The Jaguar Journal
October 2023
James Sales Elementary
Brandy Nelson - Principal
Ryan Moore - Assistant Principal
Office Hours - 8:30 to 3:30
253-298-4200 / FAX 253-298-4215
Website - jamessales.fpschools.org
Dates to Remember
October 4 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
October 5-13 ~ Book Fair open for students only during their library time
October 9 ~ NO SCHOOL - Staff Training
October 10-13 ~ 11:55 EARLY RELEASE - Student-led Conferences
October 10 ~ Book Fair open during conferences - closes at 6 PM
October 11 ~ Book Fair open during conferences - closes at 4 PM
October 12 ~ Book Fair open during conferences - closes at 4 PM
October 13 ~ Book Fair open during conferences - closes at 12 PM
October 18 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
October 21 ~ 5th Grade Adventure Club - Twin Falls hike
October 25 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
October 27 ~ Family Night - Harvest Festival - 5:30-7 PM
November 1 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
From the Principal's Office
Dear James Sales Families,
What a great start to the year! We will complete our bench-mark testing this month. Teachers and students are working hard on developing skills students will need to be successful.
Please remember to:
- Keep in contact with your child’s teacher
- Ask the teacher if you are unsure about something
- Check your child’s backpack daily as important information and homework may be found in there
- Help your child be on time to school. Students need 10-11 hours of sleep each night. Make sure your child is in bed early enough to get enough sleep to be able to be at school on time.
- Have your child at school every day, on time, all day!
We are seeing some unsafe actions in our student drop-off line. Please review the article below for a refresher on our procedures for drop-off and pick-up. We do want each and every one of our students to be safe in our busy parking lot!
When it is your child's turn to celebrate their birthday, we allow only one small store-bought treat to share with the class. Please do not bring in pizza, goodie bags, or other party items.
We have some goals for students to meet this year. Our attendance goal is for all students to have three or fewer absences and three or fewer tardies in the trimester. Our behavior goal is to have no more than one write-up in the trimester. Student who meet these goals will receive a reward at the end of each trimester.
Our student-led conferences are October 10-13. Please make sure you have scheduled a time to meet with your child's teacher for this important meeting. You may also shop at our book fair in our library before or after your conference.
We look forward to working with you this year. Thank you for your support as we all work together to ensure your child is successful.
Sincerely,
Brandy Nelson, Principal
Student Drop-off and Pick-up
Drop off: We want all of our Jaguars to be safe! Beginning at 8:40, when our doors open, we have supervision to welcome students in front of the school. Cars pull up as far as possible along the sidewalk in front of the school. Parents and students are to stay in their car in line until the car reaches a staff member who will help the student out of the vehicle. Please do not let your child out of the car and leave before 8:40. Please do not park and walk your children to the building from the parking lot or surrounding streets. Parents who walk their children from home to school say good-bye to them outside of the school. If you arrive prior to 8:40 please stay with your child until the doors of the school open. Thank you for your help with this!
Pick up: All parent-transported students are picked up in front of the school. Parents stay in their car and, in turn, drive to the appropriate grade level sign to find their child(ren). Staff members will help students into their vehicles.
If you need to pick up your child early from school, please come to the office to sign them out. One of the office staff will call your child from the classroom. As stated in the student handbook, we will not release students from 2:40 to 3:25 PM, or during the last forty-five minutes of the day on early release days. Please schedule appointments and the corresponding pick-up times so students will not be picked up during the above-mentioned times. For security reasons, you will be asked for identification. Thank you for your help with this.
Plan ahead! See the dates for the new school year so you can make sure your vacations don't conflict with school days.
You Belong! Every Student! Every Day! Attendance Matters!
Schedule Changes
The end of the day at James Sales is a hectic time! If you forgot to send a note in the morning and need to call the office with a change to your child’s schedule, please do so before 2:40 so the office can get a message to your student before they leave for the day. All end of day schedule changes must be made through the office, not with the classroom teacher. The office will ensure the teacher is informed of the change.
