Nov 2, 2018—issue 5

Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School

Dear King Families,

What a wonderful, fun-filled family

night we had at the Harvest Moon

Festival! Many thanks to ALL of our

volunteers, and especially Renee Tall,

who coordinated the wonderful

event!

I’ll resume my “bragging” about our

extraordinary King teachers… Your

child’s teachers participate in at least

100 hours of learning each year.

Professional development is a

necessary and essential part of our

teachers’ work as they are always

striving to improve their practice.

Dream keeper

MISSION:

Our mission for Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School is to build a 21st century learning community where all members are encouraged to do their personal best in a safe environment where we nurture respectful, responsible and caring citizens of the world.

experts tell us that this is the most

impactful way for teachers to improve

and enhance their classroom methods. I

can guarantee you that when teachers

are out of the classroom for this

learning, the children will be the

beneficiaries!

Thank you for the trust you place in us

to care for and educate your child(ren).

We take our commitment very seriously

and will always give our very best to

exceed your expectations! If we are not

doing so, please let me know.

Be well. --Mary

Most of this learning takes place before or

after school hours. We work as a team or

in small groups to enhance and refine our

teaching to gain greater urgency and

impact on student learning.

Five to six times this year, your child’s

teacher will be out of the classroom for a

half a day to work with their grade level

teams. Three of these ½ days will be

spent looking at the data and how we can

improve the learning. For two or three

of these ½ days, your child’s teacher will

be observing other teachers, both in and

out of King School. Experience and

DREAM KEEPER INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 2 Early Release Day information 3 Upcoming dates for your calendar; PTO information 4 Anti-Bullying Club (ABC) UPDATE ** NEW sign up with updated dates**5 Lead Teachers & Thank you to our Harvest Moon volunteers 6 Pizza & PJ Literacy Night—Wed, Nov 28th 7 HOME-SCHOOL CONNECTION--This month’s ABC session—apply the

learning at home! 8 The GREAT Kindness Challenge 9 Mystery Act of Kindness; Disability Awareness 11/14—help needed 10 KingCare Board Meeting

EARLY RELEASE DAYS

Again, for the 2018-19 school year, the Ann Arbor Public Schools

has made the decision to have early release days throughout the

school year. The reason is to provide additional opportunity for staff

professional development. Even with three after-school meetings

each month, each just 80 minutes in length, there is not the kind of

time necessary to delve deeply into the important topics and

practices. This time will be used well and wisely for the sake of

your child’s education.

Please make note of the Early Release days for the 18-19school year, with dismissal time being 1:29.

• Wednesday, January 30

• Wednesday, February 27

• Wednesday, May 22

You may want to consider King Care as an option on these early release days. Children need to be

registered at least two days prior. Contact: kingchildsupervision@yahoo.com or

kingchildcare.com

DREAM KEEPER

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Mon, Nov 5: 4:30 – 8:00 PM

o Conference Night for families with more than one child at King

• Tues, Nov 6; Election Day

o School closed

• Thurs, Nov 8th

o PTO meeting from 8-9 AM; All are welcome!

• Wed, Nov 21st – Fri, Nov 23rd

o No School for Thanksgiving break

• Mon, Nov 26th

o School resumes

• Wed, Nov 28th:

o 4th & 5th Gr Anti-Bullying @ 8:15 in Media Center

o Pizza & PJ’s Literacy Night! 6:00 – 7:30 PM

! RSVP please (See page 6 for details!)

• Thurs, Nov 29th

o 2nd & 3rd Gr Anti-Bullying Club @ 8:15 in Media Center

PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION

Dear King Families, In early November, King teachers hold parent/teacher conferences for each of their students. Teachers graciously extend their work hours into the evening in order to accommodate parent schedules. To show our appreciation, the PTO will provide dinner for the teachers on Monday, November 5th. Please consider signing up to bring an item or help with this event to show our wonderful King teachers how much they are truly appreciated. We are so fortunate to have such remarkable teachers and this is a great opportunity to say thank you! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0444abaf29a13-parentteacher

Also, the King Turkey Trot is fast approaching! All King students will run/walk laps behind the school. After the children finish, they can enjoy cider and donuts in the gym. You are welcome to join your child and we need volunteers to help with this event. Please consider signing up here: KingTurkeyTrot

Best,

Jen McNamara | PTO President

Want to see what

happens in our school

days? Follow us on

Twitter:

@a2KingPrincipal

Please make sure your child claims his/her belongings. Items that remain will

be donated after school on the last Friday of each month.

DREAM KEEPER

Lead Teachers

Mrs. Burrill and Ms. Peck

Include photos

Anti-Bullying Club Dates!

2nd & 3rd 4th & 5th

Fri, 10/26 Thurs, 10/25

Thurs, 11/29 Wed, 11/28

Fri, 1/18 Thurs, 1/17

Wed, 2/20 Thurs, 2/14

Thurs, 4/18 Wed, 4/17

Thurs, 5/30 Wed, 5/29

Mary Cooper | King Principal

Heather Halabu | King Assistant Principal

Jennifer Cole | Parent and Co-Facilitator

Sarah Hong | Parent and Co-Facilitator

Carly Ly | Parent and Co-Facilitator

Parent Volunteer sign-up with new dates!

https://tinyurl.com/y7ttpapu

DREAM KEEPER

! Renee Tall

! Kylie Kiss

! Li Wei

! Olivia Blackmer

! Jen McNamara

! Valeria Cuda

! Alexandra Waterman

! Amber Bertolet

! Sui Kimura

! Marguerite Dillard

! Sara Schneidewind

! Michelle Delacourt

! Jennifer Cole

! Haseung Chung

! Ellen Clough

! Shanthan Ihalaranaweera

! Madison Beason

! Hongxiu Li

! Fernanda Pires

! Kate Delaney

! Julie Ewy

! Laura O’Brien

! June Lu

! Helen Kaplan

! Mustumi Iizuka

! Emily Nelson

! Jaime Dircksen

Ms. Tess Peck (left) and Mrs. Katie Burrill (right) are both Lead Teachers at King Elementary School! What does this mean? When

both Ms. Halabu and Mrs. Cooper are out of the building, they act on our behalf. They also help with drop-off and pick-up each

day. These two teachers are devoted to teaching and learning and promoting the King mission and both of them are leaders in our

school and district.

