UNITY NEWS DECEMBER

Winter break will begin on Monday, December 24th and run through Wednesday, January 2nd. Classes will resume on Thursday, January 3rd. Enjoy this time with friends and family!

Family Literacy Night for TK-2nd grade was held on Tuesday, November 13th. This Title 1 event was to help promote literacy at home. Families listened to the story, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie," while eating cookies and sipping milk. Families received reading tips, a free book, and created their own page of the story. We had over 150 people attend this great event! Please look for future Title 1 activities. Thank you to the families and staff who attended and helped with this event! (See some photos below)

Are you looking for a way to spread joy this holiday season? Contribute to our Barrel of Giving fundraiser, promoted in partnership with Bright Futures Sioux City. We are accepting donations of hats, gloves, and other warm winter apparel from now until January 3rd.

Help us keep our students warm through the coming winter months! Donations can be dropped off at the following locations:

Educational Service Center: 627 4th Street

Earl May: 4141 Gordon Drive

Earl May: 4101 War Eagle Drive

Save A Lot: 1730 Pierce Street

Rocket Auto Wash: 2519 Correctionville Road

Hy-Vee: 4500 Sergeant Road

Knoepfler Chevrolet: 100 Jackson Street

Scheels: 4400 Sergeant Road #54

Fareway: 4016 Indian Hills Drive

Fareway: 4040 War Eagle Drive

Bomgaars: 1732 Hamilton Blvd

Bomgaars: 5901 Gordon Drive

United Real Estate Solutions, Inc: 302 Jones Street #100

This all-student book exchange program takes place once a month in the library from 8:20-8:35 am. Students may bring up to 5 books to exchange, and they will receive a book tag for attending. Please remind students to wear their book tag chain each time they attend! The Bring a Book, Take a Book dates for the remainder of the year are as follows:

Friday, December 21st

Friday, January 18th

Friday, February 15th

Friday, March 15th

Friday, April 12th

Friday, May 10th

Just a friendly reminder that we are still collecting HyVee Receipts and Box Tops! The money we earn from these goes towards fun activities and field trips for our 5th graders! Thank you so much for your participation and support!

In early November, Victor, from Ms. Ross' class, was able to experience his first ever glimpse of snow! He let out a loud gasp followed by the biggest smile! Welcome to winter in Iowa Victor!

On November 20th, with the help from members of Carpenter's Local 948, some of our 3rd grade students built their own birdhouses. Professional union carpenters guided students through the process of building their own woodworking project, focusing on STEM principles, critical thinking, and career exploration. (Please see some photos below)

Every morning from 8:45-8:55, two students from each class are chosen to participate in Morning Dance with Mrs. Smith and Mr. Blake. These students have the opportunity to learn and dance a traditional folk dance, like the Alabama Gal! They are dancing with students from different grades, exercising, socializing, and learning to dance! (See some photos below)

On Tuesday, November 27th, over 100 students and parents attended Rollerama Night! An exciting evening of music, skating, food, and fun was had by all! (See some photos below)

Are you planning a family trip for the holidays? As you think about your arrangements, we want to stress the importance of sending your child to school every day possible. Every year, absences spike in the weeks before and after the winter holiday as families squeeze in a few more vacation days. It's time to break that cycle. We know that just a few missed days here and there, even if they're excused absences, can add up to too much lost learning time and put your child behind n school. This is as true in kindergarten as it is in high school. Put simply, too many absences at any age can affect a student's chances for academic success and eventually for graduation.

We recognize that holidays are an important time for reconnecting with families far away. The costs of plane tickets often influence when you want to travel. But keep in mind the costs to your children's education if they miss too much school, and the message you will be sending about the importance of attendance. Even if you've got a homework packet from the teacher, it doesn't make up for the interaction and learning that happens in the classroom. Our teachers will be teaching, and our students will be learning, right up until vacation starts and the first day back. You can help us convey that message. This holiday season, give your children the gift of an education and the habit of attendance.

