The Rattlin' Rattler
February 2018
Principal's News
Dear Parents,
I would like to thank the many parents who attended our special events during the month of January: PTA Meeting, Mid-Year Awards Assemblies and Fun Run/ Walk-a-Thon. Our staff and students made it through the three weeks of CDB testing and look for to celebrating and working on areas of weakness. We hope to see you in attendance at our February events: Specifically our 4th grade STAAR writing for parents on Feb 7th, 1st Student Council dance on Feb 16th and Family Night on Feb 28th.
It is hard to believe that we are on the third semester of the school year. This will be a very busy time for our teachers and students as we continue to monitor our progress toward achieving our goals for the 2017-18 school year. This semester will go by quickly, and we need your help in making sure your child meets the state and district expectations in order to be promoted to the next grade level. Please help your child by reinforcing the skills taught at school. Reading should be a nightly activity, as well as practicing the appropriate basic facts.
There are a few new items that I want to address at this time.
1. Chronic Absenteeism: We can teach children only if they are at school. The State of Texas correlates post secondary readiness to attendance. The state says that if a child misses 10% of the school year they are in danger of being ready for secondary schooling. This equates to 18 absences in one year. What constitutes an absence, you might ask. It includes excused and unexcused absences. . We ask you to communicate with us if there are any extenuating circumstances where the school can assist with attendance. We also ask for your support.
2. Parking Lot: You may or may not have noticed but the district has recommended placing arrows in our front lot. As you drive in to the parking lot the flow of traffic is to the right in one direction. I ask that you follow those arrows. Please do not enter the parking lot and turn left. We have had some close calls with cars going in both directions.
2. Attention— Safety Concerns
· Please do not drop students off in the parking lots or in the bus loop.
· Please do not drop students off until 7 a.m. when staff is on duty.
· Please check into the office to receive a visitor’s badge whenever you are on campus during school hours.
· Please follow our safety procedures! We are thinking of the safety of your child.
Yours in education,
Mrs. Francesca L. Neal
Principal
Percentage of Avg. Daily Attendance as of Feb. 5, 2018
- EE: 98.81%
- PK: 94.00%
- Kinder: 95.79%
- First Grade: 96.45%
- Second Grade: 96.24%
- Third Grade: 96.15%
- Fourth Grade: 96.99%
- Fifth Grade: 96.30%
- Raba Overall: 96.23%
- Northside ISD: 95.30%
News from the Library
Ms. Ayala’s Marvelous Math Message
Bedtime Math
We make math part of the family routine. Every day, we serve up a quick bite of wacky math just for fun. It’s nothing like school. Parents can sign up by email, on our website, and on our free app. Whether it’s flamingos, ninjas or pillow forts, kids can see the math in their favorite topics. No logins. No drilling. No scores. It takes only 5 minutes a day, and kids clamor for it.
COUNSELOR'S CORNER
The first full week of February is National School Counseling Week! Your school counselors are here to provide a comprehensive developmental program addressing the whole child to maximize academic achievement, social and emotional development, and post-secondary college and career readiness. We provide individual and small group counseling for students, and we teach guidance lessons in each classroom. If we can help in any way, please let us know!
Random Acts of Kindness Week is February 12th-16th. During this week, our lessons will focus on ways to treat others with kindness. Please participate in some Random Acts of Kindness with your family!
Career Day is coming soon! Look for a form coming home to sign up to share your career with students on March 9th from 8:30-10:30.
P.E. Happenings
It’s time to get fit with the 2018 University Health System Go!Kids Challenge™ powered by San Antonio Sports! From January 15 - February 23 our school has joined hundreds of elementary schools across the city in this fun program that motivates us to be active and eat healthy. Every student has received a cool Go!Kids activity log. Do at least 5 fitness activities every week and check it off in your log. Be sure to also mark whether you drank water after you exercised and ate fruits and vegetables every day. You can jump rope, do jumping jacks, push-ups,run, walk, or simply play outside. We want every student at Raba Elementary to be a Go!Kid! So keep tracking your activity today. If you complete the program and turn your log back in to Coach Blackstone or Coach Newman by March 2nd you will get one voucher to the official Go!Kids Challenge Day on May 20th at SeaWorld San Antonio! So let’s go Rattlers! Let’s all get active in the Go!Kids Challenge and show the city we’re healthy, active kids!
Sincerely,
Coach Blackstone
A Note From The Vice Principal
Thank you to all parents and families for joining us in celebrating your child's success during our Mid Year Award Ceremonies, we had a wonderful turnout. It is because of your strong support, we have created a culture of family here at Raba Elementary. One of the awards we love to hand out is Perfect Attendance. We would like to be able to recognize more students with this award and with your help we can accomplish this by making sure your child comes to school on time and be ready to learn every day.
Our campus goal is to increase attendance to 97% or higher in each grade level. For us to accomplish this goal we need your help by arriving to campus before 7:45 a.m., when your child goes to a doctor visit please remember to bring a doctor's note the next school day.
When students improve their attendance, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating. - Attendance Matters.org
Attend today, ACHIEVE tomorrow.
Respectfully Yours,
Mrs. Diaz