The Sequiota Scoop
Monthly School Newsletter - August 2022
A Note from Mrs. Wagner
I sure hope you had a lovely Summer break, filled with fun, family, and relaxation!
I personally spent the Summer adjusting to being a new mom. As many of you know my husband and I were stunned to welcome our son, Cole Farris Wagner, at 25 weeks last December. We spent last Winter/Spring in the NICU and have spent this Summer adjusting to being home and balancing all of his appointments. I want to thank every family that offered support to us. It was humbling to receive such love from my school family and my husband and I are very grateful. Cole is doing well, but we still have a ways to go with therapies, surgeries, etc.
This newsletter is jam-packed full of information for the start of the year. Please take the time to read through it carefully and click on the hyperlinks for additional information.
We can't wait to see your kiddos at Meet the Teacher and on the first day of school!
-Mrs. Wagner
Sequiota Principal
Family picture while in the NICU
Cole wearing his Sequiota onsie
Our happy guy
Upcoming Events
Aug 9th - All About K (Kindergarten Orientation)
-5:00-6:30 pm
- Enter the building through door 10 (gym entrance) and find a seat in the gym.
- Students will dismiss w/ K team to complete quick assessments while parents stay to receive information from Mrs. Wagner.
Aug. 12th - Class Lists posted @ 5:00pm
- Class Lists will be posted on the front office windows at 5:00 pm and will be available to view at Meet the Teacher.
Aug. 18th - Meet the Teacher
- 4:00-5:30 pm
- Meet your child's teacher, tour their classroom/school, drop off school supplies.
- Please bring your child's school supplies in a bag labeled with their name on it and individual supplies labeled (or not) per the supply list.
Aug. 22 - First Day of School
-School starts at 7:20 am & dismisses at 2:20 pm
*doors open at 6:45 am
- Kindergarten families ONLY: If you want to walk your child to their classroom on the first day of school you must check-in at the front office and receive a visitor badge. - Please stop by the office BEFORE the first day of school to enroll in our visitor management system with your driver's license.
September Dates to note:
- NO SCHOOL Sept. 5
- Open House Sept. 13th 5:30-7:00 pm
- Book Fair Sept. 12-16
Staff updates:
Here's the updated breakdown of our grade level teachers for the 2022-2023 School Year
-Kindergarten:
- Mrs. Hoing
- Mrs. Hubbell
- Mrs. Maggard (see introduction below)
-First Grade:
- Mrs. Hunton
- Mrs. Medina (see introduction below)
- Mrs. Nichols
-Second Grade:
- Mrs. Kilburn
- Mrs. Wadsworth
- Mrs. Ruesink (see introduction below)
-Third Grade:
- Mrs. Griffin
- Mrs. Olson
- Mrs. Zay
-Fourth Grade:
- Mrs. Schofield
- Mrs. Nelson
- Mrs. Lewis (see introduction below)
-Fifth Grade:
- Mrs. Call
- Mrs. Duncan
Specialty Staff:
- Art: Miss McAllister
- Music: Mrs. Killingsworth (see introduction below)
- P.E.: Coach Hill
- Computers/STEAM: Mrs. Morris
- Counselor: Mr. Brown (see introduction below)
- Library: Mrs. James
Special Education Staff:
- Cross Cat Teacher: Mrs. Seidel
- Cross Cat Teacher: Mrs. Tan (see introduction below)
- Speech Teacher: Miss Lohman
- Cross Cat Paraprofessional: Mr. Cataldo
Support Staff:
- School Community Liaison: Mrs. Rader
- Secretary: Miss Sara
- English Language Development Specialist: Mrs. McBride
- Nurse: Nurse Jessie
- Custodial: Mr. Bruce, Miss Rayma, and Miss Susan
- Instructional Support Aide: Mr. Sharkey
- Teacher Intern: Mrs. Bobbie (see introduction below)
- Social Worker: Mrs. Morton
- Nutrition Services: Mrs. Kenda & TBD
- Lunchroom Aide: TBD
Welcome our newest school family members
Kindergarten - Mrs. Maggard
First Grade - Mrs. Medina
Second Grade - Mrs. Ruesink
Mrs. Ruesink has taught for 5 years and is joining us from Clever Schools. She's recently married and joins Mrs. Wagner as a fellow cat person! She and her husband also run a personal training gym.
Fourth Grade - Mrs. Lewis
Music - Mrs. Killingsworth
Counselor - Mr. Brown
Special Education - Mrs. Tan
Teacher Intern - Mrs. Bobbie
School-based Social Worker - Mrs. Morton
Arrival and Dismissal Procedures
***Please read through the arrival & dismissal procedures linked below***
Arrival - Doors open at 6:45 am
- Students will enter the building through door 12 (into the cafeteria) if unloading out of a car or as an East walker (from the playground)
- Students will enter the building through door 3 if unloading off the bus or as a West walker (crossing Mentor).
- Breakfast will be served in the cafeteria from 6:45-7:20 am.
- All students will remain in the cafeteria until 7:10 am - if arriving after 7:10 they will report directly to their classrooms unless eating breakfast.
- Staff will be available to assist students to their classrooms
Dismissal - 2:20 pm
- The pick-up/dismissal options this year include Bus (if eligible), Walkers (East & West), Y Academy (formerly called Prime Time), Blue card Parent Walk-up, and Car Riders.
