
The Friday Flyer
Boone Meadow Elementary
Global School Play Day was a SUCCESS!
Over 1/2 million students from 72 Nations participated in 2019 Global School Play Day this past Wednesday! I'm so thankful that our team embraced the day to learn more about our students as they participated in authentic play. The day focused on bringing awareness to the importance of unstructured play time for the healthy development of our children. It also provided our staff the opportunity to:
- observe and interact with students as they engage in authentic social exchanges,
- use this time to keenly study how your children navigate peer relationships,
- expand our understanding of your child as a person that has academic, social, and emotional aspects of their well-being,
- witness how they interact, show empathy, assist one another, problem-solve, and create,
- glean more insight and information in order to provide more feedback to you (parents/guardians) that we are often unable to provide from our typical school day programming.
Check out a few of the photos below, and don't forget to play a little bit yourself this weekend.
STEM Update!
What a great success we enjoyed with STEM Night and the Cardboard Challenge this year! Thank you to all families who participated by building, sharing, attending, and playing.
In STEM, 1st and 4th grade classes are making their way through our robotics curriculum. The goal of robotics is not only to use coding in a novel way, but also to learn computer science standards and 21st century skills like critical thinking (trouble shooting and debugging), creativity, collaboration, and cooperation.
Fourth grade students use our Lego NXT Robots. They built a strong foundation in the basics of programming these devices last year, as 3rd graders. This year they are taking their learning a step further by making their own decisions about what they would like to learn and what challenges they would like to solve with the robots. Some are learning how to use sensors in robot programs. Others are building mechanical arms or useful attachments, adding extra motors, or learning to use loops in their programming. There is never a dull moment in 4th grade robotics and our time flies because we are having so much fun!
First grade students are using our brand new Kubo Coding robotics kits! We purchased these kits this fall as part of a grant from the Zionsville Education Foundation. The whole grant was $13,000 to purchase robotics equipment for all ZCS elementary schools to use with kindergarten and first grade students. (Our kindergarten classes will use Bee Bots later this spring.) The first grade classes are combining their hands-on, device-free coding with imagination, social studies map skills, and sequential writing as they help Kubo navigate through his imaginary world. Thank you, ZEF, for making this rich learning experience possible!
Upcoming Events & Important Info
February
13th - Spirit Day - 80's Day, PTO Meeting 6:00pm
14th - Valentine's Day Parties
18th - Presidents Day (No School)
19th -Teacher Professional Development Day (No School)
21st - 1st Grade Field Trip to NIFS
22nd - Spirit Day - Scrabble Day (wear a shirt with a letter of your choice on it)
22nd-24th - 1st Grade (and some 2nd graders) OLSAT testing
March/April
1st - Spirit Day - Dr. Seuss Day (dress like a character from a Dr. Seuss book)
1st-15th - DigiLab
11th-14th - 2nd Grade Informances
13th - Spirit Day - wear all one color day
18th-22nd - Book Fair and 1st Grade Informances
21st - Wellness Night 6:00-7:30pm
22nd - PTO Boone Meadow Mixer
26th - Kindergarten Round-Up (Pre-registration info will be available in mid-February)
29th - April 7 - Spring Break
12th - Spirit Day - Twin Day
24th - Spirit Day - Who's your hero day
Zionsville Little League
Best Buddies Fun Night
Click above for more information
Valentine's Day Information
We look forward to celebrating Valentine's Day with our students at their classroom parties on Thursday, February 14th. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to emphasize the Lifelines of friendship and kindness with all of our students.
As you are preparing Valentine cards to share with classmates, please prepare cards void of candy. Due to many students with food sensitivities and allergies, we will be unable to distribute candy. We appreciate your cooperation as our main goal is to keep everyone safe.
If you elect to purchase cards that have contain something extra attached to them, please ensure they are inedible. This could include pencils, erasers, stickers, etc. Thank you for ensuring that all students can have a safe and fun celebration.
Pre-registration of volunteers is needed. Please find the link below to do so.
