Rocket News
October 2022
THIS NEWSLETTER CAN BE TRANSLATED
A letter from your Principal
Royal Oaks Parents & Caregivers,
I hope this email finds you well. I can't imagine a better day for our Rocket Run last Thursday! It was truly an amazing day! What started out as a fundraiser twelve years ago, has really turned into a pretty special community building day. I want to thank all the parents, caregivers, grandparents, Rocket "Alum" and friends for coming and cheering on our Rocket Runners! That added element makes this day even more special. I also want to thank all the volunteers for giving of their time and talents to make the run what it is. Thank you ROSCO!
October is probably one of my favorite months of the school year. We just wrapped up the "newness" of September and are ready to dig deep into our learning and growing. What does this look like you ask? Well let me share what this looks like. We love to see students eager to learn and set goals, challenge themselves in goal setting, sustain the effort it takes to reach those goals and monitor themselves in how they do this. This is what it means to be a highly engaged learner who owns the learning process. September is all about starting to build relationships, establish routines, gather some baseline data to help us determine where students are in their learning, BUT October is "let's go month"!
Parent/Caregiver/Teacher Conferences couldn't be better timed. We have set aside Thursday, October 13 & Friday, October 14 for conferences in person or on Zoom. Please reach out to your child's teacher if these dates don't work. We have allowed teachers to expand that window to be the entire week of October 10th in order to accommodate our Rocket families. We are ready to join forces with you in supporting your Rocket! We look forward to meeting with you and discussing what this looks like as a team. We are excited for this year and the growth that lies ahead.
Thanks for all you do to support your child (and us). We appreciate it. Remember if you ever have any questions, please reach out. Your child's teacher is always your first point of contact and it doesn't have to be a conference. Open lines of communication ALL year long is essential in order to help your son/daughter meet his/her goals.
Have a GREAT October!
Go Rockets!
Love,
Mr. Ackley
Rocket Run 2022
Thank you to everyone who made the Rocket Run a success! Pledges are due back no later than October 13th. Also, huge shoutout to Kaitlin Hansen for capturing another all school picture!
Blackboard Email from Mr. Ackley and ROSCO Board
Royal Oaks Caregivers,
Wow, what a great day we all had at last week’s Rocket Run! The weather and temperatures were perfect, caregivers of all ages showed up to cheer on our Rockets, and students were able to engage in an annual tradition that has become a very fun day here at Royal Oaks. The event is one of our biggest of the year that celebrates our community by bringing everyone together - students, staff, families - and cheering on our students as they push themselves to challenge themselves, to set goals, to be proud of their accomplishments, and to feel the power of being a part of a supportive, caring community.
We are so grateful for the support that our families have given to our school - from the hours of coordination, the volunteers, and all of you that were able to be with us to participate on the day of the event. We appreciate all you do to make this a great day! We know as our students grow up here in Sun Prairie, they will have fond memories of our day together last week.
We also know that the funds we raised as a part of this event are impressive! Thank you for your generous support of the students and teachers. The gift you have given us is recognized as one of the largest across our system - thank you!
This past year, ROSCO has been a part of conversations with other SCO leaders from across the district to identify how we can come together as a community to ensure that Every Child, Every Day has equitable learning experiences and outcomes. The funds raised at the Rocket Run will fund some amazing opportunities and resources for our students. We are also committed to ensuring that these funds will support our fellow family leaders in the work that they are doing to support students and staff across the district. We look forward to the continued work of our School Community Organizations (SCO’s) in creating systems to support ALL learners.
Just as our Rocket Run brought all of our families together, our ROSCO leaders continue to work with SCO leaders across the district to celebrate and support our entire community - we commend them and support them as they lead us to build collective goals that support Every Child, Every Day, to be proud of our accomplishments, and to feel the power of being a part of a supportive, caring community.
We are proud of the efforts of ALL Rockets. Thank you for all you do to make Royal Oaks a great place to learn and work.
