Central Hub

As a team, we will take time in January to assess where we are with our behavioral and academic goals for each student. The first semester has flown by and our children have been learning so much! We will work with a laser focus over these next several months on Bringing Joy to Learning, Assessments, ILEARN, Design Thinking, and the 4 C's (collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking). We will do all of this with a growth mindset in a safe, caring and kind environment. As always, we will seek to provide engaging lessons and build positive relationships with our students.

These upcoming months are the most important of the year. Please take some time to review all of the information in this newsletter and feel free to call or meet with me if you have questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Julie Thacker

• Car riders may begin entering the building at 8:30am. Students MUST be under the supervision of an adult until 8:30 a.m. Last semester, as we got closer to break, parents began dropping off earlier and earlier and we do not have adults here to supervise children at that time.
  
• January 6 School Reopens
  
• January 8 Report Cards Go Home
• January 10 Central Celebration Doors open at 10:00. We will seat parents first as quickly as possible.
• January 20 Martin Luther King Jr. Day! No School
• January 14-25-Central Elementary Readathon
• January 23 Central Elementary Literacy Night: Read Like a Central CHAMP 5:30-7:30
• January 27 Central PTO meeting in the cafeteria at 7:00-8:00

Link to VIEW ONLY the Central Elementary Parent Calendar

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=plainfield.k12.in.us_k4mb22sskfrkul9o8017a6fovc%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FNew_York

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Twitter---@cnquakers

Facebook--Central Elementary School or find us (@centralquakers)

BE IN THE KNOW!

I am pleased to introduce a new face at Central Elementary. Kristen Buster is joining our team as the front desk receptionist after Mrs. Mongan requested to move to a second shift custodian position. I am thrilled that we will continue to see Jo each day.

Here is a bit about Kristen from her own words:

I enjoy camping, hiking and being with family and friends. I also have a healthy coffee and taco obsession.

Please welcome Mrs. Buster!

CoGat Window (grades K, 2, 5 and students new to the district in grades 3 and 4)-January 29-February 27

IREAD Window-March 16-April 4

ILEARN Window-April 20- May 15

More specific scheduling details will follow from classroom teachers as we get closer to the tests.

Please click here to learn more about the club. Below is a Button Link to sign up.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10xIMYIyp0WILkzW-s9As1Xz4ecrtXa6RNvpim29Qs_c/edit?usp=sharing

Event Details

Brush your sweet tooth and get ready because “Reading is Sweet” during Central Elementary’s Read-a-thon Fundraiser from January 13th – 24th. Students will have the opportunity to participate in this 2 week event promoting a love of reading while raising funds to help provide classroom grants for the direct benefit of our children. Read-a-thon events will include a mascot kick off at the Central Celebration, dress like your favorite book character day, Read Like a Champ literacy night, the Readathon Celebration including bounce houses and a DJ and prizes for the top reading and fundraising students and classes. Watch for more information in January!

Read like a Champ Literacy Night

Join us on January 23rd from 5:30 – 7:30 PM at Central for Read like a Champ Literacy Night. This free, family friendly event will include literacy related games, crafts, recipes, storytelling, story writing and the return of our Escape the Room breakouts. “Reading is Sweet” and you don’t want to miss this!

We enjoy seeing your children every day. Although we understand that there will be times when your child is sick and needs to stay home, there is a direct correlation between student attendance and success. Here are a few ways we can work together to make sure your children have very good school attendance and don't feel like they are missing out.

• Schedule all doctors' appointments outside of the school day if at all possible.
• It is very important to turn in medical notes (doctor, dentist, therapy, etc) to the nurse when returning to school.
• Share with your child how important it is to be at school.
• Make sure to communicate absences in advance, if possible, so the classroom teacher can ensure that your child still has opportunities to learn skills that he/she will miss when they are absent.
• Help to make sure that your child arrives at school on time each day. The doors open at 8:30 and students need to be seated in their classroom each morning by 8:50 or they are counted tardy.

Our teachers work hard to provide the best instruction and we want to make the most of each of our days together. We look forward to seeing you at school!

According to our handbook, children will be expected to go outdoors for recess when the temperature and wind chill is 20 degrees Fahrenheit and above. Students will not go out if it is raining or sleeting. Also, it states that if your child must stay indoors because of illness during recess time, we ask that you write a daily note requesting that your child stay inside. Repeated requests for indoor recess will prompt the nurse to require a written statement from the family doctor concerning the request.

Please only complete if you are new to Central or your child will now be a car rider second semester. You only need to complete this if you do not have a number for this year.

Providing a safe arrival and dismissal system is extremely important to all of the staff at Central Elementary. To achieve that, Central utilizes a number system when dismissing our car rider students.

In order to keep track of our students who leave school each day by car, we will formally register our car riders and assign each family a number. The number system will be part of a name card on the dashboard of your car. When you have someone new pick up your child, he/she will need to be on the list below or know your family number. We verify this before releasing your child. It is helpful if these are the same people listed as emergency contacts in PowerSchool, but we do understand if there are different people. Updated this Please!

Please complete the following to receive a CAR RIDER NUMBER for your family. You will need to complete a form for each child in your family.

The PCSC School Code is 82021

Your child's student ID number (you use it to log in to Power School or

update lunch balances; if you don't know it, our school secretary can

provide it for you.)

The following information is from our handbook:

If your child is to go home a way different than their normal arrangement, you must send in a note to the teacher with instructions as to how the child is to go home. We will not allow a child to go home a different way without a note. The bus driver also needs a note if the child does not normally ride their bus. Please make these arrangements before school or by 1:00 p.m. at the latest.

If you call requesting that your child become a car rider, you are required to come into the school office to sign out your child no earlier than 3:45 p.m. Your child will be waiting in the office lobby until you sign them out. Signing your child out prior to 3:45 does affect your child’s attendance, as it counts as a partial day present.

If you call requesting that your child ride a bus home instead of being a car rider, we will need to verify that we are speaking to the child’s parent/guardian by asking certain questions or through caller ID on our phone system. To make this smoother, please call from one of the phone numbers that you have registered with our school as contacts.

Finally, please note that e-mail notifications of changes for the end of the day ride home are not accepted. We are not able to ensure that the email will be read in time.

There are a couple of options for your child's lunch every day:

Students can pack a lunch.

Students may purchase a lunch. Please send a check or cash to school on the first day made out to PLAINFIELD SCHOOLS FOOD SERVICES. Please put this in an envelope with your child's name, teacher's name, and amount enclosed.

Prices for food services 2019-2020 school year:

• Breakfast $1.50
• Lunch $2.50
• Milk $0.50

EFunds for Schools OR https://sendmoneytoschool.com

Please visit www.plainfield.k12.in.us and click on "Food Services". On that page, you will find a link to the E-Funds for Schools secure payment server. When you get there, you can choose the payment method that is easiest for you.

THIS INSTITUTION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

We love to see you come eat with your children! But PLEASE remember to bring exact cash or check with you to purchase lunch for yourself or another visitor. We only have a small amount of cash in the register and cannot make change. Lunch is $2.50 for students and $3.25 for adults and visitors.

Also, since we have no way of knowing who puts money on the account, you cannot use your child's lunch card balance towards the purchase of your own lunch.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

Here is an active link to the registration form: https://forms.gle/DLtRCWfydq9sANcs7