Flight Plan

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As the leaves begin to change and the weather cools, we find ourselves in a season filled with exciting events and milestones. October is a wonderful time to celebrate our school community, and I’d like to share some of the key activities happening this month.

October is here, and with it comes a month full of fun and important events at our school. Below are some key dates to mark on your calendars:

• Walk and Bike to School Day: Join us as we promote healthy habits and celebrate Walk and Bike to School Day! A fun way for students to start their day with some fresh air and exercise.

• Bring a Teddy Bear to School Day: Students are invited to bring their favorite stuffed friend to school for a day of extra fun and comfort.

• Picture Day: Smile big for Picture Day! This is a great time to capture memories that will last a lifetime, so don’t forget to dress your best.

• Multicultural Night: We are excited to celebrate the rich diversity of our school community at Multicultural Night. Enjoy food, music, and traditions from around the world as we come together to share and learn.

• End of the First Quarter: Can you believe the first quarter of the school year is already coming to an end? We are proud of all the hard work our students have put in so far. With the end of the first quarter approaching our teachers will be reaching out to touch base through parent/teacher conferences about the progress your learner is making.

• First Report Cards: With the first quarter behind us, the district will be distributing our first report cards of the year. This will be a chance to celebrate achievements and reflect on areas for growth. If you have not logged into our Home Access Center (HAC) you will want to visit the Denton Isd Homepage website to gain access. The HAC will be the hub for lots of information from report cards to attendance!

Warmest regards,

Dedra Adams and Katie Vaughan

Our Core Value for the month will be INCLUSIVE! Adkins strives to be a place where EVERYONE belongs. We want our students and families to know that we believe everyone is unique and that is where our beauty lies. This month we will focus on: Inclusive - The intentional inviting of others to become a part, to belong.

Ask your child what it means to be inclusive and discuss how the act of being inclusive lives out our vision of learn, connect and serve. How can you as a family focus on being inclusive this month?

Our next Awards Ceremony will be on Friday, November 1st.

Parents will be notified of students who will be receiving the monthly characteristic award and the learn, connect, serve award. It will be a secret for our sudents ~ but those parents will be invited to our awards assembly to celebrate their students.

Counselor's Corner ❤️

Welcome back parents!

We kick of Healthy Choices Month in October. Visit this calendar link for healthy topics through October 25th.

Visit the Denton ISD Counseling and Social Work page for more information on our mandated lessons on personal safety and bullying.

Please make sure and preview the Safety and Anti-Victimization Prevention Lesson found here.

If you opted in, your child will be a part of the Happy Bear or Safety lesson on the following dates.

PK-2nd Grades Happy Bear Lesson

Tuesday October 15th

3rd-5th Grades Kid Safety Lesson

Wednesday October 23rd

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

OCTOBER is WELLNESS and GOOD CHOICES MONTH

Check out our CALENDAR

Service Project to benefit the FM Animal Shelter, week of October 21st-25th.

Start sending your gently used collars, leashes, and cat toys.

Kindly,

Mariella G. Alvarado, School Counselor

As our year moves into the fall we want to ensure that all of our students and their families understandy that Adkins strives to be a safe learning environment for all. To build a strong foundation for friendships and social interactions we want to be aligned in our understanding of bullying.

Bullying is a serious offense, and we aim at preventing and educating our students on what Bullying is and what it is not. Please refer to our district's Counseling and Social Work website for more specific information regarding BULLYING and Denton ISD's policies.

Bullying Information

Is it Rude, Mean or Bullying?

Rude = Inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts someone else.

From kids, rudeness might look more like burping in someone's face, jumping ahead in line, bragging about achieving the highest grade or even throwing a crushed up pile of leaves in someone's face. On their own, any of these behaviors could appear as elements of bullying, but when looked at in context, incidents of rudeness are usually spontaneous, unplanned inconsideration, based on thoughtlessness, poor manners or narcissism, but not meant to actually hurt someone.

Mean = Purposefully saying or doing something to hurt someone once (or maybe twice).

The main distinction between "rude" and "mean" behavior has to do with intention; while rudeness is often unintentional, mean behavior very much aims to hurt or depreciate someone. Kids are mean to each other when they criticize clothing, appearance, intelligence, coolness or just about anything else they can find to denigrate. Meanness also sounds like words spoken in anger — impulsive cruelty that is often regretted in short order. Very often, mean behavior in kids is motivated by angry feelings and/or the misguided goal of propping themselves up in comparison to the person they are putting down. Commonly, meanness in kids sounds an awful lot like:

• "Are you seriously wearing that sweater again? Didn't you just wear it, like, last week? Get a life."
• "You are so fat/ugly/stupid/gay."
• "I hate you!"

Make no mistake; mean behaviors can wound deeply and adults can make a huge difference in the lives of young people when they hold kids accountable for being mean. Yet, meanness is different from bullying in important ways that should be understood and differentiated when it comes to intervention.

Bullying = is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.

Experts agree that bullying entails three key elements: an intent to harm, a power imbalance and repeated acts or threats of aggressive behavior. Kids who bully say or do something intentionally hurtful to others and they keep doing it, with no sense of regret or remorse -- even when targets of bullying show or express their hurt or tell the aggressors to stop. Bullying may be physical, verbal, relational or carried out via technology.