King’s Lead Teachers

Thanks Harvest Moon Festival Team of Volunteers!

DREAM KEEPER

Be part of the

fun (and

learning)!

Donations will

be taken for

pizza and water!

!

!

Pizza and Pajamas Family Literacy

Night !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

King Elementary School Wednesday, November 28th

6:00-7:30 PM Enjoy pizza from 6:00-6:30

and literacy activities from 6:30-7:30 !

*For Young 5’s, Kindergarten and First Grade Families*

!!!

!Participate in fun, easy literacy activities with your child. Gather ideas

about ways to support your child’s reading and writing at home! !

Questions? Contact Katie Russell (BLE) russellk@aaps.k12.mi.us

**Please return bottom portion to your child’s teacher by Friday, November 16th.** !!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !Your Name: _______________________________ Child’s Name: __________________

Email: ________________________________ Phone: ________________________

!YES! I will be attending Family Literacy Night with my child. How many people will be attending?

(*Pizza will be provided!)

____ Adults _____ Children

King Care is available for school-aged siblings who will not attend Literacy Night.

Sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/KingCare

!

No, unfortunately I will not be attending this event.

DREAM KEEPER

SCHOOL-HOME CONNECTION

Anti-Bullying Club

Your child was not at the meeting? No worries! Get the same learning here!

We had an excellent first session with our 4th and 5th grade group and our 2nd and 3rd graders. Thank you to the King families and ABC students for all your hard work in getting to school early. Your commitment is essential to ABC’s success!

Guess what? You don’t have to be a member to learn more about the anti-bullying club’s work. Here are the major topics we addressed this week.

First of all kids (and adults) need to know…WHAT IS BULLYING?

One of the main goals of our club is to understand what bullying is. We define bullying as any unwanted physical or verbal action by a person or persons that intentionally try to hurt someone. Bullying must meet three criteria:

1) ON PURPOSE: The actions are on purpose or intentional and are meant to hurt that person. For example, a child throws another child's lunch on the floor on multiple occasions.

2) REPEATED: The physical or verbal actions occur several times. For example, a child teases another child in multiple locations like the hallway, bus, in class or on the playground.

3) POWER: There is some element of power. For example, the “bully” may be older, taller, or has a bigger group of friends. (Sources: StopBullying.gov, PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center)

Secondly, we talked about KINDNESS: Take the Great Kindness Challenge! (next page)

Another core component of our curriculum is on social-emotional learning or emotional intelligence. This week we learned how kindness can be used to prevent bullying (Sources: StopBullying.gov, Edutopia.org). ABC members were sent home with the Kindness Challenge. Try reviewing this with your child and see how many acts of kindness they can complete.

We also teach students WHOLE BODY LISTENING:

We also learned about "Whole Body Listening" or "active listening," which has been found to help children build stronger relationships. Review the "Whole Body Listening" chart with your child. Talk to them about the chart and try asking them some questions. What do you think of the chart? Is this all true for you? How do your friends show you they're listening? What can I do to show you I'm listening? REMEMBER – when you ask these questions of your child, give them the space to talk and don’t forget to show YOUR active listening skills.

Read the book The Pout-Pout Fish

and the Bully-Bully Fish to your

child.

View the video “How Bullying Feels”

with your child:

https://www.pacer.org/bullying/vid

eo/player.asp?video=40

DREAM KEEPER

TAKE THE GREAT KINDNESS CHALLENGE!!! **Return to the office when complete!**

DREAM KEEPER

Notes of kindness!!!

There have been several acts of kindness around the

King building. Here’s a recent one. If you or

someone you know has been doing kind acts,

thank you! You are making a positive difference!

Disability Awareness Workshop (DAW) – Help needed on November 14--8:30am-1:00pm

The Disability Awareness Workshop is a one-day program to teach 4th graders an empathetic understanding of physical,

developmental, and learning

disabilities. The hands-on

program is designed to help

students understand how difficult

and complex daily living can be

for individuals with diverse

abilities. The workshop helps

build a culture of understanding

that is invaluable. Through

experience, our students can

learn that all individuals deserve

respect no matter how they may

look, act, walk, or talk. We need

volunteers to make this day a

success!

Sign up at DAW.

DREAM KEEPER

KingCare Parent Board meeting

Please come join us!

We are a friendly group of caring parents who want to make a difference in

our children’s KingCare experience.

Child care is provided. Food/ drinks available.

1st meeting Thursday Nov 29 at 6pm Multipurpose room

Feel free to e-mail Sue Lin at swlin2@gmail.com for more information. Meetings are one time every 1-2 months for 1-1.5 hours.

2018-2019 Board members:

Sue Lin- President (4th grade parent)

Kim Gernant- Vice-President (4th grade parent)

Brian Roberts- Treasurer (3rd grade and kindergarten parent)

Palak Choksi- Secretary (3rd grade parent)

Katie Konson- Member (1st grade parent)

Mark Flanner- Member (1st grade parent)

DREAM KEEPER