Explorer Echo

Dear Families,

We are excited to share that Reading Month is just around the corner! This special time of year gives us the opportunity to celebrate literacy, foster a love of reading, and strengthen our reading community across all grade levels. Throughout the month, students will participate in a variety of engaging activities designed to make reading fun and meaningful. These will include themed dress-up days, a bookmark design contest, Reading Buddies with students across different grades, and schoolwide “Drop Everything and Read” moments. These experiences help highlight that reading is something we value and enjoy together as a community.

Our goals for Reading Month are simple but powerful: to increase daily independent reading, to build connections among students through shared reading experiences, and to celebrate literacy in all its forms. We encourage families to support these efforts at home by setting aside time each day for reading and talking with your child about what they are reading. More details about specific dates and activities will be shared soon. Thank you for your continued partnership in helping our students grow as readers and lifelong learners.

Happy Reading!

Week of February 16

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 3: Empathy and Kindness - Home Link

Lesson 13: Showing Kindness

Summary:

In last week’s lesson, your child practiced two kind acts: asking, “Would you like to share?” and “Would you like a hug?”

Try This at Home:

Encourage your child to offer to share items at home. For example, have them help you make a snack and then offer to share it with other family members. Encourage them to offer hugs to family members or friends when they are tired or sad or need encouragement.”

Week of Feb 9

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 3: Empathy and Kindness - Home Link

Lesson 14: Kindness at School

Summary:

In this week’s lesson, your child learned different ways they can show kindness at school. The class shared ideas for kind acts they could do for one another.

Try This at Home:

Ask your child to tell you about the kind acts they and their classmates have been doing for one another at school this week.”

Week of Feb 16

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 3: Empathy and Kindness - Home Link

Lesson 12: Ways to Be Kind

Summary:

In last week’s lesson, your child learned and practiced two ways they can be kind to others: asking, “Are you okay?” and offering to keep someone company.

Try This at Home:

Help your child think of a family member or close friend who could use some company. Encourage them to ask the person, “Would you like some company?”

Week of Feb 23

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 3: Empathy and Kindness - Home Link

Lesson 13: Offering Kind Acts

Summary:

In this week’s lesson, your child learned and practiced two types of kind acts: offering to help someone and inviting someone to join.

Try This at Home:

Help your child think of a kind act they can do for someone involving offering to help or inviting them to join. Support your child in carrying out the kind act.

Week of Feb 16

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 3: Empathy and Kindness - Home Link

Lesson 11: What’s Empathy

Summary:

In last week’s lesson, your child learned that empathy means feeling or understanding what someone else is feeling, and that empathy can lead to kindness.

Try This at Home:

Ask your child to tell you what empathy means.

Week of Feb 23

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 3: Empathy and Kindness - Home Link

Lesson 12: Empathy in Action

Summary: In this week’s lesson, your child described a time they had empathy for someone and how it affected their thoughts and actions.

Try This at Home:

Ask your child to tell you about a time they had empathy for someone.

Week of Feb 16

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 3: Empathy and Kindness - Home Link

Lesson 13: My Kind of Kindness

Summary: In last week’s lesson, your child learned that people like to be shown kindness in different ways.

Try This at Home:

Ask your child what helps them feel better when they feel sad. What helps when they feel embarrassed or angry? Tell them what helps you feel better when you feel those same emotions.

Week of Feb 23

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 3: Empathy and Kindness - Home Link

Lesson 14: Asking Questions

Summary:

In this week’s lesson, your child practiced asking questions to help them understand how someone else is feeling and what they can do to help.

Try This at Home:

Ask your child what questions they can ask to find out how someone feels and what they may want or need. Discuss how checking in on someone’s feelings is a great way to show you care about them.

Week of Feb 16

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 2: Emotion Management -Home Link

Lesson 6: The Balanced Brain

Summary:

In last week’s lesson, your child learned that our brain works best when the logic and emotion centers are balanced and working together.

Try This at Home:

Tell your child about a time when a strong emotion made it hard for you to learn something new or caused you to say or do something that hurt someone’s feelings. Discuss why it’s important to learn to manage strong emotions.

Week of Feb 23

Second Step Digital Curriculum

Unit 2: Emotion Management - Home Link

Lesson 7: What is Rethinking?

Summary:

In this week’s lesson, your child learned what it means to rethink a situation and how it can help them calm strong emotions.

