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The Titan Times: Week 3

The River Place Elementary (RPE) Campus Newsletter

The Titan Times:Week 3The River Place Elementary (RPE) CampusNewsletter

Titan Families,


This week, we welcomed back ALL staff! We launched our theme "Growing Our Roots Together" on Monday where staff had the opportunity to learn their Clifton Strengths and how their team is uniquely made to serve our student body, each other, and your family. With our foundation in Positivity, Respect, Integrity, Determination, and Excellence (PRIDE), our teams empower each other, our families, and students to be prepared for anything. It's an exciting time to be in our Titan Community as we all strive to plant strong roots in our vision and mission. We are looking forward to a fantastic year!


As a reminder, please read this newsletter and check out our website to support your family's launch of the new school year. I will have a few "Special Edition" newsletters specific to upcoming events to support communication and clarity, so please be sure to read those messages and encourage other families to do the same. If you have new neighbors, please share with them that it is time to enroll their future Titan(s), too. Thanks in advance for your support.


Should you have any questions leading into the school year, please feel free to call our campus. We have a few new faces on our office team. All of that and much more is detailed below!


Take care and lead well,

Dr. Amy Sharp

Proud RPE Principal

Welcoming Our New Titan Staff

Sharing Our Theme

Learning About Our Strengths

#RPETitan Community News

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

August:

  • 7th: New Family Orientation Night @ 6 PM in the cafeteria
  • 8th:
    • Teacher Welcome email set to all Titans by 4 PM and
  • 9th: PTA Hosted K-5 Family Meet Up at Oz Tap House from 5- 6 PM
  • 11th:
    • PTA Hosted K-2 Family Meet-Up at Sun Tree Park from 10- 10:30 AM
    • PTA Hosted 3-5 Family Meet-Up at Sun Tree Park from 10:30- 11 AM
  • 12th: Elementary Meet the Teacher Night by Alphabetical Order (See Flyer Below)
  • 14th: First Day of School! RSVP for parent drop off at the classroom is here!
  • 29th: 4th and 5th Grade Curriculum Night (See Flyer Below)


September:

  • 2nd: Labor Day- No School
  • 3rd:
    • Families can start to join their Titan(s) at lunch time if they wish to do so
    • 2nd and 3rd Grade Curriculum Night (See Flyer Below)
  • 5th: Kindergarten and 1st Grade Curriculum Night (See Flyer Below)
  • 13: Grandparents Day Lunch (Save the Date)

Specific information About the First Week of Kindergarten

We are very excited to share that our strategic kindergarten placement process will be returning to our campus this year! Meaning, we do not assign students to a specific teacher’s classroom prior to the start of school; instead, students are assigned a class color.


This is how it’ll work:

  • During the first week of school, students will rotate with their color class through each kindergarten teacher’s classroom. The purpose of the rotations is for every student to feel comfortable with every teacher and with their new peers. This will be a great opportunity for your child to meet other children and see different classroom environments, too.

  • Each day teachers meet during planning and after school to share observational information with each other and administration. As the days progress, teachers will continue to use their observational data and instructional data to ensure we have created heterogeneous classes. Teachers make changes, if needed, to ensure classroom environments are conducive to student learning.

  • Throughout the course of the first two weeks of school, teachers will trial moves to ensure students are in a successful learning environment. Throughout the process, teachers continue to monitor success placements and will reach out to families to let them know their child’s official kindergarten homeroom placement.


Families will be contacted by teachers to be given the name of the classroom teacher to which the student will be assigned for the school year. Students will begin in their official placements that day and families of students who have been switched from their original color group will be invited to walk their students to class on that day if they would like.


During the first week of school your child will be academically assessed on kindergarten readiness skills such as: counting, name writing, and letter and sound identification. Teachers will use the information from academic assessments and from social observations to assist in building heterogeneous classroom environments that will best match each child’s unique learning characteristics.


We have gotten very positive feedback from the community as we have implemented this placement system in the past at River Place Elementary. It is our hope to build the most positive learning experience for each and every incoming Kindergarten Titan, and we look forward to a fantastic year.

Curriculum Night for Grades 4 & 5 is August 29th at 5:30 PM

Curriculum Night for Grades 2 & 3 is Sept. 3rd at 5:30 PM

Curriculum Night for Kindergarten & 1st Grade is Sept. 5th at 5:30 PM

Need Your Child's Previous Year's Report Card?

