Arctic Light K-8
Do Good Work, Be a Friend, Every Day - February 28th, 2022
Upcoming Events:
February 28-March 4th - Read Across America Spirit Week
March 1st - School Board Meeting
March 2nd - Science Fair Projects brought to school
March 2nd - Spring Pictures
March 3rd - First Day for Terrific Kids Awards
March 11th - Arty Award Applications are due.
March 11th - Early Out and End of Third Quarter
March 14-18th - Spring Break
March 21st - Fourth Quarter Begins
March 22nd - after school STEM Club starts
Principal's Message - March
March - the month to get things going.
By March, in the Lower 48, most places are well into planting season and/ or getting out and about. Here in Fairbanks, we're still waist deep in snow and weeks from Mud Season. Even so our parents have an out-of-town exercise this month that will engage many for weeks.
Keep us posted. Little issues are best engaged when they are little, don't let them grow. Spring has its own energy and don't be surprised by how fast things can change. Keep us informed so we can keep the focus on student learning.
Teachers work on Report Cards during the Early-Out on Friday, March 11th. They finalize the grades by March 23rd, making them available by that Friday through PowerSchool. Take advantage of these next two weeks and get late work turned-in or low tests redone to show improved learning.
With all the challenges this year, mostly from Covid, we can feel a shift at school - a shift almost back to normal.
Thank You.
We are moving into our most normal times since March of 2020 and we couldn't be here without your support. Let's take advantage of these days and maximize our student learning and growth.
Keep us posted.
Do Good Work, Be a Friend, Every Day.
Principal Keener
This next week is our celebration of Dr. Seuss through Read Across America. We have school spirit activities and a whole lot of actions across our school.
We also have a new assistant principal for the day -
Congratulations Mordecai, for winning the Reading Contest.
Coaching Corner - Hannah Wright
There is no more important activity than reading aloud together. Fill your story times with a variety of books. Be consistent, be patient, and watch the magic work.
When reading books with your younger child, point to the pictures, and say the names of the various objects. By drawing attention to pictures and associating the words with both pictures and the real-world objects, your child will expand their vocabulary. Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills.
Even after children learn to read by themselves, it's still important for you to read aloud together. By reading stories that are on their interest level, but beyond their reading level, you can stretch young readers' understanding and motivate them to improve their skills.
Counseling Corner - Kate LaSota
March themes are Patience and Flexibility.
Students are encouraged to calm themselves enough so that they can think of several helpful solutions to problems and then pick what they think is the best solution to try to work things out.
Such problem solving is remembered as ABCDE:
A = Ask, “What’s the problem?”
B = Brainstorm more than 1 good idea.
C = Choose 1 idea.
D = Do the idea.
E = Evaluate how the idea worked, and start over with asking “What’s the problem?” now with new information in mind, if need be.
The challenge is to be calm enough to be able to brainstorm many ideas so that the options are responses, and not just reactions that are usually less helpful.
Students are reminded of ways to calm themselves so that they can think more clearly, and they are encouraged to practice calming daily.
One science backed way of calming is to practice finding 3 things or people that a student might feel grateful for at a given moment.
Other science backed ways of calming are through deep breaths, having a glass of water, exercising, or resting.
We calm so we can think more clearly and come up with more helpful ideas when we brainstorm.
It takes patience to spend time to get calmer, and flexibility to come up with several alternative solutions.
Thank you for reminding students of the ABCDE problem solving process, and for helping them practice getting calm to think and solve.
I tried to come up with a carpentry pun that
Woodwork. I think I nailed it but nobody saw it.
Before it was carved, Mount Rushmore’s natural beauty was
unpresidented.
I went to sleep reading old magazines.
This morning, I woke up with back issues.
