The Titan Times: Week 17

Titan Families,

As you know, we have an exciting week planned leading into Thanksgiving Break. Next week, we host the Scholastic Book Fair as well as our Thanksgiving Luncheon. Please consider volunteering for those events if you are able. More information on that is below.

As we've shared, this month we are modeling and sharing with our student body how important it is to have a disposition of gratitude for the small and large things in life. To support us in this effort, here is an opportunity for you and your family to share how thankful you are for our various staff members. To do so, please consider filling out this link to generate a certificate to highlight and celebrate a staff member in our Titan Community. You and your family can fill out the form as much as you'd like. Thank you for partnering with us!

We are thankful for what is ahead in November! Be sure to plan to join us, volunteer, and/or contribute in all of the upcoming fun detailed in our newsletter. We look forward to engaging with you as the school year moves along. As always, should you have any questions, please feel free to call our campus, and a member of our wonderful office team will be more than happy to support you or direct you to someone who can.

Take care and lead well,

Dr. Amy Sharp

Proud RPE Principal

• 13th: Fall Picture Retakes and Vision and Hearing Screening with Nurse
• *If you wish to discuss options for picture retakes and/or refunds, please call our front office and speak with April Cmet. She can support you with how to navigate that need.
• 18th- 22nd:
• American Education Week Celebrating Principals, Asst. Principals, & Instructional Coaches
• Book Fair Week
• 20th
• 5th grade scoliosis screenings during PE for girls (see teacher email for dress instructions)
• Late Night for Book Fair is From 3:30- 6 PM in the library
• PTA General Meeting at 6 PM in the cafeteria
• 21st:
• 5th grade scoliosis screenings during PE for girls (see teacher email for dress instructions)
• Thanksgiving Luncheon- RSVP here respond by Friday, November 15th at 3:00 P.M.
• 25th- 29th: Thanksgiving Break: No School for Staff and Students

December:

• 5th & 6th: Winter Wreath Making in the RPE Garden. Volunteer signup coming soon.
• 10th: 3rd Grade Performance at 10:45 AM for families and 2 PM for students
• 12th: 1st Grade Field Trip and Campus Spelling Bee for Grades 3-5
• 18th: Winter Parties (Info coming)
• 20th: Early Release and End of 2nd Nine Weeks Grading Period
• 23rd- January 6th: Winter Break for Students (Staff return on January 6, 2025)

Calling all volunteers! Join us in the library for our Fall Scholastic Book Fair, Monday November 18th through Thursday November 21st.

We’ll need help setting up and taking down the fair after school on Monday and Thursday, as well as volunteers to work the fair during school hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Please note the late shopping hours on Wednesday night, and we’ll be especially busy during Thanksgiving lunches on Thursday!

As a volunteer your duties may include:

- Organizing and restocking items for sale

- Maintaining cleanliness of the fair

- Assisting students with their book selections

- Helping students count change and make payments

- Cashiering (The Scholastic payment system is incredibly easy to use and we’ll provide all training at the start of your volunteer shift!)

Please feel welcome to claim one, or as many shifts as you’d like. This is a really fun way to get to know RPE staff and see your children interact with their friends.

Questions? Please reach out to Kelsey Emerson at kemerson531@gmail.com

**MUST be an approved LISD volunteer to sign up**

Sign up to be a LISD volunteer HERE

Consider becoming a:

• Volunteer: https://apps.raptortech.com/Apply/MTc6ZW4tVVM=#
• Substitute: https://www.applitrack.com/leander/onlineapp/jobpostings/view.asp?internaltransferform.Url&category=&category=11+-+Substitute

It’s that time of year when the district reviews the current academic calendar and finalizes the academic calendar for the following year. Input from the #1LISD community is crucial to ensure that we develop the 2025–2026 school year calendar to best meet the needs of everyone in the district. Our goal is to collect as much feedback as possible. Complete the Academic Calendar Survey. The survey will close Dec. 3, 2024. We look forward to hearing from you and working together to shape our academic calendar.

Dear Titan Community,

I am saddened to inform you that I have made the decision to resign as the librarian at River Place Elementary. This decision has been made in order to better support my family as we relocate to San Antonio at the end of December. River Place has been my home these past two and a half years, and I am sad to leave, but excited and optimistic for this next chapter. I look forward to enjoying these last few weeks with our amazing students before my departure at Winter Break and hope to help the transition be smooth for my family and our school.

