Central Hub

Dear Central Parents,

Our parents and students embraced the first quarter reading challenge. Thank you! The reading challenges are an opportunity to build a love of reading. I encourage you to value the participation in our second quarter reading challenge, Winter Wonderful Reading!

People often ask me if I can see a difference in student learning since students missed the 4th quarter of learning at the beginning of 2020. I can tell you that we are working hard in our primary grades to build those foundational reading skills. We cannot do it alone. It requires a partnership with parents and our community.

If you will just have your children in grades K-5 read for 20 minutes a night, I believe we will see a huge difference in a love for reading as well strengthening those skills. Have your children read anything they want to read. Have them listen to you read. Choose a book to read through it together, taking turns on pages or even paragraphs.

My second request is that if you drive your children to school, please do not let them out of the car until 8:30. We do not open our doors until 8:30 and we cannot have over 200 children gather at the front door without supervision. I appreciate your help with this.

It is truly a pleasure to serve as your principal. In this time when we pause to thankful, I am thankful for you. Please know my door is "open for communication" (via a virtual meet , a phone call, or an email).

Sincerely,

Julie Thacker

Principal

Our parents and students embraced the first quarter reading challenge. It is our hope the same will happen in the second quarter.

Using Beanstack to record reading, students in grades, K, 2, 3, 4, and 5 will be logging minutes read, while students in 1st grade will log books read.

The reading challenges are an opportunity to build a love of reading. If you embrace the challenges as parents, your children will as well. What you value, children will value. I encourage you to value Winter Wonderful Reading!

Now more than ever we want to take children outside whenever possible.

Children will be expected to go outdoors for recess when the temperature and wind chill are 20 degrees Fahrenheit and above. Please make sure you are sending your children to school dressed for this kind of weather. Students will not go out if it is raining or sleeting. Our handbook 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.

My name is Mindy Slavens and I am the choir and theater director at Plainfield Community Middle School where I have worked for the last 22 years. Two years ago I began the journey to obtain my school counseling license. I am currently a graduate student in the School Counseling Program at Indiana Wesleyan University and will graduate in April. I am very passionate about helping the whole child succeed in life and look forward to learning and growing in this new career.

One of the requirements of the graduate program is to complete counseling hours at the middle school and elementary level. During my internship I will be working indirectly and directly with students in various ways. These may include individual sessions, group sessions, and creating and implementing classroom Social Emotional Learning lessons. From now until the end of the 2020-2021 school year, I will be working at Central Elementary three days a week in the afternoons, under the guidance and leadership of Diana White and Julie Thacker. I look forward to this opportunity and having the chance to meet the students and families of Central Elementary.

Mindy Slavens

Graduate Student IWU

If you need any help with school supplies at any point in the year, please reach out to our home school advisor, Diana White. We have had many donations and are glad to help support your child's learning any way we can. She can be reached at dwhite@plainfield.k12.in.us

Click below to learn more about the School-wide staff, parent/caregiver and student compact for 2020-2021

2020-2021 Title One Compact

Every school has an RN full time on staff. We are fortunate to have a new nurse this year, Mrs. Jackie Mace. Our nurse administers medication, does vision and hearing screenings, all on top of taking care of your children at school. If your child has a medical condition or takes prescription medication during school hours, please contact Nurse Mace at jmace@plainfield.k12.in.us or at 317-838-3652.

Medications and over the counter medicine- Please note all medication must be delivered to school and picked up from school by a parent. Medications must be in their original packaging; prescription medications must include documentation of the student as the person to whom medication was prescribed (i.e. prescription label).

• Asthma Paperwork- please contact Nurse Mace for the form.

We are still updating our calendar for this year, but I am sharing our Central Elementary Parent Calendar. I am hoping this will help you to have all our important events at your fingertips.

(Disclaimer: Every phone is different. If you have a Google calendar, it will work for sure; others will have different steps to follow, but your phone should prompt you.) Note - for Google, you need to be on a computer to add the calendar.

