Spend Your Summer with Friends – All Together Now at Mid-Continent Public Library

Summer is just around the corner, and we’re going to spend it celebrating kindness. MCPL’s Summer Library Program begins June 1st and will run until August 24. The Summer Library Program encourages families to spend at least 20 minutes a day reading or engaging with literacy.

Readers will log each day that they read to receive a daily reading badge. When readers aged 0-19 complete 20, 40, and 60 days of reading, they will earn a prize book from their local branch. Readers who are registered in Beanstack and log 60 or more days will also be entered to win a Grand Prize. MCPL Branches will award a Grand Prize in each of three age categories: 0-5 years, 6-12 years, and 13-19 years.

Adults aged 20+ can earn prizes, too! All adult readers who log 60 or more days will earn a prize.

During the 2022 Summer Library Program:

• Over 19,600 readers participated
• Over 933,000 days of reading were logged
• 30,579 books were given out to participants, local daycares, and summer schools
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If you are interested in supporting the Library’s annual Summer Library Program, learn more about MCPL’s Summer Reading Endowment Fund.

Check back soon for more details!

Our school day will run from 9:20am-3:20pm.

For frequently asked questions about Summer School, please go here:
https://www.nkcschools.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=6300

Mrs. Huntley wanted every student to have another free book to add to home libraries, so once again, every student at Gracemor will receive a free book. Mrs. Huntley started handing out free books during library lessons this week. Students were excited to hear they got to take a SECOND book home and keep it forever. Mrs. Huntley also gave everyone a free book in March during Read Across America Week. If you see a random book in your student’s backpack without a Gracemor Library barcode on it, that is a gift from the library. We tried to write student names inside the books for younger students. Happy Reading!

This creates a safety issue as there is no supervision for students arriving before 9:00AM.

Any student that is at school unsupervised by an adult before our doors open at 9:00AM may be owing a portion of their recess.

Please make sure you are not sending your student to school too early. Our doors open at 9:00AM.

Thank you for helping us to keep our students safe!

Thank you for your help to rebuild our Gracemor PTA

Every school day counts in a child's academic life...

A missed school day is a lost opportunity for students to learn. In this era of increased accountability for states, districts, and schools, the connection between student attendance and learning is being studied more than ever before. As a result, education agencies are asked with increasing frequency to report attendance data in a standard manner to allow comparisons across organizations and jurisdictions.

The primary rationale for high-quality attendance data is the relationship between student attendance and student achievement. Teacher effectiveness is the strongest school-related determinant of student success,1 but chronic student absence reduces even the best teacher's ability to provide learning opportunities. Students who attend school regularly have been shown to achieve at higher levels than students who do not have regular attendance. This relationship between attendance and achievement may appear early in a child's school career. A recent study looking at young children found that absenteeism in kindergarten was associated with negative first grade outcomes such as greater absenteeism in subsequent years and lower achievement in reading, math, and general knowledge.

Poor attendance has serious implications for later outcomes as well. High school dropouts have been found to exhibit a history of negative behaviors, including high levels of absenteeism throughout their childhood, at higher rates than high school graduates. These differences in absentee rates were observed as early as kindergarten, and students who eventually dropped out of high school missed significantly more days of school in first grade than their peers who graduated from high school. In eighth grade, this pattern was even more apparent and, by ninth grade, attendance was shown to be a key indicator significantly correlated with high school graduation.

The effects of lost school days build up one absence at a time on individual students. Penalties for students who miss school may unintentionally worsen the situation. The disciplinary response to absenteeism too often includes loss of course credits, detention, and suspension. Any absence, whether excused or not, denies students the opportunity to learn in accordance with the school's instructional program, but students who miss school are sometimes further excluded from learning opportunities as a consequence of chronic absenteeism.

For instructions on how to set up a MyPaymentsPlus account, please click here! You can also contact MyPaymentsPlus for support at 1-877-237-0946.

