The CPES BobChat
April 12, 2020
How Can We Help Our Children to Wait?
During the spring of the year, there are reminders of the necessity of waiting. Many of our religious traditions such as Easter and Passover and Ramadan involve waiting. We've waited for the flowers to bloom. We've waited for the temperatures to come up. And, now we find ourselves waiting out the restrictions of COVID-19. Kids, in particular, have difficulty waiting. How can we help them know that waiting may have more blessings than curses? 1. Waiting builds patience and perseverance muscles. That is an easy say and hard do. Waiting helps our kids to know the time and effort it takes to prepare a meal. It takes awhile to put together a big puzzle. A board game takes some time to play. A walk around the neighborhood takes as much time as hopping in the car and driving to another town. Waiting reminds us that it doesn't all have to be done right now and right away. 2. Waiting helps us notice what we've been missing. Because we rush from one activity to another, it is easy to miss what's happening right in front of us. That closet is really a mess and needs to be cleaned out. There are flowers that are popping up in our yard (or someone else's) that we never noticed. The sky is so blue and white. The stars are really bright tonight. I wonder what kind of birds those are? We find the book/sock/toy/tool that we've been missing. Waiting enables us to "see" with new eyes. 3. Waiting shifts our focus from ourselves to others. Because we have the time, we think about our neighbors and ask how they are doing. We consider old friends that we haven't heard from in awhile. We call our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins just to let them know we care. We send an extra text or email or card or letter because there is time and mental space to do so. 4. Waiting also provides the opportunity to listen to our feelings and thoughts. When I get quiet and have to wait, the drumming in my head (of work and problems and "to do's") stops. I am reminded that there are some internal "messes" that need to be cleaned up. I reconsider past hopes and dreams that fell by the wayside. I wonder how I can become better so I can be the best version of me I can be. Initially, we become pretty frustrated when we have to wait because we can't do what we feel we need to do. Our children need to know, though, that there are many good things that can happen when we have to wait. We simply have to pause long enough, change our perspective, and look for them.
Mr. Maness, Principal
P.S. I hope you had a good break. Thanks for all you are doing to support your child's learning during this time.
School News
Packet Delivery for Kindergarten, First and Second Grade--By now, your child should have received his/her learning packet for April 13-May 1. If you didn't, please email Mr. Maness (mailto:pmaness@rhmail.org) to let him know and he can have one sent to you.
First Day of Instruction after Spring Break--Will be tomorrow, Monday, April 13. This was a Bad Weather Makeup Day for us.
Notification for School of Choice--Should happen this week. For all rising kindergarten students who receive a spot, know that your acceptance is not complete until you do your online registration. Click on the button below in order to register your rising kindergarten student.
Need Help? If you need assistance, please contact us at helpme@rhmail.org or call our dedicated phone support hotline, 803-980-2016 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. on weekdays. You can also access resources on our District webpage: https://www.rock-hill.k12.sc.us/ (Please see below if you need technology assistance.)
Remote Learning Pictures for Yearbook--There are so many good things happening with our children's E Learning. Please take a picture of your child's activities and send it to mailto:matt.blackston1@gmail.com for our yearbook. (We will use as many pictures as we can.)
Spring Pictures Refunds--We have decided to cancel Spring Pictures. If you have already paid online with Lifetouch, they will refund your credit or debit card. If you wrote a check, we will give your check back to you.
Refunds for Field Trips that Will Not Be Rescheduled---Know that once we are back in school, we will let you know of the process to request refunds for any field trips that could not be rescheduled. We are not able to process those requests at this time.
Opportunity to Help--This is from Mary Ann Kennedy, one of our CPES parents: "I don’t know about all of you, but I’ve felt helpless in this time of crisis trying to figure out how to help. My family is collecting individually wrapped snacks to make snack bags for healthcare workers. We all probably know someone that works at a hospital or a senior living place, and it is a difficult time for them. Let’s show them a little love and appreciation for what they do. If you would like to provide snacks or drinks, there is a plastic tub outside of our church on the porch of the office- Northside Baptist- 1140 Curtis st. off of Dave Lyle Blvd. I’m going to pick it up everyday between 3-4. If you can’t get there, but would like to help please send me a private message- tigerunner2000@gmail.com."
