Edison Weekly
Week of Sunday, December 5, 2021
Edison Elementary
Building Hours
School Hours- 8:35AM-3:30PMOffice Hours- 8:00AM-4:00PM
Important Contact Information
Main Office: 586-439-6500
Attendance Line: 586-439-6590
Fax: 586-439-6501
Email: kristina.wiegand@fraserk12.org
Website: https://www.fraser.k12.mi.us/Edison
Location: 17470 Sewel Avenue, Fraser, MI, USA
Phone: 586-439-6500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/133408283523961/
Twitter: @kristy_wiegand
Working Together to Keep Our Eagles Safe
Dear Edison Families,
We join our community in sharing our sympathy and sadness for the students, staff, and families of Oxford Community Schools. Although student safety is always at the forefront of all of our decisions, we know last week's events at Oxford High School and the heightened concerns regarding school safety throughout Michigan have left parents, students, and the entire community feeling sad, fearful, and unsettled. As the mother of three elementary children, I feel that it is important for you to know that when your children are at Edison, they are OUR children, too. We will move mountains to keep them safe.
During the latter part of this past week at Edison, we were intentional about allowing the children to guide our responses to this tragedy. In some classes, conversations regarding the Oxford tragedy did not arise- so we opted to shield the students from learning about it. In other classrooms, students were actively discussing it, so our staff members were intentional about helping to guide these discussions- reassuring our Eagles that they're safe.
This was a difficult week to be a parent. I know that many, many of our families had to have conversations with their elementary-aged child(ren) that they never thought they'd have to have. Other families carefully teetered on whether or not those conversations were necessary- based on what information their child(ren) knew. I commend your efforts in deciding how to approach this at home with your children.
In addition to the District Communications Ms. Wozniak sent last week outlining all of the measures we take as staff to protect our students, I wanted to take a moment to remind our families how all of you can help us make our school as safe as possible.
Things for parents to remember at home:
- Remind your children that, under no circumstances, should they ever bring any weapons or toy weapons to school (i.e. toy guns, even squirt guns, knives etc).
- Monitor your student’s phone/ social media (if they have it), and alert staff to social media threats or suspicious behavior on our school campus.
- Be attentive to your child's mental health and work with your pediatrician or a mental health professional to ensure your child's needs are met- alerting the school of any support that you may need along the way.
- Make sure that your child knows that any sort of threatening behavior is extremely serious, even if used in a joking manner/without any actual intent to harm. At home, be intentional about not making any light-hearted threats at all (i.e. Your dog chews up your favorite shoes and you say "I'm going to kill you!"). If you catch your child making a threat at home, even without any actual intent to harm, acknowledge it and discuss it with him/her.
- Remind your child that if they see or hear something scary or dangerous, they should tell an adult right away!
Things for parents to remember when coming to Edison Elementary:
- All parents and visitors MUST check in at the office, sign-in, and wear a visitor's badge.
- All doors are locked except for the main entrance where visitors are buzzed in through our Sally Port. Parents/visitors should NEVER try to enter the building through any other door for any reason.
- Students will be released only to the adults, with proper identification, listed as emergency contacts in PowerSchool.
- Items being dropped off for students must be brought to the office, not taken directly to the classroom.
- Visitors must schedule an appointment to be allowed past the vestibule/office.
- Volunteers for field trips or classroom assistance MUST submit to a background check via iChat.
- The playground is only accessible to students and school staff during regular hours.
Your assistance and vigilance in these areas will go a long way in helping us keep our students safe. Our school community is a family- and it truly takes a village. Please know we will continue to review and revisit district and building protocols so our children remain safe and able to focus on learning each day. If you have questions, concerns, or are in need of assistance as you and your family cope with these events, feel free to reach out at any time.
(I've also included a resource below from the National Association of School Psychologists to assist our families in helping children to cope with this sort of violence.)
Sincerely,
Mrs. Wiegand
Upcoming Events
View the FPS ACADEMIC CALENDAR here
Tuesday, December 7- Report Cards Go Home With Students
Wednesday-Thursday, December 8-9- Student Led Conferences
Thursday, December 9- Half Day (12:00 Dismissal)
Monday, December 13-Thursday, December 16- Santa Shop
Thursday, December 16- Storytime with Santa 6:00PM-7:30PM
Thursday, December 23- Monday, January 3- Holiday Break
TUESDAY, January 4- School Resumes
Edison Student-Led Conferences- THIS WEEK!
With the 1st Trimester coming to an end on December 3rd, we are looking forward to having our teachers meet with you and your child during Edison's Student-Led Conferences. During this time, students will showcase their goals and academic progress. It is important to include your child in these conferences so that they can take ownership of their academic plan for the year.
Conference dates and times are as follows:
- Wednesday, December 8th from 4:30 to 7:30 PM
- Thursday, December 9th from 1:00-3:30 PM & 4:30-7:30 PM
These conferences will take place in-person at Edison. In the event you would prefer a virtual conference, please sign up for your conference time and reach out to your child's teacher to make arrangements to meet via GoToMeeting.