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

Dear Central Elementary Parents and Guardians,

October PTO Meeting recap:

Highlights:

We were able to fulfill the following Grants for Champs requests:

1. Mrs. O'Connor-double sided easel
2. Mrs. Stultz- privacy shields for desks and magnetic letters and money
3. Mrs. Mosier- Math STEM resource book
4. Mrs. A. Johnson-a set of books to assist with social and emotional well-being for the 3rd grade team.
5. Mrs. Pagels- 2 rolling chairs for her and her assistant (grant made possible by donations from Evan Bell with Highgarden Real Estate)

• Book Fair: We made about $1800. We used $800 of our Scholastic dollars to purchase books for Read-a-thon prizes as well as All for Books.
• Thank you to Deidre and the room parents for all of their hard work getting Fall Party supplies ready for classroom parties on October 30. All students, including distance learners, have a bag filled with art supplies, games, and snacks!
• October 26-30 we had Staff Appreciation: Treat the Teachers. Families were encouraged to link their Amazon accounts with Central's Smile account and purchase items from the teacher's Amazon Wishlist.
• Kelly Collins, Director of Food Services, PCSC attended our meeting and talked about the Free Meal Program. You can find the link to the recording of her presentation on the PTO website. Click on PTO In the Know and it will direct you to the PTO Google Drive. *All presentations from our meetings as well as meeting notes can be located there.

Upcoming events:

• Donate non-perishable food items to the Lasting Harvest Food Drive by dropping items in bins on your way into school (November 2-13). We are partnering with Gift Kindness delivery service to provide for Central families in need this year. http://www.giftkindness.org or find them on Facebook.
  
• Register for Charleston Wrap to give up to 40% back to Central while you holiday shop by using school code 19362 at http://www.charlestonwrapstore.com
• Watch for Winter Spirit Wear Order Forms in your folder soon... due back by November 20th
• uPaint Pottery, November 18-20. Order projects on uPaint online store and Central will receive 20% back. You can pick up items to take home or paint in store.
• Papa Murphy's, November 18 & 19. While you're picking up your pottery projects, stop by Papa Murphy's and grab some pizza for dinner! 25% of sales go back to Central

Thank you! Have a great week!

Cheers!

Nicole Rongo

plainfieldcentralelementarypto@gmail.com

This year we are implementing the Project Lead the Way curriculum. We are excited about the ways this will allow us to give students real world and hands on learning opportunities. We will continue to focus on design thinking and the 4 C's.

The 4Cs Defined

Critical thinking is all about solving problems.

Creativity teaches students to think outside the box.

Collaboration shows students how to work together to achieve a common goal.

Communication lets students learn how to best convey their ideas.

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.

Car Rider Request Form-Will you be picking your child up from school this year? If so, please click on this link Central Car Rider Request and register for a number. You must complete the form for EACH child that is attending Central. Please place your car rider number on the right side of your dashboard for pick up beginning the first day of school. With the changes in our procedures, it is imperative that we know asap.

Bus- You will be contacted by the bus driver a week before school starts with information regarding the pick-up and drop off times for your child. For any questions or concerns regarding transportation, please call their office at 317-838-3632.

• Add/Cancel Bus Service- You will need to fill out the Transportation Data Form to add or cancel bus service.

Arrival- If your child will be dropped off by a parent or guardian in the mornings,

please follow these procedures:

• Enter the parking lot from Wabash Street and pull forward to let your child get out of the car on the passenger side. Doors are locked until 8:30am. Once doors are unlocked and staff members appear, your child may exit your car. Make sure your child is wearing a mask.

Dismissal- Please the Car Rider number tag in your front car window for pick up. Please enter off of US 40 onto Wabash Street. There will be two lines, which form into one around our horseshoe. A dismissal teacher will radio for your child to be walked out from the gym. You can also park in the lot/grass parking for the funeral home and enter the gym at Door #8 on the east side of our building. Be sure to social distance and wear a mask.

• Please make sure to list in your car rider request sheet all parent names and anyone else, such as a grandparent, aunt/uncle or babysitter, who will be picking up your child. Any additions or changes to your pick up list must be made by calling the office at Central. No child will be released at dismissal to someone who is not on their pick up list.

• Bus- If there will be a change in your child’s regular after-school transportation routine, you must send a note to your teacher and call the front office on that day before 1:00 p.m. If NO note or call is made, the child will go their REGULAR way home that day.

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. Please make these arrangements before school or by 1:00 p.m. at the latest. NEW THIS YEAR, Children will NOT be allowed to ride a different bus to or from school. All children have assigned seats on the bus.

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.

Have you moved recently? If your child rides the bus, we want to make sure your child is picked up on schedule and dropped off safely to your home. If you have changed addresses since you did the online registration in PowerSchool, we will need to have you fill out a transportation form so we can pass the information to the transportation department so your child's bus route can be updated. You can find this form on our website. Please return this form to the main office as soon as you can, so the appropriate changes can be made. Call us if you have any questions!

The YMCA runs a before and after school program at Van Buren. THIS IS A CHANGE. Van Buren is better suited to host the program this year. They are able to keep Central and Van Buren students separated. Students will ride a bus from Van Buren in the morning and a YMCA staff member will walk the students over to Van Buren in the evening.

