Mrs. Turner's Tidbits
Wow! I cannot believe it is already time for March! Time does fly when you are having fun! I enjoy this position so much due to all of your children, the teachers and staff and due to your support as parents. It does make a tremendous difference in a school. I have been blessed to call Circle Towanda Elementary my home for over thirty years! May will be a hard month for me and I will probably regret my decision to retire. Just know that your children and families will always be a huge part of my heart.
February ended as an exciting time for our sixth graders at CTE! The students were able to visit the teachers and school at Circle Middle School on the 25th. Due to the current restrictions, we changed the end of the year activities to still allow for some type of experience. Our sixth graders were so nervous yet excited about the meeting.
A big event that is coming this month is conferences. It is crazy that we finished the third quarter on February 26th!! It really has been a great year so far. We will be hosting all the conferences virtually again. This was very successful in the fall. You should be receiving a sign-up from your child's teacher.
We will also be asking parents of students who are in the Title 1 program to complete a brief survey on the program. We need your input to make sure we are meeting the needs of the students in our school. We strive to help students make the growth they need in order to be successful adults in the future. I’ll thank you in advance for completing the survey.
Now, back to conferences...please try to set a reminder on your phone with your scheduled time for the meeting with your child’s teacher. I know they have been working hard to get your child prepared to move on to the next grade. It is always sad to think that this is the last time a couple grades will be in their current building after conferences. Our second graders will move on to the “big” Intermediate School and our sixth graders are moving on to CMS! I am always somber when I think of the upcoming changes. Our kids mean so much to us at the school. They are our children and we share the very same desire that you do at home…SUCCESS! That is why conferences are so important. We want to share your child’s successes with you and any concerns we may have. We would also need to hear any concerns you may have about your child’s progress. You were their first teachers and you have a much better picture over the years than a classroom teacher would. We have the snapshot for the time they are in our rooms. Please share anything you believe may be beneficial for your child’s teacher to know.
We will also share any upcoming events with you. We have state testing that will occur with our 3-6th grade students coming up. We can share the results of many of the assessments we use in the classrooms. Our teachers put a great deal of time preparing information that they believe is important for you to know. We all look forward to seeing your smiling faces come through the doors.
I do have a few reminders about conferences for you…
If you find that you are running late for your child’s conference, please email your teacher to reschedule. If you are late, it can throw all the conferences after yours off as well. Time is so important for everyone. No one likes to have to wait.
Be considerate of the time. If you need to speak with your child’s teacher longer, set up a follow-up time with them. We don’t want to rush anyone but we also don’t want to shortchange the next parent.
Listen with an open mind. Sometimes we do have to tell you tough things. Trust me, no teacher looks forward to sharing concerns. It is difficult for us as well. We also have our own children who sometimes need reminders. We do get it. Please just don’t blame us if there is a concern, remember, the earlier we find a solution, the better it is for your child, especially if it is a behavior issue. I always prefered for my child to get caught if they were doing something wrong. If they continually get away with things, they could become more daring. It's the same with learning different concepts. We want them to learn the lessons correctly, so they don't continue to make the same mistakes. Again, we just want the same thing all of you do, success for your child.
Mr. Jacobson and Mrs. Goldsmith will be available. If you would like to meet with them, let your child's teacher know and they will be invited to the virtual meeting as well. That will be the same for me, Mr. LaMunyon, Mrs. Gandee and Mrs. Mosier. We are all available to be a part of any virtual conference.
If you are frightened by a virtual conference, let me know. I have learned a lot about them this year and can help you out as well.
Finally, know that we love your child and think they are pretty darn special as well. Come to your virtual meeting with your questions and we will do our best to answer them or let you know that we will find the answer for you. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns that I can help with!
See you all soon! Happy March everyone!
