December Parent Newsletter

November was a busy month for us! There were so many exciting things happening in our building. We had a special visit from the ROC Restorative team and WDKX this month to help us kick off the Circle of Champions initiative. This will focus on training students in grades 4 and 5 to lead community building circles with our younger students, and allow us to more fully include students in our continued work with Restorative Practices. We have continued our School 46 Parliament Meetings. Did you know that a group of owls is called a parliament? Well, since our school mascot is an owl, we decided that we would call our monthly school meetings Parliament meetings. In November, we focused school-wide on the characteristic of optimism. Classrooms had discussions about what it means to be optimistic, and then we celebrated students who demonstrated the characteristic at our meeting. Our grade K students did a wonderful job singing at the meeting, and our sixth grade students helped present the characteristic of Acceptance. We will be focusing on creating an accepting community of learners at School 46. Feel free to have a conversation at home about what it means to be accepting of others, and how we can behave in a way that allows everyone to feel accepted and seen in our classrooms.

Super Improvers

This year, we are also focusing on encouraging students to do some personal goal setting and really work to improve in an area where they want to do better. Each month, we are looking for students who have put forth effort and have shown growth in any area: ELA, math, science, SS, attitude, or engagement/participation/behavior. We are looking at students' i-Ready data, Reflex and Frax data, and daily exit tickets. We want students to take ownership for their learning and understand that learning is not something that happens to you passively, but that our students really need to be actively engaged in the work to improve. Sometimes that requires a bit of struggle before the learning happens, but that is a natural and normal part of the process. Learning can be a little messy! And that is okay. Look for the Super Improver Awards to come home at the end of the month! We had several students awarded last month, and I anticipate that we will have even more this month.

December Events

There are many things to look forward to in December, including the holiday. Don't forget that we have a half day on Friday, December 9th. Dismissal is at 12:30. That is also the day that we will have school picture makeups. If you missed school picture day, or you were unhappy with the photo, you will be able to do a retake session with our photographer on Friday. Also, something that we have really missed is coming back this year! Our School 46 winter concert is scheduled for December 16th at East High School.

Health & Wellness Updates

As I am sure you are aware, the Monroe County Department of Health has alerted the community that there are currently high numbers of flu, RSV, and Covid in our community. We have had our fair share of these illnesses at school, and a stomach bug as well. If your child is sick, please call the main office, (585)288-8008 and let us know, even if you have sent a dojo message to the teacher. We have to ensure that it is put into the system correctly, and make a note that it is an excused absence. Make sure you are taking care of yourselves. This has been a tough cold and flu season already! My hope is that the worst of it will be over soon.

From Nurse Dawn:

Colds and flu are very common, especially this time of year. In order to prevent the spread of illness: please remind your child to wash their hands frequently and adequately, keep hands away from their face and cough or sneeze into the crook of the elbow or into a tissue. If you have not already, it is not too late to protect yourself or your children from the flu by obtaining a flu shot. If you have questions about the health of your child, please reach out to your child’s physician or the school nurse.

Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair is back!! I am so excited to announce that because it has been a few years since we were able to have parents in the building. And while we are still trying to manage the amount of people in and out so that we can try to keep germs at bay, we are super excited to have you all in for our grand lunches. Please see the flier below, and the grand lunch schedule. During the grand lunches, parents are invited to come in during their child's lunch time, eat lunch with their child, and then head up to the book fair to check out the books for purchase. We hope that many of you are able to make it!

Grand Lunch Schedule

December 13:

11:00-11:30 grades K & 1

11:40-12:20 grades 2 & 3

December 16:

12:20-12:50 grades 4 & 5

1:00-1:30 grade 6

Spirit Week

We will be having a spirit week at school the week of December 19th. The flier is below, but here are the details:

Monday: We are ONE team at School 46: wear your favorite team jersey

Tuesday: Life would be boring with just ONE color: wear many different colors

Wednesday: At School 46, there isn't just ONE star, we all shine: wear silver, gold, and/or sparkles

Thursday: We are ONE -derfully festive: wear your favorite tacky sweater

Friday: The holiday break is a ONE-derful opportunity to rest and relax: wear your pj's

As always, we are so grateful for your partnership! Thank you for sharing your children with us. I hope that you are all able to enjoy the break with family and friends, and enjoy the holiday season!

December 9: Half day for students (12:30 dismissal); Picture Day retakes

December 12-16: School 46 Book Fair and Grand Lunches

December 16: School 46 Winter Concert, 10:00 AM; 6:00 PM evening performance at East High

December 19-23: School Spirit Week!

