Vermilion Elementary

Hello VES Families,

March is one of our favorite months of school year and not because we have spring break! We love March because we celebrate reading all month long. This year we will continue our tradition of reading a whole school book as a school community. Reading aloud to your child is beneficial at any age even when they have already started reading. It helps expand vocabulary, builds comprehension skills, fosters a love of reading, and help them explore complex ideas. It's also a great way to connect as a family.

Each student will bring home a copy of The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth. This book was originally written in the 1950's. The story of a farming family who gets a surprise when one of the eggs on the farm isn't what they expect. A dinosaur hatches and the young boy convinces his family that it would make a great pet. However, overtime things get a little crazy. Join us over the next few weeks to see what happens.

We will also have Stomper from the Lake Erie Crushers here to kick of Stompers Reading Challenge on Wednesday. We are challenging each student to 60 minutes each week in March. If they complete the mission they will get a ticket to a very special VES Crushers game. This year there will be a pre game parade on the field for all VES students who attend the June 12th game. More details will come home on Wednesday, March 5th.

Here are some of the other reading related things going on this month. We will also have Dr. Seuss day on March 6th. Wear your Red, White, and Black for the Cat in the Hat! Family reading night and the summer activity fair are coming on March 19th. Check out the flyer below.

Please check out all the other important information in this months scoop. The Kids Heart Challenge, Spring Fling, Reunification, and Camp Invention!

Matt Malear & Breanna Rebman

Please use the online link to sign up. There will not be a paper sign up this year. Please note that when you sign up (see below top) it will show the cost as $275.00. When you get to the end before your payment it will show Gift Certificate, - &175.00 (see below bottom) for a total of $100.00. If you have any questions please reach out to hboone@vermilionschools.org, Mrs. Boone is the organizer of our local program.

Sign up Link:

https://invent.ungerboeck.com/prod/emc00/PublicSignIn.aspx?&aat=76727654566a6752337632796f2b42366575453738695a6a69427845517868492f69566d315a624a6264453d

The snow has melted and temps are rising which means we are back outside for recess. Mud and kids are like a magnet. No matter if we try to keep play limited to the blacktop or play structure the kids still seem to find the mud! Please have your student keep a back up pair of pants in their backpacks for emergencies. No matter what age our students are, they tend to find a need for a change of clothes. Its could be spilled milk at breakfast or lunch, a mud puddle or muddy ball from the playground, or even a bathroom accident. No matter the reason we would like to keep kids in class and having a spare outfit helps achieve that goal!

Our nurses office has went through all the pants that we have. If you would like to donate old clean pants to the nurses office for sizes 4 - 12 boys and girls we would love to have them!

This year we will be holding our first off site reunification drill on April 17th as part of our emergency management plan. This drill will help us practice for an event in which we must evacuate the building and are unable to return to the school on that day. On April 17th we will have a practice drill to evacuate the school and report to our reunification site at Harbourtown Community Church. Once the evacuation has taken place, parents will get notification using the schools one call message sender. Upon notification parents should report to Harbourtown to pick up their students. ALL ADULTS PICKING UP STUDENTS MUST HAVE PHOTO ID AND BE ON THE STUDENTS EMERGENCY PICK UP LIST IN POWERSCHOOL. We will not be able to release students to anyone without proper identification. If you need to have adults added to your emergency pick up, please contact the school office. Please be prepared to wait as each ID must be checked. We will attempt to make this process as smooth and quick as possible, making sure everyone is getting to the correct adult safely will be priority. Once students are picked up they are released and will not return to the school that day. Participating in the drill is optional. If you do not want your student to participate in this drill you must call them off for the day. The absence will be marked as excused, school notified by parent. Additional information and reminders will come home over the next few months, however we wanted to get this out now so you can make sure your emergency contacts are up to date and you have a plan for student pick up.

