The Disney Digest

Thank You Parents

Although it may sound trivial, I cannot thank you enough for the pleasant start to the first week of school during Arrival and Dismissal times.

• Parents are following the carline maps and we have had very few tardies. Let's keep this up!
• Dismissal is already improving time! K-2 line is a little longer as our littlest Dolphins are learning the routines. Parents continue to remain kind and patient. Our staff is grateful for your partnership.
• Thank you parents for encouraging your child to be success-ready when they get out of the car. It is hard when some of our students do not want to leave you, but when they walk through our doors and you are out of sight, they are smiling and doing a great job with their day! It is hard parents to see them with tears in their eyes, but they are doing it and they can do hard things with your encouragement.

To continue our awesome success, please consider the following tips:

• If your child is struggling to leave you in the morning, set up a celebration plan! You can also let us know that we can support with I Did It Tickets! Those can be very helpful for students. What is the student working for? How can you encourage while empowering them? Remember, they will model you.
• If cars are letting students out in front of you and behind you, do not wait and pull up to the front door and let your child out at the door. Your child is learning independence and doing hard things! Walking a few extra steps instead of valet drop off.
• Merge politely with cars
• No tag? We will ask for identification. Yes, you might be their legal guardian, but we see lots of students and their parents. We would rather be safe than sorry.

Celebrating Expectations

We want you to know that our staff is already noticing students working hard and meeting Dolphin BEST expectations! Dolphin BEST:

Be Safe

Engaged in Learning

Show Respect to Self and Others

Take Responsibility

Students are earning "I Did It' tickets for meeting one of those expectations! Classes are receiving Dolphin Dots for the class working together to meet expectations. Pod points are being calculated every week.

At the end of the month, we will be celebrating our first Dolphin Rally. At the Rally, we will recognize Citizen of the Month, M.A.D Skill Master (Make a Difference), Attendance recognitions, and more! We want students to know that we recognize their hard work each and every day!

Big Events Coming Your Way

Please mark your calendars for 3 big events.

9/5 Disney Cardinals Night

Two tickets went home with every child on Wednesday of last week. We hope to see you there for some fun and a nice night out!

9/13 SPS U + Open House

A specific schedule will be sent home with your child next week. Please mark your calendars. A flyer is posted below. We will have free food, community partners, food truck vendors for purchase, PTA raffle and more! We hope to see you there. It is an amazing night of fun and inflatables!

10/10 Glow Party Funraiser

This year PTA will be hosing our Fall Fundraiser. In lieu of the Color Run, we are embarking on a new event- a Glow Party! PTA will be sending out more information soon! If you would like to learn more, please reach out to the PTA and follow Disney PTA on Facebook!

Your partner in education,

Dr. Lori Elliott

lmelliott@spsmail.org

417-523-3600

You won't want to miss this! The Springfield Cardinals are playing the Northwest Arkansas Naturals in Springfield. The Disney Dolphins have their very own section. If your family needs more tickets, please call Shayla at 417-523-3600 and we will do our best to help!

Students were sent home with 2024-25 Student Handbooks in their backpack. The Agreement form can be found on the front page of the Handbook. Please take time to review the handbook and discuss with your child. You may keep the handbook, but return the Agreement Form by August 31. If the form is not returned by August 31, the office will reach out to you via phone until it is returned. Thank you for your cooperation in reviewing and returning the agreement form.

We want to help you celebrate your child's birthday this year in style. As a reminder, NO FOOD ITEMS MAY BE BROUGHT FOR STUDENTS TO CELEBRATE BIRTHDAYS. FOOD ITEMS WILL BE TURNED AWAY AT THE OFFICE. NO EXCEPTIONS.

HOWEVER, we know birthdays are special. You can purchase a birthday message to your child to be displayed on our Disney marquee for $5. If you visit, MySchoolBucks Payment Center, using the link below, it will walk you through how to celebrate your child!

1. All requests MUST be complete and paid for by the 25th of each month! So, if your child has an October birthday, please submit forms and payment by September 25th!

2. If your child's birthday was in August, no worries! We are happy to celebrate them on their 1/2 birthday in February! If you prefer to celebrate on their actual birthday, Ms. Shayla will be here all summer and we would be happy to run their birthday wish in the summer months, as well.

3. If your child's birthday is in the summer, you will also have the opportunity to celebrate a 1/2 birthday or can submit for it to run over the summer months for 2025. Birthday messages will run year-round.

Please complete the Google Form HERE. The link to the MySchoolBucks Payment Center is located within the Google Form. If you have any questions, please call the office.

We have so many volunteer opportunities at Disney right now! Please look to see how you can help!

Sometimes our visitor versus volunteer process is a little messy. Please use the link below to help you understand what is needed to complete the Volunteer Process as well as what constitutes as volunteering.

VOLUNTEER FAQ

Breakfast and lunch is available for all students. We HIGHLY encourage ALL families to take the time to complete the Free and Reduced Lunch form. We understand many families feel they may not qualify, but it does provide information for the state regarding our families' needs in our area. The federal and state education department provide funding based on these numbers. Although it seems cumbersome, we ask that you continue to help Disney receive the appropriate amount of funding per student by completing this form. Application for Free/Reduced Meals HERE

Meal Prices & Payment Options

Breakfast, lunch prices can be found on www.sps.org under the Parents/Guardians tab, then choose Nutrition. The menu choices are found on the right. This is also where students can view lunch menus and parents can make payments.

I have included a link HERE.

August Breakfast Menu HERE

August Lunch Menu HERE

September 5: Cardinals Night for Disney @ 6:30 pm

September 13th: SPS U + Disney Fall Fest 5-8pm

September 26th: Fall Picture Day

October 8th @ 6: Dolphin FUNraiser Prep

October 10: Disney PTA FUN-Raiser