Welcome Back to School!
January 2024
Health-Related Updates
- Keep your child home if the are not feeling well, have a fever or have vomited in the past 24 hours.
- Remind kids to wash their hands.
- Teach your chld to cover their coughs and sneezes
🌨️ Cold Weather Reminders 🌨️
With winter weather should come lots more winter gear. Please remind students that they should come prepared every day for possible weather changes, including winter hats, gloves, coats, and appropriate shoes. Students will still go outside for recess, even if the weather is less than ideal.
We know that winter gear can be expensive, especially with how quickly kids grow. If you are in need of assistance getting hats, boots, coats, or gloves please contact Rebekah Rutar the school nurse, or Health Wallace the school counselor.
With winter arriving, it is criticical that students are well-prepared for the cold weather. Here are some important reminders:
- Dress in layers: Encourage your child to dress in layers to stay warm during the cold days. A warm coat, hat and gloves are very important as the snow, wind and temperature drops.
- Arrival and dismissal procedures: Please remember students can be dropped off no earlier than 7:45. Students eating breakfast at school are allowed in for breakfast at 8:05.
- Illness prevention: Cold weather often brings an increase in illness. Remind your child that the most important way to stay healthy is to wash their hands. If your child has vomited or they have a fever over 100, they must stay home for 24 hours.
- Emergency contact information: Now is a good time to double check that your contact information is up-do-date with the school office.
- Inclimate weather (taken from the LCSD1 website) Whenever possible, school closure announcements will be made the evening before by way of the notification system and on all 10 P.M. TV and radio broadcasts. If not possible, an announcement will be made by 5:30 am. If school is closed during the day due to a snowstorm, it is determined that all students have satisfactory transportation. Parent instructions from each student's emergency closure form are followed.
Upcoming dates in January (subject to change if weather does not cooperate 😉 )
This is the list as of December 31, 2023. As events are added you will be notified by way of remind, or notes home from teachers in your student "home" folders. 😃
January 9th- 6:30 PTO meeting at in the library at Buffalo Ridge
January 9th- 6:00 pm Parent book study "Growth mindsets for parents: Strategies to encourage growth mindsets in kids" No book needed, we will read Chapter 3 at the meeting.
January 15th- Martin Luther King Day NO SCHOOL
January 28th- PTO Bingo at Blue Federal Credit Union- Time to be determined at a later date.
Winter Testing
It is the time of year when your students will be participating in mid-year assessments. Third and Fourth grade students will participate in WY-TOPP and the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress). While kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades will be doing mid-year checks using a platform called Fastbridge. Both WYTOPP and Fastbridge are considered standardized tests. Standardized means a test is given the same way each time to each student.
Standardized testing helps for schools and educators to measure how well students are learning and to make sure they are getting a good education. It helps parents and teachers understand how a student is doing compared to others in the same grade or age group.
Think of it like a health checkup for your child's education. Just like a doctor measures your child's height and weight to make sure they are growing properly; standardized tests measure your child's knowledge and skills to ensure they are progressing well academically.
These tests are designed to be fair and equal for all students, so they provide a consistent way to assess learning across different schools and regions. They can also help identify areas where your child might need extra help or where they excel, so you and their teachers can work together to support their education and growth.
In the end, standardized testing helps ensure that all students have access to a quality education and that schools are doing their best to prepare your child for future success.
For information on preparing your student for a great testing experience, click the Reading Rockets image.
Over the next few months, I will be sharing some of the systems being used at Buffalo Ridge. The first one I would like to share is our PBIS system. PBIS is an acronym for Positive Behavior Interventions and Support. The video linked to the right, explains PBIS. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Principal Cheryl Fogg
Email: cheryl.fogg@laramie1.org
Website: https://buffaloridge.laramie1.org/
Location: Cheyenne, WY
Phone: (307)771-2595