CUBS' CONNECTION

Fall tends to be a few busy months with Cubs'Choice, WIN, Circle Up, Assemblies, Science Lab, 21 Commons projects, Carnival, fundraisers, charity drives, conferences, and much more! Fortunately, the fall weather has been pushed out a bit and has allowed us a little more warm weather for outdoor play!

We are in our final week of our Trimester 1 Cubs' Choice! This is a 6 week program where students in grades 1-6 go to an 'elective' class of their choosing for some fun and enriching instruction. Cubs' Choice is three times a year, once each trimester. Kindergarten have 'Kids' Choice' everyday and will participate in Cubs' Choice once in 1st grade. See Cubs' Choice below.

WIN also began this trimester. 'Whatever I Need' occurs 3 days a week to provide specific instruction targeted at each student's level to meet his/her needs. Instruction is geared to intervene, reinforce, or enrich. See 'Everyone wins in WIN' below.

Our goal with both of these programs is to meet students' needs, give students choice, and to foster new interests. Be sure to talk with our students about Cubs' Choice and WIN!

OCTOBER

22 - Red Ribbon Week - Wear Red

23 - Red Ribbon Week - Wear crazy socks

24 - Red Ribbon Week - Wear Neon

25 - Red Ribbon Week - Be a Team! wear VV shirt or team jersey

24 - Kids' 'Canned Food' Drive begins

25 - Carnival 5:00-8:00

28 - Minimum Day; School starts @ 7:50; K is dismissed at 12:10; 1st-6th dismissed at 12:20

29 - School Site Council Meeting - 2:40-3:45 in Admin Office

30 - Snowie King's last visit until spring - after school on blacktop

31 - Halloween parade at 7:50 on blacktop

NOVEMBER

1 - No school for students; Staff Professional Development Day

4-8 - Parent Conference Week & Book Fair!

8 - Kids' 'Canned Food' Drive ends

11 - No School in honor of Veteran's Day - Thank you to all who have served or still do!

13 - Step It Up DAY OF AWESOMENESS!

18 - PTC General Meeting 7:00-8:00

25-29 - No School - Thanksgiving Week - We are so grateful for all our families do!

DECEMBER

8 - Holiday Movie @ Studio Movie Grill 11:30-1:30

19 - Minimum Day

20 - Winter Break begins with return date of 1/6/20

Yes, students may wear costumes to school on Thursday, Oct 31 providing the costume meets the following requirements.

It must follow the existing dress code; be sure to check this in our handbook here or on our website. Also not permitted; masks, weapons, face paints, gruesome/scary themes, high heels, or wet hair (due to wet/dripping color). Please think about safety as our children will still play and have other activities as usual. Students will not be able to change out of costumes; therefore, will need to plan to wear it all day. If it is not comfortable enough to do so, please consider something else. Students will be responsible for their costume throughout the day.

Our goal is for students to have a good time, while also being safe and still able to learn! Thank you in advance for ensuring your child will be in compliance with these requirements. There will be a brief parade on the blacktop starting at 7:50. This consists of circling the blacktop 2-3 times to show off and see others' costumes.

In grades 4-6, there will be a costume contest! Students will vote for their favorite costume in their individual classes. The top 3 from each grade will then move onto the selecting of one winner for each grade, 4th, 5th, and 6th. This event is planned by students, for students, with all voting from students!

Help us keep our children safe by all of us (staff, students, parents, and toddlers) following our rules before, during, and after school. PLEASE REVIEW THESE RULES AS A FAMILY.

• Visitors always check in the office! Sign in, get a badge, sign out, return badge. Not entering the back or briefly popping in the lunchroom without a badge from office
• Walk everywhere on campus. Did you know that students are permitted to run on the grass only? In hallways and on crowded blacktops are not safe places to run.
• Handrails are for hands! Not feet, not climbing, not hanging.
• Plants, bushes, tress, garden areas make our school beautiful! Not trampling through, climbing on, or breaking off. Just as we would not want done at our homes.Also beware of insects and small creatures in these areas!
• Sidewalks are for walking feet! Not running, pushing, or ducking around to get in front.

An orderly school is a safe school! Please work together with us to achieve this.

WIN is an acronym for Whatever I Need. Three days each week our students receive approximately 45 minutes of instruction during WIN. The grouping is based on students' needs, teacher input, and is flexible. Students may move to another classroom for this instruction. Through this process, students' instructional needs are routinely being met with targeted instruction or enrichment opportunities. Movement between the different tiers of support is fluid and based on student performance. Teachers continually make the necessary changes in student placement and instruction to meet each student's individual learning needs. This process results in ALL students reaching their full potential more rapidly. Everyone wins in W.I.N.!

Three times a year, our Cubs are able to choose a Friday afternoon elective class! First our teachers select an activity/hobby/interest that they want to teach. We put these choices in a survey form and have our students complete the survey indicating their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices. 90% of Cubs were able to get their top 1st or 2nd choice! For the 1st session this trimester, students in grade 1-3 chose from Gonoodle/Mindfulness, Sea Glass Art, Lego Challenges, Cooking, Directed Drawing, Yoga, Fairy Tale Theater, Puzzling, and Art Journaling.

Students in grades 4-6 chose from ASL, STEM, Spanish, Chess, Pattern Drawing, Weaving, Kindness iMovies, Story Telling, and Singing/Music. Some of the electives choices change each trimester depending on level of student interest. If you haven't heard about Cubs' Choice, be sure to ask your Cub as it is a huge hit! Our kindergarten students are able to participate once they are in grade 1.

We are a Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) school as mentioned last month. This framework has a multi-tiered system of supports that we provide to help everyone be successful at school. Some of our supports and interventions include the following;

• Tier I - Whole class social/emotional lessons, Bully Prevention lessons, structured reteaching of rules
• Tier II - Social skills groups, relationship based Check In/Check Out program, Behavior Intervention Plan , or School Based Therapy, Student Study Team meeting
• Tier III - Possible assessments, as well as, staff is attending training this year to learn about additional support in/outside of the school

Another focus for this year is implementing our Peaceful Playground program. Since the beginning of the year, students have been learning more cooperative games in PE that are for recess play. There is also some painting of the blacktop to be completed. If this sounds like something you'd like to help with, please contact the school office. Our students would enjoy the games even more! We continue to make great strides in improving students' well being socially, emotionally, and behaviorally. Thank you for your reinforcement of the same at home.

Website: vves.rocklinusd.org
Phone: (916) 435-4844
Twitter: @VVCubs