December 2016 Newsletter - Lawrence USD 497...RESUME • JAN. 6 ~ WINTER ... Tehya Jacobs Thanks to the PTO for collecting coins for a Care -For Family. They were able to purchase

SAVE THE DATE:

• JAN. 5 ~ CLASSES

RESUME

• JAN. 6 ~ WINTER

WELCOME PARTIES

8:00am—8:45am

• JAN. 11 ~ P.T.O.

5:45pm in the Library.

Childcare provided

• JAN. 16 ~ NO SCHOOL

Martin Luther King Day

• JAN. 19 ~ District “One

Dream MLK Celebration”

South Middle School

• JAN. 26 ~ PTO Chili

Feed and Title Math &

Reading Night. More

details to come!

Woodlawn Elementary Newsletter - DECEMBER 2016

From the Principal Dear Families,

We apologize that the month got away from us without getting a newsletter out to all of you. Before we leave for break, I’d like to communicate a few things.

First, you should have received a School Messenger call about confusion of this break. We will be dismissing at 3:05 tomorrow, even though the middle and high schools are out at noon. Because they are on the quarter system rather than trimesters like the elementary schools are, they will be taking finals in the morning and the staff will be preparing grades in the afternoon. All students will return to school on Thursday, January 5, 2017.

Our school Spelling Bee will be tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. The class finalists are:

3rd Grade Rayome: Dayton Schoenhofer and Eden Weber

3rd Grade Schultz: Alice Dorsey and Sammy Sengchan

4th Grade Graham: Aiden Jones, Richard Polk, Connor Rayome

4th Grade Hageman: Garret McLaughlin, Somjai Sengchan, Hyrum Vaeono

5th Grade Daley: Gregory Brolhorst, Nolan Craig, Oliver Reed

5th Grade Vilcek: Ridley Beard, Arlo Collier, Tehya Jacobs

Thanks to the PTO for collecting coins for a Care-For Family. They were able to purchase gifts for two families this year, which I’m sure will be greatly appreciated.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our families, the PTO, Site Council and our LEAP partners for all they do for our students and staff. We are so grateful to all of you. The Woodlawn staff wishes you and your families a beautiful, relaxing holiday and a new year of peace and happiness!

Warmest regards,

RIVERHAWK NEWS

Jeanne FridellJeanne FridellJeanne FridellJeanne Fridell

The Gift of Giving During the holiday season, it can be difficult to teach children the value of giving when they are constantly surrounded about messages about the value of getting. Here are some ways to begin: 1.) Start small when the children are small. Young children are happy to help you bake cookies for a friend. With your guidance, they will learn to give.

2.) Teach the value of giving time, by helping your child make gift certificates good for “one free car wash” or “breakfast in bed” that he or she can give to others in the family.

3.) Involve your child in selecting the gift. Help them find a way to give the gift they feel is important.

4.) Be a role model by volunteering your family’s time at a soup kitchen or senior center. Ask your child if he will help you baby-sit for a neighbor’s toddler so that she can do her shopping or help you rake the leaves for an elderly friend.

Sharing the experience of giving can be the most rewarding present you can give

your child this holiday season. May you and your family have a blessed holiday.

PTO Info - Get involved! Hello, Woodlawn Families! Can you believe that Winter Break is practically here already? What an awesome first half of the year it has been! Thank you all for your support and generosity; the Woodlawn community is just fantastic! The final Fall Fundraiser numbers are here; we were able to pull in a profit of over $2600! Way to go, every-body! Thank you to everyone who participated in Woodlawn Restaurant Night at Chipotle; the food was tasty and we were able to make $534.38! Kudos to all of the kiddos and their families for participating in this year’s Give Back Challenge! The students brought in over $250 during the Coin Drive and the Girl Scouts made a generous cash donation, as well! Thanks to the money raised and donations received, Woodlawn was able to add a second family to the Care-For-a-Family project! Additionally, over 220 canned food items were collected to donate to Just Food’s food pantry! Congratulations, Riverhawks; working together and giving back to our community are so rewarding!

PTO’s next big event will be the Chili Feed at Title Math/Reading Night on Thursday, January 26. Please plan on attending; the math and reading games are always a ton of fun and it’s nice to have an inexpensive, hot meal at the same time.

Finally, just a friendly reminder that PTO meetings are the first Wednesday of each month at 5:45pm in the li-brary; childcare is provided! We would love to see more parents’ faces and get your feedback and input; please consider coming to just one meeting this year to see what we’re all about!\

Thank you again for all of your support!

Have a wonderful holiday break!

Lindsey Holladay (President) [email protected] Amanda Bryson (President Elect) [email protected] Janet Matthews (Treasurer) [email protected] Kay Emerson (Secretary) [email protected]

CHILI FEED ~ JANUARY 26

This is us…

Live the Dream!!

Parent Support Minute

Happy December, all!

Have you ever heard of MyMoney.gov or Lawrence Community Works’ Individual Development Accounts? These are great, easy-to-use tools for money manage-ment.

* Go to MyMoney.gov to find easy hints and tips on spending, earning, saving/investing, protecting and borrowing money.

* An Individual Development Account (IDA) is an account that helps you save to-wards a targeted about of money. Here is an excerpt from Lawrence Community Works on their IDAs:

How do we do it?

o You save $75 a month and we match $225 a month, we match your savings up to $1,200. o You must attend our monthly Financial Literacy workshops for 18 months o You must attend our monthly Peer Support meeting (it will be fun, we promise) o We will help you establish or fix your credit. To be eligible: o Work full time or part time o Be a resident of Lawrence o Have a minimum credit score of 540 o Pass an application and interview assessment SEE MORE AT: www.lawrencecommunityworks.org/node/67

Courageous Conversations

Courageous Conversation Compass

As we connue our equity work at Woodlawn, both staff members and students will connue to learn about and

use the Courageous Conversaon Compass to idenfy and acknowledge where each parcipant enters the dia-

logue. No ma"er what the conversaon is about, it helps us know where we are personally as well as recognize

where the other person is coming from. Each classroom has a copy of this poster:

� Emo�onally, we respond to informaon through our feelings such as anger, sadness, joy or embarrass-

ment. (Symbol- heart)

� Intellectually, we may enter a situaon searching for more informaon or data. Our intellectual response

is usually verbal and based in our thinking. (Symbol- Head)

� Morally, we may respond from a deep-seated belief that has to do with the rightness or wrongness of the

situaon. These views are o-en what we would refer to as in the “gut” and may not be verbally arculated.

(Symbolic of our soul)

� Rela�onal, we respond to informaon through our doings or specific behaviors and acons.

By keeping this compass in mind whenever a courageous conversaon occurs, parcipants can begin to work to-

ward a common center. This works well for conversaons at home, as well as school.