Washington Post
Family Newsletter for Washington Elementary School
A Word from Mrs. Wolf
Why school attendance matters?
- Absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year. Half the students who miss 2-4 days in September go on to miss nearly a month of school.
- An estimated 5 million to 7.5 million U.S. students miss nearly a month of school each year
- Absenteeism and its ill effects start early. One in 10 kindergarten and first grade students are chronically absent. Poor attendance can influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back.
- By 6th grade, chronic absence becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school.
- Research shows that missing 10 percent of the school, or about 18 days in most school districts, negatively affects a student’s academic performance. That’s just two days a month and that’s known as chronic absence.
- The academic impact of missing that much school is the same whether the absences are excused or unexcused. Suspensions also add to lost time in the classroom.
- When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating.
- Attendance improves when schools engage students and parents in positive ways and when schools provide mentors for chronically absent students.
- A recent report found that students who arrived at school academically ready to learn — but then missed 10% of their kindergarten and first grade years — scored an average of 60 points below similar students with good attendance on third-grade reading tests.
- In one study, indicators reflecting poor attendance, misbehavior and course failure in sixth grade can be used to identify 60% of the students who will not graduate from high school
What can parents do?
- 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.
- Make school a priority and make sure you understand our district attendance policies
- Be aware of our school calendar and school closure dates so appointments can be scheduled during those times to reduce time out of class
- When an absence must occur, work with the teacher to make sure assignments are completed and be available to help your child with concepts they missed
- Talk to your child about why going to school every day is critical and important unless they are 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.
- Visit the doctor if your child is seeming chronically ill
- Allow our school nurse or nurse practitioner assess your child if you are unsure if your child is sick enough to stay home, we can help when those decisions are difficult
- 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.).
- 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, social worker, school nurse, afterschool providers or community agencies can help you problem solve or connect you to a needed resource.
- If your child is absent, work with the teacher to make sure she or he has an opportunity to learn and make up for the academics missed.
What are we doing to help?
- We have developed a team of educators and administrators to review and set goals for our school
- We are working alongside other schools, districts and state level administrators to identify and respond to the needs of students who are chronically absent.
- We believe engagement is a part of what makes children want to come to school, so we are working on more projects, more recognition, morning club time on random days, and relationship building by matching students to adults
- We are reviewing our attendance more regularly and reaching out to families in certain categories. This may include home visits, assigning mentors or having incentive programs for specific children and incentives for parents as well.
- Helping to create personalized success plans for families and children who need support in getting to school or feeling motivated to attend school
- Working with social service agencies to increase awareness and seek assistance for those in need.
- Providing before school academic support for free to children who need to make up work or need supportive instruction with missed assignments
Things are looking up!
Best anthem ever!
New graphic novel section unveiled!
VIP Night
Patriot Pep Rally!
Mets game fun!
PTA News
· Please remember to return your PTA membership envelopes so that you can be a part of our wonderful PTA. The class with the highest participation will receive a popsicle party!
· There will be a student directory distributed this year, if you would like to be included, please fill out the student directory form found in your PTA packet by September 8, 2017.
· We are always looking for volunteers for our many committees. Come share your knowledge, talents and skills with us!
· During VIP night, we had a school spirit wear sale! You can purchase GWES clothing, magnets and hats, future sale dates will be announced soon! We also took orders for newly designed GWES school spirit shirts for adults! Thanks to all who ordered
· We would love to have business sponsors! If you know a business that would like to help support our PTA, please fill out the business sponsor sheet.
· Lastly, if there are any questions please contact us at gweskingsportpta@gmail.com or follow us on our Facebook page: GWES PTA.
4th Grade Technology News
IT IS OUR UNDERSTANDING THAT CHROMEBOOKS WILL BE HERE SOON! HANG IN THERE STUDENTS!
The S in our Patriot Promise is "Service"...this is our first project of the year.
Important Dates:
Labor Day, no school- Sept 4
LCE-4th grade to Conservation Camp-Sept 6
This week is club week-Which day will clubs surprise you? Come to school each day to see!
Warrior Race-info below-September 7
Hope for Houston service project donations-Sept 5-11
Parent conference day-no school for children- Friday, September 15th
College and career week-spirit days-more info to come-September 25-29
Birthdays with the principals-September 27
Field Day (LCA, LCB, LCC in the morning, LCD, LCE, LCF in the afternoon)-September 29
Class picture day-October 4th
No school, teacher inservice-October 6
Washington Elementary School
Email: washington@k12k.com
Website: washington.k12k.com
Location: 1100 Bellingham Dr, Kingsport, TN, United States
Phone: 423-378-2480
Twitter: @kcs_washington
Warrior Race Opportunity
ELEMENTARY ½ MILE RACE
Hosted by: John Sevier Cross Country Teams
WHERE: Warriors Path State Park
*starting line is on the soccer fields
WHEN: September 7, 2017
WHO: K-5th grades
TIME: 4:10
COST: $5.00
*Prizes (medals) will be awarded to the
top 3 females and top 3 males.
HOW TO SIGN UP:
Email: Julie Potts at jpotts@k12k.com
Or sign up on race day
Thanks for your input!
Each year, Kingsport City Schools (KCS) asks families to participate in the KCS Parent Survey. This survey provides valuable information that is used for planning, setting goals, and making continuous improvements. Your input is extremely valuable. We wanted to take the opportunity to share the results for your school.
As a reminder, the KCS Parent Survey was administered in May of 2017. George Washington Elementary School demonstrated extremely favorable results with overall satisfaction ranging between 98-100% for most categories. Some of the highlights for the school included strong satisfaction with the quality of instruction, teachers, office staff, administrators, feeling welcome, providing services or community connections, and the physical condition of the school, classrooms, and grounds. Due to your feedback and as a means of driving improvement, George Washington Elementary School has identified an area of concentration for the 2017-18 year. The school will focus on teacher communication with parents and guardians. Please stay tuned in future newsletters to see how we are continuing to address this area.
In addition, your input helped us change a few things for this year. We changed back to school night to spread out a bit more so heat and crowds we at a minimum. We also had an earlier time for K families so the crowds were not as overwhelming. Lastly, we have assigned a 7:30 duty to a teaching assistant each day so he/she can be out front as soon as the doors open. We hope you've noticed that our listening and learning opportunities do inform our decisions. We appreciate you!