What's Happening at Nolan
September 2023
Dear Nolan Families,
I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful first weeks of school. I want to thank Mr. Smith, Assistant Principal, and the administrative team for their tireless work planning for and setting the tone for a fantastic school year. The entire staff has worked very hard charting our course to excellence and connecting with the community. The students are doing an outstanding job learning the expectations and they are already in a routine that will provide a year of increased student achievement. Our Owls embody S.W.A.G., the core values that shape our school day; Show Respect, Work Hard, Always Be Responsible, and Get along with Others.
As we head into a new month, still new into the school year, we encourage all students to take advantage of learning opportunities – ask questions, try new things, step outside the comfort zone. When students take these risks, they activate meaningful discussions with peers, they create new ideas, and they stimulate critical thinking. I am excited for how much our Nolan Owls will learn this school year.
Join us in spreading our motto for this school year! Follow us on Twitter @WeAreNolanOwls and tag messages with #BetterOnPurpose!
Best,
Dr. Brown
This week we started a SchoolStore program to help our school raise money. An envelope explaining how the program works has been sent home with your student. Parents, please read over the information describing how you can participate. Your student will earn a participation prize when they return the filled-out envelope to school, and they can earn more great prizes when your family and friends help our school raise money. So don't forget to send the filled-out envelope back to school, and thanks for your support.
Here is all you need to do to participate:
1. Go to https://www.schoolstore.net/sid.t?0000017622 to sign up.
2. Send form emails inviting family, friends and co-workers to support your child.
3. Return the Envelope with the Student Prize Code to school for your child to get their fun participation prize.
Reminders about your child's attendance
Did You Know?
Regular school attendance in elementary school improves the chances that your child will read on grade level.
- Chronic absenteeism (missing 18 or more school days per year) is a primary cause of lower academic achievement even when the absences are "excused" or understandable.
- Students who attend 90% or more of the school year are more likely to graduate from high school on time.
- Absences can be a sign that a student is losing interest in school, struggling with school work, dealing with peer conflicts or facing some other potentially serious difficulty, and help is available.
Parent's Responsibility When a Child is Absent
- Parents should notify the school before or after the absence(s)
- Notes should be directed to the Front Office at Nolan
- Handwritten note or email
- Notification from parents should happen no later than 5 days after absence
Ways to Build a Strong Math Foundation at Home!!
When a student has a strong number sense, it helps to build a foundation for mathematical understanding. Focusing on number sense in the younger grades helps build the foundation necessary to compute and solve more complex problems in older grades. Building a love for math in your children begins with building an understanding of numbers. Number sense is so important because it promotes confidence and encourages flexible thinking. Below you will find activities that will help to build number sense:
- Take numbers apart and put them back together in different ways: (such as: 5+0=5; 4+1=5; 3+2=5; 2+3=5; 1+4=5; 0+5=5 and so on)
- Compute mentally: solving problems in their heads instead of using a paper and pencil
- Estimating to bring math into your child’s everyday world. Estimate the number of steps it takes to get from the car to the house or how many minutes you have to wait in line at the grocery store.
- Visualize ways to see numbers. Ask your students to visualize a number and tell you what they see. Your child will see numbers in different ways. An eight can look like a snake or a 10 can be thought of as a baseball and bat
- Think about math with an open mind. Instead of asking what is 6+4, ask, "What are some ways to make 10?" This allows for more flexible thinking and builds confidence with knowing more than one answer.”
Reading & ELA
Helping your student navigate through the challenges childhood as they are being introduced to the world is filled with excitement! One of the most important gifts we can give children is to help them learn to read and write so that they can succeed in school and beyond. Reading is a skill that we use everyday from reading text messages and emails to deciding what we want to eat from a menu at our favorite restaurants. There are a variety of ways you might improve your child’s reading skills at home.
1. 1. Make reading part of daily life.