Our teachers will be using the online scheduling site, Sign-Up Genius, to help schedule conferences. The links to all teachers' Sign-Up Genius' are below. If you have multiple students at Edison, you may want to schedule 15 minutes between your kids’ conference times to allow for transition between rooms.
Winter Tree Drive
Items collected will be donated to local families in need.
The winter tree drive will take place from Monday, November 22- Friday, December 17.
Thanks, in advance, for any items you're able to contribute.
Character Club at Edison Elementary
This year, we're excited to continue our implementation of Positivity Project at Edison Elementary. This is a 32-week program that focuses on different character strengths that we work to explicitly teach our students throughout the year. Each week, we focus on a new character strength. The purpose of Positivity Project at Edison is to foster positive relationships amongst students and staff, in addition to helping students build their self-awareness, self-confidence, & understanding and appreciation of others. Topics associated with each character strength are often discussed via Restorative Circles within our classrooms. Together, we're committed to establishing positive relationships and continually improving our school culture.
This year, we decided to replace our Student of the Month program with Character Club. Throughout the year, we will be honoring our students with Character Club Awards. Teachers are already working to determine students that exemplify all of the different character strengths for the whole year. Don't get discouraged if your child isn't recognized until April-May! That just means that your child perfectly represents one of the traits that happen to be taught later in the year.
Each week, we will be distributing Character Awards to students. At the end of each month, student award recipients will have a Character Club lunch together to celebrate our positive character!
Book Fair- This Week!
We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming Scholastic Book Fair. Hosted by our staff, this event is an opportunity for students of all ages to build their home libraries and further their love of reading. As always, all purchases benefit the school.
After missing out on many beloved traditions, our fall Book Fair will be a familiar, welcome, and safe event for our students. Our book fair will take place from December 6th-10th at Edison Elementary in the Media Center. It will remain open during conferences.
Our Book Fair offers a cash-free payment option called eWallet. It’s a convenient digital account that your child can use for shopping at our Fair. Grandparents, friends, and others can contribute, too!
To set up eWallet or explore the Book Fair online, visit this site.
We’re excited to celebrate our love of books together at the Book Fair. We look forward to seeing your child there!
Upcoming December Event
MLK JR. Video Content Opportunity
Building Reminders
* Bus Lane- The curb area directly in front of the building (from the bench to the sign) is for buses only. Please don't stop there to drop off in the morning.
*We encourage adults to park (in a designated spot) and walk all students through the parking lot.
*Please don't park along the grass/curve as you enter the parking lot. It makes navigating the parking lot even trickier for incoming traffic.
*Please don't pick your child up while driving past the crosswalk. That momentary pause at the crosswalk causes confusion and delays the flow of traffic out of the lot.
Cold Weather Reminders:
*Per board policy, we will be having outdoor morning lineup and going outside for recess when the wind chill is 10+ degrees. Please dress for the COLD weather.
Arrival/Dismissal:
*We encourage adults to park (in a designated spot) and walk all students through the parking lot.
* During inclement weather, we do an indoor lineup. All students enter through the main door and walk to their classroom lines in the hallway. Parents cannot escort their students to their classrooms, but we have plenty of helpers ensuring all students get to where they need to go.
*Thanks for your patience in the parking lot at dismissal time- especially with the ongoing construction in the subdivision!
*For families that park on Sewel Ave or elsewhere in the adjacent subdivision during dismissal, please park in a location in which your child can use crosswalks to get to you.
*The playground closes M-F from 4:00PM-6:00PM so our SACC students can have safe access to the playground equipment.
Office Procedures:
* If you need to pick your child up early, please know that we don't call them down to the office until you arrive.
*Always bring your ID to the office when picking your student up early.
* No parents or visitors are allowed to proceed past the vestibule/office.
Breakfast/Lunch
*All students get free breakfast/lunch- no preordering necessary.
* Please complete the free and reduced lunch application here.
* Monthly lunch menus can be found here.
*Due to supply chain shortages, some last minute meal substitutions will occur.
Illness
*If your child is experiencing any symptoms of illness (cough, congestion, sore throat, etc)- please keep them home. *If your child complains of illness at school or if a staff member notices that your child is exhibiting symptoms, students are sent home.
*Students need to be symptom-free for 24 hours prior to returning. Therefore, if they leave mid-day, they can't return until at least mid-day the following day.
*Please remember that the person calling you to come pick up your child is just the messenger. Please provide us with an ETA (estimated time of arrival) and try to get here as quickly as possible (within 30-45 min) because the office does get bogged down with students at various points in the day.
Gleaners Food Distribution To Continue
We are excited to announce that we have extended our partnership with Gleaners. They will continue to be set up in the FHS parking lot on the following dates:
December 9
December 23
If you are in need of food assistance, you can slow find pantries in your area by visiting https://pantrynet.org.