

The Dragon Journal
December 13, 2024

Principal's Message
Dragon Families,
I want to take a moment to focus on something that has the power to shape our school culture: the words we choose to use each day. At Schroeder, we believe that kind words can build bridges, foster friendships, and create a positive learning environment for all.
Next week, I’ll be talking to all classes about the importance of kindness (one of our core values!) in our conversations. Whether we are in the classroom, on the playground, or during our daily interactions, our expectation is that all dragons use kind words. We are encouraging dragons to think before they speak and to consider how their words can impact others.
Here are some ways you can support this focus at home:
- Model Kindness: Share examples of kind language in your own interactions. Let your dragon hear you express gratitude, give compliments, or resolve disagreements with respect.
- Practice Together: Consider role-playing common scenarios where using kind words can make a difference, such as introducing themselves to a new friend or offering help to a peer.
- Recognize and Celebrate: When your dragon uses kind words, especially when problem-solving, celebrate their efforts. Highlight how it made someone else feel and why it matters.
Together, we can reinforce the message that our words are powerful tools to make our school, and our world, a better place. Thank you for partnering with us in this important effort.
Mrs. Keegan
Proud Principal of Schroeder Elementary School
Upcoming Dates
- December 20: Bagel Day
- December 20: Holiday Parties and PJ Day
- December 23-January 3: No School / Winter Break
- January 1: Deadline for MLK Day contest submissions
- January 6: Classes resume
- January 8: PTO Meeting @ 6pm in Media Center
- January 17: Bagel Day
- January 20: No School / Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- January 22, 23 & 24: 1/2 Days of School / Dismissal at 12:59am
- January 31: Bagel Day
Prepare for Cold Weather! ⛄
All students are expected to come to school prepared for outdoor recess. Recess is an important and beneficial time during a child’s day. A warm coat, a hat, gloves, and boots are essential during the cold weather. If a child does not come to school with boots for wet/snowy days, they will play in a small, cleared area on the playground and cannot participate fully in outdoor recess. Also, all students are sent outside, even if they do not bring a hat or gloves. Please send your child prepared for outdoor recess.
Helpful tip: Having an extra pair of socks and pants in your child's backpack or locker will save a call home to parents.
Help Our School Stay Healthy
Facial Tissues Needed
We're in need of donations of facial tissues to support our classrooms. With cold and flu season here, these small contributions can make a big difference for our students and teachers.
If you'd like to help, please drop off tissue boxes at the office or send them with your child.
Thank you for your generosity and support!
Too Sick for School?
Making that morning decision can be very tough for any parent. Parents do not want a child to miss school without good reason, but sending a sick child to school can make a condition worse and put others at risk. Please keep a child home when they have a fever of 100 F or more. A fever can be a sign/symptom of highly contagious infections. Children should not return to school after having a fever until they are fever-free for 24 hours without the help of fever reducing medications such as Motrin or Tylenol.
Children should also stay home if they an elevated temperature with complaints of an earache, sore throat, nausea (feeling sick to their stomachs), or a rash. Students who vomited or had diarrhea during the previous night should also be kept at home. Thank you for helping keep Schroeder healthy!
Lost & Found
Parents who decide to attend their child's class party may also want to consider a visit to the lost & found. There are hats, coats, shoes, and lunch boxes waiting to be claimed. Some of the items are pictured below. Not attending the parties? No problem! Just stop by the main office for a visitor's pass to visit the lost & found during school hours. Unclaimed items are periodically donated to charities throughout the school year.
Please remember to write your child's name on their belongings. This makes it easier for lost items to find their way back to their owners.
Winter Break Reading Challenge
Math at Home
Need a great way to practice curriculum math skills and topics at home? You have come to the right place! See the flyer below and click on the link or scan the QR code.
There are many activities to engage conversations around child’s math thinking and the Work Place Games that students use in school. You can refer back to Math at Home as your child changes units throughout the year!
Send Mrs. Cueter an email telling what you played or a picture of you playing for a small prize after break (kcueter@troy.k12.mi.us).
Bowling and Belonging
The TSD Unified Bowling team had an amazing time at a mini-tournament hosted by Martell. Students and staff lined the hallways to wish our Schroeder team good luck with a “sensory friendly sendoff” as our team boarded the bus. A great time was had by all the participants and wonderful memories were made.
4th Grade Wax Museum
Schroeder fourth graders researched, wrote, and memorized a one minute dialogue regarding a famous person of their choosing. Each student made a poster of facts about their historic person to display as they stood in character, frozen like a wax statue. Parents and fellow classmates tapped on the "wax statues" to listen as they recited their monologues. Wonderful work, Dragons!
Respect - A Schroeder Core Value
The 5th graders worked on a community service project and created cards of gratitude for the Troy Police Department. They were delivered before Thanksgiving and the Troy Police thanked our students for thinking of them.
Hour of Code
Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run is a youth development program created by the YMCA that assists girls in grades 3-5 enhance their social, psychological and physical skills and behaviors to successfully navigate life experiences. It is an activity-based program. The 10-week curriculum includes lessons that specifically target helping girls improve in competence, confidence, caring, character, connection and contribution. Girls and their coaches will meet twice weekly after school until 5:15. The season will conclude with a celebration 5K on May 18th.
Registration begins December 2nd! Click here to register: https://www.gotrdetroit.org/register-your-girl/
TSD students are invited to participate in the upcoming MLK Day Creative Contest! Reflect on a time when you made a positive difference in your community and consider how that experience impacted you and those around you. Share your reflection through a video, essay, poem, or a portfolio of visual artwork.
The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, January 1, at 11:59 p.m. For more information: https://www.troy.k12.mi.us/student-life/2025-mlk-day-student-contest-submission-form
TSD Inclusive Newsletter for December
Schroeder Gear Available
December Menus
Did you know that TSD offers gluten free, sesame free and Halal meals too? All menus and information on ordering these meals can be found on the Troy School District website (https://www.troy.k12.mi.us/departments/food-nutrition).