Happy Friday, Lil Steamer Families!

October 25, 2024

From the Desk of: Principal Hoese

Lil Steamer Families --

Earlier this week I attended the Illinois Principals Association fall conference in Peoria. I look forward to this every year for the chance to learn new ideas to bring to #SteamerNation and network with others.

I’m grateful I had the opportunity to be a presenter for the IPA Aspiring School Leader Network on Sunday, serve as Northwest Region secretary on Monday, attend conferences on Monday & Tuesday, and network with other admin throughout the duration.

In addition, this was Roese’s first big professional adventure as she attended with me and did AMAZING! She was definitely making the other admins smile and I had great conversations about starting the school therapy dog process in their buildings.

Have a great weekend!

JAGH

From the Desk of: AP Parsons

One benefit of moving from aimsweb to FastBridge for progress monitoring has been the addition of social emotional screeners. Data from SAEBRS and/or mySAEBRS will be used to help us better support all of our Lil Steamers.

From the fastbridge.org:

"The Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS) is a 19 item rating scale that teachers complete about their students' social, academic, and emotional behaviors. SAEBRS is designed for use across grades K-12. It is grounded in a conceptual model, which specifies that school success is predicated not just upon academic achievement, but also success within multiple inter-related behavioral domains. SAEBRS evaluates student functioning in terms of overall general behavior (Total Behavior; 19 items), as well as Social Behavior (6 items), Academic Behavior (6 items), and Emotional Behavior (7 items).

The Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (mySAEBRS) is a 20 item rating scale that students complete about their social, academic, and emotional behaviors. It is grounded in a conceptual model which states that school success is predicated not just upon academic achievement, but also success within multiple inter-related behavioral domains. The mySAEBRs assessment is designed to evaluate student functioning in terms of overall general behavior (Total Behavior; 20 items), as well as Social Behavior (7 items), Academic Behavior (6 items), and Emotional Behavior (7 items)."

From the Desk of: Counselor Meumann

Red Ribbon Week is Oct. 28-Nov. 1st. Red Ribbon Week promotes being drug free. It is a national reminder for students and adults that using drugs is wrong and dangerous. The students at Fulton Elementary School will be participating in Red Ribbon Week by dressing up to go along with the different themes each day. Each student will receive a pencil which promotes being drug free. Thanks for your participation during Red Ribbon Week.

Red Ribbon Week

October 28 - November 1

Monday

Team Up Against Drugs

Wear Your Favorite Team Shirts

Tuesday

Peace Out To Drugs

Wear Tie Dye

Wednesday

Sock It To Drugs

Wear your craziest socks

Thursday

Say Boo To Drugs

Wear orange and black

Friday

I’m “Red-y” to Say No To Drugs

Wear Red

Principal Appreciation Day!

The old adage says imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... but what a treat it was to see imitation in full fashion on Friday! Mrs. Champion had students thoroughly confused with her "Mr. Hoese beard", Mr. Hartman was spot on, and Mrs. Parsons predictably wore her red & black Steamer attire on our #SteamerNation Friday!

3rd Grade had a GREAT time at the Science Expo!

This is Sara with Talamus, which was one of our service dog visitors.

4th Grade Has Service Dog Visitors

The 4th Grade read a story in their text this week about a young man and his guide dog. We then had visitors from Tahlmus's Tricky Training visit. Asa and Sara came and shared with the students about emotional support animals, therapy animals and service aninals. They brought two of their service dogs to show how they act different when in their work vest or when they are just being regular dogs. The students learned so much about the proper etiquette and behavior around each type as well.

FES HALLOWEEN PARADE SCHEDULED FOR OCT. 31 @ 1:45 P.M.

First and foremost, we understand that Halloween means different things to different families. If horror films, scariness, and spooky seasons are your jam - that’s great. But as a public elementary school supporting children as young as age 5, that’s not our jam.

To support all children, I want to be very clear that our Halloween celebration and parade will be school appropriate for all students and families. There are plenty of appropriate costumes for students to wear. A reminder to all parents we will not allow face paint, accessories, or costumes that are inappropriate for school (examples include dressing as horror movie/story characters, bloody/extreme/grotesque costumes, weapons, etc.). If you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s costume, please contact Principal Jeffrey Hoese or Assistant Principal Kelli Parsons. We will be taking a very safe and considerate approach.

