A Time of THANKS!

November is a time of giving THANKS for the many blessings we have been given. Our Longfellow staff THANKS all of our families for sharing your Lions with us each day! This time of year really makes you aware of the many treasures we have in life and to celebrate them each day.

We give THANKS for:

T – THANKFUL for our Longfellow Lions

H – HAPPY to have our Lions in school each day

A – APPRECIATE the strong parental support

N – NURTURING staff to guide and educate our students

K – KINDNESS throughout our school

S – SUPPORTIVE community and school board

Happy THANKSgiving from all of the Longfellow students and staff!

Mrs. Heckenlaible

The cold weather has been & will be again at our doorstep. so we want you to be aware that the doors do not open and supervision doesn't start until 7:30 am. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

We understand that families need to make doctor appointments and have family vacations. As you are scheduling those, it may help to be aware of these dates.

11/8 Fri-NO SCHOOL - McGovern Debate

11/11 Mon-NO SCHOOL - Veteran's Day

11/27-29 Wed-Fri-NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break

12/23-1/3 Mon-Fri-NO SCHOOL - Christmas Break

1/20 Mon-NO SCHOOL - MLK Jr. Day/Teacher Inservice

2/14 Fri-NO SCHOOL

2/17 Mon-NO SCHOOL - President's Day

3/13-3/17 Thurs-Mon-NO SCHOOL - Spring Break/Teacher Inservice

4/18-4/21 Fri-Mon-NO SCHOOL - Easter

We do the bulk of our statewide testing in April as well (3rd-5th graders). When a student

misses the scheduled testing time, we are required to reschedule for that student. Learners do

better when testing with the rest of their peers. We appreciate you doing your best to avoid

absences or leaving for appointments during those dates.

You are encouraged to fill out a free and reduced meal application at any time throughout the school year. When in doubt, fill it out. If you completed the 2024-2025 application already this year, then you should have already been notified of your status. If you have experienced a financial change due household membership or job change, you are encouraged to apply again.

You can create an online account to monitor your child/ren’s meal account, balances, and add money to their account. Visit the district
the school website and click on

“Mealtime Online Access”

We are very proud of our attendance rates at Longfellow Elementary as we had a 97% attendance rate for the 2023-24 school year!! We are currently at 97% and want to keep that going! We want to thank our parents for continuing to bring their child/ren to school each day and on time.

Attendance is extremely important to the success of each child's education.

Thank you for making attendance and education a priority in your child's life!!

Not pictured: Brooks Giblin

One thing you can count on is the predictable unpredictability of South Dakota weather. Please be prepared!! We do not expect you to purchase a feather lined parka for your child. They know their cold tolerance. However, be aware that the school is not prepared to provide coats, boots, or snowpants. We simply do not store those items here. If you are unable to purchase those items, please sign up for a Caring Closet Pop-up.

If your child is in need of a winter coat, please sign up for a Caring Closet pop up. The link is in this newsletter. Mitchell also has The Salvation Army and Goodwill. Due to all of these wonderful resources, we no longer keep extra coats/boots/snow pants on hand and ask that YOU reach out to them yourselves.

Please remember that students will always go out for recess unless it is raining or below zero with windchill. Thank you!

Pick up and drop off can be a very stressful time for parents and students. Everyone is in a hurry and ready to move on to the next part of their day. However, safety is the most important factor! Please remember to go to the corner and cross the street with the crossing guards. Please do NOT encourage your child to cross in the middle of the street. We want to keep our students safe and set a good example.

The Longfellow Lions have been busy having fun, staying active, and learning new sills!

Here's what each grade has been up to:

• We have built up strength & endurance by climbing our climbing wall!
• Frisbee activities
• Bean Bag/Corn Hole
• Pacer Running for 4th & 5th Grades
• Scooter Challenges
• Halloween Games

PLEASE remember that students need proper shoes on gym days. Sandals, cowboy boots, snow boots, fashionable boots, flipflops, crocs, etc., are fine shoes but not appropriate for PE days.

