Forest Park Flyer
Forest Park, a place to dream, believe and achieve!
January 2020
The character trait for the month of January is Problem-Solving.
From the Principal...
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and enjoyed your time together as a family. We look forward to starting another wonderful year together as a school community. This month, I wanted to share a few important bits of information as we move into the new year.
In the fall, parents had an opportunity to meet with the teachers to discuss their child's progress. Students brought home their first report card on December 13th which outlined the growth they have made toward meeting the academic expectations at their grade level. The criteria listed on the report card indicates the outcomes children should reach by the end of the year so it is common to find that your child has not yet met the standards set forth at their grade level. If you have questions about your student's report card, please contact your child's teacher at the building or via email. Report cards can also be accessed through the Aspen portal.
As a team, the staff at Forest Park are dedicated to helping your child(ren) grow socially, emotionally and academically. The supports we have in place, including our mindful moments and conversations with students about having a growth mindset, are aimed at helping students take an active role in their learning. Throughout the course of the year, we have taught the students various ways to breathe and sit while taking a mindful moment. We have also explained the benefit of mindfulness when one is feeling anxious or overwhelmed. Having a growth mindset is also a critical component of success. By teaching students the importance of persistence when dealing with a difficult task, it is our hope that we will provide them with another important skill that will help them in school and in life.
Lunch and recess have a significant role in your child's growth as a social being. It is during these unstructured times that they will have an opportunity to try out the social skills they are learning like how to make a friend, how to solve a problem when you and a friend disagree and how to share with others while outside during recess. The monitors, lunch supervisors and I spend a great deal of time talking to the students and helping them to navigate these social situations which, as we all know, can often prove more challenging than the academics!! Our goal is to provide your child(ren) with the tools they will need to handle the social situations with which they will be faced throughout your life. If we are working with your child on a problem that arises during lunch or recess, you may not receive a phone call home because we want to empower the children and teach them to problem-solve. Those situations that are serious or that are on-going do result in a communication with families. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me or any member of our staff.
In the new year, we look forward to continuing to work together to ensure the students at Forest Park achieve their personal best! Thank you, as always, for your support of and involvement in our school community.
Mrs. Penn
Inclement Weather
When school is delayed, the Before School Program will not be held. Please do not drop your children off at school in advance of the start time on days when we are delayed because staff will not be available to supervise them. On those days when school is closed due to inclement weather, the Before and After School programs are also cancelled.
If school is dismissed early (more than 15 minutes before regular dismissal), the After School Program will not be held. Children who normally attend the After School Program should plan to take the bus home or meet their parents at the dismissal area near the library.
If the weather deteriorates while we are at school, the district may decide to dismiss the children early. In the case of an early dismissal, parents and guardians will be notified via the School News Notifier or SNN. If you have not already signed up for this service, please visit the South Colonie School website and click on SNN in the "Quick Links" section.
Using Aspen
Once you have established an account, you will go to the Family View when you are attempting to locate information about your child. On that page, you can access tabs that will provide you with bus information, state test scores and, on the date that grades are posted, your child's report card. If you have an account but are unable to access it, you can contact our Aspen administrator clicking on the help link on the Aspen portal.
Library News from Mrs. Kuno
http://forestparklibrary.weebly.com/
Fostering Wonder
With the start of the new year, many students will be working on nonfiction or informational reading and writing units. Students will be using a wide variety of informational resources including encyclopedias, nonfiction texts, magazine articles, and online resources located on the library web page while working on these units of study.
At home, families can foster opportunities for wonder and exploration by selecting informational texts based on student's interests and hobbies. If your student enjoys cooking, check out cookbooks geared toward young cooks. If your student enjoys sports, investigate the origin of the sport or check out biographies about their favorite players. Explore guide books on local animals and their habitats if your student likes animals or nature. Students interested in how things work may want to learn more about inventors and their inventions. Take the opportunity to encourage the wonder in your student with some nonfiction this winter!
