Aviator Air Newsletter
Maple Dale Elementary's Parent Communication
May 8, 2020
School Happenings
PBIS AT HOME
PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. PBIS is used
across the US and internationally as a framework to help schools organize
how they want their school community to be.
We can apply something similar at home. PBIS provides structure and
routines, and if your child(ren) is attending a school that uses the PBIS
framework then they may already be familiar with it. It can help us develop
routines for learning from home.
We start with identifying 3-5 positively stated expectations. This guide
includes 3 expectations used in many schools. Feel free to use them or
make up expectations that work better for your family. These expectations
help us set boundaries and routines, and can apply to everything from
doing schoolwork, to being online, at the dinner table, or even getting ready
for bed!
As parents or guardians, you are in a unique position - suddenly you are
teachers, who might also be working from home, trying to manage chaos
during an incredibly stressful situation. Hopefully this guide will offer some
tips to help calm that chaos and keep everyone happy and safe.
Kudos to you, parents and guardians, and all you are managing to do!
Please see link below for the Kindergarten Orientation Slideshow
District Office Virtual Art Gallery Opening
Welcome to the Maple Dale Virtual Gallery. 35 wonderful artists have their work on display here. Please tour the gallery at your own pace, click on any work of art to get a closer look and to find out the artist's information.
If you have dressed up and would like your family photo in the morning announcements please take a photo at this time with your best "fancy art gallery opening pose," and send it to conklinm@sycamoreschools.org. If you would like to turn on some music for your gallery tour may I suggest the pandora station "Classical goes pop" or "Vitamin string quartet."
I am sorry that we are unable to have our normal gallery opening this year but know that I am very proud of each and every one of you for the amazing work you have put out this year.
Maple Dale virtual Art gallery
Be proud of yourself and enjoy the gallery.
Sincerely,
Matt Conklin
Maple Dale Elementary School
PTO Info
End of year "virtual" PTO meeting to elect officers and consider spending
The Maple Dale Elementary School PTO will have it's final general meeting of the year via zoom on Friday, May 15 at 1:30 pm. Join the meeting by following this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3741663755
In addition to updates from building administration about end of year events and an update on planning for next year's school opening, the meeting will recognize parent and teacher volunteers, elect officers for 2020-21, and consider year-end spending.
The nominations committee is offering the following candidates:
President: Jeff Stechschulte
VP Programs (1st VP) Harshana Patel
VP Programs - Chase Aston
VP Fundraising (2nd VP) - Jen Peri
Treasurer - Becky Gohr
Secretary - Anne Berg
In addition to these candidates, others may be nominated during the meeting.
Hope you can make it!
4th Grade Update
Dear Fourth Grade Parents,
While the end of the year certainly looks different than we expected, we wanted to let you know we are hopeful that we can still hold a 4th grade celebration at some point this summer! We will continue to keep you posted on those plans as we get word from the district on the possibility of having a fun and memorable gathering for our graduating fourth graders and their families. We also know that this has been a challenging time for many of us, so please do not feel obligated to give to the fourth grade gift collection fund. But for those of you who have reached out to us asking for information about how to still donate, the Maple Dale PTO Transaction Center is open and there is a place to do so online (mdpto.3dcartstores.com).
Thank you for your support and patience as we continue to plan during this time!
Stacy Pohlman and Betsy Schatz
All Pro Dads - Virtual Meeting
You are invited to a virtual meeting of the Maple Dale Elementary All Pro Dads chapter on Wednesday May 13th from 8-9am. This virtual meeting will be held here:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3741663755?pwd=dTFuaDI2bkgrZTNZQyt1TWxuNnJNdz09
Meeting ID: 374 166 3755
Password: AllProDads
*** Our guest speaker will be former Bengal and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Anthony Muñoz! ***
The theme this month is integrity.
Integrity is doing the right thing in any situation, no matter what. As we go through life, our integrity is going to be tested. We have to have integrity in order to be trustworthy. But integrity isn’t something you are born with. It is cultivated through parenting and life experiences.
If attending, please RSVP here:
https://allprodadsday.com/chapters/5004
Breakfast is on your own either before, during, or after the meeting and the meeting will start at 8AM. Hope you can make it!
Year-end Gift Process
In case you missed the email from your homeroom parent, we also wanted to include in this newsletter the process created for year end gifts.
We appreciate all that our teachers and staff members have done for us, but we also know this is a unique year and you may not be in a position to contribute. Please feel no pressure. Teacher gifts will be from the whole class.
With school closed, some of the typical ways to collect gift money are no longer available. The PTO has created an easy way to contribute and collect all gifts to any faculty or staff member. Simply go to transaction center (mdpto.org) and you’ll see ‘2019-2020 End of Year Teacher Gift Donations’. Look for the staff member under the appropriate sub-category. If you’re not finding a particular staff member, you can use the Search box at the top. The PTO will purchase a gift card for the dollar amount contributed to the individual. For homeroom teachers, the homeroom parents will have the options to use the money towards class gifts.
