Hawk Highlights

📚 Reading Week was a BLAST last week!: A huge thank you to Micaela Emmott and the PTA for all of the organization and opportunities provided for our kids: Author visit Linda Sue Park, Theatre for the Imagination presentation during lunch, Mr. Stinky Feet performance, Mystery Readers, 6th grade morning announcement readers, daily spirit days, and more!

🫶🏻 We also want to thank you for the incredible participation in our Read-A-Thon fundraiser! An official update of money raised, and the impact that money will have on enhancements in our school, will be communicated soon.

Upcoming Events:

• 👟 Girls on the Run Starts (Grades 3-5; scroll below for more details): March 10
• 🚫 No School (Teacher Work Day) Friday, March 14th
• 🚫 No School (Spring Break): March 17th - 21st
• 📅 PTA General Meeting + Screen Sanity Presentation: April 2nd (DATE CHANGE!)
• 📚 PTA Scholastic Book Fair: April 9, 10, 11
• 🧺 PTA Picnic on the Playground with Special Guest: April 11th
• 🍎 Pre-K Kick-off: April 16th @ 6:00 - 6:45
• 🍎 Kindergarten Kick-off: April 17th @ 6:00-7:30
• 🚫 No School (Teacher Professional Learning): April 21st

It's great to be a Highlands Hawk!

Laura LaHue

Principal

Instagram: @HighlandsHawks512

Twitter: @512Hawks

In alignment with the SMSD Wellness Policy, we ask that parents not order DoorDash (or other delivery services) for their student's lunch. You are welcome to bring in outside food when eating with your child in the atrium - just please refrain from using an outside delivery service for front office staff to then bring to your student in the lunchroom.

The Variety Show is just around the corner!

This is always a memorable, fun night. We need more fun adults to make it happen!

Please reach out to Katy Hageman (katyhageman@gmail.com ) if you are interested in helping produce the show.

PARENTS

• Complete the attached Google Doc by March 28th. This provides all of the info & serves as the permission slip

GOOGLE DOC

https://forms.gle/K2raWiCFd9b45Po86

• Go over the Variety Show expectations with your child
• A parent must be in attendance at each rehearsal & show
• Incorporating a song into your act? Send the digital music file to Katy Hageman at katyhageman@gmail.com by March 31st

IMPORTANT DATES

March 28th – Permission form is due (via Google Doc)

March 31st – Digital music file due, if applicable

April 4th – First Looks 3:15pm -- Music Room

April 17th – Second Looks 3:15pm -- MPR

April 24th – Final Dress Rehearsal 3:15pm -- MPR

April 25th – VARIETY SHOW -- 5:45pm Arrival -- 6:30pm Showtime

** The number of required rehearsals has been reduced, which means that preparation is even more important this year. Please, make sure that your child's act is prepared in advance, to make use of rehearsal time.

Join us for our General PTA meeting + Screen Sanity Parent Night Presentation on Wednesday, April 2nd from 6:00-7:30 in the MPR. There will be babysitting in the gym for kids.

• Screen Sanity: The mission of Screen Sanity is to create a world where kids are captivated by life, not screens. Presenters will provide informative guidance resources and tools are designed to support families on every leg of their digital parenting journey — helping them to quickly navigate to the issue that is most pressing for their own family.
• Please RSVP HERE!

We are thankful for our BIST team to provide an awesome Home ---> School Connection with the below Parenting Webinar Links (these are recordings from "live" webinars this winter). These webinars are excellent resources to access and learn more about the common language we use at school :) Grab some coffee and learn at your own pace from home!

• January 28th, New Year, New Start: Proactively Partnering with Your Child’s School
• https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/2TYIyEyYarwai6wtSIDur7wEKzD8C9LSi6sdzAG3-hl3sF7bWxeWRLSXeZEuLqsZ.BqxBq8I-rEvZo0SW?pwd=O77y54XOpxF6FwqeFkYc8Gi-xAEa021i
• February 4th, Powerful Tools to Sustain a Powerful Family: Family Meetings
• https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/dFFDatxKffmYHLwNiadcoikS75bKVEIaTBpepssDZ7AiA94bSUO9xU1-AkCc_CiK.Yv80sWuwkozHe04U?pwd=qAabsGBymEn0yDuPGS7A9XOtP3o-AYzv
• February 11th, Growing Accountability with Empathy
• https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/UWwrAKXkFTly0QBXx-4bJx5MzpY6-pdO0V1vEuG0o7xD4__LrJnr7goMxs-p5qVM.8jvHIOTlYrll_0ae?pwd=181OvXtytwhxRI2oLPpgmYNG0A3LQJb5

Check out the SMSD podcast with superintendent Dr. Schumacher!

