Southeastern Scene
Weekly Happenings at Southeastern Elementary
Principal's Postings, WELCOME EDITION
Welcome to the July 23, 2021, edition of Southeastern Scene.
Hello Explorers:
It is with great pleasure that we welcome all of our Southeastern Elementary families into our educational community. It is important to us that our students feel safe, valued and loved.
At SES, we see all children as curious, capable and competent citizens with rights. We believe they come to school full of experience and wisdom, eager to make meaning of their lives and everything that surrounds them.
We hope to nurture that meaning by creating a school that is a place where both children and adults explore the relationship between themselves and others - people, ideas, materials and the natural world.
We feel very fortunate to have a building that was architecturally designed to bring the outdoors in and create an environment that inspires playful inquiry and wonder.
When planning possibilities for our learning and academic achievement, we look for concepts that align to our state standards and HSE21, offers multiple entry points, and has the power to connect our entire learning community.
We look forward to sharing many windows into our children's learning experiences, and academic achievement this year. We can't wait to meet you!
Yours in education,
Mrs. Chastain & Mrs. Monkul
Welcome Video
Counselor's Corner
Hello, Southeastern Elementary parents. My name is Jen Smith, and I am the school counselor at Southeastern. I look forward to seeing our Explorers when school starts Aug. 4th. With a new school year comes much joy, excitement, and also anxiety. Please see the list below, which offers suggestions on how parents can help with back to school anxiety:
- Approach anxiety instead of avoiding it. It’s natural to want to allow your child to avoid situations that make her anxious, or reassure her that her worries won’t come true. However, this can actually contribute to a vicious cycle that reinforces anxiety in the long term. Instead, acknowledge your child’s emotion and then help her think through small steps she might take to approach, rather than avoid, her worries. For example, you might say, “It sounds like you’re feeling anxious about riding the school bus by yourself. Would you be up for checking out the bus stop with me this afternoon?” Give lots of attention and praise to any “brave” behaviors rather than to her anxiety. “I love how willing you were to take the bus this morning! Great job pushing back on the worry bully!”
- Practice school routines. For example, before the start of the year, you and your child might do a school day walk-through of the morning routine: waking up, eating breakfast, packing his school bag, and traveling to school. School tours or meet-and-greet days can be great opportunities to practice navigating the school environment and tolerating any anxiety in a low-stakes situation. After practice runs, debrief with your child on successes and challenges. Support your child in problem-solving around difficult points. For example, if he worries that he will have trouble finding his new classrooms, help him think through who he could ask for assistance if that occurs.
- Model behavior you’d like to see. When an anxious child refuses to get onto the school bus or has a tantrum about attending school, it’s natural to feel frustrated, harried, and anxious yourself. However, try to model the calm behavior you would like to see in your child. Take deep breaths from your belly. Remind yourself that your child’s behavior is being driven by anxiety. If necessary, step away from the situation to take a few minutes to breathe and engage in a mindfulness strategy, such as counting all of the objects of a certain color or shape in the room around you.
- Ensure enough sleep. The shift from a summer wake-up schedule to the school year wake-up time can be very challenging for many children, particularly with our new earlier start times. Fatigue and crankiness from not getting enough sleep can make children much more vulnerable to anxiety. To combat this, consider moving your child’s wake-up time earlier and earlier in short increments in the weeks leading up to the start of school. Additionally, leave screens (TV, phone, iPad) outside the bedroom at night.
Jen Smith, SES School Counselor
Nurse's Notes
Welcome to Southeastern Elementary School! My name is Linda Brown and I am the nurse for Southeastern Elementary. I look forward to making days at school safe, healthy, and successful.
Health Forms
Our Individual Health Forms are available on Skyward for next school year. This provides important information to care for your child such as emergency contact info, any allergies/ asthma, permission to give OTC medication if needed, etc. Each year you must go on Skyward and fill out the health form for each of your students enrolled in HSE schools.
Daily Medications
If your student needs to take a daily medication during school hours, please print off and fill out the Student Medication Form found on the HSE district site on “Our District” page under the “Health Service” tab. Please drop off the medication to school prior to the start of school. An adult needs to bring in the medication. Please do not send in the medication with your student.
HSE Illness Policy
If your student has a fever, he/she must be fever free (< 100 F) for 24 hours without the aid of medication before returning to school. If your child has Vomited/ Diarrhea the student must be Vomit/ Diarrhea free for 24hrs before returning to school.
