The Lion's Share Newsletter

Grant Families,

Thank you for jumping into the October newsletter! There really is a lot happening at Grant this month, so I hope you will spend some time looking over the important October dates below!

There are a number of days that there won't be any school, we will have our very first half-day of school, there is a short "fall break," Parent/Teacher Conferences will be happening along with our Title Family Event, and a few other fun events are scheduled! One of the more important dates quickly approaching is our Count Day on October 1st. We hope that your student(s) will be at Grant to be counted, which helps with the number of teachers we will receive for next year, along with funding for our budget! Students that are at school on October 1st will receive a fun goodie bag from our fantastic PTA!

For our upcoming Parent/Teacher conferences, you should have received an email to select a time using Sign-Up Genius. We are looking forward to seeing you for the conferences!

Thank you for reading and make it a great one,

Ryan Miller

Principal, Grant Elementary

“Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it." -Jesse Owens

For the month of October, our Lions will be working on Self-Direct! Yes, it's an odd name for our focus, but wait until you hear what it's all about! We are excited for our weekly Self-Direct lessons and will begin looking for the good in others, setting goals for ourselves, and spreading positivity!

What does it mean to Self-Direct?

Self-Direction is the ability and learned skill to cast a vision of future goals and then take intentional steps toward who, where, and what we want to be. Instead of focusing on things to control or avoid, we emphasize our responsibility to make positive choices related to our emotions, attitudes, and actions.

Why focus on Self-direction?

• Self-direction strengthens relationships. Self-direction helps to grow social skills and develop meaningful, positive relationships with others.
• Self-direction teaches personal responsibility. Learning to self-direct teaches students to take responsibility for their own actions.
• Self-direction helps us to regulate emotions: Self-direction empowers students to regulate their impulses and emotional responses to situations and circumstances in their life.
  
  

Self-Direction in Action:

• Practice goal setting and action planning. When we establish goals and develop action plans, we learn to take intentional steps to successfully achieve goals.
• Monitor and adjust. Provide students with regular feedback and opportunities to self-assess progress toward goals to make adjustments and improvements in their behaviors.
• Reflect and evaluate. Facilitate discussions and reflection to prompt students to examine what they do, think, and say against their goals and vision for their life and learning.

Parents, during our morning announcements each day, we typically give "shout-outs" to our students for various things our staff see them do! They usually always relate to Capturing Kids' Hearts in some way! We give shout-outs for helping a friend, showing kindness, putting forth their best effort, and so on! Our Lions love hearing their name and being affirmed in front of the entire school!

Well, we would love to invite YOU to give a shout out to your student for showing any "self-direct" characteristics from this month's CKH focus (see above!). If your student is working hard on finding the good, setting goals, affirming others...I want to hear about it! If you send Mr. Miller an email with a shout out for your student, we will announce it on the morning announcements for all to hear! Please send those shout-outs to ryan.miller@d11.org!

October 1 is officially Count Day! We are hoping you to see your Lion at school on Tuesday, October 1 so they can be "counted" for our school! Count Day is important for our students as this is how we are budgeted for next year! The number of students we have on count day also help to determine the number of teachers we receive each year as well! We would also like to thank the PTA for putting together a fun goodie bag for all students that are in attendance on this important day!

Our Trunk or Treat is fast approaching! We hope you will join us on Friday, October 25th from 5:00-6:00! Dress up in your best Halloween costume and stop by for a fun night of candy collecting! Thank you for those that have donated candy for this event! This year, we are. having a candy competition...one primary (K-2) and one intermediate (3-5) class will be earning a class pizza party for having the most candy donated!

If you would like to set up your decorated car for our Trunk or Treat, please reach out to our PTA President, Mary Plush, at maryplush719@gmail.com. There will be a limited number of spaces available, so let her know soon!

We hope you can join us for our October PTA meeting! The meeting will take place Tuesday, October 8 at 6:00 p.m. in Grant's library! We hope you can join us! Please note that we typically hold our meetings the first Tuesday of each month, but October's meeting has been moved due to Skate Night!

This month, we would love for you to meet Saleen! Saleen is an extraordinary student at Grant! She is a 3rd grader that is always a wonderful friend, she is kind to everyone, and is a hard worker that always puts forth her best effort! Her ROAR behavior is off the charts! We are so incredibly happy to call Saleen a Grant Lion!

What do you love most about Grant? "What I love most about Grant is that if a student needs help, the teacher, really anyone in the building, provides help to the student."

What do you love about being a 3rd grader this year? "I love being a 3rd grader because the math is harder and I love math! I also love the new playground and the tire swing that the 3rd graders play on! I help people get on the swing and I help push it."

What do you think about Capturing Kids’ Hearts: "I think it's very helpful to kids. It helps us to be kind and teaches us how to spread kindness to others."

What do you want to be when you grow up? "I want to be a car mechanic. I want to be a mechanic because I think it would be very interesting and I want to follow in my dad's footsteps."

What’s your favorite subject: "I like social studies! I like it because it's interesting because you get to learn about everything. Sometime you learn about math or art from the past!"

What does it mean to you to be a Grant Lion? "What it means to me to be a Grant Lion is that you have to be kind and helpful. You need to show empathy and respect to everyone."

Tuesday, Oct 1: Official Count Day, Skate Night 6:00-8:00

Thursday, Oct 3: NEHS 2:50-4:00, MTSS Meetings 3:05

Monday, Oct 7: Health Screening

Tuesday, Oct 8: Health Screening, Student Council 2:55-3:45, 4th Grade Musical Auditions 3:00-3:45, PTA Meeting 6:00

Thursday, Oct 10: 4th Grade Musical Auditions 3:00-3:45, MTSS Meetings 3:05

Friday, Oct 11: End of 1st Quarter

Monday, Oct 14: NO SCHOOL for D11 Teacher Professional Development Day

Tuesday, Oct 15: NO SCHOOL for Parent/Teacher Conferences & Title I Family Event 7:20 a.m.-7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct 16 - 18: NO SCHOOL FOR ALL STUDENTS & STAFF

Monday, Oct 21: Beginning of 2nd Quarter, Mobile Smiles Here, Book Fair 7:30-3:30

Tuesday, Oct 22: Mobile Smiles Here, Book Fair 7:30-3:30, Student Council 2:55-3:45, 4th Grade Musical Rehearsal 3:00-3:45

Wednesday, Oct 23: Modified School Day (1/2 Day of school) with student release at 11:50, Book Fair 7:30-3:30

Thursday, Oct 24: Book Fair 7:30-3:30, NEHS 2:50-4:00, 4th Grade Rehearsal 3:00-3:45, MTSS Meetings 3:05

Friday, Oct 25: Book Fair 7:30-5:00, Trunk or Treat 5:00-6:00

Tuesday, Oct 29: 4th Grade Rehearsals 3:00-3:45

Thursday, Oct 31: 4th Grade Rehearsals 3:00-3:45, MTSS Meetings 3:05

You can now join us on Facebook and Instagram! If you haven't already done so, be sure to find us on both platforms for weekly pictures, updates, newsletters, and fun!

Find us on Instagram at @grantlions_d11 and on Facebook at Grant Elementary School D11!

Email: ryan.miller@d11.org
Website: https://grant.d11.org/
Location: 3215 Westwood Boulevard, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Phone: 719.328.5700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grantelementarylions