Keystone Newsletter #19
Dear Keystone Families,
I hope you are having a fantastic January, so far. It is hard to believe that we are almost half way through January!
We have many fun and exciting activities taking place this month; movie night, Barn Hill assembly, and a Barnes and Nobles night.
Please note the change in Keystone's Barnes and Noble (Oxford Valley) fundraiser event. This event will take place on Wednesday, January 24th, 2024. When shopping at Barnes and Noble on January 24th, please mention that your purchases are supporting Keystone's fundraising event. More information to come soon about this event.
Have a wonderful week! Go Eagles!
Respectfully,
Mrs. Smith-Herman
Important Dates to Remember
✏️Every Tuesday✏️
Smencil Sales ($1.25 each)
🥨Every Thursday🥨
Pre-Order Pretzels
👕Every Friday👕
Wear Paw Shirts
Martin Luther King Day
January 15th
No School- Offices Closed
📽️Movie Night🍿
January 19th
🐷Barn Hill Assembly 🐍
January 23rd
Professional Development in PM- 1:15pm Dismissal for Students
January 24th
📚Barnes and Noble Night📚
Wednesday, January 24th
Fairless Hills, PA
PTO Meeting
January 25th at 4:30pm
Progress Reports- K-5
📝January 29th✏️
Looking Ahead
📚Read for the House Program📚
All of February
PSSA Testing at Keystone Elementary School
ELA- April 22nd, 24th, and 26th- Grades 3, 4, 5
Math- April 30th and May 1st- Grades 3, 4, 5
Science- May 2nd and May 3rd- Grade 4 Only
🏈5th Grade Spirit Day⚽
Wednesday, May 8th, 2024
Rain Date- Thursday, May 9th, 2024
It will take place in the stadium at Truman High School.
👕Field Day⚽
Thursday, June 6th- AM- K/1
Thursday, June 6th- PM- 2/3
Friday, June 7th- AM- 4/5
Rain Dates: June 10th and/or 11th
Community Events
Keystone Staff Member Spotlight
Katie Nober
Position: First grade teacher
Years at Bristol Township School District: 16 years
Strengths: I love working with first graders! I love teaching my students how to read and work on hard math problems. I love it when it clicks and they get excited about their learning.
I love creating lessons that are engaging and memorable for my students.Pets: None
Hobbies: I love to spend time with my family, watch my kids sports, cheer on the Phillies and Eagles, travel the 50 states, try out new adventures, white water rafting, and having fun no matter what!
Favorite Color(s): blue
Favorite Snack: Anything Chocolate and Hot Tea
Favorite Sports' Team: Phillies, Eagles, Sixers, Flyers
Three Fun Facts:
1) Our family goal is to see the 50 states. We have traveled to 16 so far!
2) I love to go on roller coasters with my kids. We visited Cedar Point this summer and rode the biggest and fastest rides in the country.
3) I love making memories with my family. Family time is the most important thing to me.
Additional Information:
If I wasn't a teacher, I would love to work with animals, especially gorillas. I love to visit the zoo and watch the animals. My dream job is a zoologist.
Nurses' Corner
INDOOR VS OUTDOOR RECESS
Decisions to have indoor or outdoor recess is determined based upon district guidelines that are in place in determining the safety and comfort of our students.
PARENTS and GUARDIANS:
Winter is upon us! Sometimes it is hard to know how your child should dress for school when one week temperatures are near the 50's and the next week it's in the 20's.
THIS WEEK WILL BE VERY COLD! We want our young learners to go out for recess whenever possible. Even though it is only about 25 minutes long, recess is important. Our students need the fresh air and activity. Please make sure your child comes to school dressed for being outdoors. Layering is a great idea. Hats and gloves also help keep their bodies warm.
Heritage Conservancy- Nature in 100 Words or Less: Nature Writing Celebration!
This past Saturday, The Heritage Conservancy honored the creative works of local student writers, at the Grundy Library, located on Radcliffe Street in Bristol, Pennsylvania.