December 21: SOTA concert for string and band students, 10:00-1:30

December 26-January2: Closed for the HOLIDAY

My daughter is persistence personified — she’ll sit in front of a puzzle for hours until it’s done, testing piece after piece in space after space. As a middle schooler, she tried multiple approaches to figure out a tough math problem, even looking up video examples, all on her own before asking for help. My second child is altogether different. Puzzles, with their ornery, uncooperative pieces, get about three minutes of his attention. Tough homework problems can create a cascade of stress and overwhelm. Why is this? Persistence.

Persistence is a helpful trait in life. It describes how long we are able to stick at a task, manage frustration, and push through the challenges we encounter. This quality is part of a child’s growing self-regulation skills, which emerge between 3 and 7 years of age (and continue to develop for many more years).

Persistence is part of how we’re wired. Some of us come wired to stick with something until we’ve mastered it — though sometimes this means we keep pushing way beyond what’s constructive or helpful! And some of us are wired to have a more limited tolerance for persisting at tasks, especially when faced with challenges. But no matter what our temperament is, persistence represents a set of skills that we can learn and get better at over time.

There are so many ways that practice makes you better, but you have to keep trying! Remind kids to not give up on their first attempt with this clip from

Here are some ideas for parenting children at all levels of persistence:

If your child is naturally less persistent…

1. Fun is #1. Remember that children persist longest with activities they enjoy and are interested in. Let children choose their play and hobbies. You might offer additional props or materials to extend their interest, but let them take the lead.
2. Try activities with multiple steps. For example, many art projects need time to dry, then need to be painted, then need to dry again. Extended activities like these teach patience and persistence.
3. Validate your child’s feelings. Being faced with challenges can lead to big, intense feelings. It’s helpful to give your child the language to put these feelings into words: It can be frustrating when it falls apart. It’s hard when you’re learning how to play a game for the first time. When you aren’t sure how to solve the problem, you can ask for help. It’s hardest the first time you try, but it gets easier with practice.
4. Look for age-appropriate “stretch” opportunities. As the parent of a child who is lower on the persistence scale, I know it’s tempting to offer activities you know your child can master because the tantrum when they cannot is… not fun. But the truth is that persistence grows when children learn they can work through challenges and be successful. So rather than pull out that 10-piece puzzle again, try the 15-20 piece puzzle and see what happens.
5. Avoid jumping in right away. Children learn to persist by facing obstacles and working out possible solutions, while managing their natural frustration. This can’t happen if adults rescue them at the first hint of difficulty. You know your child best so watch for signs they’re getting overwhelmed and step in only then by asking, “I see you are working hard, but it’s still not working. Would you like to take a break or have a little help?”

If your child is naturally more persistent…

1. Be prepared for them to be persistent with everything — including your limits. Persistent children often “want what they want.” So be prepared to set kind, consistent limits over and over again with your mini-litigator. Remember this quality will serve them well later on!
2. Validate their feelings. When your child isn’t able to achieve their goal, they’re likely to experience some big feelings. Naming those feelings can help: “You really wanted to go to the park today. But I saw lightning outside so we need to wait. I see you’re feeling disappointed. I can understand how you’d feel that way.”
3. Offer help with transitions. Sometimes highly persistent children have a hard time leaving an activity and moving on to something else. You can try giving a 5 minute, and then 3 minute, reminder of a change in activity. Or, try a visual timer that shows your child the time decreasing until the transition happens.
4. Step in if your child is “spinning their wheels.” Sometimes very persistent children will get to a point where they are trying the same (unsuccessful) strategy over and over again because they aren’t sure what else to do. Check in and see if your child wants some help — and let them know it’s okay to ask for help too: “I see you’ve tried the big block on the top of your tower a few times now and it keeps falling. Would you like some help thinking about that problem?”

There’s no right or wrong way to experience the world. Persistence is just one trait that makes us all gloriously, perfectly unique. Children have lots of time to learn that there are many ways to engage with a challenge, explore solutions, and work to a conclusion — all while managing the big feelings that arise in these moments. That’s complicated stuff! That’s why they have their entire childhood — and their relationship with you — to figure it out.

I sincerely hope you take a moment to enjoy this book with your child, or children. It is absolutely one of my favorites. This book allows us all to reflect on our choices and realize that we can still change our behavior and make better choices even when our previous behavior may have been hurtful to others. It also encourages readers to have a positive opinion of themselves and behave in a way that reflects the good inside.

Theme(s): The Bad Seed by Jory John, a sunflower seed, acts badly because others think it is bad, but realizes it is never too late to change its behavior even if others still judge it. Its theme includes people who can positively change their behavior even if others still judge them for their previous behavior.

We are a committed community of learners serving a population of preschool age children through sixth grade. We provide a safe and nurturing environment where students engage with a rich and challenging curriculum.

Email: 46info@rcsdk12.org
Website: rcsdk12.org/46
Location: 250 Newcastle Road, Rochester, NY, USA
Phone: (585)288-8008
Twitter: @RCSDsch46