LaMotte School News

10th - Child Find 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

12th - Walk to School ~ Meet at Mt. Ellis Fire Station at 7:45 a.m. we will depart at 8:00 a.m for LaMotte

13th - 3:30 p.m. Parent Mindfulness Meeting @ LaMotte School

14th - Midterm

19th - Midterm Reports go Home

20th & 21st - PIR days - NO SCHOOL

Students and families will meet at Ft. Ellis Fire Dept and walk to LaMotte at 8:00 a.m. A staff member will be at Ft. Ellis Fire Station at 7:45 a.m. to supervise students and then the group will walk up Bear Canyon at 8:00 a.m. Parents and younger siblings are encouraged to walk with the school (please no pets).

Thank you to Aimee Lange for stepping up to help organize the Parent Group. Please contact Aimee if you'd like to help with some of the upcoming events, thank you! She has phone numbers of those that indicated interest at the Ice Cream Social, she will be in touch. Text Aimee at 406-579-3303 or email aimeelange530@gmail.com if you'd like to join the fun!

Thank you for your willingness to step up to help!

October 4, 2022

Dear Parents/Guardians:

We are excited to share with you that this school year, students in K-8 will be learning and practicing mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a research-based approach that supports students in building skills for attention regulation (focus and concentration) and emotional regulation. Mindfulness means paying attention in the present moment to our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, or surrounding environment. For the sake of simplicity, we can define it as noticing what’s happening right now. It also includes the intentional nurturing of positive states of mind such as empathy and kindness.

This program will be taught by Amy Carse (K-5) and Tajali Tolan (6-8), mindfulness instructors trained to teach mindfulness to students by Mindful Schools. We will practice Mindfulness once a week, Mondays grades 4/5 and Thursdays for grades K/1, 2/3, and 6-8.

Research shows that over the years, sharing mindfulness with students helps to encourage healthy interactions and a positive classroom climate, and supports students’ learning readiness.

Studies find that learning mindfulness benefits students in terms of improved attention, emotion regulation, behavior in school, empathy and understanding of others, social skills, test anxiety, and stress. Mindfulness helps students learn to take a pause when they feel upset or overwhelmed, during which thoughtful responses can replace impulsive reactions.

Some examples of how we will use mindfulness in our class are noticing and naming our emotions, using mindfulness of breathing before test taking to calm anxiety and improve focus, or pausing when feeling frustrated or impatient.

We will be available at LaMotte at 3:30 on October 13 to answer any questions you may have about mindfulness class and we will share a typical mindfulness exercise that your child will be learning in class. If you have any questions about the mindfulness program this year do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to be in touch with you.

Warmly,

Amy Carse Tajali Tolan, MS

Amy@mtmindfulness.org Tajali@mtmindfulness.org

Child Find: Developmental Screenings 2022-2023

Every year your school district offers a “Developmental Screening Day” as part of their Child Find, or early intervention program.

In partnership with the Gallatin-Madison Special Education Cooperative and the Region IV Hearing Conservation Program.

For children 3yrs to 5yrs of age, not yet in Kindergarten, the screening tool is called the “Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning-Revised, (DIAL-R). For the DIAL-R, children are asked to separate from their parent(s) and engage in game-format activities that are set up in small centers. Areas of screening on the DIAL-R include:

● Gross motor: using large groups of muscles to perform physical activities, such as skipping, jumping and throwing.

● Fine motor: using hands and fingers to perform activities such as drawing and writing.

● Hearing: Screening through audiometry, tympanogram, with potential medical referral or follow up with the Hearing Conservation Region IV audiologist.

● Language/Communication: speech sound development (i.e. articulation), vocabulary understanding and use, language reasoning and early phonetic skills.

● Developmental Concepts: Understanding terms such as more/less; sorting and categorizing, colors and other pre-academic knowledge.

● Social: Following directions and engaging with others

At the end of the DIAL-R screening you’ll receive a summary of development that is either on track compared to peers of the same age, or if the team needs to conduct a follow-up screening. At the follow-up, you’ll receive more information about development and how any lagging skills can be addressed. From start to finish, the screening process takes approximately 45-minutes.

Our Partner, Family Outreach will be screening infants and toddlers, birth to three years of age. Parents attend this screening with the little one and it can take approximately 45-minutes.

Please email mclark@lamotteschool.com to set up your appointment on

Monday, October 10, 2022 ~ 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Hi parents and guardians! I’m Valentina Perez-Bradley aka Mrs. Bradley, the new school counselor at LaMotte! I’m so excited to be working with your children at school. They are all lovely! I have been coming in to their classrooms once a week. This week we started the Second Step program with K-5 talking about learning and paying attention; and a book Creating a Culture of Kindness: about kindness, respect and acceptance for the middle schoolers. Ask them about their lesson!
If you have any questions or would like to reach out please email me at vpbradley@lamotteschool.org
Have a wonderful weekend!

Please have orders returned by tomorrow morning 9/30/2022. I have attached a copy or you can order online at: https://lamotteschool.revtrak.net/food-service/

The Student and Parent Handbook has been sent to you and is on our website. We can give you a paper copy if you would like one. This is a very important document that covers so many topics from recess rules, to what happens on a cold snowy day, to how we deal with bullying. Please take the time to read this and discuss this with your student. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child's teacher or Mrs. Burke. Thanks. Please sign and return the attached Receipt of handbook form.

Please have students dress in layers and bring a jacket for the unpredictable fall weather.

Students are encouraged to have sunscreen in lockers to apply for outdoor PE and recess. Students should have at least one emergency lunch item in their locker.

LaMotte School has a parent group facebook page; please search for the LaMotte School Parent Group if you would like to join.

Emergency Lunch - Parents just a reminder to be sure and ask your child(ren) if they have an emergency lunch. I know a few students have already eaten theirs this week (yes even the first week-I think because they enjoy the food).

Be Encouraging and Respectful Students

Email: mclark@lamotteschool.com
Website: www.lamotteschool.com
Location: 841 Bear Canyon Road, Bozeman, MT, United States
Phone: (406) 586-2838