The Tiger Times

Hello Mohawk Families!

With conferences behind us, we can look forward to the holiday season! This is a time of year when we reflect on the past year and are thankful for the things we have. I am thankful for being the principal of this amazing school! Working collaboratively, we make Mohawk a GREAT place to be!

Tuesday, November 7th will be a professional learning day for teachers. Students will not have school. During this time, staff will continue their learning about the Science of Reading and how to best meet the needs of every learner. Each day, our hard working teachers look for ways to grow and learn in order to bring the best educational strategies to our students.

We have numerous activities happening during the month of November such as the Canned Food Drive • Reading Carnival• PEN Night and many more so please check out the entire Smore!

Thank you to our Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Representatives, Staci Doebler, and Stephanie Green, for volunteering their time. These parents meet with superintendent, Ron Roberts, each month to discuss district issues and share ideas. Thank you to our PTO for all of the amazing activities we've had so far this year! We look forward to many more.

A special THANK YOU for all you do to support your child’s education ~ enjoy this season of Thanks & Giving with your family and friends.

Educationally Yours,

Ms. Andrea Verellen

Fri., November 3rd

Picture Retake Day

PTO-Build A Buddy (Pre-paid Event)

Sun., November 5th

Time Change-Fall Back1 hour

Mon., November 6th

Student Council Canned Food Drive Begins

Tues., November 7th

No School for Students

Election Day

Thurs., November 9th

PEN Night K-2 6:15pm

Fri., November 10th

Last Day for the Canned Food Drive

Fri., November 17th

Field Trip-3rd Grade to Troy Museum (9:15am)

Tues., November 21st

5th Grade Maturation Presentation

November 22nd-24th

Thanksgiving Break-No School

Tues., November 28th

PTO Meeting 7pm

Mon. December 4th-8th

PTO Santa Secret Shop

After you log in to Parent Portal, click on the student whose report card you want to see.

Click on the App Switcher button in the top right hand corner.

Once the Application window opens, click on "District Report Card"

After clicking on the "District Report Card", it will download in the lower left hand corner.

Access your child's report card on Wed., December 6th

Chippewa Valley Schools has adopted PaySchools Central as an online payment resource for the parents in our district. PaySchools Central is a secure payment system which simplifies school payments in an easy-to-use online portal. This online service provides an easy and efficient method to collect fees and electronic payments for field trips, registrations, t-shirts, and any other school-related fees. We no longer accept cash or checks. See the directions below for how to set up your child's account.

Mohawk would like to begin our Watch DOG program for the 23-24 school year. This year, we would like Watch DOGS to help in the lunchroom and during recess time 10:45-2:00pm.

WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads Of Great Students) is a family and community engagement educational program. There are 2 primary goals of the WATCH D.O.G.S. program.

• To provide positive male role models for the students, demonstrating by their presence that education is important.
• To provide extra sets of eyes and ears to enhance school security.

WatchDOGS are fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and other father-figures who volunteer for at least one day each year. On the day of their participation, WatchDOGS will wear their official WATCH D.O.G.S. and will be asked to help out during lunch and recess times.

If you are interested in being a Watch DOG, please sign up using the link below. ALL Watch DOGS must have a current Criminal Background Check on file.

Watch DOGS can contact Mrs. Jeannette in the main office if you need a link to complete the background check. jzieleniewski@cvs.k12.mi.us

Questions about Watch DOGS? Contact Mr. Malak at mmalak@cvs.k12.mi.us

Free lunch includes one serving per child. If your child wants a second slice of pizza or doubles for any meal, they will be charged. Please be sure to put money on your child's card if this is the case.

• Students are welcome to celebrate their birthdays by bringing in treat bags with small items such as pencils, stickers, pop-its, etc..
• Edible birthday treats are NOT allowed to be brought to school for the health and safety of all students.
• If you are having a birthday party, please note, that invitations are NOT to be distributed in class.

Tardies

The school day officially begins at 8:55am. Students arriving after 8:55am will be marked tardy and must be signed in at the office by a parent.

Early Dismissal

If you need to pick up your child early from school. Please do so BEFORE 3:30pm.

Attendance

It is very important your child arrive on time every day when school is in session. Research shows when students regularly attend school they perform better academically and experience more success.

Students who arrive late but before 9:55am are marked tardy. Arrivals after 9:55am but before the PM session, 12:32pm, will be marked absent for the AM only.

A student will be marked absent in the PM only if they leave before 2:45pm. Dismissals after 2:45pm are recorded as a tardy/leave early.

