Happy Sunday Craddock families!

The flu officially hit me on Wednesday and it has been a slow climb back to health, as whatever it was surely packed a powerful punch! I am so grateful for the ability to recuperate and regain good health again. There are so many bugs going around right now. Stay healthy!

We ended our week last week with a chilly treat in honor of filling up our school-wide pom pom bucket for the third time. Check out some pictures from the cafeteria! The kids had a blast and definitely felt celebrated! 100% of them voted this for our prize! Get ready for some more celebrating, as we are well on our way to filling our bucket for the fourth time!

As with every December, there is a lot going on. This week brings the annual Holiday Shop. Many thanks to our PTO for organizing and putting this together. Please click the link below if you would like to volunteer to help. A few more spots are available.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F4DAFAF28A7FB6-craddock6

Our winter benchmarking assessments begin this week as well. Just as we did in the fall, students will be assessed throughout December and January across the areas of reading and math. We are so excited to see how much the kids have grown since August. They are working so hard!

Enjoy the week ahead. It looks like Mother Nature is going to make sure we know that winter is near, keeping the temperatures chilly. Thank you in advance for ensuring your child is properly dressed for outdoor recess.

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions, concerns or feedback.

Take care,

Kim Menta

kmenta@aurora-schools.org

330-562-3175 - office

216-849-2552 - cell (call or text)

Mrs. Kerchenski comes to us with a lot of experience working with people, as well as within the Aurora City Schools. She did a lot of volunteer work with the PTO and Band Boosters. She also spent time as a paraeducator at Harmon Middle School. She has since been a substitute secretary for the district and spent many days last year at Craddock! She is entering the role of secretary with great experience and solid knowledge.

In her free time, Mrs. Kerchenski loves to work in her flower garden and spend time with her beautiful family. We are very excited to have her here and know she will be a wonderful fit for Craddock, helping all the staff, students and families. Please make sure to reach out and welcome her! Her email is jkerchenski@aurora-schools.org and she can be reached at 330-562-3175.

Greetings Families! Over the course of the year, I meet with students in small groups. These groups include students in first and second grades and can include as few as two students or as many as six. Beginning in January, I am starting a new group to focus on Changing Families. Students that may benefit from this group may have a change in their family including separation, divorce, or death of an immediate family member. This group will meet once weekly for twenty to twenty-five minutes for six to eight weeks. Group activities will focus on meeting peers in a similar situation, identifying the change, learning about adult v. kid responsibilities, naming adults that are their support system, reaffirming their identities, and problem-solving scenarios with the group members. If you think your child would benefit from this group, please reach out to me at lambrosia@aurora-schools.org or 330.562.3175 ext. 1260.

A resource of interest is this awesome site shared with me by our Director of Special Services, Mike Maglionico: https://www.onoursleeves.org/

This site is a simple way to gather community resources, contacts, talking points and activities to benefit your family’s well-being and mental health over the holidays. I found the How-To articles super helpful because as a counselor and a parent, I know how I want my students and children to think of themselves, but am often refining the process in which I use to correct their thinking in a more positive way. I hope you find this resource helpful!

Mrs. Lindsey Ambrosia

School Counselor

Craddock Elementary School

330.562.3175, ext. 1260

Please click the button below to read the letter, which will provide you much more information on the program, as well as how to access it and when. Feel free to reach out to your child's teacher or our main office with any questions!

Students can be dropped off at 8:40 a.m. at the earliest! Please do not allow them to exit your car until that time, as there is no staff to monitor them. Pick up will begin promptly at 3:10 each day. If everyone knows the system and cooperates, we will have all students in cars in 15-20 minutes.

Here are some things I need all car rider families to do, which will help immensely.

• Please do not use Willard to line up for drop off or pick up. We are working with the police to get it blocked off, but in the meantime, please avoid it. Enter Hurd Road off of New Hudson and begin lining up there. Please see the map below for guidance.
• Parents are not permitted to get out of their car when dropping off or picking up their child(ren). It is one of the main reasons the flow of traffic slows down. If you need to do that, you must pull into a marked parking spot. Again, we ask you don't do it at all. We have plenty of staff available to help your child in or out safely.
• All students must exit their car on the passenger side of the vehicle. We understand this can be tricky with child locks and car seats, but it is in the best interest of all our car riders to have it be this way. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
• We are not permitting people to turn left into the school from Hurd Road. You will be asked to continue down Hurd, turn around and join the end of the line.
• We ask that you please respect the guidelines we have set up and follow them consistently. Everyone involved in the car rider process, staff and parents, thank you!