Leopard Connection
Family Newsletter, January 2022
A Message From the Principal
Happy New Year!
I hope you and your families are having a great start to 2022!
The end of the year is a wonderful time to reflect on both the highlights and the challenges of the past year. My hope is that your highlights far outweighed your challenges!
The beginning of the new year is an exciting time - a time to reset our focus, emotionally, mentally and physically! Hopefully, this focus will give you clarity, direction and purpose.
What do you do to help set your focus for the new year? What can you do to help your child set their focus? I love the idea shared by one of my favorite educational bloggers, Tara Martin. Instead of setting a New Year's Resolution (which often start with good intentions, but are off our radar by February), her family works together to create a bucket list of things they want to do and experience in the upcoming year! Together they DREAM BIG! What a great things to model for our children. Will some of the dreams for the upcoming year go unfulfilled? Most definitely! But unfulfilled dreams can fuel our passion for the future! I challenge you and your family to give this a try - teach your children to dream big - they deserve it!
I'm off now to create my own Bucket List for the year! My plan is to do more then dream, I'm going to act! I recently heard the quote, "Don't get ready. Get STARTED!" Won't you get started with me?
As you DREAM BIG and ACT on those dreams, remember, it's a great year to be a LEOPARD!
Mrs. Hyde
IMPORTANT DATES
Wednesday, Jan. 5th
- Students Return
- Beginning of the 3rd 9 Weeks
Friday, Jan. 7th
- Report Cards Go Home (1st - 5th), Wear a college shirt as we promote college readiness
Monday, Jan. 10th
- Gringos Spirit Day, 20% of all sales will be donated to LPE
Tuesday, Jan. 11th
- LPISD Board Meeting, LPISD Board Room, 7:30 - School Board Appreciation
Friday, Jan. 14th
- Campus Oral Spelling Bee, LPE Library, 9:00 (Virtual)
Saturday, Jan. 15th
- Robotics Practice, James A. Baker 6th grade campus, Times TBA (Robotics Team only)
- Student and Staff Holiday
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- CPOC Meeting, LPE Library, 3:30 - 4:30; If you are interested in joining this committee, please reach out to Mrs. Hyde
Friday, Jan. 28th
- Leopard of the Month, LPE Library, 7:15 (Virtual)
Saturday, Jan. 29th
- TCEA Robotics Competition, Aldine ISD, Times TBA (Robotics Team only)
Monday, Jan. 31st
- Pap John's Spirit Day, 20% of all sales will be donated to LPE
- Early Release, 11:20
- LPISD School Health Advisory Council Meeting, LPISD Board Room, 4:00; If you are interested in joining this committee, please reach out to Mrs. Hyde
Wednesday, Feb. 2nd
- Groundhog Day
- Progress Reports Go Home (1st - 5th), Wear a college shirt as we promote college readiness
Friday, Feb. 4th
- 100th Day of School
Saturday, Feb. 5th
- UIL Competition, James A. Baker 6th Grade Campus, Times TBA
FRIENDLY REMINDERS
Student Success
- As you know, our students' success, academically and social/emotionally, is our top priority! Our teachers are working hard to ensure that every student is getting exactly what they need to be successful and our students are working hard to ensure that they achieve to their full potential.
- One of the things we are doing to promote student accountability is to have them set goals for themselves (both short and long term goals). Once they set a goal, they develop a plan to reach that goal and then work hard to implement their plan. Ask your student about their goals and how you can support them in achieving those goals.
- We also work on helping students reach their goals by setting up individualized instructional plans for each student - this plan may include enrichment, intervention or tutoring. If you believe your student needs additional support, please reach out to their teacher to discuss the plan for your students so that we can work together to ensure that our plan is meeting their needs.
- Save the Date for Monday, Feb. 21st - this will be a student holiday so that we can hold parent/teacher conferences to discuss how we can continue to work together to ensure the success of every student. Our plan is to meet with EVERY parent, so mark the date on your calendar and be on the lookout closer to the date for additional information.
