Baron Elementary Family Newsletter

November

Principal's Message

It is hard to believe that the month of November is here. We have enjoyed a fantastic start to another year of learning at Baron Elementary. We appreciate everyone's interest, attendance, and willingness to volunteer at a lot of fun events to start the year! We look forward to seeing you during the month of November at Parent-Teacher Conferences, Baron Breakfasts, and PTO meetings.

Our 4-Houses...1-Baron Family program continues to connect learners and staff across our entire school. We get excited for the assemblies, Minute-2-Win-it challenges, and earning points for our Houses. Please encourage your child to continue to turn-in their reading logs, complete their Power Goals and Badges, and earn Baron's Best Tickets at school to help their team earn points!

Our Baron Time studios continue to grow with each rotation. The Ukulele Club, Chess Club, STEM, PE Club, Library Club, the Art Studio, and the Sign Language Club provide choice and interest for our learners. It's exciting to see our learners continue to learn in a variety of ways!

We look forward to connecting with our parents during Parent-Teacher Conferences on Nov. 20 and 21. Your participation and support of your child's learning is extremely important to us. Please look for information below and how to sign-up on Nov. 6th to meet with your child's teachers.

Thank you for all that you are doing at home to support what your child is learning in school!

Mr. Michael Pyle

Principal, Baron Elementary

"STEP" into Reading!

An important building goal of ours at Baron Elementary is to have our learners achieve 500 STEPS (or more) this year with their independent reading (1 STEP = 15 mins.). Every night, your child will bring home one or two (or more) books that they selected along with a log sheet. We hope that together, you and your child will read and talk about the books in these suggested ways:

PreK-1st Grade...

1.) Your child may tell or make up the story by "reading" the pictures. Talking about what they see in the pictures develops important language and pre-reading skills.

2.) Your child may read the words, IF they're ready. In Kindergarten and the beginning of first grade, this mostly means matching the first letter sound with a word that matches the picture.

3.) You may read the books to your child. Parents reading to their children is one of the most powerful things in the world for creating successful readers.

2nd-4th Grade...

1.) Turn-off TV, computers, phones, and games.

2.) Observe your child reading for 15 minutes.

3.) Think and talk about the books afterward.

4.) Sign the 100 Book Challenge log sheets.

5.) Learner packs up books for safe return to school.

Please contact your child's teacher if you have questions about our STEP program. We will get there...one STEP at a time!

Parent-Teacher Conferences (Nov. 20-21)

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Please review the Parent Letter for our Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences attached below. Our Meet the Teacher program will open for scheduling on Monday, Nov. 6.

2023-24 Parent-Teacher Conferences - parent communication .docx

Nov. 1, 2023 Dear Parents and Guardians, Conferences are scheduled for November 20 from 5:00 - 8:00 and November 21 from 12:00-3:00 and 5:00-8:00. Parents and guardians scheduling a conference will have the option to attend in-person or virtually (see schedule below). These times have been set ...

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Baron Breakfast - Nov. 2

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We are excited to welcome Manheim Central alum and Hall of Fame inductee, Dr. Aimee Ketchum, to Baron Elementary as our keynote speaker for our Baron Breakfast on Nov. 2nd. Please sign-up using the link below to attend our breakfast. We will have door prizes! Our doors will open at 6:15AM.

Baron Breakfast (Sign-up Here)

Counselor's Corner - Ms. Coonan

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PURPOSEFULL PEOPLE CHARACTER TRAIT OF THE MONTH: GRATITUDE

This month we’re talking about Gratitude! We want to make sure we share with our learners that Gratitude is a choice that we get to make over and over again on where we put our attention and focus. Over the course of this month, we will learn more about how to practice Gratitude and how to express it to others. Intentionally practicing gratitude can help us feel happier, healthier, and more positive. Learners will also have the opportunity to express their gratitude by choosing an important person in their life and drawing a picture/writing a letter to them!

Interested in practicing gratitude at home as a family? Please check out the attached gratitude calendar or scavenger hunt.

Gratitude Calendar

Learner & Parent Handbook

The 2023-24 Learner and Parent Handbook can be found on the MCSD website. Please access the link below to review our policies and procedures throughout the school year.