Try This at Home:

Tell your child about a time when rethinking a situation, or thinking about it in a different way, helped you feel better. Encourage your child to talk about times in their lives when rethinking could have helped them.

Jennifer Smith, SES School Counselor

jensmith@hse.k12.in.us

If you are interested in tutoring services for your student, please access the link below.

If your child is out due to health reasons, please provide documentation. Documentation is required after 10 absences. Reach out to your school nurse or counselor - we're here to connect you with helpful resources.

April Wayman, RN

awayman@hse.k12.in.us

(W – TH)

Sharon Hughes, RN

shughes@hse.k12.in.us

(M – T – F)

Next week (March 2-6) is National School Breakfast Week! Enjoy special breakfasts all week and a free cracker treat with your meal deal. See the flyer below!

EFunds

Funding your student's lunch account is done through EFunds in Skyward. Student lunch is $2.80. You can access Skyward and Efunds on our district website, or by clicking Efunds here.

Menu

Elementary lunch menus are posted on the district website at hseschools.org, or by clicking this link.

Kim Lemburg, SES Cafeteria Manager

klemburg@hse.k12.in.us

SES Lunch Visitor Procedures:

• Adults will be able to call the front office the day of by 8:30 AM and sign up to have lunch with their child; 8:30 AM is a FIRM deadline.
• Time slots will be filled on a first come, first serve basis. Only one family per lunch block will be allowed each day with a maximum of 2 visitors.
• Visitors will only be allowed Mondays through Thursdays.

Visitor Guidelines:

• All visitors will need to have their ID with them to sign in and sign out of the building. All visitors must have an approved valid Safe Visitor background check on file with the district before coming into the building. Visitors are required to wear their visitor badge and lanyard while in the building. SafeVisitor link is below.
• All visitors must eat lunch with their child at the table designated for visitors.
• NO restaurant food or drink may be brought in, Ex: McDonalds, Chic-fil-A, Jimmie Johns, etc. You can bring a lunch from home or buy a hot lunch from the cafeteria. Cash only, please.
• Phones must be put away at all times.
• Students will not be pulled out of lunch to eat with siblings.
• Siblings not attending SES will be discouraged from attending lunch due to space constraints.
• You may only have your child eat lunch with you during this time. Friends and students who are extended family are not permitted.
• We ask that when your child lines up with their class at the end of lunch, you check out in the office to turn your badge and lanyard in.

Anyone wanting to spend time in the school, volunteer in a classroom, have lunch with a student, or chaperone a field trip must have a SafeVisitor ID badge. If you have not yet completed the background check, please click below to get started. It takes about a week for approval. Every background check is good for three years in any of our HSE buildings.

March is Reading Month at SES! It will be a month full of fun as students are encouraged to READ, READ, READ!!! It is my goal to help kids find a perfect book to check out and enjoy each week. Then, they will read and log their reading minutes in our new reading program, Beanstack. Each child was given a bookmark with the directions on how to log their minutes.

Here are 2 brief videos:

1. Details on the fun week ahead:

https://youtu.be/pMu10HF9D1o

2. Recording minutes on Beanstack:

https://youtu.be/tWw_t0U1o2A

Lori Cushman

SES Teacher Librarian

lcushman@hse.k12.in.us

Monday, March 2, Hats off to Reading - Hat or Headband Day

Monday, March 2, Math Bowl, 2:15-3:00 PM

Tuesday, March 3, Reading Knocks Your Socks Off, Crazy Sock Day

Wednesday, March 4, Robotics Exploration Club, 2:15-3:15 PM

Wednesday, March 4, Reading is better with a buddy, Stuffed Animal Day

Thursday, March 5, Team up for Reading, Wear a favorite team jersey or sweatshirt

Friday, March 6, Cozy up with a good book, Wear PJ's and bring a good book to read

Monday, March 9, Math Bowl, 2:15-3:00 PM

Monday, March 9, Kind Kids Club, 2:15-3:15 PM

Monday, March 9, PTO Meeting, 6:30, SES Cafeteria

Wednesday, March 11, Student Council (House + Senate), 2:15-3:15 PM

School day start/end times: 7:40 to 2:10 PM

Every year we collect socks for World Down Syndrome Day. We will wear our socks on Friday, March 20. Our goal every year is to collect enough mismatched socks to have a pair for every student and staff member. If you'd like to contribute, please click the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/97WMQL2I5AC5?ref_=wl_share

A few of Mrs. Shafer's fourth graders helped Mrs. Greer's and Mrs. Horvatich's classes during a recent Family Friday. The fourth graders were quality control at the "Pizza Factory" making sure the first graders had the correct number of pizza slices to fill the customers' pizza orders.

