Longbranch Family Newsletter
Week of April 3rd
SPRING CARNIVAL--YOUR HELP NEEDED
Please sign up for a slot here. You'll have plenty of time to enjoy the event with your family after your shift:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c054aa9a823a2fd0-spring
We also need 24 pop-up tents to borrow that day. If you can loan us one for the day, please email Amanda at amanda.scroggin24@gmail.com.
Spring Carnival Prize Patrol
Kindergarten - Bags of Candy
1st Grade - Bags of DumDum suckers
2nd Grade - Bags of Balloons
3rd Grade - plastic grocery bags
4th Grade - 2 Liters of soda
5th Grade - 2 Liters of sodaIt's Autism Awareness Week at Longbranch!
Learning About a Common Difference at Our School
Throughout the week, our students will have the opportunity to watch an informational video about students with Autism. We want our students to understand why students with Autism are who they are and what makes them unique and how we can best interact with them at school to be a great friend.
Finally, on Friday we will all wear blue to show our friends with Autism that we stand together as a family of Longhorns and we appreciate everyone's difference.
Would you like to learn more about Autism? Watch this video our students will be watching this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0w6carvS8k
This Week's Events
MONDAY
- Monday Morning Meeting
- ESS after school 1st grade Reading, 3rd grade Reading/Math
- Monday Morning Meeting Skit Crew after school until 4:30
- Mrs. Palmer's Book Study at 6pm
- 2nd Grade Field Trip to the Nature Center
TUESDAY
- Strings before school
- ESS: 2nd grade reading and math, 4th grade math, and 5th grade reading
- Girls on the Run after school
WEDNESDAY
- Girls on the Run after school
- ESS: 1st grade reading, 3rd grade reading and math
- LB Chorale before school
- LB Chorale Field Trip to Lawrenceburg
- Superintendent's Advisory Council in AM
THURSDAY
- ESS: 2nd grade reading and math, 4th grade math, and 5th grade reading
- Strings before school
- Lifetouch Spring Pictures
FRIDAY
- LB Chorale Before School
- Gym in use 5:30-7pm
- Popcorn Friday
- Flip Flop Friday--bring gym shoes for recess or gym class.
- WEAR BLUE FOR AUTISM DAY!
- 5th Grade to Camp Ernst for Orientation.
WEEKEND
Parent Leadership Info & Events
We need LOTS of Volunteers for our Spring Carnival
Our Spring Carnival is coming up on Saturday, April 29th from 3:00pm – 8:00pm
(with a Special Needs Families Only Hour from 2:00 – 3:00pm).
With over 100 volunteer spots, we need LOTS of families to step up to help us make it a success!
To sign up for a shift, please do so at this link! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UcFb_uCO6jxyhUOPh
HcVUlHOYxvu5kbspHDVV8vzdUo/edit?usp=sharing
We also need your tents!
We need a lot of pop up tents for all our booths for the carnival!
We promise to take good care of them and return them afterward! Please let us know if you have any pop up tents that we can borrow for the day!
The Carnival has FREE ADMISSION!
50¢ per game ticket
Carnival Games Range from 1-3 tickets to play
$10 Wristband for
UNLIMITED USE OF INFLATABLES ONLY
Beat the lines! Pre-sale tickets & wristbands are going on now!
To order game tickets and/or wristbands, please send money and the bottom of the form coming home with your child this week in a sealed envelope with your child’s name and homeroom teacher by 4/21, marked “Carnival Pre-Sale Tickets.”
Make checks payable to: Longbranch PTA
*$50.00 bank fee for returned checks
Questions? Contact amanda.scroggin24@gmail.com
Yearbook Photos
WE NEED YOUR PHOTOS!
If you’d like to make sure your child and his/her activities at Longbranch make it in the yearbook for this year, then please send your photos to us!
Our yearbook coordinator cannot be at all the awesome events that go on with our students throughout the year and needs your help in making sure we get a large variety of kids and activities included in the book!
Please email photos that you would like to submit for possible inclusion in the yearbook, along with the names and grade of the students in each picture, to longbranchyearbook@gmail.com. If you would rather send them in another format that is fine too!
Any questions, contact the VP of Communications, Rachel Pearson, at communications.longbranchpta@gmail.com.
Support Longbranch when you Shop on Amazon!
Support Longbranch while you shop by shopping at AmazonSmile!
Go to smile.amazon.com to create your account,
search for "Longbranch Elementary PTA" as your
organization, and .5% of your purchase goes back to the school!
Amazon will donate 0.5% of your purchase
to Longbranch Elementary PTA.
Support us every time you shop!
AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know!
Same products, same prices, same service
Questions? Need help logging in?
Contact: waysandmeans.longbranchpta@gmail.com
Kroger Cards Help Generate BIG MONEY for Our School
Kroger donates 4% of all money you spend after you scan your Kroger Plus card as long as you connect the Plus card to our Longbranch PTA account.
