The Jayhawk Journal

I want to open this letter by saying thank you to our community for showing up to our Art and Book Fair this week! I know the weather was not perfect, and with all of the construction and lights out that day, it was not easy. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people showed up. It was the perfect night! Thank you to Mrs. Ackley and Mrs. Acker for putting this all together. So many proud students and families as they walked the halls, a true joy to see as the principal of this building.

For the month of April, we acknowledge Abilities Awareness Month. Our school celebrates our diversity and the importance of all students who help make us who we are at Johnson. In addition to Peer Connections and Unified Basketball, we have so many activities going on to help build our community. We are asking that students wear their unified shirts on Fridays this month. In addition, we will be focusing on making every student an Inclusion Superhero this upcoming week. Please see the attached flyers.

Week 2 of M-STEP has taken place, and we are still so proud of the effort that we are seeing from our students! Each day our students are coming in and giving their best effort, and that is what we ask of them. We talked about grit during our pep assembly, and our students are showing just that! Some classes are wrapping up as 6th grade takes ELA and math, while 5th grade will be taking ELA, math, science and social studies for the M-STEP this year. Please reach out to your teacher if you have any questions for subjects and specific times of your testing schedule.

The tickets for the USPBL Baseball Game for our March Is Reading Month "Home Run Winners" went out this week. Please see the section below on how to redeem your tickets. April is moving fast, but we still have so many great memories to make!

Have a wonderful weekend!

- Mr. Traub

Hello Jayhawk Family,

As you may have heard, we are glad to report that we had about 260 students who earned the grand prize for March Is Reading Month and hit a "Home Run!" As part of our program, we teamed up with the USPBL Baseball League based in Utica. Earlier this week, we sent home a certificate for our students who hit a "Home Run" during the program. On this certificate, it gives you a code with directions to claim your free ticket to the game. Additional tickets for family members can be purchased before you check out online. Ticket sales go live (4/14) and will run through May 1st. The sooner you redeem your ticket, the better chance you have for the date you would like. We have officially put it on the USPBL Calendar for Saturday, May 16th as the day that Johnson Upper Elementary will visit the game. We gave this date so all students would be able to go and see their classmates. If this date does not work for your family, you are able to redeem the free student ticket, and purchase tickets for another date on their schedule. It was a great month of reading, and we are very happy to see how many students who participated!

Please reach out if you have any other questions.

- Mr. Traub and Mr. Bublitz

Johnson Upper Elementary School is committed to providing a safe, respectful environment that supports the academic and socio-emotional needs of every student as they develop the necessary skills to become capable, confident, life-long learners.

With M-STEP Testing taking place the next few weeks, the hallways will still be our biggest area of focus. In order to provide students with a great testing environment, we are making sure that the hallways are quiet and at a voice level 0. Talk with your student about the importance of providing a great testing environment for all!

In addition to hallways, we focused on expectations in the cafeteria. Our cafeteria is used as a hub for many events throughout the day. In addition to lunch, we serve breakfast, hold assemblies, activities, and use it for bus dismissal at the end of the day. Our expectations in here both start and end the day on a good note. We are looking forward to the next time we do clubs on Friday, May 1st.

We would like to congratulate Mrs. Ackley for being voted this award by her colleagues this week! Mrs. Ackley is our Art Teacher here at Johnson. She is kind, creative, and passes on her great energy to the students that she works with. In addition to her daily duties, she put together an amazing Art Show this week which helped display the many great student artists that we have here at Johnson! She is a tremendous colleague who always supports the team and is a pleasure to work with. We appreciate the fun and creativity that she brings to our school each day. We are lucky to have her as part of our team!

My Favorite Part of Being A Jayhawk Is....

The Jayhawk Family!

Some Of My Favorite Things

Place To Travel: The Beach

Foods: International

Color: Yellow

College: Wayne State University

TV Show: Any English Mystery

Sports Team: No Sports!

School Subject: Art

My Hobbies....

Reading, arts and crafts.

