SIS September News and Info

Hey, SIS Families!

What a fantastic start to the school year we have had! Staff and students alike are adjusting well to the school year schedule! We've focused a large portion of our first week-ish on helping students learn our building-wide expectations and practice routines to help set us up for solid learning time in reading, writing, and math workshops. It's always a pleasure to watch the excitement of what the new year brings and see how teachers build cultures of creativity, growth mindset, and positive thinking within their classrooms.

This past week students have worked on building their reading and writing stamina, engaged in teamwork challenges, prepared their writing notebooks, starting thinking like mathematicians, and worked to solve various problems together. Be sure to ask your child about their experiences! I'm certain they have much to share!

Here's to another year helping students learn, lead, and grow!!

Yours in Education-

Mrs. Holtz

Because we know the beginning of the school year can be a little bit chaotic, we wanted to share our pick up and drop off procedures with you so you can feel confident sending your child to school knowing he/she is ready to tackle the day.

KEY TIMES:

7:30 am: Doors Unlock

7:58 am: Morning Announcement Begin in Gym

8:00 am: Student Day Begins

3:00 pm: Student Day Ends, Bus Students Dismissed

3:02 pm: Walkers, Bikers, & Parent Pick Up Dismissed

WHAT TO EXPECT:

Doors unlock at 7:30 am.

We do not have supervision prior to this time. If your child is dropped off early he/she will be unable to enter the building until the doors unlock at 7:30 am.

Bus Students

Buses arrive at SIS beginning at 7:45 am. Students should enter the east side of the building and report to the gym for breakfast, morning announcements, and wait to be released to their classrooms with their teachers.

At the end of the day, students will exit the east doors to load respective buses.

Parent Drop Off & Pick Up

Students who will be dropped off by their parents should utilize the 5th Street circle drive. Please drop students off at the front doors near the crosswalk.

At the end of the day, parents may line up on the circle drive and drive through to pick up their child. If you prefer to park and wait for him her to come to your car you may do so. School staff will help supervise the crosswalk. In order to keep the process as efficient as possible, we ask that parents remain in their cars.

Walkers & Bike Riders

In order to maintain student safety, students who walk or ride their bike to school should utlize the 5th Street circle drive sidewalk. At the end of the day these students will be released after the buses have left the parking lot. Students should exit the front of the building (west doors) to retrieve their bike from the bike rack or use the circle drive sidewalk to head home.

Change of Plans

Should you need to change your child's end of day plans, you will need to contact the office. You can do so by calling our school secretary, Mrs. Laurie Arwine at 319-624-3401, ext. 1500 or you can email sisoffice@solon.k12.ia.us. In order to ensure your message is received it is recommended that you contact the office at least a half hour before the end of the school day.

The Solon Community School District over the past few years has been exploring ways to support our students and families in the area of WELLNESS. Wellness can mean something different depending who you are, your life experiences, and the perspective you may have. It can mean physical health, mental health, behavioral health, and even social emotional health. This year the district has identified important Wellness strategies to support all students and their needs. We would like to share a brief overview of the strategies and practices that are being put into place this year with a goal of positively impacting the lives of students and families over time.

Tanager School-Based Therapy

This year the Solon CSD is partnering with Tanager to provide school-based therapy to students during the school hours. This service is available by referral only and requires billing through families’ insurance plans. If you are concerned about billing or insurance, Tanager has consultation services to help families find funding sources - so please do not let financial hardship get in the way. School-based therapy is available to all students who attend the Solon School District. All referrals are made through your child’s school counselor to the Tanager Therapist contracted by the district. There is limited availability and the therapist will have a maximum caseload of approximately 30 students. However, the students who are served will change throughout the year based on students’ needs. Your child will not receive any therapy services without your consent and these services require parent intake forms that must be submitted to the Tanager Therapist first. If you have any questions or may be interested in this service for your child, please contact your child’s school counselor - Mike Thompson (High School), Heather Pentico (Intermediate and Middle School), or Paige Niemeyer (Lakeview).

Behavior Interventionists (PK-5)

A new position has been created at Lakeview Elementary and Solon Intermediate. Each building has a behavior interventionist to help support students who may be struggling for a variety of reasons. This position is an All Student position. The goal of the behavior interventionist is to provide positive support to a student who may exhibit challenging disruptive behavior, show signs of anxiety or frustration in class that may result in a behavior outburst, as well as other behaviors that may be a barrier to engagement and learning. The behavior interventionist has been trained to use a variety of strategies to help students remain calm, reflect on challenging situations, and develop a plan to help them be successful in the classroom. This position is already having a positive impact on students and the learning environment.