The podcast is a conversational storytelling platform that allows our community to hear directly from our superintendent while highlighting the people, programs, and plans that make us ONE Shawnee Mission. New episodes drop every other Thursday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and other podcasting platforms.

• 💌 Follow us on your preferred podcast platform!

• YouTube

• Apple

• Spotify

• 📧 Send us story ideas, feedback, and comments! We want to know what’s working, what’s not, what YOU want to hear about! Send us an email: micdup@smsd.org

• 🗣️ Latest Episode:

• 🎙️Season 2 Episode 14 “Women in Leadership”

In honor of Women's History Month and just in time for International Women's Day (March 8th)we are excited to introduce you to one of SMSD's fastest growing programs: Women in Leadership! This program has grown from about 50 participants to more than 400 in just a few years. Today, at their annual celebratory breakfast, more than 300 students and local leaders came together to educate, empower, and inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Hear from the founder and a senior in the program about the impact it's had on our community. #ALLinSMSD #OneShawneeMission

• #ALLINSMSD #OneShawneeMission

Do you have an incoming Pre-K or Kindergarten student? Please enroll on Skyward ASAP and join us for our kick-off events!

🍎 Kindergarten Kick-off: April 17th 6-7:30pm

🍎 PreK Kick-off: April 16th 6-6:45pm

⭐️ Highlands will continue the work of belonging and inclusion through the newly-adopted district Social-Emotional Resource Character Strong for grades K-12. We will kick off each theme from Character Strong at our monthly All-School Mindful Moments and continue throughout the month at Hawks Nests and daily social-emotional lessons.

⭐️ Shout-out to our amazing 6th graders for helping to plan these Mindful Moments!

HI WIG #1: Implement a system-wide monitoring process that utilizes collaborative instructional teams who meet regularly to review student data from screening, progress monitoring, and common formative assessments (CFAs) to identify next steps for instruction. (Intentional Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 instruction)

• ✅ Lead Measures (to get us there):
• Intentional Core Instruction: Students are doing the talking (thinking); teachers are asking questions to encourage students to think and generalize what they know to new situations.
• Intentional Core Instruction: Teacher teams will use information from CFAs and real-time observations during core instruction to strategically target skills that will accelerate achievement
• Educational Equity: How will we get EVERY student there? A collective responsibility to provide students with what they need, when they need it, and with an urgency to master essential outcomes.
• IXL: students will engage in personalized learning plans using the IXL app to master skills for each priority standard with an 80% proficiency in both ELA and Math.
  

HI WIG #2: Prioritize social/emotional personalized learning through explicit instruction, modeling, classroom norms, school rituals/routines, and caring attention.

• ✅ Lead Measures (to get us there):
• Character Strong SEL Curriculum: Tier 1 daily instruction.

• Attendance Team: The office attendance team will monitor excessive absences by proactively sending out 7-day & 10-day absence letters and excessive tardy letters (10+ tardies) each week.

• Chronic Absenteeism rate will be communicated each month via school parent newsletter, as well as grade-specific rates through individual classroom newsletters.

• Mindful Mornings: 8:00-8:30 daily, building-wide. Students know they can softly enter the school day through friendship and connection. Device-free.

• Schoolwide System of Mentorship: all-school monthly Mindful Moments, Class Buddies, Hawks Nests, StuCo

• BIST + PBIS: building-wide system of grace, accountability, and positive reinforcement

• Weekly student SOAR tickets

• SOAR student store

• Quarterly PBIS assemblies + Highlighted Hawks

• BIST continuum: Implement buddy pass system and monitor usage/efficacy of buddy intervention