The Woodchuck Word

Happy New Year and welcome to 2024!

I hope you all had an enjoyable break with your children, fitting in lots of family time and fun! I took some much-needed time off to spend quality time with my family, get a few home improvement projects done, and channel my inner Harry Potter playing one of my most favorite video games. The most recent winter weather has put a little bit of a hiccup in our regular routines here at school these past two weeks, but with the start of Semester Two on Thursday, we are hoping for some calm weather to get us back into our groove and regular schedule.

This year has flown by, and I am so thankful to get to share so much of my time with your children at Greenwood. There is absolutely no place I would rather be, and even on the most difficult days, I can always count on a cheerful hello, hug, or check-in to bring me back to my "why." It has been a pleasure to greet your children each morning, help them problem solve conflict, share the joy in their learning, listen to them read or explain their math thinking, talk with them about life during lunch, get them home from school safely, and so many other things. Thank you for trusting our staff to care for your children and provide them with a solid foundation for their future. I am so blessed, and I look forward to our continued partnership in the days, weeks, and months to come!

As we begin the new year and finish up our first half-of the school year, I am looking forward to the continued progress and success that our students are achieving. These next several months will bring mid-point screening assessments for Literacy and Math, ELPA testing for our English Language Learners, and later this spring ISASP testing for our 3rd-5th grade data. These data points, along with our daily observations, student responses, and unit assessments help guide the instructional decisions we make for whole class teaching, individualized extension, and any reteaching or intervention necessary to help our students continue to grow. I hope you plan to attend our Spring Parent-Teacher Conferences in February to hear about the progress your child is making and their goals for the remainder of the year. In the meantime, don't hesitate to reach out to your child's teacher with any questions about their progress or ways to help support them at home.

Happy New Year!

With gratitude,

Jenny Inman

Principal

We look forward to sharing your child's academic and social growth with you at conferences! Spring Parent Teacher Conferences will take place on February 12th and 13th. Please click on your child's classroom link below to sign up for a conference time. If none of those times work with your schedule, please contact your child's teacher.

Preschool

Mrs. Angie's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Mrs. Crow's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Ms. Kat's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Kindergarten

Mrs. Motter's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Mrs. Iles' Spring Conference Sign-Up

1st Grade

Mrs. Moore's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Mrs. Petersen's Spring Conference Sign-Up

2nd Grade

Mrs. Brousard's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Mrs. Clough's Spring Conference Sign-Up

3rd Grade

Mrs. Lamphere's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Mr. Murphy's Spring Conference Sign-Up

4th Grade

Miss Haider's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Mrs. Hughes' Spring Conference Sign-Up

5th Grade

Mr. Burke's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Ms. Meredith's Spring Conference Sign-Up

Extended Core Teachers

Mrs. Hargrafen: Music Conference Sign-Up

Ms. Howe: Counseling Conference Sign-Up

Mrs. Moll: Art Conference Sign-Up

Mr. Wheeler: PE Conference Sign-Up

Thank you to all of our Greenwood families who participated in the DMPS OneRun this past September. We earned the top spot with over 120 registrations, which is even more than our number of participants last year. We earned about $2900 of the nearly $30000 raised for the event. These funds will be applied to our enrichment clubs supplies and academic teaching materials.

Greenwood Girls on the Run celebrated a successful season with a 5k run/walk on a seasonably warm November day, where they challenged themselves as they ran or walked through Water Works Park and Gray's Lake trails to finish strong and prove to themselves that they can achieve anything when they activate their STAR POWER! A special thanks to all of their running buddies who coached and motivated them along the route and for our volunteer coaches who dedicated their time to coach the ten week session.

The girls also created a community impact project as part of their programming. Together, they identified a population of the community where they wanted to support and help make a difference and then created a fundraising campaign, announcements, and flyers to collect donations. The GOTR group collected three boxes of hygiene products, food, and board games to donate to our local Domestic Abuse Shelter, who were very grateful for the support.

Student enrichment clubs have been a hit this year! Based on student feedback from last year's afterschool clubs, we went to the drawing board to create a schedule and logistics for all students to be able to participate in enrichment clubs during the school day. Our first session of clubs wrapped up in December and students raved about their opportunities to participate in sewing, photography, broadcasting, comic book writing, songwriting, chess, board games, legos, hairstyles, bracelet making, and so much more! A huge thank you to our staff for sharing their talents and learning new skills to bring the interests of our students into the school setting.

We've taken a brief hiatus to regroup and plan for round two, but in the meantime, our classrooms have been getting together for buddy room time. This has been a great opportunity for our older students to showcase their leadership and mentoring to our younger students through engaging activities and collaboration. Round two of clubs will began in a few weeks with several new sessions added included a few student-designed clubs like Mario Club. Be on the lookout for our first every Woodchuck Newscast, coming to you straight from Woody's studio this Spring! We've added baking club, coloring club, STEM club, and coding club in addition to a few returning favorites. Stay tuned for an opportunity to preview student clubs with more details on how you can become involved later this spring.

We are so grateful for our partnership with the Drake University women's basketball team and the support they provide our students in the classroom and throughout the community. This year, Drake students/players have been visiting our second-grade classrooms to promote literacy, support in the classroom, and mentor students through the Books with Bulldogs program. Each student received their very own book to keep, and as an added surprise, Greenwood received a donation from the team for $2500 to support our school community. These funds will be used to purchase additional literacy intervention materials and resources. We appreciate the support of our extend community and the opportunity for our students to see a variety of pathways for their futures.

