SIPLE SCOOP
OCTOBER 2021
THANK YOU FOR A GREAT START TO A NEW SCHOOL YEAR!!
I want to thank our Siple parents. You have been wonderful about supporting our students and staff as we move through another school year in the time of Covid. I personally want to thank you for working with me in a positive way when I have had to reach out to parents about Covid protocols or policies. I know it has been a challenge for everyone and your kindness and understanding has meant the world to me and my staff. I look forward to working with all of you to give our Siple students the best learning experience possible.
Warmly,
Christy Flowers, Principal
810-591-5104
PARENT DROP-OFF AND PICK-UP
1. We follow whatever your child's bus tag says for dismissal. If it says your child rides the bus, your child's teacher will be walking them to the bus. If there is a day when their dismissal plans are different from their bus tag, PLEASE call the office before 3:00 p.m. so we can send a note to the teacher and have your child ready for whatever the change of plans are that afternoon.
2. Drop-off starts at 8:20 a.m. Please make sure that your child has their shoes, jacket and mask on and that they have their backpack ready to go. This helps us move the line along at a quick pace so parents can be on their way to their next destination. It is critical that you do NOT drop your child off unattended. We have multiple staff members in place each morning in the drop-off line. For your child's safety it is imperative that you remain in the line and wait to let your child out of the car only when a staff member has opened the door for them to get out. This ensures your child is being supervised.
3. It would be helpful if you could make it possible for your child to enter and exit the vehicle on the passenger side. Cars will sometimes pull around on the driver's side so for the safety of the students and staff keeping everyone on the passenger side works best.
4. We begin calling students for pick-up at 3:30 p.m. Please make sure you have your gold dashboard card on the passenger side dashboard window. If you do not have your dashboard card, please contact the office to get a replacement. Please make sure the card is visible to the staff.
5. For both drop-off and pick-up please come into the Siple drive from the west on Coldwater Road. This allows traffic to flow in both directions on Coldwater Road and allows buses to pull into the drive as well. I am including a map below.
6. Please try to reduce gaps between cars to a safe, but small distance. We want to get as many cars off Coldwater Road as possible.
7. If you need to help your child buckle their seat belt, please pull ahead to the lane on the right of the orange cones at the end of the building. This allows the carline to continue to move forward.
I want to thank everyone for being mindful of when buses are pulling into the exit drive. I appreciate how you pull off to the side to allow them safe passage. This is greatly appreciated.
Davison Homecoming 2021
Monday: H is for Hat Day
Tuesday: O is for orange day. Wear something orange today.
Wednesday: M is for Mismatch Day. Dress in mismatched clothing today.
Thursday: E is for exercise day. Wear workout wear.
Friday: School Spirit Day: Dress like a Siple/Cardinals Super Fan
There will be a Homecoming Parade this year that begins at the High School, travels down Clark Street, and then turns North down Main Street, ending at the library. The parade will begin at 5:00 p.m. The Football game will take place in our beautiful Cardinal Stadium at 7:00 p.m. and will include the special half-time ceremony where the new Homecoming Queen will be crowned.
STAYING HEALTHY
All parents received an update from the District about the guidelines we received from the Genesee County Health Department about mask requirements. They updated the requirements for masks as follows:
"Masks must be made of tightly woven cloth or other multi-layer absorbent material that closely covers an individual's mouth and nose. Coverings which have vents, lace, holes, exhalation valves, etc. do not meet the definition of face mask and are not in compliance with the order."
I share this to thank everyone for sending appropriate face masks with their children each day. You are doing a wonderful job and the children have knocked my socks off with how well they are doing following the expectations. I am so proud of my Siple STARS!
Visitors at Siple
-Drop off or pick up student medications
-Attend IEP's, 504's or Parent-Teacher Conferences
-or for approved meetings or as an approved volunteer
For other reasons such as picking up a student, dropping off lunch or other items, parents/guardians should press the door buzzer at the main entrance. An office staff member will meet them at the door to assist them with the reason for their visit.
Count Day
Parent Teacher Conferences are Coming!
