Timberwolf Times
August 7, 2020
Tiffany Ridge Elementary School
School Office Hours: 8:15 - 5:00
School Phone: 816-359-4400
Principal: Desiree Rios
Assistant Principal: Megan Pudenz
Counselor: Leslie Andes
Social Worker: Gayle Laney
Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year!
We hope you have enjoyed a great summer with family and friends. Teachers and Staff at Tiffany Ridge have been working hard to prepare for the students to return on September 8th, either for in-person learning or for online learning! For both groups, we are looking forward to another great year with our students and families! I am confident that we will have an exciting, enjoyable and learning-filled year!
We are working through the logistics of each aspect of our school day! The information in this newsletter is an attempt to keep you as informed as possible. Our goal is to minimize any stress and anxiety about reopening our school.
If you are brand new to Tiffany Ridge, we want to personally welcome you to a wonderful school community. We operate with the vision of “Challenging Today’s Learners to be Tomorrow’s Leaders.” Our mission is that Tiffany Ridge will provide a caring environment dedicated to helping students feel safe, take risks, solve problems, and reach their highest potential.
As a reminder, every family must complete online verification and residency before your child will receive a classroom teacher assignment. This process is quick and necessary to verify your student’s information, as well as make any updates to emergency contacts. Please contact the Tiffany Ridge office at 816-359-4400 as soon as possible if you need assistance.
School begins Tuesday, September 8th! Arrival time is between 8:50 and 9:10, with dismissal at 4:00. On behalf of the entire TR staff, we look forward to working with all of our Tiffany Ridge Timberwolves! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
It’s a great day to be a Timberwolf!
Desiree Rios, Principal
Megan Pudenz, Assistant Principal
Important Dates
September 3rd: VIRTUAL Back to School Night and Parent Orientation
September 8th: First Day of the 2020-2021 School Year!
September 15th: School Picture Day
Communication from Tiffany Ridge:
In addition, families told us they preferred text messages to phone calls, so we are adding this communication tool through School Messenger (our parent email system) on August 19th. We are using this service to periodically send you information.
On August 19, you will receive this message from the number 67587: "Tiffany Ridge's alerts. Reply Y 2 confirm, HELP 4 info. Msg&data rates may apply. Msg freq varies. schoolmessenger.com/txt”
Once you’ve opted in, you will receive this message: “You're registered 4 SchoolMessenger notifications. Reply STOP to cancel, HELP for help. Msg&data rates may apply. msg freq varies. schoolmessenger.com/txt”
To update your cell phone number, you will:
- Log into “Campus Parent”
- Select “More” from the left menu
- Click “Family Info” and find your name
- Click “Update”
- Enter the cell phone you wish to receive text messages
*Please note that only guardians can receive district text messages.
Be on the lookout for a message from 67587 on August 19, and be sure to reply “Y” or “Yes” so you can begin receiving our text messages!
Health and Safety Guidelines
- Hand Hygiene
- Social/Physical Distancing
- Cloth Face Coverings
- Cleaning and Disinfection
- Maintain Stable Cohort Groups
Back to School and Parent Orientation Night: VIRTUAL in 2020
Our traditional Back to School Night and Parent Orientation will be held in a virtual format this year. Each teacher has created a welcome video so that your student can "meet" their teacher along with a presentation to orient you to your student's classroom. This video will provide you with important highlights about classroom expectations, curriculum, and more! This information will be sent to you by email on September 3rd.
Kindergarten Kickoff: NEW Date!
What about supplies for online learners?
The same school supply list will be used for online learning. Teachers will still assign tasks in notebooks including: independent writing, reading response journals, and science notebooks. Students will still use items like glue and crayons to complete assignments and process information. While students can use technology based communication tools, we know many students will still need offline learning strategies from the classroom, using supplies from the school supply list. It will still be a teacher’s goal to teach organization skills to students by using folders, notebooks, planners, and binders. Pens, pencils, and other traditional materials will be needed to complete work in math consumables and word work consumables. Math manipulatives (unifix cubes, base ten blocks, counting beads, etc.) will not need to be purchased and will be available for check out from the school. Students may also choose to use the electronic manipulatives available in the portal from Pearson.
NEW Resources for Instruction and Student Learning:
Attendance
School attendance is vital for student success and academic growth. Please help your student(s) be successful by arriving to school on time each day. We also ask for your help in this area by attempting to schedule any necessary appointments either after school hours or on non-attendance days. Please remember that the arrival time for Tiffany Ridge Elementary schools is 8:50. Prior to that time, there is no adult supervision for students. Students are tardy if they arrive after 9:10. If your child will be absent, please contact the school office by 9:00am. Also, if you have changes in plans regarding transportation home, please notify your child’s teacher or the school office before noon at 816-359-4400. Thank you for making your child’s education a top priority!
Confidential Resource Checklist
Please fill out this form and drop off at the office for any resources or information you need.
Birthday Treats
Cafeteria Information
Students may bring their lunch from home or purchase a school lunch from the cafeteria. Menus are sent home on a monthly basis. You can access your child’s lunch account at www.schoolcafe.com.
