Paramount Elementary

We hope you had a great week celebrating Thanksgiving and enjoying family and friends. We are ready for three more weeks with our Stars before the holiday break begins.

While we have a lot of fun planned in the month of December, we also have quite a bit academically to get accomplished. We will have our I-Ready Math and Reading diagnostic assessments this month, where we will be looking to see how our students have grown in these two areas since the start of the year. Our K-3rd grade students will also complete their monthly IStation assessment to monitor their growth in specific reading skills.

Let's all help motivate our students to show us how much they have already learned since the start of this school year!

• Staff Shout-Outs
• Coin Drive
• District Toy Drive
• Student Recognition
• PTA School Store
• Subway Days
• Holiday Spirit Week
• Wonder Wall
• Labeling Student Items
• Student Drop-Off Times
• School Nutrition Services: Free and Reduced Lunch Application
• Bell Schedule
• Important Safety Reminders
• District Positions Available

• Tuesday, December 3rd: Subway Forms due
• Friday, December 6th: PTA School Store & District Toy Drive collection ends
• Wednesday, December 11th: Subway Day for those that ordered
• Monday, December 16th-Firday, December 20th: Holiday Dress Up Days
• Wednesday, December 18th: 1st-Grade Teddy Bear Parade @
• Friday, December 20th: Full Day of School; Holiday Classroom Parties; End of 1st Semester
• Tuesday, January 7th: Students Return to School
• Monday, January 20th: Civil Rights Day; No School
• Wednesday, January 29th: No School K-12; District PD/Collaboration Day

Fill out the form by clicking the button below. The form will be created and given to the staff member. Any and all staff members are included: teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians, crossing guards, noon duties, secretaries, safe school assistant, counselor, support staff, etc.

Wow! Our Stars rocked the Coin Drive! We brought in over $2300 in one week in mainly coins! All of this money is used to help our own Paramount students and families in need. If you have any questions on how our Holiday Assistance program works, you may reach out to our counselor Ms. Hale. We are excited to know how far the funds raised with the Coin Drive will go to help those in need.

Help Make the Holidays Brighter!

From December 2nd through December 6th, all schools in our district are coming together to support Idaho's largest toy drive! Kendall Ford will be coordinating the pick-up of toys from each school site, making it easy to participate. If you would like to participate in this toy drive, you can bring a toy to Paramount Elementary. All toys will be picked up by Kendall Ford. Let’s work together to bring smiles to children in need this holiday season!

For the month of November, we focused on the character trait of CARING and the learner disposition of CURIOSITY. We recognized our students on November 22nd during our Recognition Breakfast.

Our next morning celebration will be on Friday, January 31st.

The following students were selected by their classroom teacher for the month of November:

Friday, December 6th, our amazing PTA will be hosting another school store for students. These school stores are designed to be a fun shopping experience where students can purchase gifts before the holiday season. PTA volunteers help the students practice "money" skills during this store. Items usually range in price from $.50-$5.00. There is no obligation for students to attend or purchase any items. Students attend after they have finished lunch before heading out for recess.

Please refer to individual teacher communication for upcoming details on grade-level and individual class activities. Teachers will send out dates, time, and sign-up information.

THANK YOU to all of our parents/guardians who help make these activities a success for our students and teachers. We appreciate the time you give to ensure our students have these experiences while at school.

Are your students learning new "things" or skills at home? Are they exploring the world around them? We would love to have pictures of our students outside of school showing off their curious minds, how they are learning about something new, or of them creating. Send in a picture with a brief explanation (including the name and grade of the student) to Mrs. Roy so she can display these on our Wonder Wall.

roy.brooke@westada.org

Huge Shout Out to Mrs. Krieger for helping design our Wonder Wall!

Please do not forget to send your student with a jacket/coat, hat, and gloves! It is really cold in the mornings and during recess. We only come inside if it is raining or if it FEELS like 20 degrees or colder outside. AND, please label these items--they are frequently left outside.

Our Subway Days allow for a different lunch option for our students once a month. Along with a large number of other elementary schools around us, we partner with a local Subway to make this an option for our students. As a school, we do receive a small kickback from these orders. The money we receive goes into our ASB Activities account. This money is used for various events/activities/items that our students benefit from. Examples include our Woot Woot Wagon items, Super Star prizes, Recognition Breakfasts, IReady lesson rewards like our soda bar and popcorn bar, assembly games/prizes, and other similar events. We will always have our regular lunch options available for students on these days!

As our Lost and Found is growing, exponentially, we ask that parents please label their students' outerwear, water bottles, and lunch boxes. This helps us find the owner of missing items quickly! Thank you!!

For those that use the back gate to drop off or pick up your student on Dietrich, please make sure you are not stopping or parking in the cross-walk and blocking it. It is also very important that you do not park between the "No Parking" signs.

Please help us keep out students safe by maintaining visibility in these locations!

