Timberwolf Tidbits January 2017

Upcoming Kindergarteners for the 2017-2018 school year

We are now gathering names of children that will attend Grand Star as a

Kindergartener in the fall of 2017. If you have a child or know of a neighbor or

friend that will be in Kindergarten next year, please have them visit our website

and fill out the Kindergarten Survey or contact our office at

913-856-3750. Thank you for your help!

GRAND STAR ATTENDANCE LINE & POLICIES

If your child is going to be absent, please contact our attendance line by 9:00 am.

After this time , the answering machine is not checked until the following day.

If we do not receive a call from you about your child’s absence, they will be marked as unexcused.

913-856-3799

We do call to check on students if you do not contact us. Please return our calls to ensure student safety.

Encourage independence during your child’s homework time It usually starts with a simple question: “How do you spell Illinois?” And before you realize it, you’ve spent the next 20 minutes answering all your child’s homework questions.

Your child will often be asked to find and learn facts for homework. It’s important for you to encourage him to do this on his own. Here’s how:

First, tell your child that he has to try to answer all homework questions by himself. He should start with the questions he knows the answers to, skipping over any that give him problems. Then have him go back and think about the questions he couldn’t answer the first time around.

Then, and only then, should your child ask you for help. And when he does, keep your goal in mind: You don’t just want your child to get the right answer. You want him to learn how to get the right answer—by himself.

Suppose your child asks you to spell Illinois. Instead of rattling off the spelling, you might ask, “Where could you find that?” Then get out the dictionary or a map and have your child find Illinois. This way, your child learns about the silent s at the end of the word, and he also learns how to use a dictionary and a map.

Showing your child how to find information by himself is the most effective way to help him learn facts now and be prepared to learn more in the future.

Reprinted with permission from the January 2017 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2017 The Parent Institute®, a division of PaperClip Media, Inc.

Library News It’s time for NOVEL NAVIGATORS! Teams and coaches have been working hard since September, reading books and quizzing each other about them.

Fourth grade will be competing on Wednesday, January 25. Our fourth grade coaches have been Nicole Beaver, Angie Irwin, and Melanie Landau. Fourth grade Novel Navigators this year are Ellie Beaver, Aubrey Blanton, Nathan Cruz, Alexis Fiedler, Cheyenne Foster, Dakota Francq, Cole Higgins, Violet Hotle, Blake Hunt, Hannah Irwin, Carter Landau, Ryen Louderback, Israel Martinez Ramos, Ellie Rhea, and Spencer Wu.

A Huge “thank you” goes to all of our coaches and our parent supporters!

Remember that Schlitterbahn Reading Logs are due on January 10th!

Start looking forward to Read Across America Week. From February 27 to March 3, we’ll be celebrating the fun of reading with schools across the entire country. We’ll have contests, prizes, and lots of Dr. Seuss-themed activities during library time. Look for an informational letter and a TV-Turn-Off sheet in your child’s backpack in the next few weeks.

Happy Reading!

From The Nurse A friendly reminder to keep

the districts exclusion policies in mind throughout the cold and

flu season. These can be found on our website www.usd231.com. Thank you for helping to keep our student body as healthy as possible! Also, please

remind your students not to share or borrow brushes, coats, hats, hair ties, head bands etc. as head lice is spread

through close contact. If you are cleaning out closets, please keep the health room in mind! We are currently short on small, medium, and

large sweatpants, and boys medium and large underwear. Thank you to all of you

who have provided donations in the past!

Thank you for your continued support!

Counseling Corner

In the month of January during counseling lessons we focus on some goals for 2017 and then careers. The

students will hear about many different jobs and post-secondary opportunities. Feel free to have these conversations continue at home about future careers

and your child's interests. Happy New Year!

Another Young Rembrandts session

will be starting January 23. Please

contact the office if your child is

interested. You may also visit

http://ww.youngrembrandts.com/

to enroll your child.