Classroom Treats: To protect the health and safety of our students, homemade treats will not be distributed to students in the Park Hill School District. Due to allergies, food intolerances, and current health and safety guidelines, please consult your classroom teacher before sending any treats to school.
2020-2021 Free and Reduced Lunch Applications
Student Transportation Information
For the safety of all our Timberwolves, communication is the key! Please be sure that you communicate with your child’s teacher the details of your child’s mode of dismissal transportation. Families must establish their child as one of the following:
- Bus rider: Your student's ID badge will designate their bus information. A sticker with their bus number will be placed on the back of the badge on the first day of school. Please confirm your child's bus number with his/her teacher.
- Car rider (loop A/B): All families will receive a car name tag to place in the front car window to assist teachers assisting with student pick-up.
- Walker or Bike Rider
- Adventure Club
During the year, please notify the school office of any transportation changes prior to 2:00pm. Thank you for your assistance!
Additional Bus rider information: In early August, our bus company, First Student, will be sending an email with your student’s bus information. Our recommendation is for you to contact First Student if you have any concerns regarding your student’s stop. First Student can be reached at 816-741-4023 or contact Kay Burnos at kay.burnos@firstgroup.com.
Health Room - Medication
Student ID Badges
ID badges and a school-issued lanyard will be REQUIRED to be worn every day. The ID supports our safe and caring environment by providing proper identification and improved processes for transportation, lunch, and more.
Used for
- Proper identification: Students, teachers and visitors to the building will all be properly identified with badges. For our students, this helps insure safety and inclusion.
- Efficient lunch purchasing: Students will use their ID badges to purchase lunch each day. This dramatically cuts down on the time a student spends in the lunch line and allows more time for eating.
- Transportation safety: Each student’s badge will register each time he/she gets on or off the bus. This allows school administrators and necessary personnel to keep track of students and ensure they are arriving to school and home safely.
- Library-media checkout: Students can use their ID badges to check out books and other materials from the library. This improves checkout efficiency and allows resources to properly be tracked.
What does this mean for my student?
Your student will wear his/her ID badge to and from school each day on a school provided lanyard. No other lanyards may be used and no alterations may be made to the provided lanyard. Your student will use the ID badge daily to access his/her lunch account, check out library materials, and monitor bus transportation. Please ensure your student wears his/her badge every day.
What if my student loses his/her badge?
Students will be provided one replacement badge, if needed, free of charge. After the first free replacement badge, there will be a $5.00 fee for each additional badge issued.
Infinite Campus - Parent Portal
Park Hill School District uses Infinite Campus as our student information system. You can
access your child’s essential school information and district information quickly!
This includes Attendance, Grades, Schedule, Bus Information, Technology Fees and School Communications.
To be able to access your child’s information, you must set up an account. You will need to log-in and enter the GUID code, followed by setting up your own username and password.
Infinite Campus organizes students by household, so you can access your family in just one account. If you have questions, need technical support, or have misplaced your unique access key code, feel free to call us at 816-359-4400.
Residency Verification and Enrollment for 2020-2021 is OPEN!
Online verification and residency for the 20-21 school year is now open! Fill out your online form today through the Infinite Campus Parent Portal or the Campus Parent app. Simply sign in, select More, then click the Online Verification and Residency link to get started. Find more information about how to complete this process on the district website under Parent Resources > Online Verification and Residency. Please note – we are not currently accepting in-person documents at our district buildings. Documents may be emailed to Jill Kite, Tiffany Ridge Registrar at kitej@parkhill.k12.mo.us if you have questions, please call the office at 816-359-4400.
Volunteers Needed for the 20-21 School Year!
We're looking for fresh faces and new ideas for the 2020-2021 school year! Please consider sharing your time and skills to support our students, teachers and school! Go to the
Committee/Volunteer sign-up HERE to see the different areas were we need you!
We need volunteers to help with the following committees! Which one looks like fun to you? We would love every family to participate to bring these important pieces to our school! If you'd like more details on the various committees, please contact PTA President, Krista Heaivilin at kheaivilin@gmail.com or Dr. Rios at riosd@parkhill.k12.mo.us.
- Book Fair
- Box Tops Program
- Bulletin Board for PTA
- Carnival
- Copy Committee
- Color Trek (Color Run)
- PTA Facebook page
- Legislative
- Membership
- Pancake Breakfast
- Park Hill Clothing Center Liason
- Reflections Program
- Room Party Coordinator
- Online Auction
- Staff Appreciation
- Watch DOGS
- Yearbook Committee
Tiffany Ridge PTA
2020-2021 PTA Board
Vice President of Fund Raising: Christine Carlson
Vice President of Membership: Hannah Easley
Secretary: Michelle Anderson
Treasurer: Jeff Imgarten
Tiffany Ridge Elementary
Follow us for up-to-date information on all the events at Tiffany Ridge through social media. Each week we will send out a newsletter link with upcoming events and details.
Dr. Desiree Rios-Principal
Megan Pudenz-Assistant Principal
Email: kitej@parkhill.k12.mo.us
Website: https://tiffanyridge.parkhill.k12.mo.us/
Location: 5301 Northwest Old Tiffany Springs Road, KCMO, MO, United States
Phone: (816) 359-4400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TiffanyRidgeElementary/
Twitter: @TiffanyRidgeES