Eagle Elementary
August 14, 2020
We where honored to spend these past five days with your kiddos here at Eagle and with our remote learners online! And a great first week it was! Sometimes it's the simple things that cause us to pause and reflect. That moment happened for me this week when the storage on my phone filled up as I snapped one great picture after another. Each picture representing pure and simple joy! It's been a while since I've captured so many moments to share in our weekly newsletter (I had to limit myself with the nine photos you see here).
Thank you all, both remote and in-person families, for taking this journey along side our staff with such grace and support. As exhausting as the week was for us all (learning new procedures, long car rider lines before and after school, champion mask wearers, etc.), it feels good to be back!
We hope you enjoy a relaxing and restful weekend after a full week of school and we can't wait to see you again on Monday!
Grateful,
Andrew
We will be monitoring completion daily and will be reaching out families as needed.
An Update from The Eagle PTO:
We are so happy to have you join our Eagle family! Eagle is such a special place to send your kids. Every parent is automatically a member of the PTO at Eagle, if you would like more information or would like to get involved please feel free to contact me at kgreenla@yahoo.com or text me at 312-404-3915 if you have any questions.
Want to stay in the know about Eagle Elementary PTO evernts? Sign up for REMIND: Text @eaglepto to 81010
With most PTO fundraisers and functions on hold, there is one thing you can do to help us support our teachers’ needs. Would you link your Kroger card to the EAGLE ELEM PTO (Zionsville)? Kroger is generous with their donations to us and your card can help!
https://www.kroger.com/account/communityrewards/
Mabels Labels
Link to purchase:
https://mabelslabels.com/en_US/fundraising/support/
Look up Eagle Elementary PTO
Kristie Goehausen
PTO President
Upcoming Events and Important Information
August 17-Sept 4 - NWEA Testing Window
August 20- Curriculum Night (Teachers will host digitally this year)
Kindergarten: 5:30-6:00
First Grade: 6:00-6:30
Second Grade: 6:30-7:00
Third Grade: 7:00-7:30
Fourth Grade: 7:30-8:00
September 2 - Virtual Coffee with the Principal @ 9:15- Click this Link to Join via Zoom
September 7 - Labor Day (no school)
October 12-16 - Fall Break
November 2 - Student Conferences
November 25-27- Thanksgiving Break
December 21 - January 1 - Winter Break
January 18 - MLK Jr. Day (no school)
January 19 - No School
February 15 - Presidents Day - No School
April 2 - April 9 - Spring Break
May 26 - Last day of school
May 27 - Teacher work day
May 31 - Memorial Day
Counselor's Corner
Welcome back! We are excited for the upcoming school year and want your child to be as successful as possible at school. Teachers will be using the Second Step program again in your child’s classroom to teach critical social emotional learning skills!
The Second Step program teaches skills in the following four areas:
1. Skills for Learning: Students gain skills to help themselves learn, including how
to focus their attention, listen carefully, use self-talk to stay on task, and be
assertive when asking for help with schoolwork.
2. Empathy: Students learn to identify and understand their own and others’
feelings. Students also learn how to take another’s perspective and how to
show compassion.
3. Emotion Management: Students learn specific skills for calming down when
experiencing strong feelings, such as anxiety or anger.
4. Problem Solving: Students learn a process for solving problems with others in a
positive way.
Your child will be learning a lot this year—and he or she will need your help! In your child’s teacher’s newsletter in the coming weeks, you will find a link to the Second Step Home Links. Home Links are simple, fun activities for you and your child to complete together. They are a great way for you to understand what your child is learning and for your child to share what he or she has learned during the Second Step lesson at school.
If you have any questions about the Second Step program, please do not hesitate to contact our school counselor, Diane Radivan, or your child’s teacher for more information. Thank you for supporting your child in learning the skills that lead to success in school and in life.
NWEA
Why Do We Give the NWEA Assessment?
We often get questions from our families about the NWEA assessments which we give in the fall of each year to our students in grades K-8 (and again in the spring to our K-4 students and some middle school students in order to determine academic growth in math and literacy skills). NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) is a non-profit organization that has developed brief (40-50 question) assessments in math, reading, and language arts which teachers can give to assess their students’ knowledge/skills. At ZCS, we have chosen these standardized assessments to supplement our state-required test for several reasons. First, NWEA gives us instant results that we can use to adjust instruction and group students for learning. The tests are computer-based and yield a score which the teacher can see in a report as soon as the student finishes. Second, unlike the state required test which assesses only grade-level standards, NWEA has a bank of thousands of questions ranging far beyond grade level. The test is “adaptive”—meaning that as a student takes it, the test adjusts the level of questions he/she is presented with based on correct/incorrect answers, so that a student is always working on questions at his/her most appropriate level of difficulty—rather than “one size fits all” questions. Also, as a high-performing school district, we have many students learning and working far beyond their grade level standards. NWEA assessments allow us to see their level of performance and compare it (and their growth from fall to spring) to that of similarly-abled peers nationally. Finally, NWEA is based on one large bank of questions (not different tests divided by grade levels). Thus, the score a student receives each time he/she takes the test can be compared from fall to spring and year to year—producing a graph of a student’s growth over time (a lot like the way we mark a child’s height on a door in our home as he/she grows taller). Even when a student has a one-time drop in a test score, we are still able to see the whole pattern of his/her emerging growth as a learner. Although we typically give the tests in fall, spring and optionally in the middle of the school year, NWEA can be given additional times during the year in order to monitor progress in a goal area. For all these reasons, we are glad to be able to gather this data (and the more specific information it gives us about strengths and areas of challenge) to help us plan learning experiences for our students. Please know that your child’s NWEA scores are available in PowerSchool (under test history) for you to see any time you desire. Scores for most recent tests will typically be added to your child’s data when our testing window closes.
