Sunset Express
March 2018
Sunset Lake Elementary, PreK-5th Grade Building
Principal Amie McCaw
We are Lifelong Learners and Lifelong Leaders!
Email: amccaw@vicksburgschools.org
Website: Vicksburgcommunityschools.org
Location: 201 N Boulevard St, Vicksburg, MI, United States
Phone: (269)321-1500
Twitter: @TLIMPrincipal
Principal's Message
Happy March Sunset Lake Families!
The month of March is a busy one at Sunset Lake and we are looking forward to watching our students share their greatness. March is known as Reading Month across the country. Be sure to come celebrate reading at our Book Fair March 20th-22nd.
Thank you for a great turn out at our Student Led Conferences in early February. Our students were proud leaders of their own learning and were happy to share their academic and personal progress with their families.
Family Leadership Night: Please plan on attending our second Family Leadership Night on March 13th from 5:30-7:00pm. This event allows our students' leadership skills to shine through. Our students will be the teachers of the evening and will be able to teach what they have learned in reading, math, technology, the arts, p.e. and of course the 7 Habits! We will also have a couple stations specifically with our Sunset Lake families in mind. PLEASE plan on attending- we will see you then!
March 14th: Sunset Lake Leadership Day. Our students will be welcoming special visitors and guests to our school in the morning. Students will have another chance to highlight their learning and share their talents & leadership skills with others.
March 29th-- No school for students to allow our teachers to have professional development and records day work.
March 30th -- No school for students and staff, conference comp day.
We hope your family enjoys our upcoming Spring Break week from April 2nd through April 6th.
Yours in Learning,
Amie McCaw
Sunset Lake Elementary Principal
Kindergarten Enrollment for 2018-2019
Music Notes
Upcoming Local Music Concerts & Musicals:
Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival March 2 & 3 Kalamazoo Valley Museum
The Fretboard Festival has had its greatest support from area businesses and musicians. It is hosted and produced entirely by the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. This free event invites visitors to meet instrument designers and learn about their trade, attend workshops for a variety of stringed instruments, and hear live performances from area musicians.
Tarzan March 16, 17 & 24 7pm & March 25 2pm at the VHS PAC
Disney’s The Lion King April 4-15
Click here for tickets Tickets Miller Auditorium or call 269.387.2300
Gilmore Family Concert featuring Alpin Hong Tuesday, April, 2018, at 7:00pm Vicksburg PAC
Classical pianist Alpin Hong returns home to West Michigan for a multi-faceted residency and concert tour throughout greater Kalamazoo. Debuting with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra at the age of 10, Mr. Hong has since traveled the world performing and advocating for music education. Rooted in extensive classical piano training and a background in extreme sports, martial arts, and video games, Alpin Hong presents a retro-fitted mash-up disguised as a piano recital. Prepare to be amazed!
Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival Young Artist Award Winner Elliot Wuu
Sunday, May 6, 2016 - 3pm. Vicksburg High School PAC
in the Vicksburg Performing Arts Center
♫ Grades BK, K & 1
Students are continuing to build beat and aural listening skills. Our first grade is working on songs about farms.
♫ Grade 2 Sunset Lake: The second grade at Sunset Lake is participating in an artist in residence program through KRESA, called PACE where students are learning drama and acting skills. On February 21, the students will be traveling to WMU to see Accrobuffos, Air Play program.
♫Grade 3 The 3rd grade is preparing for their field trip to the Kalamazoo Symphony on March 13. They are learning about instrument families and instruments by sight and sound. Next, the students are participating in activated listening lessons with music written by Rossini, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bernstein, Montgomery and Andrew Lloyd Webber. In these lessons students will connect music to history and learn how to listen and analyze music.
♫Grades 4-5
Students are continuing to play recorders. 5th grade students will expand their range to the lower register and learn more complex rhythms. The 4th grade will be introduced to playing eighth notes and expand their range to the notes C and D. Through playing the recorder, all students are learning the basics of reading music and playing as part of a large ensemble.
Thank you,
Mrs. Heintzelman pheintzelman@vicksburgschools.org 269.321.1523
Year Book Sales
Sunset Lake Elementary PTSO
The Sunset Lake PTSO has two events coming up in March! On March 9th we will be having our Son’s of Sunset Event. This event is being held at Wings West. If you would like to attend, please send in $5.00 per person and your skate sizes to your child’s teacher.
