VALERIUS WEEKLY

August 22, 2021

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IS TUESDAY, AUGUST 24th

Please follow this link for the up to date Covid Mitigations for the 21-22 school year.

GROWING OUR GREATNESS at VALERIUS

We are ready to begin a new school year at Valerius (at Jensen). For those of you that don’t know me yet, I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Michelle Cole, and I have been in the education business for 17 years in Urbandale. I have taught reading, special education, and 4th grade, served as a curriculum facilitator, and as an associate principal. I've been married for 16 years to my husband Ben, and we have two girls that attend UMS (7th grade) and Webster (4th grade). When I’m not working you’ll find me playing taxi cab driver for the girls, spending time with family and friends, and planning our next travel adventure! I’m honored to begin my third year as principal of this great school. It will be so wonderful to see familiar faces, and meet our new students.

Our theme this year is all about “Growing Our Greatness!” We are focusing on setting goals with our students, and working hard to reach them. Our professional development work will center around going back to the basics, and improving our work in reading, math, and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) with embedded parent communication throughout. We will meet every Monday from 8-9:30am to focus on improvement in these areas. Our goal is to meet your child where they are at and help them GROW in their GREATNESS all year long!

This newsletter will come to your inbox every Sunday morning around 8am. You can find up to date information for Valerius and the UCSD school district here. My goal is to keep you informed with short, manageable updates.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at our OPEN HOUSE event tomorrow from 4-5:30pm. While it will look a little different than years past, I’m thrilled to have our students on site, and for parents to meet your child’s teacher in person! Our Communications Director and I filmed an inside tour for families that will be released later this week!

PLAN AHEAD-- MONDAY, AUG 30 IS A LATE START. DOORS OPEN AT 9:45 and SCHOOL STARTS AT 10AM.

zoom_out_map

FREE MEALS

Exciting news from our nutrition services department! FREE MEALS

All school breakfast and lunch options are FREE to ALL UCSD students for the 2021-2022 school year!

NEW INFORMATION

zoom_out_map

Open House

Open house will be held from 4:00pm-5:30pm. Due to limited space in our parking lot we are encouraging families with last names A-L to come between 4 and 4:45, and families with last names starting with M-Z to come between 4:45 and 5:30pm.

In the main lot we will have staff available with maps to guide you. Teachers will have their outside classroom doors open, so families can walk up to the door. Students can go inside to drop off their supplies and check out their new space. Families will wait outside and have the opportunity to interact with the teachers. Windows will be open so families can peek inside as well.

In addition, we will be running tours every fifteen minutes. If your student would like to see the inside of the building (beyond their classroom), plan to be out front at the main doors at 4, 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, 5:00 or 5:15 pm.

Behind the school on the playground black top we will have tables set up for PTO (if you can please bring $5 for class party donation), Adventuretime, Jay-Walker dancers, busing, and Girl Scouts. There will also be a Kona Ice Truck, and every student will get a ticket for a free ice. Additional family members can purchase an ice if desired. Thank you PTO for a fun treat!

zoom_out_map

Bus Update- From Sandy Walters

For parents that submitted a Bus Request Form by August 2nd the information has been emailed to them through SchoolMessenger. The information is also imported to the Transportation Page in PowerSchool.

Others will be added as the information comes to me [Sandy].

New Addition to the Valerius Weekly

In efforts to get some more tips and strategies to our families we will have a new addition to our Valerius Weekly.

Counselor Connection- an update from our Guidance counselor Melissa MacGregor

Health Hints- some healthy hints and habits from our school nurse Jenny Villegas

Coach's Corner- some helpful academic strategies to use at home from our instructional coach Jill Miller

FFO Updates- from our Facilitator of Family Outreach Eddye Vanderwaake (pronounced Vanderwalk)

zoom_out_map

Counselor Connection

Hello Valerius Families! My name is Mrs. MacGregor and I’m the school counselor at Valerius. I am so excited to see returning students and welcome new students and families to our school. My goal this year is to help all students feel accepted, important and successful every day. I have many roles at Valerius, but two of my most important jobs are teaching guidance classes and working with students in small groups to help them develop social emotional skills. I enjoy teaching guidance lessons in every classroom once each cycle. We learn skills to help us be good learners, skills for solving problems, and skills for being a good friend. I always tell the students these really are “life skills”! For my small group instruction, I pull students from every classroom and we cover a variety of topics including self-control, dealing with anxiety, friendship skills and anger management. The small groups change several times throughout the year and I enjoy working with many different students. I feel especially lucky to work with and get to know every student at Valerius. Please feel free to contact me if you or your child have concerns about school. I will be happy to provide support!

zoom_out_map

Health Hints

Hello Valerius Families! My name is Jenny Villegas, and I am very excited to start my 6th year as a school nurse at Valerius Elementary and my 17th year as a registered nurse! In my role here in Urbandale, I am a shared nurse between Valerius and Karen Acres Elementary. I am at Valerius on A, C, E days, and Karen Acres on B, D, and F days. My job at Valerius is to ensure that all students remain healthy and safe, so they are able to continue to learn and grow every day. With this, I provide care for students during the school day. I assess the health needs of the entire school community by developing and implementing health plans, emergency plans, 504's, and IEP's. I administer emergency, PRN, and daily medications daily and maintain past and current health records and students' immunizations. I provide vision screenings on all students. I also conduct routine health examinations of students and document nursing assessments, diagnoses and provide treatment. I collaborate with students, parents, teachers, and physicians to provide optimal care for my students.

zoom_out_map

Coach's Corner

Hi there! My name is Jill Miller and I am starting my 7th year as the Instructional Coach at Valerius Elementary. As a coach I get to support teachers in their work with your students. Teachers create professional learning goals each year and I work with them on those goals by providing resources, modeling strategies in the classroom, participating in grade level team meetings, and through individual coaching conversations. It is my joy to get to know all the students in the building as I am in and out of rooms frequently. I’m excited to be able to share helpful strategies for you to use at home this year with your students!

zoom_out_map

FFO Updates

Hello! My name is Eddye Vanderkwaak! I am excited to join Urbandale Community Schools as the Facilitator of Family Outreach for Valerius and Karen Acres Elementary! Some of my passions include art, volunteering, hiking, climbing and of course - TURTLES!

As the FFO I am here to empower students and families in many ways! Connectedness at school, with their staff and peers, through academic growth, social-emotional support, attendance improvement and much more!

I am also here to serve families through services and referrals to community partners, collaborative communication and family involvement in student success.

Services you can reach out at any time for support in accessing from the community include child care, employment/unemployment information, financial assistance, food, health insurance, clothing, winter gear and protective items, housing, homelessness supports, mental health, legal, safe families support, and transportation.

If I can ever be of any assistance and support - please reach out at any time!

All my best,

Eddye Vanderkwaak

Cell: 515-559-7086

Email: vanderkwaake@urbandaleschools.com