Keystone Elementary School was proudly represented by two fantastic students; Rylend Polak and Annalise Geist!
The Heritage Conservancy "asked local writers of all ages to embrace the beauty of brevity and capture the essence of our local natural environment in just 100 words."
Heritage Conservancy
"Souper" Hero Day
The Keystone Student Council held a Souper Hero Day on Thursday, January 11th. Students were encouraged to dress as their favorite Superheroes and bring in a donation of a can of soup or $1.00.
Keystone raised $150 and over 200 cans of soup for The Truman Food Pantry!
Congratulations to Mrs. Carr's class for being the class to bring in the most soup cans and/or collect the most donations!
Thank you to all who donated and participated!
🎬Keystone Movie Night🎬- The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Barnes and Noble Bookstore- The Court @ Oxford Valley, PA
Wednesday, January 24th, 2024 at 210 Commerce Blvd, Fairless Hills, PA 19030
Please come out to Barnes and Noble on January 24th to support Keystone Elementary School. We will have some staff on hand who will be volunteering their time to read.
Families can also support Keystone Elementary School through online orders as well. When you get to the payment details option, on the Barnes and Noble website, please make sure to click, "Add Book Fair ID" and type in 12724340.
Frappuccino Design Contest for Barnes and Noble Bookfair
All submissions need to be received and turned back into Mrs. Smith-Herman, by Friday, January 19th, at 4:00pm. Good luck to all who decide to enter the contest!
Feel free to print the flyer to turn in as your submission or write down your responses on a piece of paper. Please make sure to include you name on your submission.
Principal Paw Ticket Winners
❄️Something Fun!❄️
Do you love the snow?
Read for The House Program
The Read for the House Program is a service-learning project for children of any age that raises funds to support Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Philadelphia Region. In addition to helping our guest families, the program promotes the value of community service and improves reading comprehension.
PROGRAM TIMELINE:
JANUARY 2024: Readers watch our online video to learn about the program, create their personal fundraising pages, and seek family and friends to pledge any amount of money for each minute they read during February.
FEBRUARY 2024: Reading begins on February 1! Readers keep track of how many minutes they read using the calendar we provide.
MARCH 2024: Readers reach out to their family and friends and collect their donations through their online fundraising page. They can feel good knowing every dollar they raised directly helps families in need!
Readers will earn prizes! Not only will they have the satisfaction of knowing they are helping families when they need it the most, but readers can also earn fun prizes based on their fundraising totals!
Read for The House Link- Please Click Below to Register
Order Your Yearbooks
Yearbook Ordering Link
Ordering Online Access Code Needed:
Access Code: 11702YBDeadline to Order: April 22nd, 2024
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program
Fresh fruits an vegetables are sampled at school on Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Fridays.
The students in grades K-5 had the opportunity to sample green cabbage, cara cara navels, and sunchokes this week.
Many thanks and gratitude to the students and staff in room A208 and A112 for continuing to providing the delivery of the fresh fruits and vegetables to the classrooms at Keystone Elementary School. You are all doing a fantastic job and we are very appreciative! Thanks!
January Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Calendar
January Videos/Stories
Social Emotional Learning Tip of the Week
Self-Control
Emotions influence behavior. Part of growing up is learning how to manage our emotions and exercise self-control so that we can treat ourselves and others with respect. Eight-year-olds can articulate the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors in home, school, and public settings. They can talk about how their behavior affects those around them, and this can inspire them to make good choices and exercise self-control. Encourage them to reach out for support when they feel overwhelmed by stress, anger, fear, or confusion.
Help your child develop and practice self-control:
Practice Cognitive Control
The area of the brain in charge of focus and attention and continues to grow into early adulthood. Encourage kids to read books, play games that require attention to detail, build complex block structures or jigsaw puzzles or practice a piece of music over and over again — these are all activities that will strengthen children's capacity for self-control.
Acknowledge When They Exercise Self-Control
When your child is tempted to respond one way but resists, acknowledge their self-control. This might sound like: "When your sister bumped into you, you were tempted to yell at her, but you stopped yourself! Good work!"