If 400 families connected their cards and spent $100 a week at Kroger, each family would make $4 per week. That's $1600 a week. That's $19,000 a quarter. That's unreal. That's plain and simple easy money.
We encourage you to visit Kroger.com and create an account. Click Community Rewards. Search for Longbranch and connect your plus card with Longbranch PTA. It's the EASIEST fundraiser you'll ever participate in, period.
7 Habits 101
Be Proactive
LOOKS LIKE: Getting ready for school on their own without adult prompting, doing their homework without being asked, performing tasks around the house that need to be done without being asked.
Begin With the End in Mind
LOOKS LIKE: Determining that there's something they want to buy and setting up a system to make sure they save weekly to be able to buy it or knowing they have a project due in 3 weeks and keeping up with the work that needs to be done throughout the 3 weeks so the goal is accomplished.
Put First Things First
LOOKS LIKE: Putting work before play. Being able to prioritize the tasks that MUST be done vs. the tasks that are optional. They do household chores before they play x-box or they practice piano before they go to a friend's house.
Think Win-Win
LOOKS LIKE: Students are in a small group working on a science experiment. Katie wants to create a test with one set of materials. Braden wants to create a test with a different set of materials. They decide to try both and see which one is the best set of materials rather than Braden getting his way or Katie getting her way. Students who think win-win are working on a broader habit of recognizing that everyone's voice matters and acknowledging that there can be another perspective or vantage point other than their own.
Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
LOOKS LIKE: When in a group, a student demonstrating this habit will be actively listening to other students' input to a conversation and then will take time to assert their viewpoint. A student who demonstrates this habit is not a student who never asserts him or herself. Rather, they wait respectfully to hear others' perspectives before asserting himself or herself. This allows the individual to really create a stronger understanding of their own opinion through the eyes and minds of others.
Synergize
LOOKS LIKE: 5 students working on a group project all inputting equally into a conversation about how to complete a task, dividing up the task based on their strengths, allowing one another to contribute to all parts of the task, and having an outcome that is superior to what would have been accomplished had they all 5 completed the task alone.
Sharpen the Saw!
LOOKS LIKE: From an adult perspective, you take time daily to mediate, walk the dog, read for enjoyment, attend a painting class, play an instrument, run with a friend, etc. Daily you or your child participate in something that brings you joy and balance to your life. Did you just say, "I don't have time for that"? You don't NOT have time for that. There's very solid research that would tell you that if you do this daily, your productivity will skyrocket.
Spring Events
April 3: Star Spring Benchmark Window Opens and 2nd Grade to the Nature Center
April 6: Lifetouch Spring Pictures
April 7: Spirit Day: Flip Flop Friday and Popcorn Friday
April 10-14: Spring Break
April 19: 2nd Grade to the Nature Center
April 20: School Board Meeting at 7:30pm and Kona Ice Day
April 24: Club Day
April 26: Administrative Professionals Day
April 28: 1st Grade to the Zoo
May 2 and 4: Student Led Conferences
May 5: Spirit Day--Hat Day and Popcorn Friday and 5th Grade Lock In
May 8: Jim Basketball Jones Assembly!
May 9: SBDM at 4:30 and Boone County Honor Choir at Erpenbeck at 6pm
May 9-15: State Testing Window
May 11: School Board Meeting
May 12: Kona Ice Day
May 18: Florence Freedom Night
May 19: WIG Celebration Day
May 24: Last Day for Students and Spirit Day: Sign My Shirt Day and 5th Grade Promotion (tentative)
*The final day of school is tentatively May 24th for students. This is pending approval by the school board at the March or April board meeting. To date, we have missed 1 full day and three 2-hour delays due to inclement weather. This may adjust the final day of school.
*After the board has established the official last day of school, we will work with our feeder middle schools and high school to establish a 5th grade promotion night, a Kindergarten celebration of learning event, staff vs. student basketball game, 5th grade lock in, and field days.
Our W.I.G.s (Wildly Important Goals) for 2016-2017
Updated 12/2016
ATTENDANCE: From 96.97% in December to 97% average daily attendance by March 15, 2017.
Current: 96.97%
MATH:
2nd grade: Raise the average percentile rank for 2nd grade students from 59th percentile to the 70th percentile of the nation by May 2017.
3rd-5th grade: Raise the average percentile rank for 3rd-5th grade students from 73rd percentile to the 80th percentile of the nation by May 2017.
Winter Checkup for 3rd-5th Math:
- 3rd Grade: 78th percentile
- 4th Grade: 80th percentile
- 5th Grade: 81st percentile
READING:
Raise the average percentile rank for all students from 55th percentile to the 65th percentile of the nation by May 2017.
Winter Checkup for Reading:
- K and 1st Grade: Not measured by percentiles
- 2nd Grade: 67th percentile
- 3rd Grade: 69th percentile
- 4th Grade: 66th percentile
- 5th Grade: 64th percentile