The Creek's Corner:

• October 2...National Custodian Day (Celebrate HCE Custodial Staff)
  

• October 2-6...2023 FALL HCE Book Fair

• October 5...FALL Picture Day

• October 6...National Coaches Day (Celebrate Coach Gore)

• October 6...HAT DAY (Archery Fundraiser): BRING $1.00 to school!

• October 9-13...HCE Annual Penny Wars!!

• October 9-13...National School Lunches Week

• October 11...STOP BULLYING! Day

• October 12...HCE Flu Clinic (see Nurse’s News section)

• October 15-21…National Safe Schools Week

• October 16…National Boss’ Day

• October 16-20…National Digital Citizenship Week

• October 18…NATIONAL DAY OF UNITY

• October 19...Early Dismissal (1:40pm); P/T Conferences (2:00-7:30pm)

• October 20-24...FALL BREAK (School resumes Wednesday, October 25th)

• October 23-31…Red Ribbon Week

• October 26…HCE Family Folk Dance Night

• October 27…Book Character Day/Parade

• October 29…Annual Family Fall Fest

• October 31...SNACK DAY!

The CKH Leadworthy Character Word for October is SELF-DIRECT.

What does it mean to SELF-DIRECT?

"Self-Direction is the ability and learned skill to cast a vision of future goals and then take intentional steps toward who, where, and what we want to be. Instead of focusing on things to control or avoid, we emphasize our responsibility to make positive choices related to our emotions, attitudes, and actions."

Our students who consistently self-direct throughout October, with no redirection from adults, are likely to be chosen as the Leadworthy Spotlight Winner for their class. Winners get to have a special lunch with the principals!

Please encourage your child to lead with great character each day!

• Costumes MUST be a book character.
• No scary book character costumes.
• Students will “be” their book character all day, so carefully choose something “wearable” all day.
• Costumes should be homemade. If possible, use items from around the house. You do not have to buy or make an elaborate costume.
• Students MUST have a book to carry during the parade that includes their character.
• Check out a book from our HCE Library, classroom libraries, or Saline County Library prior to the parade. Please don’t wait until the day before to check out your book.
• You may also bring a book from home.

Primary Care Triple P: Positive Parenting Program

(This is a one-on-one intervention)

Targeted Population:

• Parents of Pre-K through 5th grade students

• Parents seeking information about how to address a specific parenting or child behavior issue

• The family situation is reasonably stable (i.e. not in the middle of separation/divorce, parent has psychological issues themselves, or the child has major psychological issues that have not yet been addressed)

Families will participate in a few assessments. Based on the outcome of those assessments, the Triple P Team may determine whether this level of intervention will be beneficial for a family. If it is not going to be beneficial, and they recommend a higher level of care, such as family counseling that would involve more intense involvement, the team will make an outside counseling recommendation to the family and let the referring principal know.

Program Objectives:

• Increase parents’ confidence in managing common behavior problems and developmental issues

• Reducing parents’ use of coercive and punitive methods of disciplining children (focusing on pre-teaching desired behaviors, rather than just reacting to a bad behavior)

• Improving parents’ communication and reducing parental stress

IF you are interested, please reach out to Mrs. Williams (Principal) or Ms. Dockery (Counselor), and they will get your information submitted to the team. Thank you!

• Parents, it is vital that you get connected to ROOMS if you are not already. This is our district communication platform and the way your child's teacher communicates important information to you. If you are not set up, please reach out to your child's teacher, or our office, and we will assist you. Thank you so much for your support!

• PARENTS, our instructional day begins at 7:45am, and our tardy bell rings at 7:50am. Please have your students dropped off by 7:50. Students are missing valuable instructional time when they are tardy or absent.

• Upon your child’s 8th unexcused tardy, you will be required to meet with me, or our Assistant Principal, Mrs. Henley, and sign the Truancy Agreement.

• Upon the 10th unexcused tardy, a truancy referral will be submitted to the Truancy Officer.

• Missing more than 5 absences, per semester, is considered excessive. Five absences equate to 2,025 minutes/33.75 hours of lost instructional time. That is an incredible amount of time, so just imagine how much students can learn in just 5 days of school.

• Upon your child’s 5th unexcused absence, you will be required to meet with me, or our Assistant Principal, Mrs. Henley, and sign the Truancy Agreement.

• Upon the 7th unexcused absence, a truancy referral will be submitted to the Truancy Officer.

• Remember, our ATTENDANCE incentives are in full effect with both class and individual incentives in place for our students who come to school each day and on time:

• Each class is working hard as a team to reach 20 stars! Each time a class has perfect attendance (all students present all day and on time), the class receives a star. Upon the 20th star, the class receives a class incentive/prize!

• Each student who has perfect attendance (present all day and on time) within a nine-week period will receive a very special Sonic lunch/treat and special recognition!

