South Davis Shines

Hello South Davis Families.

Thank you for a good first full week of school! We are already into some great routines and some pretty heavy mental lifting too - writing our names, multiplying two digit numbers, identifying complete sentences, practicing vowel team sounds, learning good sportsmanship, using images and symbols to describe ourselves. Your children are doing some wonderful things and we are proud of the effort we are seeing.

Please continue to partner with your child's teacher and maintain open communication, so that we can provide the support your family needs for a successful school year. And don't hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns beyond the classroom.

We're all in this together! Have a great week!

Mr. Dolce

#WeAreSouthDavis

Thursday - Early Dismissal plus Relocation Drill - see below for more information

September 22-27 - Homecoming Spirit Week

Monday, September 22 - PTO Dines out at Red Robin! Look for the flyer coming home this week

We had our first evacuation drill last week and all of the students did a great job of moving quickly and safely and following all directions!

We have more evacuation drills coming up; in fact we have to complete eight each year, with 6 by December 31, and we will have one Thursday morning as part of our Relocation Drill. We are also required to conduct 4 Lockdown Drills; we plan to have our first in October, with communication before then.

As a reminder, we will be conducting relocation drill (where we move to the Middle School) on Thursday, September 18.

Key points:

• Thursday is an early dismissal day. Dismissal will be at approximately 11:25. Pre-K may be a little earlier.
• All pickups - by car or if you are walking with your child - will take place at the Middle School.
• All students are encouraged to take the bus home.
• Please make sure all contact information in the Parent Portal is accurate.
• Adults picking up students should have government-issued photo ID
• Students who are walking and/or riding bikes by themselves will be walked back to South Davis at the conclusion of the drill, and then be dismissed from there,
• Early dismissals and last-minute changes should be avoided - contact the Main Office by 10:30 at the latest.
• No Boys and Girls Club on this day.

The letter that was sent previously is attached for your reference.

Parents of students in Pre-K, K, and grades 1, 3 and 5: be sure to send Mrs. Sulski a copy of any updated physicals. We need them within the first 30 days of school. You can email - ksulski@opschools.org - or call 716-209-6219 - if you aren't sure if it's already been sent in.

Also, you can call me directly - 716-209-6219 - for health-related issues for your child, and use the Parent Portal 👇(or the attendance line) for sharing attendance information.

At South Davis Elementary, we work diligently to ensure that all students receive the most appropriate instruction. There is a period for each grade level - sometimes called W.I.N. (What I Need) time - when students receive personalized instruction addressing their unique learning strengths and needs in literacy and numeracy. It is a time when teachers support individual students' academic growth in identified skills, like understanding place value, improving fluency and accuracy in reading, or building vocabulary.

Students work in small groups or even one-on-one with one of the grade level teachers, teacher aides, or with some other educators at South Davis, including Mrs. Kirsch, Mrs. Connors, Ms. Verbeck. This time will be devoted to supplemental instruction to reinforce skills or to provide opportunities to enhance upon skills already mastered.

This will occur each day, and the groups of students and teachers may change from day to day, based on the identified needs and strengths of the children.

We are excited to provide this individualized learning opportunity, and we are hopeful that you will see its impact grow as the school year progresses.

Thank you for your support. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

I recently met with all students to talk about expectations for how we speak and act towards each other, and how we show respect to our school community and ourselves. They reminded me that our school rules apply in classrooms, in the hallways, the cafeteria, the school bus - everywhere! We talked about specific examples of what kind and appropriate behavior looks like. To sum it up: treat others the way you want to be treated.

We connected to our District's character traits/behaviors - SHINE - and we all pledged to SHINE to the best of our ability. We will have all students and staff sign stars to add to those that were signed during Open House, to be visible reminders of our commitment to these expectations. I also shared some key elements at last week's PTO meeting. I'm linking the slides here.

Please continue to reinforce our shared values about behavior, and remind your children that making good choices has positive and negative consequences, from being acknowledged by adults or feeling good about ourselves, to a meeting with Mr. Dolce or a phone call home.

A simple way to support the PTO and the entire South Davis program 👇

Active Parenting Classes for K-5:

• Fall Dates: Thursdays - Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
• Winter/Spring Dates: Thursdays - Feb 26, March 5, 12, 19, 26
• Both sessions classes will run 5:30-7:00

Other groups/topics at the Family Solution Center:

• Plans to run parenting groups for 0-4/pre-k and teens (as offered last year)
• Co-parent group will run 1x/month
• Topic specific/1 x --TBD
• Parent Information Series topics - gambling, body image, vaping

See the attached flyer for all of the details.

Here's the latest Learning and Engagement newsletter from Buffalo | Toronto Public Media. Lots of great resources for the whole family, as well as free events. Check it out.