3-11-16 Newsletter

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK
HEALTH CLASS: Students in grades 1-6 will soon begin the health curriculum with units on Human Sexuality. The 1stgraderswill review the names of the basic body parts. They will also be able to identify male and female. The 2ndgraderswill learn the proper names for all the body parts and complete a health program called “Its Your Body: You’re in Charge”. The 3rdgraderswill review the basic body parts and be introduced to the disease AIDS. The 4thgraders will get a better understanding of what AIDS does to the immune system and are introduced to puberty and body changes. The 5thgraderswill learn the stages of human growth and be introduced to the vocabulary used in the human reproductive system. They will also recognize that some diseases such as AIDS are caused by high-risk behaviors. The 6thgraderswill review the disease AIDS and review the vocabulary associated with the reproductive system. They will also discuss adolescence and puberty and it’s relationship to physical and emotional changes.
Joan Streck and Joan Bolt will team teach the 5thand 6thgrade puberty lessons. If you have any questions about the Human Sexuality Curriculum, please feel free to contact Joan Bolt.

PUBERTY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM: The fifth graders will be viewing the puberty / personal hygiene film once again this year. The boys will view the film “Always Changing – for Boys” with Nurse Streck. The girls will view the film, “Always Changing – For Girls – with Nurse Streck. The boys and girls will also have separate time that day with Joan Bolt for worksheets, vocabulary, and basic facts. Parents / Guardians can preview either film followed by a Q&A discussion time with Nurse Streck prior to the students watching the videos. This will be done in April, so more information will be available as the date approaches.
SPRING BREAK: Spring Break will begin on March 21st, 2016 and last the entire week. School will resume at the normal time on Tuesday, March 29th , 2016.
TORNADO DRILL: Tuesday, March 15this National Severe Weather Day. Normally we do a tornado drill on that day and if the weather is good, our plans are to have a drill sometime in the day to go over safety precautions with the students.
EARLY CHILDHOOD SCREEN: The Early Childhood Screen is scheduled for Friday, March 18th 2016. If you have any questions please contact the school at 877-5113 and ask for Joan Hale.
STUDENT SICKNESS: A child needs to be fever free for 24 hours without having Tylenol or Ibuprofen reducing the fever, before they can come back to school. Students still contagious during that 24 hour period are exposing their classmates if they come back to school too soon. If you have a question about this, please contact school nurse Joan Streck.
MTSS: More than 30 years of research exists indicating how children learn to read, why some children fail at reading, and what components and practices are necessary to provide effective instruction in reading. A multi-tiered reading model has been designed to implement these research findings and meet instructional needs of all readers. MTSS is a prevention model aimed at providing early supports to students before they become disengaged from school because of advanced learning needs or falling behind. Considerable research supports the importance of using systematic and explicit instruction when teaching the five essential areas of reading—namely: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.