Fryelands Falcon Flyer
January 14, 2021
From the Principal
Dear Fryelands Families,
Our world has so much uncertainty and high emotions right now, and we know that can be very confusing and cause anxiety in the young people we serve. Please know that our staff’s goal is to respond thoughtfully to students’ needs and concerns, whether the topic is a national tragedy, other current events, or a local power outage. As we continue this journey, our Fryelands staff tailor what they share to the students in the class in order to support them and help them feel safe and connected.
Temperance & Good Citizenship Day is January 15th this year
The law states that on January 16th of each year (or the preceding Friday when January 16th falls on a non-school day) each public school will observe Temperance and Good Citizenship Day. The 2013 Legislature added the expectation that on Temperance and Good Citizenship Day public schools provide opportunities for eligible students to register to vote.
Many school districts recognize this day by discussing temperance in connection with good citizenship, specifically addressing self-restraint. This idea of self-restraint is closely tied with many of the activities associated with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. For example, a district may choose to discuss the accomplishments of peaceful, non-violent protests in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. It really is a chance at the elementary level to talk about good citizenship and civics, meaning being a part of your community to make it better. That includes voting, when you are old enough, and learning about non-violent ways to protest.
Here are some resources regarding Temperance and Good Citizenship Day:
https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/civics/tgcd.aspx
https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/72597/overview
As you read through the newsletter, you will find that January continues to be a busy month for us at Fryelands. Please review the information on upcoming assessments. You will also find links to our district’s and school’s work around COVID-19 and safe plans -- including guidelines for us to partner on around student electronics (originally sent in December and resent now as a refresher).
Something I am thinking about as a parent:
“Please allow your child to struggle. Productive struggle is good for their brains. It’s one of the ways we all learn. Please do not tell your child the answers or do the work for them -- it is more about working to the answer than the answer itself. On practice and application tasks, you can provide all the hints you want but it is OK to let them do the work their way. If your child struggles too much, teach your child to talk to the teacher about this. On assessments, please allow your child some privacy to make mistakes so that the teacher knows what to do next. Remember if your child gets everything right, the work was too easy.” (Fisher, Frey, Bustamante, and Hattie, 2021)
Throughout this year, we continue to have a school-wide focus on social-emotional learning, part of which includes our Fryelands Falcon PRIDE that supports students in being safe, responsible, respectful learners that work towards their personal best. This is exciting work because students learn skills that will help them through their school experience and later in life.
Thank you for bringing your students to school on time and prepared for learning each day. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me at presleyj@monroe.wednet.edu or at 360-804-3400.
Sincerely,
Jeff Presley
Upcoming Events
- Jan. 15 - Temperance & Good Citizenship Day
- Jan. 18 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day ~ No School
- Jan. 19 - PTA Yoforit Frozen Yogurt Night 5-8pm
- Jan. 19-22 - Kindness Week
- Jan. 25 - Learning Material Pass Out 11:30am - 1:30pm
- Jan. 28 - School Picture Retake Day 3-5pm
- Jan. 29 - Semester Break ~ No School
School Picture Retake Day
Did you miss out on getting school pictures taken earlier this year? Our picture retake day is scheduled for:
Thursday, January 28th
3:00-5:00pm
In the Fryelands Library
An appointment is required. Please sign up for a time slot using SignUpGenius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4BAAA62BA2F9C43-fryelands.
If you are getting a retake of your original picture, please bring your original package with you to the retake. On the day of pictures, please come to Fryelands Elementary at the time you have scheduled. Face Masks are require until the photo is taken.
You may order pictures online at www.dorianstudio.com prior to the picture day and up to four days after picture day. We also have paper order forms available in the office.
Important Assessment Information
As we head into January, all students will be spending time this month on some important assessments to help us track your student’s growth this school year. In addition to the ongoing assessments - formal and informal - that happen in each classroom, there are three formal district-level assessments that will happen this month:
- All students in grades K-5 will be completing their Winter iReady Diagnostic in both Math and Reading by February 12th. Teachers will send your child’s class’s specific iReady diagnostic schedule, but this assessment helps to measure overall progress towards standards in both Math and Reading. Find more information about the iReady Diagnostics for Families here.
- Students in grades 3-5 will be completing their Whole Child Survey through BrightBytes by January 28th. This survey will help us be able to better identify student's needs in the areas of Social and Emotional Learning, Safety, Engagement, and Environment. Your child’s participation is essential in helping our schools make informed decisions about how to better support students.
All 2nd & 4th grade students, as well as referred students in other grades will be completing the CogAT Screener for highly capable assessment between January 19th and January 28th.
We appreciate your partnership in supporting your child(ren) with these assessments. We know that any sort of testing can sometimes cause worry for children, but truly our goal is to gather important information to better help your child in their learning. To this end, it’s important that we get data around what your child can do independently.
