NES MOUNTAIN MEMO
August 9, 2019
From Principal Reckert
Dear Nederland Elementary Families,
We are so excited to have the students back at school next week! Teachers have been busy preparing their rooms and getting everything ready for the first day.
We value parent partnership at NES and are continually looking for ways to improve our two-way communication with you. Please be sure your email address and phone numbers are up-to-date and accurate in the Parent Portal to ensure you receive communications from us. We also have a lot of information on our school website (nee@bvsd.org) and we post information on our Nederland Elementary School Facebook page. Your child’s teacher will also be sharing with you their email address and phone number, as well as the best way for you to contact them.
Your child’s teacher for the 2019-2020 school year will be available through the Parent Portal beginning at 4:00 pm this afternoon. All of our teachers at NES are highly-qualified, dedicated and outstanding professionals. As a staff, we spend a lot of time in the spring creating well-balanced classes with the individual needs of students in mind. I am very confident that all of our students will have a wonderful year in the class where they are placed. Please note that we do not move children out of their assigned class once assignments have been released.
I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday (and kindergarten and preschool families on your first day)!
In partnership,
Laurel Reckert, Principal
EVENTS
Tuesday, August 13th - Optional Supply Drop-Off from 2:30-3:30
Wednesday, August 14th - First Day of School for grades 1-5
Wednesday, August 14th and Thursday, August 15th - Kindergarten Assessment Days
Friday, August 16th and Monday, August 19th - Staggered Start for Kindergarten
Thursday, August 22 - Open House from 5:30-7:30pm
Thursday, August 29th - Mountain Strong Families Event 5:30-7:30pm
Monday, September 2nd - Labor Day - No School
Friday, September 13th - Assessment Day - Stay Tuned for More Information
Monday, September 16th - District Professional Development Day - No School
Noteworthy
Bell Times
8:15am arrival (recess)
8:30am first bell
8:35am tardy bell
11:30am dismissal for morning preschool
12:30pm start time for afternoon preschool
3:30pm dismissal
Supply Lists
Our optional supply drop-off is Tuesday, August 13th from 2:30-3:30. Please note, supplies can also be delivered during the first weeks of school or at our Open House on August 22nd.
Please find the link to supply lists here.
Open House/Back to School Night
For our Back to School Night this year we are trying a more open house-like, family-friendly event. Please join us for dinner from 5:30-6:30 on the playgrounds. Students can then accompany parents to their classrooms to meet their teacher from 6:30-7:30.
To ensure there is enough food for all families, please bring the following items to the dinner. Our wonderful PTA will be providing hot dogs and hamburgers.
Preschool - condiments
Kindergarten - buns (including gluten-free)
1st - drinks
2nd - chips
3rd - paper goods
4th - dessert
5th - salad
New Office Check-In Process
When you return to NES, you will notice our front entryway has been redone to meet district security standards. As in the past, you will be buzzed in from the outside to the entry portal. Once you have entered the building there will be a window where you can sign in and pick up a visitor badge. From there you can then gain entry to the rest of the building. Thank you for your patience as we iron out all the details with this new process.
Volunteer Needed!
Represent NES in the District Parent Council (DPC)!
The Boulder Valley District Parent Council (DPC) provides a monthly forum and lively exchange of ideas for all schools in Boulder Valley School District.
A representative from each school in the district is invited to attend a once-a-month meeting during the school year to join the Superintendent of Schools, along with special guests, to discuss and examine timely and relevant topics that affect the students and schools of BVSD. Our meetings are open to the public and we encourage all to attend.
The DPC provides a truly unique opportunity for BVSD parents, staff, teachers, students, and leadership to exchange and share ideas and views in a professional and open setting.
DPC meetings are held one Wednesday night of every school month 6:30-8: 00 pm in the BVSD Education Center located at 6500 Arapahoe, Boulder, CO 80303
Please join us to learn about issues that are important to our students!
The first District Parent Council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 18, 2019, from 6:30-8: 00 pm at the Education Center.
The Counselor’s Corner
My name is Kristen Kron (Ms. Kristen) and I am so excited to begin my second year as Nederland Elementary’s School Counselor! I am also thrilled to announce that I will be at NES full-time this year.
My goal as NES’s school counselor is to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of all students. Our program focuses on helping students achieve academic and personal success through a variety of preventive and developmentally appropriate activities.
Counseling Services
In order to meet different needs, our counseling program offers many services for you and your child. Services include:
Classroom lessons: I will be going into each classroom K-5 monthly to support students develop and strengthen academic, personal, and social skills. Some of the topics will include: Developing self-awareness, goal setting, test-taking strategies, cooperative group work, communication/advocacy, and career awareness. For more information on the objectives please visit the ICAP Scope and Sequence.