Super Book
Our Super Book competition is back! Each week in January students will vote for their favorite book in a head to head match-up. The winning book will go on to the next week's match-up until the winning book is chosen. Students in 2nd through 4th grade will voted on a set of books, while Kindergarten and 1st grade vote on another set of books. Follow the match-ups by visiting the library page and selecting Super Book or click the link below.
At the start of the competition, students will have a chance to predict the winner of the Super Book competition and will be entered into a drawing for Barnes and Nobel gift card. One name from the K-1 and 2-4 competition will be selected from the correct answers to win the prize. The Super Book and competition winners will be announced on Feb. 3rd.
Nutrition Education
- Prepare nutritious foods on a tight schedule and tight budget
- Find time in the daily routine for physical activity
- Help their children choose healthy snacks
- Make exercise fun
- Make nutritious foods attractive to children
If you have any questions about your child’s school breakfast, lunch or snack options or want to communicate your child’s dietary restrictions please contact the Food Service Department at (518) 869-3576.
Use the two links below to:
- view this month's school lunch menu
- Nutrition Nuggets
- sign up for My School Bucks
News from Nurse Criscione
With flu season upon us, it is important to keep our children healthy. Children are two to three times more likely than adults to get sick with the flu. On average, one in three children in the U.S. is affected by the virus each year. Usually, the flu is spread from person to person through coughing and sneezing. Occasionally, people get the flu from touching a germ-infested surface.
It is important to know the difference between a cold and the flu. Common symptoms of the flu include high fever, severe headache, muscle and body aches, chills, sore throat, exhaustion and dry cough. Children may also have nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Cold symptoms often come on gradually, and they include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat and hacking cough.
Simple steps for keeping your child healthy:
- get a flu vaccine
- wash hands frequently
- cover mouth and nose when sneezing & coughing - preferably into the inside of the elbow
- avoid sharing drinks
- avoid touching eyes, nose & mouth
- disinfect at home
- keep your sick child home from school until they are fever free for 24 hours
School Banking
4th Grade Orchestra Concert
FP Cafetorium
Winter Dance Party
Kids' Corner - Mrs. Healy
A Look Ahead
January
6th - Students return to school
6th - Yearbook sales begin
7th - PTA Meeting 6:30pm in the Forest Park Library
20th - Martin Luther King Day, No School
24th - Lifetouch Candid Picture Day (no cost involved)
27th - Day 1 (school spirit day)
27th - Grade 4 Orchestra Concert 2:00pm in the Forest Park cafetorium
February
3rd -14th - Kids' Heart Challenge
4th - PTA Meeting at 6:30pm in the Forest Park Library
7th - Winter Dance sponsored by the PTA 6:30-8:00pm
17th - 21st - Mid Winter Recess
28th - School Spirit Day
PTA News and Notes
Happy New Year's to everyone!! We hope everyone had a healthy and enjoyable break!
Just a reminder that our next PTA meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 7th at 6:30pm in the Forest Park library. At that meeting, we will be discussing plans for the upcoming winter dance in February. We will also review the PTA events scheduled for the rest of the school year. If you signed up to help at the dance, we would ask that you please plan to join us at the January meeting. We look forward to seeing you there.
Yearbook Orders
PTA Meeting
MEETING AGENDA
• Approve and vote on minutes from November meeting
• Principal's Report (Jill Penn)
• Treasurer's Report (Lindsay Jackson)
• Discuss February Winter Dance
Tuesday, Jan 7, 2020, 06:30 PM
100 Forest Drive, Albany, NY, USA
The next SEPTA meeting is scheduled for January 17th. The meeting will be held in the library at Sand Creek Middle School and will begin at 6:30pm.
About us...
Email: fpattendance@scolonie.org
Website: http://www.southcolonieschools.org/forest-park-elementary-school/
Location: 100 Forest Drive, Albany, NY, USA
Phone: (518) 869-3006
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForestParkElementarySchool