Belle Elementary Family Newsletter

Parent/Teacher Conferences were a great success with 83% of families participating in conferences! Your partnership in the education of your child is valued greatly!

First quarter data is being collected and their are many positives for the start of the school year!

• Fifty nine students had perfect attendance for first quarter!
• Belle Elementary had 95.02% attendance for first quarter!
• 231 students did not have a discipline write up first quarter!
  

Your child's success at school is important to the staff at Belle Elementary! Instilling great learning habits will help your child have the tools needed for success at school today and provides practice for good habits to be successful in many roads of life.

Congratulations to the Belle Elementary First Quarter Good Citizens! First Quarter Good Citizens were recognized on October 25th with an ice cream social. State Representatives Bennie Cook and Bruce Sassman attended the ceremony and presented students with a certificate and pin. We are very proud of these students great efforts at school!

Kindergarten students will be taking the i-Ready Diagnostic in math and reading beginning on Wednesday, November 8th. The diagnostic will test your child in many key skills and give teachers information on what skills your child is ready to learn next. Weekly individual lessons are also assigned for students to work online to practice skills and learn new concepts. Please encourage your child to do their best on the test!

Students is grades 1-4 will be taking their mid year i-Ready diagnostic starting Tuesday, November 28th. This diagnostic gives teachers great feedback on student growth and the effectiveness of interventions and instruction. Please encourage your child to do their best on the test!

This video is very informational in explaining the i-Ready Diagnostic and how the program is used at school.

https://videos.curriculumassociates.com/watch/YHMyty6ykeUYB1twq4zf6h

The video also shares information for the i-Ready Family Center. The center is linked here.

https://i-readycentral.com/familycenter/

On Thursday, November 9th Title I will be hosting a fun reading game night. Students will take home their own reading game. Game night will be at 6pm in the elementary cafeteria.

Congratulations to Kwinton Green! He was nomintated by his teachers to be the October Belle Elementary Board Student of the Month. Kwinton's teacher, Mrs. Gieck had these wonderful things to say about Kwinton!

I believe that Kwinton Green should be student of the month. He is a hard worker and gives his all in everything that he does. He is kind and respectful to others and is always willing to help out wherever he can. He is such a wonderful part of my class.

Mrs. Gieck

Third Grade Teacher

Belle Elementary School

This month our Tigeriffic Trait is “Be a Tough Worker.” Each month we highlight a new character trait that helps students build skills that will help them to be successful at school! A student from each classroom will be recognized for displaying this positive character trait at the PBIS assembly on the first Friday of the month.

Belle Elementary has a new family reading resource for families, We Both Read reading books. Each week your child has a new book in a green book bag in their backpack. These books are designed for reading to be shared with the student and their family. One page is on the students reading level and one page is on the parents reading level. This concept gives children time to practice reading on their reading level and introduces students to new words and vocabulary on the parent reading level. This is meant to be a fun time for families to spend together. Just 20 minutes of reading at home each day is researched to help students be better readers at school!

Below is a link for families from Treasure Bay Books to help with reading at home. There are a lot of great tips and ideas!

https://youtu.be/MRcUVBg_LfE

If you haven't had a chance to download the Maries R-2 School District App, it is still available. Check school dates, get updates on school closings due to weather, and recent school information!

Belle Elementary will be celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas for the month of December! Students and staff dress up and fill the school with smiles and giggles on dress up days!

Student Achievement

• 2.2-1 - Certified elementary staff in grades K-4 will partake in two years of training in LETRS during professional development days. UPDATE: UNIT 6,YEAR 2 LETRS TRAINING WILL BE HELD ON CAMPUS ON NOVEMBER 13TH.

• 1.1-1 - Each student reading below grade level, will be able to show reading growth from the beginning of year i-Ready diagnostic to the end of year i-Ready reading diagnostic. UPDATE: TIGER TIME HAS BEGUN WITH EACH STUDENT RECEIVING 30 MINUTES OF INSTRUCTION DAILY BASED ON THEIR READING TESTING. STUDENTS WHO QUALIFIED FOR A READING SUCCESS PLAN (RSP)HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AND A FAMILY LETTER IS GOING HOME IN THE MAIL TO INFORM FAMILIES. STUDENTS WITH AND RSP WILL BE PROGRESS MONITORED TWICE EVERY FOUR TO SIX WEEKS. STUDENTS GROWTH WILL BE TRACKED AND MONITORED. STRATEGIES WILL BE MONITORED FOR EFFECTIVENESS.

Attendance

• 3.3-1 - 90% of students will be in attendance 90% of the time. UPDATE: OCTOBER ATTENDANCE WAS 95.3% AND ATTENDANCE FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR IS 94.96%

The URL below is a message for students to encourage them on their iReady lessons. It is created through the Voki for Education. Can you please share the message with your students? The URL link is below. If it doesn't play when you click on the link, you may have to copy and paste it into your URL browser.

Thank you,

Title One Teachers,

Mrs. Shanks and Mrs. Lansford

https://tinyurl.com/yltfda3w

This year there are new state requirements to help students in reading. Students who are identified from reading testing who exhibit a substantial defieciency in reading will receive a Reading Success Plan (RSP). The RSP will help schools develop a strategic plan to help each student who is recognized in needing additional reading help. Family information will go out later this week through the mail to inform families if their child qualified for an RSP. Your child's teacher will also have that information to discuss at Parent/Teacher Conferences.

To learn more about the Reading Success Plan you can visit the Missouri Department of Elemementary and Secondary Education site. https://dese.mo.gov/reading-success-plan-guidance

Artsonia permission forms went out recently. If you haven’t given permission yet for your kiddo to show off their work online, now is a GREAT time to do it! You’ll be able to see what they are up to in art class, and you can order items with their artwork on it! There are a good range of items for purchase, and they are all great quality! These make really wonderful Christmas gifts, Mother’s Day/Father’s Day gifts, birthday gifts, or even just because gifts! I still have a key chain my now Freshman in college created the artwork for in 4th grade! The art department does get a kick back from purchases, which helps me pay for things to build up my classroom!

You can check out the website at www.artsonia.com, but will need the permission form with your student’s access code on it to grant permission for others to see their work. Feel free to contact me at atibbetts@mariesr2.org if you have any questions, or if you need the access code!

Ms. Tibbetts

The Maries R-II Parent Portal is a great tool to check on your student's attendance, lunch balance, and grades! See the steps in the picture below to help you sign up.

Looking for learning resources to use at home? Tumblebooks is an engaging library of e-books for children!

Tumblebooks

TumbleBookLibrary is a curated database of children’s e-books, available by subscription to Elementary Schools and Public Libraries around the world.

https://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2F

username : belleMo

password: books

Below is the link to the Belle Elementary Parent/Student Handbook. Please review, sign and return the Parent/Student Compact on page 68. Copies of the Parent/Student Compact signage page will be available at Open House if you are unable to print.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XjzZQF9QwlGPkC2dRqHG14IVkoZxJ-JX9jhAKUf83bM/edit

*School Year Dates will be included in every newsletter and will be adjusted and updated often.

23-24 School Year Dates:

October 4th - Picture Day

October 11th - Last Day for DESE required reading diagnostic for grades 1-4

October 18th - End of First Quarter

October 19th - Great American Shakeout at 10:19 am

October 23rd - Parent/Teacher Conference from 1 to 7 pm

October 24th - First Grade Field Trip

October 25th - Good Citizen Ice Cream Social at 9:00 am

November 8th - Kindergarten BOY i-Ready Math Diagnostic

November 9th - Title I Make and Take Family Night - 6 pm in the cafeteria

November 13th - LETRS Volume 2 - Unit 6

November 15th - 50th Day of School!!!!

November 16th - Second Grade Family Night - 6:30-8:30

November 20 - School in Session-STEAM Monday - TRASHASAURUS!

November 22-24 - Thanksgiving Break

November 28th - Middle of Year Reading i-Ready Diagnostic begins for grades 1-4

November 29th - Kindergarten BOY i-Ready Reading Diagnostic

November 30th - 3rd and 4th grade STEM bus from S&T

December 6th - Middle of Year Math i-Ready Diagnostic begins for grades 1-4

December 11th - LETRS Volume 2 - Unit 7

December 14th - Christmas Concert for grades 1, 2, & 3 at 6p,

December 21st - End of Second Quarter

December 22- January 3 - Christmas Break (Students)

January 3rd - Teacher Work Day

January 4th - Students Return!

February 12th - PD Monday - LETRS Volume 2 - Unit 8 - Completion of LETRS Volume II

February 27th - 100th DAY OF SCHOOL!!! (Pending no snow Days)

March 15th - End of Third Quarter

March 18th - Parent/Teacher Conference

March 25th - School in Session

March 29th - Good Friday - No School

April 4th - i-Ready EOY Reading Diagnostic Begins -Grades K-4

April 23rd - i-Ready EOY Math Diagnostic Begins - Grades K-4

April 30th - MAP testing begins - Third and Fourth Grade

May 13th - PD Monday

May 17th - End of Fourth Quarter/Last Day of School with No Snow Days