Sunday, October 29, 2017

Notes From Mrs. Bell---

Thank you, thank you for making the Mid-Prairie Student Boosters Color Run the best MP fundraiser to support our schools ever! It was SO much fun to help AND the best part was seeing so many former second grade students and their families supporting the family fun event! Thank you to the countless volunteers who put in so much time to make an event to remember! Thank you to the generous sponsors! Thank you to the many people who donated items! Thank you students and families for seeking monetary donations! Thank you to all of the participants! Thank you, thank you to everyone! I had a blast throwing ROYAL BLUE powder at the KCTC corner at those who walked, ran or skated by us.  If you weren't able to participate, I hope you can join us next year as this is the ONLY school wide fundraiser held to support each of our schools in the Mid-Prairie District!


Woo Hoo! We'll be celebrating Halloween for the first time ever at Mid-Prairie East Elementary School on Tuesday, October 31! Please remember to follow the costume guidelines as per our Halloween flyer so we make it a fun and safe event for everyone. I'm excited to dress up with my 2nd Grade Teaching Team too! We look forward to walking to Pleasantview Retirement Home to parade thru their hallways to entertain the elderly residents and enjoy some sweet treats in our classroom while playing some holiday related games on Halloween afternoon! 

One of the best ways to help your child learn reading skills is to read aloud to him or her.  Reading aloud and talking about books helps your child understand stories and make sense of words.  As you read aloud, your child "makes pictures" in his or her head, imagining the story in action.  Your child's vocabulary will grow as he or she hears new exciting words and ideas.  Try reading aloud to your child - it's easy, fun and educational!  Students shared where they are keeping their October Reading Calendar posted at home.  These calendars went home on September 29th in their Homework Folders.  Please help direct your child where to place their calendar in a safe place that can be marked on daily with how much reading they are doing, hearing at home, etc.  If you misplaced it, just print one or create your own to keep track of this month's minutes.  We will collect ALL October Reading Calendars on Tuesday, October 31 and send home our November Reading Calendars to begin logging new monthly minutes on Tuesday.   We will be tracking minutes through April.




Thank you to everyone for helping your child complete their Family Tree/Coat of Arms projects! We just assigned this family project and we already have two students who have completed both their Coat of Arms and their Family Tree!  If you forgot, your child's projects are DUE Tuesday, November 1.  They brought them home on Wednesday, October 18 to work on them at home.  


We look forward to sharing them with you when you come for Parent Teacher Conferences held Tuesday, November 7 and Thursday, November 9 from 4-8p.m.  Thank you for promptly signing up on our new online scheduling featuring on Power School! If you haven't signed up yet, please follow the online procedure to select a time that I still have available to meet with you.  I love to share all the good things your child is doing in 2nd grade! I'd like to keep my tradition of 100% participation too.

My schedule allows me to meet with you for 15 minutes, so it’s important to come a bit early so we can make use of our short time together.  I will be sending home a confirmation slip on Monday, November 6 just to remind you of your scheduled conference time with me.   I am anxious to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress this quarter. 


If your child plans to have fun at recess and burn off their extra energy, remember to include the proper apparel for them to participate…LABELED coat, hats, gloves/mittens, etc. as these Fall weather days have went from beautiful to extremely cold and some kids aren't prepared! Now that the weather has dipped to freezing temperatures, please help them check the weather so they come ready to enjoy their time outdoors as they take a break from the classroom.  Recesses last from 15-25 minutes three times per day so plan accordingly.



In addition, if your child is too sick to go out for recess, they are too sick to attend school.  Recess is not a time to supervise sick children.  We want our students healthy and ready to learn when they arrive at school, so please if your child doesn’t feel well, don’t send them until they are ready to work up to their potential.  Remember that we need to follow the 24 hour to return to school rule if they've had a fever, puked and/or had diahrea.   Thank you.

Tickets, tickets, tickets! You've probably heard your child talk about the pink PBIS tickets they've been earning this school year.  Our students are receiving tickets for exhibiting respectful, responsible and safe behavior in our designated areas.  Each week classroom teachers draw two tickets from their classroom jar.  These winners receive a student selected prize from the Mid-Prairie East Elementary Office.  Each classroom jar of tickets goes into our "Hawks Nest" located in the front hall.  Thank you students for working hard to be respectful, responsible and safe all day long at MP East Elementary!


ClassDojo is a simple, safe classroom management app that helps teachers encourage students in class and easily communicates with parents.  Each Friday we will print our individual ClassDojo pie charts and then students will individually evaluate their week by setting goals for the next week.  I trust you'll take time to go through this with your child to see how they can improve their behavior each week.

Each Friday we celebrate our Mid-Prairie pride by wearing our Mid-Prairie apparel! Show your school spirit and wear it proudly each Friday.  Check out the Mid-Prairie School website for ongoing apparel sales throughout the school district all year long.  Furthermore, each Wednesday we'll continue our Workout Wednesdays to promote healthier living by working out while eating healthier!  




October Reading Minutes Calendar...

Our class is participating in a monthly reading calendar program and joined up with the Book It! Reading Incentive Program on October 1st through March 31st.  Record any minutes read, you read to them, etc. all month long.  Please post this special calendar somewhere that they can keep track of their minutes on a daily basis. Some students have said they have no idea where their calendar is at home.  Again, please help find a convenient spot to post it in a so they can record their reading daily.  Others have mentioned they aren't allowed to write on their calendar.  Please help teach your child responsibility and record minutes together on their calendar as soon as they are finished reading.   

Their October Reading Calendar will be due on Tuesday, October 31.  Please help them total their minutes  to meet their 300 minute reading minutes goal this month.  They will log their minutes read, check to see if their goals have been met and receive various incentives each month.  If your child meets their reading goal EVERY month, they will be awarded many special rewards in May!  Ask me for more details. 