Severe Allergies, Asthma, Seizures, Diabetes
If your child has any of these health conditions, contact me, and I will talk to you about your child’s needs and give you necessary paperwork for you and your child’s physician to complete.
Questions? Please email me at lmbrown@hse.k12.in.us
Linda Brown, SES Nurse
Important Upcoming Dates
- Tuesday, July 27th, self-guided building tour, kindergarten and 2nd grades.
7:00 to 7:45, families whose last names begin with N-Z
- Thursday, July 29th, self-guided building tour, 1st, 3rd and 4th grades.
7:00 to 7:45, families whose last names begin with N-Z
- Monday, August 2nd, Kindergarten Meet The Teacher, 6:00 to 7:00.
- Wednesday, August 4th, First Day of School.
- Friday, Aug. 6th, Explorer Day. You are welcome to wear school colors of navy and gold.
- Monday, August 9th, First and Second Grade Meet The Teacher, 5:45 to 6:15.
- Monday, August 9th, Third and Fourth Grade Meet The Teacher, 6:30 to 7:00.
- Thursday, August 12th, PTO meeting, 6:30 pm at SES.
New school day start/end times, 7:40 am to 2:10 pm
Self-Guided Building Tours
Teacher Assignments/Bus Schedules
Teacher Assignments
Families will be notified of their student's teacher assignment on Friday, July 30th, after 3:00 pm. This information will be posted to your student's skyward account.Bus Information
Bus schedules will be posted to your family skyward account on July 30th at 4:00 pm. A skylert message will be sent to all families notifying when bus information is posted to Skyward. You can find this information under the "Busing" tab on the left-hand side of your Skyward account. As stated in the HSE instruction plan, masks are required on the school bus (please see instructional plan below). Families are encouraged to provide their student with their own face covering.
Skyward
Skyward is a school management and information system for families in the district. Each family is issued a Skyward account, which includes all of your student(s) information. Please access Skyward by clicking this link.
Skylert Messaging
Please make sure all of your contact information is up-to-date in your student's Skyward account. You will receive Skylert messages from the school, and your information needs to be current to receive these messages.
Please complete the back-to-school forms (student information, health information, technology rentals, etc.) that are now posted to your student's Skyward account prior the beginning of the school year. Please click this link to complete the forms.
Questions? Please call the front office at (317) 594-4340.
Ipad rentals
Your student can bring their own device (BYOD) or rent a device from the district. Technology details can be found by clicking this link. Included in the back-to-school paperwork on Skyward is the iPad rental agreement. If you wish to rent an iPad for your student from the district, you need to complete the rental agreement online through your student's Skyward account. iPads will be distributed to students the first week of school.
If you are using your own device from home, please access the attached document below which includes set up instructions.
Front Office Procedures
The SES front office is open from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm. You can reach the SES front office by dialing (317) 594-4340.
Reporting Absences
Parents, please notify the front OFFICE in regards to absences and late arrivals. You can leave a message on our attendance line by calling (317) 594-4340, and selecting option 2. Please leave detailed information, including student's first and last names with spelling, teacher's name, grade, and reason for the absence or late arrival. If late arrival, please include approximate time student will be arriving.
Leaving early for appointment
If student needs to leave early for any reason, only family and individuals listed on the student's approved Skyward list can pick up the student. In the student's Skyward account, under the "Family and Emergency Contact" tabs, you may list people approved by you to pick up your student. Those individuals MUST show a valid driver's license when picking up the student. When arriving, please ring the silver button to the immediate left of the glass door closest to the front office. Please wait inside the vestibule while we get your student for you.
Forgotten Items
If a student forgets an item at home and a parent needs to drop off that item after school has begun, that item may be dropped off in the front office vestibule. There is a table right inside the first set of doors on which you can place the item. Please have student's first and last names, and teacher's name, on the item and we will deliver it to the student.
Dismissal Manager
Southeastern Elementary utilizes Dismissal Manager for daily dismissal changes. Each family receives specific login credentials from Dismissal Manager (email comes from Dismissal Manager, not Southeastern Elementary). If you need to change your student's dismissal, you will need to log in to your Dismissal Manger account and make the necessary changes by 1:00 pm. A list will be generated before the end of the school day with all of the dismissal changes for that day.
Volunteers/Chaperons
All visitors MUST have a Safevisitor background check on file with Hamilton Southeastern Schools to be allowed to volunteer or chaperone in the building. Please see Safevisitor information at hseschools.org, or click this link to get started.
Return to Instruction Plan
HSE has updated our return to in-person instruction plan. Please access it by clicking this link.
