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It is hard to believe we are almost halfway through the school year! We have enjoyed every minute of learning and the fun it took to get us to this point.

We have struggled with attendance during this flu season. We hope everyone can stay well from here on out. It would be wonderful to beat our November attendance rate! We have packed December full of opportunities for learning and fun.

I also want to congratulate our third and fourth graders on their STAAR Interim Assessment results. They achieved several of our November goals! The past few years the students and teachers in all grade levels have worked so hard on improving our reading and math performance. We are continuing to see the benefits of that hard work and it is exciting! It takes every staff member, student, and family support to make this happen. A big thank you to everyone!

There is a lot of information in this newsletter. Be sure to scroll all the way down to make sure you do not miss something.

We hope you all have a blessed December!

Sincerely,

Lundy Atkins

NSE Principal

November 30 - Christmas Pictures

December 1- School Shirt Day! We wear our school shirts every Thursday.

December 2 - Fundraiser Items sent home. (If they arrive on time!)

December 2 & 5 - Fundraiser large order pick up.

December 6 - Santa letters sent to the Gonzales Inquirer

December 8- School Shirt Day! We wear our school shirts every Thursday.

December 12-16 - Winter Dress-Up Days ~ See Flyer at the end of this newsletter for dress-up day schedule

December 14 - Picture retakes or make-up

December 15 - PBIS Movie Day = PBIS Campus Reward

December 16- Christmas Parties (visitors welcome) & Early Release at 12:15 - NO RISE

December 19-January 2 - Winter Break (No School)

January 2 - Staff Inservice (No students)

January 3 - School Resumes

Although we were proud of earning a B rating for the 2021-2022 school year, we are continuing our improvement goals. Just like in previous years, our improvement plan contains four sections called cycles. Three cycles are during the school year, and the fourth is in the summer. Each cycle during the school year has an academic goal. We assess the third and fourth-grade students' academic progress in reading and math. We are excited to report that we met several of the academic goals for the first cycle in both reading and math! The goals we did not quite meet are still outperforming what we scored this time last year.

We met our Reading goals for Masters, Approaches, and Did Not Meet grade level expectations. Although we performed better than last year's Cycle1 we did not quite meet our new higher goal on Meets expectations. In Math, we met our Did Not Meet and Approaches goals, but fell short on Meets and Masters. Although we did not meet those two goals, our Cycle 1 scores in those categories were higher this year than this time last year. So all in all, we are on the right track to getting out B rating again.

Our third and fourth graders took the STAAR interim assessments in November. The results give teachers a predictive score on how students will perform on the STAAR test. The results show what skills the students need to improve their performance on the STAAR test in the spring. A detailed report will be sent home to parents with each third and fourth-grade student. Teachers will use the results to work with students on skills they need to improve. If you have any questions about your child's progress, don't hesitate to contact the teacher of that subject. The most important thing parents can do is encourage their child to work hard at school and make sure their child is at school every day unless sick. We pack a lot of learning into each school day.

We will take another STAAR Interim Assessment in February at the end of the second cycle. Each third and fourth grader will set a goal using their first interim score and chart it in their data folder. They will work with their teacher to improve their reading and math skills to meet their goals. We are so very proud of the work they have done so far.

The video below gives an overview of the STAAR interim assessment.

We were so happy with the amazing turnout we had at our Thanksgiving Meal. We even had law enforcement attend to eat with some of our students. Pictured is our county Sheriff.

The theme Do Your Part focuses on the character trait of RESPONSIBILITY. Each month we teach CKH lessons based on the theme.

What is Responsibility?

Responsibility is the willingness and ability to take ownership of our thoughts, words, and actions. We have a responsibility to our school, family, and community to be accountable for our choices and how they impact ourselves and others.

Why focus on Responsibility?

• Responsibility teaches resilience. It is not possible to persevere and achieve our dreams without taking personal responsibility seriously.
  
• Responsibility empowers us to own our actions. There is great power in being able to make conscious, calculated choices to reach goals and manage those things in our control.
• Responsibility teaches us to manage our time and resources. Responsibly organizing and prioritizing needs is an executive function of the brain that improves with practice.

Check out the CKH family newsletter below. They are provided in English and Spanish.