UPCOMING EVENTS
March 1 - NO SCHOOL ~ Staff Development
March 5 - Trash Bag Fundraiser Ends - Please return order forms
March 8 - PTO Mtg./Site Council @4:15pm via Zoom ~ BOE meeting @6pm
March 10 - Parent/Teacher Conferences 4:30-8pm (virtual or by phone only)
March 11 - NO SCHOOL ~ Parent/Teacher Conferences (virtual or by phone only)
March 12 - NO SCHOOL
March 14 - Daylight Savings Time Begins
March 15-19 ~ SPRING BREAK ~ NO SCHOOL
March 23 - Willie's Night in El Dorado ~ Dine in or Carry out ~ 11am-close
March 27 - MOM'S Pantry - CTP @8:30am
REMINDER OF NEW START TIME
LIBRARY NEWS
Great news from the library! We are slowly beginning to allow students back in to select books in person! Yay!!! Currently, each class in 2nd-5th grades has a designated time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, when students may be sent in, four at a time to ensure that social distancing guidelines are being followed. Students sanitize their hands as they enter. Our hope is to be able to allow more grades to join in as the spring progresses, but this is a great start. It’s so wonderful to hear sweet, happy voices excitedly talking about books again in the library!
Our 3rd-6th grade students are very excited to be gearing up to take part in March Book Madness, a fun reading/voting event involving students from all over the United States and even as far away as Kuala Lampur. The event is an online bracket-style tournament (just like the NCAA March Madness tournament) that matches books in one-on-one “games” decided by students’ votes. I’ve been introducing students to the books for the past several weeks. Our 3rd graders will be voting on the picture book bracket match-ups and our 4th-6th graders will be voting on the middle grade bracket match-ups beginning the first week of March. Here is a link to more information on this exciting event: https://marchbookmadness.weebly.com/about.htm
Unfortunately, once again, we will have to forgo hosting an in-person book fair this spring. However, I am looking into scheduling another virtual book fair where books can be ordered online and shipped directly to your home for free if the amount of the purchase is $25 or more. Be on the lookout for more details toward the end of March.
It took us a while to get up to speed, but Accelerated Reader is finally in full swing again this year with students in grades 2-6 setting nine weeks goals. Gambinos is still, very generously, donating coupons for free personal pizzas to be awarded to students who achieve their goals. Our newest participants, the 2nd graders, have been energetically embracing this opportunity to read, test, and earn points! In January, the following students were awarded medals for being the top point-earners in their grade levels for the 2nd nine weeks:
2nd grade: Payton Gladfelter (28.3) Jayce Allen (24.3), Max Nelson (13.2), Paige Couey
(13.1)
3rd grade: Alice Leatherwood (17.2), Theo Frack (12.5), and Addison Sage (11.9)
4th grade: (Alicia Gibson (43.5), Teddy Martin (18.5), Zuriel Gomez-Diaz (15.1)
5th grade: Aryia Barker (118.4), Jaydra Gibson (54.3), Brianna Searcy (21.5)
6th grade: Brianna Paul (79.1), Alex Crawford (33.2), Madilyn Wellner (29.0), Kimber
Dorey (28.9)
Third nine weeks top point earners will be announced in the next newsletter!
WEATHER ALERT
When weather conditions threaten the safe operation of the schools and bus routes and there is a need to cancel the school day, Superintendent Don Potter will announce the decision by 6:00AM by a phone call thru School Messenger and on the following radio and television stations: TV Channels: KSN 3, KAKE 10, KWCH 12
Radio Stations: 95.1, B-98 FM, 107.3, KZSN, 101.3 KFDI, District Web Page: www.usd375.org ~ Twitter-@circleusd375
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
Please do your best to make the time to conference and hear about your child's hard work and accomplishments!
COUNSELOR'S CORNER FROM MR. LAMUNYON
Kate Page, Ruby Winters, Landyn Seidl, Lillian Brewer, Payson Flitz, Tennyson Snowbarger, Chloe Yenni-Adams, Avery Felton, Aubrey Aitchison, Kyra Curtis, Haeleigh Winters, Jaxon Butters, Stella Brown, Colten Weaver, Tysten Patty, Sawyer Hendricks, Zuriel Gomez-Diaz, Teddy Martin, Edenia Gomez-Diaz, Macy Waldorf, Chris Moore, Sophia Lane
Character Trait for March - Compassion/Kindness