Halloween Party Plans...



Coat of Arms/Family Tree Assignment coming home tonight in Homework Folders...please return folders tomorrow, homework due Wed., Nov. 1st...


Teacher's Assistant Hosts Packer for the Weekend...

Each week our Teacher's Assistant gets to enjoy time with our class mascot, Packer, in the classroom.  On Friday the student gets to bring Packer home for the weekend to enjoy time together.  Students are asked to write and draw about their experiences to share aloud with students on Monday.  It looks like Packer had a fun filled and interesting weekend! Thanks for making great memories together especially making Packer his own green and gold tutu for the Mid-Prairie Student Boosters Color Run!











Lexia Certificates of Completion Awarded...

Congratulations to these students who completed a level of Lexia Learning during Guided Reading time this past week to earn a certificate of completion before moving up to a new level.  Lexia Learning can be done in and out of school to build student's literacy skills in a wealth of areas. Way to go! Keep up the great efforts. 


Pebbles, Sand & Silt Wrap Up Activities...

Pebbles, Sand & Silt Science Unit is
almost a wrap as kids worked on Soil Wrap Up today! 🔍









MP East Parent Teacher Conferences Info...Sign Up TODAY!

MP-East Parents:  Please make sure to sign up your child/children for a Parent/Teacher Conference this fall on either Tuesday, November 7th or Thursday, November 9th.  We are only using an electronic method to allow parents to directly choose your Parent-Teacher Conference time.

Please make sure you write down the date/time that you reserved by accessing your child's PowerSchool account.  On the lefthand side of the screen, there will be a place to select Parent-Teacher Conferences in order to reserve a date/time.  The system will not send you an email reminder, so you'll need to write down the date/time that you reserve.

We look forward to meeting with you about your child's performance so far in the 2017-2018 school year!
-- 
Robin Foster
Principal, Mid-Prairie East Elementary School
Mid-Prairie Community School District
702 6th Street
Kalona, IA 52247

2B friends, you are important to me! ❤️ #1reasonilovemyjob

















Parent Teacher Conference Sign Up Available Online NOW...

MP-East Parents:  We are excited to offer an electronic way to sign up for Parent-Teacher Conferences for your child(ren).  Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on 
Tuesday, November 7th
OR
Thursday, November 9th 
from 4:00-8:00 PM on both nights.  Each child's conference is 15 minutes in length and will be held with your child's teacher.

You may sign up for a conference time slot (one time slot per child) using a computer or any electronic device in which you can access PowerSchool.  CLICK HERE to access the Mid-Prairie Parent PowerSchool Portal to sign up for a conference time.

Below, you will find a series of screenshots to assist you in signing up for a conference using my own daughter's name, E. 
​Foster
.

Once you select the CLICK HERE link above, you will be taken to the sign in portion of the PowerSchool Parent Portal:
Inline image 1

Once you provide your Username and Password, you will be able to access your child's information on PowerSchool.  If you forget either your Username or Password--click on "Forgot Username or Password? and it will take you to a screen to recover that information.

After logging in to the Parent Portal of PowerSchool, look at the left-hand side menu bar of the screen and scroll down towards the bottom and look for this visual:
Inline image 2
Click on that link.

Inline image 2

Using the dropdown menu on the "Select a Teacher" button with arrows, select your child's classroom teacher.  When you Select a Teacher, then it will bring up the teacher's available time slots for that evening's Parent-Teacher Conferences.  It will look like this, using Mrs. 
​Becca Droll​

​1st​
 Grade Teacher at MP-
​East
, as an example:
Inline image 3

All of the time slots are 15 minutes in length, and allow you to enter your main email address that you provided to PowerSchool when you registered your child for school this summer.  It gives you an example email:  "example@gmail.com".  Once you select a time slot and enter your email address in that box and CLICK SAVE, your child's name will appear in that box.  You may need to double-check your parent email that is entered into PowerSchool to make sure you use the same email.

You can then go back to the Parent-Teacher Menu to see if you have a "reservation," found in "My Reservations" which will then look like this:
Inline image 4

*NOTE:  If you have children in different elementary schools, you will receive an email from both schools asking you to reserve your own time that works best for you and your family for Parent-Teacher Conferences.

Since this is a new process for signing up for Parent-Teacher Conferences, there may be a learning curve--but we are hopeful you'll find this method to your liking.  IF you have any questions or need help, please call your school secretary to ask questions or seek support.  You are also welcome to come into the school to set up a time with support from school personnel.

Thank you!
-- 

Robin Foster
Principal, Mid-Prairie East Elementary School
Mid-Prairie Community School District
702 6th Street
Kalona, IA 52247

Specials Teachers Sign Up for Parent Teacher Conference Nights...

Below is the schedule for our Specials Teachers for conference night.  You can sign up to meet with individual specials teachers by going into the Parent Teacher Conference Sign-Up on Power Schools and selecting their name on the drop down menu.
Inline image 1



Elena Beachy : Spanish
Jean Hussey : Chinese
Kelby Bender : P.E.
Heather Herschberger : Music
Tonya Hovey: Art
Marlinda Beachy/Lori Gerber: Library
Tuesday:
MP-East 4:00-6:00

MP-West 6:15-8:00
Tuesday: MP-West
Tuesday: MP-West
Tuesday:
MP-East
Tuesday: MP-East
Tuesday:
MP-East
Thursday:
MP-East 4:00-6:00

MP-West 6:15-8:00
Thursday: MP-East
Thursday:
MP-East
Thursday: MP-West
Thursday: MP-West
Thursday:
MP-East

Red Ribbon Week Dress Up Snapshots...