This school year has gotten off to a great start! The students are acclimating themselves to attending school (again). For some of our students, they have never been in school before. For our staff, fall is a time for building relationships, going over expectations, and helping our students to feel comfortable at school. We have already completed our first round of NWEA testing, picture day, and our first mentoring lesson.

We appreciate all of the support and positivity from our families and staff. This has helped get our year underway. October will be filled with fun activities and learning. We have already had some volunteers in our building and look forward to having more! Our Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) kick off event will be coming in October, and we are excited to get this up and running again.

GO PIRATES!

Gianina Meli

gmeli@riverviewschools.com

Ms. Annie Prusakiewicz, secretary (ext. 8)

Email: aprusakiewicz@riverviewschools.com
Website: riverviewschools.com/Forest
Location: 19400 Hampton Street, Riverview, MI, USA
Phone: (734) 479-2550

October:

Homecoming Spirit Week 2nd - 6th

2nd - Woody & Jesse's Round Up // Dress like a cowboy or cowgirl

3rd - Tangled Tuesday // Crazy Hair Day

4th - Wednesday Wonderland // Wear Mismatched Clothes

5th - Pocahontas Colors of the Class

Kindergarten & 1st - Wear Red

2nd & 3rd - Wear Yellow

4th & 5th - Wear Orange

Staff - Black

6th - Wear Maroon & Gold

6th - Homecoming Parade begins at 5 PM & Game

October (continued)

4th - Walk & Roll to School Day

10th - Watch D.O.G.S kick off - 6PM (Forest Cafeteria)

11th - Forest Parent Club Meeting 6PM @ Rev'd Up Fun

16th - Dining for Dollars - Chipotle, Woodhaven 4-8 PM

18th - Mentoring

19th - Kindergarten Halloween Concert 6PM //

ALL KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS SHOULD REPORT IN COSTUME TO THE MUSIC ROOM AT 5:30 PM VIA THE FRONT DOORS OF THE BUILDING

23rd & 24th - Science Alive

25th - 4th Grade field trip to The Parade Company

26th - Early Release 12:40 PM // Conferences

27th - Boo Bash sponsored by Forest Parent Club

31st - Forest Elementary Halloween parade and class activities (see information below)

If your student will be participating in Popcorn Wednesdays, you have the option to pre-pay $14 which will cover all remaining Wednesdays in the school year and give you a small discount. Pay by exact cash or check (payable to “Forest Parent Club”) and send payment by Monday October 2nd.

For our "Hero of the Month" this month, it will be based on FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS. Teachers will choose the student from their class that depicted this skill best. They will be on our bulletin board, receive a certificate and a special prize.

For our mentoring lesson this month, the topic is "Identifying Your Emotions". Students K-5 reported to their mentor teacher. They report to this same teacher for all their years at Forest. The groups are mixed K-5.

You will find a poster on the front doors (next to buzzer). If you are signing your child in to school late (after 8:40) or you are picking your child up early, please use this QR code. You can do so by going to your camera on your phone, as if you are getting ready to take a picture. A "website or code" yellow box will pop up on your screen. Click on that box to access the sign in/out form. Once form is completed, ring the buzzer to alert our secretary. You would also use this process when bringing your child (back) to school from an appointment.

Although the state will be providing free meals to all students, it is very important that we still have families fill out this CEP form. This helps our school to receive additional funding, based on the information provided. Here is a link to the form that is very quick to fill out:

https://tinyurl.com/yysn6ubu

If approved, your family may also be eligible to receive a discount on utilities, waiving of testing fees (such as SAT or ACT), etc.

If your child would like free breakfast, they should report to the lunchroom (through our front doors) between 8:25-8:40 daily.

If you have any further questions, please call Louisa Burris or Jeff Edwards at (734) 285-2087.