**Internet Explorer no longer supports proper encryption for payments. Please use Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox for MyPaymentsPlus.

https://www.mypaymentsplus.com/welcome

https://www.nkcschools.org/domain/96

As the North Kansas City School District continue to provide the safest, most enjoyable experience at our athletic and activity events, we are adding a few additional procedures moving forward for the remainder of the 22-23 school year:

1. Middle school and elementary school students may only gain admittance to events when accompanied by an adult. If students arrive to the entrance gate without an adult, they will be asked to contact an adult immediately and will not be allowed entrance into the event.

2. All middle school and elementary school students will be asked to remain with an adult OR in the assigned seating area determined by the school for the duration of the event.

3. All students will be asked to remain in the stands during games and will not be allowed to loiter in the concourse or restroom areas.

4. Students who are unwilling to comply with the directions of the on-site administrators, supervisors or law enforcement will not be able to attend athletic or activity events for the remainder of the 2022-23 school year.

5. All students should leave immediately following the conclusion of all school events.

6. All school district policies remain in effect during all activity and athletic events.

Love Pops Out All Over!

At Ronald McDonald House, love comes in all shapes and sizes. Love is made out of chocolate, flowers, pop-tabs, diamond rings. Wait a minute! Pop-tabs? Those aluminum rings on beverage and food cans? How on earth do pop-tabs support Ronald McDonald House? What can you do with a pop-tab?

Why Pop-Tabs?

Pop-tabs remind us of an important lesson: even little things make a big difference. We collect pop-tabs for three reasons: (1) Recycling is good for the environment. (2) Pop-tabs help pay the bills. In 2019, we recycled more than 16 tons and raised more than $14,000 from the aluminum proceeds. (3) Pop-tabs are friend-finders. Pop-tabs are worth more than the entire can because they are made of higher quality aluminum. Collecting pop-tabs is a popular volunteer opportunity that benefits RMH families and is easy to organize. Look at our website for more pop-tab information: https://rmhckc.org/how-you-can-help/poptabs/

How Can You Help?

Collect pop-tabs in zip-lock bags, cardboard boxes, coffee cans or plastic trash bags – anything easy to empty. Please do not use plastic soda bottles, water jugs or milk jugs; they’re hard to empty! Please don’t put keys into the same container. We must keep the metals separate.

Please do not collect steel pop-tabs; we can only take aluminum. How to tell? If the tab sticks to a magnet, it’s steel. If it doesn’t, it’s aluminum! It doesn’t matter what color the tabs are so long as they are aluminum – soda, fruit, vegetables, soup, tennis balls… any aluminum tabs!

Next Steps

Please deliver your pop-tab containers to the Longfellow Ronald McDonald House at 2502 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Mo. 64108. We have three Houses on Cherry Street; Longfellow is the largest one, on the west side, with a large parking lot. There is a “little house” near the front glass doors; lift up the “roof” and put the tabs into 2 bins inside. If you have a large quantity, please email Alan Lubert, information below, to arrange a time to meet to accept the tabs. Or, you may mail your tabs to Alan Lubert, RMH, 2502 Cherry Street, KCMo 64108 address.

For information, or a presentation about Ronald McDonald House and pop-tabs and keys, or a speaker for your school or group (on zoom at this time):

contact Alan Lubert, Community Outreach Manager, at alubert@rmhckc.org

Ronald McDonald House: Where hope finds a home. Thanks for helping families and children.

If you have had your ID scanned at any North Kansas City Schools prior to the date of the event AND you RSVP, we can have your visitor badge preprinted and ready for pick up upon arrival. Therefore, all we will need to do is have you sign in and grab your preprinted badge and you’ll be good to go!

If you have not had your ID scanned at any schools prior to the event, please prepare to wait in line for a few minutes.

Thank you for working with us to ensure the safety of our Gracemor students and helping make our safety system as effective and efficient as possible!

This year we will be allowing 5 parents per classroom. All parents planning to come to the winter party must RSVP.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

North Kansas City Schools screen all visitors to our schools using a web-based safety system. This system, RAPTOR, is a visitor registration system that enhances school security by reading visitor drivers’ licenses, comparing information to a sex offender database.