Weather permitting, the K-5 Halloween Parade will be held at 1:45 PM on the sidewalks outside of the building on Thursday, October 31, 2024. The path will go from the FES playground, up the hill towards RBMS, and then lap around the RBMS field. In the event of inclement weather, the parade will be held indoors in the hallways for students only.

Kindergarten through 5th grade students will have time to change into a costume prior to the parade. Costumes and makeup are not to be worn to school; they will have time before the parade to change.

Book Grant Funded

Mrs. Miner received a grant to purchase books for the 4th Grade Ag in the Classroom curriculum through the Whiteside Soil and Water Conservation District Education Grant. She was able to buy books that coordinate with the agriculture lessons that 4th Grade will be exploring through the school year.

NEW! FES PTO Corner

What a fantastic start to the year for our PTO and school community!

House Lanyards: Just before Sorting Day, each of the four houses received brand new lanyards provided by the PTO! Both the students and teachers loved them, and you can catch a glimpse of everyone proudly wearing them in our previous newsletter. These lanyards will be used for years to come!

Coffee and Donut Fundraiser Success: Thanks to your support, our Coffee and Donut fundraiser raised over $4,800, making it our most successful fundraiser in the past three years! A huge thank you to everyone who participated! Special shout-out to 5C, the winning class, who earned a fun Popcorn Glow Party!

National Custodians Appreciation Day: On National Custodians Appreciation Day, our PTO proudly provided gifts for each of our hardworking custodians. We wanted to show our gratitude for all they do to keep our school running smoothly, so we gifted them some sweet treats and a gift card to Steam Anchor. Thank you to our custodial staff for all your dedication and care!

Upcoming Events:

Trunk or Treat: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO LOW SIGN-UPS.
Teacher Treats During Conferences: Eagle Brew has generously agreed to donate once again, and many parents have volunteered to drop off baked goods. We hope our teachers enjoy these treats as much as they did last year!

Polar Bear Patch Holiday Shop: Our PTO board is hard at work preparing for the beloved Polar Bear Patch! After great feedback from last year’s holiday shop, we have decided to personally shop for the items this year instead of using an outside company to provide the inventory. The kids loved shopping, and we’re aiming to provide an even better experience this year!

Coming Soon: Donuts with Grown-Ups is coming back this spring, a much-anticipated event loved by our community. Additionally, we're working on a few fundraisers that will make for great holiday gifts—stay tuned for more details!

Recent PTO Approvals: We’ve been busy approving requests that will benefit our students and teachers, including:

Art supplies for Mystery Baskets in Mrs. Long’s Art classes.
Speech supplies for Ms. Bri's current and future students.
Play therapy figures and blocks for Counselor Mrs. Meumann’s students.
Special Education supplies and games for Mrs. Whitney’s classroom.
1,056 bookmarks for all students visiting the library, requested by Mrs. Pannell.
A reading program and supplies for Ms. Maloney’s classes.
Pumpkins and apple juice for kindergarteners at the FES Annual Pumpkin Patch.
A picture book series about making friends for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, requested by LeAnn Smith. This request approval is especially meaningful to our PTO members, many of whom have loved ones on the spectrum and understand the importance of friendship skills.

Next PTO Meeting: Our next meeting will be on November 12th at 7 PM (rescheduled due to Election Day). We hope to see you there!

Thank you for your continued support in making this a great year for our school community!

If you need to contact us, please reach out via Facebook at Fulton PTO, by email at fultonelempto@gmail.com, or connect with one of our board members:

Lynne Coffey – President
Abra Richards – Vice President & Media Manager
Danielle Wilkins – Secretary
Tarah Manon – Treasurer

Sign-ups for Grades 1-4 Boys & Girls Basketball

Please use the following link to sign up for girls and boys Rec Basketball for grade levels 1st-4th. Information and schedule is included on the sign up form.

https://forms.gle/MpxYZcLHQ9xxAMS4A

CKH Monthly Newsletter for October!

Be sure to read through the conversation starters at the bottom of the newsletter for great ways to discuss how to be a self-directed student. Self-direct is our October monthly character trait!