We will also be participating in The Vicksburg Chamber of Commerce Annual Chili Cook-off on March 10 th . Please stop by and try a sample of our
delicious Chili! The PTSO Walk-a- Thon will also be kicking off in March, stay tuned for more details.
Think Win Win Assembly
Student Led Conferences
Sweetheart Dance
IMPORTANT March DATES
- March 13th- Family Leadership Night
- March 14th - Student Leadership Day
- March 20-22 - Book Fair
- March 28th - Bike Safety Assembly
- March 29th & 30th- No School
- Spring Break April 2nd thru the 6th
- School Resumes April 9th
March is Reading Month Resources
Habit #5 Seek First to Understand Then to Be Understood
Bike Safety Assembly - March 28th
Message from our Food Service
Good Morning
It’s time for…
BREAKFAST!
$1.25
If you are currently receiving free or reduced price lunches, you qualify for a free breakfast.
Breakfast is NOT offered on days where there is a delayed start to the school day!
Food Allergy
ALLERGY ALERT!
Free and Reduced
You can save up to
$445 per child a year
if you qualify for
free or reduced
priced meals (lunch).
All grade levels are
included.
Applications may be turned in
any time during the year and
are available from your child’s
school or from the Food
Service office.
Call Maureen Ouvry at 321-1031
with questions.
Summer Kids Klub
Summer Kids Klub New Families Registration Begins Monday March 5th.
Registration Fee: $15 Single/$25 Family
Cost: $30 for 5+hrs/$16 for less than 5hrs
We are open to School Age children: Incoming BK (Not incoming Bulldog Beginnings) Thur exiting 5th Graders.
Location is Sunset Lake
Hours 6:30am to 6pm
Sleep Disturbances From Electronic Devices
Sleep Disturbances from Electronic Devices
Sleep is one of the most important ways for both children and adults to stay healthy. However, getting children to go to sleep can be difficult. Electronic devices such as phones or tablets can play a major role in keeping children awake at night time. “Younger children require between 9 to 12 hours of sleep each night and teens require 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night,” explains Dr. J. Lia Gaggino, pediatrician at Bronson Rambling Road Pediatrics Oshtemo.
Sleep is especially important as children become teenagers. This is because there is a significant shift in their sleep schedules at this time. “Teens naturally will fall asleep later and wake up later,” said Dr. Gaggino. Increased amounts of homework and using phones can dramatically interrupt sleep for teens.
“Electronic devices including phones, iPods, computers and TVs should be kept out of the bedroom and turned off at least one hour prior to bedtime,” said Dr. Gaggino. “This allows for the brain to get ready for sleep. Electronic devices have blue backlighting that mimics the blue sky telling the brain to stay awake. Shutting off electronic devices an hour before bedtime helps the brain prepare for sleep.”
Dr. Gaggino suggests one way to help children is by “getting a regular alarm clock to help wake up in the morning versus using a cell phone. This can help keep electronic devices away from the bedroom and less opportunity for distractions.
Tips to help children go to sleep
It is important to find ways to support children and help them to learn healthy habits when it comes to sleep. According to HealthyChildren.org, to help children sleep better parents can:
Encourage children to get physically active during the day.
Avoid packing children’s schedules with evening activities.
Make sleep a priority for the whole family.
Creating a bedtime routine for children to participate in.
Turn off electronic devices including phones, computers and televisions at least one hour prior to bedtime.
Understand your child’s sleep habits
Teachers can be a good resource for understanding how your child’s sleep is affecting their alertness throughout the day at school. According to HealthyChildren.org, “A child with not enough, or poor quality, sleep may have difficulty paying attention or "zoning out" in school.
If you have concerns about your child’s sleeping patterns, talk to your child’s pediatrician. In many cases, they may request you track your child’s sleep patterns. Many sleep problems can be easily treated.1
This article is brought to you by Bronson Children’s Hospital, southwest Michigan’s only children’s hospital. For more information about children’s health, visit bronsonhealth.com/services/children.
1Healthy Sleep Habits: How Many Hours Does Your Child Need? https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/sleep/Pages/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-How-Many-Hours-Does-Your-Child-Need.aspx
University of Michigan Studies Confirms Leader in Me and the Effectiveness
New University of Michigan studies offer strongest empirical evidence of Leader in Me’s effectiveness to date.