Whether you make a contribution or not, please consider having your child draw a picture or send a letter to our teacher to thank her for the year. You may send them directly to Mrs. Reinke and she will get them to the teachers.
Ann Marie Reinke
10510 Adventure Lane
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242
If you are participating in the gift, please make your contribution by May 11.
In Case You Missed It
Maple Dale’s Plant for Pollinators Challenge
You can provide beautiful, vital habitat for pollinators by adding pollinator-friendly plants to your yard and landscape. Enjoy colorful blooms all season long that bring many beautiful butterflies and other pollinators to your yard.
It’s easy to do. Whether planting just a few pots or a larger garden, you can do real conservation at home to support our pollinator friends as they do their job to keep our environment healthy.
Take the Plant for Pollinators Challenge
3 Easy Steps...
Step 1
Miss Bates is showing you the plants at Pipkin’s Fruit and Vegetable Market that can be used in your garden! Take a field trip and choose your plants. You might even see Miss Bates there!
Step 2
Step 3
Mrs. Reinke shows you her own pollinator garden and her plaque from the Cincinnati Zoo!
A message from your School Psychologist:
“The reality is, your job right now as a homeschooling parent is less about academics, and more about creating safety, belonging, and acceptance.” -Dr. Rebecca Branstetter, School Psychologist
I wanted to write this week about balance. In the days before the pandemic, we used to talk about work-life balance. It was difficult even then to separate our work lives from our home lives, especially with technology. Notifications of work emails and calendar invites would pop up on our phones while we were at home. Email time signatures let us know which coworkers cured their insomnia by sending emails at 2:30am. Road conditions on the way home or last-minute work emergencies sometimes made us late for our kids’ concerts or games. For all that work encroached on time with our families before, that encroachment has been magnified. Not only are we balancing work and home life, now we’ve added homeschooling and full-time childcare into the mix. You’ve likely seen the memes about how we need to lower our expectations because now we’re doing three jobs at once: working, teaching, and parenting. And we’re not “just” doing three jobs at once, we’re doing this all during a pandemic.
I recently read an article by another school psychologist, Dr. Branstetter, that has good tips for creating a new version of work-life balance during this time. I’ll link the article here and give my three favorite parts below: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_reduce_the_stress_of_homeschooling_on_everyone
“The most important skill you can teach is how to manage big feelings under stress.” You know the saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? (Google tells me that Benjamin Franklin coined the phrase!) That thinking works for preventing emotional meltdowns, too! Learn and practice social emotional skills together as a family. Try different strategies and find what works for you. Dr. Branstetter’s article links to many ways you can incorporate social-emotional learning into your own home.
“It is also important to build in ‘emotional checkpoints’ during the day and involve your child in the schedule.” These emotional checkpoints echo back to my post two weeks ago about communication, especially the listening side of communication. Make time for intentional emotional communication with everyone at your home. Listen to your child. Your children may communicate in different ways. If using words to express their feelings is hard for them, you can listen by following their lead during a favorite activity. Listen to each other as caregivers, as well. It’s OK to schedule time to catch up with each other emotionally!
“You do not have to recreate a full school-day schedule! Your family schedule may look more like what you would create over a summer break, including opportunities for fun, exercise, hands-on learning activities, and family connection.” Sycamore’s guideline for time spent in distance learning is 1-1.5 hours total each day for grades K-4. This is cumulative--that does not mean it all has to happen at the same time! Break up this time throughout the day into smaller chunks if that works better for you and your child. And by all means--if your child is having a hard time one day, it’s OK to take a break! A day off every now and then to maintain social emotional health is good. Let your child’s teacher know, and treat it like taking a sick day from school. If your child breezes through assignments quickly, on the other hand, use that “extra” time to focus on emotional health and enrichment. They can color, read a book, dance, take a rest, call a loved one, play a game...make a “choice board” together with options for what to do when done with school work, and direct them to it each time they say they’re bored or have finished early. Everyone needs to learn how to direct themselves during free time!
All these tips will help with finding a work-life-teaching-childcare-everything-at-home balance, and will help your children to Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe, and Be a Problem-Solver at home, as well. We are all Aviators!
Wishing you health, happiness, and good communication,
Dr. Kate Lavik
Your Maple Dale School Psychologist
About us
Email: reinkea@sycamoreschools.org
Website: http://www.sycamoreschools.org/Domain/12
Location: 6100 Hagewa Drive, Cincinnati, OH, United States
Phone: (513)686-1720
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mapledaleaviators/
Twitter: @MapleDaleElem