This year parents we are hosting conferences in person and virtually. All those choosing to attend face to face conferences will need to abide by the mask mandate and wear a mask while in the building. If you prefer to not wear a mask, please schedule a virtual parent-teacher conference.
Conferences will be by appointment only. Teachers have already begun scheduling conference times. If you have not scheduled a time, please contact your child's teacher as soon as possible as appointments are filling up. Conferences are scheduled for:
Wednesday, October 13th from 4:30-8:00 p.m.
Thursday, October 14th from 9:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
We look forward to seeing you!
Scholastic Book Fair
Our Scholastic Book Fair will be Monday, October 11 - Thursday, October 14. The book fair is a great opportunity for your child to add books to his or her library. All proceeds from the sale of books go toward our SIple library. Fliers will be sent home soon. Parents are invited to shop at the Book Fair in the Media Center during Parent Teacher Conferences. There will be a large selection of books available to choose from. They make great Christmas presents!
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me, Kristen Machuk at 810-591-5104 or email me at kmachuk@davisonschools.org.
School Picture Retake Day
EMERGENCY DRILLS
Halloween Fun
The leaves are turning colors and the temperature is dropping too. Halloween is just around the corner. With that in mind, I wanted to share important information about Halloween at Siple this year. Halloween occurs during Intersession I when we are not in school. For this reason, we will celebrate Halloween on Thursday, October 21st, our last day of school before Intersession I. To ensure that everyone enjoys this very exciting day please carefully read the important information that follows.
Costumes: Siple is home to kindergarten through 4th grade students. Because we have such young students in our building, it is important that Halloween be celebrated in a kid-friendly manner. When selecting a costume for your child to wear to school please keep in mind the following guidelines.
Keep costumes kid-friendly/not scary/no 5 Nights of Freddy
No blood/gore/weapons
No costume masks for safety sake.
If you are unsure about whether or not a costume is kid-friendly please contact your child's teacher or the office.
Classroom Parties: All parties will be held in the afternoon. Please watch for communication from your child's teacher about their classroom party. Due to food allergies, we ask that you do not send any food or treats that are not cleared by the classroom teacher in advance. Every Siple student is precious and we want to protect our students with serious allergies. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. We are continuing to limit volunteers in the building to help with the mitigation of Covid-19. Because of this we will not need party volunteers this year.
Dismissal: Dismissal on party day will be the same as every other day. If your student is parent pick-up please pull into the parent pick-up line and remain in your car until your child is loaded.
Santa's Gift Shop
Title I Intervention
What Is Title I?
Title I is a federally funded program that enables us to provide intervention for students who need extra help with reading, writing, math, science or social studies. Students are chosen to participate in our intervention programs based on testing data that is gathered throughout the year. Siple’s literacy specialist, Mandy Barrett, oversees our Title I programs. Below is an explanation of the interventions we provide at Siple.
The interventions we provide at Siple are:
Enhanced Alphabet Knowledge: Primarily for Kindergarteners, this intervention is provided by our trained paraprofessionals and helps students learn letter names and sounds in a systematic way.
Systematic Instruction in Phonemic awareness Phonics, and Sight Words (SIPPS): Provided by our trained paraprofessionals, this intervention focuses on the basic reading skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, and sight words. Students at the end of Kindergarten and beginning of 1st grade benefit from SIPPS.
Reading Intervention for Students to Excel (RISE): For students in grades 1st-4th, this intervention has 3 stations. Students read a book and work on reading strategies at one station, focus on breaking words apart and sight words at another station, and write about their reading at a third station. RISE is also provided by our trained paraprofessionals and overseen by our literacy specialist.
Bridges Math Intervention: For grades K-4, students work on critical numeracy and computation skills with a trained paraprofessional.
Classroom interventions: Teachers may also provide interventions in the classroom in reading, writing, math, science or social studies.
If you have any questions about our intervention programs, feel free to contact Mrs. Barrett at (810) 591-5104 ext 2607, or mbarrett@davisonschools.org.
COUNSELOR'S CORNER
Happy New School Year!
