Newell Family Sunday Message 08/25

Newell Families,

We've got an exciting short week coming up! Picture day is Thursday and our PTA Fundraiser is kicking off soon!

- Mr. Balcom

Mrs. Jaros’ Fifth Graders started PE getting their hearts pumping with some jump roping!

🎉BIG NEWS! 🎉 Our Newell Knight Fun Run fundraiser kicks off September 3rd! We’re raising $10,000 for flexible seating options for common areas and we need your help.

Pre Register your child(ren) today. Go to mybooster.com and sign your child(ren) up by searching for Newell Elementary.

All Newell students will have their pictures taken on Thursday August 29th. Information will be coming home soon!

Reminder there will be no school for students on:

• Friday August 30th 2024
• Monday September 2nd 2024

Three times per year all our students take a reading assessment called DIBELS. The results of these tests help us best each our students. Our first round of testing will occur on the following two days:

DIBELS Testing Day 1: Monday, August 26th

• Testing Kindergarten, 1st, and 3rd grades

DIBELS Testing Day 2: Wednesday, August 28th

• Testing 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades

Each week we'll let you behind the scenes on what students are learning at Newell.

This week our First Graders have been working on subitizing in Math class! What is subitizing? Subitizing is: the ability to look at a small set of objects and instantly know how many there are without counting them.

Subitizing helps children develop a strong number sense. By quickly recognizing quantities, they start understanding the concept of numbers and their relationships, which is fundamental in mathematics. When first graders can subitize, they can more easily perform mental math, such as addition and subtraction. Also, when students can quickly identify quantities without counting, they build confidence in their mathematical abilities. This confidence can motivate them to tackle more challenging problems. Great work First Graders!

If your child needs new headphones they can be purchased from Mrs. Spilger or Mrs. Skarka in the Newell Library for only $2.00.

This is a biannual event held for girls grades 2nd-5th. There is no cost. This event is free. You are welcome to come to all sessions or just one session.

Grand Island Senior High Girls Basketball Staff and GIYB are excited to introduce, the bi-annual event, of the elementary school tour “on-the-go” clinic. These clinics will be hosted at all 13 local elementary schools. You are welcome to sign up to all of them or come for a few. The skills we will be working on are ball handling, rebounding, defense on and off the ball, lay-ups, set shooting, shooting on the move, finishing through defense, pivots, screens, and the LOVE for the game. If your daughter is in grades 2nd-5th please sign them up. Join us! Sign up here…

This section includes updates and important information from our amazing Newell PTA! More information is always available on our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/NewellElementaryPTA

Our next PTA Meeting will be Monday, September 9th from 6:30 – 7:30pm! We will meet in the staff lounge at Newell. We will have a meet and Greet, plan fall events, and update on Fundraising progress.

Make sure to like our Newell PTA Facebook Page so you don't miss out on any information!

https://www.facebook.com/NewellElementaryPta/

Did you know our school is a Box Top for education school? It’s super easy to help our school raise extra funds!

1. Download the Box Top for Education app!
2. Choose our school— A B Newell Elementary School
3. Go grocery shopping!
4. Scan every receipt just to make sure you’re not missing anything!
5. Repeat steps 3&4 as often as you need to!

Wednesday, August 28th

• 3rd Grade State Fair

• No school for students.

Monday September 2nd

• No school for students (Labor Day).

Friday, September 13th

• Newell Knight PTA Fun Run (more information to come)

Thursday, September 19th

• PTA Family Movie Night - Outside! Movie begins at 8pm.

Friday September 20th

• No school for students.

Keep up with our FULL Calendar of EVERYTHING going on here: http://bit.ly/newellcal

Enjoy these recent photos!

Click to zoom in.

Messages that are important all year long!

Your child’s education and well-being is important to us. If your family or child is experiencing difficulties at home, we would love to be able to provide additional support at school. We understand that you are not always able to share details and that’s okay. If your child is coming to school after a difficult night, morning, or weekend, send a message or note with the words, “Handle with Care.” Nothing else will be said or asked. This will let us know that your child may need extra space, time, patience, and help during the day.

Parents, there is a lot of illness going around. Please monitor your child for symptoms.

Description of Fever:

1. A fever is a temporary increase in body temperature, usually caused by an illness.
2. In most mild, two to five day, childhood illnesses, fever is lowest in the morning, rises in the afternoon, and will be the highest in evening and night. As the child begins to recover, morning temperatures will be normal with fever still present later in the day.

Management:

1. Students with a temperature of 100 F or more may be sent home from school.
2. Students may return to school when their temperature has remained below 100.0 for 24 hours without fever reducing medication.

Social media posts as well as a phone call, email or text message will inform you of urgent announcements and weather emergencies. Please be sure our office has your most current telephone and email information.

A regular school day begins at 8:00am and dismisses at 3:05pm, Monday through Friday. Students may be dropped after 7:30am. Students must be picked up by 3:15pm.

Please make your child aware of his/her after school plan. If transportation or daycare plans change, please call the office so we can let your child’s teacher know. Thank you.

We start our school day right at 8:00am. It is VERY important that your child is in class ready to learn at 8:00. Breakfast is served from 7:30am to 7:50am. We are unable to serve students breakfast after 7:50am. If your child needs to eat breakfast at Newell, plan to have them on campus with enough time to get to our breakfast line by 7:50. Students arriving after 7:50 should go to their class lines. Breakfast is FREE for ALL students!

ALL visitors need to check in at the office and wear given identification while in the school. All visitors must ring the buzzer at door #1. Our staff is busily working with students during the school day. If visiting Newell to speak with a staff member, you may be asked to make an appointment at a later time.

Birthdays may be celebrated in each child’s classroom. Families are NOT required or expected to provide treats or gifts. However, if you want to offer treats, please provide healthy snacks that are individually packaged. Cupcakes, cookies, donuts, etc. will not be allowed.

As cited on page 34 of the GIPS Student Handbook:

"Students in grades Pre-K-5 are discouraged from bringing ECDs (Electronic Communication Devices) to school."

If you need to send an Electronic Communication Device with your student, the handbook states:

"Phones should be kept either turned off, or on silent following the rules specified by the classroom teacher."

At Newell students either keep their phones off or silent in their backpacks or they bring their phones to our secretaries in the office at the beginning of the day to keep them safe, also off or on silent. Note: your child will not be able to send or read messages or calls during the school day.

If you have questions please reach out to Mr. Balcom.

The full handbook is online here: https://www.gips.org/Page/105

Have a wonderful first week!

Nate Balcom- Principal

Heather Glause - Secretary

Kathy Schulte - Attendance Secretary

Jami White - Social Worker

Tiffanie Oswald - Nurse

Yolanda Seiler - Spanish Interpreter