Care Solace (Districtwide Support Service)

The Solon CSD has contracted in partnership with Grant Wood AEA to provide Care Solace as a resource to support families in locating mental health and substance abuse treatment services. Families may contact Care Solace directly or identified district staff can help families by making a referral through the Care Loop portal. At any time, students, staff, and families may contact the 24/7/365 multilingual team of Care Companions at 888-515-0595 or use the district’s custom link: caresolace.com/solon to confidentially find providers on their own.

Johnson County Mobile Crisis

The district continues to maintain a relationship with the Johnson County Mobile Crisis team. School counselors use this service as a means to respond to emergency situations where students and/or their families may be experiencing a crisis event. Families are also encouraged to reach out by calling 1-855-581-8111. Please visit https://builtbycommunity.org/i-need-help/mobile-crisis/ for more information.

Character Strong Skill Building Resource

The district is partnering with Character Strong - an organization that provides training for educators and students to increase overall skill development. The work we plan to embark on will have 3 main outcomes: increasing a sense of belonging for all students, improving skills connected directly to our Portrait of a Graduate Skills for Success, and deepening student engagement in their learning, our school, and in the Solon community. This curriculum was created to support school communities as they engage in the work of preparing young people to thrive in the 21st century. The research supports the effectiveness of all facets of the learning process in schools with the main goal of increasing student’s preparedness for life after high school. The lessons focus on developing skills and mindsets around building positive habits, understanding our emotions, and increasing compassion for people and communities who have lived different lives than us. The curriculum helps students think about things they want to improve in their school, their relationships, and their world outside of school. To learn more about Character Strong, check out characterstrong.com to discover other resources for students and families.

As part of our kick off to the beginning of the school year we have taught and/or reviewed our school-wide expectations. We wanted to take a moment to highlight a couple of changes from previous years.

• No Hats -- In years past students have been permitted to wear hats at SIS. We are no longer allowing hats to be worn inside the building. If a student wears a hat to school he/she will be asked to remove it upon entry to the building and will be expected to keep his/her hat in his/her book bag until exiting the building at the end of the day. This rule is now consistent K-8.

• Personal Recess Balls & Sunglasses -- From time-to-time students may choose to bring their own recess balls and/or sunglasses outside. If a student chooses to do so, these items will be placed in the common area outside the lunch room for students to grab as they head out to recess after lunch in order to save space, uphold lunchroom expectations, and maintain student safety (keep the floor free of equipment, etc.)s. Any items brought to school are brought at the student's own risk.

This past week your student had their first library visit and they were able to check out up to two books during their library specials time. Just a few things to keep in mind as we look forward to a great year:

Circulation:

• Students can check out up to two books at a time for a two week time period.

• Books can be renewed for an additional two weeks if no one has placed the book on hold.

• Overdue notices will be given to students once a month for them to take home.

Lost or Damaged Books:

• Lose a book? Did your new puppy take a bite? Baby get a hold of some markers? No worries, just contact the media center and we will let you know what to do next. Generally, there is a $15 replacement fee per book, or a replacement copy can be purchased from a bookseller of your choice.

This month our lessons will be focused on getting to know our library space, book care and how books are categorized. This will give our students the tools they need to find the books they love to read at the SIS library!

If you have any questions about the SIS library, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can access our library website here. The best way to contact me is through email: msutton@solon.k12.ia.us

We need 60+ cereal boxes for a Makerspace project this fall. You can have your student drop them off at the SIS office and they will be put to good use!

Sept. 4: No School -- Labor Day

Sept. 6: Picture Day!

Sept. 7: Early Release (1:32 pm at SIS)

Sept. 7: PTO Meeting (7:00 pm at LV Elem)

Sept. 25-29: Homecoming Week -- Dress Up Days TBD

Oct. 9: No School -- Prof Dev Day for Teachers

Email: mholtz@solon.k12.ia.us
Website: www.solon.k12.ia.us
Location: 200 West 5th Street, Solon, IA, USA
Phone: (319) 624-3401
Twitter: @theholtzfamily4