Highcroft Hotline

At Highcroft, we help learners grow in a safe, caring community where ALL are valued and supported to become leaders.

December

• 16: 5th Grade Field Trip to JA Biztown, 9:15 am - 2:00 pm
• 16: Science Fair participation forms due
• 17: Country Western Day during Specials
• 20: Winter Parties, 9:45 am - 10:30 am
• 20: Half Day AM, school dismisses at 1:05 pm
• Dec 21, 2019 - Jan 5, 2020: Winter Break

January

• 6: School Resumes
• 9: 5th Grade Parent Orientation Evening at Central Middle, 6:30 pm/7:00 pm
• 15: Board of Education Meeting, 7:00 pm, 471 N. Woods Mill Road
• 16: 5th Grade Students to Central Middle, 9:15 am - 11:45 am
• 16: All Read, 3:25 pm - 3:45 pm
• 20: No School, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• 21: Kindergarten Registration, 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
• 21: 5th Grade West Middle Evening Program, 6:30 SSD, 7:00 General, 8:00 MOSAICS
• 23: PSO Meeting, 7:00 pm
• 28: Chorus Concert, 6:30 pm, MPR
• 29: Late Start, School begins at 11:05 am

Greetings,

As I shared last week, at Highcroft, we encourage, support, and celebrate one another as a family often does. As our mission states, "...where ALL are valued and supported..." Once again, this rings true! Thanks to the generosity of the Highcroft community, the PSO was able to assist 12 families this year through our Adopt-a-Family initiative. Thank you to all who were able to give so that others would prosper.

Tuesday, December 17th, we will partake in Country Western Day. This event is a combination of the physical education and music curriculums and takes place during each grade-level's specials time (see below for a schedule). Students will participate in various dances and demonstrate their coordination and rhythm skills. It is a tradition that students and staff dress in their country western attire. Feel free to join in the fun of dressing up.

We will have our winter parties the morning of December 20th, beginning at 9:45 am and concluding at 10:30 am. We honor a food-free celebratory environment per Parkway's food policy, so no candy or food is allowed.

To assist with efficiently checking in guests during both the Country Western Day event on Tuesday, December 17th, and Winter Parties on Friday, December 20th, we ask all visitors WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY HAD THEIR LICENSE SCANNED INTO THE VISITOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM to RSVP if attending this event.

Click Here to Register for Country Western Day

Click Here to Register for Winter Parties

Please mark your calendar for Highcroft's Literacy Night, scheduled for April 2nd, from 6:30 - 8:00 pm. This event is family orientated centered around fun-filled literacy activities. More details to come as the date approaches. We look forward to seeing you here.

In partnership,

Cartelia Lucas

Principal

clucas@parkwayschools.net

Nurse Hubert, BSN, RN

How can it be December already? Where has the year gone?

I hope everyone has had a chance to get the flu vaccine! There is still time! I read in the news this weekend that we are expected to have one of the worst years for influenza and that it will be especially hard on young children. If you haven’t had yourself or your child immunized, I highly recommend doing so as soon as possible.

Please make sure your child has something to eat each morning for breakfast even if it is just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cereal bar and fruit with milk, or a smoothie. Children should consume proteins and carbohydrates before starting off to school as well as 8 ounces of fluids. They also need to drink at least 3-4 ounces of water every 3-4 hours to maintain their hydration status. Please remember to send them to school with a full bottle of water. I have been seeing a lot of students lately coming in with a headache or a stomach ache just to find out they didn’t eat anything for breakfast or they were too busy to eat at lunch. The biggest cause of headaches and stomach aches in school aged children is hunger. Try to save candy for home, children like to eat the candy first and forget to eat the main part of their meals.

We recently completed vision and hearing screenings. If your child was found to have a vision issue or was hearing deficit, you will be receiving a letter in the mail from me in the coming week letting you know what you need to do to follow up.

As a reminder, cough drops are considered a medication and should not be brought to school by students. If your child has a cough and would need cough drops, I need to have a form signed by a parent. The parent needs to be the one bringing the cough drops to the nurse’s office. Elementary school children should never bring in medication. The Over the Counter Medication form can be found on the Parkway website under Departments > Student Health Service>Health Forms> Authorization to Administer Short Term Over the Counter Medications.

Please remember to send your students to school with coats, hats and gloves. Students will be going outside during the winter months and they really need to keep warm while they are out there.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful Winter Break!

Mrs. Banks & Mrs. Beeler, School Counselors

Our small groups are well under way. At Highcroft, we use our small counseling groups as a universal strategy to work with all students. Our goal is to spend time with all students in a small group setting. We use this time for rapport building and social skills. However, we do offer specific groups for topics such as Family Changes, Self Esteem, Impulse Control, Conflict Resolution and Leadership. Please contact your grade level counselor if you would like to discuss a group that would fit your child’s needs.

In classroom guidance throughout the grade levels we continue to focus on The 7 Habits of Happy Kids. Recently, we’ve had discussions about Habit 4 - Think Win-Win. Winter Break is a wonderful time to spend time with friends and family. Think about Habit 4 as working for everyone to be happy. It’s a habit that is a frame of mind and heart. Have a family discussion about how your winter break can be a Win-Win with this bonus time together.

Mrs Beeler K, 1, 2, 4

Mrs. Banks 3, 5

Kindergarten continues to work on their Country Western Day Dances. They have also worked on activities involving hand-eye coordination and partner cooperation games. When the kindergarten students return from Winter Break, they will be working on spatial awareness tag games, basketball skills, fitness stations, and beginning their NCADA Health Curriculum.

1st & 2nd grade students continue to work on their Country Western Dances and juggling skills. These students will perform these dances on Country Western Day. As we transition into January, students will start back up with their cardiovascular endurance conditioning and begin their basketball unit. We will also bring in the NCADA to teach their curriculum involving friendship.

3rd, 4th, & 5th grade students continue to work on their Country Western Dances and juggling skills. When we return in January, students will begin fitness stations and their basketball unit. This unit involves basic drills, cardio games, and half-court games. Starting in January, the NCADA will be teaching health classes for these students.

Reminder: We will not be having physical education outside until March. Please make sure your child has tennis/running shoes during the winter months because boots can become problematic.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Winter Break!

Parents will soon have access to a new online payment system, a convenient way to view and pay selected school fees, without the hassle of writing a check or paying with cash. The new online payment system is accessible through Infinite Campus. Learn more.

The new online payment system will allow you to:

• View and pay school fees including activities fees, field trips, parking passes, school clothing, athletic fees, etc. This does not include lunch balance payments, which will still be processed through MySchoolBucks.
• Make one payment for all your children at the same time.
• View payment history.
• View and complete selected school forms.
• Pay on a computer or from your mobile device.

There is a 2.5 percent convenience fee for credit card use. There is a 10-cent fee for ACH payments (echecks) and funds will come directly out of checking or savings account.

There are no new accounts to create and you access the online payment system through Infinite Campus. Log in, go to ‘More’ and then click ‘Online Payments’.

For questions, please email: schoolpayments@parkwayschools.net.

Email: clucas@parkwayschools.net
Website: https://www.parkwayschools.net/Domain/16
Location: 15380 Highcroft Drive, Chesterfield, MO, USA
Phone: 314-415-6400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HighcroftRidge/
Twitter: @HighcroftRidge