TOMMIE TALK

Mrs. Streeter - Principal
sstreeter@dpsnd.org
Mrs. Ritcheson - Administrative Assistant

lritcheson@dpsnd.org

Mrs. Hughes - Administrative Assistant
chughes@dpsnd.org
Jefferson Office
701-456-0013

NOVEMBER 1 - NO SCHOOL

NOVEMBER 3 - DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS (TURN CLOCKS BACK 1 HOUR)

NOVEMER 6 - PAC MEETING 12:00p (zoom link below)

NOVEMBER 8 - SEALANT PROGRAM

NOVEMBER 11 - NO SCHOOL

NOVEMBER 11-15 NATIONAL SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY WEEK

NOVEMBER 12 - 18 AMEN FOOD PANTRY COLLECTION (NON-PERISHABLES)

NOVEMBER 18 - 5TH GRADE MUSIC PROGRAM 6:00p-7:00p

NOVEMBER - AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK (SEE DRESS UP DAYS)

NOVEMBER 19 - END OF TRIMESTER 1

NOVEMBER 21 - REPORT CARDS COMING HOME

NOVEMBER 27-29 - NO SCHOOL - THANKSGIVING BREAK

https://zoom.us/j/95609610772?pwd=9Gk50Sf6VY6HhX5A3Nz1BGYljxsp9m.1

Meeting ID: 956 0961 0772

Passcode: 5Pt4ge

If you have to pick up your child within the last 30 minutes of the school day. Please call in the morning. It will make the pick up process go smoothly in the afternoon.

Please opt in to the school messenger, this will be the fastest way to alert parents in an emergency or a winter weather early release or anything else that may come up during the school year.

As the weather cools down, we know that the chances for close contact increase with shared hats, scarves, and other cozy winter wear. With this in mind, we want to share a few easy and positive tips to help prevent the spread of head lice.

Head lice are common among school-aged children, and they can spread through close contact. While they’re harmless, lice can be uncomfortable and are best avoided with a few simple habits. Here’s what you can do:

1. Encourage Personal Use of Hats and Scarves
   Remind your child to avoid sharing hats, scarves, combs, or hair accessories. Having their own personal items can reduce the chance of spreading lice between friends.
2. Keep Long Hair Tied Back
   If your child has long hair, keeping it tied back in a ponytail or braid is a great way to reduce contact with others.
3. Perform Regular Checks at Home
   It can be helpful to do occasional checks at home, especially if you know of a case in your child’s class. Look for small white eggs (nits) close to the scalp, particularly around the ears and neckline.
4. Notify the School
   If you do happen to find head lice, please let us know so we can take appropriate steps to minimize exposure for others.

Thank you for partnering with us to keep our school community healthy and comfortable. By working together, we can keep head lice from becoming an issue and ensure that everyone enjoys a great fall and winter season!

As we enjoy the beauty of fall, it’s wonderful to see so many students riding their bikes to school. However, we’ve noticed some concerning behaviors, such as students riding into the street without stopping and not always following traffic rules. Safety is our top priority, and we want to ensure every child arrives at school and home safely.

Please take a moment to remind your child of these key bike safety rules:

• Stop and look before entering the street. Always be aware of cars and other vehicles.
• Ride on the right side of the road and stay in designated bike lanes where available.
• Wear a helmet and make sure it fits properly.
• Use hand signals to communicate with drivers and pedestrians.

Together, let’s keep our kids safe and make biking a fun, secure way to get to and from school.

Additional Bike Safety Resources for Families

To support safe biking habits, here are some helpful resources for you and your child:

1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) - Bike Safety for Kids: Offers tips on safe biking practices, helmet fitting guides, and educational videos.
2. Safe Routes to School - Biking Tips for Parents and Kids: Provides resources and ideas to help make walking and biking to school safe and accessible for all.
3. KidsHealth from Nemours - Bicycle Safety: Covers the basics of bike safety for families, including safety gear, road rules, and how to prevent injuries.
4. Local Community Programs - Check with your local community center or library for upcoming bike safety workshops or events specifically designed for young riders.

