Dashing Thru December

Here we are, once again welcoming in a new month and ready to start Dashing Thru December! We have some special days planned for our last week before break. Keep reading to see what we have planned!

I'd also like to take this time to thank our families for making time to come in for conferences and allowing us the opportunity to share your child's learning progress with you. It's always nice to reconnect in person with parents and partner with you in the educational process.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Holtz

As the weather continues to drop and we prepare for the potential of snow, please keep the following in mind:

• Recess is held outdoors as long as the real feel is 10° or higher.
• Students can ALWAYS use encouragement to wear their coats, gloves, and hats outside.
• It's a good idea to write your child's name in his/her personal belongings.
• When snow begins to fall, students will need both boots and snow pants to go off of the concrete during recess.
• Once winter break arrives, we will take a break from using ripsticks, rollerblades, and scooters in order to prevent injuries on slick surfaces. Please plan for your child to take their "wheels' home over break. They may return to school after spring break when the weather is warmer and ice and snow aren't a concern.

As we the weather turns colder, we do have more indoor recess days due to the colder temperatures. We are currently brainstorming some options for students to pick from. If you have any of the following items you'd like to donate for indoor recess please send those to main office. Thank you, in advance, for your generosity!

• Chess Set (5-10 would be amazing)
• Playing Cards (5-10 decks)
• Uno Cards
• Embroidery floss (2 sets)

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our PTO for the delicious meals provided to us during parent/teacher conferences. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and kindness! It means so much to us all!

Sincerely--

SIS Teachers and Office Staff

Special thank you to those families who donated money to help provide additional recess balls, corn hole bags, and bases for organized games! Students will certainly get their use out of these items!

SIS is grateful to have found long-term subs for a couple of teachers. Both Mrs. Walden and Mrs. Meyers will be welcoming a new bundle of joy to their families. Mrs. Walden is due on Feb. 1 while Mrs. Meyers is due Mar. 4. We look foward to meeting their beautiful babies later this year. While they are gone, Mrs. Liz Rolwes will fill in for Mrs. Walden and Ms. Madysen Hess will sub for Mrs. Meyers. Get to know them now.

If you have a student in band, please mark your calendars for Thurs., Dec. 14th at 6:15 pm. Students will showcase their hard work for you in a winter concert.

As we welcome the holiday season and close out the first semester, we want to provide students with some special days and memories! Check out what we have planned!

Students did a wonderful job on their posters and book covers. I hope you had a chance to stop by the library and see all their hard work! We also explored some databases and talked about reliable sources for our research. This month we will be learning about our digital footprint as well as having some fun practicing our typing skills.

As the snow starts to fall, please make sure that students are transporting their library books separate from their boots and other wet clothing in their backpacks. If you have any questions regarding missing or damaged books, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at msutton@solon.k12.ia.us.

Feel free to send any items for donation to the SIS office for easy drop off!

During the month of November our Spartan Squad groups and our guidance lessons focused on respect. 4th graders learned about using positive self-talk to and expressing gratitude to others while 5th graders learned about using gratitude as a means to manage their stress.

We wrapped up the month at our school-wide assembly on Thurs., Nov. 30 by practicing gratitude. Students each made a turkey feather and wrote one way to show gratitude. Then classes competed for the orange chair using those feathers to create the most impressive gratitude turkey!

Our SIS Stand Out Students this month were recognized for completing their gratitude calendars that they made during our monthly Spartan Squad meetings. What a great way to end the month!

Take a peek at our Stand Out Students and Orange Chair winners below and then take a peek at what's to come in November when we focus on gratitude!

Dec. 21: Two-Hour Early Release (1:32 pm)

Dec. 22-Jan. 2: Winter Break

Jan. 3: Classes Resume

Jan. 15: No School -- Prof Dev. Day

Feb. 19: No School -- Prof. Dev. Day

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