SPYA Basketball
Fall Weather is Here!
From the Handbook
We understand that sometimes electronic devices are necessary and that some students will have them at school. At James Sales, we have an “Off and Away” policy. Cellphones and other electronics must be turned off and placed in a student’s backpack while at school. If you need to contact your child during the day, please contact the main office at 253-298-4200. If your child needs to call you, their teacher will find an appropriate time for them to call. Please note - we are not responsible for lost, stolen or broken electronics. If possible, please leave these items at home.
Attention 5th Grade Parents!
If you recently returned an interest form for the new James Sales Junior Adventure Club program, you need to complete a volunteer application to join your child on the excursions. Our first trip is a hike to Twin Falls on Saturday, October 21. The volunteer application can be found at: https://www.fpschools.org/get-involved/volunteer. Volunteer applications can take up to two weeks to process, so please complete the application as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, please contact our PE Specialist, Colin Horak: chorak@fpschools.org
James Sales Family Night
Important Information!
From the Health Room
Our kindergarten and 1st grade students still have accidents at times. Please make sure your child has an extra set of clothes in his/her backpack. Remind your child to ask to use the bathroom as soon as they need to go. “If you wait, it may be too late!”
Remind your child that thorough hand washing helps keep you healthy. Teach them to wet their hands, lather up with soap, rinse thoroughly, and dry them every time they use the bathroom, eat, or just get messy!
Please keep students home if they have vomiting, fever, and/or diarrhea. If they have any of these symptoms, they must be symptom free for 24 hours without medication before returning to school.
Book Fair
Our Fall book fair will run from October 5th through October 13th in the library. Students will be allowed to shop on their own during their library specialist time. Students should know what day they have library specialist. Parents can shop with their students before and after their scheduled conference time in our library. Shop online here and set up an E-wallet so your child can shop without cash at school!
The book fair hours are:
October 5 - 13 - during library specialist times for students only.
During conferences:
October 10 - Closes at 6 PM
October 11 - Closes at 4 PM
October 12 - Closes at 4 PM
October 13 - Closes at 12 PM
Student Led Conferences
October Appreciation Weeks
October 2-6 - Custodians and Maintenance Staff - Cheryl Larson, our chief custodian, and Gary Scott, our night custodian, work very hard to keep our school clean and safe for our students and staff. They help maintain the playground, clean restrooms, classrooms, and other areas of the building, help at breakfast and lunch, and do countless other jobs. Please join us in giving them a big THANK YOU!!!
October 9-13 - Nutrition Services -Thanks to Mrs. Kimball, Ms. Burton, and Ms. St. Clair; our kitchen workers, who work hard to keep our students well-fed, happy, and ready to learn!
October 16-20 - Transportation Staff - We also appreciate our bus drivers; Doc (#7), Ms. White (#9), Stacie (#10), Taneshia (#11), Rick (#24), Mavis (#53), and Sheila (#56); who transport our students safely to and from school each day.
Harlem Wizards are Coming!
Scan the QR code above to order tickets or go to https://harlemwizards.com/schedule-tickets/.
Warm up with the Wizards!
Any child who has a jersey can take part in the Wiz Kids activities.
The fun begins soon after doors open.
The MC will introduce you as a Wiz Kid!
30 minutes prior to the show, you will be on the court warming up with the Wizards.
Tickets
Student Admission - $15 in advance - $18 at the door
General Admission - $18 in advance - $20 at the door
Reserved Student - $25 - Special reserved seating close to the court and free team poster.
Reserved Adult - $25 - Special reserved seating close to the court and $5 souvenir gift certificate.
Courtside Plus Student - $50 (limited quantity) - Courtside reserved seating, pregame meet and greet with the players, souvenir lanyard, a color team photo perfect for autographs, and a $5 discount on Wizards replica jersey.
