LV Intermediate Parent Newsletter
Volume 16 January 6, 2017
Upcoming Events...
January 13 End of the Second 9 Weeks and 1st Semester
January 16 Student Holiday- District Professional Development
January 18 Report Cards are coming home
January 23 5th Grade Parent Meeting about Port A Field Trip 6:00PM Viking Hall
January 26 Awards Assembly during lunches 10:45 Grade 4 and 11:15 Grade 5
January 27 Early Release at 11:35 for UIL Elementary Academic Meet
Fourth Grade Classes are learning about erosion and deposition!
Hand-on science is super fun.
That's a lot of wind erosion!
Our Journey begins...Every Child... Every Chance... Every Day!
Counselor’s Corner
Viking Character Trait for January is Citizenship
Being a good citizen means we have the ability to be empathetic to those around us, to care about what happens to others. We can all be overly competitive and overly critical at times! Do we sometimes forget about the power of empathy? What messages are we sending our children?
Empathy is at the heart of what it means to be human. It’s a foundation for acting ethically, for good relationships of many kinds, and for professional success. And it’s key to preventing bullying. Empathy begins with the capacity to take another perspective, to walk in another’s shoes. Empathy includes valuing other perspectives and people.
How can parents cultivate empathy? Just a few suggestions to ponder:
1. Empathize with your child and model empathy for others. Children learn empathy both from watching us and from experiencing our empathy for them. When we empathize with our children they develop trusting, secure attachments with us. Those attachments are key to their wanting to adopt our values and to model our behavior, and therefore to building their empathy for others.
2. Make caring for others a priority and set high ethical expectations.
3. Provide opportunities for children to practice empathy. Children are born with the capacity for empathy, but it needs to be nurtured throughout their lives. Learning empathy is in certain respects like learning a language or a sport. It requires practice and guidance. Regularly considering other people’s perspectives and circumstances helps make empathy a natural reflex and, through trial and error, helps children get better at tuning into others’ feelings and perspectives.
Key points from: Making Caring Common Project, Harvard Graduate School of Education. For more information, please visit makingcaringcommon.org.
At LVIS, we want our students to strive for success. Hopefully, that energy and motivation to achieve will include a willingness to support and celebrate the accomplishments of others!
Contact us...
Email: Stacie_davis@lagovista.txed.net
Website: http://classroom.lagovistaisd.net/default.aspx?LagoVistaIntermediateSchool/Home
Location: 20801 Farm to Market Road 1431, Lago Vista, TX, United States
Phone: (512)267-8300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lagovistaintermediateschool/
StayALERT Reminder!
Users may anonymously report concerns 24-7-365 via the StayALERT website, an e-mail, a phone call to a recorded and monitored line, or via a text message from a cell phone. Photos and video clips pertaining to the StayALERT report may be included. No special app required! Reportable information will be forwarded in a timely manner to a pre-designated school official for review.
To make a report, use one of the methods below:
Website: stayalert.info
Call or Text: (206) 406-6485
Email: report@stayalert.info
Lago Vista ISD Parent Guide to Promoting Student Attendance
Did You Know? • Each year, Central Texas students are absent 2.4 million days of school. Many of these absences are potentially preventable, including routine medical or dental checkups, traveling,or just skipping.
• Chronic absences in Kindergarten are associated with lower academic performance in 1st
grade among all children and are a contributor to the lowest levels of educational achievement at the end of fifth grade.
• Parents are best positioned to ensure children attend school and to build the expectation
around attendance and helping kids understand why it is so important.
What can parents do?
Getting your child to school on time, every day, unless they are sick, is something that you can do to ensure your child has a chance to succeed in school. While others can help, you are the bottom line.
You can promote good attendance for your child when you:
#1: Set up good routines.
Establish and stick to the basic routines (going to bed early, waking up on time, etc.) that will help your child develop the habit of on-time attendance.
#2: Teach kids that attendance matters.
Teach your child that attending school is nonnegotiable unless they are truly sick. If your child seems reluctant to go to school, find out why and work with the teacher, administrator or afterschool provider to get them excited about going to school.
#3: Don’t miss out if you don’t have to.
If you take your child out of school to travel, or you let your child stay home when you know he/she’s not really sick, your child misses important learning time. When your child misses school, he/she is missing opportunities to learn, socialize, gain confidence, and be inspired.
#4: Remember that appointment times matter.
Schedule medical appointments when they are least disruptive to school: on Saturday, late afternoon, or first thing in the morning. In LVISD, official attendance is taken every day at 10:00am (9:50am at elementary). Students not present at the official attendance time are counted absent for the day. If your child must miss school for a medical appointment, ALWAYS get a note from your doctor and take it to your school so the absence is excused.
#5: Have a back-up plan. Come up with back up plans for who to turn to (another family member, a neighbor or fellow parents) to help you get your child to school if something comes up (e.g. another child gets sick, your car breaks down, etc.).
#6: Reach out for help. Reach out for help if you are experiencing tough times (e.g. transportation, unstable housing, loss of a job, health problems) that make it difficult to get your child to school. Other parents, your child’s teacher, principal, school nurse, or community agencies can help you problem solve or connect you to additional resources.
#7: Help make sure your child is engaged at school. Identify non-academic activities (drama, art, music, etc.) that can help motivate your child’s interest in school and learning and seek out those experiences.
#8: Listen to the nurse. School nurses are trained in how to understand symptoms. In most schools, students are not allowed to call or text parents directly. If your child contacts you from school, call the school nurse FIRST before deciding what to do.
#9: Don’t make others sick. In Texas, all students must be up-to-date on immunizations before starting school. Some gradesrequire additional vaccines. See the full list at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/immunize/school/
Your child should stay home for at least 24 hours if he/she:
• Is running a fever of 100 degrees or more; or
• Has vomited more than once or has diarrhea; or
• Has flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough, sore throat, chills, or aches and pains.
Make sure your child is free of symptoms without medicine for a full day before sending him/her back.
If you have questions about when your child should stay home, just ask your school nurse.
#10: If an absence is unavoidable, make sure your student stays caught up.
If your child is absent, work with the teacher to make sure your child has an opportunity to learn and make up for the academics missed.
Remember: Showing up for school EVERY DAY has a huge impact on a student’s academic success starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school. Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students get to school safely every day and understand why attendance is soimportant for success in school and on the job.
MISSING SCHOOL MATTERS!
Find other tips and tools to help at www.MissingSchoolMatters.org.
ATTENDANCE THIS WEEK--96% Our Goal is 98%
UIL T-shirts On Sale Now!
LVES is hosting the District UIL competition on January 27, 2017. We want to show our support for all of our UIL participants and coaches, so UIL t-shirts are on sale now. All kindergarten-5th grade students, parents, and staff can purchase a UIL shirt. We will wear our t-shirts on January 27th, and again at the awards ceremony in February. The order form is available in the front office of LVES and LVIS.
All orders are due on or before Friday, January 13th by 3:00 pm. Late orders will not be taken after the deadline.
LVISD January Character Trait - Citizenship
January's character trait is Citizenship. Here are some ways that students and teachers can show citizenship:
- Do your share to make your school and community better
- Cooperate
- Get involved in your community
- Stay informed; vote
- Be a good neighbor
- Obey laws and rules
- Respect authority
- Protect the environment
- Volunteer
Mrs. Slaughter will be teaching students about Citizenship in this month's guidance lessons this month.