Paramount Elementary

Paramount Families,

It is hard to believe we are technically starting week three of school!?! Please see information below regarding our Back-to-School Night event that is Thursday, August 29th. We will see you soon!

• Upcoming Dates
• Back to School Night
• Birthday Celebrations
• School-Wide Focus and Learner Dispositions
• Letter from Mrs. Harmer--school librarian
• End-of-Day Transportation
• Badges for Students
• Student Drop-Off Times
• School Nutrition Services: Free and Reduced Lunch Application
• Bell Schedule
• Important Safety Reminders
• District Positions Available
• Young Rembrandts

• Thursday, August 29th: Elementary Back to School Night: 6:00-7:30
• Monday, September 2nd: Labor Day; No School
• Friday, September 13th: Individual Student Pictures
• Wednesday, September 18th: No School: Professional Learning Day
• Wednesday, October 9th: Evening Parent Teacher Conferences
• Thursday, October 10th: K-8 No School: Parent Teacher Conferences
• Friday, October 11th: No School; End of 1st Quarter

Please join us for our Back-to-School Night this Thursday, August 29th beginning at 6:00 pm. We will start with a short presentation in the gym with Mrs. Roy. After, there will be short sessions in classrooms where you can learn more about your student's daily schedule, class expectations, and other opportunities. Please note, this is for parents only. We won't be able to have enough room for all students as well.

Please refer to the schedule below.

In order to be in accordance with state and district nutrition policies, we will be following a "no food" birthday celebration for students. We have a large variety of student allergy and medical conditions that restrict them from participating in food celebrations. Our goal for any celebration within school to be as inclusive as possible. Parents may send in other non-food items to share with classmates if they choose as a celebration for their birthday (this is not required). Teachers will communicate their individual plans regarding birthday celebrations in their classroom as some may allow a once-a-month celebration policy for birthdays (as this still follows policy). Our teachers do a great job of ensuring students feel recognized on their birthday!

In addition to the six character traits we focus on as a school, we will also be focusing on five learner dispositions to ensure our Paramount students are life-long learners. As a learner, we want to ensure our students can demonstrate the following traits:

• Motivation
• Perserverance
• Ownership
• Curiosity
• Cooperation

Click the button below to read more about our learner dispositions.

While we will focus on all of these learner dispositions, we will be highlighting more specific areas in which our staff and students "Cultivate Curiosity". Please look for opportunities where you can showcase your student exploring new learning opportunities around them. We will be creating a "Wonder Wall" where students can post pictures of these experiences to share with our school. More information to come.

Dear Parents,

Your child will be bringing home library books soon. Please discuss with him/her the careful treatment of books along with the attached pictures provided. We will also discuss in library class. Books that are lost or damaged must be paid for before the student is allowed to check out another book. If your child has a book still checked out from his/her previous school in the West Ada School District, that will have to be returned as well. Thank you so much for your help! I am excited to get “real” books in our students' hands!

~Mrs. Harmer

Librarian

Paramount Elementary

Please be sure to clearly communicate your student's transportation plan with their teacher. The teacher will help your student understand the routine and location for each plan: walking, biking, bussing, parent pick-up, and after-school care pick-up. The best way to ensure a consistent plan is to establish this for the first day of school. This will help eliminate any confusion for your student.

For siblings that will walk home together: they will meet each other at the bright yellow star on the north side of the school playground. If you have siblings walking together, please remind them of this. Our teachers and staff will help them know where to go.

We will be adding badges to student backpacks over the next several weeks. These will begin with our bus-riding students. These badges will be scanned when students enter the bus. This allows parents to track where their student got on and off of the bus. We will send more information once this new procedure is implemented.

More information can be found here: West Ada Transportation Information

Parents,

Please help us keep your students safe! DO NOT drop students off for school before 8:45 am. (M, T, Th, F) or 9:00 am (W). If a student is eating breakfast, they can be dropped off to enter the building at 8:45 am. Breakfast is not served until this time.