Courtside Plus Adult - $50 (limited quantity) - Courtside reserved seating, pregame meet and greet with the players, souvenir lanyard, and a $10 souvenir gift certificate for adults.
Courtside Player (Students K-8) - $125 (limited quantity) - Courtside reserved seating, pregame meet and greet with players, jersey (picked up at game), souvenir lanyard, color team photo for kids perfect for autographs AND the opportunity to play in a 3 minute game with the Harlem Wizards during half time.
This is not a drop-off event. All K-6 students must be accompanied by and adult.
Concessions and Wizards souvenirs available for purchase.
Hosted by SPYA
Nutrition Services
Bus Information
We have a helpful transportation department, so if you have any questions or issues about something that happened on the bus, at the bus stop, or regarding a late bus, please call the Transportation office directly at 253-298-3865.
Sign up for Bus Bulletin for timely bus notifications: www.busbulletin.com/parents
If you wish your child to ride a bus other than his or her normal bus or to get off at a different bus stop, you must contact the transportation department to see if the desired bus has room for your child and send a note with the bus numbers and different stop listed. The same holds true if you want your child to walk rather than ride the bus. Sending a note with your request will cut down on the amount of phone calls our busy office receives each day. Without a note or phone call, we will not allow students to walk or change their regular bus or bus stop.
Please be aware that any bus-riding kindergarten student that is not met at the bus stop after school will be returned to James Sales for parent pick-up. It is very important to meet your students at the bus stop on time!
Adopt a Classroom Fundraiser
We have a way for you or anyone you know to donate funds to support the students and teachers at James Sales Elementary. Adopt a Classroom facilitates donations that are used exclusively to purchase needed items for our school. Click on this link to learn more. Copy this link to share with friends and family! https://donors.adoptaclassroom.org/s/designation/a1m5c000004dIbmAAE. Any donations made on Monday, August 22nd between 3 AM and 3 PM will be matched! Thank you for your support!
Attendance
Volunteers
We anticipate the need for volunteers for field trips and other occasions. If you are interested in volunteering as a chaperone for field trips or in any other capacity that may come up, please complete the volunteer application as soon as possible. It may take two weeks or more to process an application and we don't want you to be left out of a volunteer opportunity because you are not approved yet! Click here to begin your volunteer application.
Join the James Sales PTO!
Because we are a PTO, not a PTA, we are able to put 100% of our membership dues right back into our school! We provide classroom enrichment, and raise funds to provide our students and staff with items and activities not funded by the district. Volunteering and attending meetings is encouraged, but not required. A family membership (for adults living in the same household) is $10.00. PTO membership forms are in the office. Cash or checks are accepted. Make checks to James Sales PTO.
James Sales PTO is on Facebook
Franklin Pierce Schools has a resource center for our families. You will find information and help for all sorts of situations and needs - food, diapers, formula, community referrals, and more. Click here to access the Family Resource Center website.
Free Developmental Screening
Children ages 3-5 who reside within the Franklin Pierce School District are eligible for free developmental screening. Hearing, vision, kindergarten readiness, speech and language, motor skills, and behavior are checked. Screenings take place regularly. See their web page here. To schedule an appointment, call the Early Learning Center Child Find hotline at 253-298-4658.
Hewins Early Learning Center Enrollment
Before and After School Care with Right at School
James Sales hosts a before and after school care program on-site for our students. The care is provided by Right at School. Right at School provides a safe environment to learn, to play, and to grow. Click here for more information and to register.
Child Care Resources
Looking for school-age child care? Click on this link to find help.
Franklin Pierce Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. Questions and complaints of alleged discrimination should be directed to Brandy Marshall, Compliance Coordinator for State and Civil Rights Laws; Wendy Malich, Title IX Officer; or John Sander, 504/ADA Coordinator at 315 129th ST S, Tacoma, WA 98444-5099 or at (253)298-3000. Requests for accommodation of a disability should be directed to Human Resources.