Lincoln Staff Blog

Thank you for all you are doing every day to build relationships with students. Your classroom meetings and time spent revisiting routines and procedures are paying off. Our students are starting to settle into routines and expectations. The office is still handling many students that are in crisis throughout the day, which means we need your help. When dealing with a discipline problem, consider whether your student is in crisis or is having a problem. Handling students within the classroom maintains the relationship between you and the child and lets the child know you are in control of the situation. Our district goal is for students to regulate in the classroom whenever possible and for them to have confidence that their teacher cares and can handle situations.

This Week

P2: Gratitude

SEL: Tier 2

11/8 Elementary Principal's Meeting 7 am

11/8 PTO 1:00 (Student Council will present)

11/9 Late Start

11/9 Fire Drill #4 (2:00 pm)

11/10 Half Day

11/11 Half Day

11/11 Popcorn Friday!

Coming Up...

P2: Self-Control

11/14 IEP's (10:30 - 11:30 in RR Room, 1:45 - 3:45 in Media Center)

11/15 Elementary Principal's Meeting 7 am

11/15 Elementary Staff Meeting 4:00 - 5:00

11/16 Late Start

11/17 Thanksgiving Luncheon

11/18 Half Day

Future dates to know...

11/21 Grades due at 4 pm

11/28 Report Cards will go home

12/3 Holiday Breakfast

We are so excited to welcome Daniel Ostyn to our staff. Daniel will begin working with our paraprofessional team on Monday. He will be shadowing a few people on Monday and Tuesday. Because we are fortunate enough to have Dan join us, there will be some changes to our paraprofessional schedules. The new schedules will begin on Wednesday after Dan becomes acquainted with our routines and procedures and gets to know the students he will be working with a bit.

Thank you to everyone for being patient while we searched for just the right fit for our students. Daniel is a certified teacher, and life has taken him down many paths while working with children. He is thrilled to be back in the schools working with students and is excited to see where this new path may lead. He will be in the building from 8:30 - 2:30 right now.

Our lunch staff is having difficulty with the lunch count--especially on days when there are extra special goodies on the menu. Please be sure that your lunch count is accurate and that you discuss the importance of not changing from that choice. Consider putting your cold lunch students in the front of the line and sending them into the gym through the first door. As you walk your hot lunch students down to get cards, it makes it less likely that cold lunch students will change their minds.

Our itinerant teachers currently have just 5 minutes between classes. These 5 minutes are an essential time for them to change out materials and prepare for a new grade level. It is important that classroom teachers be on time to receive their class. Please check your clocks carefully this week and make your way to pick up students a minute or two early in case you get stopped in the hallway!

Our lunch staff and PTO are busy preparing for our very special Thanksgiving Luncheon. For those of you that have not participated, this is a tradition for our SJPS Elementary students. Our students will sit at the tables and be served a wonderful Thanksgiving meal family style. This is a very special occasion, so please try to join your students at the table for this special event. Thank you to Michelle, Demrhy, and our PTO for creating such a delicious event that our students will always remember.

Lunch Schedule for the 17th:

Y5, K, 1st Grade Lunch Seating: 11:40 am - 12:10 pm

Recess: 12:10 - 12:35

Kindergarten will perform at the beginning of the lunch.

5th and 3rd Lunch Seating: 12:20 pm - 12:50 pm

Recess: 12:50 - 1:15

Kindergarten will perform at 12:45 pm

4th and 2nd Lunch Seating: 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Recess 1:30 - 1:55

Kindergarten will perform at the beginning of the luncheon.

It is that time of year when we evaluate our students' progress. Please evaluate each student's progress in their SEL skills here. You will notice a new tab labeled K-2 Rubric and 3-5 Rubric, which can assist you in determining each student's progress. Please consider discussing students you are unsure of how to rate with your teammates at next week's late start meeting. On that same sheet, you will find the copy-and-paste stems for report card comments in the area of SEL. Please complete this by November 21st.

Thank you for all you do!

Thank you for knowing your students so deeply. As you prepare your report cards, be sure to leverage the expertise of your grade-level team to craft effective comments that communicate students' academic progress.

Examples:

XX is a transitional reader, which means she is reading for meaning. To help XX continue to grow as a reader, she is working on answering higher-level thinking questions.

XX is working below grade-level expectations in the area of literacy at this time. To support XX, s/he is getting extra personalized instruction during the literacy block in the area of XX. Things to do at home to support growth in literacy are: XX.

Be sure to communicate math and SEL needs in the same way. (An SEL stem is located on the rubric from Melaina.)

We are all busy, but please take the time to read the article I posted below. As we think about what we can do to help improve student behavior, as well as how students feel about themselves, this article is very enlightening. Thank you to Sarah and Melaina, who kicked off our Kindness Club this week. This is an important step in our overall plan to create a school community that cares for, supports, and protects one another.

Here is a message from Sarah regarding this week's first meeting:

Our first Kindness Club meeting kicked off this week, and we are so excited to spread kindness and give back to Lincoln School and our local community! This past week, we teamed up with the local chapter of the Blue Star Mothers to make cards that will be included in care packages being sent to members of the armed forces overseas. The students made TONS of kind cards that will be delivered to the Blue Star Mothers this coming week.

✔️Use the report card stems for Reading and SEL to begin recording comments on report cards

✔️Begin working on your SEL Competencies due Nov. 21st

✔️ Note that grades are due on Nov. 21st by 4 pm

✔️Be sure you have updated lunch seating for Nov. so that students are interacting with new

friends.

✔️Read our Lincoln Family Blog to stay current on what families see from our school

Email: lknuth@sjschools.org
Website: www.sjschools.org
Location: 1102 Orchard Avenue, St. Joseph, MI, USA
Phone: 269.926.3700