The Simon School Days Newsletter
November 4, 2016
Dear Parents and Families of Simon Elementary:
Wow! This is some wonderful weather. Anything that shortens winter coming is a great thing. However, I am sure the weather will soon turn colder, it is VERY important that students come to school prepared to go outside for recess. We will have outside recess if the temperature and wind chill is 15 degrees and above.
If your child cannot go outside due to medical reasons, please provide a doctor's excuse for the child to remain inside.
Also, parents please remember the speed limit on school grounds in the parking lot areas is 5 MPH, especially when weather is icy or snowy. Keep our children safe and drive slow.
It is VERY important that parent follow the morning drop off procedures, especially once conditions get icy and/or snow covered.
Simon Parent Drop Off in the Morning (7:35-8:05) - Car Riders
Parents please keep to these 3 items for your child's safety
while dropping off in the morning.
1. Keep a single line of traffic when dropping your child off in the morning.
2. Have your child exit the car on the passenger side of the vehicle.
3. If you need to assist your child to exit out of the vehicle, please park and walk your child up to the building entrance.
REMINDER: School starts at 8:05, the west door locks. If you're running late from 8:05 on, please come to the office and sign your child in.
Pennies for Positive Programming
Please purge your pockets and purses of pennies to participate in pennies for positive programming.
Students will start to bring in pennies, please place them in the bottle that was placed in your child's classroom. All of the pennies will go to support Reading Night (Nov) and STEAM Night (Winter).
Reminder about Remind
Instead of placing tons of information into a newsletter, we use a different way to "get the word out". Remind is a free text messaging service that will be used to send daily and/or weekly announcements to you to be informed about what is going on at Simon Elementary. How do you sign up to receive these text messages?
1. Text the message @g242k to the number 81010. If you’re having trouble with 81010, try texting @g242k to (815) 401-9303.
2. Click here for additional directions
By joining your the group on Remind, you’re choosing to receive class messages via push notifications, SMS, or email. Don’t worry, your phone number will not be shared with the teacher or anyone else in the group.
Performance Scales and Report Card
Starting this school year, we will be implementing a new proficiency scale that better aligns with assignments, assessments, and Common Core Standards.
What does a proficiency scale represent?
A Proficiency Scale takes a learning standard and breaks it down into four levels of support needed to demonstrate proficiency. This information is organized in a visual chart that can be used as a learning tool for teachers, parents, and students. In the future, teachers will use this proficiency scale with their students as part of their conversations about a student’s learning progress. This is meant to help teachers and students identify skills to practice where extra support is needed and skill areas in which the student is ready for extended learning. This proficiency scale is numerical 1-4.
Proficiency Scale for Simon Elementary 2016-17
You can view this proficiency scale video link to get a better understanding of proficiency scales.
School Closing due to Weather Events
Should weather or some other unexpected circumstances require the school to be closed or the students to be dismissed early, the district will be using the School Messenger system and information will be broadcast over radio station WROK (1440 AM) in Rockford or other local radio or television stations. Parents are asked to listen for early school closings during days of bad weather conditions.
When school is dismissed early for emergency reasons, (inclement weather, specific school building problems/situations, etc.) all after school activities at that building are cancelled, unless noted otherwise. Winnebago Kids Club is cancelled in the event of such emergency cancellations of school as well.
Art News from Mrs. Melancen
Projects will start to come home. Art is graded on a 4 point scale. A paper will soon come home with more information about what is expected and how things are graded.
We are in need of some supplies you might have at home
- paper towel and TP tubes
- golf tees
- clear Lego's
- broken or unused crayons, markers, and colored pencils
Illinois State Report Is Now Online
Illinois' state school report card officially launched 10/31/2016. The new report card paints a picture of the learning environment at every school in Illinois, providing information about academic performance, the school environment, available courses and programs.
The new report card, accessible at illinoisreportcard.com, includes both an Online Report Card that offers an in-depth view of school- and district-level information as well as an At-a-Glance Report Card that provides a simple, one-page, printable view of a school or district's most important information.
Please visit the new report card site at illinoisreportcard.com.
Library News - Election Day and Veteran's Day
Tuesday, Nov 8th, Students are invited to vote in the Simon Library Election between 8:30 - 10:30
Students will have their own voter registration cards.
- Polling Place will be in the library
- Students are voting on library seating: A large reading carpet or reading cushions
- The process should only last about 10 minutes.
- Students will receive a "I voted" sticker and a bookmark
Students will learn about Veteran's Day throughout the week of November 7. We will be reading What is Veterans Day by Elaine Landau, watching a short video: Holiday's for Children Veterans Day. If there is time, students will also learn about our nations flag and how to properly fold it.
News from the Nurse
Vision and Hearing Screening
We have begun vision and hearing screening for our students at Simon. Students who fail a first screening will be screened a second time. If the student fails the second screening parents will be notified and paperwork and further instructions will be sent home. Good vision and hearing are vital to our students success!
Keeping Cool When Your Child Is Hyper
Keeping Cool When Your Child Is Hyper from Dr. Charles Fay, Love & Logic:
Is it true that some kids have neurological conditions that make it far more difficult for them to remain calm and self-controlled? You bet.
Is it also true that there are many things within our control…with all types of children…that can up the odds that they will behave in ways that avoid their placement on our last nerve?
Are you a parent who's on the side of assuming that your child can't help being out of control? Or are you one who assumes that with the right type of love, limits, structure, training, and expectations, they can usually remain fun to be around?
Listed below is a laundry list of some old-fashioned yet powerful strategies:
Sleep
Unlike adults, many children get hyper when they're tired.
Downtime
Too many activities create stressed families. Stressed families create kids who act out to relieve their stress.
Limits
When kids lack solid limits, they tend to act out to get them. Be sure to set limits by describing what you are willing to do or allow…rather than telling them how they should act.
An example:
You are welcome to stay in the same room with us as long as your voice is quiet and you aren't running around.
Predictable routines
Kids thrive when these and other routines are more or less routine: Getting ready each morning, dinnertime, bedtime, family reading time, homework time, playtime, etc.
Practice
Some parents experiment with "sitting practice." They have fun with their child and challenge them to remain seated and quiet for a small amount of time. They set the timer and make a big deal out of their child meeting a specific goal. They gradually increase the goal as time goes by.
Good food
Junk food tends to create junky behavior.
Exercise
Exercise calms the brain. My mother must have known this when she'd say, “Oh…looks like you need to run around the yard and burn off some of that steam."
Any reluctance to do as she asked, automatically created a long list of chores that served as another form of exercise.
Very limited screen time
The more kids interact with screens the more difficulty they have with self-regulation.
PTO Box Top Collection Update
November Calendar Events
If you do have any specific questions about events or functions, please call the school office at 815.335.2318.
- November Calendar