This information is from author: Signe Whitson

Here is a video for more information.

Hello Adkins Families –

Hispanic Heritage Month is from September 15th through October 15th.

This year, Adkins would like to celebrate our students of the Hispanic Heritage. We will have our First Annual Hispanic Heritage Parade where students of the Hispanic Heritage will proudly walk down the main hallway of Adkins. Students are allowed to wear clothing that represents their heritage or bring an item to carry with them during the parade. If you have questions about specific items to send with your child, please reach out to your teacher.

The other students will support their Hispanic peers by making signs to hold up during the parade. They can also be supportive by wearing bright colors on this day.

Teachers will take lots of pictures and video to send to parents! This is an Adkins student and staff event.

The parade will take place the morning of October 8th.

We can’t wait to celebrate!

Thanks for your participation.

Have you heard about Expo at Adkins Elementary? Have you ever wanted to know a little bit more about the program? Read below to understand what Expo is all about and then view the linked video to understand the testing process.

A gifted and talented student is a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment and who (1) exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area; (2) possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or (3) excels in a specific academic field. (Texas Education Code § 29.121)

Gifted and talented students require educational experiences beyond those normally provided by the regular school program. Students shall be identified using multiple criteria as specified by the Denton Independent School District. The district recognizes that students identified as gifted and talented come from all races, socioeconomic groups, geographical locales, and environments.

EXPO or EXceptional POtential is the name given to Denton ISD's gifted and talented program. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade are served in an enrichment based pull-out program with an EXPO Specialist. In the middle school program, EXPO students are served through the English Language Arts and Reading block. In the high school program, EXPO students are served through honors, Advanced Placement, and dual credit.

Parent Information and Awareness video

For even more information go to our Denton Isd EXPO website.

Our Lost and Found is gaining new items every day! Thank you for taking a moment to label your child’s items. If it has a name...we will deliver it to your student! When our Lost & Found starts being overloaded we will donate items to make room.

If you have not had a chance to peruse our after school opportunities click the link below.

After School Clubs

At Adkins our vision is to Learn, Connect and Serve each day. These qualities were shaped after our namesake, Dorothy P. Adkins who was a lifelong learner who strived to make deep connections with each and every person while serving her community and beyond.

As educators we are always in the learning cycle and we take part in a learning lab each month. We wanted to offer our parents and families an opportunity to learn as well. In these section each month we will add in an article, video or link to a great website that might bring you something new!

This month we are bringing you a few articles from one of our most used positive behavior supports, Love and Logic.

"As Soon As" instead of "No"

Choices Should Not Be Threats

• Picture Day

Do you have something that has made you have the "Awww" feeling lately? Has your teacher or another staff member left a positive impact on you or your child? Have you seen something that you feel needs to be praised? We believe at Adkins that words are powerful and matter! Affirmation can make someone's day!

We share these kudos during our Thursday staff meetings! It is so fun to share your words with our teachers. :)

Let's Give KUDOS and KIND WORDS!

Use this link to share the good!

Dear Families,

Denton ISD will provide engagement for students on the upcoming early release day, November 1st, 2024, from 12:00 pm until 3:00 pm for elementary children. The Extended School Day program will coordinate with each campus to provide engaging activities for students while teachers are participating in Professional Learning Communities. In addition, Denton ISD transportation will be provided at both the early release time (12:00pm) and the regular release time (3:00 pm) for all eligible elementary bus students. If you indicate on the form that your child will ride the bus, please notify the ESD office 24 hours prior to the Early Release Day if there has been a change in pick up plan.

Parents must sign up each month to participate. If your student currently attends ESD, you do not need to sign up.

If you have any questions regarding this, please contact the Extended School Day office at 940-369-0080.

Participation in this opportunity will require completion of the form below. All forms must be submitted no later than midnight on Saturday, October 26th, 2024 to participate.

English

https://forms.gle/MfostkjNFYhCzbpo9

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Estimadas Familias:

El Distrito Escolar Independiente de Denton brindará actividades escolares para estudiantes las día de salida temprano, 1 de noviembre de 2024 de las 12:00pm hasta las 3:00pm para niños de primaria. El programa Día Escolar Extendido se coordinará con cada campus para brindar actividades escolares para estudiantes mientras los maestros están participando en grupos de aprendizaje profesional. Además, se proporcionará transporte de Denton ISD tanto a la hora de salida temprano (12:00pm) y a la hora de salida regular (3:00pm) para todos los estudiantes de primaria elegibles para utilizar el autobús. Si indica en el formulario que su hijo viajará en el autobús, notifique a la oficina de ESD 24 horas antes del día de salida temprana si ha habido un cambio en el plan de recogida.

Los padres deben inscribirse cada mes para participar. Si su estudiante atiende actualmente ESD (Día Escolar Extendido, por sus siglas en Inglés), no necesita registrarse.

Si tiene alguna pregunta, favor de comunicarse con la oficina de Día Escolar Extendido al 940-369-0080.

Para participar en esta oportunidad, requerirá completar el siguiente formulario. Todos los formularios deben ser enviados a más tardar el día 26 de octubre de 2024 para participar.

español

https://forms.gle/s2mvzzWWstmxvFQt7