 – 7:20pm
Bobchik = 7:40 – 8:10pm
A Message From Mrs. Carr
Greetings from STEM Class. I can see so much growth from all of our students in regards to their technology skills. I post occasional assignments or material in the STEM classrooms and the students are navigating this system well. The older students have used Google Slides and Google Docs for some of their assignments. We are also covering digital safety lessons at all grade levels. On certain weeks the students spend time building with STEM supplies such as Legos and other manipulatives. On days when the focus is technology I am noticing many students with headphones that are not working well as the year has progressed. Check with your child to see if they could use a new pair. It is not mandatory, but if you would like to send in an inexpensive pair of headphones from home to leave in their desk that would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I am very easy to reach via email at ecarr@davisonschools.org.
News from Mr. Sipley in PE Class
We are finishing up our Hockey Tournament with the 3rd and 4th graders. The students will also be voting for a boy and a girl in their classroom - who has displayed the best sportsmanship so far this year. This is a very special event because the students are the ones that vote. We talk about sportsmanship throughout the year and how important it is when we play games. The winners will get a pizza party at the end of the year to celebrate their achievement of showing the best sportsmanship in their class.
After we finish up our hockey unit we will be moving on to basketball. We will be working on some of the basic skills of basketball like dribbling, passing and shooting. Although we don't usually play a basketball up and down the court game I will be teaching the kids some games that they can play using a basketball. Thunder and Lightning is one of the games that I will teach them that they can play outside at recess time. It is a fun fast pace game that anybody and everybody can participate in.
I also will be reteaching our sportsmanship lesson. I want the students to understand and know that winning isn't everything. That winning can be fun but we also have to learn how to be a good winner or loser. Parents if you could talk to your child as well on the importance of sportsmanship and some of the things that we could do if our team wins or loses I would greatly appreciate that!
It is winter time now - please make sure if your child has to wear boots to school that they are bringing their tennis shoes to change into for PE class. Thank you!
Siple STARS of the Month
We work hard at Siple to teach and reinforce the Cardinal Code behavior expectations at Siple. We wanted to create a way to recognize students that consistently follow the Cardinal Code in an exemplary way. Each month classroom teachers will nominate one student from their class for the STAR of the MONTH for that grade. Each STAR of the Month will receive a certificate, medal, and their photo will be on display in the hallway during that month.
We are pleased to recognize students for consistently demonstrating excellent behavior. Thank you for sharing your outstanding children with us.
I am please to announce our STARs of the Month for January were:
Kindergarten: Lincoln Tomlinson, Avalia Traynor, and Caleb Weckesser
1st grade: Henry Kidd, Lorelai Childers, and Kaylan Skau
2nd grade: Blake Bearss, Zachary Urmanic, and Luke Gordon
3rd grade: Noah Weber, Porter Campbell, and Michael Warson
4th grade: Elizabeth Coughlin, Maleia Horne, and Declan Wheeler
Important Dates to Remember
February 5 - 9: Kindness and Friendship Spirit Week: See details above.
February 8: 2nd grade Concert, 7:00 p.m., DHS Auditorium
February 13: 100th Day of School recognized
PTO Meeting 4:00 p.m., Media Center
February 14: Valentine's Day parties in the afternoon
Count Day
February 19-23: No School at Siple, Intersession II for registered students
February 29: Leap Day
March 6: Early Release Day, Dismissal begins at 1:30 p.m.