The Memorial Message
September 2022
Dear Memorial Families,
Children benefit the most when school and parents partner together. The ways you may learn about what is happening at school are to read the school and classroom newsletters, review the assignement planners (gr.2-5), check Take Home folders, review graded work, and check the Skyward parent portal for current progress. To ask specific quesions, you may contact your child's teacher through email, Class Dojo, or by leaving a message on their voicemail.
All students in grades K-5 are now taking the beginning of the year NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) assessments in math and reading. These scores help us plan instruction and meet the needs of individual students. We will take NWEA three times during the school year. Our goal for each child is to meet their projected growth. We will send home the individual student reports after the test window closes. Keep watch for it in mid-September.
With Great Respect,
Mrs. Debra Misecko, Principal
Save The Date(s):
September
14 PTO Meeting at 3:30 at Memorial
14 Memorial family night at Chick-fil-A 4-7 pm
21 Picture Day
23 - 1/2 day for students K-12 for staff development (Dismissal is at 12 noon)
30 Walk A Thon
October
7 End of first grading period
10-11 Fall Break - No school
12 PTO meeting at 3:30 at Memorial
19-20 Parent Teacher Conferences
20-21 1/2 days for students (K-8 only)
28 Fall Fest
28 Halloween parties at school
Meet Mrs. Dravet - Memorial's Social Worker
Hi! I’m Mrs. Dravet. I live in Valparaiso with my husband and two children. I have a son who is in 1st grade and a daughter who is in 3rd grade. I was born in California and raised in Valparaiso. I attended Ball State University where I studied English Literature. I received my Masters in Social Work from Indiana University Northwest. What I love most about working as a Social Worker is spending my day teaching kids about their feelings, especially those strong feelings, and showing them how to care for their feelings, themselves, and their friends. I believe that children are awesome and they can teach us as much as we teach them. When I’m not at school you can find me at home with my family, reading a book, or if the weather is nice you can find me at Lake Michigan. My family and I love to swim in the lake, search for cool rocks, and relax in the sun. I am excited and honored to serve you and your child at Memorial Elementary.
Eleanor, Memorial's Therapy Dog
Eleanor is our school dog and is in attendance at Memorial on most days. She is trained and licensed through Therapy Dog International (T.D.I.). This is her fourth year at Memorial serving the students and staff. Her main job is to offer comfort to all at school. Although it is difficult to prove with data, she certainly has seemed to improve the climate and culture of the school. Her presence seems to offer a calmness to students and staff.
Mrs. Misecko, Eleanor's handler, has shared guidelines for interacting with Eleanor with each class. Although most students are very excited to be around Eleanor, we recognize that some students may have a fear of dogs or may have pet allergies. All students were reminded that it is always their personal choice if they want to interact with Eleanor. If your child has an allergy to dogs or if your child has a fear of dogs, please share this information with the school nurse or Mrs. Misecko.
FAQs from Parents
What does "Show Your Heart mean?" Memorial has chosen the word, HEART, to represent our PBIS (Positive Behaviorial Interventions and Supports) framework of supporting the skills of Honesty, Effort, Attitude, Respect, and Teamwork. We reinforce those skills throughout the school day. We like to refer to ourselves as "Vikings with HEART!" Students can earn Good Going Awards for individually showing their heart and classes earn Class Hearts when they collectively show their hearts.
"Can I come to school to eat lunch with my child?" Unfortunately, we cannot accomodate more people for lunch in the cafe due to limited seating. However, if you would like to volunteer to help out in the cafe during lunch time, you could do that. The volunteer time may be spent helping students open their lunch items, talking with students, and helping wipe down tables. We eat lunch from 11:20 - 12:55 each day. If you are interested in volunteering during those hours, please let the office know. You are also always welcome to pick up your child for lunch to go out to eat or you could eat together out back in the learning lab on a picnic table, weather permitting. If you decide to do either of those options, please let the office know you are coming in advance.
- "What do I do if we are taking a vacation during the school year?" Please refer to the Elementary Student Handbook for more information. These absences are counted as unexcused and will count towards the threshold of unexcused absences. If is is necessary to go on a vacation during school days, please do your best to avoid the ILEARN window for students in grades 3-5. That is April 17 - May 12, 2023.
- "Why can't I drop off or pick up in the parking lots?" This is for safety of the Students who are walking, both parking lots have walking traffic passing through going to and from school.
- "Why do I need to call with changes in transportation before 10 a.m.?" Mrs. Remijan prepares a list of changes in transportation each day, which is emailed to teachers in the morning so that teachers have time to review it during their lunch time and to be prepared for dismissal. Any changes after that are more difficult to execute. There is no guarantee that a teacher will have time to check email after lunch, since they are teaching. So that means a call is made to the classroom, which interrupts teaching and learning for all the students. It could also be missed if the class is at recess or at a special class.
Paying Book Rental Fees
Book Rental Fees have now been assigned to your student's account. You may access these fees on Skyward. The preferred method of payment is via a debit or credit card online through Skyward to lessen items being passed between home and school. The directions can be found below:
PAYING BOOK RENTAL FEES
Book rental fees may be paid via debit or credit card online or by check or cash
(EXACT amount ONLY) at the school office.
We do not keep cash on hand in the school office to make change.
FEES ASSOCIATED WITH PAYING ONLINE HAVE BEEN REINSTATED AND WILL BE CHARGED TO THE PAYOR.
To pay via credit OR debit card, please log in to the Skyward Parent Portal:
Open Family Access
Click Fee Management
Click Make a Payment
Click Update Payment Amount
Type in the dollar amount you would like to add to the account
Click Update Cart
Click Pay with Vendor
Follow the Web Store prompts to enter your payment and conclude the sale
If you wish to pay by check, you may send the payment in to the Memorial School office and make the check out to Memorial Elementary.
PTO NEWS
For more information, you may connect the PTO officers:
President - Kristen Elinkowski
Vice President - Tracee McMahon and Amber Strunk
Treasurer - Megan Taylor
Secretary - Rae Smedley
You may also find out more PTO updates on the Memorial Elementary PTO Facebook page, and the Memorial PTO Website.