Click HERE to view a news story of the program, featuring our Drake volunteers and several Greenwood 2nd grade students.

One of the biggest ways you can help support the growth and achievement of your children is to ensure they are at school to be immersed and engaged in their grade level learning. Our school day begins right away in the morning with social skills at 7:45, followed by literacy instruction beginning at 8:00 am. It is really important that our students get to school on time, so that they can begin their school day with the rest of their classmates, without an interruption in their regular schedule.

This year, we are closely monitoring attendance, and have sent out communication to families when students become flagged in our notification system as chronically absent, (10% absenteeism), with the intent of keeping you aware of the potential impact excessive absences may have on your child’s success. We urge you to monitor your child’s health and keep them home when sick, but also encourage you to limit other absences to emergencies only, when possible. Please review the attendance policy below and reach out with any questions. Thank you for partnering with us to ensure your child has daily access to their academic and social instruction.

Please reach out anytime if you need assistance problem solving any attendance barriers.

Attendance Policy

Please contact the school every day your student is absent.

Excused absences are defined as:

• Medical Appointment (Please provide a doctor’s note)

• Medical Illness or Injury (Doctor’s notes are encouraged)

• Religious Holiday

• Death/Illness of immediate family

All other absences are considered unexcused. Truancy monitoring begins at five unexcused absences. Excessive absences (10% or more) will lead to attendance support/problem solving meeting, targeted interventions, referral to truancy mediation and/or revocation of Within District Transfer/Open Enrollment status. Students who are frequently late to school may also require intervention.

If you need to report an absence, please call 515.242.8410, e-mail your child's teacher, or send a direct message on Snap!Connect.

Please see the DMPS Student Handbook for the full attendance policy.

We will have outdoor recess daily as long as the wind chill remains above 10 degrees, so please plan accordingly. Students will need boots, snow pants, gloves, and a winter coat to play in the snowy areas. If you need assistance providing a winter coat for your child, snowpants, boots, etc. please let me know or contact the school office. We have some donations of winter clothing provided by Greenwood families and community partners.

What: Greenwood Skate Night

When: Tuesday, January 16th from 6:00pm-8:00pm.

Where: Skate South, 10494 County Line Road, Des Moines

Cost: $5.35/person, students and families welcome!

*Please contact jenny.inman@dmschools.org if you need help paying for the skate fee.

Mrs. Moll has already uploaded over 1,000 student artwork pieces into the Artsonia digital platform. If you are interested in signing up for a free account to preview your child's work, please click HERE.

We are set to begin our 3rd EL Education literacy module this week. Our district will be sending out electronic parent newsletters through SNAP!Connect detailing the curriculum themes and content your children will be learning about and investigating these next nine weeks through three units of study.

The Module 3 EL Content family letters are scheduled to go out to families on the following dates: Module 3 Unit 1: January 18th

Module 3 Unit 2: February 8th

Module 3 Unit 3: February 29th

Please reach out to your child's teacher or me if you ever have any questions about the classroom curriculum.

We use Snap!Connect to send out timely messages about school events, important announcements, and to share student learning. Classroom Teachers have started sending home classroom news and reminders via the Snap!Connect App. If you haven't logged into Snap!Connect lately, now would be a great time to check it out.

Did you know you can direct message your child's teacher and fellow Greenwood parents?

Please reference the attached directions for how to access this feature. It is a great way to send your child's teacher any updates about absences, appointments, or to follow up on something. It is also a great way to connect with other families to arrange for playdates, send birthday invitations, etc.

If you aren't connected to Snap!Connect, you can download the app in the Apple or Android store for free, or access it via the web at https://cloud.schoolcnxt.com If you don't already have an account, you should have received a text or e-mail with a code to sign-up and link to your child's classroom. If you deleted the message or missed it, please contact the school office and I will be in touch to help you get connected.

If you've created an account in past years, but don't recall your username, please e-mail jenny.inman@dmschools.org. Additionally, if you've forgotten your password, but know your username, you can click on the FORGOT PASSWORD link on the sign-on page to reset it.

Roosevelt Color Guard is a co-ed activity and our clinic program is open to all 4th to 8th graders. Clinics will be held at the Roosevelt High School Big Gym and Band Room. The first clinic is March 1st from 5 to 7 pm, and the second clinic is March 2nd from 4 to 6:00 pm with a performance to follow at the Annual Roosevelt Color Guard Showcase on March 2nd at 6:00pm. The Clinic program cost is $40 which includes a T-shirt, attending the two clinics and performing at the Color Guard Showcase. If you need assistance with the cost of registration, please reach out to Mrs. Inman.

Register HERE

To access the district calendar, click HERE.

School hours are 7:45am-2:40pm Monday through Friday.

January 15th: No School, MLK Jr. Holiday

January 16th-17th: No School, Staff Professional Development

January 16th: Greenwood Skate Night @ Skate South 6:00-8:00pm

January 18th: Beginning of 2nd Semester

February 7th: PTA Meeting via ZOOM @ Noon

February 12th: No School, 12:00pm-7:00pmParent/Teacher Conferences

February 13th: No School, 3:00pm-5:15pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

February 14th: Friendship Parties 1:45-2:30 PM

March 7th: Preschool Registration Opens

March 11th-15th: No School, Spring Break

March 18th- 19th: No School, Staff Professional Development

School Breakfast and Lunch is offered daily to all students free of charge. Click HERE to view the daily menu.

Email: greenwood@dmschools.org
Website: greenwood.dmschools.org
Location: 316 37th Street, Des Moines, IA 50312, USA
Phone: (515)242-8410