Principal Weekly Update

As the crisp autumn air settles in, we are officially hitting our stride in the second quarter. With shorter days and the upcoming holiday season quickly approaching, staying connected and organized is more important than ever. In a competency-based learning environment, where every child’s progress and mastery are celebrated at their own pace, consistent communication and collaboration ensure no learner misses a beat.

Our school-wide theme for November is Working Together Through Cooperation. I want to take a heartfelt moment to acknowledge and honor the deep cooperation between our families and staff this year. The true partnership between home and school is imperative for student success, and we deeply appreciate everything you do each day for your student and our entire school community.

Thank you to everyone who has partnered with us so far this school year—whether you chaperoned a field trip, volunteered your time with our dedicated PTO, or joined us for parent-teacher conferences to discuss your child’s learning journey. Your presence, energy, and advocacy show our students every single day that their education is a shared journey built on teamwork.

Finally, a huge shout-out to our PTO for putting on such a fantastic Halloween Glo Party last week! Our students had an absolute blast with the experience, and it was pure joy to see them dressed up, smiling, and dancing together in the gym. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make it a glowing success.

I hope you get some time to connect with your family over this 3 day weekend.

Kodi Kelly
Sherrelwood Principal

As technology continues to play a significant role in our students’ learning and social lives, building strong digital literacy habits is essential. We encourage families to have ongoing, open conversations at home about staying smart and safe online.

A few key topics to discuss with your student include:

• Protecting Personal Privacy: Remind students never to share personal details—like their full name, home address, school, or phone number—and never to accept friend requests or messages from people they don’t know.

• Pausing Before Clicking: Encourage caution with unfamiliar links, pop-ups, or downloads that could compromise devices or accounts.

• Digital Citizenship & Kindness: Remind students that the standard of respect we expect in person applies equally online. Messages, comments, and posts should always remain kind and appropriate, recognizing that words sent over text or social media have a lasting impact.

Open conversations at home build confidence and help students know they can always turn to a trusted adult if something online ever feels wrong or uncomfortable. Thank you for partnering with us to help our students make safe, positive choices online!

November 9th: No School - Veterans Day Observance

November 16th: Spelling Bee Placement Test

November 18th: Picture Re-takes

November 16th-20th: Canned Food Drive

November 23rd-27th: No School - Thanksgiving Break

December 1st: Coffee with the Principal [8:00-9:00]

December 3rd: PTO Meeting [2:00-3:00] + 6th Grade Open House at CSLA

December 4th: Half Day PK No School

December 11th: Intermediate Spelling Bee

December 21st-January 5th: No School - Winter Break

Here is who should go to the camera on retake day:

Please have your student return their package to the photographer on retake day. They will reprint your package with your retake day image at no additional cost to you. If you are a Digital Download only customer, please provide the photographer with a printed copy of your receipt in lieu of a picture package. They will also reprocess your digital order at no additional cost to you. If your student(s) will be attending retake day, please make sure their teacher is aware your student(s) will be sitting for retakes.

At Sherrelwood, we believe every child has unique strengths, leadership qualities, and the potential to make a meaningful difference in our school community. Just as our competency-based learning model meets students where they are and celebrates their continuous growth, we want our leadership opportunities to reflect those same values.

This year, we are approaching student leadership a little differently to ensure more students across our building have the opportunity to participate, build essential life skills, and experience meaningful leadership roles throughout the school year. Rather than selecting one single group for the entire year, teachers will nominate students each month who have been demonstrating strong leadership qualities and positive role-modeling in their classrooms and around the school. Those nominated students will have the chance to lead and organize that specific month’s featured activity or service project.

During the entire month of November we will be running a Krispy Kreme fundraiser. Using the QR code below, you can complete a digital order for a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. 50% of proceeds using this QR code will be donated back to Sherrelwood. Buy some donuts for people at work, share the code with friends + family, and enjoy delicious donuts.

Because the safety of our students is always our highest priority at Sherrelwood, we want to ensure every family has access to our Safety Response Guide [image below].

Please know that in any critical incident, our staff’s immediate focus is always on securing the building and ensuring every student is safe before we send out communications. Once safety is confirmed, we will share verified information with families as quickly as possible.Thank you for your patience, understanding, and trust in our safety procedures.

As part of our continuous improvement process is to receieve feedback from families about Sherrelwood through the Parent Panorama Survey. Please take a moment to click on the two surveys below and tell us how we are doing!

Our librarian - Ms. McKain - will be is starting a Lego Club this week. Lego Club will occur on Thursdays for 6 weeks from 2:40-3:40. The club will have a max of 20 students. Complete THIS PERMISSION SLIP if you would like to register your student.

Scholars Unlimited

Ongoing enrollment offered to Sherrelwood students throughout the year.

We know how busy life can be, and we understand that it’s not always easy to make it in person to our monthly Coffee with the Principal events. Because your voice and partnership are essential to our school community, we want to ensure you always have an open line of communication with us!