We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on Tuesday, May 12th. Please see the attached flyer for our PTA Board Positions for the 26-27 School Year. We will also be collecting donations for Teacher Appreciation Week. Please see the flyer below.

For the month of April, all LPS schools will focus on building empathy. Take the time to talk with your student about what that means to them and your family.

Monday 4/20

Tuesday 4/21

Wednesday 4/22 Youth Making A Difference Awards at Churchill High School 6 p.m.

Thursday 4/23 Bagel Day

Friday 4/24

4/22 Youth Making A Difference Awards at Churchill High School 6 p.m.

4/23 Bagel Day

5/1 SOAR Clubs

5/5 Spring Picture Day

5/11 - 5/15 PTA Sponsored Teacher Appreciation Week

5/12 PTA Meeting

5/14 Bagel Money Due

5/15 Flower Fundraiser Pick-Up Date

5/16 USPBL Baseball Game for March Is Reading Month

We are currently in need of boys’ pants for our school clothing closet. Accidents happen throughout the day—whether it’s slipping in a puddle at recess, spilling milk at lunch, or other unexpected messes—and having extra clothing on hand helps students get back to learning quickly and comfortably.

If you have gently used or new boys’ pants that your child has outgrown, we would greatly appreciate any donations. Thank you for helping us support all of our students!

Just a reminder for parents as we return from break. Please drive with extra caution in the parking lot as rain may begin to fall. Practice patience and understanding as our staff works to keep all students and parents safe in the parking lot. No students should be walking in the parking lot unattended. A parent must walk with a student to and from the car if not in the loop. We appreciate your ongoing partnership in these areas!

Planning to volunteer this year? Fill out the iChat form now and you'll be all set for the year! Just enter today's date (or a day next week) for when you plan to begin volunteering. Then, you'll be all set when it comes time to help with Holiday Shop, Field Day, and other events.

We ask all parents/guardians to complete the welcome back checklist on parent connect. Why? This information is who we will contact in the event of an emergency. Year after year contacts will follow a student's file if they go unchecked. Please make sure all the contacts are current.

A nutritious lunch and breakfast is available for free each day at Johnson and at all Livonia Public Schools. If you forget to pack a lunch or just run out of time, we understand. Please know we will provide your student one of our lunch options always, no matter what. We hope this option will save you a trip up to the school. We also would like to remind parents that for safety reasons, we do not allow Door Dash orders for students. Thank you for understanding.

Students cannot be dropped off for school in the morning prior to 8:15am. This is when the doors open for breakfast and when staff is available to supervise students. Prior to this time, all school doors are locked. Students are not to be left unattended, arrangements must be made. Also, dismissal is at 3:30pm daily and at 11:45am on half days. It is required that all students who are picked up in the car loop be picked up no later than 3:45pm. Staff is not available to supervise students beyond that time. The district offers a SACC program for those students that cannot be picked up by 3:45pm. Please contact SACC at (734)744-2966 to make arrangements.

If your student is arriving after the last tardy bell, please note they need to check in at the office. They should enter the building through door number one (with the arch) and check in on the chromebook in the office. Parents do NOT need to come in to drop off students only to pick up.

If you need to pick up your student prior to the end of the school day, please know you will need to come into the office to sign them out and be verified by the office staff. Whomever is picking up a student early, must be listed on the Emergency Card.

Oftentimes a student will come to the office with a medical need. The office staff is able to dispense medication as needed as long as the medication is: 1) Delivered to school by a parent in the original unopened package or prescription container, {NO MEDICATION can be brought to school by students} 2) As long as there is an individual, signed medical authorization on file for each medication {form available in the office and online} Medication includes but is not limited to cough drops, aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, prescription drugs, creams, lotions, vitamins, inhalers, EpiPens, etc.… We cannot administer any medication that is not listed on file in the office. Please reach out to Jill Jablonski or Amy Dimmer in the office to set up a time to bring in medications and to review your student’s medical needs when they are in the building.

"Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground." - Theodore Roosevelt