Veterans Weekly Newsletter

Click here to view the iRead and iLearn Parent Presentation!

Have you viewed your child's quarter 2 report card?

• NEW CLUB For 1st Graders.. Book and Craft Club!!! A flyer will be sent home next week with every first grader! This club will run April 2nd-May 2nd. Session 1 will meet on Tuesdays and Session 2 will meet on Thursdays. If your child is accepted into the club a note will be sent home with more specifics.
• Students need to have headphones at school. This is especially important for students in grades 3, 4 and 5 with their upcoming state assessments.
• Dress your Brickies for outside recess! As the weather is starting to change please send them with their winter coat.
• Please send your child with a water bottle and a healthy snack daily!
• Chromebook insurance is a separate fee this year for $25. If you signed the paper at Back to School asking for insurance, the fee has been assigned to you in Skyward. The insurance is not effective until purchased. You can pay through Skyward or send cash or check to Veterans School at Mundell. It is not too late to still purchase insurance if you opted out before. We strongly encourage all parents to purchase insurance.

• How does your child become a Mathlete? Students master their facts in XtraMath based on their grade level expectation and earn a Veterans Mathlete shirt.

  1st and 2nd Grade-Addition and Subtraction

  3rd Grade-Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication

  4th and 5th Grade-Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division

• It very important to follow our car rider procedures to ensure everyone is safe.
• Students in grades 3-5 can ride bikes to school. Younger students can ride bikes with an adult only. Scooters, skateboards and hoverboards are not permitted.
• Students should have a consistent dismissal plan each night to avoid confusion.
• Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays students can be dropped off at 8:30 at door 14 and not any earlier. Supervision and doors open at door 14 at 8:30. Students should never be dropped off at door 1 unless they are tardy and it is after 9. Door 1 is for visitors only not drop off.
• Late Start Wednesdays students can be dropped off at 8:50.
• Fridays are Brickie Fridays! Encourage your child to wear purple and gold.

Arrival:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

8:30 Breakfast

8:45 Students Go to Classrooms

8:55 Attendance is Taken

Wednesday

9:00 Breakfast

9:10 Students Go to Classrooms

9:15 Attendance is Taken

Dismissal:

3:15 Car riders and Walkers Dismiss

3:20 Bus Riders Dismiss

The following classrooms are nut free - ALL of 5th grade, Hall, Bezvin, Smith, Lannon, Stafford, Lauridsen.

Why must birthday treats and snacks be nut free?

At school one of our top priorities is keeping our students safe. In order to do this, we have to make certain classrooms NUT FREE. Most of us know someone who has a nut allergy of some degree, but everyone’s allergen response is NOT the same. Some student can have an anaphylactic reaction from particles in the air, from simply touching anything with traces of nuts, while others are less severe and only react if ingested. Depending on the severity of the student’s allergy, we at times cannot have even a trace of nut products in the classroom. Emergency Epinephrine is available at school, but requires the student then to be transported via EMS to the local ER to ensure no additional treatment is necessary. Food allergies can be life threatening, no student or parent should have this burden of concern at school.

How Can I help?

There are many nut free options of treats that will help celebrate your student’s special day, while keeping the peers around them safe! When shopping for nut free treats, please read the label!

SOME NUT FREE Options: LOFT HOUSE cookies, BEST CHOICE cupcakes, MEIJER fresh cupcakes (most options, check label), FAVORITE DAY BAKERY at Target.

Why not remove the student with an allergy for snacks?

Students never want to be different from their peers. Isolating them during birthday treat and celebrations is unfair and detrimental to their mental wellbeing. There are many alternative nut free options that allow them to be included. It is important to take into account the perspective of the student and parents of those with food allergies. A child should never be excluded when we can, together, keep their classroom safe and enjoyable!

Click here to nominate a Brickie you catch being EXCELLENT ON PURPOSE!

Students can now earn beads for a necklace at Veterans for being Excellent on Purpose!

We love to show our Brickie Pride at Veterans School. Encourage your child to wear purple and gold on Fridays!

Every Friday, you will receive a weekly newsletter. This is the school's way of communicating important events and sharing all of the fun from the week.

You will also receive recorded notables and Remind text messages from the school on your phone.

You can also find current information about school events:

https://www.facebook.com/Veterans-Elementary-School-at-Mundell-100433255104986/?view_public_for=100433255104986

Veterans Web Site:

https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ve

Food Service Menus:

https://brickiecafe.com/index.php?sid=2609121618454573&page=menus

As we start school, it is important for the safety of our children to be aware of our school buses.

The stop arm and blinking lights mean “STOP”. To disregard the stop arm is a misdemeanor and mandatory court appearance. The Hobart Police Department has shared that law allows the police to use the bus driver’s observations to issue a citation to the registered owner of the vehicle.

Our ultimate goal is a safe commute for children to and from school.

As we all know, Hobart has a lot of road construction/improvements going on that will take several months to complete. With that said, expect an increase in traffic on some of our main thoroughfares such as through downtown, 3rd Street, Wisconsin Street, Liverpool Road, etc... Expect delays and be patient during your travels in the city, especially during arrival and dismissal. The Hobart Police Department will be out enforcing traffic violations, so be mindful of that. If this is problematic for you, the bus is a viable option for your student. Also, the use of buses will help lessen some vehicle traffic on our city streets during arrival and dismissal while road construction is going on. This is especially true as some drivers will be using "detour apps" to find shortcuts through our city. Again, expect delays, but more importantly, be patient.

