The Hasty Howler
February Parent Engagement Newsletter
From the Principal
Greetings Husky Family,
I want to begin with a huge THANK YOU! Thank you for ensuring that during Remote Learning, your scholar was learning everyday starting at 7:45 am. It is an honor to work with amazing students, families and staff that make up the Hasty Elementary School community.
As mentioned in the previous parent letters, research has proven that when parents are involved and engaged with their students learning, student grades are higher, test scores improve, better attendance, more completed homework, more positive attitudes, and behavior.
Accordingly, we have started a school-wide Reading and Math Challenge and need your help! Our goal is to have each student in the school read at home for at least 20 minutes every night. The student can read independently, or you can read to them. Be sure to document the time spent reading on the form provided by your child’s teacher. We also need you to help our students prepare to pass iReady math lessons. You can do this by helping them practice their math facts.
Lastly, please make every effort to ensure your student is in attendance unless they are sick. A missed school day is a lost opportunity for students to learn. Teachers plan many lessons and activities that just can't be made up or recreated as make-up work. Additionally, classwork is progressive and each day of learning builds on the day before. Absences from school cause gaps in that progression. More effort is needed to catch up than to keep up. Research shows that students who chronically miss school fall behind academically.
Sincerely,
Dr. Maria Rosario-Regan
Parent Engagement Facilitators - Mrs. Freeman & Mrs. Sanchez
It's amazing that the school year is more than half over. In spite of the challenges we have faced, children continue to learn, parents and teachers continue to work hard in helping children overcome the learning challenges that are before them. Parenting during a pandemic has not been easy, but you have accomplished much! Way to go! When we look around the world and see all that is going on and how it makes the future so uncertain, we must remember that children are in need of more support than ever. Whether your child is a digital learner or a face to face learner, they need YOU to connect with them, to affirm them, they need all of your love to fill the areas that have a void. So make those connections, cuddle, talk, read stories, sing songs and help them feel secure, safe and loved.
In the months ahead many students will continue to face social challenges and academic challenges as they will be introduced to new concepts and skills. We need our partnership more than ever! We encourage you to stay the course, help them persevere. Working towards facing and meeting challenges will be a skill that can help them reach or surpass their goals as well as staying focus on things they have the power to change.
Training the brain to concentrate, recollecting information and remembering what it has learned will be beneficial to your child. Make learning fun, by involving as many senses as possible in their learning process. Attempt relating information to colors, smells, sounds and textures. Get your child to rewrite information which can help imprint the information onto their brain so they have an easier time remembering things. Have your child read out loud, recite, sing math facts or add a tune to something they are learning will help them remember what they are learning. Remember we have our Math and Reading Challenge throughout the month of February until March 26th. We also have bilingual books available "WE BOTH READ" for checkout in our PRC. A Dice activity and instructions on "WE BOTH READ" went home. Have fun engaging with your child!
We encourage you to talk to your child and ask him/her to relate information to what he or she already knows. Building on previous knowledge will solidify learning. Even if they are an English Language Learner, they can learn by using background information. Have your child practice explaining their ideas to someone else in their own words. When reading try to recollect as many details of a picture as possible after looking at it for 30-45 seconds, or have them count backwards, or tell you in details about their day backwards. These great exercises can help increase memory brain power. Your involvement in these activities will be meaningful to your child. What better way to say I love you this month than by investing in their future and being their greatest cheerleader! Together we are capable of so much more than what we think! Do not give up, let's persevere together. We are here to support you!
Time to Register for Pre-K
The application window for CCSD's Pre-K Program GA Lottery begins Monday February 8- March 12. Click here to register.https://www.cherokeek12.net/userfiles/4/my%20files/2021-22%20ga%20lottery%20pre-k%20press%20release%20updated%201.27.21.pdf?id=23391
Register Online for your Future Kindergartener for 2021-22
Children who are turning 5 on or before September 1, 2021 are eligible for Kindergarten, and children who are turning 6 on or before September 1, 2021 are eligible for First Grade.
Online registration begins Monday, February 8. To Register click here https://registration.cherokeek12.net/. For more information about CCSD Kindergarten, including a video and a helpful guidebook click here https://www.cherokeek12.net/Content2/divisions-school-operations-school-enrollment-kindergarten-registration-gateway
Calendar - February 2021
2/1 -3/26- Reading and Math School Wide Challenge (Read 1,000,000 minutes & Reach 10,000 Math Lessons Passed)
2/5- Counselor Appreciation Day
2/8 - Kindergarten and Pre-K Online Registration Begins
2/8 -2/12 - Valentine Ducks for Sale
2/15- 2-19 -Winter Break - NO SCHOOL
2/25 - School Council @ 3:00 p.m.
Stop the Spread of COVID-19
Stop the spread of COVID-19 Encourage children to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by teaching them to do the same things everyone should do to say healthy:
1.Avoid close contact with others.
2.Wash hands often with soap and water.
3.Cover your coughs and sneezes.
4. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and objects.
5.Stay home when you are sick.
6. Wear a mask when maintaining a safe distance is not possible. For more tips, visit strong4life.com/reopening.
ELA- English Language Arts- (Click on the picture to access the video)
We are excited to share information about our school-wide reading competition. This competition will run through March 26th. Our goal is for our students to collectively read 1 million minutes.
What can you do to help your child?
- Encourage your child to read nightly. They can read to you or you can read to them. It doesn’t matter what they read; we just want them to read. Once you have completed the reading for the night, be sure to fill out the reading log sent home by your child’s teacher.
- We can’t wait to see which homeroom reads the most minutes and if our school can read 1 million minutes! Good luck everyone.
Math (Click on the picture to access the video)
Here is how you can help your child participate in our school-wide math competition that we are having through March 26th. Our goal is to pass 10,000 i-Ready lessons. These are the online individual lessons that students complete at school and at home.
What can you do to help your child?
- Encourage your child to do their best when they are completing these lessons.
- Encourage them to take their time and use their math strategies.
- Encourage them to use their paper and work out the problems. Ask them each day if they passed their lesson that day.
Tips from the Nurse- Mrs. Morris
The simplest way to help prevent the spread of germs is through proper handwashing. Practice with your kids at home using the recommendations from the CDC. (https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html) Maintain good habits like handwashing, using sanitizer, social distancing, and wearing a mask to decrease the risk of flu, the common cold, COVID-19, and other illnesses.
Stay safe, happy, and healthy!
Nurse LindseyCounselor's Corner (Pre-K- 2nd Grades-Mrs. Ferry) (3rd-5th Grades-Mrs. Warren)
“To the world, you may be one person, but to the one person you may be the world.” - Dr. Seuss
Children are always watching so be a positive example for your children. Set up opportunities to help others as a family. Teach your children that even small acts of kindness can go a long way in life.
Be a role model for your children. For example, when you’re tired from a long day of work, try to speak in a kind voice to your family.
The effects of kindness can go a long way and help your children be successful and happy in life.
Kindness starts with YOU!
Here are great books about kindness to share with your kids:
What Does It Mean To Be Kind
By: Rana DiOrio
Try a Little Kindness
By: Henry Cole
Be Kind
By: Pat Zietlow Miller
The Invisible Boy
By: Trudy Ludwig