Attendance Reports are run every 2 weeks. Below are the guidelines we follow for referring families to truancy.

Nudge Letters

A nudge letter will be sent to families if their child has 5 or more absences parent-teacher conferences.

Attendance Letters

Attendance letters are sent to students according to the number of days they are absence:

10+ absences=Letter #1

15+ absences=Letter #2

20+ absences=Letter #3

Having a documented medical excuse will determine whether the absence is excused or not excused.

Truancy

School administration will decide when it is an appropriate time to file for truancy. This is traditional done after there have been at least two parent contacts made by the building.

All visitors including parents/guardians dropping off or picking up children are only permitted to enter the building through the main office doors. Before entry, guests will need to show ID and state the reason for their visit while outside the building.

All volunteers must have a current CRC on file, sign in and wear a Visitor Badge. Any non-staff member in the building must be here for a specific reason such as volunteer work, PTO, or another approved purpose.

Research shows that parental or family involvement in school-based learning activities is correlated with improved student outcomes. It can have a positive impact on students' motivation, engagement, behavior, social and academic outcomes. It also is shown to improve the following:

• Students’ self-regulation, social skills, better behavior and discipline
• Lower drop-out rates and better attendance
• Students’ positive engagement with peers and adults, and enhanced relationships between parents, teachers and students
• Increased feelings of competence or capability, positive engagement with learning and motivation to learn, persistence, and mastery goal orientations in which students seek challenging tasks and persist with academic challenges
• High student aspirations with regard to education, and a greater likelihood of enrolling in higher education

Below are some resources parents can use at home to support their child's learning at home.

Want to improve your child’s reading? Try the Dyad Reading Method

One of the most important things parents can do, other than to help their children grow up healthy and happy, is to help them develop excellent reading skills. Children’s ability to learn to read directly affects their performance in school and also how successful they are throughout their lives. Children can access the knowledge of the world when they learn to read well.

Everyone has heard the proverb “Practice makes perfect.” It is true that engaged reading practice is a powerful contributor to development of accuracy, fluency, and a high level of understanding of what is read. Lower-achieving children read three times less often than higher-achieving children (Allington, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1984; Allington & McGill-Frazen, 1989). Nothing motivates children to read like knowing how to read.

One effective way parents can read with their children to improve reading skills is to use the Dyad reading method. The procedure is simple:

• Share one book.
• Sit side by side.
• Use one SMOOTH finger.
• Read with two voices.
• Keep eyes on words.
• Don’t go too fast or too slow.
• Write down words you don’t know.
• Have fun!

The child can read with a parent, an older sibling, or a friend who is a strong reader. Read for 15 minutes and then discuss the words that were written down. Problem solve together to decode the words the child did not know and determine meanings. Show the child how to decode the words—break the words into syllables, identify root words, prefixes, suffixes, or compound words, and provide child-friendly definitions, emphasizing problem solving and decoding strategies. Show the child how to look up words on the Internet or how to use a dictionary.

If you would like to see Dyad reading in action, Granite School District has created a YouTube video demonstrating this method. Check it out here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt3hfxWyRFg&t=229sSTUDENT ENGAGE

Student health and medication forms must be properly filled out and returned before any medication can be dispersed to your child during the school day.

President-Katie Ruszala

Vice President-Katie Fohey

Treasurer-Michelle Schmidberger

Co-Treasurer-Marie Laskowski

Secretary-Jill Talent

Co-Room Parent Coordinators-Ashleigh Balsamo & Cortney Hanna

Co-Social Committee Chairs-Ashley Fruciano & Nicole Milam

Publicity-Stephanie Burkhart

Historian-Julie Hasse

Contact

mohawkpto@cvs.k12.mi.us

PTO Website

https://mohawkpto.weebly.com/

PTO Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/mohawkpto

Meetings will take place in the media center at 7:00pm

Tues., November 28th

Tues., January 16th

Tues., February 6th

Tues., March 19th

Tues., April 23rd

Tues., May 14th

We are currently looking to fill positions at Mohawk. If you can help, please apply at https://chippewavalleyschools.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx

• 1 crossing guard 8:20-9:20am & 3:20-4:20pm
• Aides for our School Aged Child Care Program (SACC) 6:45-8:55am and /or 3:39-6:00pm

Website: https://www.chippewavalleyschools.org/schools/elementary-schools/mohawk/
Location: 48101 Romeo Plank Road, Macomb, MI, USA
Phone: 586-723-6200