Our 5th graders are in the home stretch of Too Good For Drugs. The last lesson, lesson 7, discussed peer pressure. There are 9 peer pressure refusal strategies that can be applied to everyday life, not just in school. The 9 peer pressure refusal strategies are:

1). STEER CLEAR: Is a strategy that helps avoid a peer-pressure situation before it even starts. If you see a group of kids that are known to cause trouble hanging out on the basketball court at the park, is it a good idea to go hang out with them? NO, it is not. In other words, you need to STEER CLEAR of them and AVOID them at all costs. Find someone else to spend your time with.

2). Next Strategy is to say, “NO”! There are several ways to say NO, like No thanks or No way. The Say NO strategy is nothing new. It goes back to the anti-drug campaign of the 1980's that was introduced by former First Lady Nancy Reagan of "Just Say No" as part of the US led war on drugs. This strategy is best used with an assertive communication style, but an aggressive communication style works as well.

3). WALK AWAY: Think of a safe place to go and start walking there, now. Don’t hang around, leave the situation quickly. Keep yourself safe, be careful…

4). IGNORE: Ignoring means to refuse to pay attention to someone. You act as if the person pressuring you isn’t even there. Don’t look at him or her.

5). BROKEN RECORD: To use the broken record strategy means to say the same thing over and over again. So, if someone pressure you to lie, you would say, “I don’t lie.” If they called you names, you would once again, “I don’t lie.” And you just say the same thing again if someone says to you, “Everyone does it.”

6). MAKE AN EXCUSE: To make an excuse is to think of a really good reason not to go along or fall into peer pressure. You don’t have to lie. Come up with a believable excuse such as “I can’t!”

7). REVERSE THE PRESSURE: means to put the pressure back on the person who is pressuring you. You would say, “Why are you pressuring me?” or “If you were my friend, you wouldn’t be pressuring me to do something I don’t want to do.” This strategy works because it puts the pressure back on the person pressuring you.

8). STATE THE FACTS: tells the person pressuring you the possible consequences of doing what he or she wants to do. For example, if someone was pressuring you to steal, you could say, “Stealing is wrong, and we could get into big trouble.” If someone pressured you to cheat on a test, how could you State The Facts?

9). BETTER IDEA: suggests something else to do. This works best if the person pressuring you is a friend and you don’t want to lose that friendship. Say, “I have a better idea, let’s go to the park and play basketball. Or, Let’s play video games instead.” You can suggest anything positive; the possibilities are endless. Think of fun, healthy, and safe activities you and your friend(s) can do instead.

We are looking forward to finishing up the last 3 lessons of Too Good For Drugs and the celebration at our high school. One last thing, don't forget to set your clocks ahead 1 hour on Sunday March 10th at 2:00 AM.

Check out the SEL page for great tips and advice for Social Emotional Learning for students, parents, and families! Lots of great information with what we do in school with students and what you can do at home.

It’s not a myth that electronics can affect sleep. Studies have shown that blue light screens such as TVs, tablets, computers, and cell phones emit suppress melatonin resulting in not feeling sleepy at bedtime and disrupting quality sleep. The best rule of thumb is to eliminate screen time an hour before kids head to bed. Think about what your child needs and when you can fit screen time in appropriately so that it does not affect their sleep habits. You don’t want your child to feel deprived of electronics, or like they are being punished, so instead, we recommend being intentional with creating a new schedule that allows for screen time prior to the last hour of the day. Turn off the electronics an hour before bed. This works for all ages from young to adults.

Check out this month's Nurse's Corner to learn about the immunizations, sports physicals, and what to do when your student is sick.

If your child isn't feeling well, please keep him or her at home. You must report the absence to the school before 10:00 AM. Click the link below to learn how to report an absence.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UVUSq5USyAh-AwDoDXVhZl-nP83REUqB/view

Visit www.hobart.k12.in.us/techhelp for information on how to report absences and check grades in Skyward, receive assistance with Canvas, and much more!

To contact our Technology Department, please call (219)942-1388 ext.8963.

We aim for a great partnership with our parents! That is why we utilize CANVAS and SKYWARD! Learn how to access them both at www.hobart.k12.in.us/partnership

The School City of Hobart uses Remind to communicate with families via text messages and/or phone calls.

What are some ways that we use Remind?

• District News- Weekly newsletter, emergency closings, and other important information
• Class Reminders from Teachers - Events, tests, homework, due dates
• Announcements and Celebrations
• One-on-One Help
  
  

If you have not been receiving our messages and would like to, please reach out to your student's teacher for their Remind class code, which you will then text to 81010. For example, if you wanted to join a class with the class code @math, you would text @math to 81010.

Start planning your breaks for next school year by checking out the Board-approved 2024- 2025 School Calendar! #BrickieUp www.hobart.k12.in.us/calendar

We have a very enthusiastic PTO!

Click here to access our PTO social media.