The program is run independently from the school so please call 317-941-9578 for information and to register or Click the link below. In addition, there are several daycares that bus kids to and from Central that include ABC Daycare, Living Christ for Kids, Kids Connection, Beginning Steps and Rainbow.

September 23, 2020

Dear Quaker Families,

Plainfield Schools will adopt the temporary federal food program offered by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), to make free breakfast and lunch meals available to all students. This program is known as the USDA Summer Feeding Program Waiver, and will begin Wednesday, October 1 and run until the federal program has depleted funds or until December 31st, whichever comes first.

All students are eligible for the free meals as long as they meet the criteria established by USDA for selecting a complete meal. The minimum complete meals include:

• Breakfast: fruit or fruit juice plus two additional food items
• Lunch: fruit or vegetable plus two additional food items.

Students must take a complete meal in order to qualify for the free meal. Students may purchase additional items, or may purchase a la carte items at the regular price. Of course, students may also bring a sack lunch from home.

Per the USDA, this temporary Summer Feeding Program Waiver does not include the free and reduced textbook program. Families who wish to apply for free and reduced textbooks must still enroll in the free and reduced lunch program, which then may qualify for additional benefits such as textbook fee assistance. The link to that application may be found here: lunchapp.com.

To coincide with the Summer Feeding Program Waiver and also beginning October 1st, remote learning students may order breakfast and lunch meals through our twice-weekly pick-up program. These meals will be free until the end of the year or when the program ends. Please be sure to apply for free or reduced lunch so you are ready if the program should end.

Free meals, per the USDA guidelines, will begin next Thursday, October 1st. Please continue to fund your child's meal accounts until then. Any remaining account balances (after October 1) will be used for a la carte items, or for when this temporary program has ended.

Thank you for your continued support of our school meal program. If you have any questions, please call me at 317-839-2578.

This institution is an equal opportunity employer.

Sincerely,

Kelly Collins
Director of Food Services

Breakfast- $1.50, Lunch $2.50, Milk $0.50

• Purchase- Breakfast and lunch is served daily at Central. To put money into your child’s lunch account you may send cash or a check to school in a sealed envelope with the student name, teacher name and “lunch money” on the front. You can also add money by creating an account on EFunds . You can check your child’s lunch card balance and/or upload money via debit/credit card for lunches or Textbook Rental. You will need your child’s student number to set up this account.

• Packing a lunch- You can pack your child a lunch box

• Free/Reduced Status- Applications for Free/Reduced lunch status can be submitted online on Lunch App Website. We protect the privacy of students who receive free or reduced-price meals or textbooks. Their classmates will not know that they’re receiving this support. If your family qualifies, these programs can save you hundreds of dollars, so please be sure to apply. If your child receives free or reduced-price meals, you may add money to their account to allow them to purchase ala carte items that are not part of the free or reduced-price federal meal program. Please be sure to apply if the free breakfast and lunch program should end.

• FREE TEXTBOOKS Did you know? If a child qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, they also qualify for no-fee textbooks. You do not have to use the meal benefit to receive this benefit. Other school fees may apply.
  

• LOW BALANCE E-MAILS When a student's meal balance drops below $5, the student's parent/guardian will be notified by email. Please be sure your child's student record includes current contact information.
  

Food Allergies- If your child suffers from food allergies, we are prepared to help ensure they enjoy meals that are both safe and nutritious. Please fill out the correct form and return to Kelly Collins, Director of Food Services at kcollins@plainfield.k12.in.us. If you have any questions regarding the forms please call Kelly Collins 317-839-2578. Please use the following links below:

Milk Substitute Form

Food Allergy Form

Special Dietary Needs

The Plainfield Community School Corporation uses the PowerSchool Parent portal, which gives you access to your child’s grades, lunch account balance, bus schedule, and registration for returning students for the next school year.

It is the expectation that students come to school every day with their computer charged and ready to go. You may leave the charger in your child's backpack. Cases for the computers have been ordered by the district. These should be distributed as soon as they are delivered.

In the event we would have a school closure, students would need to be ready to work from home the next day of school.

Student Acceptable Use Policy- The Plainfield Community School Corporation (PCSC) recognizes that access to technology in school gives students greater opportunities to learn, engage, communicate, and develop skills that will prepare them for work, life, and citizenship. We are committed to helping students develop 21st-century technology and communication skills. To that end, we provide access to technologies for student and staff use. You may review the Student Acceptable Use Policy for more details.