Alta Vista Voyager Connection
An In-Depth Newsletter for Alta Vista Families
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, December 4: Campus Decision Making Committee Meeting (CDMC) at 4:15 at Alta Vista Library
Wednesday, December 5: Inspiracion Ribbon Cutting at 1:00 pm
Thursday, December 13: Alta Vista Holiday Concert at University High Auditorium at 6:00 pm
Tuesday, December 18 and Wednesday, December 19: Student-Led Conferences (Gr 4-5); See parent letter coming home soon for more details!
Friday, December 21: Early Release (NOON) & Classroom Holiday Parties
Monday, December 24-Monday, January 8: Holiday Break-NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, January 8: Students report back to school!
COMING UP: MLK Holiday on January 21
FREE Events at Waco Public Libraries
Gingerbread House Party: December 1st at 11:00 AM at West Waco branch. It's time for a house party- a gingerbread house party! Join them to make your own gingerbread house.
Lego Lab: December 1st at 11:00 AM at Central branch. Use your imagination to create something great with LEGOs! We bring the LEGOs, you bring the ideas! Sometimes we will have a project to work on together and sometimes you can just let your building and imagination skills go WILD!
STEAM Team: December 2nd at 1:30 PM at Central branch. Santa needs your help to make present delivery easier! Join them to help design a present holder and a parachute to get presents delivered safely.
For more information, check out their website at https://calendar.wacolibrary.org/calendar/events/?cid=5651&t=g&d=0000-00-00&cal=5651
Parent Involvement Opportunities
Our next Campus Decision Making Committee Meeting in Tuesday, December 4 at 4:15 at Alta Vista Library. Please join us to provide input on campus decision and plans!
Students in grades 4 & 5 will be conducting student-led conferences with their parents on December 18 and 19. Please plan to attend one of these meetings. We will send home more information soon!
In January, we will be holding monthly parent meetings about STAAR. These meetings will give tips and strategies for how parents can help their students in grades 3-5 be more successful. Look for dates and times coming home in early January.
Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words!
Check out our school photos here: https://www.wacoisd.org/Page/9318
Monthly Reading Challenge
Math Chat
The website even has videos for your students to watch! Our favorite feature is "Thinking Blocks" which lets student practice solving word problems. Check it out and let us know what you think!
Coat Drive
10 Parenting Tips for Raising Responsible Children
Alta Vista’s character trait for December is responsibility.
1. Start young. Young children can help us set the dinner table or put their toys in the toy box.
2. Show children how tasks should be done. Be clear with your expectations. Kids are imitators and they do much better when they are shown how to do something.
3. Let kids show someone else how a task should be done. Nothing reinforces a skill like teaching it to another person.
4. Be trustworthy and dependable. Children watch us like junior reporters, monitoring our every move. If they see us being responsible, trustworthy, and dependable on a regular basis, they are more likely to conclude being responsible is just a given.
5. Apologize when you make a mistake. Kids already know we make mistakes, so we might as well admit them when we do. If we own up to our mistakes without blaming someone or something else, we show our children there is no shame in being wrong or falling short, especially when we accept responsibility for it.
6. Give children a role or responsibility within the family. It's important to give them a task that really matters and let them know exactly why it matters; for example, giving the dog water so it is not thirsty.
7. Expect them to make mistakes. It is so easy to forget, especially with older children and teens, that even though the body looks like an adult on the outside, the inside still has an incomplete operating system, i.e. their brains are not yet fully developed.
8. Avoid nagging, yelling, and criticizing. As hard as it might be, we have much less conflict when we avoid nagging, yelling, criticizing or other emotional displays when we are teaching or correcting.
9. Work together as a family. Help children understand that everyone in the family plays can play important part in making sure the family’s needs are meet. For example, when a child takes out the trash then the trash can is empty so other family members can clean up their messes.
10. Provide friendly reminders to your children. Remind our children that everybody has to do things they don't like at one time or another; raking leaves is not your hobby – you do it because it needs to be done – and so should they.
Talking with our children about what it means to be responsible, and the opportunities it affords is the first step to raising responsible children. People who are responsible have better reputations, more educational options, and the freedom to work at a job they like.
Follow Us!
You can also read more about what's happening and view pictures on our campus website at http://altavista.wacoisd.org
Alta Vista Elementary
Email: karmen.logan@wacoisd.org
Website: altavista.wacoisd.org
Location: 3637 Alta Vista Drive, Waco, TX, United States
Phone: 254-662-3050
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AltaVistaElem
Twitter: @AltaVistaES