Thank you for partnering with us to promote safety and make biking a positive experience for everyone in our community!

• Nov. 18th-Kick off Day-Celebrate excellence in Education-Wear your School Colors with Pride!
• Nov. 19th- Family Day-Celebrating a child’s first teach and the partnerships we have-Hats off to Families-Wear a hat day!
• Nov. 20th-Educational Support Day-Paraprofessionals, Custodial, Kitchen Staff, & Bus Drivers Day-We stand for ROAR expectations, wear the rainbow! Kinder-Red, 1st grade-Orange, 2nd grade-Yellow, 3rd grade- Green, 4th grade-Blue, & 5th grade-Purple, Staff-Black & White.
• Nov. 21st-Educator for Day-Teacher kid swap day-Kids dress like teachers and educators dress like kids
• Nov. 22nd- Substitute Teacher Day-Celebrate our Guest Teachers-Wear Crazy Socks!

Physical Education in November will start with a continuation of a basketball unit that was started at the end of October. This involves dribbling, passing, shooting, and defensive skills being worked on. The next unit will be a quick but fun parachute unit, where we will be working on team-building exercises in some fun parachute games. We did have to change some units around, so our speed stacking unit will be following the conclusion of our parachute unit. That includes different games and activities involving hand-eye coordination and speed with cup stacking. These units should take us to the end of November, with a couple of different Thanksgiving-themed activities to take us into the Thanksgiving break!

Mr. Schatz

This month in music we will have our first concert of the year! Fifth grade will be putting on “Salute, A Veteran’s Day Program” by John Jacobson on November 18th at 6:00p. Our third graders will also be well on their way rehearsing for their December concert. Kindergarten, first, second, and fourth grade will all continue to work on various music foundations such as tempo, dynamics, and rhythms. Jefferson students have been working hard in music and I look forward to seeing what they will accomplish throughout the rest of the year!

Jefferson artists in 2nd grade are working on how changing the color of our drawing paper changes how our colors appear to the viewer. 3rd and 5th-grade artists are working on creating 1 point aquariums and trains to practice perspective. 4th grade artists are working on shading and blending techniques to create a pumpkin patch or jack-0-lanterns.

Denise Johnson

SEL Snapshot

Mrs. Fisher (school counselor) is hard at work providing SEL (Social Emotional Learning) lessons in each classroom. Did you know that each classroom receives 80 minutes a month of these SEL lessons? How amazing is that!!!

Have you ever wondered what in the world we are doing in these lessons? We use lots of things to provide these lessons with the main ones being: Quaver, Second Step, Keys of Excellence, and Mind-up. We have worked hard to create a scope and sequence that follows the CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) competencies (self-awareness; self-management; social awareness; relationship skills; responsible decision-making) and have also created assessments for each competency. At present and into early December will be focused on the unit of self-management. These lessons focus specifically on managing emotions and behaviors as well as working towards goals.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out!

Here is a short video from Mr. Pavlish sharing information about our 2023-24 Student Council and its members.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gQk_hdyl9DxA59vHivRXvqnZkM7h_q2I/view?usp=drive_link

The end of the first trimester is November 19. Report cards will be coming home on November 21st.

DPS uses VOLY, a volunteer management system, to post volunteer opportunities and find volunteers.

To volunteer on one of our campuses, you will need to create a VOLY account by visiting https://dickinson.voly.org.

Once you create an account, you will fill out the following:

• DPS Volunteer Application
• Volunteer Confidentiality Rules
• 2022-2023 Orientation Video
• Volunteer Handbook
• Background Check Consent
• DPS Board Policy requires that each volunteer undergoes a background check before working with students. You will be prompted to complete the background check during your VOLY account creation process. Keep an eye on your inbox for your background check approval (the process can take up to 2-3 days).
• Once approved, you will be able to sign up directly for volunteer opportunities through the VOLY platform!

Thank you for your desire to volunteer with us! Volunteers are an integral part of what we do every day in DPS.