Parr Patriot News
February 2020
Message from Mrs. Buckels
Important Dates
Feb. 3-14-Pennies for Patients Drive
Feb. 3-7 National School Counseling Week
Feb. 3-100th day of school
Feb. 4-wear your favorite college shirt
Feb. 7-Early Release day/Progress Reports go home
Feb. 13-All Pro Dad meeting-a.m.
General PTA meeting-6:30 p.m.
Feb. 14- Valentine's Party
Feb. 17-No school
Feb. 20-Family Fit Night
Feb. 25-5th grade math benchmark
Feb. 26- 5th grade reading benchmark
Feb. 27-4th grade writing benchmark
Feb. 28-Go Texan Day-wear your western gear
Valentine's Party Times
Kinder-2:00
1st grade-1:00
2nd grade-12:15
3rd grade-1:30
4th grade-1:45
5th grade 2:00
National School Counseling Week
District Science Fair Winners
3rd place-Sydney Bergman 4th grade Biological Science
Hon. Mention-Kynsley Goodsell 4th grade Biological Science
Hon. Mention-Hunter Vaughn 4th grade Math
Pennies for Patients Service Project
Since 1993 students and educators throughout the country have raised more than $368 million in support of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) goal to cure blood cancer and improve the lives of patients and their families.
How does The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society spend the money that Pennies for Patients raises?
Money raised through Pennies for Patients gets invested in groundbreaking cancer research, patient education and support services, and advocacy efforts aimed at making treatments more accessible and affordable for families. For more information, please visit lls.org.
Can students collect more than pennies?
Yes, all forms of currency are accepted! In fact, most students set up an online fundraising page with their parents to reach their personal fundraising goals even faster.
Our campus goal is to raise $2020! Please helps us reach this goal by looking for loose change around your house. Collection dates for the change are: Wednesday, Feb. 5th, Wednesday, Feb. 12th and Friday, Feb. 14th. Thank you for helping wipe out childhood blood cancers!
Character Corner-Kindness
This month we’re talking about the beautiful character trait of Kindness. The dictionary defines it as: “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.” But it is so much more than that! The definition we are using in class is:
Kindness: the choice to act with words, gifts, or actions to bring appreciation, positivity, and encouragement to others and yourself.
The key part of this definition? Kindness is a choice that we get to make every day to bring good things into our lives and the world. Those good things can look like more than just some kind words; Kindness is given through our actions and our encouragement and our attitude and our gifts. We will spend time thinking about how to be kind to ourselves, to our environment, to animals, and to one another. We will get to experience meaningful words through compliments and feel the joy that comes from showing appreciation to others. We will think about how people like Jackie Chan and Booker T. Washington and Maya Angelou teach us Kindness. It will be a powerful and positive time!
Conversation Starters
What does Kindness look like in our home? What does it look like in our neighborhood? What does Kindness look like in our extended family, our faith or spiritual practices, our community centers, our sports teams, etc.?
Why is it important to show Kindness to people who aren’t kind to you?
What acts of Kindness have others shown you lately and how did you respond? How did it make you feel? How does random acts of Kindness help you grow?
Questions You Could Ask
What does Kindness look like in our home? What does it look like in our neighborhood? What does Kindness look like in our extended family, our faith or spiritual practices, our community centers, our sports teams, etc.?
Why is it important to show Kindness to people who aren’t kind to you?
What acts of Kindness have others shown you lately and how did you respond? How did it make you feel? How does random acts of Kindness help you grow?
Character Corner-Empathy
This month we are having conversations and experiences to help us develop the social-emotional skill of Empathy! We are using this definition at school:
Empathy: the ability to understand and connect to the feelings of another.
Empathy is an important skill for creating connected and kind communities. It is critical to our relationships both personal and professional. There is a huge need for Empathy in our world because, as anxiety increases in our culture, Empathy decreases. Even though we have lots of digital connections, we need a lot of training on in-person communication and understanding! So, we are working to develop a few key skills in order to live more empathetic lives. First, developing an “emotional vocabulary” to make sure we have the words to understand and describe what we are feeling personally. Second, being able to connect with others based on their feelings even though we may not have the exact same story or perspective as someone else. Finally, we will think about how listening and sharing help create more Empathy in our classroom and the world. There will be some powerful activities and some amazing conversations inspired by people like Brenè Brown and Dr. Oz. It will be a wonderful experience for your child and (hopefully) you!
Conversation Starters
- Empathy is about understanding how somebody else is feeling. It is about switching places and perspectives with them to imagine what they’re going through. Share with one another about a time when you wished someone had shown more Empathy for you.
- Some people say that Empathy is “feeling with people.” What could it mean to feel “with” someone? How can that be hard?
- Empathy requires a level of mindfulness that helps us be aware and notice how others are acting or speaking. Only then can we practice empathy. What are ways that we might practice mindfulness to become better aware of those around us? Ideas may include deep breathing, checking in with your five senses, doing a body scan, art, mindful walking or eating, etc.
Questions You Could Ask
- What gets in the way of us showing Empathy to one another?
- What is the difference between sympathy and Empathy?
- What is a conflict that you had recently with someone? How do you think they were feeling and why may they have been feeling that way? How could you respond to that situation with empathy?
Caring Newsletter
2020-2021 Academic Calendar
Waves of Reading Program-ends Feb. 7th
Watch DOG
Interested in being a Watch Dog Dad for a day or a half day?? Email families@parrpta.org to schedule your day :)
Volunteer Application
Clear Creek ISD has implemented a new online volunteer application form for parents and community members, which now requires volunteers to register on an annual basis. As of July 15, all volunteer records have been deactivated, and effective July 16, both former and prospective volunteers must apply/reapply using CCISD’s new volunteer application to be eligible for upcoming volunteer opportunities in the 2019-2020 school year. It can take up to 3-4 days to be approved. If you think you may be volunteering this year, go ahead and take care of applying. We appreciate all our volunteers!
Volunteer Application Link-click on the white box below to take you to the application
Click on the link below to access the Amazon Makerspace Wishlist
Lunch Money
Thank you!
Change of Transportation
Reminder, please note that any transportation changes during the school day should be in the form of a written note signed by the parent and/or guardian. If faxing your note to the office, please include student and teacher name, date, and change of transportation with a copy of your driver’s license. The school fax number is 281-284-4105. All transportation changes must be in the office by 2:30 p.m. so we can inform the teacher in time for dismissal. Thank you for your diligence in this matter. *Please note-if calling the school to change transportation, you must be able to fax in your request in writing with a copy of your photo ID. No calls about change in transportation will be allowed unless accompanied with this note. This allows us to ensure that safety procedures are followed and students’ whereabouts are closely monitored.