November 2025

November is a time of giving THANKS for the many blessings we have been given. Our Longfellow staff THANKS all of our families for sharing your Lions with us each day! This time of year really makes you aware of the many treasures we have in life and to celebrate them each day. We give THANKS for:

T – THANKFUL for our Longfellow Lions

H – HAPPY to have our Lions in school each day

A – APPRECIATE the strong parental support

N – NURTURING staff to guide and educate our students

K – KINDNESS throughout our school

S – SUPPORTIVE community and school board

Happy THANKSgiving from all of the Longfellow students and staff!

Mrs. Heckenlaible

As the weather gets colder, please remember that our doors do not open and supervision does not begin until 7:30 am. Student arriving before then will need to wait outside. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

Thank you to all parents who were able to attend parent/teacher conferences on Thursday, October 23. We had a 92% turnout rate!! Showing up means more than you know. When your children see you care about their education, they learn to care too.

If you were unable to attend or catch up with your child's teacher, please contact your child's teacher to arrange a new conference time. It takes a true partnership between home and school to provide the best possible education for our children.

We understand that families need to make doctor appointments and have family vacations. As you are scheduling those, it may help to be aware of these dates.

11/7 Fri-NO SCHOOL - McGovern Debate

11/11 Tues-NO SCHOOL - Veteran's Day

11/26-28 Wed-Fri-NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break

12/23-1/2 NO SCHOOL - Christmas Break

1/5 Mon-SCHOOL RESUMES

1/19 Mon-NO SCHOOL - Staff Development

2/13 Fri-NO SCHOOL

2/16 Mon-NO SCHOOL - President's Day

3/19-3/23 Thru-Mon-NO SCHOOL - Spring Break/Staff Development

4/3-4/6 Fri-Mon-NO SCHOOL - Easter

5/22 Fri-LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

We do the bulk of our statewide testing in April as well (3rd-5th graders). When a student

misses the scheduled testing time, we are required to reschedule for that student. Learners do

better when testing with the rest of their peers. We appreciate you doing your best to avoid

absences or leaving for appointments during those dates.

You are encouraged to fill out a free and reduced meal application at any time throughout the school year. When in doubt, fill it out. If you completed the 2025-2026 application already this year, then you should have already been notified of your status. If you have experienced a financial change due household membership or job change, you are encouraged to apply again.

You can create an online account to monitor your child/ren’s meal account, balances, and add money to their account. Visit the district
the school website and click on

“Mealtime Online Access”

We are very proud of our attendance rates at Longfellow Elementary and want to keep that going! We want to thank our parents for continuing to bring their child/ren to school each day and on time.

Attendance is extremely important to the success of each child's education.

Thank you for making attendance and education a priority in your child's life!!

Our Longfellow Lions and staff did a phenomenal job with the SD SBA (South Dakota Smarter Balance Assessment) during the spring of 2025. We outscored the state by 19% in math. We continue to push for our ELA and Science, both LO and district, to grow. Our Lions persisted and continued to strive for accuracy and their scores definitely show it. We are so proud of our school!!! Please watch for the district report card to come out later this school year.

Damon has been a consistent and reliable presence at Longfellow, taking immense pride in his work, the Longfellow building, and the safety of it's occupants. Regardless of the hour, upon arrival, you can expect the lights to be on, accompanied by the sound of Damon whistling as he works. Individuals with his exceptional work ethic are rare. We feel fortunate to have had him as part of our team.

Pick up and drop off can be a very stressful time for parents and students. Everyone is in a hurry and ready to move on to the next part of their day. However, safety is the most important factor! Please remember to go to the corner and cross the street with the crossing guards. Please do NOT encourage your child to cross in the middle of the street. We want to keep our students safe and set a good example.

