October Newsletter
Sept 30th, 2025
The end of first quarter is quickly approaching and teachers are wrapping up quarter long projects and units. This is a great time to check out PowerSchool if your child is the middle school and ensure that they have all of work turned in. For students in 1st-8th grade, I encourage you to have students access their Accelerated Reader Account. Each student has a personalized reading goal and if they make that goal, they will get to have popsicles with the principal.
If you are unfamiliar with how to access PowerSchool or Accelerated Reader, your student, their teacher, or the office could provide assistance in accessing these resources.
Now that students have almost a full quarter of school under their belt, the school routines are becoming more automatic. Students have found their spots in social circles and are immersed in the rhythm of school. With the automaticity and an increase in familiarity at school sometimes comes an increase boundary testing. While some of this is to be expected, we have received a few reports of teasing. While teachers often reiterate what to do if someone is being teased, it is an important subject to discuss at home. Things to consider addressing:
1. Your expectations for your students. At Chapman, students are expected to say kind and uplifting things to each other. School is not the place to tease, name call, or gossip.
2. Let you child know that if they see or hear teasing, name calling, or gossiping they can be an upstander. This means that if they observe this they are encouraged to stand up to the person that is doing it. Ask them to stop and get an adult involved if needed. Peers have such a significant impact. Often times, if a friend stands up to another friend, a pattern of unkind behavior will stop.
3. If your child is being teased, called names, or gossiped about, they need to let a teacher know. Sometimes these behaviors happen when a child is trying to be funny or friendly. If this is the case, the behavior usually stops after a conversation. If the intentions are unkind, supports can be put in place to help the kiddo who is being teased and also the kiddo who is teasing so that the behavior stops.
It is so important that the school and the community works together to promote kindness and positivity. It is going to take commitment and consistency both at home and at school to keep our kids safe, supported, and learning.
Switching gears, I want to wish good luck to our soccer team who are beginning the Borough Tournament play in the tournament this week and good luck to our Chapman Mind-A-Mazes team who will be competing in a couple of weeks against teams borough wide.
I look forward to seeing you at Conferences in a few weeks. I encourage you to stop by and say hello. I am happy to answer your questions and address any concerns that you may have.
With Gratitude,
Mrs. Stokes
October Events
6th: Basketball Starts. Boys Coach: Mr. Dykstra/Girls Coach: Ms. Martishev
10th: Inservice Day-No School for Students
11th: Mind-A-Mazes Competition @ Sky View
15th: 5th Grade Walking Field Trip
16th: Site Council Meeting 2:45 pm
16th-22nd: 8th grade trip to Yellowstone
20th-24th: Book Fair
23rd & 24th: Parent Teacher Conferences-No School
31st: Halloween Costume Parade
Volcanoes In 3rd Grade
Third grade has been studying the layers of earth, tectonic plates, the Ring of Fire, volcanoes, and earthquakes. This week has been full of full science experiments all building up to this! Today, each student got the chance to erupt their own little volcano! We used baking soda, dish soap, and vinegar to make lava flow down the sides of our volcanoes.
Written By: Ms. Friendshuh
Take 3
The Homer Council on the Arts sponsored a performance by the talented trio, Take 3. This group was energetic and their performance was enjoyed by all K-2 students in attendance. Many performers began their musical careers in kindergarten. It was inspirational to see them perform.
Chapman Color Run
Our 2nd annual Color Run was another success! We had over 70 participants. This was Ms. Kohler's first year participating (as seen in picture.) Any participants that came through and ran both laps got to tag her with the color.