PAWS and CLAWS NEWSLETTER

• The school day will begin at 8:45 AM and end at 3:50 PM.
• Students are marked tardy at 9:05 AM.
• Dismissal begins at 3:50 PM and ends at 4:00 PM
• Closed Campus: Student early dismissals will not be honored after 3:15 pm daily.

In preparation for our afterschool program, we are excited to secure a few more clubs for our scholars to enjoy. Applications will be sent home soon and will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please note that bus transportation will be available for students who currently ride the school bus. The afterschool program will run from February 11 to May 8 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays this school year. Each student will be expected to attend only two days with one academic club and one extracurricular club.

My name is Kenesha “Kay” Mosley, and I am honored to serve as the new Red Clay Parent Advisory Council liaison for Joseph Johnson Elementary. I have been an active guardian at Joseph Johnson since 2007 and a parent since 2019. In addition to being a proud Johnson parent, I am a Special Education teacher for 8th and 9th grades and Co-Owner of a local learning academy.

I am deeply committed to the growth, development, and success of all students. Through this role, I aim to gather valuable information and tips to share with parents, ensuring everyone stays informed and engaged in our school community.

If you need to reach me, feel free to contact me by email at Kenesha.L.Mosley@gmail.com or by phone at (484) 378-9011.

Opening Quote:

"All parents have dreams for their children and want the best for them."

Questions to Reflect On:

1. What did you want to be at the following ages: 8, 12, 14, and 18?
2. What shifted in your choices?

Key Insight:
As we grew up, our choices, interests, and abilities evolved. Similarly, our children's opportunities are influenced by the modern world, which offers unique and emerging career paths tailored to their strengths.

Question:
List two of your child’s strengths.

Preparing for the Future:

Red Clay utilizes CASEL (Collaboration of Academics, Social & Emotional Learning) and the Multi-Tiered System of Supports Framework (MTSS) to:

• Increase the number of high school students participating in college-level courses.
• Improve high school graduation rates.

This process begins as early as kindergarten. For more details, refer to the DOE SEL Competencies.

Helpful Tips for Parents:

Academic Preparation for Secondary Education

• Discuss your child’s interests and goals.
• Familiarize yourself with your child’s IEP or 504 plan and actively participate in annual planning meetings.
• Work together to identify strengths and areas for improvement.
• Attend open houses at middle and high schools.

Building Behavioral Skills

• Teach self-advocacy.
• Acknowledge and reinforce positive behaviors.
• Help your child develop organizational and self-reflection skills.
• Address challenging subjects by promoting strong study habits.
• Encourage daily reading for at least 30 minutes.

College and Career Readiness

• Conduct your own research to make informed decisions (beware of misinformation).
• Create a list of pros and cons for potential options.
• Talk with your child about their ideas, goals, and aspirations.
• Keep an open mind about new opportunities and career paths.

• Please trust that the Johnson staff will escort students to their classroom during the first week of school. We always have EXTRA staff the first few weeks to assist our students as they get accustomed to routines. Parents/Guardians will not be permitted to enter the school to walk your child to their classroom in the morning.
• It is important that your child’s teacher is informed how your child will be dismissed on the first student day and any changes to how he/she should be dismissed for the remainder of the year. Please note that daily changes to how a student is dismissed can be disruptive to procedures and can confuse the student.
• Students in grades K-2 are encouraged to have/wear a name tag the first two weeks of school. Include your child’s name, emergency contact information and transportation to and from school.
• The Red Clay Consolidated School District offers a voluntary low cost accident insurance for your student. Families can choose either during the school day or 24-hour coverage. The brochure is attached. Applications and fees should be sent directly to the Philadelphia Insurance Companies. There is no obligation to purchase this insurance. English brochure / Spanish brochure

i-Ready is an online program for reading and/or mathematics that will help your student’s teacher(s) determine your student’s needs, personalize their learning, and monitor progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows your teacher(s) to meet your student exactly where they are and provides data to increase your student’s learning gains. i-Ready consists of two parts: Diagnostic and Personalized Instruction.

Learn more about i-Ready by watching this video!

https://i-readycentral.com/familycenter/

We will have TAG and Enrichment for our 2-5 grade students this year beginning next week. Students who are apart of the program scored as the top 10% of their grade level on various assessments. We welcome Ms. Dumas, who is new this year, and Ms. Honisch as our TAG teachers who support all WLC schools including Johnson. Students will be support up to 45 minutes on curriculum for reading or math.

Our school host two musical programs which include band and strings. School-specific information can be found at: www.tinyurl.com/RedClayBandInfo

On 10/29 our mentors returned to begin their orientation before support our students. We welcome all new and former mentors to Johnson who will be supported by Ms. Nancy Smith under the guidelines of Creative Mentoring. Students will begin meeting and building relationships with their mentors next week.

