CONVERSE CONNECTS

NOVEMBER EDITION

November at Converse

WOW! How is it NOVEMBER already?!? I cannot believe how our school year is flying by! We know that November begins a very busy season and we are ready for it! The month looks fairly "normal" as far as things that are happening here, but please be sure to mark your calendars for Thanksgiving Break as it will be Wednesday-Friday of that week.

11/1 - 11/5 Book Fair (you should have more information from your teacher)

SAMARITAN ROOM FOOD DRIVE- more information coming soon!!

11/24 - 11/26 - Thanksgiving Break

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Parent Teacher Conference success!

A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you for helping us to have a very successful turnout for Parent Teacher Conferences! We loved seeing you in the building if you were able to attend in person. I hope you enjoyed meeting with our teachers as much as they enjoyed meeting with you! It is such a great time to talk about all of the wonderful things your child is doing and how they are growing! Hopefully the chairs weren't too small!!

Indiana Residency documents

If you have not uploaded your residency documents into Skyward, or brought them to the school for us to help you, please know that I will be calling you to make sure this is done. This is something new that the state of Indiana is requiring of all schools. Parents can upload the documents from home or They may also email documents to registration@ohusc.k12.in.us Here are a few things that to keep in mind:

A few things to keep in mind about the requirements:

We are required to have documents on file for EACH student that we report on Membership. This is not a requirement that is met by family documentation; it must be uploaded to all students who are within the family.
We are required to have two documents on file for proof of Indiana residency. This is not for residency within our corporation, but rather for state residency.
Families must choose two of the following: current bill (utility, telephone, medical), bank statement, mortgage statement, rent/lease agreement. We must have two of those documents on file. There are special instructions for students who have been deemed as "homeless," but those have been handled on a case-by-case basis.
The documents MUST show BOTH current address in Skyward AND statement date, dated within the last 60 days.
If parents feel they need to black out personal information on the documents before submitting, that's fine... we just need the actual statement (either electronic or paper) with the address and statement date, dated within 60 days. *** We cannot accept mail still in the envelope for this.
You can use a P.O. Box for this verification of residency.

Making reading a FUN priority!

The age old question...HOW DO I GET MY CHILD TO ENJOY READING? If this is a question you are asking yourself or if this this something you have discussed with other parents, take heart...YOU ARE NOT ALONE! This article gives some fun and engaging suggestions to not only get your child reading, but it should help them enjoy reading! https://www.oxfordlearning.com/encourage-good-reading-habits/

One of the biggest complaints I have heard from children over the years is that they are only allowed to read a a certain "level". This year at Converse, we have a new approach to our thinking about reading levels. Our levels can be a guide that help us understand what our children are capable of if they are reading at a certain "level", but we are still encouraging students to choose and enjoy books that may be outside their level! We would encourage you to do the same! We are working on using decodable text with a focus on using our letter sounds to be successful with reading, instead of trying to guess what a word in text might be. We hope you are seeing children that love to read at home, but if you are not, check out the article that I linked for some suggestions!

HAPPY READING!

Teach Your Monster to Read

Covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences. * Designed in collaboration with leading academics. * Complements all synthetic phonics programmes used in schools. * Computer version is 100% free. The kids absolutely love this game - and they're learning!

teachyourmonstertoread.com

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FOOD DRIVE

It is a month of Thanksgiving, which means it is time for our annual Samaritan Room food drive! Please be on the lookout for more information about how you can help this amazing cause! Mrs. Kreitzer does an amazing job of heading this up, so you will have information coming from her SOON!

15 Math Games in 15 Minutes or Less | Scholastic

1. IXL Learning This site has plenty of activities and games, from linear functions to probability, to help students in grades K-8. 2. Math Playground Shuttle missions, flashcards, and arcade games are only a few of the fun games offered. Take advantage of these lessons for a variety of math subjects and grade levels.

scholastic.com

Practice Gratitude in Creative, Fun Ways

If you've been following this blog for a while you know that expressing gratitude as a family is important to me. I've introduced family kindness tokens, established a routine of making New Year family kindness resolutions and every year in because of Thanksgiving we spend the month of November discussing ways we, as a family, are thankful.

whatdowedoallday.com

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Recess during cold weather months

Time to round up that winter gear! Please remember to send those coats to school labeled with a name! We do recesses in the morning and at lunch when it is still very chilly outside and they really need those coats! We go outside to get fresh air for as long into our cold weather months as possible. We know that it will soon be VERY cold outside and we will not be able to go out, so we will go weather permitting. That means little legs get cold when they are wearing shorts too!