- All students will transition to their proper dismissal location after school.
- Car tags & Blue cards will be handed out at Meet the Teacher (if you don't attend they will go home with your children the first day they attend school). Please make sure your car tag is visible until your child enters the car.
- Blue cards must be in the baskets by 2:20. After this time we ask parents to join the car line for pick-up.
- If you choose to park and meet your child for West walkers (off of Mentor) please park your car on a side street NOT on Mentor itself.
Carline Updates:
- We will utilize a double car line along the back of our parking lot for dismissal only (similar to Summer School) this year. When pulling in you'll note two lanes marked with a 1 and 2. Once the first 12 spots of our car line are full we will ask you to fill up both sides of the double lane on the south end of our lot.
- Once the car line starts moving we will take turns merging the lanes into the pre-loading spots on the east side of the lot.
- When exiting our parking lot avoid turning left on Mentor if it's holding up traffic behind you.
- All afterschool transportation changes should be communicated to the office by 1:30 pm to allow proper communication to the classroom teacher and student.
- All early check-outs should happen prior to 2:00 pm to reduce the demand on the office during dismissal.
Y Academy (formerly known as Prime Time) will still be available 2:20- 6:30 pm - please visit their website to register.
Preparing for the First Day of School
We ask that all parents/guardians begin preparing for the return to school.
Re-establish bedtime routines: We know many of us have created different routines over Summer break. Now is the time to start re-establishing bedtime routines.
Review our Behavior Matrix to prepare your child for what will be expected of them (see below).
Complete the Free & Reduced lunch form or add money to your child's lunch account.
Purchase school supplies (see the list here) and drop them off at Meet the Teacher.
Sequiota Behavior Expectations
CLICK ON THE IMAGE (to the left) TO ACCESS OUR BEHAVIOR MATRIX
This document outlines our behavior expectations for every area of the building.
Teachers will begin teaching these expectations to our students during the first week of school and will continue to reteach these expectations throughout the school year.
Feel free to review these expectations with your children to help reinforce positive choices at school.
Breakfast and Lunch Updates
If your child is eating breakfast at school please arrive no later than 7:00 am so they have plenty of time to eat breakfast in the cafeteria.
Students may pack a lunch but microwaves will not be available (please pack accordingly).
Breakfast and Lunch will NOT BE free for all families this year, we encourage families to submit their free and reduced lunch applications. If you have not yet submitted your application for free/reduced lunches, please click HERE - the application is easy to fill out and will help us ensure that our district receives all the supports provided for our free and reduced lunch students.
Prices:
Reduced Price Breakfast $0.30
Full Price Breakfast $1.60
Reduced Price Lunch $0.40
Full Price Lunch $2.95
Ala Carte Milk $0.65
Menus and how to add money to your student's account can be found here
SCHOOL SUPPLIES UPDATE
Our Grade Levels have created School Supply Lists for you to use when shopping for school supplies.
- Please click the link below to access each grade level's supply list
Beyond the supply lists, we ask that each student have a full-size backpack and highly recommend bringing a water bottle each day.
Please do your best to follow the list as provided as this helps support classroom structures and management. If you purchase from Amazon please have it shipped to your home and then bring it to school for Meet the Teacher.
If you need support with purchasing supplies please connect with your child's classroom teacher so we can support you.
Visitors & Volunteers
In order to be in the building as a visitor during school hours you must register with our visitor management system in the front office. This requires driver's license.
If volunteering for the school during the school hours we ask that you complete the volunteer application and background check.
For more information please visit this website: https://www.sps.org/volunteer OR contact Sara Atkinson our school secretary and volunteer coordinator in the front office.
How we Communicate:
1. Teacher Newsletters - these will be emailed weekly
2. Yellow Folders sent home via backpack.
4. Principal Newsletters - these will be emailed/texted monthly & posted to the Sequiota website
5. PTA Newsletters - these will be emailed monthly and posted on the PTA Facebook page
6. PTA Remind App messages (sign-up with the PTA)
7. Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)
8. Email, calls, and texts through our SPS Blackboard alert now system.
9. Emails and phone calls between staff and parents as needed.
Other ways to stay connected:
- Sequiota Twitter Account - @Sequiota
- Sequiota Instagram Account - @sequiota_elementary
- Springfield Public Schools Website
Additionally, all staff members can be reached by email or with a message left in the office. Many teachers may also set up their own lines of communication through Dojo, SeeSaw, Remind 101, etc.
Conscious Discipline
See the video below for a short explanation of what is Conscious Discipline.
You may find more information at https://consciousdiscipline.com/
- This is approach is both helpful at home and school.
Each Month in the Sequiota Scoop I will Highlight a skill or structure of Conscious Discipline for you to understand what we're focusing on at school.
Celebrate Sequiota Slips
Our hope with focusing on how our students are being respectful, safe, and responsible is to highlight for them what behaviors are helpful to our school family.
This student recognition system allows us to honor as many students as possible for their contributions to our school family.
About Us
Email: jlwagner@spsmail.org
Website: https://www.sps.org/sequiota
Location: 3414 South Mentor Avenue, Springfield, MO, USA
Phone: 417-523-5400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SequiotaPTA/
Twitter: @Sequiota