CGB Elementary News
December 1, 2023
December, snow, and the holiday season is upon us. It is a busy time of the year. Students are busy preparing for our winter concert next Monday. I wish everyone well the next few weeks in preparation for the holidays and our winter break.
PAWS Winners
We have a weekly PAWS drawing for prizes. The first of each month is done over a Google Meet. Today, we had a few special high school helpers share their advice on Perseverance, Accepting and Respecting Others, Making Wise Choices, and Being Safe. Thanks to Mrs. Sigler for planning this and transporting them to the elementary. They are also pictured with our drawing winners for the month of November.
Alison (Sporting pass and popcorn)
Mallory (Sporting pass and popcorn)
Easton (Mr. Huselid's chair for the day)
Ava (Mr. Huselid's chair for the day)
Tenley (10 minutes of extra recess)
Maverick (pick a song or message on the intercom)
Paige (not pictured) (pick a song or message on the intercom)
Logan (not pictured) (10 minutes of extra recess)
Kindness Day
We celebrated Kindness Day on Nov. 13th by having students write PAWS tickets to teachers and staff from November 1-17th.. We held a drawing for staff on Friday. The staff really enjoyed getting PAWS tickets from students. They did such a great job of showing how they are grateful for our great elementary staff.
Conference Success
We had outstanding conference attendance at the elementary for fall parent-teacher conferences. Parents, thank you for being flexible with schedules and taking the time to meet with teachers to discuss your child's academic, social, and emotional progress. Please reach out to teachers if you have any questions or follow up. Thanks again for visiting.
Book Fair Success
The Scholastic Book Fair was a huge success. The kids certainly love the book fair and purchases do go back to the school as we are able to purchase many new books from our sales during the book fair. Thank you Kelly for organizing and running this event. We also thank Anne Dietz and Jean Fuhrman who helped set up the Book Fair.
Winter Concert
Monday, December 4 Concert
The Elementary Winter Concert will be held on Monday, December 4, 2023 at 6:30pm in the Clinton gymnasium. Students should take their place on the riser and sit quietly until the concert begins. Parents please keep your child's winter clothing. Students should wear nice looking clothes. "Ugly Sweaters" are acceptable.
We look forward to a great evening of music!
Veteran's Day Program
The elementary staff and students enjoyed a great Veteran's Day program. Mrs. Olson contributed again this year by creating a great program with music and patriotic messages given by students. Our local legion and auxiliary were here to participate in presenting the colors and as well as being our guests of honor on this special day.
Mrs. Taryn Hoffman gave a wonderful interactive message on freedom. Students reflected and shared their thoughts about what freedom means to them. Thanks to community members and parents for sharing this special day with our students.
Mindfulness
Monthly Mindfulness
Again in November, Mrs. Sigler provided a mindfulness lesson for students. They are still learning the basics of mindfulness and understanding why it is important to practice. They learned about the brain - specifically two important parts. The amygdala acts as the "gas pedal" telling the body to go when there is a big emotion, such as sadness or anger, or when the brain interprets danger. The prefrontal cortex, therefore, is the brakes. This is the logical part of the brain that can slow down or stop emotional reactions. Students learned that they can trick their brain and press the brakes with a few simple activities. Breathing was the focus of this lesson! Students practiced belly breathing and two helpful yoga poses (the forward fold and child's pose).
Ask your child to demonstrate and encourage them to use these strategies when they are experiencing big feelings. In December, students will be learning to use their five senses to be more present.
Article About the Brain and Sleep
The article does a great job of discussing what happens to a child's brain and how they are affected by insufficient sleep.
If I Was Principal For a Day...
