Tiger Tales
December 2019
Principal's Principles
Attendance is very important to your child's success here at school.
Here are some top statistics on attendance and it's possible effect on your child's education. Please make every effort to help your child get to school and stay engaged in their learning. These habits are a predictor of future investment and value in education and will either positively or negatively impact your child's educational career.
- Research shows that missing 10 percent of the school, or about 18 days in most school districts, negatively affects a student’s academic performance.
- By 6th grade, chronic absence becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school.
- Poor attendance can influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back.
- When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating.
What can I do as a parent to help?
- Value your child's education and role model routines.
- Communicate with your school so that they know how to help if you have circumstances that limit your ability to get your child to school.
- Be involved at school with parent-teacher conferences, communication on a weekly basis, attending events at school, and showing excitement for your student's day-to-day activities.
- Set up learning routines at home by reading with your child at bedtime.
- Create healthy habits by having a structured routine at home with wake-up and bedtimes.
Health Hub
Hand washing is one of the best ways to keep your kids healthy this winter. Teaching them how and when to wash their hands can prevent unwelcomed germs!
Steps we can all practice:
Wet your hands with clean running water-warm or cold doesn’t really matter
Use soap, lather for about 20 seconds-find a fun song to sing. Most of us are in a hurry to do whatever is next, this is an important step!
Wash between your fingers and around the fingernails
Rinse
Dry thoroughly to help prevent chafed hands
When water and soap are not available, hand sanitizer can be used, but hand should be washed with running water and soap when available.
Children need frequent reminders after sneezing, coughing, blowing their nose, before eating, after using the bathroom, after playing outside, after playing with pets or anytime hands appear soiled.
Children also learn from example, they look up to us, so let's set good examples!
Counselor's Corner
In Connections during the months of November and December we focused on Empathy. We defined empathy as: being able to understand how someone else if feeling. We talked about the importance of recognizing and noticing how other people are feeling and doing something to help them.
Here are some tips on how you can cultivate Empathy in your home:
- Create a caring relationship.
- Lead with Empathy.
- Listen for understanding.
- Help kids learn from volunteering.
Mrs. Billings - Webster Elementary School Counselor
Food & Nutrition News
December is a time of holiday celbrations and family gatherings. These gatherings can at times be stressful for young children when it comes to eating as they are presented with many things they may not have tasted yet. A few tips for getting through the holidays with children and staying as healthy as they can:
- Have a healthy snack before going to a celebration to help curb hunger and keep them regulated.
- Present new options on their plate to encourage tasting new food but don't put pressure on them to eat it all.
- Help them make good healthy choices, but role modeling what healthy eating looks like when at holiday parties.
- Keep sugary drinks to a minimum.
- Make sure children are getting a balanced plate of proteins, grains, fruits, vegetables, and dairy.
- Encourage eating their plate full with a choice of a treat afterwards.
- Limit the holiday treats as there are many options.
- Have a later evening snack or mid day snack that is healthy to keep them from getting over hungry in-between.
- If making a dish to pass...include the kids in making and sharing the dish! Keep it fun and they are more likely to eat it themselves.
Grinch Kabobs: https://www.momables.com/grinch-fruit-kabobs/
Christmas Breakfast ideas: https://parade.com/849412/jillmills/12-of-the-best-christmas-breakfast-ideas-for-kids/
Healthy Holiday Snack ideas: https://stayingclosetohome.com/healthy-holiday-snacks-kids-made-kids/
Phonics Matter!
The next one of “The Big 5” in reading we will learn about here is phonics. Phonics helps students learn the alphabetic principle; that is, knowing that letters are used to represent spoken sounds. While English spellings can sometimes be confusing, only a small percentage of English words have irregular spelling patterns. Most words can be read by applying letter-sound relationships and blending sounds together to form whole words. Like phonemic awareness, phonics is a foundational skill that leads to becoming a strong reader. Here is a list of activities you can do at home to help promote strong phonics skills:
(**Note: say the sound of the letter, not the letter name, when the letter is inside the slash
marks / /. Do not add a “uh” after the sound is made. This is called “clipping the consonant”.)
Make letter-sounds and have your children write the letter or letters that match the sounds.
Play word games that connect sounds with syllables and words (for example, if the letters "p-e-n" spell pen, how do you spell hen?).
Write letters on cards. Hold up the cards one at a time and have your children say the sounds (for example, the /d/ sound for the letter d).
Point out words that begin with the same letter as your children's names (for example, John and jump). Talk about how the beginning sounds of the words are alike.
Use alphabet books and guessing games to give your children practice in matching letters and sounds. A good example is the game, "I am thinking of something that starts with /t/."
Write letters on pieces of paper and put them in a paper bag. Let your children reach into the bag and take out letters. Have them say the sounds that match the letters.
Make letter-sounds and ask your children to draw the matching letters in cornmeal or sand.
Connection Coordinator
Ms. Crystal’s Ojibwe News
December(Little Spirit Moon)- Manidoo-Giizisoons
School- Gikinoo’amaadiiwigamig
Outside- Agwajiing
January(Great Spirit Moon)- Gichi-Manidoo-Giizis
Winter- Biboon
Have a great winter break! See you in January for more education!
From the Office
- Reminder that calls for bus or pick-up changes need to be into the office by 2:00 pm.
- OUTDOOR CLOTHING REMINDER: As the weather turns colder, please send your child with appropriate clothing for outdoor recess. Under 50 degrees requires a sweatshirt or jacket. Under 40 degrees requires hat, gloves/mittens, and jacket. Students will be required to have snow-pants and boots on the playground when there is snow on the ground in order to go off of the blacktop area. If you are in need of outdoor clothing for your child, please contact the office or the School Counselor as things are sometimes donated.
Winter Break: No SCHOOL Dec. 23 - Jan 1
Other Upcoming Dates:
Holiday Concert k-4
Friday, Dec 13, 2019, 10:00 AM
Webster Elementary School, East Alder Street, Webster, WI, USA
Holiday Concert k-4
Friday, Dec 13, 2019, 02:00 PM
Webster Elementary School, East Alder Street, Webster, WI, USA
Julia Cook Author Visit/Family Night
Wednesday, Jan 8, 2020, 03:30 PM
Webster Elementary School, East Alder Street, Webster, WI, USA
No School- Staff Inservice Day
Monday, Jan 20, 2020, 08:00 AM
Webster Elementary School, East Alder Street, Webster, WI, USA
YouTube Storytime with Principal Nagel
Ashley Nagel, Principal
Email: anagel@webster.k12.wi.us
Website: www.webster.k12.wi.us
Location: Webster, WI, USA
Phone: 715-866-8210