Adams Newsletter
March 2020
Adams Elementary
Fax # 317-862-7255
Attendance Line # 317-860-4288
Location: 7341 East Stop 11 Road, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone: 317-862-2065
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adamselementary/
Twitter: @AdamsElement1
From the Principal
ADAMS APPLE – MARCH 2020
Greetings! March is finally here, but the temps could still feel more like February. Please continue to have your child wear weather-appropriate clothing including a coat throughout this month. We try to take the students outside for recess as much as possible.
Third-grade students will be participating in IREAD-3 during the week of March 16th – 20th. Students will take the test on Monday (3/16) and Tuesday (3/17). If you have a child who is participating in this assessment, please be sure that they have plenty of rest each night and a good breakfast each morning. Please try to avoid taking your child out of school for appointments, arriving late in the morning, or leaving early at the end of the day. A regular schedule is best if at all possible. Test results should be available when we return from spring break.
As we move into the testing season I would ask you to be especially aware of one particular security parameter. Students may not have on them a smartwatch, phone, or any other device on which they can receive text messages or access the internet. We have had instances of parents texting students throughout the day, and this absolutely cannot happen. If it does it will mean an invalidation of your child’s test. Please contact the front desk at Adams and we can get a message to your child if needed.
Friday, March 13th at 7:45 AM is our next meeting for All Pro Dads. Please sign up online if you plan to attend so we can have an accurate count for our Chick-Fil-A order. We hope to see you there!
The Adams Pioengineers robotics team has competed in a couple of tournaments and they have done VERY well! They qualified to participate in the state tournament that will be held Saturday, March 7th, at Lucas Oil Stadium. Congratulations and best of luck to those students and Mr. Yeoman, the team sponsor and coach.
Our next PTS meeting is Tuesday, March 10th, at 6 PM in the media center at Adams. I encourage you to attend. We will be doing a lot of planning for the rest of the year and looking into the 2020-2021 school year.
March 10th is also the last day of Quarter 3. Report cards will be posted/sent home one week later, March 17th.
March 20th is the last day of school before spring break begins. Students will bring home report cards on that day. Spring break will be the weeks of March 23-27 and March 30-April 3. School resumes on Monday, April 6th.
Thank you for your continued support at home in reading and completing reading logs to document the efforts. Readers are leaders!
Kind regards,
Jaci Greig
Attendance Guidelines
- Absences are to be called into the attendance line at 317-860-4288
- All students must be fever free for 24 hours without medication before returning to school
- If your student has a doctor note send it to school once the student returns
Conscious Discipline
Why does everything turn into a power struggle?
People create power struggles when they feel powerless. With young children, power struggles often occur after giving the child a command or when the child is tired, hungry or otherwise stressed. Power struggles are such a prominent concern that I have recorded an audio lecture CD titled Preventing Power Struggles to empower parents and caregivers to better prepare for and respond to this particular kind of conflict. Knowledge of child development, connection and active calming will help you to lessen power struggles.
Child Development: Before age six, children process information 12 times slower than adults. We must slow down our speech and give only one or two commands at a time. If we speak at a normal pace and say, “Finish your snack, get your crayons and go color in the TV room.” The child may only process bits of information, hearing “crayons color the TV.”
Young children cannot conjugate the word “don’t.” When we say, “Don’t touch the lamp,” they hear, “Touch the lamp!” They look at you with a smile and touch the lamp. We think, “You wicked child, you deliberately defied me,” and enter power struggle territory. Instead of using “don’t,” pivot and tell the child what to do. “Don’t touch the lamp,” becomes, “Hold my hand (offer your hand) so you can learn how to touch delicate things softly.” “Don’t run,” becomes, “Walk slowly like this.”
Children under age seven also lack mature inner speech. Adults use inner speech to rehearse choices and outcomes before we act. Instead of inner speech, children encode information in pictures. So, we can use pictures to guide children’s behavior and avoid power struggles. Use your body as a picture by modeling what you want, use your words to help paint pictures of what you want, and put up actual pictures that show what to do. Instead of, “Walk in the house,” say, “Walk carefully with each foot going like this through the house.” Not only do you get better compliance (fewer power struggles), you also build language and literacy.
Finally, the brain is a pattern-seeking device. The more consistent your routines, the easier it is for the brain to pick up the pattern. If there is a consistent routine, the brain picks up the pattern, the child feels safe, and his neurological resources can be used for learning and exploration rather than for protection, and power struggles lessen.
Connection: Research indicates that the motivation to behave comes from being in relationship. Research also indicates that five minutes a day of focused play with children ages five and under reduces power struggles by 50%. Ten minutes of my I Love You Rituals per day will improve a child’s motivation and willingness, and decrease power struggles. If you don’t use I Love You Rituals, be certain to make time daily for specific, focused bonding activity you can share.
Active Calming: Finally, the absolute key for staying in control of yourself and helping to avoid power struggles is active calming. In Conscious Discipline, I call it “being a S.T.A.R.,” which stands for Smile, Take a deep breath, And Relax. Three deep breaths will turn the stress response off in the body. Once you are able to regulate your inner state through deep breathing, you obtain access to the highest centers of your brain. While you are taking these deep breaths, affirm to yourself, “I’m safe. I feel calm. I can handle this.” These words are chosen based on research: They unhook you from the survival center of your brain and plug you into the rational part of your brain. Now you can respond calmly in the face of a power struggle, and access your inner wisdom to come up with solutions rather than entering into the fray. Practice active calming in your life and teach it to your children. Read Shubert is a S.T.A.R. over and over so this deep breathing technique becomes second nature. Demonstrate being a S.T.A.R. when you’re having a difficult time, and help your child learn to do the same!
Jump Rope for Heart
Thank you to all of the family and friends who helped support your child's participation in this year's Jump Rope for Heart Event. Adams Elementary raised $12,422.81 for the American Heart Association. We are so proud of our students for taking the challenge and helping others by raising money for the American Heart Association.
Thank you for you for being a Heart Hero!
From the School Nurse
March 13th
http://allprodadchapters.com/chapters/10385 or call
862-2065.