Longfellow does not have spare shoes for students to borrow. Thank you.

Sun. Nov 3rd - Clocks FALL back

Tues. Nov 5th - PTO Meeting 3:30 PM

Thurs. Nov 7th - Student Council Store OPEN

Fri. Nov 8th - NO SCHOOL-McGovern Debate

Mon. Nov 11th - NO SCHOOL-Veteran's Day

Tues. Nov 12th - School Board Meeting - GBR

Tues. Nov 12th 2nd & 3rd Grade Music Concert

Sat. Nov 16th - Caring Closet Pop-up

Week Of: Nov 18th-22nd - American Education Week-See newsletter for dress up days

Tues. Nov 19th - Mayor's Proclamation

Fri. Nov 22nd - Student Council Store OPEN

Mon. Nov 25th - Angel Tree Deadline

NOV 27-29 - NO SCHOOL

Tues. Dec 3rd - K & 1st Winter Concert

Parade of Lights

The school doors open at 7:30 am. Even if it is cold or raining, we do not have staff in the building to supervise so students will wait until 7:30 am to enter the building. Likewise, our staff leaves by 3:45 and students will need to be picked up before that time. We appreciate you making arrangements to have your children dropped off and picked up within those times.

Building doors open 7:30 am

Breakfast served 7:30-8:10 am

First bell rings at 8:10 am

School begins at 8:15 am (meaning a student is tardy at 8:16 am)

School dismissed at 3:15 pm

If your child needs to leave during the school day or will come late due to an appointment, simply alert the school office at 605-995-3092. If you need to take your child out early, we appreciate you alerting the office ahead of time, if possible. Your child will remain in class until you come inside to sign them out and we will do our best to have them prepared and ready to go as quickly as possible.

Please ask your child if they have headphones for school. If you forgot to send some or they are no longer working, we have headphones in the office available for purchase for $5.00. Our lions use headphones daily.

Don't forget to set your clocks back on Sunday, Nov 3rd!

I just want to thank everyone that shopped at the Book fair!

Because of YOU, we beat my goal of $10,000 with the total of $10,300.00!

There are just no words to express the how excited and truly blessed I am to be your Librarian.

I want to thank our staff, teachers and most of all our students, for making the Book Fair fun, exciting and such a joy every day. Our PTO is so supportive of everything our school does. Thank you for gifting all of our teachers books for their classroom! You were a big part of making it happen.

To Noel and Dawn for bouncing ideals and all the Social Medio Posts. You ladies Rock!. To our Principal, I thank you for always taking a risk and letting us reach outside of the box.

See you at the next book fair!

Get ready for higher goals and lots of fun!!!

Your excited Librarian!

You come up with such fun activities each day for our Lions in your library and when it comes to the Book Fair, YIKES, you really shine! Thank you for all of your time, talent and dedication to making the Book Fair a HUGE success and running such a smooth operation! Congratulations on a successful Book Fair. We can't wait to see what you come up with next!

All medications must be administered through the office. Students may keep cough drops in their lockers or desks but allergy meds, cold & flu, antacids, inhalers, etc., as well as all prescription medications will be held in the nurse's office. Please stop in to see Mrs. Snoozy, Longfellow's nurse, or call 605-995-3092 and ask for our nurse, if you have any questions.

Mrs. Snoozy's hours at Longfellow vary but she will be available at open house and will call you back should you leave a message.

Please remember that students are NOT ALLOWED to carry any medications on them (even aspirin). It is not safe to have elementary students carrying meds as we don't want them to get into the wrong hands. We are happy to keep OTC medications in the office for your child when/if they need them.

In the next couple of months, we will be screening all K-3rd graders, as well as any new students, for hearing and vision. You may receive a letter or phone call from our nurse if any results are at all concerning.

If your child had any health concerns in the past (milk allergy, asthma, etc.) our nurse may be contacting you via a letter in your child's backpack, mail or phone call to confirm. If your child HAS any health conditions we need to be aware of, please fill out the form below so we can be prepared