Sincerely,
ROSCO Board and Royal Oaks Staff
CLUB SIGN UP
Our 2022-2023 Royal Oaks Elementary School club offerings are now open for sign-up! We are offering clubs for second through fifth graders this year. Each club has a limited number of participants. In order to allow the most students to participate in clubs, each student has the opportunity to indicate alternate choices if there is more than one club for their grade level. Note: At this time, only 1 club is offered for second grade.
Parents/Caregivers will receive confirmation for the clubs their children are registered for. Students will be required to sign a letter of commitment for each club. Some clubs are not year-round. Please pay close attention to beginning and ending dates. Clubs will run from 2:45-3:30 pm. The office phone will not be available for phone calls after 3:30 pm. Please be on time to pick up your child on club days. Pick up will be at the front doors on Pennsylvania Ave.
Refer to Royal Oaks Club Descriptions 2022-2023 to review available club descriptions, dates, and advisors for your child's grade level.
Sign up here: Royal Oaks Club Sign-up 2022-2023
Math 24 Club
Starting Wednesday October 19th, Math 24 Club will be offered to 4th and 5th grade students. Those that choose to participate during the school year, will have the opportunity to compete at our local Math 24 meet and the Dane County Regional Math 24 tournament in the Spring. Mrs. Liz Olson, the new Learning Strategist teacher will be coming into classrooms to discuss Math 24. The club will run during 4th and 5th grade recess. Please contact Mrs. Olson at ekolson1@sunprairieschools.org or 834-7218 if you have any questions!
Royal Oaks Book Fair
ROSCO- All are Welcome
ROSCO (Royal Oaks School Community Organization) is our school’s parent group that supports the staff and students. Serving as the school’s booster club – they are a non-profit organization that functions independently of the school and the district. Any parent or guardian of a child at Royal Oaks can join. Meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm.
2022– 2023 Officers
President: Andrea Cecelia Roscorocket@gmail.com
Vice President: Kaitlin Hansen Vprosco@gmail.com
Secretary: Holly Christopherson roscorocketsec@gmail.com
Treasure: Amanda Dean, roscofunds@gmail.com
2022-23 ROSCO Meetings (6:30 pm Science Room)
September 13, 2022
October 11, 2022
November 8, 2022
December - No Meeting
January 10, 2023
February 14, 2023
March 14, 2023
April 11, 2023
May 9, 2023
June - No Meeting
SEL Spotlight
It’s National Bullying Prevention Month and here at Royal Oaks we’ll be promoting unity and kindness, learning about what bullying is and how to stop it from happening at our school and training teachers about how to respond to bullying if it does occur. Sun Prairie Area School District, in their Bullying, Cyberbullying and Hazing policy, defines bullying as “deliberate or intentional behavior using words or actions, intended to cause fear, intimidation, or harm. Bullying may be repeated behavior and involves an imbalance of power.” During our Life Skills lessons in October and November, students will learn to recognize bullying (versus rudeness, mean moments and conflict), report it to adults and refuse it by engaging in upstander behaviors and being assertive. All staff will also be trained to address reports of bullying and will continue to foster connected communities through events like Bullying Prevention Week. Oct. 17 through 21. We’ll be doing school-wide kind acts, reading stories about being upstanders and sharing ideas about how to make Royal Oaks a united community. Please have your child wear ORANGE on Wednesday, October 19, for National Unity Day!
School Safety & ALICE Training
The safety of students, staff, and visitors is a top priority at Royal Oaks. We hold a variety of drills throughout the year which not only enable us to practice our response to emergencies, but teaches our students life long skills to respond to situations that could happen in the community, the workplace, and beyond. In addition to monthly fire and evacuation drills, we hold two active threat drills each year. We partner with the Sun Prairie Police Department in our active threat drills twice a year.
When practicing active threat response, we empower our staff and students to make decisions based on the situation and environment (we use the ALICE model). The ALICE model is explained on our schools website linked below. If you have questions regarding our drill procedures please feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher