The Leighton News
March 11, 2022
From the Principal
Dear Leighton Families,
Here we are in the wonderful month of March! It seems like yesterday I was welcoming our learners back into the building and now we find ourselves getting ready for the end of the school year and all of its' festivities! As we enter March our building is busy getting ready for State Testing coming up the first week of April! Students and staff are working hard to ensure students are ready for these standardized tests. This preparation has truly been all year as our exemplary staff has been utilizing our math, reading, and writing frameworks and continuing to build our Inquiry Based Approach to Science and Social Studies. These efforts support high levels of student centered learning while capitalizing on the development of critical thinking, deep learning, differentiated and individualized instructional practices, student collaboration, targeted feedback to support growth, and a focus on the process not the product. All of these experiences will allow students to flourish on the upcoming State Tests. Please find the testing dates below in Mrs. Mazzella's update.
Some important reminders about testing include being sure to arrive on time to school as testing is right away in the morning, eat a good breakfast, be sure your child's has working headphones at school, and support your child at home by engaging with practice testing materials and resources located at the following website:
https://oh-ost.portal.cambiumast.com/families.html.
Don't forget to show your school spirit next week as we kick off Spring Break with our Spirit Week. See the flyer below!
As we head into March, April, and May we will also be practicing our safety drills including fire and tornado drills. These are important drills that are discussed and practiced with students on a regular basis along with annual Alice Drills.
I always I have to end with a note of gratitude for our amazing community that values keeping our learners at the center of all we do and the strong partnerships and support that fuel our continued growth. Thank you for all you do each day to partner with us to ensure your child has the best education possible. I wish each of you a wonderful, relaxing, and rejuvenating upcoming Spring Break.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kind Regards,
Mrs. Michelle Nizen, Building Principal
Mrs. Maria Goodman, Assistant Principal
Spirit Week: Week of March 14th
Counselor's Corner
Spring Testing ~ We will be administering State Tests during the month of April. Please make sure your child arrives on time to school, has had a good night's sleep and has eaten something for breakfast. We always want their bodies and brains to be ready to do their best work, so this is a great time to reinforce some of these good habits!
3rd grade ~ ELA - April 4th & 5th; MATH - April 19th & 20th
4th grade ~ ELA - April 7th & 8th; MATH - April 21st & 22nd
5th grade ~ ELA - April 7th & 8th; MATH - April 21st & 22nd; SCIENCE - April 25th & 26th
https://sites.google.com/aurora-schools.org/leightonschoolcounselor/home?authuser=1
Tami S. Mazzella
School Counselor
330-954-2260
We Rise by Lifting Others!
You more than likely have seen the news story this past week about one of our inspirational Fifth Grade students, Kiera Holzman, at Leighton Elementary who is embracing a medical journey that will help improve the quality of her life. Many have asked how they might be able to help support and we wanted to share the following flyer.
Mrs. Holzman's work started a T- shirt fundraiser to help the family and have also invited us to be a part of it too. The order form is attached below. Thank you to all those who have reached out and shared support for the Holzman family! You can find Kiera's story below.
March is Music in our Schools Month!! Click the button below to find out more information about Aurora City Schools!
Third Grade holding a city council meeting!
Students worked collaboratively to create speeches and posters!
Student ran for mayor, judge, or city council!
Spotlight on PBIS
Our UDL (Universally Designed Lessons) hone in on each focus skill allowing us to explicitly teach those skills, reinforce them, and connect them to our strategic vision including our 6 competencies of a learner (critical thinker, collaborator, innovator, resilient, balanced, and empathetic). Ms. Mazzella also capitalizes on teaching these skills in her classroom lessons focused on various topics including friendships, growth mindset, perseverance as it relates to school work, etc.
We announced our next Golden Fork winners this week! These classrooms earned this honor for demonstrating our 3 pillars in the lunchroom and at recess while following all the expectations. Congratulations went to Mrs. Leone, Ms. Most, and Dr. Stoyle . These classrooms will be passing the Golden Fork along to the next winning classes to display outside their classroom doors.
Our next monthly PBIS office raffle will be Friday, April 1st. Students will continue to turn in their caught being good tickets to the office and a building-wide drawing will take place, where caught being good tickets will be read over the announcements and students will pick a prize from our PBIS rewards cart.
Lastly, our 3rd quarterly PBIS building wide reward is coming up next week! At the end of every quarter we celebrate our students' successes building wide. Back by popular demand is an extra recess which we will celebrate next week with grade levels.
Here are some great resources to support your PBIS efforts at home. Thank you for your partnership!
https://www.pbis.org/resource/supporting-families-with-pbis-at-home
https://www.pbis.org/resource/supporting-families-with-pbis-at-home
Golden Fork Winners- Extra Recess Reward
Mrs. Van Fossen Class being innovative!
Making Simple machines!
Mrs. Nizen in action helping make simple machines!
PTO News
Spring Fundraiser Kickoff!
Welcome to the Foertmeyer and Sons Spring Flower Fundraiser! Please take a minute to view our kick-off video to learn more about the flowers. To order these amazing plants, go to www.fundraiseit.org and enter the unique code on the catalog your student is bringing home or you can look up by last name.
You can purchase flowers until 11:59pm on 03/11/22 and they will be delivered to the school on 05/15/22. Parents are responsible for pickup of all items ordered. An email reminder will be sent approximately 3 days before pickup day.
When can I shop? The online sale for Aurora Elementary PTO is from 12:01am on 02/25/22 until 11:59pm on 03/16/22
Who benefits from my purchase? Your fundraising assistance will help Aurora Elementary PTO.
Interested in knowing if orders have been placed for your student?
- Goto www.fundraiseit.org
- Click Check My Student's Online Sales link in the For Families box
- Enter your Student's unique web sale code
- View all of the orders placed using your Student's provided link
Thank you for taking the time to help us reach our goal!
Last PTO Meeting for this school year will be 4/12. The time and location will be announced closer to the date.
Head Room Parent Communication:
If you would like to receive communication from your head room parent, please click on the link and fill out the form.
Kids Heart Challenge
Join us Leighton Elementary School families! We want each of our students to pledge to take care of their hearts – and minds. We’re excited to learn about heart health and emotional well-being while having FUN and SAVING LIVES. Help your kiddo choose their personal challenge to BE KIND or BE ACTIVE today! Any questions, please reach out to Mrs. Barnes @sslackford@aurora-schools.org.
Here is our Leighton Elementary School link: http://www2.heart.org/goto/LeightonES
Aurora Schools Foundation
The Aurora Schools Foundation funds innovative grants that are outside of the school budget. The Aurora Schools Foundation recently funded a grant for nonfiction books at Craddock. Jen Miller, the District Literacy Specialist, submitted a grant idea that would allow the students to match their interests to nonfiction books, meaning the students would help in nonfiction book selection. These books will be available in the teachers' classrooms for the students to enjoy. Here are some pictures of our second-grade learners selecting books, making recommendations, and voting on the topics that interest them. All learners had a choice and voice in selecting engaging, non-fiction books that matched their interests. These learners cannot wait to read, learn, and innovate using these nonfiction books! We are so blessed to have a wonderful PTO and Aurora Schools Foundation to support our staff, students, and teaching and learning! If you would like to learn more about Aurora Schools Foundation, please visit their website at auroraschoolsfoundation.org.
Important Dates and Reminders
March
4 PD Day for staff- No Students
9 PTO Meeting at Annex (Time and Location TBA)
11 End of 3rd Grading Period
18 Report Cards Distributed
18 LES Spring Talent Showcase (Virtual Presentation shared by Katherine Iriarte)
21-25 NO SCHOOL ~ Spring Break
28 School Resumes
Please see some reminders in regards to our car rider line
1. When a teacher shows the stop signal with their hand or does not motion for your child to exit the car please do not let them get out of the car.
2. Please DO NOT pull around cars unless a teacher motions you around. This is for the safety of our students.
3. Please make sure your child is ready to go when they reach the front of the car line.
Thank you for your help in making the car line run as smoothly and safely as possible.
LUNCH MENU
Click on the link below to view the school lunch menus. We are excited to have the Nutrition Group supporting our lunch program this year. Our students have been enjoying the variety of options. We HIGHLY encourage you to check the menu each week to see if any changes will be occurring.
Student Attendance
Clinic Updates
As a reminder, please monitor your child for any COVID-related symptoms and contact our school nurse if you have any questions. We appreciate your attention to this.
- Check your child each day for COVID-related symptoms. If your child is showing any symptoms whatsoever, it is best to keep him/her home to monitor.
- Students sent home with a fever, 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.
- We have COVID-19 home testing kits available that we can send home with any child or family should you question symptoms or exposure. We will be able to answer any questions about these kits should the need arise.
- Please make sure your Final Forms medical information is up to date. We will closely read the health sections to address any medical concerns.
If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Tanski in the clinic at 330-954-2285 or email her at atanski@aurora-schools.org
**** 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. We are a google district and utilize google classroom in our 3-5 classes. Please check in with your child's teacher about any google classroom posting and/or assignments in his/her absence.
Arrival/Dismissal Procedures and Transportation
Thank you for all your assistance on helping us make sure our arrival and dismissal procedures are safe, smooth, and rapid.
For transportation information go to:
https://versatransweb04.tylertech.com/Aurora/elinkrp/Login.aspx (cut & paste into your browser)
The login information is as follows:
User name = jane.smith (That is the students first name period last name with no spaces) Password = students date of birth 01012021 with no characters or spaces between mmdayyear
Please be reminded we 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
Leighton Elementary School
Mrs. Maria Goodman - Assistant Principal
Email: mnizen@aurora-schools.org
Website: aurora-schools.org
Location: 121 Aurora Hudson Road, Aurora, OH, USA
Phone: (330)562-2209
Twitter: @michelle_nizen