Cheetah Newsletter
Cooperative - Accountable - Respectful - Enthusiastic - Safe
October 7, 2021
A Message from the Principal
Dear Families,
If you did not yet get a chance to check out our Virtual Curriculum Night, I highly encourage you to take a minute to do so! Our amazing teachers have created videos to share what your child will be learning about this year at Chain Lake, as well as other routines/information about their classroom.
We are looking forward to our Conference Week coming up October 25th-29th. Conferences will be virtual this year; please watch for more information from your child’s teacher around scheduling. During Conference Week, elementary students are released at 12:55pm. Our annual Book Fair will also coincide with Conference Week!
As we return to Pacific Northwest cold and rainy weather, please remember to send your child in appropriate clothes for the weather. Our students love playing outside - even when it’s chilly/misty! The majority of the time we work to hold students accountable for their decisions around getting wet and we are unable to provide a change of clothes. That said, there are unique circumstances and true accidents where a child needs new clothes at school. If you have any clothes in good condition you are willing to donate to our Health Room, we would much appreciate it! We are especially looking for boys’ sweatpants and girls’ leggings.
Finally, connecting with our community to hear how the school can better support you is a value of mine as Principal. I hope that many of you will join me for a Virtual Principal Chat on October 18th at 10am. This will be a drop-in opportunity for you to chat with me and get your questions about the school answered.
Warmly,
Ana
Upcoming Events At A Glance
October 12th - Yoforit PTA Fundraiser Night
October 18th - Virtual Principal Chat at 10am
October 20 - Picture Retakes
October 25-29 - Parent Conferences, K-5 Dismissal @ 12:55
October 25-29 - Book Fair
**Attention Parents** - Race and Ethnicity Law Changes
Dear Monroe School District families,
Student Race & Ethnicity Data Collection
Recently, there was a change in federal and state law that affects how student ethnicity and race data is collected by school districts. This change now requires schools to have this data recorded for every student.
As a result, we are required to ask families to verify their child as either Hispanic/Latino or not Hispanic/Latino AND by one or more of 217 racial groups. We ask that families please respond to the two questions in Family Access for each of their students currently enrolled.
While families are not required to verify the race and ethnicity of their students, we are required as a school district to submit this data to comply with federal and state law. We will make two attempts to reach families with the request to submit their child's ethnicity and race category. If there is no response, schools are required to make the ethnicity and race selection for the student.
VFW Youth Essay & Scholarship Program
The VFW is encouraging student to participate in the Youth Essay, Voice of Democracy & Patriot's Pen Contest 2021 VFW Youth Essay & Scholarship Programs. There are some great prizes available for the winners in each program, with as much as $30,000 to the Grand Prize Winner for the Voice of Democracy contest. That would be a nice boost for the college-bound high school student!
We would love to see the youth in our local community participate in these programs.
Deadline for submissions is October 31, 2021, your local VFW contact for questions and application submissions is jrvice.vfw7511@outlook.com.
Join the Chain Lake Elementary PTA
Counselor's Corner
October is Bullying Prevention Month. At Chain Lake Elementary we use the Second Step Curriculum to teach Bullying Prevention to our students. We teach them that Bullying is: When someone keeps being mean to someone on purpose, it is unfair and one-sided. We also try to help them understand the difference between joking, conflict, a mean moment and bullying. With a clear understanding of what it is, everyone can work together to Stomp Out Bullying. Here is a helpful chart to help determine what it is.
Is it Bullying? What is it?
Joking
Everyone is having fun
No one is getting hurt
Everyone is participating equally
Conflict
No one is having fun
There is a possible solution to the disagreement
Equal balance of power
Mean Moment
Someone is being hurt on purpose
Reaction to a strong feeling or emotion
An isolated event (does not happen regularly)
Bullying
Attacked physically, socially, and/or emotionally
Unequal balance of power
Happens more than once over a period of time
Someone is being hurt on purpose
One-sided
Daily Gym Sock.......