• PARENTS, Please continue to ensure that our students are in attendance, each day, and on time! This cannot be possible without YOU!❤️

• Please do not drop students off before 7:15am. We have had parents drop students off, and they are left unattended. This is unacceptable and unsafe. School staff is not on duty until 7:15am.

BEHAVIOR‼️

• PLEASE continue to encourage students to work hard and adhere to school and classroom expectations. Most of our students are doing a fantastic job with our expectations, but we are having some struggles as well. We need your support with this, Parents. We have numerous incentives in place to help encourage positive, desirable behaviors in school, and we want ALL of our students to be a part of them:

• Our Nine-Week Behavior Bash will be at the end of October. As of September 5th, students who have not received white notes or office referrals can attend. We will have one every quarter, so students have the opportunity to start over each nine weeks!

• Students have the opportunity to be the VIP (Very Important Patriot) Super Star at the end of each week when they do an exceptional job exhibiting the class' weekly Focus Word.

• Leadworthy Spotlight Winner (see Capturing Kids' Hearts above)

• Positive Principal Pals begins this week! Students can receive a positive note from their teacher, to the principals. Their note goes into a special drawing to win a "brag tag" and chain! Students will also bring their notes home for parents to see what teachers and principals had to say about their students' wonderful behavior❤️

• Daily tickets are given out by our staff, at any point during the school day, to students who are "Serving Like a Patriot." These tickets go into a bucket. For our daily drawings, three names are chosen, and Mrs. Williams announces the students during the morning announcement. The winners receive a golden coin, and they use the coin at the Book Vending Machine! Some books also contain special prizes inside!❤️

• Parents, we continue to have issues with students bringing items from home that do not belong and are not permitted in school. Please make sure you are aware of what your child is bringing to school each day. With the littles who are bringing toys, this is truly a distraction, as they become highly upset when they are asked to put the item away or if it’s taken. You can help by making sure these items never make it to school.

• Our back gates (on Shady Trail near the playground) are closed and locked at 8am. You must enter the school from the front entrance (Alcoa Road) if you arrive at 8:00 or later. They reopen after 2:10 for parents to begin lining up for afternoon dismissal.

• BUS RIDER PARENTS: Please make sure students arrive at the bus stop 10 minutes before the scheduled arrival time to ensure that they don't miss the bus.

• Students must be picked up by 3:30pm. School ends at 3:10pm, so please honor the 3:30pm pick-up time. We understand that situations arise, every now and then, that result in a later pick-up time. However, this should not be habitual. Habitually late pick-ups are counted as tardies. As shared before, our faculty and staff also have children and families they must get home to and care for. We certainly appreciate your support with this!😊

• Please remember that transportation changes must be made in the office, no later than 1:30pm, unless there is an emergency. Please call the office to let us know that your child will be getting home a different way than normal. Classroom teachers may not get your message in time, so please do not rely on them to relay the message or make the change.

Friendship Skills: Teaching Your Child How to Make and Maintain Healthy Friendships

• October 2023 Newsletter
• October 2023 (Spanish) Friendship Skills Newsletter

IMPORTANT:

1. Remember, the Flu clinic is on October 12th. Please fill out the front and back of the form. Forms incorrectly filled out will not be accepted. If you are a nurse/parent and want to volunteer, please let me know! ccrosby@bryantschools.org https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZKvTDaMvyrsjejr4BnlJAedQvMizF5vf/view?usp=drive_link
2. Kindergarten physicals/Immunizations/Exempt letters are required by the state and due by October 2nd. If these are not turned in, your child will not be able to attend school until these documents are received.
3. If your child is running a fever or vomiting, our policy is for them to stay home until they are 24 hours fever/vomiting free without the use of medication. This ensures our staff and other kids do not get sick.

Any questions, feel free to contact me (Nurse Crosby)!

PTO Meetings will be held the 2nd Monday of each month @HCE in the Cafe (6:00pm).

**Our PTO is in need of parent volunteers. The few active members we have do sooo much for our students/school, and they need YOUR help! Please join and support. Thank you!❤️🤍💙**

• HCE PTO MEMBER HUB (Please join!)
  

Upcoming PTO Sponsored Events:

• October 9th-13th...HCE Annual Penny Wars!!

• District Calendar

• BPS Elementary Curriculum

• Free and Reduced Lunch Online Application

• Hurricane Creek Elementary Facebook Page

• Hurricane Creek Elementary School | Home

• Hurricane Creek Elementary PTO | Benton AR

• HCES Lunch Visitor Schedule and Expectations

• HCE Snack Days 2023-2024

• 2023-24 Elementary Handbook (ENGLISH)
  

• 2023-24 Elementary Handbook (SPANISH)
  

~Matthew Jacobson