Morning Arrival
- Thank you parents for all you have done to help make our morning drop off procedures both safe and efficient! By pulling up all the way to the first available drop off zone and by having your student ready to exit the car as soon as you reach the drop off zone, you have definitely helped the morning car rider line run smoothly!
- I also appreciate that you are no longer using the library parking lot or the front parking lot as a drop off area. Having consistent procedures helps everything to run smoothly.
- However, despite our valiant efforts, we continue to have a large number of students who are arriving to school after the tardy bell rings at 7:50. Remember, school starts at 7:40, so please strive to have your student dropped off by 7:40, leaving the 10 minute window from 7:40 - 7:50 for emergency days when you are running late.
- If you have questions about our tardy policy, please don't hesitate to reach out to the front office.
Label, Label, Label
- Cooler weather is here, so don't forget to label all outerwear (jackets, gloves, hats, etc.) with your child's first and last name! Lunch kits and water bottles should also be labeled. This helps us return all misplaced items to their rightful owners!
- Our lost and found is already filling up, so if your child is missing anything, please encourage them to check the lost and found!
District Updates (due to COVID)
In light of the recent increase in the spread of COVID 19, our district will be following these additional precautions:
- We continue to strongly encourage and highly recommend the use of masks.
- We will continue to encourage hand-washing and other preventative actions.
- We have increased our cleaning/sanitizing efforts.
- We will postpone school lunch visitors until further notice.
- We will postpone schoolwide assemblies and field trips until further notice.
District testing remains available for students who are symptomatic or who have experienced known exposure. Testing appointments can be made by contacting our nurse, Mrs. Hanks.
Additional Questions/Concerns
- If you have additional questions or concerns about our routines, procedures and expectations, feel free to contact myself or your child's classroom teacher via phone or email OR click on the link below to view the LPE Student Handbook!
Counselor's Corner
Happy New Year, LPE Families. Hope you had a joyous, restful, and safe holiday break. Our character trait for the month of January is Cooperation. This is truly a skill that is needed to make our world a better place. It is so amazing to see the things that can be accomplished when people work together especially with the aim of helping each other. I love how often I see students and staff doing this at LPE. In the words of Helen Keller, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” I look forward to seeing all the great things that will happen in 2022 as our LPE Leopards model cooperation. As always, please reach out if I can help your student or family in any way.
Nurse's Nook
New Year… New Start
As we start a New Year, many take the opportunity to reevaluate their personal and professional lives and make goals for the New Year. It seems that one’s Health and Wellbeing is always at the top of everyone’s list. If there was one piece of advice I could give you, it would be to keep it simple. The more complex you make it; the more likely it will be that you will not stick to your goal for long. Remember, for adults and children alike, well-balanced meals that consist of protein, vegetables, and fruit should always be a goal. Stay away, as much as possible, from fried foods and sodas. Start as simple as incorporating water into your daily routine. Allow for an hour of physical activity. The goal should not necessarily be to diet but to be healthy.
As we move into the cold/flu season, your nutrition, vitamins, and good hand hygiene always play an important part in keeping you well. If you would like your child to have cough drops or over the counter medications during school hours, please walk them into the nurses office and fill out a consent form. Students may not carry any type of medications on them due to safety reasons.
Hearing, Vision, and Type II Diabetic Screenings were completed for the required grade levels prior to Christmas Break and recommendation letters sent home. A reassessment for those who obtained glasses or contacts will be performed during the spring semester. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Upcoming: Spring will be scoliosis screening for all 5th grade girls. We will send out a reminder letter close to time of screening.
COVID REMINDERS
If your student exhibits, Fever, Loss of Taste or Smell, or 2 or more COVID symptoms, they will need ONE of the following to return to school:
- Obtain a COVID test. Testing is offered through LPISD free of charge and results are text to you and school nurse within an hour. You must have an appointment and may schedule at your convenience by calling 281-604-7332. At home negative test results are not accepted at this time by the district.
- Obtain a Physicians note with an approval to return to school with date noted.
- Remain in quarantine for 10 days from onset of symptoms.
Please notify the school if the student or anyone in the household does test positive so I can guide you through the process to return to school safely. At this time, 10 days of quarantine is still the policy. If that changes, the district will notify parents and staff.