The Leighton News

Dear Leighton Families,

It is so hard to believe we are half way through October! Our days of learning and growing are going so quickly as Quarter 1 ended today! Please note that the electronic distribution for grades is Friday, October 25th and can be viewed through the parent portal in Progress Book. For our Third Grade Families, our learners will be taking the Fall Ohio State Tests (OST) for English Language Arts on the mornings of Thursday, October 24th ( Part 1) and Friday, October 25th ( Part 2) from 9:30-11:00 am. Thank you for supporting your child by ensuring a good night of sleep, a healthy breakfast, and lots of positive encouragement to celebrate the incredible learners they are! The Spring OST will be in April!

We are looking forward to welcoming all our parents to Fall Conferences in November and all of our learners are very excited for the upcoming Fall Festivals on Thursday, October 31st. Please see below for some important reminders about these upcoming events.

Our building has been a busy place these last few weeks as grade levels are engaged in various projects aligned to our reading, writing, and math frameworks that continue to exemplify learning is social and a focus on the process of learning to elicit high performing outcomes. Check out some pictures below.

This school year has truly been an amazing one in and outside of our building as we have enjoyed engaging in all of our outdoor learning spaces including the Leighton garden, trail, and dock through many student centered, hands on learning experiences. Our students have been so excited for the addition of our Adaptive Playground as well. The joy, excitement, inclusivity, and friendships created has been heartwarming. We are thrilled to announce that we will be holding our formal Inclusive Playground Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on November 1st at Leighton Elementary where we will be able to honor our incredible donors and celebrate the efforts of our whole community. We are looking forward to recognizing them through the donor signage that will be arriving in the next week! Thank you again to our entire community for being a part of these efforts and making this dream a reality for all of our learners.

As we enter the month of November, the word 'grateful' and 'thanks' comes to mind. We are so grateful to continue to 'nurture the roots' of our learners and help them to blossom. We also give much 'thanks' for the support of our parents. Thank you for all you do to partner with us each day and continue to provide an exemplary education to our learners.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Nizen, Building Principal

Jeff Morris, Assistant Principal

Happy Fall ~ amazing how quickly the weather goes from summer to Fall to second summer and finally Fall again, isn't it! During these crisp days, we will continue to try and warm the hearts and minds of our students here at LES......we will do this with class visits, lunch groups and being available for those issues that might pop up throughout their day. Please be reminded that in the student Google classrooms, you can find lessons on Diversity, Breathing Techniques and Resilience currently. As time goes on, you will be able to access those Google slides on our web page(link below), as well, along with other various topics each month.

During the months of October and November, grades 3-5 will have visits from Townhall II personnel present the Erin's Law curriculum on Personal Body Safety that is a state law. These visitors are the same individuals that presented last year.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have questions or concerns, along with any need we might be able to help with.

https://sites.google.com/aurora-schools.org/leightonschoolcounselor/home?authuser=1

Ms. Tami Mazzella

(330) 562-2209, option 3

tmazzella@aurora-schools.org

Mrs. Lindsey Ambrosia

(330) 562-6199, ext. 5414

lambrosia@aurora-schools.org

We have been off to a great start with teaching, learning, and reinforcing, our 3 pillars of being respectful, responsible, and problem solvers. Our 3 pillars make up the heart of our Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports framework in our K-5 Elementary Buildings. Each week teachers have taught and reinforced these 3 pillars and what each of them looks like and sounds like in all areas of the school. This will be followed by teaching and reinforcing our 11 "focus skills" which support students in making good behavior choices and positively reinforces those choices so we continue to support and promote the prosocial behaviors we want to see!

Students have been excited about our "Pom pom" system representing our 3 pillars (green poms=respectful; white= responsible; and black= problem solving) and earning poms for demonstrating these pillars in any area of the school. Each pom earned is used to fill up their classroom pom pom jars. When these jars are filled, student bring their classroom jars to the office and empty them into the Building Wide Pom Pom Pail!!

We are so excited to share we just filled up our first pom pom pail and the whole building enjoyed an extra recess!! We are already well on our way to our second building wide event!

Don't be surprised if you child comes home excited about earning the "golden fork" as a class during lunch and recess. Classes are always working to earn "positive compliments" during lunch and recess. Every two weeks, classes who earn the most "positive compliments" earn the right to display the " golden fork" outside their classroom door for all to see and enjoy popsicles at lunch or an extra recess with Mrs. Nizen and Mr. Morris.

Pom Pom Shout Out occur every morning over announcements where we acknowledge students who have earned a special shout out for outstanding efforts in demonstrating our 3 pillars in their academic or behavioral pursuits. Students will receive a pom pom shout out reward and pick out of our PBIS store!