Electronic Resources and Internet Safety Expectations
As we navigate this new remote learning world, our elementary school students have more independence in their use of our school technology than ever before. Independent student accounts (such as email, Canvas messages, zoom, GoogleDrive) are not actively monitored by staff. This makes it all the more important for us to partner with you in the process of teaching our students how to use technology respectfully, responsibly, and safely. We are including some expectations and guidelines below for parents to partner with us in having conversations and checking in with your students about their use of technology.
The move to online learning in the spring has highlighted the need to review the Electronic Resources and Internet Safety policies in the MSD Handbook (Electronic Resources & Internet Safety; Telecommunication Devices). These policies are in place to help guide student use of district resources and to keep our students safe while navigating online learning.
While teachers focus on Digital Citizenship education and reinforcing respectful and responsible behavior online, parents can support students by reinforcing the expectations of students. These expectations include the following:
Student use of school technology including district devices as well as student accounts (Google, Canvas, etc.) should be for educational purposes and at the direction of school staff.
Student Gmail and Canvas messaging accounts are NOT public domains and should only be used for school purposes and under staff direction.
Students will only use meeting platforms (including Zoom) for class meetings supervised by a staff member. When in Zoom meetings, students must continue to follow the rules and expectations as if they were in person at school (no toys or play weapons on camera, comments are appropriate to a classroom, students should not be in bed learning, etc.)
As part of digital citizenship, students should protect their personally identifiable information and not share it with others (e.g. birthdate, phone number, etc.).
It is important that parents play an active role in student online learning. Having conversations with students about what they have learned about internet safety in school and how to use their district accounts is important in ensuring that students act responsibly and stay safe while on the internet.
We highly value your partnership as we work to teach students how to utilize 21st Century Skills and Tools to enrich their learning experience. As a community, we all play pivotal roles in guiding our students down the safest and most beneficial path towards their future citizenship and academic success.
Fryelands Music News
Hey Musicians,
Ms. Coburn here! Last week, we did a competition to see how many of you in 4th and 5th grade could get their Exit Tickets done! Congrats to Mrs. Gadd's class!! I want to encourage all grades to begin filling out Music Exit Tickets at the end of every lesson. Next up for a prize will be second and third graders! Make sure to get those Exit Tickets in, and I will tally them up to see who the winning class is! The winners will get a special prize on the next Material Hand-out day, Jan 25th!
PTA Yoforit Frozen Yogurt Night
Birthday Bucket
Here are some fun pictures from the week!
Make sure your contact information is up-to-date
It is very important that all families make sure all of their contact information is up-to-date with the school office. In the event of school delays and cancelations, or other emergencies, we need to be able to contact all of our families. When there are urgent messages to share with families, they are sent out via email and phone call. Messages are also posted on the district website, Facebook and Twitter.
If you would like to opt-in to also receive text messages, please send a text message of "Y" or "Yes" to our school's short code number, 67587. You can opt out of these messages any time by simply replying to one of our messages with "Stop".
Inclement Weather Procedures Reminder
Now that winter is upon us, we wanted to remind you of our inclement weather procedures. Even though it is an unusual school year, we will be following our typical inclement weather procedures just as any other school year. This means that if road conditions are deemed unsafe, we will be delaying or canceling school for that day, including distance learning. Canceled school days may need to be made up at the end of the school year.
While the majority of our students are currently in a distance learning model, we have many staff and students reporting to our buildings every day. Buses are running daily, transporting our preschool, kindergarten and other small groups of students to and from school; many of our teachers continue to work onsite in order to utilize district technology & internet; and many more employees report to work daily in order to provide necessary services to students. Our top priority is always the safety of staff and students when making decisions related to inclement weather and upholding our typical procedures will allow us to keep staff and students safe in the event of unsafe road conditions.
We recognize that canceled school days may disrupt family schedules and that the school year may have to be extended. The decision to close schools in the event of inclement weather is not an easy one and many factors are taken into consideration when making such a decision. It is important to understand that the road conditions of our entire district are taken into account when a delay or closure decision is made. The roads in one part of our district may be clear while other areas are struggling with snow and/or ice and we are unable to close some schools in the district while leaving other schools open.
How the decision to delay or close schools is made
To help make the best possible decision, weather forecasts are consistently monitored and district staff drive our bus routes to evaluate road and parking lot conditions. We make every effort to make decisions regarding closings or delays in the evening, understanding that parents need time to make arrangements for the following day. However, if the forecast is uncertain and still developing, we wait to get the latest forecast and assess actual road conditions early in the morning. Morning decisions will be announced by 5 a.m. Additionally, if a delayed opening has been announced the night before, and the forecast or conditions worsen overnight, we may need to update the status in the morning and announce that all schools will be closed for the day.