We aim for our mentors to help students in the areas of:

• Academic performance: Students with mentors may have higher grades, do better on tests, and complete more assignments.
• Attendance: Students with mentors are more like to show up to school.
• Sense of belonging: Mentoring can help students feel like they matter and are part of a community.
• Social-emotional development: Mentoring can help students develop emotionally and improve their relationships with other adults and peers.
  

What is the PTO? Why Join?

The top reason to join the PTO is to benefit your child and support your school. Here are more advantages:

• Get Connected: Stay informed about school events and updates.
• Tap into a Network: Meet other parents and teachers, share ideas, and discuss issues.
• Speak Up: Suggest and influence changes at your child’s school.
• Witness Improvement: Contribute to positive changes in the school environment.
• Be a Role Model: Show your child the value of education through your involvement.

Join the Johnson PTO! Contact your child’s teacher or call (302) 651-2715 to express your interest.

No full-time commitment required—contribute as you can.

Meeting dates for 2024-2025 will be announced soon.

The WLC is an educational nonprofit committed to creating positive change across schools in Wilmington, Delaware.

Spanning nine city schools and serving students from Pre-K through eighth grade within the Brandywine, Red Clay, and Christina school districts, our focus is to improve the overall educational landscape in Wilmington.

Our primary objective is to establish a rigorous and engaging learning experience for Wilmington students, in collaboration with our families, educators, and school leaders. Through our community-focused efforts, we aim to enhance overall student outcomes within the city of Wilmington schools. https://wlc-de.org/

Thank you for your support of our new arrival and dismissal procedure. Our Johnson parents are the best! Please continue to follow the directions of the Johnson staff members who direct traffic.

Families will receive copies of the handbook on Monday night at the open house.

POC ID: 1710218900

• Does your student use an inhaler? You can drop it off during this time or send it in with your student along with their action plan.

• Does your student take other medications? Be sure to discuss your student’s needs with the nurse.

Families, we'd like to introduce you to our new community and school's coordinator, Ms. Baker. She supports with helping to maintain or bring in new resources and ideas for our families. Each month she will put together a calendar to share with important dates for you to remember.

Educational Programming:

We are still waiting on books for our Books and Basketball Initiative. Once we get those, we will be ready to announce all of our Educational Programming. Take a look at what we are able to offer right now below:

Coaty Appearances: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7NG9gPuCld/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Coaty will come out and interact with youth and community members to help enhance any type of event such as literacy nights, honor roll assemblies, etc

Basketball/Skee-Ball Inflatables and Resource Table: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8xcz9fuwsj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Our Basketball and Skee Ball Inflatables are packed with fun, come with prizes for winners, and guarantee smiles. Our resource table helps us to connect with the members at any given event such as open houses or other events.

If you're interested in scheduling these, please just let me know 🙂

Delaware Blue Coats Coaching Clinic

Please share the attached flyer and RSVP link for any athletic directors or coaches that may be interested in coming out!

https://sixers.formstack.com/forms/coachclinic2024

Education Days

We would love for your school to consider our Education Day Games on March 13th and 20th , especially if we've done Books and Basketball, Skills and Drills, or came out to an event in general! It's a great way to show us support back.

We dub Education Days as "The Best Field Trip Ever" . Tickets are $9 each and come with food, drink, and access to the dozens of vendors with giveaways and information that we plan to have at these games! These games are 11am games and are a great way to increase school morale, reward great behavior, or just have a fun outing with the school! If you're interested, please just let me know.

Community Contact List / Complimentary Tix

We are on a mission to grow our Delaware Blue Coats Community. If we've interacted recently, I've sent you a link to send to families via Class Dojo or bulletin boards. This link is to share with families of your schools so they can join our Community Family - an email newsletter with perks of complimentary tickets for each member, updates on our FREE Open Gyms, and more!

You can easily plan a school night out with this link by asking families to select the same game to use their complimentary tickets when you send out the link!

Keep in mind - we show scheduling favor to schools that do share this information when it comes to events, Books and Basketball, etc.

Link is below, we encourage you to share it ASAP so your school family can join our family as well! There's still time for them to sign up for our FREE Open Gym this Sunday once they fill out the form and get all of the info from me.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScjiNNE5jkAWJ0WZZ6kDzbiZb1FSRd4h2yk-qw-z8J2ExTB4Q/viewform

Click the images for access to the full calendars.

Our Website: https://www.redclayschools.com/johnson

Facebook: Joseph E. Johnson Jr. Elementary School

Twitter: @JohnsonSchoolDE

Instagram: @JEJohnson_Wildcats