Update Your Contact Info
Remote Learning
Staff Email Addresses and Office Hours--Can be found in the links below.
Technology Assistance--For technical issues such as logging into Canvas and Launchpad, connecting to wifi, resetting passwords, device troubleshooting, etc., the Rock Hill Schools Technology Department staff will be on-call from 8:00am - 8:00pm and can be reached via email at helpdesk@rhmail.org or via phone at (803) 985-3531. Technology help tutorials will be published at: https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rock-hill.k12.sc.us%2Felearning&data=02%7C01%7CPMANESS%40rhmail.org%7C10c38360cc8d442c802808d7cdca73c5%7C57b835c11a6c40088e2fb2a16e5f738a%7C0%7C0%7C637204141727260450&sdata=YuZ8uNvg%2BLbNyY%2FZF9ppuTRY2C1dJRTrYoa2JBVDLSw%3D&reserved=0. Click on the Parents & Students button in the left-side menu for access.
Or your child's teacher can submit a tech request as they normally would. Each school tech is still monitoring tech requests as usual.
How Much Is Too Much and How Much Is Not Enough? As we continue to remote learning process this week, please give feedback to your child's teacher if there are unnecessary tears or stress due to the assignments and work. We have taken our best guess as to how much is too much and how much is not enough. This is certainly a stressful time for everyone and our goal is to help keep your child learning and for them to have some normalcy and consistency while things change around them. Feedback is key so we can monitor and adjust.
French and Spanish Resources--Click on the button below for some helpful resources to support your child in continuing to learn a second language.
Need Wifi Access? See below flyer from Comporium about how to access free Wifi for 60 days.
Free Sites to Assist with Remote Learning (Click the title to access the link.)
Sports Illustrated for Kids- Sports news, just for kids!
Wonderopolis- Reading to get kids to wonder.
Tween Tribune & TTJunior- News articles curated by the Smithsonian covering a variety of topics. It features an adjustable text difficulty.
Dogo News- Student news site with many images and videos to accompany articles. The articles can be sorted by a subject of interest. Interest levels range from 3rd through 8th grade.
Greg Tang Math- Online math games and teaching games for a variety of skills.
Caregiver Math Resources- Lesley University’s Center for Mathematics Achievement in collaboration with the Kentucky Center for Mathematics have put together this resource
guide for parents and caregivers to be able to support children’s mathematics learning at home during school closures.
SFUSD Math Elementary Lessons- In preparation for school closures, SFUSD has produced 10 days of activities to complete at home. The stand-alone activities are designed for students to do on paper without technology and are available to all under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
PTO and SIC Information
Parent Teacher Organization and School Improvement Council Update
The PTO serves to raise funds, coordinate volunteers and encourage teachers through appreciation activities. Click on the PTO Newsletter button below if you wish to receive the PTO Newsletter: PTO and SIC are tentatively planning to meet on the second Monday of each month next year. School Improvement Council meets at 5:30 (in the Fish Bowl) and our Parent Teacher Organization meets at 6:30 (in the Media Center.) Elections were held in the spring for these organizations but all parents are welcome to attend to help provide input and volunteer. Meetings will be held on March 9, April 13, and May 11 (if needed.)
Calendar of Events
All school events before, during and after school have been canceled until May 1.
April 13--All School of Choice Applicants notified.
April 13-17--E Learning Continues
May 21--Kindergarten, First and Second Grade Field Day (in AM)
June 1--9:00 AM Fifth Grade Graduation (Sullivan Auditorium)
June 2--Third, Fourth and Fifth Field Day (All Day)