Newell Family Sunday Message 03/30

Newell Families,

Testing season has begun and we have exciting new furniture in our commons areas! It is going to be very busy the next two months. Make sure you are keeping up with our event calendar and contacting the school when you have questions.

- Mr. Balcom

Keep up with our FULL Calendar of EVERYTHING going on here: http://bit.ly/newellcal

Exciting news! Thanks to our Newell PTA and our generous donors we are able to enjoy fantastic new furniture in our commons areas!

Run Club for students in 2nd through 5th Grade will begin this week. Sign-up forms came home with your child. They will be running outside on the grass. If it rains, the club will be cancelled for that day. Parents, if there are younger siblings, they may play on the playground until the Run Club is over. Please pick your kids up right at 3:45pm on the Playground on the East side of the school.

Run Club Days:

• Tuesday April 1st from 3:05pm to 3:45pm
• Thursday April 3rd from 3:05pm to 3:45pm
• Tuesday April 8th from 3:05pm to 3:45pm
• Thursday April 10th from 3:05pm to 3:45pm
• Tuesday April 15th from 3:05pm to 3:45pm
• Thursday April 17th from 3:05pm to 3:45pm
• Tuesday April 22nd from 3:05pm to 3:45pm
• Thursday April 24th from 3:05pm to 3:45pm
• Tuesday April 29th from 3:05pm to 3:45pm

Newell Families does your family have a food truck? Please let us know! Call or email our office.

• Mrs. Hogan: Mrs. Hogan will not be teaching at next year.
• Mrs. Beilby: Mrs. Beilby student taught with Mrs. Dudo in 3rd Grade this Spring and will be joining Newell staff in the fall and teaching 4th Grade! We are excited to have her joining our team!
• Mrs. Spilger: Mrs. Spilger is ready for a new season and a fresh challenge and has decided to transition positions back into the regular education classroom. Next year she will be teaching 5th Grade full time at Lincoln Elementary School. We will VERY much miss her at Newell and thank her for her MANY years of dedicated service! *We have begun the hiring process to fill Mrs. Spilger's Integration Specialist position in the library.

We are working with Lifetouch to reschedule Spring Picture Day. We will let you know when we have a date selected.

Loper Launch Enrichment Camp 2025

• The UNK catalog of over 50 engaging and educational classes can be found at www.unk.edu/loperlaunch
• Classes for students entering grades 1 – 8, including a 4-week Reading Academy, 4-week Performing Arts Academy, and a 1-week Speech Academy webpage (www.unk.edu/loperlaunch) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/loperlaunch)

Online Registration for the 2025-2026 school year is open. The deadline is March 31st All students need to register for the 25-26 School Year. Yes, even if you are moving. More information here: https://www.gips.org/Page/1545

Each week we'll let you behind the scenes on what students are learning at Newell.

This week we are looking at 5th grade Buddy Readers. One of our 5th Grade leadership roles are our buddy readers. These students spent time each morning reading with younger students and encouraging and helping them on their road to becoming readers. We are so proud of their compassion and mentorship! Way to go Knights!

This section includes updates and important information from our amazing Newell PTA! More information is always available on our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/NewellElementaryPTA

Our next PTA Meeting will be Monday, April 14th from 6:30 – 7:30pm! We will meet at Carlos O'Kelly's.

Make sure to like our Newell PTA Facebook Page so you don't miss out on any information!

https://www.facebook.com/NewellElementaryPta/

Did you know our school is a Box Top for education school? It’s super easy to help our school raise extra funds!

1. Download the Box Top for Education app!
2. Choose our school— A B Newell Elementary School
3. Go grocery shopping!
4. Scan every receipt just to make sure you’re not missing anything!
5. Repeat steps 3&4 as often as you need to!

Monday April 7th

• Kindergarten Field Trip to Stuhr Museum

Friday April 18th

• No School

Monday April 21st

• No School

Friday April 11th

• 4th Grade Field Trip to Lincoln

Thursday May 1st

• Field Day for all students. Stations in the morning and races in the afternoon.

Friday May 2nd

• No School for Students

Tuesday May 20th at 6pm

• 5th Grade Recognition in the evening. Location: Newell Gym

Thursday May 22nd

• Last Day of School
• 5th Grade Tunnel Walk at 10:45am (parents are welcome)
• Dismissal for all students at 11am.

Keep up with our FULL Calendar of EVERYTHING going on here: http://bit.ly/newellcal

Enjoy these recent photos!

Click to zoom in.

Messages that are important all year long!

Your child’s education and well-being is important to us. If your family or child is experiencing difficulties at home, we would love to be able to provide additional support at school. We understand that you are not always able to share details and that’s okay. If your child is coming to school after a difficult night, morning, or weekend, send a message or note with the words, “Handle with Care.” Nothing else will be said or asked. This will let us know that your child may need extra space, time, patience, and help during the day.

Parents, there is a lot of illness going around. Please monitor your child for symptoms.

Description of Fever:

1. A fever is a temporary increase in body temperature, usually caused by an illness.
2. In most mild, two to five day, childhood illnesses, fever is lowest in the morning, rises in the afternoon, and will be the highest in evening and night. As the child begins to recover, morning temperatures will be normal with fever still present later in the day.

Management:

1. Students with a temperature of 100 F or more may be sent home from school.
2. Students may return to school when their temperature has remained below 100.0 for 24 hours without fever reducing medication.

Social media posts as well as a phone call, email or text message will inform you of urgent announcements and weather emergencies. Please be sure our office has your most current telephone and email information.

A regular school day begins at 8:00am and dismisses at 3:05pm, Monday through Friday. Students may be dropped after 7:30am. Students must be picked up by 3:15pm.

Please make your child aware of his/her after school plan. If transportation or daycare plans change, please call the office so we can let your child’s teacher know. Thank you.

We start our school day right at 8:00am. It is VERY important that your child is in class ready to learn at 8:00. Breakfast is served from 7:30am to 7:50am. We are unable to serve students breakfast after 7:50am. If your child needs to eat breakfast at Newell, plan to have them on campus with enough time to get to our breakfast line by 7:50. Students arriving after 7:50 should go to their class lines. Breakfast is FREE for ALL students!

ALL visitors need to check in at the office and wear given identification while in the school. All visitors must ring the buzzer at door #1. Our staff is busily working with students during the school day. If visiting Newell to speak with a staff member, you may be asked to make an appointment at a later time.

Birthdays may be celebrated in each child’s classroom. Families are NOT required or expected to provide treats or gifts. However, if you want to offer treats, please provide healthy snacks that are individually packaged. Cupcakes, cookies, donuts, etc. will not be allowed.

As cited on page 34 of the GIPS Student Handbook:

"Students in grades Pre-K-5 are discouraged from bringing ECDs (Electronic Communication Devices) to school."

If you need to send an Electronic Communication Device with your student, the handbook states:

"Phones should be kept either turned off, or on silent following the rules specified by the classroom teacher."

At Newell students either keep their phones off or silent in their backpacks or they bring their phones to our secretaries in the office at the beginning of the day to keep them safe, also off or on silent. Note: your child will not be able to send or read messages or calls during the school day.

If you have questions please reach out to Mr. Balcom.

The full handbook is online here: https://www.gips.org/Page/105

Have a wonderful week!

Nate Balcom- Principal

Heather Glause - Secretary

Kathy Schulte - Attendance Secretary

Jami White - Social Worker

Tiffanie Oswald - Nurse

Yolanda Seiler - Spanish Interpreter