Weekly Principal's Update
11/December/2020
From Ms. Robinson
Dear Families,
The Family-School Partnership (FSP) survey offers an opportunity for parents to provide feedback on schools’ communication, collaboration, and support for student learning.
The survey is currently open and closes Friday, Dec. 18.
The survey can be accessed here: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/5968764/FSP-2020-21
Families will be able to select their child's school by typing the school name or clicking in the drop-down menu. Families can complete one survey for each school that their child attends.
Upcoming Important Dates
December
12/14-12/18-- SPIRIT WEEK
12/18- Holiday celebrations
12/21 & 22-- NO SCHOOL- Non Contact days
12/23-1/5-- Winter Break
January 6th- School Resumes
Enroll Jeffco for 2021-2022
Returning students:
Anytime between December 8th and January 15th:
Login to EnrollJeffco using your Jeffco username and password.
Select the student you’d like to enroll for the 2021/22 school year.
Answer the questions asked and submit. If you answer “yes” when asked if you’ll be returning to your current school, you are done enrolling your student.
Repeat for all of your students.
www.enrolljeffco.org
Enrolling your child via the EnrollJeffco system lets the school principal know that your student will be returning next year. He/she can then create a budget and staffing plan that will support all enrolled students.
Spirit Week
Mental Health Corner
The New Three Rs: Helping Children Thrive During The Pandemic and Beyond
By Pamela Cantor, M.D. and Kate Felsen
We are all experiencing disruptions to some of the most important communities and relationships in our lives – friends, classrooms, teachers, teams, coaches, churches, extended families – the people we trust the most. The people we count on to help us get to the other side of this crisis and build resilience for whatever the future may hold.
So what can we do about this? We can make our homes and eventually our schools places that inoculate us and our children against the intolerable stress of the scary, uncertain world we now live in. How? By focusing on the Three Rs: relationships, routines and resilience.
RELATIONSHIPS
Let’s start with ideas for strengthening and maintaining relationships at home. Relationships are the “active ingredient” in any environment – classrooms included –because they boost oxytocin – the love/trust hormone – and activate the learning centers of the brain. In fact, trust is the antidote to stress and relationships are the medium through which we experience trust.
- Exercise together for at least 30 min a day – running, walking, dancing, all rhythmic activities
- Schedule one-on-one conversations with teachers, coaches and advisory groups so children stay connected to their teachers, coaches and peers
- Prepare meals together where kids help choose the menu or even do the cooking themselves
- Hold family meetings and family-teacher check-ins to gauge how everyone is doing and answer questions about COVID-19
- Encourage older siblings to help younger ones with homework and household chores
- Call relatives, friends and neighbors who may be alone – helping others promotes the release of neurochemicals that boost the immune system
ROUTINES
Routines are something we have some control over in this uncertain time and can make our home environments feel safer and calmer. Our brains are prediction machines that like order and knowing what is coming next. When our environments are orderly the brain is calmer and able to learn.
- Build a daily schedule with your kids that includes regular time for lessons, reading, movement, journaling, healthy meals, and room for hanging out together
- Make or hang a visible chart or calendar with schedules and lists of successes to celebrate
- Set and post achievable goals for learning and wellness
- Plan activities to look forward to – such as playing cards, Twister or music, maybe over zoom with a classmate, or a hike with friends – six feet apart
RESILIENCE
Building resilience is likely the most important task we have, for ourselves and our kids. You might think that resilience is something you have or you don’t, like eye color, but resilience can be built just like a muscle. And it starts with knowing the strengths we already have from our life experiences and bolstering the skills and mindsets we possess to regulate our emotions, our actions, our behavior. We can do this through co-regulation in activities with others. Think of soothing a crying child, running or walking side-by-side, or coaching a teenager to prepare for a test.
- Turn to credible resources to learn how stress works in our brains and bodies, ways to reduce it and how to build self-regulation skills
- Choose and practice healthy habits, including a well-balanced diet, at least 8 hours of sleep, and regular exercise
- Limit exposure to media – and use the time to call a friend or relative
- Try meditation, mindfulness practices or dancing, walking or throwing a ball to a repetitive beat
- Re-write and tell your personal story from a positive, asset-based point of view – be the change you want to see
- Express confidence to children that this crisis will end, knowing that we must work at managing ourselves and our fears and frustrations every single day
Securly HomeApp
Use this app to add restrictions or monitor your child's tech use.
Resetting Chromebooks at Home
Support our school! Join PTA
Visit: https://www.welchesterwellness.com/
Go to the Members tab>Pay membership dues
Welchester Elementary
Email: brobinso@jeffco.k12.co.us
Website: https://welchester.jeffcopublicschools.org/
Location: 13000 West 10th Avenue, Golden, CO, USA
Phone: 303-982-7450
Facebook: facebook.com/welchester
Twitter: @PrincipalRobin2