My name is Julie Simonsen and this is my fifth year as Siple’s Elementary School Counselor. My office hours are Monday-Friday from 8:00-4:00.
School counseling is a short-term, solution-focused counseling in which the goal is always to get students back into the classroom. My role is to support students academically by helping meet their social and emotional needs. Students are able to request to see the counselor by filling out a “Rock Referral” page and parents are always welcome to call (810-591-5104) or email (jsimonsen@davisonschools.org) with requests. I also have a list of area counselors for any family that might be interested.
In the first two weeks of school I was able to visit all the classrooms to introduce myself and what I do to the students. In that time I also shared ideas on How to Calm Down. Although each child is unique, I find it important to teach children that they can use calming strategies. The two posters I shared with the teachers are available at these links: Ways I Can Calm Down Poster 1 and Ways I Can Calm Down Poster 2.
In addition to having individual sessions, in October we will continue our 6-week Sunshine Group for changing families, our Grief & Loss Group (notes went home about this group the first week of school), and our On-Boarding for New Students Group (for grades 2-4). We will also be starting our S.U.P.E.R. Kids Group for encouraging positive emotions and relationships and the TRAILS Group for Anxiety and Depression in November.
Our Siple Kids’ Boutique is scheduled to occur during our parent/teacher conferences this year on October 13th and 14th. This is an opportunity for families to donate gently used clothing and for families to “shop for free” in the Gym during parent/teacher conferences for this clothing. We will begin collecting used clothing in early October and a note will come home regarding it. If you are interested in helping with this, please feel free to contact me either by phone or email.
Lastly, in October all students will learn about being “Stranger Smart” from Officer Foster and the school counselor. Below are some Family Safety Tips to keep in mind with Halloween just a couple months away:
Family Safety Tips
When discussing safety information with your child,
Keep in mind that if you overreact, your child may panic.
Avoid clothing and toys which visibly display your child’s name.
Never leave a child alone in a public place or car (NOT EVEN FOR A MINUTE).
Always accompany young children to the bathroom in a public place and advise them never to play in or around that area.
Point out safe houses on your block where your child can go if they are in trouble.
Keep an up-to-date color photograph of your child, a medical or dental history, and have your child fingerprinted.
Know where your child is at ALL times.
Teach your child never to accept candy, food, or anything from strangers.
Set up a “password.” A password is any word you and your children decide to use as a secret clue.
Instruct your child not to go with any stranger or friend who doesn’t know the password.
Mrs. Simonsen, Counselor
810-591-0227
DID YOU KNOW........
Did You Know This Service is Available
There are many great resources for families in the area. This section of the Siple Scoop is dedicated to introducing you to a FREE resource each month.
This month we are featuring Michigan 211, which is a free, confidential service, that connects you with local community based organizations across the state offering more than 30,000 different programs and services for people seeking help with a variety of things (Food, Utilities, Housing/Homelessness, Veterans & Military Affairs, Children & Families, Re-Entry Services, Disaster Preparedness & Response, Transportation, and Tax Assistance). Simply dial 211 or go to the website: https://www.mi211.org
FUN TO BE FIT
Welcome back to another exciting school year! Just a couple of things to remind all my Siple parents. Please make sure your child has their tennis shoes for physical education class. They have P.E. class two times a week. If they wear dress shoes or boots have them pack their tennis shoes in their backpack and they can change at school. Students will also want to wear comfortable clothes that they can run around and get hot and sweaty in. Thank you so much for helping your kid(s) wear the proper clothes and shoes so they can participate in my classroom.
To start the year off we will be working on routine and expectations in my classroom. Starting a new year off learning what routine we do everyday in my classroom is important. We will also be going over Cardinal Code and the rules that I have incorporated into my physical education classes.
Our first unit that we will start this year is soccer. The students are learning how to dribble, trap the ball and pass the soccer ball. We will also be taking our first of two Pacer Tests this month to see where the students are at the beginning of the year. We will take the second one sometime in May or June to compare with. I will talk more about the Pacer test in later Scoops. I am excited about this year to work with your child and teach them some basic skills that we use in a lot of different sports!
