Alta Vista Voyager Connection
An In-Depth Newsletter for Alta Vista Families
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, February 6: Campus Decision Making Committee Meeting at 4:15 pm
Thursday, February 8: Career Day
February 12-16: Book Fair
Thursday, February 15: Family Reading Night from 5:30-7:00 pm
Monday, February 19: Bad Weather Make Up Day-students will need to come to school!
Thursday, February 22: Class Pictures
Friday, February 23: Report Cards Go Home
Friday, March 2: Early Release & Dr. Seuss Day
Saturday, March 3: Special District Parent Involvement Event
College & Career Week
Tuesday, February 6: Wear a Waco High or University High t-shirt or colors (red or purple)
Wednesday, February 7: Wear a college t-shirt
Thursday, February 8: Career Day-wear regular dress code for presenters
Friday, February 9: Dress for Success-Wear clothes that represent a specific career (IE: nurse, teacher, policeman, etc.)
YMCA After-School Childcare
Parent Involvement Opportunities
We are still looking for speakers for Career Day! Please call Mrs. Maynard at 662-3050 if you would be willing to come speak about your career. We would love to have you!
Please come discuss our improvement plan and possible restructuring with Mrs. Logan at our CDMC meeting on Tuesday, February 6 at 4:15 pm. Each of your students will receive a free book for your attendance!
Join us on Thursday, Thursday, February 15 at 5:30-7:00 pm for Family Reading Night and "Fall In Love With A Good Book!" We will have lots of hands-on reading activities, lots of books to give away, and free food! The book fair will be open late for shopping. We hope you will join us for lots of fun with reading! If you are interested in volunteering at the event, call Mrs. Helton at 662-3050.
Students can create a poster to advertise Family Reading Night. Turn them into Mrs. Helton by Friday, February 9 for a FREE BOOK!
Monthly Book Challenge
Decorate the heart with a scene from your favorite book! Turn your heart into Mrs. Helton by February 14 for a FREE BOOK!
Math Chat
Conscious Discipline Tips
February: The Skill of Encouragement
For the month of February, we want to focus on the Skill of Encouragement. Encouragement is all about noticing, connecting and accepting children for who they are. Children want and need to be seen. If a child is always being noticed for making positive,helpful choices they will continue to make positive, helpful choices. If they are always noticed for negative, hurtful choices they will continue to make negative, hurtful choices. Children’s growth can be stymied by constantly hearing, “Good Job.” “Good girl.” or “You’re the best.” They will respond more to statements such as, “Wow! You are putting up your dishes without being asked, that is helpful.” or “You got up with your alarm clock without being reminded and you won’t miss the bus. That is helpful.”
Here are some Steps in practicing the Skill of Encouragement with your children:
Step 1: Start the sentence with the child’s name of the pronoun “you.” Instead of “good” or “great,” start with their name or “You did it!” or “Look at you.”
Step 2: Describe what they did in detail. Pretend you are a camera and you are going to record exactly what they did. If you were recording, you would not record, “Abby, you were kind.” You would instead, record the action and be able to say, “Abby, you found Hannah’s missing toy and you gave it to her.”
Step 3: Relate the child’s behavior to how it helped someone else or the entire family. Stating the impact of the behavior on others demonstrates that we are all in this together and fosters connection and helpfulness.
Step 4: End the description with a tag. This may sound or feel strange at first, but it will eventually become second nature. Using tags like, “That was helpful.” or “You did it.” will help to move from judgement to acceptance and with acceptance comes encouragement.
Here are some ways to practice the Skill of Encouragement during the month of February:
- Have your child make write encouraging notes to family members, friends or teacher that has them list the positive attributes of that person.
- Leave “Love Notes” for your child around the house or on their door when you notice that they have done something helpful or kind around the house.
- When you are out with your children at various stores or restaurants, encourage them to notice helpful or kind acts of others and have a discussion with them about why their actions were helpful or kind.
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