Tornado Times
News From John Tuck Elementary
Principal's Message
Dear John Tuck Community,
We are now in full “school mode” with all systems up and running and a steadfast focus on helping our learners. The Fun Run was a huge success and our students once again stepped up and helped raise funds to support our artist and musician in residence aspirations. This year we will be working with local artist Nancy Mitchell and Portland musician Okaidja Afroso. Thank you to everyone who helped support the students both on the running course and in their fundraising efforts! I look forward to seeing all of you at our upcoming Fall Parent event on Thursday, Oct 31st from 2:15-3:35 at Tuck.
As we continue to work together to raise respectful, responsible, safe young people I want to share some tried and true parenting strategies that will support your child’s healthy development and parents/child relationships at home.
The Importance of Parent Involvement in a Child’s Education – You have heard from me many times how important our partnership as a school and parent community is to the success of every child. I would like to share with you some research-based ways all of us as parents can be the most impactful on our children’s academic and social growth. I want my daughters to be their best selves and I know you want the same for your children. I encourage you to join me in reflection and assessment of how we are doing the following in our homes:
Establish a daily family routine.Examples: Providing time and a quiet place to study, assigning responsibility for household chores, being firm about bedtime and having dinner together.
Monitor out-of-school activities.
Examples: Setting limits on TV watching, checking up on children when parents are not home, arranging for after-school activities and supervised care.Model the value of learning, self-discipline, and hard work. Examples: Communicating through questioning and conversation, demonstrating that success comes from working hard. Communicating that intelligence is not a fixed asset, but rather acquired through hard work, perseverance and a sustained focus on improvement.
Express high, but realistic expectations for achievement. Examples: Setting goals and standards that are appropriate for children's age and maturity, recognizing and encouraging a child's interests, informing friends and family about successes. Display the work of the child around the home and frequently affirm the successes they have had, specifically focusing on the hard work they put in to be successful. “Success begets more success.”
Encourage children's development/ progress in school. Examples: Maintaining a warm and supportive home, showing interest in children's progress at school, helping with homework, discussing the value of a good education and possible career options, staying in touch with teachers and school staff.
Encourage reading, writing, and discussions among family members. Examples: Reading, listening to children read and talking about what is being read.
Raising Children in Today’s Digital Age: In my seventeen years as an educator I have been able to experience an incredible amount of change, both positive and negative, around the rapid development of technology. As with anything, I believe there can be a healthy balance in the use of technology. However, as parents we are certainly experiencing new challenges related to keeping our children safe and ensuring they have healthy brain and physical development when it comes to the access and use of technology at home and school. Here is a wonderful resource to help us navigate supporting our children and some good info for our modeling of healthy habits as parents: https://wellbeing.google/for-families/ - I would like to invite and encourage ALL FAMILIES to engage in reading and discussing this valuable information as I will be doing with my very own family over the upcoming weeks.
May your November be tremendous!
Yours in Service,
Dusty Porter
Principal
John Tuck Elementary – Go Tornados!
FUN RUN EXCEEDS GOAL!
JOHN TUCK STUDENTS RAISE $31,000!
John Tuck students knocked it out of the park, raising twice as much as our $15,000 Fun Run goal! Thanks to their hard work, our John Tuck PTO will be able to bring us in depth music and art programs to our school this year!
In addition to raising money for our school, John Tuck students gave it their all around the Fun Run track. Together, our students ran a total of 800 miles!
Community Sponsors Support our School!
Thank you to the following businesses for sponsoring this year's Fun Run! We couldn't have done it without their support.
Reading Rocks Book Fair at John Tuck
November 4th - November 7th
Hours
Mon - Thur: 8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. (Before School)
Mon - Wed: until 4:30 p.m. (After School)
Thur: 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. (Conferences)
Students will also be able to visit during their scheduled library specials days and
during lunch recess. 1st & 2nd graders coming before school must be accompanied
by an adult or older sibling.
All About Acceptance
Hello! Here at school, we have been very busy learning about acceptance - what it means, why it's important and how to get better at it! Learning happens best when it is done both at school and at home. Below are many ways that you can help your child to learn about the theme of acceptance through reading about it, talking about it, and practicing it! We have really enjoyed exploring this topic at school, and I hope your family will enjoy it just as much!
READ ABOUT IT!
Here are some books to help you learn more about acceptance:
- Different Just Like Me by Lori Mitchell
- Whoever You Are by Mern Fox
- Beegu by Alexis Deacon
- Elmer by David McKee
PRACTICE IT!
Together with your child, pick a few different foods, and try to eat them with a spoon, knife and fork. Talk about what would happen if we only had forks? Knives? Spoons? Use the activity to talk about how our differences make a stronger community.
TALK ABOUT IT!
Here are some discussion points to help you talk about acceptance with your child:
- What do you think acceptance means and why is it important?
- Tell me about someone in your class who is different than you. How can your difference be a good thing?
- What is one way you can show acceptance at school?
- Has anyone ever made you feel accepted? Tell me about it.
- What would the world look like if everyone was the same?
PTO Buys New ADA Swing
The John Tuck PTO has generously purchased a new swing for our students with special needs. The school was shown the new swing at a recent Morning Gathering, and our students are excited to see this new addition to the playground!
Calendar
NOVEMBER
- 11/1 Teacher Preparation (Elem Only) No School
- 11/4 - 11/7 John Tuck Book Fair
- 11/7-11/8 Parent Conferences (Elem Only) No School
- 11/11 Veterans' Day No School
- 11/19 Picture Retakes, 9-12
- 11/25 - 11/29 Thanksgiving Break