Sincerely,

Sydney Eubanks

With this news, we are activity hiring a librarian to start in the spring semester. Info here: https://bit.ly/3W7c71S

In the meantime, we are enjoying every day we have with Ms. Eubanks to end 2024. If we do not have a suitable replacement, we will work with district offices to secure a sub and continue our systems in the library. If you have any questions, please reach out to Dr. Amy Sharp at amy.sharp@leanderisd.org Thank you!

We got confirmation from Avery's family this morning that they have finalized Avery's funeral arrangements. Many thanks to those of you who have contributed to their fundraising page to pay for these services. They are below.

In Loving memory of Avery J Crittendon, the following events will take place:

• Viewing of the body will take place at Fuller-Sheffield Funeral services on Nov 15th from 6pm-8pm at 2808 E. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd Austin, Texas 78702
• Funeral services will be held at 11 am on Nov 16th 2024 at Greater Love Baptist Church located at 6601 Manor Rd in Austin Texas, 78723

Should you wish to give the family any cards or anything, that is the time to do so if you are able to attend. If you are not able to attend, please feel free to drop off anything to the front office, and we will be sure their family receives it. We are collecting items through Friday, November 15th.

Greetings Titan Families,

Annual Vision and Hearing Screenings mandated by the Texas Department of Health

will begin now and through November 13th when we hold the mass screening on

campus at River Place Elementary. Children in 1st , 3rd and 5th grades will be screened.

Also any children new to the district and in any specialty classes will be tested. Please

have your child bring their glasses and hearing devices on this day. Testing will be done

with corrective devices on your child. Should your student encounter any issues when

screening there will be a rescreening done and a referral sent home after that is

performed by trained staff members.

Thank you,

Nurse Rushing

River Place Elementary will be hosting its Thanksgiving Lunch for students and their families on November 21, 2024. The kitchen crew needs your help to make this possible!

We are looking for volunteers to help with decor before the event: covering and decorating tables in the cafeteria and MPR. Decorations will be provided

We are also needing volunteers to help serve behind the lunch lines and to clean tables during and after each lunch shift.

**All volunteers must wear closed toe, non-skid shoes and hair needs to be pulled back.

**MUST be an approved LISD volunteer to sign up**

Sign up to be a LISD volunteer HERE

Already a volunteer? Click here to sign up to volunteer.

We would absolutely love to encourage our elementary students who love to run or those who have never experienced a fun run to join our VXC athletes and boosters for our first event at Vandegrift High school! Anyone can participate 1st-6th grade and any level of interest! We would love to promote healthy lifestyle choices and we are also working with Coach L at CRMS to support his new running club!

Our VXC team has once again taken 1st at Districts, 1st at Regionals and 2nd at State - only 4 points behind Southlake. Our athletes would love to encourage our elementary students and help be the exemplary academic & athletic role models we need in our community!

We are so excited to combine two excellent programs into one great focus for our Titans. We are using Leander ISD's Ethical Principles (Culture of Caring) and Leander ISD’s Graduate Profile to make our Titan Community leadership and learning focus come to life.

What are we doing as a campus community?

Each month, we will have a new focus and will introduce Titan Excellence during our Titan Time Assembly. Then at the end of each month our teachers will choose two students from their homeroom that have exemplified these qualities through learning and leading. We will celebrate these students at our end of the month, Titan Time Assembly.

Why the change?

We want to effectively integrate important values into our school culture and provide students with regular opportunities to be celebrated for their achievements. This approach should encourage positive behavior and a strong sense of community among our Titans. Our hope is that the monthly focus and the recognition at the end of each month will help keep students engaged and motivated throughout the year.

How can you help?

We encourage you to support this effort by talking about these things at home with your Titan(s), too.

The Giving Train is a program that helps spread holiday cheer to kids in need within River Place Elementary. To take part in this year's Giving Train efforts please follow these simple steps:

1. Sign up below on the spreadsheet link if you would like to be assigned to fulfill a child’s wishes.

2. In an effort to ensure children receive equal gifts, please fulfill 3 key items (1. coat or sweater 2. toys 3. pair of shoes).

All gifts are due by December 10th.

Thank you for your interest in brightening the holidays for members of our RPE family!

If you have any questions feel free to contact Joy Rasul christinejoy.rasul@gmail.com or 832-370-9393.

Join PTA TODAY because increasing our membership, even by one, makes it possible to:

• Get funds to teachers to supplement classroom needs.
• Connect with teachers, parents, and administration to voice needs for our school and our Titans.
• Fund library technology, guest speakers, playground equipment.
• Help plan community activities such as Fall Fest, Apex Fun Run, Book Fair, Mentoring
• programs, Field Day, Career Day & STEAM Night.
• Support Teacher and Staff Appreciation.

