The Leighton News

Dear Leighton Families,

With the end of the first grading period closing in and the first quarter coming to a completion soon, we are looking forward to continuing our momentum of excellence in the second quarter. Students have been hard at work revisiting old concepts, learning new ones, and setting rigorous goals to support their learning.

As a reminder, there is no school on Friday, October 11th ( NEOEA Day) and Monday, October 14th due a Teacher Professional Development Day. On Tuesday, October 22nd we will be practicing our Alice Drill procedures. Our staff will be preparing students for these annual safety drills and discussed the step by step process including what it will look like and sound like. It is important to practice these drills so that in the event of an emergency we know what to do and all staff and students are well prepared. Each year our students and staff do a fantastic job practicing our safety drills. We would like to thank our SRO, Tony Tritto, who is involved in all of our Alice Drills and , of course, Queso, his sidekick!

Please see below for some important dates and guidelines for some upcoming events including Fall Festival, LES Band Concert, Fall Conferences, and Third Grade only ELA AIR testing dates coming up on Oct 24th and Oct 25th. Some important testing reminders include helping to ensure students are on time to school on testing dates, ensuring to get a good night of rest the nights before testing, and making sure to eat a healthy breakfast. We are also looking forward to the kickstart of our two popular Fifth Grade clubs: the Spanish Club and the Fishing Club. We are looking forward to expanding these clubs as we gain more resources and work through this pilot year.

We continue to share our excitement in regards to our outdoor learning spaces which include the upgraded garden area, outdoor trail (5th grade will be holding their outdoor math rotation centers here), and our dock. Over the next few years, we will be working to support renovating our amphitheater! Many thanks to our staff, PTO, and our parent community who have helped us with these efforts and has brought our beautiful campus back to life!

We are very excited for our Pancake Breakfast coming up on Saturday, October 5th 8:15-12:00pm. Thank you to all of our students, staff, and parents who have helped us make this event so special and bring our community together! All donations will go to our outdoor learning spaces!

Lastly, an important update from our Leighton Clinic. Mrs. Tanski recently notified us that she will no longer be serving as the school nurse in our Leighton Clinic. We wish her well in her future endeavors. We will be having a substitute nurse supporting our students in the interim while working to secure a full time replacement. Please be sure to reach out to the following email in lieu of Mrs. Tanski 's email for any student needs: Les_nurse@aurora-schools.org.

As we enter mid October, we continue to take time to think of all of those things for which we are thankful! Ultimately, our number one will always be our learners! We are so grateful for the opportunities each day to make an impact, support, and nurture our young learners so they can grow into future-ready citizens and achieve all of their goals and aspirations. We are also grateful for the support of our parents. Thank you for all you do to partner with us in these efforts.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Nizen, Building Principal

Jeff Morris, Assistant Principal

Our October class lessons will be on resilience and perseverance. Since October is National Bully Prevention Month, a video lesson is loaded into all of our Google classrooms regarding our words and how powerful they can in order to promote & support kindness and being respectful.

We are also sharing books on the topics of diversity and inclusion for your reference and in honor of National Unity Day on October 16, 2024. Under each book you will find a link to the Portage County Libraries if you wish to reserve a book. The LES Media Center has many of these titles to check out, as well. Here is the link to click on: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZYx7h7I2JrV0SSQ-6rrbPoKc-zEeoPyBX5hfm00PX00/edit?usp=sharing

The Elementary School Counselors have some exciting news to share ~ we will be receiving the Ohio School Counselor Accountability Report (OSCAR) from the Ohio School Counselor Association (OSCA) at the end of the month in Columbus. This is a huge honor for us (Tami Mazzella, Lindsey Ambrosia and Claudia Schnur) as it supports and validates what we do each day in our respective buildings with support for students, staff and parents. THANK YOU for your continued support or our K-5 team! The application process was tedious and lengthy, but in the end it paid off and we get to show the rest of Ohio what we do here in Aurora!!

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 are so excited to start a new tradition of holding a Pancake Breakfast for our Leighton Families to kick off the start of the school year and foster our theme for the '24-'25 school year of "Building Community". There is no cost associated with the breakfast instead donations will be accepted and go towards our outdoor learning spaces: Leighton outdoor garden, trail, and the revitalization of the old amphitheater. Thank you to everyone who RSVP'ed as our attendance is almost 400!! Please note the staggered times by last names to ensure comfortable seating for our occupancy. We are looking forward to seeing you there:) Also, if you would like to make a donation you may do so through the QR code provided in the link below. You may donate even if you are not attending the event as we have had a few parents ask about this as well. Thank you so much for your support!

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 wid 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 recieve 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. 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!

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 scholastic book fair is coming to Leighton October 21-October 25.

Please click the link below to create an ewallet.

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

Sign up now for the Aurora Elementary PTO. The deadline to sign up for a Homeroom parent is September 10th, Halloween Party sign up & Book Fair volunteer sign up will begin at the end of the month.

The Scholastic book fair is coming to Leighton! October 21-October 25. Family night is scheduled for October 22 from 5-7 PM. Please see the link for a preview of some of the books that will be at the fair.

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)

25 Report Cards Distributed

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

Three ways to pay your student's school fees:

1. Send in with your student a check made out to Aurora City Schools.

2. Call the Board of Education office to make a credit card payment between the hours of 7:00 AM and 3:00 PM at 330-954-2228.

3. Go to the Aurora City Schools website and go to the Parent Page and click on Fee Payments On-Line.

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 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