Reviewing this will help you understand the guidelines that will be followed for school. The current approved plan is on the bottom of that website page. Currently the only required place masks must be worn, due to federal regulations, are on the bus.
School Supplies
Mabel's Labels
Please access the PTO newsletter below regarding the Mabel's Label's fundraiser. Support the PTO fundraiser by taking advantage of exclusive deals on Mabel's Labels durable, waterproof school labels. Please click this link for ordering information. Mabel's Labels is offering a back-to-school sale of 20% off all school labels.
Arrival/Dismissal
If your student will be a car rider this school year, please read our arrival and dismissal procedures below.
Pull into the SES parking lot and form two lanes.
Once you get to the orange cones, merge into one lane.
Watch for staff member to motion you to pull forward and then motion for you to stop and put your car in park.
Watch for staff member to wave students in.
Students may only exit car onto the sidewalk. Students may NOT exit car on the driver’s side of the vehicle.
Parents will need to stay in the car. Staff will assist students out of their cars.
Students may enter the building at the 7:30 bell.
We ask that you please not park in the parking lot and walk your child up to the door. This creates a very unsafe situation for you, your child, and other children.
Car Rider Dismissal
Pull into the SES parking lot and form two lanes.
Once you get to the orange cones, merge into one lane.
Watch for staff member to motion you to pull forward and then motion for you to stop and put your car in park.
Please place a piece of paper with your child’s/children’s first and last name visible in the windshield.
Students will enter car from the sidewalk. Students may NOT enter car on the driver’s side of the vehicle.
Parents will need to stay in the car. Staff will assist students into their cars.
Students will be dismissed at 2:10 to the car rider area.
We ask that you please not park in the parking lot and walk up to the door to get your child. This creates a very unsafe situation for you, your child, and other children.
Car Rider Map
Cafeteria News
Breakfast and lunch Meal Deals are free for all students this school year. Cafeteria staff will be available during the self-guided tour times to answer cafeteria questions.
Breakfast and lunch menus will be posted online soon.
If you have any questions, please contact Beth Verhoestra, SES Cafeteria Manager, at bverhoestra@hse.k12.in.us
Snacks In The Classroom
- Fresh Fruit or Veggies
- Cheese
- Rold Gold pretzels
- Pepperidge Farm Goldfish (plain, cheddar or pretzel only).
- Nabisco Teddy Grahams
- Popcorn
- Sunshine Cheez-Its
Kindergarten T-Shirts
Welcome Kindergarten Parents! As we think about the exciting start to our kindergarten school year, we have an awesome opportunity to build community and establish a sense of connection within our classroom. Each classroom has a designated t-shirt color to wear the first week of school and on any study trips taken throughout the year.
We are asking parents to pay $8.25 (see payment options below) for this t-shirt. Payment can be turned in during the Self-Guided Tour (July 27), KG Meet the Teacher Night (Aug. 2) or to the front office or your child’s teacher by August 6.
- Check made payable to Southeastern PTO with your child’s first and last name and teacher, if known, in the memo.
- Cash in an envelope with your child’s first and last name and teacher, if known, on the envelope. (Change cannot be given. Any extra money collected will go into the PTO’s Angel Fund to cover the cost for families who need assistance.)
- Venmo @SESPTO – Please include your child’s first and last name and teacher, if known, in the notes.
Shirts will be passed out during Kindergarten Meet the Teacher Night (Aug 2). Your child should wear this shirt the first four days of school (Aug 4-6 and Aug 9).
SES Handbook
The Southeastern Elementary handbook has answers to many of your questions regarding policies and procedures for our upcoming school year. The handbook can be found on our website at ses.hseschools.org, or by clicking here.
PTO News
Parents, we have a wonderful PTO that coordinates many programs and fun activities with Southeastern Elementary. Please check the latest PTO newsletter by clicking this link.
Stay connected with Southeastern PTO
Email: SoutheasternElemPTO@gmail.com
Instragram: @Southeastern PTO
Twitter: @Southeastern PTO
SafeVisitor
Anyone wanting to spend time in the school or chaperone a field trip must have a SafeVisitor ID badge. If you have not yet completed the background check, please click below to get started.
Community Insider
HSE Report It!
Southeastern Elementary Explorers
Email: dchastain@hse.k12.in.us
Website: https://ses.hseschools.org/
Location: 12500 Cyntheanne Road, Fortville, IN, USA
Phone: 317-594-4340
Twitter: @SoutheasternEl1