Change the Situation
A simple and effective strategy for self-control involves changing the situation to reduce temptation. For instance, if you're trying to eat nutritiously, not having sweets in the house makes it easier to make healthy choices. Teaching kids this strategy involves helping them thinking about in advance and what they could do to "change the situation." For example, ask them, "It sounds like sometimes you and your friend have a hard time settling down after recess. What could you do to change the situation?"
Teach Them Simple Strategies
Kids of every age sometimes feel overwhelmed by emotions or impulses, and they need simple tools that they can use to regain their equilibrium and make good choices. You can help children develop with similar simple, memorable strategies. If a child is struggling with a particular aggressive behavior, help them verbalize both what they can't do and what they can, such as, "When I'm mad, I can't yell or hit, but I can walk away, stomp my feet or squeeze my ball." You can also model the connection between mood and healthy eating, exercise and sleeping: "Sometimes when I'm frustrated, I eat a healthy snack or take a nap to help me feel better."
Social Skills Information from Above Shared from the https://www.pbs.org/parents website.
Winter Craft Idea
Dismissal Plans
In order to maintain the safety of all our learners, we are asking that families alert teachers, in writing, for any transportation/dismissal plan changes prior to 9am each morning.
We do understand that emergencies may arise throughout the day that requires a change to a child's dismissal plan for that particular day. For those situations, please make sure you are alerting the office staff as soon as possible, so they can communicate the change to the teachers as soon as possible.
We thank you for your support in helping us ensure the safety and wellbeing of each of our learners.
Snack and Birthday Celebration Policy
To ensure the safety and well being of our students, as per the District Wellness Policy, no outside foods may be brought in by students for classroom parties or birthday celebrations. Shared snacks are not permitted in district schools.
If you would like to send something in to celebrate your child's birthday or for a classroom party, you may send in non food items such as stickers, pencils, play dough etc.
23-24 Weather Emergency Information
Link to Elementary Remote Learning Overview: (Click here)
For additional information please visit https://www.bristoltwpsd.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=377235&pageId=51110003
Title 1 Teachers
Mrs. Stacy Cooke
stacy.cooke@bristoltwpsd.org
Mrs. Aimee Ramos
aimee.ramos@bristoltwpsd.org
What is Title I?
Title I is a project funded by the federal government under the Every Child Succeeds Act. The purpose of this Act is to provide all children with fair and equitable opportunity to succeed and close achievement gaps. Money is allocated by the federal government and distributed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to the Bristol Township School. District.
Title I funding is based on a complex formula. These funds are allocated to the states who in turn allocate a portion of that money to the individual school districts within each state. The school district’s share is based on the economic need within a school area, that is, by the number of low income families living there. In our district the number of free and reduced lunch students is used to determine the economic need of a particular school.
Helpful Links and Resources
Report Form for Complaints of Harassment/Bullying/Cyber-Bullying
Mr. Pierce- Anti-Bullying Climate Specialist
Email: steve.pierce@bristoltwpsd.org.
Breakfast and Lunch Menus- January
We encourage each student and staff member to wear their Keystone Paw Shirts every Friday.
Support Keystone's SWPBIS program by purchasing a soft pretzel. Each soft pretzel will cost $1 each. Students will be asked to preorder their pretzel each Thursday, for a pretzel delivery to take place on Fridays.
Office Staff
School Principal: Mr. Mark Wilicki
Email: mark.wilicki@bristoltwpsd.org
Assistant Principal: Crystal Smith-Herman
Email: crystal.smith-herman@bristoltwpsd.org
Special Education Supervisor: Jessica Kelch
Email: jessica.kelch@bristoltwpsd.org
Principal's Secretary: Mrs. Marianne Mensinger
Email: marianne.mensinger@bristoltwpsd.org
Assistant Principal's Secretary: Mrs. Donna Meehan
Email: donna.meehan@bristoltwpsd.org
School phone: 267-599-2470
School fax: 215-788-1041