STC Newsletter

Meet the Family Advocate, Jayne Whitson at school during school hours or by appointment. She is available to help students and families succeed with resources, referrals and donated items to help during a family trauma, crisis or setback.

The best way to reach the family advocate is via cell, 612-202-7366.

Emotional wellness is not only understanding and accepting of our feelings, it is also the ability to manage them through challenges and changes. There are many ways to manage your emotions, but here are 7 tips to help manage your emotional wellness.

1. Identifying your feelings is the crucial first step to processing them in a healthy and productive way.
2. Expressing your emotions in a healthy and productive way is sharing them with others in a respectful, kind and compassionate manner.
3. Managing stress is essential to emotional well-being and eating well, sleeping well and exercising can help with that!
4. Learn and practice mindfulness. Being present, aware and attentive can happen anywhere, anytime.
5. Restore balance to your life. Whenever something threatens to overwhelm your emotions, try finding a simple method to alleviate the threat.
6. Find purpose and meaning in your work, hobbies and passions so that getting up in the morning has value to you.
7. Seek connection and support to feel fulfilled, accepted, loved and supported.
   

During Emotional Wellness Month is a great time to take a moment to evaluate your emotional health by taking a FREE ONLINE SCREENING.

The Blue Rapids Circle of Giving Match Day was held on Monday, September, 16 at the Community Center. Lunch was served at 11:30 am by the Blue Rapids Community Action Team. This is an annual event held by the Blue Rapids Community Foundation to accept donations from community members to the Foundation's Non-Profit Funds to support their missions within our community. Each September, the MATCH DAY EVENT provides the opportunity for donors to extend their giving with Matched Funds when contributing on the days of this event only. This year's Matched Funds were provided by a generous $70K gift from the The Patterson Family Foundation to help grow the funds of the Blue Rapids Foundation. There are currently 24 funds in the Foundation. The Foundation accepts donations of stock, grain, and cash! The Foundation raised nearly $105K during this event! Including matched gifts, over $4K was contributed to the Schools That Care fund!

Thank You to our community for supporting Schools That Care and others in our growing Community Foundation.

This month is also a time to help kids understand what bullying is. Bullying IS NOT yelling, unless it is repeatedly done to intentionally cause harm to another person. Rather, bullying is being mean to someone, usually over and over again, repeatedly with the intent to cause harm. Sometimes bullying includes:

• Teasing
• Talking about or threatening to hurt someone
• Spreading or repeating rumors, and stories that are not true.
• Leaving someone out on purpose.
• Attacking someone by hitting them or using hurtful words.

Bullying does not have to happen in person. When it happens virtually, online, or through text messages or emails, it's called cyberbullying. It includes posting or spreading rumors on social media sites, sharing embarrassing photos/images/videos and making up fake profile accounts and websites.

For more information about Bullying, check out the facts at StopBullying.gov

Share this Stop Bullying Pledge with your kids. Talk to them about their responsibility to help stop bullying for everyone' sake. Teach them to be kind to others and to include others.

It's true! You do! Learning has no end. But you've got to put in the effort and show up to succeed! Studies indicate that missing only 2 days in a month during Kindergarten can leave an impact on lower reading and math levels by the time a student reaches 5th grade. That's a long lasting effect! Attendance has a direct link to your student's achievement. Show them you care about their success by getting them to school and getting them there on time each day because #AttendanceMatters

We all get one from time to time...a mid-morning or mid-afternoon rumble in our tummies that becomes annoying and interrupts our focus, or even worse allows our temper or impatience to get the best of us. When left alone, it becomes a Snack ATTACK that turns HANGRY! Students get snack attacks too and often become "hangry" during school hours-no not just at home, especially our student athletes and those enrolled in PE.

Healthy snacks, not those filled with sugar, are paramount to learning and earning passing grades. Healthy snack foods help our brains and bodies grow and develop. Healthy food and snacks help keep our brains focused and aid with memory recall and cognitive thought processing. Those are good reasons to keep those kids well fed!

VH Schools That Care was the recipient of a grant 2 years ago that has helped provide snacks to students that need one during the school day. Those funds and snacks are likely to run out this semester. Donations of shelf stable and healthy snacks will be accepted. Or cash donations may be made to Schools That Care to continue purchasing snacks as needed.
Healthy snack ideas are:

• Pretzels, Cheez-its, Peanut butter crackers, Goldfish, Graham crackers
• Peanuts, Cashews, Almonds
• Trail mix, cereal, granola bars
  
• Raisins, Craisins, yogurt covered raisins, other dried fruit
  
• Popcorn, Cracker Jacks
• Fruit cups, pudding cups, applesauce, yogurt packs

Parents may want to talk to their students about what snacks they can and want to bring to school. Prepackaged snacks are shelf stable and could be kept in a student's backpack or locker. Every teacher is different. Some teachers don't mind if students snack during class but other prefer that they eat outside of the classroom. If your student is in grade school, please follow your child's classroom rules. Talk to students about how snacks are a bridge to get us to the next meal, but not meant to be a meal replacement. Skipping breakfast is never a good idea. Help your kids plan ahead and fuel the body to keep it functioning well throughout the entire day.

Thanks for helping keep our student scholars in learning mode so they can be the BEST they can be!

October's new word is "responsibility"! Waterville students K-2 will be learning what responsibility is and what an important role we share in being responsible to others. Teaching kids to be responsible at home will build character and grow family trust and dependability! Please click on the Building Character Flyer to download and print a copy for yourself to use at home with your children.

"Special Thanks" to our District Office for assisting in the decoration of the bus and throwing Starbursts at the parade!

Homecoming is a fun time for all! Thank you to all the parents, students and staff who showed off their school spirit with a $1 donation to Schools That Care and a wore a temporary tattoo! Temporary tattoos are fun for fans of all ages! One Mustang Super Hero and Fan was spotted handing out dollar bills to students, encouraging them to get a tattoo.....Thank you! Just look at the joy it brought to these faces! Thank you Aubrey and Dinah Umscheid for assisting!

Thank you Aubrey for assisting Schools that Care at the PAT, Preschool and PreK Family Fun Night on September 17 in Waterville! Teaching students the importance of handwashing and how to correctly wash hands and when it is important to wash their hands is a very important life skill. After washing up, Aubrey joined these families in preparing healthy snacks!

At Homecoming, Aubrey and her mom joined Schools That Care in spreading Mustang Spirit with temporary tattoos! For a $1 suggested donation, Mustang Fans received temporary tattoos to match their friends and family! Thank you for supporting the Mustangs and Schools That Care!

Thank you Aubrey for choosing Schools That Care for your Sr Project! You are making a difference!

To apply for Free/Reduced meals at VH schools for your student(s) please use this button!

Use This Button to apply for Kansas Food Assistance SNAP for your Family.