Seasons Greetings! I know the holiday season has begun and while Thanksgiving is about celebrating friends and family and the founding of our country, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa are a celebration not only of family and friendship, but also of kindness and giving. What better way to celebrate winter break but by giving your child ways to enjoy reading! Here are some ideas to promote reading with your child over the holiday break:

1. Read at least one book to, or with, your child every day! This could be a library book they've brought home, one you already have, a gift they've received, one they read to you, or one you read to them (in English or your family's native language).

2. Take your child to the public library over winter break! (If you don't have a library card, it's easy to get one while you're there or even just take your child to a story time or to the children's area to look at books while you are there.) The Morningside branch is closed for remodeling right now, but the main Aalfs (downtown/Pierce Street) or Perry Creek (off Hamilton Blvd) branches are open. You can check out hours and story time schedules at http://www.siouxcitylibrary.org

3. Traveling for the holidays? Listen to an Audiobook in the car or on the plane (bought or borrowed for the public library), download an eBook to read on your device (nook/Kindle, etc.) or use the MackinVia app to read eBooks we have available through the school's library. If you do not have the App, students can go to https://siouxcity.mackinvia.com. Username and password are the same: s + student ID number

Example: username=s12345, password=s12345

4. Of course, a gift of a picture or chapter book for the holidays is wonderful as well! I know we have two bookstores in town, you can order online, or have you tried Goodwill? They have books for sale and you can find some really nice ones for very little cost.

Remember though, the best gift is just finding time to read together with your child!

Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!

Ms. Moser

Keep others well by keeping your child home when sick. For your child's health, stay home if:

* A fever of 100.0 degrees or higher

* Vomiting or diarrhea

* Symptoms that keep your child from participating in school such as:

* Cough that he or she cannot control

* Headache, body aches, or earache

* Sore Throat; a little sore throat may be okay for school, but a bad sore throat is not

24 Hour Rule is good:

* Fever: Keep your child home until fever has been gone with no medicine for 24 hours

* Vomiting or diarrhea: Keep your child home for 24 hours after the last time he or she vomited or had diarrhea

* Antibiotics: Keep your child home for 24 hours after the FIRST does of antibiotic

Both alcohol-based hand sanitizers and hand-washing are effective ways of preventing disease, but remember these important facts:

* Hand sanitizers are not as effective when dirt is visible on hands. Hand washing with soap and water, while singing the "Happy Birthday" song, should be used to remove the oil and grime where bacteria live.

* Hand sanitizers should not be used in place of soap and water when preparing food, after restroom use, and after changing diapers

* Hand sanitizers will not work in killing certain viruses or bacteria such as:

* Cryptosportdium--causes diarrhea

* Norovirus--causes stomach pain, nausea, and diarrhea

* Clostridium--causes watery diarrhea

Clean hands are one of the best ways to prevent infection or disease. For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/handwashing/

With the holidays and family time approaching, perhaps we can all take advice from this Love and Logic article written by Jim Fay.

The Delayed or "Anticipatory" Consequence

Immediate consequences work really well with rats, pigeons, mice, and monkeys. In real-world homes, they typically create more problems than they solve.

Problems with Immediate Consequences

· Most of us have great difficulty thinking of an immediate consequence in the heat of the moment.

· We "own" the problem rather than handing it back to our child. In other words, we are forced to do more thinking than our child.

· We are forced to react while we are still upset.

· We don't have time to anticipate how our child will react to our response.

· We don't have time to put together a reasonable plan and a support team to help us carry it out.

· We often end up making threats we can't back up.

· We generally fail to deliver a strong dose of empathy before providing the consequence.

Take care of yourself, and give yourself a break!

The next time your child does something inappropriate, experiment with saying, "Oh no. This is so sad. I'm going to have to do something about this! But not now…later."

It's even okay to say, "I'm so angry about this right now that I better calm down before I talk with you about it. I make better decisions when I'm calm."

The Love and Logic® Anticipatory Consequence allows you time to "anticipate" whose support you might need, how your child might react, and how to make sure that you can actually follow through with a logical consequence. This technique also allows your child to "anticipate" or think about a wide array of possible consequences.

This technique gains its power from basic conditioning. When we consistently follow, "I'm going to have to do something about this. We'll talk later," with empathy and consequences, "I'm going to have to do something," becomes a consequence in and of itself…an "anticipatory" consequence.