Vermilion Local Schools is switching to new registration software for next school year. This change will start with students enrolling for the 25/26 school year. This change will likely push kindergarten and new preschool registration dates to mid March. We hope to open them up sooner, so please watch our Facebook page, webpage, and your email for updates. Returning preschool students who already attend our preschool will begin registration mid February. Be on the look out for information coming from Mrs. Spafford.

ATTENTION *****3/4 - NO SCHOOL - Professional Development and Conferences***** This is a new date for rescheduled Conferences due to the snow/ice day

3/7 - NO SCHOOL - Teacher Professional Development

3/21 - NO SCHOOL - End of Quarter 3 Teacher Workday

3/24 - 3/28 - Spring Break

4/18 - NO SCHOOL

5/26 - NO SCHOOL - Memorial Day

We have been participating in Kids Heart Challenge in all of our Phys Ed classes! We’re learning about healthy hearts and life lessons like getting active, asking for help, making good food and drink choices, getting good sleep and being kind. You can sign up online and help your student choose a daily health challenge. If you still need the link to sign up it is: www.heart.org/schools Donations are not a necessary part of the Challenge, but if your family chooses to donate money to the American Heart Association they are all done online and due by March 7th. Thank you!

Check out this message from Mr. Hayes: We've had an amazing year so far in STEM class across all of the grade levels. We've been busy creating, solving problems and learning many new things! I wanted to share with our families some of the activities that students are doing in class. I've created a webpage for each class so that families can get a look at all of the exciting learning happening each day! Be on the lookout for a half slip of paper with directions on how to access your student's class page!

Stay tuned for more information about the Vermilion Local School District Art Show! It will be on Thursday April 24th, 2025!

Thank you to the families who have already nominated staff members! It truly made their day brighter when I shared it with them! Included is the link so that families have the chance to nominate staff members that make a positive impact on students! It can be anonymous or you can include your/your student's name. We will share the feedback and celebrate with our staff! Thank you for helping to make VES an even better place!

Family Positive Referral Form

We would love to seek feedback from our families to gather input and determine how we can best include families in PBIS. Please email me at brebman@vermilionschools.org if you would like your feedback and questions to be included in the process. Thank you!

A colleague introduced me to the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. As a parent to an 11, 8 and 5 year old and an educator the topic intrigued me. I have begun to read it and many of the ideas resonate deeply and affirm much of what I see in my own children and others. I thought I would share the recommendation with other families who may be interested in learning more about what they can do to help.

- Mrs. Rebman

I will share some questions to reflect on as well:

*Jon and Lenore suggest a few ways to give your kids more unstructured, unsupervised opportunities for free play, such as keeping Fridays open so neighborhood kids can get together. What small steps could you take toward adding more free play to your children’s lives?

*When you were your child(ren)’s age, what did your parents trust you to do on your own? How did that make you feel?

*What are some things you do for your children that they could start doing for themselves?

*What are some things you do for your family that your children could start doing for you?

3/4 - No School for Students - Teacher PD/Conferences

3/4 Conference Night

3/5 Family First Night - No Homework, Activities or Events - Enjoy a relaxing evening with your family!

3/6 Pizza Galley Night

3/7 No School for Students - Teacher PD

3/10 Board Meeting - Citizens of the Month invited to lead Pledge of Allegiance

3/11 Spring Picture Day

3/12 Citizen of the Month Lunch

3/12 PTO Meeting 6:30 PM

3/14 PTO Spring Fling **more information to come!**

3/19 Literacy Night/Summer Activity Fair/Tales with a Teacher @ VES

3/20 End of Quarter 3

3/21 No School for Students - Teacher Workday

3/24 - 3/28 Spring Break

August 2024/Back to School

September 2024

October 2024

November 2024

December 2024

January 2025

February 2025

Office Hours: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

Doors Open for students: 8:30 am

Student Hours: 8:50 am - 3:30 pm

Email: mmalear@vermilionschools.org
Website: https://www.vermilionschools.org/vermilionelementary_home.aspx
Location: 1285 Douglas Street, Vermilion, OH, USA
Phone: 440-204-1703
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063691387394