In order to be in accordance with state and district nutrition policies, we will be following a "no food" birthday celebration for students. We have a large variety of student allergy and medical conditions that restrict them from participating in food celebrations. Our goal for any celebration within school to be as inclusive as possible. Parents may send in other non-food items to share with classmates if they choose as a celebration for their birthday (this is not required). Teachers will communicate their individual plans regarding birthday celebrations in their classroom as some may allow a once-a-month celebration policy for birthdays (as this still follows policy). Our teachers do a great job of ensuring students feel recognized on their birthday!

In addition to the six character traits we focus on as a school, we will also be focusing on five learner dispositions to ensure our Paramount students are life-long learners. As a learner, we want to ensure our students can demonstrate the following traits:

• Motivation
• Perserverance
• Ownership
• Curiosity
• Cooperation

Click the button below to read more about our learner dispositions.

While we will focus on all of these learner dispositions, we will be highlighting more specific areas in which our staff and students "Cultivate Curiosity". Please look for opportunities where you can showcase your student exploring new learning opportunities around them. We will be creating a "Wonder Wall" where students can post pictures of these experiences to share with our school. More information to come.

Parents,

Please help us keep your students safe! DO NOT drop students off for school before 8:45 am. (M, T, Th, F) or 9:00 am (W). If a student is eating breakfast, they can be dropped off to enter the building at 8:45 am. Breakfast is not served until this time.

Because we cannot guarantee the supervision of students prior to this time, we cannot allow students to enter the building or be on campus. Please help us with this.

LINQ Connect is the service we use for student meal accounts. Setting up a LINQ Connect account is free. From your account, you can monitor your student's activity, view menus, add funds (credit card only, transaction fee applies), and apply for free/reduced lunch.

Payments can also be made directly to our school's kitchen staff with cash or check (payable to School Nutrition). There are no transaction fees associated with these types of payments.

Click the button below to access our district website with more information regarding school nutrition, menus, and payment options. You can click the LINQ button to set up an account or add money.

If you receive notification for a low or negative balance for your student's lunch account, you can take care of this in the LINQ Connect account. You can click the button above "LINQ Connect" to access this account.

Various schools within West Ada are hiring positions. If you or someone you know is interested, please access the information in the image below.

Our #1 priority is to ensure a SAFE campus for our students and staff. In order to do this effectively, we do need your help. Please read our safety reminders below:

1. Paramount is a CLOSED CAMPUS during the school hours of 8:30 am – 4:30 pm. Any visitors will need to check in at the front office during these times if they plan to enter the building or be on campus beyond our drop-off locations. For the first week of school, we will allow parents to escort students to line-up locations. After the first week, we will expect parents to adhere to remaining behind our gates when dropping off students.
2. Please bring your ID with you when checking in at the front office. Please avoided checking your student out during recess times; please plan ahead to let us know if a student will need to wait for a parent during recess.
3. We cannot allow anyone on our fields or playgrounds during the school day that are not approved to be here. Please do not bring young children to play on our equipment during the school day. Our staff is trained to report anyone they believe is not approved to be on campus.
4. For students or parents riding bikes to school, please plan on “walking” bikes once on campus. This will help ensure the biker’s safety through the parking lot.
5. For parents who will be dropping students off at school, or picking them up, PLEASE adhere to our “Drop-Off/Pick-Up” Zones. This helps ensure students are only entering/exiting cars in a safe area, where other drivers can see them.
6. Students and parents are expected to use the crosswalk and wait for the Crossing Guard to indicate it is safe to cross. Please help us with this.
7. No dogs are allowed on campus during the school day. Please do not bring animals on our campus without permission. If you bring them with you during drop-off or pick-up, they must be on a leash AND REMAIN AT THE CORNERS OFF CAMPUS OR IN THE PARKING LOT. They may also remain in your vehicle. Again, this is for the safety of all—our students and staff AND your pet!
8. If you are accessing the school grounds outside of school hours with a dog, please be sure to clean up after them. We often find dog waste left in the fields. As you can imagine, if a student steps into this, it creates a major disruption and hygiene issue for our students, parents, and school. Please spread the word for us to help keep our fields free of pet waste.
9. Throughout the year, we will practice a variety of safety drills: Lockdowns, Fire drills, Reverse Evacuations, Evacuations, etc. We work in conjunction with the Meridian Police Department and the Meridian Fire Department to establish the best practices for these drills. We will communicate when these occur, so you are aware of the drills. We will also send more communication regarding the types of emergencies and the procedures we will practice with our students.

Paramount PTA:

• Follow our Paramount PTA on Instagram: paramountpta
• Follow our Paramount PTA on Facebook (private group, click "join group"): paramount pta

Paramount Elementary (teacher-created posts):

• Follow on Instagram: paramountes_wasd

• Follow on Facebook: Paramount Elementary School