Wow ! Second week of October already. P.E. is going fabulous, the kids are doing wonderful. Next week We will be working on flexibility and muscular strength. A few of the activities we will be doing are trunk lift, sit and reach, Dr.Feelgood, and move the hoops. Remember to wear those tennis shoes and comfortable clothes to exercise in. Stay active and enjoy the rest of the week.
Mr. Christy & Ms. O’Brien
Digital Learning
Digital Citizenship
For this rotation of Digital Learning we will be focusing on Digital Citizenship. We will learn about our responsibilities online, including how to be safe, how to protect our personal information and how to act responsibly and with kindness. Parents are encouraged to talk about these concepts with their children and encourage them to pause and think about how they are using technology in a responsible way.
Keep Calm and Code On!
Ms. Glaze
Note from the library.......
We are into the 2nd week of Oct. and time is just flying bye already! Kids are remembering to bring their books back and getting back into the library routines. Soon they will be introduced to makerspace and all the fun that comes with it. Please remind your students that if they have any library books laying around at home to please bring them to school to be returned. A lot of students participated in our summer reading program and checked out books, but have not returned them so we are still on a book hunt so to speak. Thanks for encouraging your kids to keep reading.
Happy Reading,
Mrs. Swalwell
Yoforit PTA Fundraiser Night
Yoforit Night!!
Our first Yoforit Night is coming up! Mark your calendars and join us next Thursday, October 14th from 5-8pm! We also found out that, while the main fundraising hours are 5:00 - 8:00 pm, you can participate any time that day! If you go in outside of the stated hours, just tell them you are with CLE and they will include your purchase in the fundraising. Enjoy a delicious treat and know that a portion of the sales goes to CLE!!
District Lunch Program
This year, students at Monroe School District have a lot to look forward to when it comes to mealtime. For the 2021-2022 school year, meals will be offered to students in all grade levels at no cost, thanks to flexibilities provided by the USDA’s National School Lunch Program. This allows everyone to enjoy 1 free breakfast & 1 free lunch per day.
All families, however, are encouraged to fill out the annual Free and Reduced Price Meal Application as eligibility provides many other benefits, including Pandemic EBT benefits for your family, no student fees for high school programs, free student entrance to all ASB extracurricular events (dances, athletics, etc) and reduced fees for family members to attend extracurricular events (athletics, plays, etc). Filling out this application also provides critical funding for our schools.
What’s on the Menu? Nutrislice, an innovative app, students, parents and faculty have access to school menus, including nutrition information, allergens and photos. Nutrislice can be downloaded for free from the App store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) and is available on desktop and mobile devices.
Menus are also available at https://monroeschools.nutrislice.com/
CARES
At Chain Lake, each and every one of us is a Cheetah who CARES (Cooperative, Accountable, Respectful, Enthusiastic, Safe)! In school, we talk about what each of these ideas looks like in different settings. Feel free to use the below as a guide to what it means to follow our Chain Lake expectations (click the picture to enlarge).
Further Questions?
We encourage you to reach out to our school office:
Chain Lake Elementary - 360-804-3100
About Us
Principal - Ana Apter
Guidance Counselor - Heather Mitchell
*
Office Manager - Kathy Bruning
*
24 Hour Attendance Hotline - (360) 804-3101
FAX - (360) 804-3199
Health Room - (360) 804-3132
Kitchen - (360) 804-3135
Transportation - (360) 804-2650
********************************************************
NOTICE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION
The Monroe School District does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employees have been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination:
Title IX Coordinator
Joanne Dickinson
14692 - 179th Avenue S.E., Monroe, WA 98272
(360) 804.2539
Section 504/ADA Coordinator
David Paratore
14692 - 179th Avenue S.E., Monroe, WA 98272
(360) 804.2603
Compliance Coordinator for 28A.640 and 28A.642 RCW
Joanne Dickinson
14692 - 179th Avenue S.E., Monroe, WA 98272
(360) 804.2532
The Monroe School District will also take steps to assure that national origin persons who lack English language skills can participate in all education programs, services and activities. For information regarding translation services or transitional bilingual education programs, contact:
Kimberly Whitworth
14692 - 179th Avenue S.E., Monroe, WA 98272
(360) 804.2558