Bluff Monthly Update--December

Happy Holidays! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We will go into three weeks of school now before our next holiday break. Please see the dates of that below! I'm sure December will go quickly as always. We can't wait to welcome you for our Holiday Programs. Mrs. Borgman and the students have been working hard!

Let's make the next three weeks the best yet....full of hard work and great attendance. There is so much to learn!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Cooley

Monday, December 1 - BACK TO SCHOOL!

Friday, December 5 - Night with Santa, 5:00-6:30

Monday, December 15 - Holiday Programs for Kdg (9:00), 2nd Grade (10:00), 4th Grade (1:00)

Tuesday, December 16 - Holiday Programs for 1st Grade (9:00), 3rd Grade (10:00), 5th Grade (1:00)

Wednesday, December 17 - PK Holiday Programs, AM at 9:30 and PM at 1:30

Monday, December 22-Friday, January 2 - Holiday Break--NO SCHOOL!

Monday, January 5 - BACK TO SCHOOL!

Monday, January 12 - Partnering with Parents, 5:30-6:30

Monday, January 19 - NO SCHOOL, Martin Luther King Day

**Every Friday is Early Out!

We endured a lot of illness at the beginning of November, but we rebounded well toward the end. However, we saw a sharp decrease in attendance on our two conference days. Please know that the students still get all of their Core learning on early out days. They are still VERY important and a lot of learning happens. Please make every effort to get your students to school on early out days as well! I am looking forward to a strong 3 weeks here before the holidays!

Please also know that when your child has reached 5 absences, you will get a call from the school, at 7 absences you will receive a letter, and at 11 absences, we will set up a meeting with you to come to school and create an Attendance Prevention Plan. Our goal is to keep problem solving with you!

We had a great turnout in our food pantry during conference week. It is time to restock, as we were able to get rid of a lot of food. We love that! After we restock, we are looking at having weekly night openings. Please know that the food pantry is open EVERYDAY! We thought that perhaps it would be easier though if we had some night hours. I will send out details as we get plans in place! If you would like to come during the day or even afterschool, we can make arrangements! Just call the office and we will find a time that works for you! 563-242-1606

During our last Partnering with Parents, we talked about how to help your child academically! Of course the topic of reading with your child everyday came up. But I think my answer to parents was surprising. The way you can help your child academically??? Make sure they have a growth mindset and not a fixed mindset!

Kindergarteners inevitably come in excited to learn and grow! They are ready to take on most challenges with excitement. However, somewhere along the way, they lose that. What I find they lose is the will to try....the grit to persevere....and the belief that they can do hard things!! Teachers and parents need to work together to continue to grow our students. That starts with how we talk to our kids. When they say "Reading is too hard" please don't say "It's ok, I was bad at reading too." Instead say "I know it is hard now, but we will work on it together to help you improve! You can do it." I will be talking about this more in our next newsletter!

Bluff Elementary School

Email: kristine.cooley@csdkq.org

Location: 1421 S. Bluff Blvd
Phone: 563-242-1606
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BluffPTAClintonIA