Learner and Parent Handbook

Attendance Reminder

Important Excuse Note Reminders - Students who are absent, arrive late, or leave school early are required to provide a written excuse signed by the parent or guardian. It is preferred that excuse/early dismissal notes are sent into school with your student. The date and reason for the absence, tardy, or early dismissal should be clearly indicated on either a school excuse card or home stationery. All written excuses are to be turned into the office on the day of an early dismissal or when the student returns to school after an absence. After the third day with no written and signed excuse, the absence will be recorded as unlawful. You may email a photo of a signed excuse to the attendance office:

Email: BEAttendance@manheimcentral.org

Phone: 717-665-8903

Safety (Arrival and Dismissal)

With the safety of our learners, parents, and staff in mind, we are encouraging all visitors to Baron Elementary to drive with caution as they come to school in the morning. It is important that everyone practices safe driving habits and obey all traffic signs with the darker mornings. We ask all learners and parents to cross streets at the crosswalks and use the intersections where crossing guards are located.

-Please do not use the bus lane on E. Gramby Street to unload your child (unless you are a PreK parent). Use the designated Car Rider lanes.

-Do not park your car along Hazel Street during school hours.

-Please inform our school office, as early as possible, if dismissal plans for your child have changed.

Emergency Communications Test

We will be testing our Emergency Communications systems on Friday, November 3 at 5PM. The purpose of this test is to check and see that our contact information and protocols for communication are up and running in case of emergency. The following will be our process for the test:

Parents/Guardians/Staff/Admin will receive a blackboard voice and email communication on Friday.

Hello this is the Manheim Central School District and this is NOT an emergency. This is a TEST of our Emergency Communication system. This communication has been sent to all primary and emergency contacts listed in our communication system. Primary contacts, please check with your emergency contacts to ensure they received this message. Additionally, as a reminder, note that this weekend we need to change the clocks back one hour as Daylight Savings Time ends on Sunday, November 5, 2023, at 2:00 A.M.

Amy Flannery, Ed.D.

Assistant Superintendent

Manheim Central School District

281 White Oak Road

Manheim, PA 17545

Office: (717) 664-8547

Nurse Information

Nurse News

Height, weight and vision screenings were completed for students during the month of October. If your child has a concern with vision, you should have received a referral letter from me. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Friendly reminder!

All children need to be 24 hours fever/vomiting free, without medication, before returning to school.

The mobile dentist will be visiting Baron Elementary on November 10th. Permission slips were sent home at the beginning of the year. If you would like your child to be seen, and did not return a permission slip, please call or email me!

Thank you,

Nurse Heistand

heistandk@manheimcentral.org

Baron Stage Jr. Spring Musical

Calling all 4th graders: Are you interested in auditioning for the Baron Stage Jr. spring musical? Auditions will be held Tuesday, November 28 at Baron Elementary and Wednesday, November 29 at Doe Run Elementary. Rehearsals will not start until after Christmas. Look for a flyer sent home in the coming weeks with a QR code to our permission form—we must have your form for you to audition! We can’t wait to hear your best singing and acting!

4-Houses...1-Baron Family

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Our 4-Houses...1-Baron Family project is off to a great start! Our learners are excited to help their Housemates accumulate points each week at Baron Elementary. At the end of the month, we will recognize the House that has the most points during our assembly. Last Friday, we recognized the Critical Thinking Cobras as the House with the most points in October!

How can learners gain points for their House?

1.) Earn a Baron's Best

2.) Earn a Badge

3.) Complete their At Home reading goals

4.) Complete Power Goals

Our House Names and Colors are...

Critical Thinking Cobras (Blue)

Collaborating Crocodiles (Green)

Innovative Impalas (Red)

Reflective Raccoons (Yellow)

PTO Information

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Please review the important information below...

Roller Skating for Baron Elementary Families is on Saturday 11/4 from 10am to 12pm at Overlook Roller Rink!
Our next PTO meeting is on Monday, November 6th at 6:30pm. We will have a special Parent Advisory Committee Meeting at the beginning of our PTO meeting with our Reading Specialist, Pam Boyle. The High School INteract Club will provide child care.
Our Gift Card Fundraiser will be launching on November 1st with the opportunity to purchase and order gift cards from a variety of local businesses!

A "Thank You" from Mrs. Hosszu

Dear Baron community,

Thank you for making our school's Scholastic Book Fair the Best. Fair. Ever!

As a result of your tireless efforts and enthusiasm we raise over $2000 to continuously provide a free book to every child during book fair! We also collected more than $150 in All For Books , a program turning book fair donations into books for our back pack program run by our guidance counselor Mrs.Coonan.

I'm always so excited to see your learners discover new books. All the Book joy wouldn't be possible without volunteers and families from our school community--- you deserve my deepest gratitude.

I hope to see you and your child at our next fair. Until then, happy reading!

Gratefully,

Ina Hosszu

Book Fair host

Baron Elementary Learner of the Month

Congratulations to our Learner of the Month for October...Ms. Madelyn Roark. We appreciate Madelyn's efforts in being a Difference Maker in Mr. Enck's classroom and throughout Baron Elementary!