Newell Family Sunday Message 03/09

Newell Families,

Last week we celebrated the love of reading with Read Across America Week. Guest readers and theme days are just some of the fun (photos below)! Remember Spring Break is this week (March 10th - 14th), with no school for students. See you all back on March 17th where we'll begin celebrating Music in Our Schools month, see below!

- Mr. Balcom

Last week we celebrated Read Across America week with many different guest readers! Even animals!

Reminder: There will be no school for students Monday March 10th through Friday March 14th

Thursday March 20th is Spring Picture Day.

This week is Read Across America Week! We will be having fun activities each day celebrating reading AND we will have theme dress-up days:

Monday March 17th

• Music Shirt T-Shirt Day! Celebrate music! Wear your favorite band, disney, or music shirt today!
• Music could be anything music related (instruments, music notes, singers, bands, disney music, move music etc)

Tuesday March 18th

• Tie Dye Tuesday! Groovy man! Wear tie dye today to celebrate the music of the 60s. This is the decade that introduced us to the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.

Wednesday March 19th

• Music of the Night! Wear your favorite pajamas today to celebrate music in our schools!

Thursday March 20th (SPRING PICTURE DAY)

• Music Rocks My SOCKS! Wear your cool or crazy socks to school today!

Friday March 21st

• Country Music Day! Let’s go back to the early days of country music. Blue jeans, flannel shirts, overalls, boots, and cowboy hats will make you a country music superstar today.

Tuesday March 18th Newell PTA is having a Dine-to-Donate night at Runza North from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. Pass it along to friends and family and it's always good for students and families to see staff there.

Online Registration for the 2025-2026 school year is open. The deadline is March 31st All students need to register for the 25-26 School Year. Yes, even if you are moving. More information here: https://www.gips.org/Page/1545

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

This week we are on Spring Break!

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, March 24th from 6:30 – 7:30pm! We will meet in the commons area at Newell. We will plan Sprint events, as well as family game night and fundraisers.

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!

Monday March 10th - Friday March 14th

• No School - Spring Break

Monday March 17th - Friday March 21st

• Music In Our Schools Month Dress-up Week (information above)

Tuesday March 18th

• 4th Grade Field Trip to Ag Day (Fonner Park) in the afternoon.
• 5:00pm to 8:00pm - PTA Dine-to-Donate at Runza North

Thursday March 20th

• Spring Picture Day (All Grades)

Monday March 24th

• 6:30pm to 7:30pm - Newell PTA Monthly Meeting

Friday March 28th

• No School for Students

Monday April 7th

• Kindergarten Field Trip to Stuhr Museum

Friday April 18th

• No School

Monday April 21st

• No School

Friday April 11th

• 4th Grade Field Trip to Lincoln

Thursday May 1st

• Field Day for all students. Stations in the morning and races in the afternoon.

Friday May 2nd

• No School for Students

Tuesday May 20th at 6pm

• 5th Grade Recognition in the evening. Location: Newell Gym

Thursday May 22nd

• Last Day of School
• 5th Grade Tunnel Walk at 10:45am (parents are welcome)
• Dismissal for all students at 11am.

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 week!

Nate Balcom- Principal

Heather Glause - Secretary

Kathy Schulte - Attendance Secretary

Jami White - Social Worker

Tiffanie Oswald - Nurse

Yolanda Seiler - Spanish Interpreter