Myths Debunked!

• PTA does NOT require mandatory meetings or volunteer hours.
• PTA is NOT just for stay-at-home parents or for those who want to take on a large leadership role.

PTA is-

• for ANYONE who wants to be a bit more connected to teachers, principals and the Titan community. In sum, there is no wrong or right way to be in PTA!
• something that takes 5 minutes to join and if you join now your $10 membership will enter you in a monthly raffle for gift cards, free water bottles, and MORE!
• easy to join! ----------> https://riverplacepta.membershiptoolkit.com

While we deeply appreciate your effort in ensuring your Titan's SDM is updated throughout the school year to include exceptions, we kindly ask that you contact the office via email to get a bus pass written for any Titan that doesn't typically ride the bus to ensure that your Titan is able to safely board the bus with no issue when their SDM exception is Bus Rider. Best practice would be to register your Titan for the bus using this link if these exceptions are planned for an occurrence of at least once a week. For your Titans who do typically ride the bus, please ensure that you have registered your Titan for the bus using this link. Moving forward, students will not be allowed to ride the bus in any capacity unless they've been registered or have contacted the office for a bus pass. If you have any questions, please contact the front office. Thank you!

If your student rides the bus in the morning or afternoon and you HAVE NOT registered with Transportation this school year, please do so now to ensure your student has a ride to and from school. You can verify if your student is registered by visiting https://parent.smart-tag.net/Account/Login and viewing your student's assigned route. If there is no assigned route please follow this link to register. As a reminder; any student who is going home with a bus rider or being dropped at an unassigned location must send a bus pass request to melynda.ambriz@leanderisd.org to be approved by Transportation or they will not be allowed on the bus or to be dropped off at a different location. You can reach out to Transportation at 512-570-0716 with any questions or concerns.

What SDM is:

School Dismissal Manager (SDM) is the system that is used to notify teachers which dismissal line they will put their students in at the end of every school day. Teachers are sent their SDM report around 1:40 pm, which is why the cutoff time to change your student's dismissal is 1:30. This gives teachers enough time to review it, notify their students of any changes they may not be aware of and prepare for dismissal. The office team and Teachers rely on this report to know where to send each child at the end of the day which is why it is important you update it when making any changes to how your student will be going home. If you are picking up your student early, it is important that you change it to "Leaving Early" so the dismissal team is not looking for your child at the end of the day. Early check-out ends at 2:15, because at that time, teachers are already preparing for dismissal and it can be difficult to notify a teacher, locate the student and get them down to the office during this very busy time of day. If your student is being picked up by someone other than an authorized person at the end of the school day, SDM is the place to note that.

What SDM is not:

SDM is not the place to submit your absent note. Even though you have the ability to change your student's dismissal to Absent you still must submit a note to the teacher or rplattendance@leanderisd.org. It is not the place to request your student ride the bus home with another student. You are able to note that, but you still need to submit a request for a bus pass by emailing Dr. Sharp and Melynda the receptionist. This is a policy set by LISD's Transportation Department. SDM is not how we know to call your student down early for an appointment. We cannot call a student to the office until an authorized person with an ID is here to pick them up and sign them out. SDM is often not reviewed until the end of the day before it is time to send the reports to Teachers, so the office staff may be unaware they are leaving early.

Families interested in being a part of the Free/Reduced lunch Program need to reapply each year. Please use this link to apply for the 24-25 school year if you haven't already done so. Also, if you are needing assistance with food for your student(s) for the weekend, you may use this google form to sign up for the Backpack Program. Your Titan(s) would receive a bag of food/snacks that they can put in their backpacks to take home each Friday. Please reach out to our school counselor if you have any questions.

Administration was informed that families cannot put a limit on a student's account through My School Bucks as thought. Families will need to fill out this form to detail the snack limit and return it to the cafeteria manager, valorie.rameriez@leanderisd.org at your earliest convenience. Please let us know if you need this in print form, and we will work with you to provide it.

Here are our Titan Community Communication Tools-

• River Place Elementary School Website
• Twitter Account
• PTA Facebook Page
• Remind App for River Place Insiders

Email: ContactTeacher@leanderisd.org
Website: https://riverplace.leanderisd.org/
Location: 6500 Sitio Del Rio Blvd, Austin, TX 78730, USA
Phone: 512-570-6911
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiverPlaceElementaryPTA/
X (formally known as Twitter): @RiverPlaceTitan

Instagram: @riverplace_elem