The Winn Word

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Although this Halloween is different, we are still going to have a lot of fun! Here are the highlights of the day:

1. Please have your child wear their Halloween costume to school. Remember that it should be school appropriate. Kids will still need to wear their masks as well.
2. Remember if possible to wear your clothes under your costume OR you may pack a change of clothes in your backpack. We will be changing as soon as the virtual parade is over.
3. The virtual parade begins at 8:15. I will film each classroom and then post them onto Facebook. If you have asked us not to film your child, they will not be included in this virtual parade.
4. Pizza Party from Mitchell's for lunch. We will be providing pizza, drink, and chips to each student for their lunch.
5. Each classroom will have other fun activities throughout the day for both virtual and Face-to-Face students.

This past month, our school wide theme was skills for learning: listening, focusing attention, using self-talk to stay on-task, and being assertive when asking for help with learning a task. In our morning announcements and in our classrooms, we have been reminding students of these skills, which help students be successful learners.

This week I wanted to focus on listening. If you are able to focus your attention and listen, you have the ability to learn easier.

Ask your child: How do focusing your attention and listening help you be a better learner at school? Take a second to practice. Sit quietly in a room. For five minutes stay silent and really listen to everything you hear. As soon as the five minutes is up, take a piece of paper and write it all done. Talk together about what made this easy. What strategies did you use to remember as much as you could?

Second Step lessons teach skills for learning. You’ll be receiving Home Links in our newsletter describing why these skills are important and including fun activities to do with your child to practice them. We hope you enjoy them!

We have been in school for 9 weeks! This year, we changed the structure of our communication with families. Each week, you have received lots of communication from your classroom teacher in the form of "Google Classroom" and "Remind".

Teachers have been reaching out to you this past month to give you an update on your student's progress to this point. We know that as we look at student's growth it is different from past years. Many of our students are not where they normally would be at this point in the year. We know that the extended time away from traditional school has impacted our learning.

What can you do at home to help?

1. If you have questions about your child's progress, please reach out to your child's teacher.
2. Make sure that your child is reading at home every night. A good rule of thumb is that your child should read about 20 minutes each night.
3. Make sure your child is practicing their math facts.
4. Check into your child's Google Classroom each night. See what your child is learning so you can help at home too.

Breakfast and lunch is free for all of our students until December, or until the federal funds run out. To ensure there is not a lag in Free and Reduced lunch requests, it is IMPERATIVE that everyone complete the Free and Reduced Lunch form to ensure your child is ready to go.

Please fill out the form today https://lunchapp.com/! Many will qualify that thought they would never be able to qualify, so check it out!

Did you know that every student that "qualifies" for free/reduced lunch helps our schools. Our 31a funding for next year is based on the count this year. The deadline for this "count" is October 30th. If you haven't filled out the application, please do. You can click on the link above or click on the "lunch app" picture below.

We appreciate all of the kindness and grace that has been offered to us as we work to find our new normal. Thank you for sharing your child with our family here at Winn. If your family needs help with social emotional needs or food, please contact me. My door is always open for our families.

Email: lrichards@shepherdschools.net
Website: https://www.shepherdschools.net/
Location: Winn Elementary School, 8190 Church St, Winn, MI, USA
Phone: 989.866.2250