All visitors and volunteers are required to have a background check, and need to pre-register. Please follow these directions for pre-registration:
First, go to https://secure.safevisitorsolutions.com/Safe/Visitor/zionsvilleschools
Page 1: Select the green “Next Step” button.
Page 2: Simply enter your name and birthday when prompted. When it asks for "Building" select Boone Meadow Elementary. Select the green “Next Step” button.
Page 3: When prompted for “Person Visiting” use the student’s name, then type “Valentine Parties” when it asks for your reason for visit.
It will then ask for the date of the visit. Please use the date of the actual event.
Disregard the “If you’d like to notify anyone portion…” on this page and hit Next Step.
Page 4: Hit the green “Complete Request” button and you are done!
Contact Mrs. Kiel at x14995 if you have any questions regarding pre-registration.
Lifeline: Resilience
Lifeline: Self-Control
Lifeline: Forgiveness
Yearbook order forms
Texts from SchoolMessenger
From time to time Boone Meadow uses SchoolMessenger to send a text to all of the families. If you haven't been receiving texts from us, you may need to opt-in by sending YES to the SchoolMessenger short code of 68453. Contact Beth Kiel in the front office if you have any questions!
Attention all parents/guardians! Have you ever thought about getting paid for the time you spend at our school? Becoming a substitute teacher would do just that for you! Think of it as a paid volunteer position. You still get the opportunity to control your schedule and locations you work but have the added benefit of a little extra pocket money! If you are interested in this opportunity you may apply directly on the ZCS website or simply click here! You may also contact the subcoordinator (subcoordinator@zcs.k12.in.us ) for more information.
Thank you!
Last Day of School is now May 28, 2019
Volunteers and Visitor Background Checks
CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR VOLUNTEERS
We value partnerships with our families and welcome parents and guardians to serve as volunteers in our schools. Each ZCS building offers a wide variety of volunteer opportunities.
Examples include:
- Field Trip Chaperones
- Out of Town/Overnight Chaperones
- Tutors
- Volunteer Coaches
- Classroom Helpers (PTO parties/room parents)
- Library Helpers
- After Prom Workers
- Field Day/Jog-A-Thon Volunteers
- Book Fair Sales/Athletic Ticket Sales
During the school day, all volunteers are expected to sign in at the front office. Prior to the volunteer opportunity, all volunteers must sign a Non-disclosure Acknowledgement Form and have successfully completed a Full Criminal History Background Check. Necessary background check paperwork is available on the ZCS website at the Volunteers/BRAVO link and should be submitted at least 10 days prior to the intended volunteer date. Volunteers must also view the state mandated confidentiality/bullying video, provided on the Volunteer/BRAVO website. The volunteer will pay the fee* for the full background check which will expire after 5 years. The link to apply for the full background check can be accessed on the Volunteers/BRAVO link on the ZCS main webpage. For more information, contact the Volunteer/BRAVO Coordinator.
CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR VISITORS
During the school day, all visitors must enter via the front door and sign-in at the front office. Visitors need to be prepared to present a government issued photo ID which will be scanned against the National Sex Offender Registry. All visitors will be issued a visitor badge/tag to be worn inside the building at all times.
Examples Include:
- Lunch Guests
- Classroom Guest Speakers
- Classroom Special Events (Grandparent Day/Famous Hoosiers/etc.)
- Parent/Teacher Conferences
We ask that all visitors schedule an appointment to meet with teachers, counselors, administrators and all other staff members so that we may best serve everyone. Visitors other than parents/guardians must be prearranged and organized through the main office.
*ZCS thanks all volunteers for generous support of our youth and schools. Thank you, too, for supporting assurance of student and staff safety by completing and paying for a volunteer background check.
Contact Us
Email: thundley@zcs.k12.in.us
Website: http://www.zcs.k12.in.us/bme/
Location: 5555 S Main St, Whitestown, IN, United States
Phone: 3178732226
Twitter: @ZCSBoone_Meadow