• After-School Playground Use
• PTO updates
• Staff Spotlight
• Read-A-Thon results
• Kindergarten Registration Info.
• COVID Protocol
• Arrival and Dismissal
• Fine Arts and Gym Schedule
• Lunch Information
• Monthly Wellness Calendar

March 20th-24th-Disability Awareness Week

Monday, March 20th-Math Bowl 2:30-3:30

Tuesday, March 21st-3rd & 4th Grade PowerHour 2:30-3:30pm

-Girls on the Run (GOTR) 2:30-4pm

-Chick-Fil-A 5-7pm dinner out for HEF (see flyer below)

Thursday, March 23rd-Honor Roll breakfast

-3rd & 4th Grade PowerHour 2:30-3:30pm

-Math Bowl Practice 2:30-3:30pm

-Girls on the Run (GOTR) 2:30-4pm

-Kindergarten registration 2:30-5:30pm

Friday, March 24th-Spring Break begins at 2:20pm!

Tuesday, February 28th-Kindergarten Registration Phase 1 opens online

Thursday, March 23rd-Kindergarten Registration 2:30-5:30 @ Johnston (Door F)

Spring Break March 27th-31st

Read-A-Thon is officially done for 2023! Thank you so much to all our Johnston families that participated! We had 39 students participate, we read a total of 518 books and collected $2,287.88 which will be split between the Highland Public Library and your very own Johnston Library.

Kindle Winner:

Jose R. - 5th grade

Most books read:

Stella H. - 1st grade - 50 books

Jose R. - 5th grade - 50 books

Most pledges:

Stella H. - 1st grade - $252.50

Connor W. - 3rd grade - $200.00

All Read-A-Thon participants received a goodie bag from me and will receive their ribbons or trophies during the last week of school. Thank you everyone for your support and I am looking forward to next year!

Mrs. Bastaic

We absolutely love having our students play at our playground after school. However, there are one of two things that have to happen for your child to be allowed at the playground after school hours:

1. Come with a parent to supervise.

2. Go home after school to check in and then come back.

Unfortunately, we do not have staff that can supervise the playground after school, so we want to ensure our students are safe and accounted for. Thank you so much for your cooperation with this.

Here is a great article on how we can help our children if they are stressed, anxious, and/or depressed. Go here to read more.

A few reminders:

-Popcorn Day on Fridays

-Fun fair Friday, April 21st

Shop at Strack & Van Til Food Market, save your receipts & send them to school with your student to help us earn free classroom equipment, courtesy of Strack & Van Til Food Market!

Fun fair will be Friday, April 21st. Beforehand, each grade level will put together a basket for the silent auction that night. Each class needs to have something for all the donations to display in, ex: laundry baskets, totes, etc. We will also need cellophane to wrap the baskets in as well as a typed list of each item in the basket for when it is displayed. We will wrap the gift baskets on April 12th, immediately after school.

The themes for each class are:

Torres- Chicago Sports
Kindergarten- Gift Cards
1st- Backyard BBQ
2nd- Movie Night
3rd- Scratch off tickets
4th- Fiesta
5th- A day at the beach

Students in 4th grade throughout the School Town of Highland are about to study an important lesson on the early stages of puberty which many students this age are beginning to experience.

The School Town of Highland Health Services Department partners with Procter and Gamble and uses the Always Changing and Growing Up© program that helps both girls and boys. This program helps students understand the physical and emotional changes they experience during puberty, and acknowledges these changes as a normal part of growth and development. It also helps students learn the physiology of their bodies and correct terminology for parts of the reproductive system. Lastly, for the 4th-grade girls, it helps the students learn how to manage periods while continuing normal activities.

The Always Changing and Growing Up© Program is based on national research and consultation with school nurses, health educators, parents, and medical professionals. It has been a trusted source for over 30 years and has been taught to millions of students nationwide. It is provided as a free education resource to our schools by Procter and Gamble brands.

We will have this program on March 24, 2023. The female and male students will be separated and shown a video. They will have a review of the video and a short question-and-answer session with the teacher and/or nurse that is facilitating the lesson.

If you would like to view the videos that will be shown, they can be found at:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv21b3ZpSLg (Female Lesson)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzVKrDDarjs&t=2s (Female Lesson)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XF0awGRTWs (Male Lesson)

Yours in Health,

School Town of Highland Health Services Department

Our staff and students do an excellent job following safety protocol. Here is a summary of some of the things we have in place here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11aZLQChUOAt-bdUKyo1SnmHy0zljJPNI/view?usp=sharing

• Doors open for students at 7:35 a.m. daily. Students who eat breakfast at school will be allowed entry beginning at 7:20 a.m at Door D. Anyone arriving after 7:50 a.m. will need to buzz and come into the main office to sign in.

• Cars will enter the parking lot off Duluth Street (right turn only) and follow the curve to drop off students. Please pull up as far as you can and drop all your students off at one time. Have your children ready with their backpacks, lunch money, hugs, and kisses, so that when you stop they may exit the car quickly, and we can keep the drop-off line moving. The line can become backed up onto Duluth Street very quickly which causes safety issues for our parents, as well as other drivers.

• Please drop off curbside only, and parents stay in their cars. Avoid dropping children off where they have to cross the street, this is extremely dangerous. It will be your responsibility to cross them if you choose to do this.

• Please be mindful of other drivers and walkers. We know many of you have to get to work, and we want all children to be able to enter the building safely and on time.

• Doors C (1st & 2nd) and B (Kindergarten, 3rd, & 4th) will be utilized for entrance as usual.

• 5th graders and Mrs. Torres's class will use Door G.

At the end of the school day, the following doors will be used for dismissal:

• Grade K will exit through door J (FIVE minutes before the rest of the grade levels)

• Grade 1 will exit through door C (main doors)

• Grade 2 will exit through door B

• Grade 3 will exit through door J

• Grade 4 will exit through door I

• Grade 5 and Mrs. Torres's class will exit through door G

• Bus riders will exit through door J (a few minutes prior to the remainder of the school being dismissed where the buses will be waiting).

Cars may enter the parking lot off Duluth Street and follow the curve to pick up or park in the parking lot to walk up to get students.

We would like to thank you in advance for your cooperation as we strive to keep our Johnston families safe.

We have rotating "Specials" times. See the link below or check our website's calendar. Please check your classroom teacher's agenda each day to see what class you need to attend.

Here is a link to a calendar that lists the rotations.

Breakfast is $1.50

Lunch is $2.00

You can find both menus here: https://www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com/index.php?sid=2809100435083594&page=menus

Please don't hesitate to contact us in the office for any ideas, thoughts, concerns, or words of encouragement! We are all part of this large extended mix of wonderful people we affectionately refer to as our Johnston Family.

Email: aharring@highland.k12.in.us
Website: https://www.highland.k12.in.us/o/jes
Location: 8220 5th Street, Highland, IN, United States
Phone: 219.923.2428
Facebook: facebook.com/johnstonpto
Twitter: @harrington_jn