Newell Family Sunday Message 01/19

Newell Families,

Brrrr! It's been a cold weekend and the first part of the week will be cold as well. Remember that our school doors do not open until 7:30am daily. To ensure student safety please make sure students are not dropped off prior to 7:30am. Even when it is cold, we do not have staff available to supervise students before 7:30am and no students will be allowed to enter school before 7:30am.

ALL students should be arriving at school with a coat on (a sweatshirt hoodie is not a coat). Thanks for partnering with us to ensure the safety of all our students.

- Mr. Balcom

Our First Graders are reading longer and more challenging stories! Great work Readers!

Tuesday, January 21st - Schoolwide Theme Dress up Day

• All Staff and students are invited to dress in a sports theme (wear any type of team/sport jersey or shirt)

We will conclude DIBELS Reading Benchmark Assessment this week.

Friday January 24th

• Kindergarteners
• 2nd Graders
• 3rd Graders

This short assessment gives teachers and staff a snapshot of how our students are doing in reading skills after half a school year of instruction! Results will be shared at Parent Teacher Conferences in February.

Please see the following graphic to assist with proper clothing for your child during Winter. We will go outside for recess if the temperature and windchill are above 20 degrees.

PLEASE make sure your child's name is in their coat, hat, and gloves. Our lost and found is filing up again with many coats and jackets. If you are missing an item, stop by door #1.

NOTICE: We will have our lost and found items on display during Parent Teacher Conferences. But at the end of the school day on Thursday February 13th, 2025 all items not claimed will be donated.

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

This week we are looking at Academic Non-Negotiables! As an entire staff, Newell employees came together to create a set of non-negotiables for academics at Newell. We wanted to them with you as they are essential to ALL our students:

1. ALL students are OUR students and ALL students can learn and grow!
2. Students are held to high expectations and are doing the work.
3. We intentionally group students to facilitate individual needs.
4. We relentless pursue the mastery of essential standards.
5. Every student sets goals and celebrates when progress is made.

These common agreements will help ALL of our students succeed on their Quest for Excellence!

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, February 24th from 6:30 – 7:30pm! We will meet in the commons area at Newell. We will plan Sprint events, as well as family game night and fundraisers.

Take the night off from cooking and support our Newell PTA. Tuesday January 21st at Freddy's from 4:00pm to 8:00pm.

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!

Tuesday January 21st

• Schoolwide Theme Dress up Day: dress in a sports theme (wear any type of team/sport jersey or shirt)
4:00pm to 8:00pm Newell PTA Dine-to-Donate at Freddy's

Friday, January 31st

• No School for Students

Monday February 10th

• Dismissal at 2pm
• Parent Teacher Conferences

Tuesday February 11th

• Dismissal at 2pm
• Parent Teacher Conferences

Wednesday February 12th

• Dismissal at 2pm

Thursday February 13th

• No School For Students
• Parent Teacher Conferences 8am to 11:00am

Friday February 14th

• No School

Friday February 28th

• 6pm to 7:30pm Newell PTA Family Game Night at Newell

Friday February 28th

• No School for Students

Monday March 10th - Friday March 14th

• No School - Spring Break

Thursday March 20th

• Spring Picture Day (All Grades)

Friday March 28th

• No School for Students

Looking Far Ahead:

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