In January, the University of Michigan’s (UMICH) prestigious College of Educationreleased two technical reports showing positive impacts to student disciplinary referrals and attendance in Leader in Me schools. One report focused their analysis on disciplinary rates in the state of Florida and the other looked at disciplinary rates and attendance in the state of Missouri. The findings are the strongest empirical evidence of Leader in Me’s effectiveness to date, as both studies followed the strict evidence standards required by What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) and the Collaborative of Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Below I provide a brief overview of key findings. For more details, click here to access our research page where you can download the full reports.
Leader in Me’s Effectiveness
Attendance Findings
It is quite difficult to make significant changes in elementary school attendance. First, the average attendance rates are already high in elementary school, so there is less room to see growth. Second, as a result of these high rates of daily attendance, it takes a lot to see a change significant enough to impact the overall rate of attendance. To illustrate, if one student had an average attendance rate of 50% and another of 99%, it would be much easier for the child with the low rate of attendance to make a significant change in their attendance than the child already at 99%. Applying the same logic to attendance rates at the school level and then further to all the schools in the state and the difficulty of achieving significant improvement is apparent.
Increased Attendance in Missouri Leader in Me Schools
Leader in Me schools who started implementing the process since the launch of the current version of Leader in Me (3.0) had a significant increase in attendance that was not seen in matched controls or Leader in Me schools who trained on earlier versions of the process. The Leader in Me, like all effective school interventions, is continuously listening and learning from our community of schools, from best practices in the field of education, and from advances in academic research. We take what we learn and apply it, adapting and enhancing our process to improve outcomes for our schools. The Missouri technical report provides evidence our continual improvement is leading to measurable outcomes for our schools.
Decreased Rates of Attendance for Missouri Schools that Exited Leader in Me
The research team was also interested in the outcomes of the small number of schools that left the Leader in Me process. These schools had a significant drop in student attendance rates compared to schools that still remain in the Leader in Meprocess and matched control schools.
Disciplinary Referral Findings
Disciplinary referrals are a particularly important indicator of student growth as it requires self-regulation of emotions and behavior. It is an outward manifestation of an inward change. As more students develop the self-regulation manifest in lowered disciplinary referrals, the emotional climate of the school improves–it is a safer place to be and an easier place to learn and take risks. In this way, disciplinary rates are an indirect measure of the emotional and learning environment of the school.
Significant Improvements in Missouri Student Behavior
Leader in Me schools had 42% fewer discipline incidence than predicted by the statistical modeling of pre-Leader in Me rates and comparison school’s disciplinary referrals. This is a complicated way of saying the researchers found that had the Leader in Me schools not started this process, they would have had more significantly more behavioral incidence.
Significant Improvements in Florida Student Behavior
The UMICH research team that analyzed the Florida statewide data initially found a 13.17% reduction in disciplinary incidence in Florida Leader in Me Schoolscompared with matched control schools. Given the unexpectedly large size of this difference, the researchers wanted to explore the same data using another widely accepted statistical analysis, to further confirm their results. The second analysis revealed a larger difference with 22.84% reduction in disciplinary incidence in Florida Leader in Me Schools compared with matched control schools.
Summary
Given the large sample of schools, the high level of empirical analysis by prestigious researchers, and the significance of the impacts, we feel confident that these findings powerfully speak to the Leader in Me’s effectiveness as a tool for educators to improve student behavioral outcomes.
But perhaps more importantly, these findings validate the impacts so many of our schools, in Missouri, Florida, and elsewhere, have seen and spoken about for years. The focused efforts of each of these Leader in Me schools generated these findings. So, while we recognize the importance of this third party empirical evidence, we have not forgotten that the results represent the dedication and passion of our empowered educators. These findings are their achievement and ultimately, their well-deserved celebration.
About the Author
Dr. Eve (Miller) PattersonDr. Eve (Miller) Patterson is the Director of Research for the Education Division of FranklinCovey. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Utah. She has had the opportunity to teach six different courses within the Psychology Department; Research Methods, Statistics for Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Sensation and Perception, and Cognition in the Wild. She loves teaching and considers each assignment a new opportunity to introduce growing minds to the exciting world of research and cognitive psychology.