Depending on the winter weather conditions, one of the following four options is decided:
- Schools start on time (no messages will be shared)
- Schools start on time with limited bus service
- Schools start two hours late (no a.m. preschool, no out-of-district transportation) - a delay would only be utilized if/when students and staff return to full days of in-person learning
- Schools are closed (When schools are closed, all after school activities and evening facility use are also canceled.)
If schools are delayed or closed, information will be shared through the following communication channels:
- Email and robocall: An email and automated phone call will go out to all staff and families. Please make sure your contact information is up to date in Family Access to ensure you receive these notifications. Families who have 'unsubscribed' from district emails and/or automated calls will not receive these notifications.
- Text message: A text message will be sent only to those families who have opted-in to receive texts from the district. Learn how to opt-in here.
- District website: A message will be posted to the front page of our district website.
- Social media: Messages will be posted to the district Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
- School schedule hotline: 360-804-2950
We will not send or post messages if schedules are normal. No news means that schools are open.
Snow bus routes are posted on the district website, here.
Free Meals Program Extended Through June 2021
We are excited to announce that the free meal program has been extended through the end of the 2020-2021 school year. We have also expanded it to include an option for a free, pre-order, weekly meal kit! School meal kits will be distributed every Wednesday at Monroe High School.
Free daily meals will continue to be provided at all elementary schools from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. It is important to note that duplicate meals are not allowed in the free meal program. Please choose to pick up either a weekly meal kit or daily meals, not both.
Free Meal Program Link: https://www.monroe.wednet.edu/covid-19/free-meal-program
Library Book Check-Out
Counselor's Corner
Welcome back and Welcome 2021!!! I hope you all had a nice and restful break!!!
Today I wanted to share something that I saw that stood out to me. It is creating a It's New Year. Let's make it Great planning sheet. I'm going to try it for myself as we start this new year.
Write down:
2: Two things I will get better at ___________ ___________
0: Something I will do less of ____________
2: 2 things I will try to learn __________ ______________
1: One new thing I want to try ___________
New Attestation Form Requirements
The district has updated the attestation forms requiring students’ temperatures to be taken prior to getting on a bus or entering the school. The new forms can be found at the link below.
https://www.monroe.wednet.edu/covid-19/attestations
Please take your student’s temperature daily and record it on the form in the top right corner.
For busing students - If you are unable to take their temperatures then your bus driver will be able to prior to them getting on the bus.
For car drop students - If you are unable to take their temperature, your child will have their temperature taken at the screening station.
Thank you to everyone for your patience and cooperation.
Attendance Matters
Students have many ways to engage during the day: Attend daily Zoom meetings, be active on Canvas, turn in an assignment, attended office hours or other small group supports, do iReady, or provided some other evidence that they have engaged in some way during that day.
If you know your child will be absent, please call our 24 hour attendance hotline at (360) 804-3401 to excuse them. Thanks!
Family Help Desk
Office Hours
Amazon Smiles
Do you shop at Amazon? Did you know that you can help our school by shopping through AmazonSmile?
We have an account that each time you purchase on the site, our school will earn 0.5% of funds back on your purchase!
Charity Name: Fryelands PTA 7-6-14
To shop at AmazonSmile simply go to smile.amazon.com from the web browser on your computer or mobile device. On your first visit to AmazonSmile smile.amazon.com, you need to select a charitable organization to receive donations from eligible purchases before you begin shopping. We will remember your selection, and then every eligible purchase you make at smile.amazon.com will result in a donation.
INFORMATIONAL LINKS:
ABOUT US:
Austin Talbott, Counselor
Julee Baca, Office Manager
Cindy Snider, Office Support
Sherah Bustamante, Nurse
Kathy Jackson, Family Engagement Liaison
360-804-3517 - jacksonka@monroe.wednet.edu
Fax: (360) 804-3499 | Attendance Line: (360) 804-3401
Email: bacaj@monroe.wednet.edu
Website: https://www.monroe.wednet.edu/fre
Location: 15286 Fryelands Boulevard, Monroe, WA, USA
Phone: 360-804-3400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FryelandsElementary/
Twitter: @monroewaschools
MSD NOTICE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION
The Monroe School District does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employees have been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination: Title IX and Civil Rights Coordinator, Joanne Dickinson, (360) 804.2539, dickinsonj@monroe.wednet.edu Section 504/ADA Coordinator, David Paratore, (360) 804.2603, paratored@monroe.wednet.edu. The Monroe School District will also take steps to assure that national origin persons who lack English language skills can participate in all education programs, services and activities. For information regarding translation services or transitional bilingual education programs, contact: Kim Whitworth, (360) 804.2558, whitworthk@monroe.wednet.edu .Mailing address for all of the above: 14692 - 179th Avenue SE, Monroe, WA 98272