Friday, September 13th - Wear Gold or Yellow!

Friday, September 13th - PTO Back to School Party

Saturday, September 14th - Blood Drive @ Carpenter

Monday, September 16th - PTO Kick-off Event (Note: Change of Date since last update)

Friday, September 20th - Picture Day

Saturday, September 21st - Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast Day

Tuesday, October 1st- Hands on First Aid Training

I wanted to share/remind everyone about a positive reinforcement system that we utilize at Carpenter. Green slips are given to students for going above and beyond expectations in a given setting, whether that be the hallway, classroom, bus, lunchroom, or recess. They are called Green Slips because this system has been in place for a long time and we acutally used to use paper copies that we had on...wait for it.....green paper. In short, we have a google form accessible to all of our staff. When a student goes above and beyond, staff complete the form and Mr. Degman gets immediately notified. He then sends a "Green Slip" email home to families. Students that earn green slips are then placed on our Carpenter Bingo Board and when a Bingo is earned on our 10x10 board, ten students get to pick a book out of our book vending machine. Last year, we had 725 Green Slips earned, we had 6 bingos and 60 students earned books. Thank you to the PTO for the book vending machine donation!

Please be aware that to start the year, we had a glitch in our emailing aspect of the system and we had students recognized for green slips, but we didn't send the emails home. So, if your child shared with you that they had a green slip, it's safe to believe them. :). Moving forward, we found the fix and all green slips will get an email.

Not all students earn Green Slips and we know that there are WAY more incidents of students going above and beyone expectations. The system is designed as an intermittent reinforcement system where not everything is captured necessarily with a green slip, but maybe with a "Thank you!" or another form of verbal praise. All types of feedback are important and this is just one way for us to create a positive culture and climate at Carpenter while instilling in our students the importance of appropriate social and emotional skills.

This is a reminder that Carpenter will be hosting a blood drive on Saturday, September 14th. Please consider donating blood and saving lives. Click here to make an appointment online: https://tinyurl.com/Blood-Drive-9-14-24. We would like to fill all 90 spots.

Schedule for the day (*available while supplies last):

• 9:00am - 3:00pm - Blood Drive
• 9:00am - 3:00pm - Bounce House
• 9:30am - 10:30am - Donuts*
• 11:30am - 1:00pm - Tacos*
• 1:30pm - 2:30pm - Glitter Tattoos
• 1:30pm - 3:00pm - Popsicles*

In conjunction with the blood drive, please wear gold or yellow on Friday, September 13th in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Riley Cadiz. Riley is a childhood cancer warrior and the sister of fellow Carpenter classmates (Dylan 3rd grade, and Cameron 1st grade).

On Saturday, September 21st, Kiwanis is holding their annual Pancake Breakfast. Email Mr. Balduf at bbalduf@d64.org for tickets that can either be sent home with your child or picked up at Carpenter. The breakfast tickets are $10 for adults or $5 for children. There are also raffle tickets for great prizes; six tickets for $5 (you do not have to be present to win).

here is still time to register your child/children for our 2nd session of the Rainbows for all Children peer groups. The first session for this school year begins Tuesday, Sept. 10th at 5:30 pm. This free program will meet weekly, for 1 hour, at the Park Ridge Community Church and provides a safe space for students in 1st - 8th grade to share their experiences associated with loss of a loved one and/or a changing family dynamic due to divorce, deployment, etc. Trained facilitators help encourage communication while identifying, navigating and discussing feelings amongst the group.

Please use the Google form link below to sign up your child and/or to be added to our email communications list. Any questions or interest in volunteering to become a facilitator, please contact rainbows64@att.net . For more info about Rainbows, please visit: https://rainbows.org/

Rainbows Student Peer Group Sign up