Setting aside designated reading-together time. Children should not think reading is something that we only do at school. Read the back of the cereal boxes in the mornings, or ask your child to read road signs aloud to you. Also, read daily with your child or have students read to you. You can write notes to your child and have them write responses back to you. Children will begin to realize the importance of reading once you model a positive reading experience for them.
2. 2. Fill your home with books.
It has been proven that having a library at home is linked to higher test scores. Neighborhood garage sales and thrift stores such as Goodwill have inexpensive books that you can add to your child’s personal library. By exposing children to an array of books, their scope of interests and understanding will expand. There will be an increase in curiosity and enthusiasm about new topics.
3. 3. Support and encourage the learning process.
Learning to read can be a difficult process for most students. Often, your child doesn’t learn one reading-related skill and then move on to the next in step-by-step process. They may be decoding, working on fluency, or absorbing new vocabulary, and understanding what the text says. The more they practice, they will improve their reading skills.
4. 4. Set up a meeting with child’s teacher.
Your child’s teacher can give you insight into his or her reading performance. They will have information from formal and informal assessments of where the students are currently are. This can tell you whether they help with phonics, vocabulary, or comprehension. This gives you a basis to figure out which skills to reinforce at home once you’ve met with teachers.
Below are some useful websites to with guides and resources to assist students at home.
Interventions
The EIP TEAM is feverishly working to begin intervention services with scholars. Here is a list of some of the things we have been and will be doing:
- EIP teachers have completed FastBridge screeners for 1st -5th grade scholars who fell 25%-11% on their i-Ready Reading and Math diagnostic. Students have been grouped by deficits for intervention services.
- Screening for 10% and below will take place September 7th-14th.
- EIP teachers will assist with Kindergarten i-Ready BOY math diagnostic
September 7th & 8th .
- EIP TEAM is creating Tier 2 plans and Progress Monitoring groups.
- Students in Tier 2 will receive their letters by Friday, September 15th.
- EIP Services will begin on September 18th for Tier 2 scholars.
Special Education Updates
In reading, students have completed placement testing for the special education reading curriculum. In math, teachers have completed testing to determine the appropriate interventions to close the achievement gap. Teachers are attending grade level meetings to ensure they are implementing grade level instruction with the appropriate accommodations for your student's level. This will ensure that your scholar can access the general education curriculum on their individualized levels. If your scholar is receiving special education services, please make sure that you connect to the special education teachers' class dojo as well as the general education teacher's class dojo. By doing this, you will receive all necessary notifications regarding your scholar.
September is Suicide Prevention month, click the photo below to learn more about resources we have to support suicide prevention.
September is also self- care awareness month. Remember to take care of yourself. Here are some tips for the whole family!
Use these 5 tips from the Mental Health First Aid curriculum to practice self-care as a family.
- Eat more fruit, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains. Eating healthfully will help you and your family take care of your physical health and have energy for the day ahead.
- Get moving every day. Exercising can help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. Focus on increasing your heart rate consistently for at least 20 minutes once a day. Take a walk together as a family, stretch together in the living room, or play games outside.
- Spend quality time together. It’s important to spend time together as a family every day doing something everyone enjoys, such as cooking or listening to music. You can also connect with other family members, friends and neighbors with phone calls, text messages and video chats.
- Develop a bedtime routine. According to the National Sleep Foundation, going to sleep at the same time every night can help regulate the body’s internal clock and improve sleep quality — for adults as well as children. It’s also important that everyone in the family gets enough sleep – about seven to nine hours each night for adults and at least nine hours for children.
- Talk about how you’re feeling. It’s important to talk as a family about how everyone is feeling, and address any questions or concerns children may have. Develop a practice of self-reflection related to feelings and thoughts. Use these tips to talk to your kids about COVID-19 specifically.
You don’t need to spend a lot of time or money on self-care activities. Adding healthy habits to your family’s routine can make a big difference in everyone’s physical health, mood and overall well-being.