Because we cannot guarantee the supervision of students prior to this time, we cannot allow students to enter the building or be on campus. Please help us with this.

LINQ Connect is the service we use for student meal accounts. Setting up a LINQ Connect account is free. From your account, you can monitor your student's activity, view menus, add funds (credit card only, transaction fee applies), and apply for free/reduced lunch.

Payments can also be made directly to our school's kitchen staff with cash or check (payable to School Nutrition). There are no transaction fees associated with these types of payments.

Click the button below to access our district website with more information regarding school nutrition, menus, and payment options. You can click the LINQ button to set up an account or add money.

Our #1 priority is to ensure a SAFE campus for our students and staff. In order to do this effectively, we do need your help. Please read our safety reminders below:

1. Paramount is a CLOSED CAMPUS during the school hours of 8:30 am – 4:30 pm. Any visitors will need to check in at the front office during these times if they plan to enter the building or be on campus beyond our drop-off locations. For the first week of school, we will allow parents to escort students to line-up locations. After the first week, we will expect parents to adhere to remaining behind our gates when dropping off students.
2. Please bring your ID with you when checking in at the front office. Please avoided checking your student out during recess times; please plan ahead to let us know if a student will need to wait for a parent during recess.
3. We cannot allow anyone on our fields or playgrounds during the school day that are not approved to be here. Please do not bring young children to play on our equipment during the school day. Our staff is trained to report anyone they believe is not approved to be on campus.
4. For students or parents riding bikes to school, please plan on “walking” bikes once on campus. This will help ensure the biker’s safety through the parking lot.
5. For parents who will be dropping students off at school, or picking them up, PLEASE adhere to our “Drop-Off/Pick-Up” Zones. This helps ensure students are only entering/exiting cars in a safe area, where other drivers can see them.
6. Students and parents are expected to use the crosswalk and wait for the Crossing Guard to indicate it is safe to cross. Please help us with this.
7. No dogs are allowed on campus during the school day. Please do not bring animals on our campus without permission. If you bring them with you during drop-off or pick-up, they must be on a leash AND REMAIN AT THE CORNERS OFF CAMPUS OR IN THE PARKING LOT. They may also remain in your vehicle. Again, this is for the safety of all—our students and staff AND your pet!
8. If you are accessing the school grounds outside of school hours with a dog, please be sure to clean up after them. We often find dog waste left in the fields. As you can imagine, if a student steps into this, it creates a major disruption and hygiene issue for our students, parents, and school. Please spread the word for us to help keep our fields free of pet waste.
9. Throughout the year, we will practice a variety of safety drills: Lockdowns, Fire drills, Reverse Evacuations, Evacuations, etc. We work in conjunction with the Meridian Police Department and the Meridian Fire Department to establish the best practices for these drills. We will communicate when these occur, so you are aware of the drills. We will also send more communication regarding the types of emergencies and the procedures we will practice with our students.

Young Rembrandts will be back again this fall. Weekly classes are held on Wednesdays from 4:00-5:00 pm at Paramount. Click the button below for more information, including how to sign up.

Please note that while these classes are held at Paramount, these are not a Paramount sponsored activity. This is an outside organization providing these classes.

Various schools within West Ada are hiring positions. If you or someone you know is interested, please access the information in the image below.

Our PTA is wanting to increase the number of parents involved with the PTA, even if you don't have interest in heading up a committee. See the Social Media information below to follow PTA and learn more about it.

You can also call to speak with Mrs. Roy (principal) to direct you to PTA members.

Paramount PTA:

• Follow our Paramount PTA on Instagram: paramountpta
• Follow our Paramount PTA on Facebook (private group, click "join group"): paramount pta

Paramount Elementary (teacher-created posts):

• Follow on Instagram: paramountes_wasd

• Follow on Facebook: Paramount Elementary School