Arrival and Dismissal
Kindergarten - 9:00 am until 2:30 pm
Grades 1-4 - 8:00 am until 2:30 pm
*Students are considered tardy if they arrive in their classrooms after 8:00 am. Our car rider line may be longer this year. If you are in the line be 8:00, students will not be marked tardy.
Students may walk/bike to school, ride in a car, or take the bus. Our ultimate goal is student safety! If we all follow the procedures it really helps us make sure all students arrive to school and back home safely every day.
Bus information: please call Amy Eaton at (317) 873-2852 (ext. 11802). Buses unload and load at the back of the building with the assistance of our staff.
Car riders:
Car riders will be dismissed at 2:30 pm. Students will wait inside for their name to be called over the radio. A staff member will direct students to their ride once it has entered the loop.
Please place a sign with you student(s) names clearly visible in the front window of your vehicle. The sign assists us with getting students to the correct car. A good trick is to attach the sign to a clothes hanger that can be hung from the rear view mirror.
***Please Note: We want to be courteous of our neighbors here at Eagle. Please be sure to keep driveways accessible to homeowners while we wait to pick up/drop off students. We also want ensure student safety by being extra cautious and obeying traffic laws especially in the areas surrounding our school.
Walkers
Walkers will be dismissed from the back door after buses leave and walked across the street at the crossing guard to the corner of 6th street and Beech Street. Please meet your child at the corner of 6th and Beech (Front lawn of the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Library) to help with our safe dismissal.
Frequently Asked Questions for 2020-2021 School Year
While many things will look a little different, our commitment to providing students with a safe learning environment where they develop strong relationships and grow in all ways remains constant.
Will children and teachers be required to wear masks? Yes. Masks are required to be worn by anyone in the building throughout the day. We highly encourage masks over gators. Masks do not stretch out as easily and therefore remain covering the nose throughout the day. Children will not wear masks during lunch, and may have opportunities for relaxation while outdoors and during some classroom times when directed by the teacher when all students are seated and facing the same direction. Eagle has purchased lanyards with clips for all students and staff to keep mask accessible when not being worn. Extra masks will be available in the office if forgotten, broken, etc.
What is the daily screener requirement? Parents will complete a daily screener(link at the top of the page) each morning before bringing the child to school. Please make this part of your routine. You can place the sheet with the link and the QR code somewhere regularly seen (bathroom mirror, garage door). Please answer questions about symptoms, fever, and exposure honestly. Please keep all children home if ill or exposed.
What social distancing measures will be encouraged at Eagle? Some of the more visible changes to the building will be the set-up of classrooms. Student work spaces will be as far apart as possible and extra classroom furniture has been removed. Visuals will be placed around the building to provide students with reminders.
What enhanced cleaning techniques/products will be utilized? High touch areas and surfaces will be sanitized throughout the day. Shared materials will be infrequent and any items that may be used by more than one student (for example, chromebook or math manipulative) will be sanitized between uses. Our custodial staff will be sanitizing all learning spaces, common areas, and playground equipment on a daily basis.
Classroom Cohorts – What are those? The vast majority of the day, students will be with their classroom teacher and peers in the classroom. When in other settings, students will be interacting with their classroom peers (recess, lunch). This is part of our mitigation strategy to limit exposures to others.
How often will students wash their hands? Students will be encouraged to take frequent hygiene breaks (hand washing and/or sanitizer) throughout the school day. Suggested times include, but are not limited to:
- After arrival
- Before and after lunch
- Before and after transitions
- After restroom breaks
- After recess
- Before dismissal
Can I visit my children in their class? May I visit during my child’s lunch? At this time, ZCS has temporarily suspended nonessential visitors to our campuses. Unfortunately, this will require us to temporarily suspend the typical operation of many of our PTO events. We are so grateful for the creativity of these groups who are working to come up with alternative ways to provide fun, community building events for our families. Volunteer opportunities will be limited, but some clerical volunteer jobs may be available and will be coordinated through classroom teachers. If there is a need, the teacher will make that announcement to their families. Anyone who works in the school building will be required to have a background check on file.
