The Beeper Buzz
Developing a community of learners for a better world.
Keeping our Roadrunner Families "In the know..."s
- LOST & FOUND - as we enter the season of jackets, hats, gloves... it's a good time to make sure everyone knows how our system works! We have a 5th grade Leadership Team that is in charge of the Lost & Found (they are the LAF Team). Every Wednesday they collect all of the lost & found items from the cafeteria. They look for names and return the items to the students (sooo helpful to have your child's name in everything). Those items that are not labeled, are cataloged, photographed and added to the website Lost & Found (use this link or access it from the Reed website). Items not claimed by the listed date are donated so bookmark the site and check back frequently.
- SNACKS IN THE CAFETERIA - recently we have had some questions about students ability to get snacks in the cafeteria. The CNS Department system for snacks is that students can purchase snacks unless parents "opt out". This may be a change from the past so we wanted to make sure everyone was aware. Parents have the option to opt out so that students are not allowed to purchase snacks or they can limit the amount their child can spend on snacks. Here is a link to the form you need to complete and send to our cafeteria to make changes.
- SCHEDULE CHANGE - Beginning Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, Leander ISD will be adding five minutes to the school day. Elementary campuses will end five minutes later, and high schools will start five minutes earlier, with the exception of Cedar Park High School, which will remain on the same schedule. The new school hours for LISD elementary campuses will be 7:45 a.m. – 2:50 p.m. and high schools will be 8:40 a.m. – 3:45 p.m. Middle school hours will not change.
House Bill 2610, which was passed this last legislative session, requires that public school students receive 75,600 minutes of instruction, instead of 180 days. As a result, LISD is lengthening the school day by five minutes at the elementary and high school campuses. CPHS and LISD middle schools are not impacted by the new law, as their school day already meets the requirements of the law.
If your student rides the bus and his or her route is impacted by this change, LISD Transportation services will notify you of your child’s new pick-up/drop-off time.
Curriculum Connections
Talking about time is another great way to help your children develop their mathematical minds. Here are some ways to explore time with your children:
Talk about the amount of time certain activities take. For instance, “We are going to the grocery store. We should be back home in about an hour.” or “That commercial lasted about one minute.” or “It will take us about five seconds to walk from the front door to the sidewalk.” or “Thanksgiving is about one week from now.” Children need lots of experiences talking and thinking about the passage of time to build their understanding.
Ask comparison questions about time. For instance, “Which takes longer, making your bed or walking to school?” or “Which lasts longer, a song or a movie?” Just for fun, make predictions about simple competitions, such as, “Can you bounce a ball for one minute without stopping? How about five minutes?”
Point out all the ways time is measured around your home, such as calendars, timers, clocks, etc. Talk about why you would use each different way to measure time. Ask your children questions about which time measurement to use. For instance, “Would you measure how long it takes to brush your teeth in seconds, minutes, or hours?” or “Would you measure how long we will be out of school (or on vacation, or whatever) in days, weeks, months, or years?”
As your children get older, ask them to tell you about what time it is by reading analog and digital clocks. You can ask if it is closer to 1:00 or 2:00, for instance, or ask about how many minutes it is until the next hour. Don’t worry about exact minutes until second grade or higher.
The most sophisticated way of talking about time with your children involves elapsed time, which begins in fourth grade. You might ask, “If the movie starts at 1:05 and lasts 2 hours, what time will it end?” or “I started cleaning the house at 10:00 and cleaned for 2 hours. What time did I finish?” or, even harder, “If you practice basketball for 1 and ½ hours and stop at 3:00, what time did you start?”
Counselor's Corner
Ask your child what Whole Body Listening is? We are talking to students about being a Whole Body Listener. We need to listen not only with our ears but also with our eyes, heart, arms, legs, mouth and brain.
In the upper grades we are taking it even a step further and talking to them about how challenges help our brain grow. We should not give up when something gets difficult but try harder so that our neurons will get stronger.
We are also talking to the upper grades about Growth Mindset. Growth Mindset is believing you can learn anything that you want to and knowing that mistakes and failures help us learn and grow.
Our Attendance last week was - 95.7%
PTA
WOW! Our PTA has been busy! Between Book Fair, Pizza Night/PTA Meeting, Room Rep Holiday Party planning meeting and Soup for the Soul for teachers - they have been busy, busy! Special "THANK YOU" to Marco's Pizza for donating the pizza for Book Fair Night! It was delicious!
If you couldn't make it to the meeting, PTA has jumped through all the district hoops to get a proposal and start the process of raising money for a shade structure for the K-2 playground. The quote for the purchase/installation of the shade structure is $15,505. We will be dedicating BoxTops to this as well as other fundraising events while applying for grants and looking for corporate sponsors. If you know of any possible sponsors, please let us know and we will contact them!
PTA EventsNOVEMBER
- 30th - Math Pentathlon practice begins
DECEMBER
- 8th - Reed Night @ McAlister's Deli
- 10th - PTA Snowy Social 5:30-7:00
Leader in Me - Habit 4 - Think Win-Win
Think Win-Win
is the belief that everyone can win. It’s not me or you—it is both of us. It is a belief that there are enough good things for everyone; it is an abundant way of thinking. Think Win-Win is being happy for others when good things happen to them. As a parent, not everything is negotiable, but if you go into discussions with your child with a win-win mindset, you’ll end up with a lot less resistance.
Younger-Child Activities
Play a game with your child(ren) that has a definite winner. Explain how competition is okay when you play a game, but it is not okay in relationships. Discuss how tense it would be in your home if every situation had to have a winner. A better way to think is win-win. This means we think of solutions that we can all feel good about when there is a problem. The more we Think Win-Win, the fewer problems there will be. You may want to display a chart listing the days of the week. When someone is “caught” thinking win-win, he or she gets to write his or her name on the chart for that day. Encourage win-win solutions to sibling disputes. Don’t always be the mediator; let them work out a solution and be sure to be lavish children with praise when they do.
Family Literacy Night fun!!
Book Walks are so much better than cake walks!
Reading with teachers is so much fun!
Upcoming Events
- 23-27 - School Holiday
DECEMBER
- 2nd - Progress Reports go home
- 4th - Henry MS band performs for 3rd-5th grades
- 4th - Texas Stars Ornaments due to office
- 8th - PICTURE RETAKES (this is a date change from the 3rd)
- 18th - Holiday Parties
- 21st-1st - STUDENT HOLIDAY
Reed Elementary
Email: reed@leanderisd.org
Website: Reed.leanderisd.org
Location: 1515 Little Elm Trail, Cedar Park, TX, United States
Phone: (512) 570-7700
Twitter: @Reed_Elem