January Calendar of Events

1-10 PTA Board Meeting 6:00-7:00 pm 1-10 PTA General Meeting 7:00-8:00 pm

1-16 NO SCHOOL 1-17 Site Council Meeting 6:00-7:00 pm

1-20 Family Movie Night 6:30 1-24 3rd Grade Novel Navigators Competition 3:45 pm 1-25 4th Grade Novel Navigators Competition 3:45 pm

1-27 Spirit Day– Mismatch Day 1-27 Morning with Mom 7:30

Shoparoo

Did you know that you can earn money for

Grand Star Elementary just by doing your own,

everyday shopping? The Shoparoo App gives

our school money back based on points for

every dollar of your receipts that are scanned

into the app. It doesn’t matter if it’s for

groceries, general merchandise or where you

shop. It is the easiest school fundraiser ever and

takes seconds to complete! All you have to do is

download the App, and scan your receipts, so

Grand Star can start receiving FREE MONEY!!

We have already collected over

$200.00 this school year!

CODE:

sneb4821

Focus on your child’s self-control to improve behavior at school

Everyone wants kids to be well-behaved in school. But today, parents and teachers are often concerned about a lack of self-discipline in students. When classroom instruction is continually interrupted by students who misbehave, no learning can take place. Students need a quiet, orderly environment in which to learn. Remember: Positive habits begin at home. To help your child develop self-control:

1. Review the school rules and regulations. Talk to your child

about them and be sure to support them.

2. Let your child experience the consequences of her actions.

Don’t always rush to bail her out.

3. Talk to your child’s teachers about how she behaves in school.

4. Talk to your child about the importance of self-discipline at

home and at school.

5. Show respect for your child. She will be more likely to respect

herself and others.

6. Encourage independence. Allow your child to take part in

making the decisions that affect her life. Reprinted with permission from the January 2017 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Elementary School

Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2017 The Parent Institute®, a division of PaperClip Media, Inc.

Winter weather is

upon us! With the change in weather, we wanted to remind everyone of our guidelines and policies regarding outside

time (recess, crosswalk duty, etc.). All students are expected to participate in recess. Generally, if a child is

too sick to go out to recess, he/she is too sick to be in school. There are exceptions to this rule, but it is a

reasonable guideline. We also want to make sure that students come prepared to go outside every day with

hats and gloves. There are many mornings when it is too cold to be outside but by the afternoon, the

temperature rises and we are able to go outside. Also, please put your child’s initials/name in each coat. Our

lost and found gets filled with coats! Please note if your child left with a coat in the morning but doesn’t bring

one home, then have your child check the lost and found the next day.

There will be no outside recess when:

The temperature is 20 degrees or below

The wind chill index is 20 degrees or below

(During the winter months when the temperature is below freezing, staff members will greet students at the door.).

Mathletics This years mathletics was a great success. We had all

3rd and 4th graders participate. The following were

the top teams in each grade level:

3rd Grade 1st Place: Brooke Greenlee, Adamaris Leon Mendoza,

Braden Cross, Andrea Prince, Dylan Farley and Riya

Swartley.

2nd Place: Nelly Martinez-Ramos, Owen Burrill,

Brooklyn Leitheiser

3rd Place: Ava Putnam, Raquel Baker, Vanessa Perez,

Finley McCallon, Molly Carleton, Kaveon Lunn

4th Grade 1st Place: Tryina Walker, Carter Landau, Ranger

Henderson

2nd Place: Janet Padilla, Kaitlyn Webb, Austin Ross

3rd Place: Cole Higgins, Karter Kueser and Danielle

King

To sign up for a day to be a Watch D.O.G. follow

the link below.

http://www.signupgenius.com/

go/20f0e4aa9af28a4f49-watch/

Spelling Bee This year all the participants did a

fantastic job! 3rd and 4th Graders

were able to try out in their classroom

spelling bees. We had 24 participants this year!

1st Place: Camden Blair (3rd Grade)

2nd Place: Molly Carleton (3rd Grade)

3rd Place: Carter Landau (4th Grade)