Mr. Sipley, Gym Teacher
810-591-0231
MUSIC NEWS
Welcome to Music
It has been wonderful meeting and getting reacquainted with our Siple students these past weeks!
Our Kindergarteners are learning and practicing using their bodies and their Space in the music room correctly. They will soon be exploring their voices through listening and singing high/low pitches and echoing and creating simple vocal patterns.
Our 1st Graders have been reviewing and learning how to correctly use their bodies to move with Flow to music and then to feel the Steady Beat in music. They will soon begin hearing and echoing various pitch patterns with their voices. They will also begin to hear, see, identify and create rhythmic patterns.
Our 2nd Graders have begun reviewing their previous skills learning in K – 1st in preparation for their 2nd Grade Musical performance this year. I have not been given a date confirmation yet for this performance. You will receive a letter from me with the date, place and time for this performance as soon as I know this information.
Our 3rd Graders are in the midst of preparing to play the Recorder! They are beyond excited! As I’ve told the students, we are privileged to have a school district that purchases these instruments for every student. Every child will receive a recorder that they will use for this entire school year. Each student is in charge of bringing their recorder to school on their Music days. Once these instruments arrive, you will receive a letter that will give more details about these expectations.
Our 4th Graders are beginning to prepare for 2 exciting things this year… Ukuleles and our 4th Grade Musical! This year our students will have the privilege of using our classroom ukuleles. Students are allowed to purchase their own as well, however, I strongly encourage you to purchase one from a reputable source such as Westmusic.com to ensure that you receive a quality instrument. More information will be sent home about this. You will also receive a letter about the date, place and time for our 4th grade Musical performance as well. I do not have this information confirmed yet, but will get it to you as soon as I do so that you can mark those calendars!!
Mrs. Odglen, Music Teacher
810-591-0238
STEM FUN
Mrs. Carr, Computers
810-591-0238
Siple STARS of the Month
Each month classroom teachers will nominate one student from their class to be entered into the grade level drawing for the STAR of the MONTH for that grade. Each grade level STAR of the Month will receive a certificate, medal, and their photo will be on display in the hallway during that month.
We are honored to recognize students for consistently demonstrating excellent behavior. Thank you for sharing your outstanding children with us. We are pleased to announce our STARs of the Month for September are:
Kindergarten: Landon Newsome
1st grade: Karlie Pychon
2nd grade: T'Juan Johnson
3rd grade: Kody Colley
4th grade: Jacob Locklear
Our other outstanding nominees for the month of September were:
Kindergarten: Audrey Hubbard, Blake Bearss, Hannah Gasper
1st grade: Olivia Beal, Kaylee Northey
2nd grade: Ayden Scheider-Wood, Aya Montague
3rd grade: Layla Lee, Brayden Smith, Carter Schlaud
4th grade: Wesley Hunt, Lorelei Jordan
Congratulations to these outstanding young learners!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Homecoming Spirit Week Sept. 27 - Oct. 1
September 27: Hat Day
September 28: Orange Day
September 29: Mismatch Day
September 30: Exercise Wear Day
October 1: Spirit Day: wear Siple or Davison shirts
October 1: Homecoming Parade and Game
October 6: Count Day
October 11-14: Scholastic Book Fair in Media Center (Parents are invited to stop in during Parent/Teacher Conferences.)
October 13: Parent Teacher Conferences: By appointment 4:30-8:00 p.m.
October 14: No School for Students
Parent Teacher Conferences: By appointment 9:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Little Caesar's Pizza order pick-up day
October 15: No School for Students
October 18: PTO Meeting 6:30 p.m.
October 21: End of 1st Marking Period
Halloween Class parties: No volunteers needed this day
October 22: No School for Students
Teacher Records Day
October 25 - 28: No School for Intersession I
October 29: No School
November 1: Back to School
Siple Elementary
9286 E. Coldwater Road
Davison, MI 48423
Christy Flowers, Principal
Follow Mrs. Flowers on Twitter: @Principal4Kids
Office Phone: 810-591-5104
Office Fax: 810-591-5102
Attendance Line: 810-591-5100