Orrick Elementary Bearcat Update
January 2016
Welcome Back!
Welcome to the second semester of Orrick Elementary for the 2015-2016 school year. I hope that all of our students enjoyed their time off for winter break. I know that I was able to have some wonderful family time, had friends visit, read a few great novels, accomplished a few Pinterest projects for my home, and enjoyed several days where I met my sleep goals. :)
This month we are reviewing the Character Traits of Respect, Responsibility, and school Safety with our students. When parents and educators can work together with children, I believe, we will see the biggest shift in positive, personal responsibility in our youth. Here are a few things that you as parents can do to help support responsibility growth for school and learning.
* Get your children to come to school prepared and ON TIME. Homework and reading logs complete, iPads charged, lunches packed, tennis shoes on gym day, and instruments in hand should be on the minds of our students. Our students begin the day with breakfast and get right to learning - every minute counts!
* Help your children with having a positive mindset for school and learning. Your child models the attitudes and opinions of their parents, whether you realize it or not. If you make a big deal of the importance of education/reading/responsibility, it will be reflected in your children's attitudes toward learning/reading/personal responsibility. Whenever a parent makes negative comments about math or a teacher or a discipline consequence, that again will be reflected in your children's mindset. Please contact your child's teacher or principal if you do not understand anything school related and we will do our best to help.
I know that if we all pull together, our students will thrive beyond our expectations. This is my hope and my goal for this new year!
Best regards,
Michelle Becker
Elementary Principal
Who is Reading the Elementary Monthly Newsletters?
UPCOMING EVENTS in ORRICK ELEMENTARY
1/11 - Elementary Grade Cards sent home with Students
1/13 - Everyone wear new class t-Shirts on this day1/13 - Character Assembly - 2:20 pm All are invited to attend!
1/14 - Group Picture Day
1/14 - Student Council meeting - 3-4:00 pm
1/14 - PTO Meeting in Library 6:30
1/15 - Celebrate the KC Chiefs - Wear Red!
1/15 - Quarterly Character Award Principal Becker Diner's Lunch Award
1/15 - Open House for the New Addition at Orrick 5:00-7:00
1/18 - No School
1/19 - Read Club 3:10 pm
1/19 - School Board Meeting 7:00
1/20 - WOW Club 3:15 pm
1/25-1/28 Mini Clinic for cheer 3:00-4:15
Cheer Mini Clinic to be held at the end of January
The Monthly Mile by Coach Comstock
My New Year’s Resolution is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So, What really is a resolution? To me a resolution is a goal. Whether it is something to do with your health or spending more family time it has to be something that can really happen. We talk all the time with the kids about SMART goals. The SMART acronym is a great tool to use when setting goals because it makes sure that your goals fit the criteria for a quality goal. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realist, and Time-bound. Meaning, that it must be something that you can really achieve, and you have a plan to get there. Another good thing to remember when setting goals is to have small goals that help you reach your ultimate big goal. If you have a goal to lose 20lbs. and you don’t set small goals along the way it can get very discouraging when you only have lost 7. If you set small goals along the way then you realize that the 7lbs. you lost is a great accomplishment and you are on your way. Talk to your child about goals that they may have for the 2nd semester. They might be PE goals with their fitness testing, classroom goals with their grades, or maybe they are at home goals with helping out around the house and keeping their room clean. Whatever it may be encourage them and help them succeed now with goal setting and it will continue throughout their entire life.
This month in PE with K-5 we are going to be doing scooter activities. We will do scooter races, play scooter tag, soccer, and many other games. Scooters are a great way to get a lot of activity and exercise in a fun way. In 6th grade we are doing a unit called 7th grade games. As they get into 2nd semester of their 6th grade year we really work on transitioning them into JH mode. This unit will get the acquainted with some of the games they will be playing with Coach Rash in 7th grade. 6th grade will also be receiving letter grades in PE this semester. They will get 10 points a day. 5 points are for being prepared for class (wearing their tennis shoes) and 5 points will be for participation. This will also help them transition into JH where they will have to dress out each day for PE, and receive a grade based on dressing out and participating.
Thanks!
Coach Comstock
Early Checkout
Forgotten iPads
If a student forgets their iPad at school, we are allowing them to return to the school building one time this semester to retrieve it prior to 3:45. After that, they will be told they have to leave it until the next school day. We hope this will help them be responsible to make sure they have all their belongings when leaving for the day.
Breakfast and Lunch Menus
The middle of last year we stopped sending a lunch menu home with each student. The menu is available on our website, www.orrick.k12.mo.us, on both the High School and Elementary sites. It is also available on the ParentLink (Orrick) App. A paper copy can be requested in the office, by you or your student.
Winter Weather Is Here
School delays, cancellations, or early dismissals will be announced using the district app (see above), Bearcat Alert, and Twitter @aodellOrrick. All efforts will be made to get the information to KC news stations, but that has not been a very reliable means of communication the past couple of years. Please know that a cancellation may appear on one news station but not another despite our efforts to get it on all stations.
As in the past, school delays and cancellations will NOT be announced on any of the district Facebook pages. However, those pages WILL be used to give information regarding any schedule changes due to delays or cancellations. Because Bearcat Alerts limit the amount of communication we can send out, the district app and Facebook will primarily be used to communicate schedule changes. Coaches and sponsors may also have their own means of communication through apps such as Remind, so check with them if you're not sure how to access it.
End of day arrangements
Microwave at our Elementary Lunch
PTO News
The PTO would like to say thank you for all who attended the Christmas Extravaganza. We hope your families enjoyed making snowmen and snowflakes, playing bingo, getting your picture taken with Santa, and eating some pancakes! We were excited to see all the smiling kids leaving with their adorable snowmen! I would also personally like to say thanks to the parents and school employees that made both the Glowstick Party and the Christmas Extravaganza a success! I am looking forward to the PTO Carnival. It’s my goal to get 3 parents from each class to help make the PTO Carnival possible. We can’t do it without you. Really, truly, we need you! J Oh, and how about the class shirts? We were so happy to be able to purchase the class shirts this year. We know that with all the school supplies, shoes, and new clothes at the beginning of the year, it’s often hard to find money for ANOTHER thing to purchase! We hope all the kids will enjoy wearing their shirts with the rest of their classmates to assemblies, field trips, field day and other fun days for the remainder of the school year. Our next PTO meeting is this Thursday at 6:30. We will be preparing for our Carnival. We hope to see you there, but if you can’t make it send me an email, or give your info to the Elementary office, if you would be so kind as to help us pull off the Carnival this year! It is the Carnival that funds the fun things we do for the kids and helps us to support the school and staff in the next school year! Thanks so much. I am looking forward to the months to come.
Sincerely,
Rachel Fincher
Open House
Save Those Box Tops!
Don’t forget to save all Box Tops for Education! Classroom competitions will be held throughout in the school year.
Orrick Elementary School
Email: mbecker@orrick.k12.mo.us
Website: http://mbecke6.wix.com/orrickelementary#
Location: 100 Kirkham Street, Orrick, MO, United States
Phone: 816-770-3922