Longbranch Family Newsletter
Week of February 13th
Why do we monitor student attendance?
Many of our attendance issues are late arrivals. The kids are trained in the habits of Be Proactive and Put First Things First. If it helps you at home, you can remind them that setting their alarm, eating breakfast instead of playing video games, helping you with the younger children in the house are all things that they have control over and can assist the family with. All children must be at school by 8:40am daily. If arriving at school late is an issue for your child, consider establishing a plan for your child at home to make sure he or she is ready to walk out the door on time every day.
Another connection with attendance and school is the fact that our school is funded based on our average daily attendance. This means that we do not receive funding based on the number of students enrolled. We receive funding based on the percentage of students in attendance at our school. If we have a 98% attendance rate, we receive 98% of the funding. If we have a 70% attendance rate, we receive 70% of the funding.
We do not want children to come to school when they are contagious, if they have a fever, if they have a chronic disease and are unable to come to school, when they have doctor's appointments that cannot be rescheduled outside school hours, and so on. We do want children to come to school at all other times. Students who miss 2 days per month have an increased likelihood of falling behind academically and potentially setting them off track for graduation. Read: http://www.attendanceworks.org/facts-stats-school-attendance/ If you need assistance from a counselor at setting an attendance goal with your child, please contact us and we would be happy to assist you with a support plan at school.
We hope this helps provide more insight as to why the school monitors the daily attendance of our children. As of today, our yearly average daily attendance is 96.47%. Our goal is 97%.
This Week's Events
MONDAY
- Monday Morning Meeting
- 1st Grade Field Trip to Childrens Theater
- Parent Book Study: How to Hug a Porcupine
TUESDAY
- Strings before school
- ESS: 2nd grade reading and math, 4th grade math, and 5th grade reading
- Boys Basketball Practice
- SBDM Rescheduled to February 20 at 4:30pm
- Girls on the Run
WEDNESDAY
- Cheerleading Practice after school
- Girls on the Run after school
- Monday Morning Meeting Skit Crew
- Science Matters Begins
- ESS: 1st grade reading, 3rd grade reading and math
THURSDAY
- Boys basketball games
- Team Leader Meeting at 7:45am
- ESS: 2nd grade reading and math, 4th grade math, and 5th grade reading
- Strings in AM
- Faculty Meeting
FRIDAY
- PLT for Lunch
- Living Wax Museum for 3rd Grade
WEEKEND
Parent Leadership Information and Events
Last Days for Longbranch Candy Grams
Tomorrow 2/13 is the last day to pre-order a Rose, Heart Swirl Lollipop or a Rose Ring Pop for delivery to the student/teacher of your choice on Valentine’s Day! (or to take home to family/friends)
All items are just $1/a piece or 10 items for $12!
Students must pre-pay for their orders and their candy gram will be delivered to the homerooms by our PTA volunteers on Valentine’s Day!
Fill out the Order forms sent home in Friday folders or print from our PTA website at www.longbranchpta.org.
We will also be selling whatever inventory we have left during lunches on Tuesday 2/14!
Please make any checks to Longbranch PTA.
PTA General Meeting
Our next PTA General Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday February 21st at 6:30 p.m.
Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting!
We will be discussing a lot of the upcoming PTA Events for this Spring!
Family Fun Night at Top Flight Gymnastics!
Date: Saturday, March 4th
Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Cost: $10.00 per child
You MUST have a registration form filled out in order to participate. This can be found at the link below. Make sure to bring it to Top Flight filled out on March 4th
http://topflightgymnastics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/special-event-registration-form.pdf
Spring Carnival Plans are Underway!
We will be hosting a Spring Carnival at Longbranch on Saturday April 29th 5 p.m. -10 p.m.
Planning is underway but we would love more help! We need people to help with games/booths, food, silent auction, decorating & signage, prizes, clean up, supplies and SO much more!
To learn more about this event, including how to sign up to help, please join us at a meeting on February 21st following the General PTA meeting at 6:30.
Please contact amanda.scroggin24@gmail.com for questions or if you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to help out with the event!
Yearbook Photos
We need your photos for our 2016-2017 Longbranch Yearbook!
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.
Any questions, contact the VP of Communication, 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
Popcorn Fridays
If you have not filled out your popcorn Friday form it's still not too late! The form can be found on the PTA website at www.longbranchpta.org and sent to school in your child's folder!
$5.00 per child covers all 9 of our popcorn Fridays.
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.
Winter Events
Feb 21: Boys Basketball Practice and PTA General Meeting at 6:30
Feb 22: Basketball (Boys and Girls) and Cheer Photos after school
Feb 23: Boys Basketball Games
Feb 24: Dulcimer Performance for 1st and 2nd Grades
Feb 27: Club Day
Spring Events
Mar 3: Don't Be Mean! Girls and Moms Movie Night at 6pm and Popcorn Friday
Mar 4: Family Fun Night at Top Flight at 6pm
Mar 6: 5th Grade Lock In Planning Meeting at 7pm
Mar 7: Basketball/Cheer End of Season Party at the Fundome at 6
Mar 9: School Board Meeting at 7:30pm
Mar 10 and 13: No School
Mar 14: SBDM at 4:30
Mar 15: 3rd Grade to Florence Government Center
Mar 16: 4th Grade Kentucky Science Exam
Mar 17: Spirit Day! Wear Green Day
Mar 21: Skate Night at the Fundome at 6pm
Mar 24: Girls Just Want to Have Fun Party hosted by Cooper Dance Team at 6pm
Mar 27: Kindergarten Registration from 4-7pm and Club Day
Mar 31: Reality Store for 5th Grade
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
May 8: Jim Basketball Jones Assembly!
May 9: SBDM at 4:30 and Boone County Honor Choir at Erpenbeck at 6pm
May 11: School Board Meeting
May 12: Kona Ice Day
May 18: Florence Freedom Night
May 24: Last Day for Students and Spirit Day: Sign My Shirt Day
*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