Ross Round Up

Engage. Empower. Educate. Every Day.

Dec. 16, 2022

Hi parents!


This week was an amazing week of Innovation at Ross Elementary. What does Innovation mean to us? We are bold, we take risks, and we are flexible and willing to step out of our comfort zone. For our kid-friendly version, check out the poster below.


Here's a few things that we did to innovate this week at Ross:


  • On Tuesday, Jaya M. (4th grade) announced her new club, the Art Club. This will be held each Monday at lunch recess and any kids who want to come will be provided with all art supplies. Jaya came up with this idea herself, presented it to me, found an adult volunteer to help run it (thank you, Cori!), and then advertised it on the announcements and by making posters! Kids around campus are just buzzing with excitement over Art Club.
  • On Tuesday, Mason B. (4th grade) was presented with a Kuna Way Award at the Kuna School Board Meeting for his hugely successful arm wrestling tournament that he created, planned, and carried off.
  • On Tuesday, 5th graders in Mrs. Rasmussen's WIN group competed in the Finals of the Poetry Slam. They wrote poems themselves and performed them as groups or individuals. Mrs. Wooten, Mrs. Brown, and I were the final judges and we were blown away by the kids' talent and creativity. The three winning poems were: 1st place--Technology Crisis (by Luke W., Liam A., Charles T., Wyatt F., and Kaleb Z.), 2nd place--Noise (by Colton H.), and 3rd place--Stereotypes (by Trystan P.). We're going to ask the three winning groups to perform in front of the school board in January--that's how good they were! Video coming soon!!!
  • On Wednesday, 4th and 5th grade classes did special projects that required their creativity and imagination. Check out this video for some highlights from their projects.
  • On Thursday, CAST leaders were announced. We had 57 applicants (45% of our 5th graders applied!!!) and had originally planned to only choose 15. With that many applicants, we innovated to come up with a way to involve more students. Instead of one group of 15, we selected 6 student leaders to lead 3 CAST teams of 10 students. This allowed us to select 30 students to be on our student leadership team. On Monday, CAST members will serve hot cocoa to the 4th graders who won the innovation contest in their classes. On Tuesday at lunch recess, we'll hold our first CAST leader meeting to start planning.
  • On Thursday, our PTA delivered Christmas breakfast kits to all our staff this week. Our staff felt so loved by the creative work of the PTA. Thank you for your innovative idea and for all your support, PTA members! If you want to get involved, the next PTA meeting is Thursday, Jan. 12 from 3:45-4:45pm at Indian Creek Elementary.
  • On Thursday, I went around to each class to lead students in Innovation goal setting. All students ranked themselves on how they're doing in Innovation and set a goal. Ask your student what Innovation goal they set. After break, I will go back around and make a YouTube video of students who met their Innovation goals and post it. I can't wait to hear the great ideas kids come up with at school and over break!
  • On Friday, many staff and students wore creative Christmas sweaters of all varieties. Check out this video for some of the sweaters.
  • All week, kids worked on special projects as gifts for loved ones. You're going to LOVE them!


And so much more in individual classes and with individual students--the list of innovation is endless! Our kids are so creative and engaged.


We're so proud to have the kind of school that encourages students to get involved. That's a lot of what we love about being an AVID school. AVID stands for Advancement via Individual Determination, which is about students taking individual ownership of their learning and school through Writing, Organization, Collaboration, Inquiry, and Reading (WICOR).


We love our Ross students and we love the families that support us and their students in so many ways.


Love,


Principal Tripp

Big picture

Excusing Students from School

Parents, please remember to call the school in the morning at 208-922-1011 and let us know when your student will be absent. It helps us to know that they're OK when they're missing from school.

Upcoming Events at Ross

Monday, Dec. 19

Grinch or Santa? Dress Up Day

Dress in all green for Grinch or all red/white for Santa!


Tuesday, Dec. 20

PJ Dress Up Day

Wear your PJs to school, just like Christmas Eve.


Tuesday, Dec. 20

Student Ross Sing-a-Long

9:00-9:30 in the gym

We'll gather our students and sing along to great Christmas songs! Video will be posted to YouTube.


Tuesday, Dec. 20

Classroom Christmas Parties

Details will be communicated by your classroom teacher


Wednesday, Dec. 21-Jan. 4

Christmas Break and Teacher PD Day

Students start back on Thursday, Jan. 5. Plans for our Jan. 4 Teacher Professional Development Day will be posted on our website as the time gets closer in case you're interested in what we're doing that day.


Tuesday, Jan. 10

Ross Students Present at the Board Meeting

6:00pm at the District Office

Our CAST leaders will present our plans to the school board. Also, our Poetry Slam winners will perform their original poetry. Come and support them in person or watch on the Kuna School District YouTube channel.


Thursday, Jan. 12

Domino's Pizza Dough Night

Mention Ross when you order and we get a portion of the sales that night.


Friday, Jan. 13

Popcorn Friday

Snowman popcorn! $0.25 a bag (limit 2 per student). To volunteer, click here.

Big picture

From the School Social Worker, Mrs. Brown

Meet Mrs. Brown, our School Social Worker.


In partnership with staff and parents, Mrs. Brown supports students on campus in a variety of ways--classroom mini-lessons on getting along socially and problem solving, small friendship groups, setting up our Check In program for students who need a mentor, and 1:1 check ins with students.


Here's a message from Mrs. Brown:


"I popped into classrooms this week to do a brief activity and lesson about gossip and rumors. We have been seeing a lot of this around our school lately, and it is causing many students to run to the office in tears. I shared with students our expectations around gossip here at Ross: 'If you didn't hear it with your own ears, or see it with your own eyes, don't believe it. If it is not your business, don't talk about it.' Each class was reminded of exceptions to sharing other people's business- when there is concern that someone could be or is getting hurt. See the poster below that we're putting up around the school to help students remember.


"We are hopeful that this new expectation will result in much less gossip and rumor spreading in our school and community, and hope that these messages can be reiterated at home as well. 4th and 5th grade is a time of making friends and learning how to communicate with them when we have conflict or disagreements. I know our students have the compassion and ability to solve peer conflict in ways that do not involve spreading rumors or gossiping about others.


"Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about the gossip and rumor lesson, or would like information about the problem solving lesson I did earlier in the year. I can be reached at klbrown@kunaschools.org or 208-922-1011."

Big picture

Who are we at Ross?

Each day at Ross we will:

Engage. Empower. Educate.


Our dream is to:

Ignite a passion for lifelong learning and personal growth so students will be successful in college, career, and life.


Our school values are:

We treat others with dignity and respect. We are ethical and humble in our actions. We are COMPASSIONATE.

We hold tight to our convictions. Decisions are made to make the lives of others better. We are LEADERS.

We are stronger and better when we work together. We are a part of a beautiful and diverse COMMUNITY.

We are bold, we take risks, we are flexible and willing to step out of our comfort zone. We are INNOVATIVE.