November News

Dear Central Families:

We are certainly living in interesting times, and the world of education is no exception. Schools, like the rest of the world, have been affected by Covid and the labor shortage. For many of our students they have not had a “normal” school year in 18 months. Many students are still adjusting to the daily routine of being a student and being in school 5 days a week. Some of our younger students are working on taking turns, learning their ABC’s, one-to-one correspondence and even counting.

Parents, we need your help!

There are many simple things that you can do to help your child at school such as:

• Playing board games (this helps with taking turns and counting)

• Reading to your child (this helps them build their vocabulary)

• Having them help around the house ( this helps them learn how to follow directions)

• Playing rhyming games while riding in the car ( this helps with reading)

• Look for letters and words in your environment ( this helps with reading)

• Following a recipe ( this helps with basic skills)

• Play cards ( this helps with number identification)

As always thank you for your continued support as we work collaboratively for our children.

• Friday, October 29th - 1/2 day students - 11:40 dismissal
• Wednesday, November 3rd - Picture Retakes
• Tuesday, November 16th - 6:30 PTO meeting
• Friday, November 19th - No School
• Monday, November 22nd - 1/2 day 11:40 dismissal
• Monday, November 22nd- Afternoon and evening conferences
• Tuesday, November 23rd - 1/2 day 11:40 dismissal
• Tuesday, November 23rd - Afternoon and evening conferences
• November 24th-26th - No School - Thanksgiving Break
• December 20th-31st - No School - Winter Break

Parent Teacher conferences are November 22nd and 23rd. We have 1/2 days both of those days with an 11:40 dismissal time.

Conferences will be held virtually via Zoom. If you are unable to meet via Zoom, please contact the office at 488-1000 for other arrangements.

Soon we will be sending out a link for PTCfast. This is the program we use for signing up for a conference time with your child's teacher. Be on the look out for that email next week.

Luncheon:

The PTO will be providing breakfast and dinner for the staff during conference week, but they are asking for donations of snacks and drinks. Please send your donations to school no later than Monday morning on November 22nd.

PTO meetings are the 3rd Tuesday of every month @ 6:30 (no meeting in December). Daycare is provided. The next meeting is Tuesday, November 16th.

Congratulations to our September Students Of The Month. Great job working hard and starting off the school year fabulously!

A'Layah Whitley

Gracie Jepkema

Aubrie Bell

Adaline Vollick-Wight

Raymere Jackson

Kingston Vines

Amani Gordon

Adalynn West

Liam Ellard

Ellacyn Terlesky

Madison Holdwick

Jaelon Dela Torre

Natillie Whalen

Paisley Kline

The Square One Art order form came home recently in your student's backpack. This gives you the opportunity to order items with your students one of a kind artwork on it. If you would like to order, you can do so online or fill out the form and turn it in. You must order by November 2nd.

• DO drive slowly
• DO be patient
• DO pull into the middle instead of holding up the line to buckle your child in
• DO stay in your car and we will bring your child to you
• DON'T block driveways throughout the neighborhood
• DON'T drive on the wrong side of the road when entering the parking lot
• DON'T walk your child to their classroom door
• If you choose to get out of the car to pick up your student, please hold their hand while crossing the parking lot

Education for the Arts is a program arm of Kalamazoo RESA. EFA’s roots are based on a unanimous desire of the nine public school districts in Kalamazoo County to make arts education a learning and teaching priority. EFA’s mandate is to enhance arts education opportunities and programs for every Kalamazoo County school through developing, maintaining and strengthening partnerships between school districts, schools, teachers and the rich array of professional arts institutions in Southwest Michigan.

Central Elementary students will go on several different EFA field trips throughout the school year. Your child's teacher will let you know when their class will be going on one of those field trips. Parents are not invited to go on the trips.

For our first EFA experience, we took a trip to the KIA to view an installation by Ginny Ruffner called Reforestation of the Imagination. It was a great experience and we even created our own sculptures to accompany our learning. Ask your child to tell you about this experience!