Report Cards for the 23-24 School year are still available in your HAC. If you need a copy of your student's report card for a sports activity, you will be able to download or print from there. If you request a copy from the office, it could take up to two weeks to fulfil your request. If you are unable to login to your HAC, please call the front office and we can help. HAC login page can be found here: https://lis-hac.eschoolplus.powerschool.com/HomeAccess/Account/LogOn

First Day of School Information

Interested in Walking Your Titan(s) to Their Classroom on the 1st Day of School?

As in the past, all visitors must check in at the front office and show their ID each time they enter the building. All visitors must wear a Raptor badge in a visible location upon entry.


Here's what you need to know to make the process go as smoothly as possible:

  • STEP 1: If you are a new family, or a family that did not attend an event last year, please stop by our office to scan your ID prior to the first day of school. Kindly let them know that you are here to have your ID scanned early in order to prepare for walking your child to class on the first day. You may stop by this week on
    • Wednesday, August 7th - 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
    • Thursday, August 8th - 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
    • Friday, August 9th - 12:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m.
    • Monday, August 12th @ Open House - 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
  • STEP 2: If you are a returning RPE family and you scanned your ID last year, you should still be in our system, but please feel free to stop by or call to check if you are unsure!
  • STEP 3: Once you have come to the office to have your ID scanned into our system, complete the 1st Day of School RSVP so that we can prepare for your arrival to walk your child to their classroom on the 1st day.
  • STEP 4: If you RSVP late, or do not have an ID in the system, you will need to wait in line to walk your child to class on the first day of school. Please note, this could be a lengthy wait, we will do the best we can to get you scanned in as quickly as possible.


**This response form will be closed at 8:00 P.M. on Monday, August 12th **

We will welcome families to join their Titan(s) for lunch if they'd like starting on Tuesday, Sept. 3rd.

A note to Titan Families About Lunch Accounts

Leander ISD has changed our Child Nutrition Services (CNS) management account from LINQ to My School Bucks for the 24-25 School year. If you received a welcome letter from our Registrar please disregard the link she provided. If you are a returning family you will now also need to set up an account with My School Bucks. To set up your cafeteria account you will do so here https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/getmain.action?clientKey=&requestAction=home. This link can also be found on our website under the Campus Info tab. All families interested in applying for the Free and Reduced Lunch program can find the application here: https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application.

Purchase Your Titan Gear
If you are a family who needs support with purchasing Titan gear, please reach out to our school counselor, Ms. Shannon Zepeda, at shannon.zepeda@leanderisd.org

JOIN PTA TODAY!

Join PTA TODAY because increasing our membership, even by one, makes it possible to:


  • Get funds to teachers to supplement classroom needs.
  • Connect with teachers, parents, and administration to voice needs for our school and our Titans.
  • Fund library technology, guest speakers, playground equipment.
  • Help plan community activities such as Fall Fest, Apex Fun Run, Book Fair, Mentoring
  • programs, Field Day, Career Day & STEAM Night.
  • Support Teacher and Staff Appreciation.


Myths Debunked!

  • PTA does NOT require mandatory meetings or volunteer hours.
  • PTA is NOT just for stay-at-home parents or for those who want to take on a large leadership role.


PTA is-

  • for ANYONE who wants to be a bit more connected to teachers, principals and the Titan community. In sum, there is no wrong or right way to be in PTA!
  • something that takes 5 minutes to join and if you join now your $10 membership will enter you in a monthly raffle for gift cards, free water bottles, and MORE!
  • easy to join! ----------> https://riverplacepta.membershiptoolkit.com


Incentive:

FOR AUGUST membership sign ups I will have TWO raffles (gift cards, Titan Shirts or water bottles) If you sign up by 8/14 you will be entered in BOTH raffles.

Leander ISD #1LISD Community News

District Advisory Committees for 24-25 Application

Leander ISD invites our community to support our students and teachers by volunteering on a district-wide or campus-based committee. To apply for one of the district advisory listed below, please complete the application by 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23.

River Place Elementary Titan Community

Are you looking for ways to stay connected and know what is happening on campus? Great!

Here are our Titan Community Communication Tools-

  • River Place Elementary School Website
  • Twitter Account
  • PTA Facebook Page
  • Remind App for River Place Insiders

Email: ContactTeacher@leanderisd.org
Website: https://riverplace.leanderisd.org/
Location: 6500 Sitio Del Rio Blvd, Austin, TX 78730, USA
Phone: 512-570-6911
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiverPlaceElementaryPTA/
Twitter: @RiverPlaceTitan

Amy Sharp
Amy is using Smore to create beautiful newsletters