One day during lunch this past week I invited several students to answer the question, "If you were the principal for a day, what would you do?" Here are some responses:
- Walk around and find someone in trouble (2nd grader)
- Drink coffee and eat cookies all day (2nd grade)
- Tell students to do nothing the whole day (1st grade)
- Sit in the chair the whole day (Kindergarten)
- Steal your chair and play games on the computer all day (2nd grade)
- Be nice to kids and no school for the rest of the year. (4th grader)
- Make the kids get outside for longer and have recess all day
- Movie day
I honestly had no idea what type of responses I would get. I was mostly curious about what kids would share on this topic. The students and I certainly enjoyed some creative responses. It was evident that the students were not interested in supervision, paperwork, and policy.
Visitors
Thank you to parent and family visitors that are visiting the building. With the upgrade to our network we were finally able to connect the Ring doorbell to earlier this fall. Keep in mind it only sounds a tone in the office. It continues to work well when Kelly and I are in the office to hear it. The office number is still posted on the door in case we are attending students or not in the office to hear the bell.
Thank you for continuing to sign in and get a badge when visiting. This is helpful to all staff so we know who is in the building.
Also, if you join us for lunch for any reason please contact the office or your child's teacher in advance so we can be certain we have enough food. Adult lunches are $5 even though students receive free lunches. This student lunch program initiative was funded by the MN legislature.
Quarter 1 Academic Honors
1st Quarter "A" Honor Roll
"A" Honor Roll
First Row: 4th Grade: Tessa Taffe, Kaleb Anderson, Peyton Fuhrman, Carsyn Stotesbery, Mareya Doschadis, Makenna Arndt, Chase Mahoney, Abby Rudolph, Amelia Pederson, Hudson Hoppe
Back Row: 5th Grade: Cachi DuVall, Charlie Arens, Julia Kelvie, Kinzie Findlay, Noah Baxter, Kenley Homan, Ashton Nordly, Maverick Ristvedt
"B" Honor Roll
Front Row: Grade 4: Malcolm Nosbusch, Jaxsyn Lavallie, Paul Frevert, Axl Gilsdorf, Mason Morrissette, Hurley Rixe, Dallas Genzler, Leilah Vangsness, Horizon Roberts, Jnaleen Walter
2nd Row: Grade 4: Jered Paez, Hannah Andrews, Easton Haugen, Gage Stotesbery, Michael Dozak, Leo Syverson, Lincoln Schlosser, Corbin Hauschild, Axel Lopez
Back Row: 5th Grade: SJ Walter, Bentley Hoppe, Aiden Smith, Mason Fuhrman, Ava Andrews, Dalton Jipson, Victoria Foren, Brandon Fitzner, Kashlyn Olson
Teacher Assistant
Graham won the PAWS drawing to be a teacher assistant for the day. Graham, our proud teacher assistant is pictured with his teacher Mrs. Cardwell. He did a great job helping out in 2nd grade.
Reward Day
Movie in the gym on Nov. 17
After a school-wide democratic process the students voted on the movie to watch in the gym. With 42% of the vote, Luca won. I do believe the excitement of the day wasn't necessarily the movie but the idea of all gathering in the gym together was most exciting for students. Students gathered with their stuffed animal, blankets, popcorn, and a juice and enjoyed the movie. We even had some students volunteer to sweep the gym to clean up the popcorn after the movie. Students earned 354 PAWS tickets out of their 200 goal.
Traverse Electric Presentation
Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students learned about electricity and static electricity with a visit from Traverse Electric. They give a great presentation. Students were attentive for over an hour and the presenters were overly impressed with how respectful and good listeners our students are. Thank you Chris Falk and Jen Gross for doing another great job!
Kennedy volunteered her hair to demonstrate static electricity using the Van de Graff Generator.
JMC App
Remember when logging in to JMC family account, the link is located on the district home page under JMC Portal. There is also an app available and you can refer to the link below to access that.
Friendsgiving in 1st Grade
Friendsgiving Lunch in Mrs. Kellen's 1st grade classroom. It was also a big meal served by our food service with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and all the extras.
Newsletters
Monthly newsletters are stored on the website so please refer back to past newsletters for information or events from the past.