Mrs. Buskirk's families were able to attend the students' living wax museum presentations in the LGI space for their Family Friday.

Mrs. Burke's Kindergarten families enjoyed some Olympic-themed fun during their Family Friday.

Our math bowl team attended the HSE Invitational this week.

Our Kindergarten students attended a study trip at the Fishers Art Center and Fishers Public Library. Mrs. Howard's and Mrs. Vince's friends are shown enjoying the art activities below.

Congratulations to Sager Erickson! He did a great job representing SES at the Taste of HSE culinary challenge. His cinnamon roll bake was delicious!

Tiger Choir Camp 2026 – Registration Now Open!

Registration is open for Tiger Choir Camp 2026, a fun, week-long summer experience for students entering grades K–8! Campers will sing and dance alongside Fishers High School choir students while learning from talented vocal teachers and choreographers from the Indianapolis area.

📅 May 26–30, 2026
⏰ 9:00 AM–12:00 PM
🎉 Camp ends with a public showcase for families on Saturday

Cost:
$150 first child | $125 second child and on
A $75 non-refundable deposit is due at registration to hold your child’s spot.
Fee includes a camp t-shirt and daily snacks.

Questions? Contact Laney De Luna at ldeluna@hse.k12.in.us.
Spots are limited—register early! 2026 Tiger Choir Camp Registration – Fill out form

On Friday, March 20th, Eric Ode will be visiting Southeastern Elementary School. Eric is a children’s author, songwriter, poet, and educator for kids and families. He will be sharing music, stories, and talking about the writing process. Southeastern families have the opportunity to purchase signed copies of Eric’s books.

In order to receive the signed book on the day of Eric’s visit, the order and payment must be submitted by TODAY (Friday, February 27th).

You can still place an order after February 27th, but your student will receive the book after March 20th.

To view the books available and to place an order, please see the Google form below:
Southeastern Elementary: Signed Books Preorder for Eric Ode!!!

Follow the link below to place your order online. If you need to pay by cash or check, please contact the office.

Back again this year! Cripe Photography GIFT A YEARBOOK. You have the opportunity to donate a yearbook to one of your child's peers. Your school decides who will receive this awesome gift thanks to your generosity!

Southeastern Yearbooks - ORDER HERE

ORDER DEADLINE: March 13 (late orders cannot be guaranteed a yearbook).

Questions? Please contact Cripe Photography HERE.

Spring Sports Season is Approaching

We’re excited to offer nine fun ways to play this spring! There’s nothing better than reconnecting with friends on the courts, fields, and sidelines throughout Fishers. Spring sports include baseball, softball, soccer, boys and girls lacrosse, rugby, boys volleyball, pickleball, and track & field. Many programs are available for pre-kindergarten through high school athletes and divisions are filling quickly. Register today at myathletics.com and learn everything you need to know.

Get Into Rugby Day – February 22nd
Join Mudsock Youth Rugby for a free Try-It Day at Fall Creek Junior High. Open to 2nd-8th grade boys and girls, sessions will be non-contact and co-ed. Experienced board members will be on hand to teach fundamentals and answer questions about the upcoming season. Find the event flyer here.

Volunteer with Us
Volunteering with our leagues is a great way to spend quality time with your kids, coach alongside friends, and empower young athletes to do their best. Thank you to everyone who is stepping up this spring, your support makes a big impact! Select the volunteer option during online registration or email info@myathletics.com to get involved.

SES has an incredible PTO!

Our PTO hosts fun events and activities throughout the year to raise essential funds for our school. These efforts directly support classrooms with supplies, books, and curriculum materials. Stay in the loop—follow us on social media for the latest updates and event info!

Facebook: Southeastern PTO (also posted on the Families of Southeastern page)

Instagram: @Southeastern PTO

Linktree: linktr.ee/sespto

Email: president@sespto.org

Get Involved with PTO! 🤝

Want to make a difference at SES? We’d love your help! The PTO is looking for passionate individuals to join our committees and help create memorable experiences for our students and staff. Whether you have a little time or a lot, there’s a way for you to get involved!

👉 Sign up here: SES PTO Committee Interest Form

Let’s work together to make this school year amazing!