Tharptown Elementary School

February is the month of love and Valentine's Day has been set aside to express love and appreciation to those we love the most. What better time to talk about what it means to love our students. When teachers genuinely love their students, it can be a game changer and both parties win! Even though some students are easier to love than others, ALL students deserve a teacher who demonstrates love on a daily basis. So how do we show love to our students?

• Share a Smile - Our face demonstrates a lot of emotions and feeling...especially love. When we smile at a student, it shows them joy, happiness, acceptance, and love! The greatest thing about a smile is it is free and it is limitless. A smile creates a warm and safe feeling for students and makes your students feel comfortable and appreciated.

• Speak Kind Words - Every day is not a perfect day in the classroom. Some days students behave and things go well. Other days, well... we may be faced with behavior from students that is less than ideal. Regardless of the circumstances, we need to speak with love to students. We must be mindful of the words we use and our tone of voice if we want to develop a classroom atmosphere of love and kindness.

• Show Interest - Get to know your students. Learn about what they like and dislike. Ask them questions about themselves and let them talk to you about things that interest them. Have conversations with your students about what is going on in their world. When you show genuine interest in the lives of your students, it will go a long way in developing a loving and caring relationship and will them know that you truly care about them.

• Be Respectful - Everyone operates better in an environment where they feel love, respected, and valued....even children! When we talk to and treat students in a way that is respectful, we show them we love them enough to be patient, kind, and respectful...even on those not so good days. We must remember that we all make mistakes and we should treat students the way we would want to be treated!

• Don't Forget to Praise - We are so busy that sometimes it is easy to forget to praise students for the good things they do. It may be an improvement in a grade, following directions, or demonstrating positive behavior. Think about the message it sends to a student when you take the time to praise them about something positive. It shows them you noticed and you care about the things they are doing in your classroom. Positive reinforcement goes a long way in producing positive results!

• Truly Love Them! - You are probably think....well duh...we know to show them love we must actually love them. However, students are much smarter than we give them credit sometimes. They sense whether a teacher sincerely cares about them or is just pretending. Students pay close attention to the tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language of a teacher, which tells them the true feelings of their teacher. Students desire honest, sincere, and trustworthy teachers who will love them... even when they are unloveable. All students deserve classrooms that are emotionally safe where they feel loved and supported...regardless of the circumstances.

Will your students look back on their elementary years and remember you as a teacher who loved and respected them? Will they recall their experience in your class as positive? Teachers spend more time with a child each day than most parents do. We have the power to encourage and promote love and kindness. I encourage all of you this Valentine's week to take the opportunity to show your students a special kind of love....they will love you for it!

There continues to be some confusion about the process of completing purchase orders. Please see the following steps:

1. Obtain a purchase order from Cheryl in the front office. - If you are using your state instructional fee money, you will obtain a Franklin County purchase order. If you are using funds from your TES classroom account, you will obtain a Tharptown Elementary School purchase order.

2. Complete the purchase order and sign it. - List/record items and amounts on the purchase order. This is extremely important for Franklin County purchase orders as state instructional funds fall under different guidelines.

3. Return the purchase order to Cheryl in the front office. - Cheryl will get the PO to me to review and sign. Please remember....no materials should be ordered/purchased until I sign the purchase order.

4. Place order or purchase items - When the PO is signed by me, you may go ahead and either order items online or go to a local store (Walmart, DG, etc.) and purchase your items. Always remember to save ALL receipts and order confirmations to put with your PO.

5. Inventory all items, sign the PO, and return to Cheryl in the front office. - When all items on your purchase order have been received, please sign the purchase order and give it back to Cheryl. At that time, if the purchase order is a Franklin Co. purchase order, she will send it to the central office for payment. A TES purchase order will be sent to Mrs. Robinson at THS for payment. Please remember....do not sign off on the purchase order unless ALL items have been delivered! This step is one we are having problems with. Teachers are receiving their items but not signing and returning the purchase orders. The central office is receiving the invoices for the items, but they don't have our purchase orders to process the payment. Please help us streamline this process by inventorying, signing the purchase order, and getting it back to Cheryl as soon as you receive your merchandise.

Please work on getting all of your state instructional fee money spent as quickly as possible. They would like to have us spend it no later than March/April.

Thank you very much for your help!

ACCESS testing will continue this week. Don't forget to encourage your students to do their best!

Pennies for Patients is going great! The TES Ambassadors collected $336.66 last week. We are well on our way to meeting $500! Keep encouraging your students to bring in their donations.

Monday, February 10

• Data Meetings - 1st grade will meet in Mrs. Elgin's classroom and 2nd grade will meet in Mrs. Elliot's classroom.

Tuesday, February 11

• No Known Activities

Wednesday, February 12

• RtI Meetings - Please plan to attend during your planning time.

Thursday, February 13

• Data Meetings - 3rd grade will meet in Mrs. Borden's classroom, 4th grade will meet in Mrs. Harris' classroom , 5th grade will meet in Ms. Bain's classroom, and 6th grade will meet in Ms. Rhudy's classroom.
• Make-Up Wellness Screenings - 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
  

Friday, February 14

• Happy Valentine's Day - Special Snack for Students