Cougar Pride

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well. As we move further into the school year, I want to take a moment to thank you for your continued support and partnership. Together, we are creating a nurturing and enriching environment for our students, where they can grow and thrive both academically and personally.

Communication is key to our success, so I encourage you to stay engaged with our teachers and staff. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have. Your feedback helps us ensure we’re meeting the needs of all our students.

In the coming weeks, we have some exciting events planned, including Fall Pictures, Red Ribbon Week, and a Character Parade. I look forward to seeing many of you there. Let’s continue to work together to make this school year a great one!

Thank you for being such an important part of our school community.

Warm regards,

Tisha Jones

Welcome to a new month. Not only are we celebrating October being National Bully Prevention month but we will also be focused on our new character trait, Responsibility, as we continue to support social emotional learning, SEL, with our students.

Make sure to join us on October 3rd by wearing orange to spotlight our character trait as we continue to support social emotional learning, SEL.

The dictionary talks about Responsibility in a few ways: duty, accountability, and the independence to make decisions. We are using a slightly different definition at school:

Responsibility: to take action and understand how our choices affect others, ourselves, and the world.

Every day we make choices and take actions. Being responsible means we know how those choices impact all people and things involved! Sometimes we get to choose what we are responsible for, sometimes we earn new privileges through consistent and healthy choices, and sometimes we are responsible for things simply because we are a part of a community (and we all have to do our part!).

You really want a new game, but you need a new pair of shoes. How do you decide between wants and needs so that you can spend your money responsibly? Talk about wants and needs in your life and how you’ve learned to tell the difference!

What are the responsibilities you have at home? How do people know what they are responsible for? Which responsibilities are you really good at?

What’s something that you want for our home? Would getting this thing demonstrate Responsibility with our time, money, or energy? If so, how might we earn this special something by showing Responsibility?

Why is it important to consider other people when you’re making your decisions?

Who is the most responsible person you know? What makes them responsible?

What are some things that might get in the way of showing Responsibility? What are some things that might help us practice Responsibility?

What does Responsibility feel like to each person in your family?

Create a Responsibility Race at home! Make sure everyone has 3-5 chores to accomplish and set a timer to see who can do them the fastest/most creatively/most thoroughly. Establish a prize for the winner and make it into a weekly game!

Bullying includes all three of the following:

1. The person is hurting or harming you with their words or behavior on purpose
2. It happens repeatedly
3. And you feel that the person has more power than you

This time, we will discuss the difference between bullying and conflict.

Conflict is a disagreement that happens when people want different things. The people involved in a conflict have equal power to solve the problem. They are not purposely trying to hurt each other. Bullying is different. Bullying is unfair and one-sided. It happens when someone keeps picking on someone on purpose. The goal of bullying is to make the victim feel scared or bad about themselves and that’s not okay. All kids have conflicts – disagreements that end up in arguing or fighting, that’s different from bullying.

Having a conflict or problem with someone isn’t necessarily bullying. Bullying is on purpose, repeated over time and a situation in which one person has more power than the other. Conflicts come up every now and then. If someone makes you feel bad in some way, tell them and ask them to stop. If they stop, it’s not bullying. If they keep doing it or keep finding different ways to make you feel bad, it is bullying.”

Every child is unique and has their own way of responding to situations. That is why it is important for parents and guardians to understand bullying to create a meaningful dialogue and identify when a child needs help.

Kennedy Elementary is a uniform campus. Students are expected to wear uniforms each day.

Collared Shirts: Navy, Red, & White

Bottoms: Navy & Khaki pants, knee length shorts, jumpers or dresses

Shoes: Students must wear closed toe shoes. No flip flops or crocs are allowed per district policy.

Solid Color Denim (blue jeans) may be worn on Fridays only. Jeans should not have any holes or rips.

Kennedy Spirit shirts or College shirts may be worn on Fridays

In order to administer any medication in the school setting, including medications on the standing orders, nurses require a physician’s order and written parent/guardian authorization. To comply with this policy, Health Services have created forms to help you obtain written parent/guardian authorization for standing order medications (please see attached)

School attendance is very important and Kennedy Elementary is striving to meet and beat Gold Performance with 95% Average Daily Attendance (ADA) this year. Morning announcements begin at 7:45am. The tardy bell rings at 7:55 AM and the instructional day begins at this time. Once the tardy bell rings, all students should be in their classroom and ready for learning.

Our goal is to ensure that every student attends school regularly. We realize some absences are unavoidable, however excessive tardies and absences can cause students to fall behind academically.

We are committed to strengthening our home to school connection. If you are interested in volunteering or being a field trip chaperone at Kennedy, please contact Mrs. Perez (Family Center Liaison) for more details.

The district process takes approximately 3-4 weeks to complete. Please submit your application now to avoid delays. Volunteer information and application are included in the link below. Please make sure that you use your complete government name. Remember that all chaperones must be cleared through the district which includes a background check and campus training and orientation. You cannot serve as a chaperone unless you are a cleared district volunteer.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you on campus.

https://www.aliefisd.net/o/aisd/page/volunteers-in-public-schools

Field Trips:

• 4th- November 4
• 3rd- November 9
• Kinder- April 2024
• 2nd- April 2024
• 1st- May 2024

Remember that all chaperones must be cleared through the district which includes a background check and campus training and orientation. You cannot serve as a chaperone unless you are a cleared district volunteer.

Do you want to celebrate your child's birthday in a special way? Well, we have the answer just for you!

You can have your child's name displayed on the school marquee for $10. Messages will be posted for the duration of 1 school day. Submissions and $10 cash must be paid one week in advance for message to be displayed. Late submissions will not be accepted.

If you are interested, please stop by the front office to complete the marquee form and make payment.

Friday is School Picture Day. All students should wear their school uniform which is a navy, white, or red collared shirt. Students can also wear a Kennedy Spirit shirt. Order forms will be sent home.

Dress up as your favorite book character from a book that you love.

(no weapons, masks, monsters, or scary costumes)

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Vistan como su personaje favorito de algún libro que les guste mucho.

(no se permiten armas, máscaras, monstruos o disfraces de miedo).

• 3rd- Wear Orange for Character Trait Responsibility.
• 9th-11th Fall Break
• 14th- Student Holiday
• 15th Principal Chat & Chew
• 17th- Report Cards Go Home
• 23rd- Student Pictures (Students wear uniforms)
• 25th- 50th day of School
• 28th- Nov 1- Red Ribbon Week