Principal Allen's Weekly Newsletter
December 9 , 2019
Dear Spicewood Elementary Parents & Community Members,
We have two weeks until Winter Break and it will certainly fly by! With so many events coming up, please be sure to check dates at the end of my newsletter.
It's now the time of the year that we find our Lost and Found overflowing with jackets, sweaters, lunch boxes, water bottles, gloves and other precious items that have been lost. I would like to encourage you to remind your students to check the lost and found before leaving for the Winter Break. Everything will be placed in the main hallway the week of December 16th and all unclaimed items will be packed up and donated on December 19th. Parents are welcome to look through the lost and found as well!
Be sure to check out our entryway! This past week, I had several incredible parents dedicate their time to create a beautiful representation of the many cultural traditions celebrated this season! A huge thank you to all parents who made this possible!
Have a wonderful week,
Sincerely,
Mrs. Allen
Spicewood Elementary Principal
Campus Announcements
Cookies for Courage
The Spicewood Student Council is holding their annual "cookies for courage" drive again this year! The cookies will be donated to the courageous members of our community such as fire fighters, police officers, EMTs, hospitals, and more. We will collect the cookies outside the Spicewood Library on the morning of Tuesday, December 17th. Families who would like to participate can send in cookies with their child. If the cookies are nut free or gluten free, please label them. If you would like to volunteer to help drive cookies please contact Mrs. Klovert at jeanne_klovert@roundrockisd.org. Thanks for helping us show our appreciation and spread some holiday cheer!
Counselors' Corner
Greetings Spicewood Families!
During guidance lessons this November and December, students are learning about how to recognize and prevent bullying in our community. Here is a copy of our parent presentation from last year about what makes bullying unique, how it is defined in the state educational code, and what our district bullying protocol entails. In kid language, we define bullying as behavior that is most often repeated, that it is meant to intentionally hurt or humiliate someone, and where one side (either a person or group) has more power than the person they are targeting (which could be due to age, size, social standing, minority group status, or because of the use of threats and fear). From Kindergarten on, students explore and practice ways to be an UPSTANDER (as opposed to a bystander) when they witness bullying behaviors. Students learn multiple ways to be an upstander, from speaking out directly, interrupting/moving the targeted person away from the situation, not listening to or spreading gossip and rumors, befriending/including targeted students, and ALWAYS telling a trusted adult.
And of course we want parents to be upstanders too! If you hear of any behavior that sounds like bullying, please reach out to myself, Ms. Alyea, Ms. Cruz, or Mrs. Allen. We also have an Anonymous Alerts system (which we share with 5th graders as well) to report bullying and other concerning behaviors anonymously. Here are the instructions for making an Anonymous Alert report using either the app or website.
Wishing you all a great end of the semester, a happy holiday break, and an amazing New Year!!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Kentopp, M.A., NCC
Notes From Mrs. Oates, Spicewood Elementary IB Coordinator
As an International Baccalaureate, Primary Years Programme (IB, PYP) World School, we engage in careful, thoughtful, thorough reflection of our programme and practices each year. Once every five years, we take part in a Self-Study and external evaluation, which is a detailed, year-long reflection process. During this process the learning community reflects and gathers evidence to present to a team of IB evaluators that will review our documentation while visiting our campus for two days. After reviewing the documentation they will provide us with feedback to continue to improve as an IB, PYP school and develop an action plan moving forward for the next five year cycle.
We completed the self-study portion at the end of November and will be having our visitors on January 16th and 17th. During this time the IB evaluators will have meetings with the entire learning community including: staff, parents, students, and district personnel. This will allow for them to get a holistic view of our campus.
Announcements from the PTA
Order your Science fair display board now.
Spicewood PTA is able to offer the display board at a discounted price of $3.00 / board. If you would like to order the board, please visit the science fair page on the PTA website. Last day to order the boards is Monday, December 16th.
STEAM Day Volunteers Needed
We will be hosting our PTA sponsored event, STEAM Day, on Friday, March 6th. This unique day gives our students opportunity to explore the areas of STEAM- Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math with hands on activities, career exploration and outside vendor presentations. Our students will be thinkers, risk takers and open-minded as they solve engineering design challenges, code drones to fly, and take a trip to the stars with our pop up planetarium, BUT we need your help to make this day a success!!
If you work or have experience in any of those fields - please sign up to share some of your expertise with our students! https://forms.gle/PUKLhcnV6XhfBVst7
We thank you in advance for your time and support for this great program.
Upcoming Campus Events & Dates
Monday, December 9
8:00AM -8:45AM Coffee with Principal
Location: Library
Monday, December 16
8:00AM - 8:30AM Principal's Pride (K-2)
Location: Cafeteria
Tuesday, December 17
8:00AM-8:30AM Principal's Pride (3-5)
Location: Cafeteria
6:00PM -7:00PM 4th Grade Folk Dance Performance
Location: Cafeteria
Wednesday, December 18
7:00AM - 12:00PM No Parking at Hope
Thursday, December 19
7:00AM - 12:00PM No Parking at HOPE
Class Parties - Check with your child's teacher for time
Friday, December 20 - Tuesday January 7
Winter Break
Wednesday, January 8
First Day Back for Students
Helpful Attachments
Spicewood Elementary Vision Statement:
Spicewood aspires to be a caring community of innovative, globally minded citizens who take action.
Spicewood aspira a ser una comunidad solidaria de ciudadanos innovadores y de mentalidad global que actĂșen.