What about field trips? At this time, ZCS has temporarily suspended field trips. We do encourage virtual trips, virtual guest speakers, and the use of VR (Virtual Reality)
Will we still have related arts classes? In order to minimize shared spaces and transition, all of our special teachers (Music, Art, Media, STEM, and Wellness) will be visiting the classroom during their scheduled time. We are encouraging outdoor time, and we will have designated spaces outside for related arts classes, so dress appropriately for the weather.
What will lunch be like? All Kindy and approximately half of 1st-4th students/classes will eat in their classrooms with the support of a staff member each day. Our cafeteria will be operating at a 50-65% capacity and there will be two classes from each grade level (1-4) that will be assigned a seat and will eat in the cafeteria each day. The remaining classes will eat in their classroom. We will rotate between classroom and cafeteria quarterly.
Will recess still be allowed? We are fortunate to have a campus with ample outdoor space and we will encourage outdoor time. During scheduled recess time each class will have a designated play zone (fields, blacktop, basketball, equipment).
Will students be learning outside as weather allows? We hope to utilize our access to beautiful outdoor spaces as weather allows. We ask that students come dressed for recess and other outdoor activity everyday. This can include athletic shoes, hat, sunscreen applied before arriving at school, etc. Classroom teachers will communicate more specific plans as they arise.
What about water bottles? Our drinking fountains will be closed. We ask that your child bring a full, refillable water bottle each day. We do have a water bottle filling station however the access to the one station may be limited.
How will you handle the increased car ridership? We have strict guidelines to keep people, cars, and buses separate. The car rider line (drop off and pick up) will look very similar and we do anticipate longer times. We will increase the “drop off zone” on the front sidewalk. We will expect that children are ready to exit their cars when they reach the curb.
We thank you for your support and cooperation as we embark on the year together. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions.
Transportation Notes:
The 2020-2021 school year is quickly approaching. Bus route and bus stop information will be e-mailed to parents at the beginning of August. If you do not receive an e-mail, you can confirm your route information on our district website under the Parent Tab after August 3rd.
Director of Transportation: Amy Eaton
Direct Office Line: 317-873-1237 x11802
Eagle Start Guide:
School Pay
ZCS Food Service Employment Opportunities
Immunizations
Team Eagle 2020-2021
Team Eagle Teachers & ZCS Teachers of Remote Learning
(Note: Teachers of remote instruction will serve students across ZCS campuses. I have noted the home school campus for each remote teacher.)
Kindergarten
Marissa Ihle, Jennifer Sautbine, Kelly Spencer, Marykate Baker
remote: MacKenzie Orbaugh (Boone Meadow)
Callie Surface (Eagle)
Jill McCune (Pleasant View)
First Grade
Carmen Marshall, Jeanine Grathwohl, Christine Wright, Marissa Grant
remote: Becky Graham & Kelly Mattingly (Boone Meadow)
Jamie Smith (Union)
Melinda Strawmyer (Stonegate)
Second Grade
Deanna Schmidt, Katelyn Slack, Ashley Molina
remote: Lynn Munley (Union)
Erin Nahrstadt (Stonegate)
Michelle Weesies (Pleasant View)
Third Grade
Monica Condon, Katherine Werner, Annette Sinsko (Kristina Reid - temp for Sinsko this fall)
remote: Stephanie Compton (Pleasant View)
Lindsay McGuire (Boone Meadow)
Kellie Valentine (Union)
Fourth Grade
Emily Sigmund, Scott McKinley, Jayne Shubat
remote: David Gay (Pleasant View)
Lyn Smith (Union)
Nikki Hartsock (Stonegate)
Universal Preschool
Megan Hlade & Katelyn Money
Unified Student Services (Special Education)
Lynne Plawecki (Speech Language Pathologist)
Katie McLaughlin & Sara Thompson (Resource)
Krista Perman (Developmental Preschool)
Dr. Claire Braun (School Psychologist)
Britani Sepanksi (OT); Jennifer Kaleth (PT)
School Counselor: Diane Radivan
Literacy Coach: Beth Brent
ELL: Julie Luker
Lead Custodian: Kay Dearmin
School Nurse: Christina Reedus
Cafe Manager: Sheila Dibble
Before & After Care: Kimberly Bannister (Lead)
Office Team:
Austin Holtz (Safety Resource Officer)
Karen Klyczek (Administrative Assistant/Treasurer)
Andrew Foreman (Principal)
Holly Norman(Administrative Assistant/Registrar)
Contact Us!
Email: eagleoffice@zcs.k12.in.us
Website: https://eag.zcs.k12.in.us/
Location: 350 North 6th Street, Zionsville, IN, USA
Phone: 317-873-1234