Leighton Pride is Building Wide!

We are looking forward to our Fall Festivals which will be held on Thursday, October 31st.

Party times are below:

Grade 3: 10:15-11:00 (PTO helpers setting up from 10:00-10:15)

Grade 4 and 5: 2:30-3:15 (PTO helpers setting up from 2:15-2:30)

Guidelines for our Fall Festivals are the following:

Students can wear their costumes to school all day long. Please be sure costumes are functional and school safe. We ask that there are no weapons, blood, guts, or face coverings to accompany the costumes and all themes are school appropriate ( PG and G if movie themes). Students will be sharing their costumes within their homerooms and hallways but there will not be a formal parade.

Each classroom has three volunteers to help support the celebrations' activities. All visitors will be checked in. Thank you to our PTO head parents for organizing all of this.

The PTO will be supplying rice krispy treats as the snack this year and the nutritional information and ingredients facts can be found below.

Thank you to our PTO parents who work so hard each year to plan lots of fun games and activities. We are so grateful for your time, effort, and hardwork in making each year so much fun!

The sign ups for class parties are now open! Some classes still need volunteers. Please sign up for your child's classroom using the following links:

3rd grade -

https://www.runpto.com/pto/login?schoolid=auroraepto&app=Event&uid=29&hash=53e3a7161e428b65688f14b84d61c610

4th grade - https://www.runpto.com/pto/login?schoolid=auroraepto&app=Event&uid=32&hash=53e3a7161e428b65688f14b84d61c610

5th grade - https://www.runpto.com/pto/login?schoolid=auroraepto&app=Event&uid=33&hash=53e3a7161e428b65688f14b84d61c610

We are looking forward to our Fall conferences and sharing your child's progress with you!

Conferences will be held in person at Leighton Elementary. Please be on the look out for communications from your child's teacher in regards to their specific sign up lists. Also, please communicate with your child's teacher on any specific needs or accommodations in regards to conferences.

Conferences dates are the following:

November 7th- (5:30-8:30pm)

November 14th (5:30-8:30pm)

We are looking for a few more volunteers to support in the Media Center from 1-3pm each day . If you are interested, and have a day that you might be available to help, please reach out to Jennifer Kinkoph, Media Specialist, at jkinkoph@aurora-schools.org

The book fair starts October 21-25! Don't forget to create your child's ewallet. Be on the lookout for flyers coming home with more detailed information. This year, you can donate to your child's teacher or switch teacher's classroom through their teacher ewallets. The QR code with their information came home this week. Family night will be in the media center in Leighton October 22 from 5-7.

Sign up to volunteer for the book fair through runPTO.

Please click the link below to create an ewallet.

https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/leightonelemschool1

Here is the QR code to create an ewallet for your child.

Below you will find information and links regarding our lunch program:

Pricing Information:

• Paid Lunch: $3.40

• Milk $.50

• Ice Cream $1.00

• Free & Reduced: Both are no charge (Please complete the free and reduced form online located in the Aurora City Schools website ).

Payment Information:

Payments can be made thru My Payments Plus. Parents can either send their child in with money to pay for lunches (exact amount, or more that can be applied to their account) or they can go to the Aurora Schools Website and go to Lunch Accounts under the quick links tabs to get to the MY Payments Plus section and add money to their kids account that way. It is preferable to pay online in advance but students may also bring in money during lunch.

• https://www.mypaymentsplus.com/welcome

• https://www.aurora-schools.org/

Please be sure to keep tabs on your child’s lunch account balance to avoid going into a negative balance. We will always ensure all students have lunch, but it is appreciated by our lunch staff if a positive balance can be maintained.

The Lunch Menu is linked below for your convenience below. This menu is also located on the school website as well.

If you have any questions please reach out to:

• Krista Guerini, Director of Food and Nutrition, at kguerini@aurora-schools.org

• Sal Arquilla, Director of Facilities, Maintenance and Operations at sarquilla@aurora-schools.org

We are no longer mailing out transportation information. You can go to: https://versatransweb04.tylertech.com/Aurora/elinkrp/Login.aspx (cut & paste into your browser or use the button link below.)

The login information is as follows:

User name = jane.smith (That is the student's first name period last name with no spaces) Password = students date of birth 01012021 with no characters or spaces between mmdayyear

Once you are in, go to "Work with students" and then "View my students"; you should see all your students to choose from. Routes do change from time to time when new students are added so please check back over the next week to ensure your pick-up and drop-off times.

All students are assigned a bus route using their home address. If your child will be using an alternative stop such as a daycare or caregiver, please make sure you submit an alternative bus stop form as soon as possible.

