Newell Family Sunday Message 09/01
September 1st, 2024
Newell Families,
DIBELS testing (assessing reading skills) wrapped up last week and now we turn our attention to Math MAPS testing. Your classroom teacher will make sure you are aware of the testing day. It's been a great start to the 2024-2025 school year and I hope you are all enjoying the long holiday weekend! See you Tuesday!
- Mr. Balcom
Photo of the Week
Ms. Appel waiting for a NoWear BMX rider to jump over her on the 3rd Grade State Fair Field Trip!
Announcements
PTA Fundraiser Announcement!
🎉BIG NEWS! 🎉 Our Newell Knight Fun Run fundraiser kicks off Tuesday 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.
No School for Students
Reminder there will be no school for students on:
- Friday August 30th 2024
- Monday September 2nd 2024
Pulling Back the Shield: A Peek into Our Learning Adventures
Each week we'll let you behind the scenes on what students are learning at Newell.
Let’s take a peek this week into Kindergarten beginning reading! DING! Believe it or not, learning to hear different sounds, such as bells, chimes, and other auditory cues, plays a crucial role in early literacy development in Kindergarten!! Peek behind the shield and into our Kindergarten rooms and you’ll see students listening closely as their teacher plays different types of sounds and ask them how many different sounds they heard. On another day you may hear the teacher ringing the chimes 3 times and then asking students to show how many sounds they heard.
These activities sharpen children's auditory discrimination skills, which are foundational for phonemic awareness (the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language). By learning to differentiate between various sounds, children build the auditory processing abilities necessary for decoding words and understanding language patterns. This skill set not only enhances their ability to recognize letters and sounds but also supports overall cognitive development, paving the way for successful reading and writing experiences. These sounds will be the building blocks for reading!
👥 Newell PTA Corner 👥
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
👥 Next PTA Meeting
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.
👥 PTA on Facebook
Make sure to like our Newell PTA Facebook Page so you don't miss out on any information!
👥 Box Top for Education School
Did you know our school is a Box Top for education school? It’s super easy to help our school raise extra funds!
- Download the Box Top for Education app!
- Choose our school— A B Newell Elementary School
- Go grocery shopping!
- Scan every receipt just to make sure you’re not missing anything!
- Repeat steps 3&4 as often as you need to!
📆 Important Dates Coming Up 📆
Friday August 30th
- 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
Photo Gallery
This is the Way!
Enjoy these recent photos!
Click to zoom in.
♻️ REPEATED MESSAGES ♻️
Messages that are important all year long!
♻️ Handle With Care Information
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.
♻️ Students Who are Sick
Parents, there is a lot of illness going around. Please monitor your child for symptoms.
Description of Fever:
- A fever is a temporary increase in body temperature, usually caused by an illness.
- 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:
- Students with a temperature of 100 F or more may be sent home from school.
- Students may return to school when their temperature has remained below 100.0 for 24 hours without fever reducing medication.
♻️ Weather Updates and School Cancellations
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.
♻️ School Times:
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.
♻️ Breakfast
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!
♻️ Visitors:
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.
♻️ Birthday Treats:
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.
♻️ Student Cell Phones:
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