Small groups: Available for students who share similar concerns and may benefit from the group experience (Ex: Children of divorce/separation, grief/loss, executive functioning, self-regulation, friendship skills, etc.). I will be consulting with classroom teachers and families to determine which students may benefit from a group.
Individual counseling: Available for students who have specific needs. It is brief and solution-focused. Typically, students who need more support than a few individual sessions will be referred to our Behavioral Health Advocate (Jamie Smalley) and/or an outside agency.
Consultation: Please let me know if you would like to speak with me (email, phone, or in-person) and brainstorm different strategies to support your child at home and/or school.
Referrals
Counseling referrals may be received from students, teachers, and/or guardians. Please feel free to fill out the NES Guardian Referral if you have any concerns about your child and would like support or just want to keep me in the loop.
Counseling Website
Please check-out the NES Counseling Website for a plethora of resources and ideas for supporting your child. If you can’t find something you are looking for, please do not hesitate to reach out and I can do some research for you.
August Classroom Lesson
I will be going into classrooms over the month of August for a “Meet the Counselor” lesson. The students will learn more about:
The role of the school counselor
Confidentiality and the limits to confidentiality
When and how to ask the counselor for help
I look forward to working with you and your child this year!
Go Panthers!
Kristen Kron, LPCC, NCC
Phone #: (720) 561-4825
Social Emotional Corner
Why Schools are teaching Social Emotional Learning
~excerpts from educator JESSICA LAHEY (& Ann Sherman)
Our schools are devoting more time and resources to something called SEL. You may be wondering what happened to good old reading, writing, and arithmetic? SEL stands for social-emotional learning, and it’s a hot topic at the moment among educators with good reason.
The Collaborative for Social Emotional and Academic Learning defines social emotional learning as: “the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”
In other words, social emotional learning is what allows students to control their behavior, understand how their personal behavior impacts others and enables them to empathize and collaborate with others. As any teacher can attest, children who are less able to master these skills struggle to learn various subjects and can disrupt the educational process for their classmates as well. All humans need these skills to succeed in their relationships as well as to learn new information.
An oft-cited study on the impact of SEL on learning indicates that students who lack social-emotional competencies become less connected to school over time, “and this lack of connection negatively affects their academic performance, behavior, and health.” The study goes on to report that SEL programs confer a positive impact on student behavior, academic achievement, and grades.
Most social emotional learning programs are designed to support and enhance five areas of social and emotional development:
•Self-awareness: The ability to reflect on one’s own feelings, needs, and thoughts and understand how those feelings and thoughts affect behavior.
•Self-management or self-control: The ability to control one’s own emotions, actions and thoughts.
•Social awareness: The ability to empathize with a variety of people, understand and adhere to social cues and adapt behaviors so they are appropriate to a given social situation.
•Relationship skills: The ability to communicate with peers, make friends, manage disagreements, manage peer pressure and cooperate with a diverse range of people.
•Responsible decision making: The ability to make healthy choices about one’s own behavior while weighing consequences, safety, ethics and the well-being of the group.
One aspect of social emotional learning that has drawn a lot of attention in the news is the characteristic of “grit,” a term coined by Angela Duckworth, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Duckworth defines “grit,” a relative of the self-management competency mentioned above, as the ability to resist distractions in the short-term while remaining focused on long-term goals. Daily MINDFULNESS practice helps NES students focus on their present learning despite environmental distractions and competing thought patterns.
Many schools are working to implement social emotional learning programs in the hopes that strengthening these five core competencies can reduce bullying and increase school safety. From a teaching perspective, it is also far easier to educate a classroom of students who feel emotionally and physically safe, supported by their teacher and their peers. Conversely, when students and teachers don’t treat one another with dignity and respect, the classroom can become an oppressive and unpleasant place to spend any time, let alone learn.
Morning meetings or “CREW TIME” at NES give students a chance to bond with classmates, share their internal worlds, and practice social skills. Weekly BRAINWISE SEL LESSONS at NES are designed to reinforce skill-building of social emotional competencies. When disruptive behavior does occur, we are responding by coaching students through a RESTORATIVE PROCESS that helps to foster accountability and heal any relationships that might be damaged so that a child can be quickly integrated back into the learning environment. Our focus on the “whole child” supports traditional academic learning by intentionally developing emotional and social intelligence too.
Nederland Elementary
Attendance Line: 720-561-4802
Email: Juanita.Gloe@BVSD.org
Website: http://nee.bvsd.org/
Location: 1 Sundown Trail, Nederland, CO, USA
Phone: 720-561-4800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BVSDNederlandElementary/?hc_location=ufi