Hopkins Elementary Newsletter

Principal's Corner

Greetings Family,

Thank you for your participation in our Black History Month activities and our February Reading Challenge. We had 80 students participate in the challenge. I look forward to seeing even more students participating in the March Reading Challenge (March Madness).

Congratulations to Jaylen Hart's parents on winning the February Reading Challenge drawing!

Please be reminded of the following:

Several students now have cell phones. I ask that you closely monitor your child's interactions with others on their cell phones (and gaming systems). Some of the interactions can lead to conflict while in school. During school, we expect all students to be focused on learning.
The Law and School Policy regarding student attendance indicate that any student who misses school must present a written excuse, signed by his or her parent or legal guardian or health care professional, for all absences within 48 hours of the student's return to school. When your child is absent, be sure to complete the blue card sent home or complete the link to provide an excuse. Link- https://forms.office.com/r/7kVurJUQG6

Starting on March 16th our Parent & Family Engagement Specialist will be hosting Thirsty Thursdays. The purpose of each session will be to fill your cup with knowledge as outlined in the flyer below. We hope to see as many of you as possible in the sessions to come.

Thank you for entrusting Hopkins Elementary faculty and staff with your children. Please let us know if there is a question, comment, or concern.

Sincerely,

Audrey White-Garner, Principal

December

Thank you to everyone for supporting the sock drive sponsored by the House of Isibindi. The House of Isibindi collected 250 socks for Midlands Orphan Relief.

February

Thank you to everyone for supporting the Family Food Drive sponsored by the House of Altruismo. As a school family we collected $1,213 items. Congratulations to the following House for collecting the most items:

1st Place- Altruismo (408 items)
2nd Place- Amistad (318 items)
3rd Place- Isibindi (284 items)

March/April

During the month of March/April the House of Amistad will be hosting a coin drive for the March of Dimes. Please make a donation by using the link below.

https://www.marchforbabies.org/laaveria_n

Join us in celebrating International SEL Day on Friday, March 10, 2023. Social emotional learning (SEL) is an important part of education and human development. It is the process of developing self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are essential for school, work, and life success. People with strong social-emotional skills are better able to cope with everyday challenges and benefit academically, professionally, and socially. Share one way you are reinforcing social emotional learning at home with #SELday #SEL.

A few activities that can be done at home include:

Understanding Feelings - Play feelings charades. Take turns guessing the emotion the other person is demonstrating or describing. Take it a step further by asking your child if they have every experienced that feeling and when.

Coping Skills - After discussing various feelings people experience, talk about ways to calm down. See the Counselor's Corner message about self-regulation to know what we have been doing at school. Encourage your child to try some of the coping skills listed or come up with their own.

Family Conversations - Just engage in conversations with your child(ren). Below are a few conversation starters:

If you could design your own school, what would it look like?
What are the most interesting things about you?
If our family were the characters from (your kid’s favorite book, movie, etc.), which characters would we all be?
If you were a great inventor, what would you invent?

Smart Goal Challenge - Self-motivation is an essential component to social-emotional learning. If you’re not sure how to self-motivate your children, try challenging your children to reach their potential by setting SMART goals. Work with your children to set a SMART goal. SMART goals must be Specific, Measurable, Agreed-Upon, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Check in with your children several times throughout the month to measure their progress and support them if any challenges arise. If your children meet their goal by the agreed-upon end date, acknowledge and praise the success. If you wish, give a piece of candy or another reward.

It's already March. Did you complete your February reading challenge? Reading is fun and it's all around us. March Reading Madness is on. Each week challenge yourself to read at least 5 books. Your child can read a book on your phone while you're driving. You and your child can read the cereal box during breakfast. You can read the names of the isles at the store. You can even read the menu at a restaurant. It's Madness how much reading we can do. Let's get to it with March Reading Madness!!!

See the flyer below that includes information about our March Reading Challenge.

Happy March! Let the Math Madness begin!!! We want to make sure we are talking math with our students and no better time than during the basketball season! Ask younger students questions (while watching games on TV or live in a gym), such as: what number is that (score/jersey), what if you add/subtract those numbers, is that number even/odd, which number is more/less, etc. For older students ask questions such as: what if you doubled that number, what if you halved that number, what if you add/subtract 100 or 1,000 to that number, how far do you think he threw that from (yards, feet, inches, etc.) You can talk with all students about the time on the clock (minutes versus seconds) and how long the game lasts...if it starts at __ and ends at ___! Please take pictures of you "talking" math at games or while watching and share it to our Facebook page. Be sure to caption the picture with what you and your child were talking about it.

SIC/PTO Corner

The School Improvement Council (SIC) serves as an advisory committee to a school's principal and faculty. Unlike PTOs and other voluntary school organizations, councils are mandated by law to exist in every public school in South Carolina. SICs play a vital role in educating our state's children, bringing together parents, educators, and community stakeholders to work collectively to improve their local schools. Some of the critical functions of the SIC include:

assist in developing and implementing a five-year school improvement plan (school renewal plan);
monitor and evaluate success in reaching the plan's goals and objectives;
write an annual report to parents about the progress of the plan; and
assist the principal in writing the narrative for the School Report Card

The Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) allows parents and teachers to collaborate to supplement and enrich the educational experience. Hopkins Elementary has been fortunate to have outstanding PTO Officers and members. If you would like to serve as an officer or member of our school's PTO, please call 803-783-5541 or email audrey.white-garner@richlandone.org to share your interest.

Our next SIC/PTO meeting will be held on April 5, 2023 @ 6:30pm at Hopkins Elementary School. For those that are unable to attend in person you may attend virtually by using the information below:

Platform- ZOOM
Meeting ID- 805-137-7207
Password- 210904

Download the Box Tops App

All you need is your phone! Download the Box Tops app, shop as you normally would, then use the app to scan your store receipt within 14 days of purchase. The app will identify Box Tops products on your receipt and automatically credit your school’s earnings online. Hopkins Elementary will receive a check twice this year that we can use for whatever we need for our school.

During the month of March & April we are hosting a Box Top Challenge between the 4 Houses. The House with the most box tops will win a pizza party in May. Click on the PDF below to see a list of the Box Top products.