We also now have GPS on all of the school buses. You can see when the bus is to arrive at your home. Download the app "versatrans my stop" from the app store and sign in the same as above. If you have any questions or concerns with transportation, please email us at transportationinfo@aurora-schools.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Note, we are never sure how many students will be riding the buses. Once schools open we will make necessary adjustments for buses that may be full.

Thank you and have a safe school year, Transportation Department

Please be sure to utilize our new attendance and transportation form found below as we have moved away from handwritten notes and morning attendance calls in our K-5 buildings. This form is a way of communicating if your student will be absent or a late arrival, if there is a change in transportation, or if they will be picked up for an early dismissal.

*Note: Any permanent changes to bus transportation will require an "Alternate Bus Stop" form be filled out and sent to the transportation department. You can find a link to the form on the Transportation Website, or you can pick one up in the Leighton School Office.

Thank you!

As a reminder, you can find our arrival and dismissal procedures here.

Car rider lines reminders:

Morning Arrival - Car riders will start being unloaded at 8:50 am and then will be able to enter the building at 8:55 am through the 3rd Grade Wing Doors (Door 2) Our goal is to make sure all students are in the building by 9:05 am.

PM Dismissal - Dismissal procedures will be the same as last year by having students line up in alphabetical lines. A staff member will be calling last names for students to line the loading lanes to get into their cars when they pull up.

1. Please remind your child to load cars quickly to keep the line moving

2. Pull all the way up to the top of the pick-up lane to the sign for loading cars. We have found this allows us to load the maximum number of cars possible.

3. Please be sure to have your orange car tag in the rearview window so staff can visibly see it when calling students' last names by Monday, Aug 21st.

** Please see the traffic flow pattern included below for drop off in the mornings and afternoons.

Thank you for your patience as we have worked very hard to ensure a safe, smooth, and rapid arrival and dismissal process. We appreciate your support with these few reminders.

October

11 NO SCHOOL ~ NEOEA Day

14 NO SCHOOL ~ Teacher Professional Day

18 End of 1st Grading Period

21-25 PTO Book Fair

24 LES Band Concert at High School (7:00 PM)

24 Third Grade Fall OST (ELA- Part 1)

25 Report Cards Electronic Distributed

25 Third Grade Fall OST (ELA- Part 2)

31 Fall Festival

November

7 Parent/Teacher Conferences (5:30 PM to 8:30 PM)

13 PTO Meeting at C&I Building (6:30 PM)

13 School Picture Retake Day

14 Parent/Teacher Conferences (5:30 PM to 8:30 PM)

27-29 NO SCHOOL ~ Thanksgiving Break

Please be sure to update your Final Forms information for this school year to ensure you can receive the newsletters each week. If you need any help with updating your Final Forms please contact lschoenman@aurora-schools.org

Please use the following link: https://aurora-oh.finalforms.com

Please remember that when you take your child out of school for a doctor or dentist appointment, the State of Ohio requires that a doctor's note be brought back to the school for attendance purposes. You can give the note to the secretaries in the main office. If you have any questions please contact the secretaries in the Leighton office at 330 562-2209.

• Please monitor your child for illness symptoms. If your child has a temperature greater than 100 F they must stay home until they are fever free for 24 hrs without medication. For coughing, congestion and sore throat that are disruptive or not well contained, it is preferred they stay home until symptoms are decreased or your child has been evaluated by your physician. These guidelines apply to Covid-19 illness as well. Testing and mask wearing are no longer required, but are encouraged.

• Students sent home from school with a fever also may not return to school until they are fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours. This means if your child was sent home on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. with a fever, he/she may not return to school until Thursday. If your child does return the next day, our school nurse will be calling for you to come to pick him/her up. Thank you for your support and efforts in this area.

• Please consider sending in a spare change of clothes for your student to keep in their locker in the event of spills, toileting accidents or muddy clothes.

• Please contact our school nurse at the Leighton Clinic, 330 954-2285 or Les_nurse@aurora-schools.org with any questions related to illness or the clinic.

**** If your child will be absent for an extended period, please reach out to your child's teacher and they will get school work ready for your student for the period of the absence. You may pick up the work outside the main office on a table that will be labeled with your student's name.

Mrs. Michelle Nizen - Principal

mnizen@aurora-schools.org

Mr. Jeff Morris - Assistant Principal

jamorris@aurora-schools.org

Mrs. Lyn Schoenman-Secretary

Email: lschoenman@aurora-schools.org
Website: aurora-schools.org
Location: 121 Aurora Hudson Road, Aurora, OH, USA
Phone: (330)562-2209
Twitter: @michelle_nizen