While the screening process is not lengthy, when a large number of visitors arrive to a school at the same time, visitors could experience a delay in gaining access to the school. In an effort to protect visitor’s time while ensuring staff and student safety, we have created a process to help expedite the screening process when sponsoring a grade level or building event.

Be RAPTOR Ready!

If you have had your ID scanned at any North Kansas City Schools prior to the date of the event AND you RSVP, we can have your visitor badge preprinted and ready for pick up upon arrival. Therefore, all we will need to do is have you sign in and grab your preprinted badge and you’ll be good to go!

If you have not had your ID scanned at any schools prior to the event, please prepare to wait in line for a few minutes.

Thank you for working with us to ensure the safety of our Gracemor students and helping make our safety system as effective and efficient as possible!

We are approaching the winter season and the potential for winter weather to disrupt school. The North Kansas City School district, and Gracemor, will begin sending iPads AND charging blocks/cords home every day beginning October 17th. We will ask parents to send their child to school each morning with their iPad fully charged in their backpack along with the charging block and cord. Each child’s iPad, charging block, and cord have been labeled with their name on them.

Families can purchase insurance to cover the iPad, charging block, charging cord can be purchased for $20.00 and can be used to cover damage to items. The cost of lost charging block or cord is $19.00 each.

If a family has a compatible charging block and cord at home and wish for the school’s charging block and cord stay at school, they need to communicate directly with their child’s teacher.

Online payments for insurance is now closed.

Parents may purchase iPad insurance in the Main office by cash or check. Below you will see what is covered under the district technology insurance.

Gracemor PTA needs YOU!

No matter your availability or skills, there is a place for you!

Please contact gracemor.pta@gmail.com if you would like to become involved this year! It truly takes a village, and it is a great way to meet others and be involved in what happens at Gracemor!

To join Gracemor PTA this year, please visit https://gracemorpta.square.site/

Gracemor PTA Membership is $6.00, and memberships will be online only. Click the link above and follow instructions.

You can pay your dues by venmo as well!

@gracemor-PTA

In the Notes section, please include:

-Your Name
-Your Student's Name and Grade (List all students if more than one.)
-Your Email Address

Thank you!

• Office: 816-321-5110
• Attendance Line: 816-321-5112
• Gracemor FAX # 816-321-5111
• Nurse: 816-321-5113
• Café: 816-321-4014
• Adventure Club: 816-321-5017

Accidents happen--- for this reason we are asking our families to pack an extra set of clothes to keep in your child's backpack.

We would like for every student to have an extra set of clothes in their backpack in case of accidents, including food that has been spilt, accidents outside, etc...

This is especially important for our youngest Crusaders. Our nurses office is running very low on extra clothes so please make sure you send extra clothes with your student every day.

I wanted to take a moment and remind families that students should not be bringing footballs,

toys, fidgets, Pokemon cards or the like from home. They become a distraction and

at times are lost. We are not responsible for lost items. Please have students keep them at home.

Thank you!

NKC Schools is committed to supporting all of our students throughout this time. School counselors have compiled several resources to support students’ social-emotional health at nkcschools.org/Page/5195. Families are encouraged to use this website as a resource for information and reach out to their school counselor with any questions.

As one of the largest, most diverse school districts in Missouri, North Kansas City Schools serves nearly 21,000 students. As champions for all students, NKC Schools' mission is to ensure that all are life-ready and ethically grounded in an ever-changing world through innovative educational experiences that inspire lifelong learning, embrace inclusion, and forge a unified community. In seeking to continually improve our systems and serve students, NKC Schools will employ change and innovation processes that boldly redefine the high school experience.

Over the course of several months during the 2019-2020 school year, NKC Schools brought together a Portrait Design Team to bring this vision to life. This team was a diverse group of individuals representing all stakeholder groups: students, staff members, teachers, district leaders, parents, Board of Education, business partners and community members. The Portrait Design Team identified the seven key competencies for our Portrait through a rigorous process, including research, concept design and development, and broader community outreach. This group's charge was to "develop a collective vision that articulates our community's aspirations for all of our students."