Top row: Ms. Rust; Miss Hannah; Ms. Buchholz; Mrs. Bartscher

Mrs. Stange; Mrs. Jennings

Mrs. Hilkemeier; Mrs. Miller

Ms. Irwin, Mrs. Petersen

Mrs. Sides

Not pictured: Mrs. W; Mrs. P

We are incredibly fortunate to have such a dedicated and skilled team of paraeducators supporting our students and staff. Our paraeducators work directly with special education students both in the general education classrooms and in specialized instructional settings. They play an essential role in supporting academic learning, fostering positive behavior, and ensuring that every student has the opportunity to succeed.

Paraeducators assist with classwork, model appropriate behaviors, and provide guidance and redirection when needed. They are truly at the center of learning—knowing not only the students they work with most closely, but also building positive connections with the entire class.

Being a para requires patience, empathy, and dependability. Our paraeducators consistently demonstrate these qualities as they support students with diverse abilities and needs. Their calm, compassionate approach and steadfast commitment make a meaningful difference every day.

PLEASE remember that students need proper shoes on gym days. Sandals, cowboy boots, snow boots, fashionable boots, flipflops, crocs, etc., are fine shoes but not appropriate for PE days.

Longfellow does not have spare shoes for students to borrow. Thank you.

Sun. 2nd - Change Clocks (Fall back)

Tue. 4th - PTO Meeting

Thu. 6th - Den Meetings

Thu. 6th - 2nd&3rd Veteran's Day Concert

Fri. 7th - NO SCHOOL

Sat. 8th - Caring Closet-Must set up appointment

Mon. 10th - School Board Meeting

Tue. 11th - NO SCHOOL

Fri. 21st - Student Council Store OPEN

Thur. 21st - Den Meetings

Wed.-Fri. 26-28th - NO SCHOOL

Nov. 26-Dec 1 - Papa Murphy's Days

The school doors open at 7:30 am. Even if it is cold or raining, we do not have staff in the building to supervise so students will wait until 7:30 am to enter the building. Likewise, our staff leaves by 3:45 and students will need to be picked up before that time. We appreciate you making arrangements to have your children dropped off and picked up within those times.

Building doors open 7:30 am

Breakfast served 7:30-8:10 am

First bell rings at 8:10 am

School begins at 8:15 am (meaning a student is tardy at 8:16 am)

School dismissed at 3:15 pm

If your child needs to leave during the school day or will come late due to an appointment, simply alert the school office at 605-995-3092. If you need to take your child out early, we appreciate you alerting the office ahead of time, if possible. Your child will remain in class until you come inside to sign them out and we will do our best to have them prepared and ready to go as quickly as possible.

Please ask your child if they have headphones for school. If you forgot to send some or they are no longer working, we have headphones in the office available for purchase for $5.00. Our lions use headphones daily.

School announcements, such as weather-related dismissals, late starts, or cancellations, in addition to reminders about Longfellow Elementary events, can be sent to you via text. You can download the app on your device by visiting the app or google play store and searching for ‘Mitchell School District’. If you just want Longfellow information, please select our school. You can select multiple schools if you have children in other levels. Just a reminder that this is how you are notified when your child/ren’s school times are affected by weather. The school does not call individual parents.

Also, please make sure your phone number is updated and stays updated in Campus and with the school. You will receive text notifications, as long as you choose to accept them. These notifications would be primarily for weather related school late starts, early dismissals, and cancellations.

All medications must be administered through the office. Students may keep cough drops in their lockers or desks but allergy meds, cold & flu, antacids, inhalers, etc., as well as all prescription medications will be held in the nurse's office. Please stop in to see Mrs. Snoozy, Longfellow's nurse, or call 605-995-3092 and ask for our nurse, if you have any questions.

Please remember that students are NOT ALLOWED to carry any medications on them (even aspirin). It is not safe to have elementary students carrying meds as we don't want them to get into the wrong hands. We are happy to keep OTC medications in the office for your child when/if they need them. However, if you would like your child to have Ibuprofen, Aspirin, etc. in school, you will need to supply that for them.

If your child had any health concerns in the past (milk allergy, asthma, etc.) our nurse may be contacting you via a letter in your child's backpack, mail or phone call to confirm. If your child HAS any health conditions we need to be aware of, please contact our nurse so we are aware.