• Make sure your child can open all items that you put into their lunchbox. The go-gurts and pizza sauce in the Lunchables are VERY difficult to open, even for the adults! Practice opening these items at home (and send only what they are able to open by themselves).
• Do not send huge lunches. 2-3 items (and a drink) is more than sufficient. They do have snack time as well.
• Practice at home for our younger kids! Set a 20 minute timer when your child starts eating. When the timer goes off, talk with your child about how much they have eaten. We don't want to rush our students, but it is 30 minutes from lunch line to clean up & line up again. Most of the time, families have much longer to sit and talk while they eat. They may not be used to this. A timer can help to give them a better concept of their time alotted to eat.
• Reinforce and remind your child of positive behavior in the lunchroom. Keeping hands and feet to self (especially while in line), facing forward (so that they can see when to move forward) and talking once they have eaten the most important parts of their lunches are all key.
• Do not send in sugar-loaded lunches. This causes a major crash later that afternoon.
• Supervise or oversee your child, if they make their own lunch.

• Each morning, children will be greeted by their teacher and enter the building through their assigned pod door. Every grade level has their own "pod" with their own assigned set of doors, where students will enter and exit each day. These doors are located around the building and will be labeled in chalk during the first week of school. (See diagram below.)
• Mrs. Stoner's (K) class is the only exception. Those students will enter through the front doors.
• If your child comes between 8:20-8:40 to eat breakfast, they should also use the front doors.
• Pod doors will not be open until 8:35
• Parents of non-busing students can either walk their child up to the door or use the drop off lane. There will be parent club volunteers and staff members to assist children getting out of cars in the drop off lane.
• Parents should not walk with their child into the building.
• When walking from the parking lot to the building, you MUST use the crosswalk (located directly in front of the flag pole and painted as such).
• Please do not walk in between cars in the drop off lane. This is very dangerous!
• Please assist your child in crossing the crosswalk, especially our younger students.
• Drivers, DO NOT GET OUT OF YOUR CAR IN THE DROP OFF LANE! If you must get out, please find a parking spot, so we can continue the traffic flow.
• If your child is not ready to get out of the car quickly (and without you), do not use the drop off lane. In this case, please park.
• When using the drop off lane, please pull all the way up to the sign that says "STOP" (to the left of the front office).
• DO NOT USE THE STAFF PARKING LOT! There are more staff than there are spots. Let's give these amazing people the privilege of not having to walk far, after teaching our children all day. This way, they can make sure they are ready and able to be there to teach your child on time,.
• DO NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO GET OUT FROM THE DRIVER'S SIDE OF THE CAR WHILE IN THE DROP OFF LANE!!! This is a HUGE safety issue!!
• DO NOT let your child out across the side street and allow them to cross to get to school. This is a huge safety issue! We have crossing safeties to make sure everyone is safe!
• The warning bell will ring at 8:35.
• Please make sure your child is in the doors and ready to learn by 8:40.
• If your child arrives at 8:45 or later, the pod doors will be closed and locked (for safety). In this case, please follow our tardy procedure, which is outlined below.
• If your child is consistently tardy, please enroll them in Champions before and after school care (see below).
• Many of our intervention classes (for those that need more support in reading and/or math), and classroom circles occur first thing in the morning. It is imperative that all students arrive to school on time consistently to ensure their emotional and academic needs are being met. Also, breakfast (if your child chooses to buy it) is first thing in the day as well.

• Students will be dismissed at 3:20 pm from their pod doors.
• Parents must be there to pick up their child(ren) promptly. We know there may be an exception or two that you are unable to avoid. If you know you will not be on time consistently, please enroll your child in Champions (before and after school care)-see below.
• All K-2 students that are being picked up can only be picked up by family listed on their emergency contacts. You can always call the office to add on to these or change them.
• Also, K-2 students must have the adult picking them up come to the pod doors. These students are not allowed to walk out to the cars alone.
• DO NOT PARK IN FIRE LANE FOR ANY REASON. If your car is parked in fire lane, you may be issued a ticket.

https://www.discoverchampions.com/our-locations/riverview/mi/001393

If you or another family member would like to volunteer at Forest Elementary, please fill out the following form:

https://tinyurl.com/5n9x76nc

If your child will need to take medication at school, use an inhaler, or if there is the possibility of your child needing over-the-counter medication, please have your Doctor fill out and sign the form (below). As the parent/guardian, you will sign it as well. Lastly, please turn the form into the office with the original/prescribed bottle or box of medication.