We will hand out permission slips for the following fall clubs on Monday. Below is the list of clubs currently available for students to sign up for. Ms. Lewis will visit the students' homerooms to explain the clubs and the process. She will hand out permission slips at that time. Additional permission slips will be available in the main or Ms. Lewis's offices. Students are to hand them back to Ms. Lewis or the main office.

Fall Clubs: October 16th to December 22nd.

Student Council- Mondays (6th-8th graders)

Flag Football- Tuesdays and Wednesdays (4th-6th graders)

Passport to Adventure- Tuesdays (2nd-5th graders)

Soccer Club- Mondays and Thursdays (6th-8th graders)

Choir- Mondays and Tuesdays (3rd-8th graders)

All clubs run from 3:10 to 4:15

• Set a regular bedtime and morning routine.
• Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
• Communicate regularly with your child's teacher, to know what is happening each day.
• Develop backup plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, a neighbor, or another parent.
• Try to schedule non-urgent related medical appointments and extended trips when school isn’t in session.
• If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to teachers, school counselors, and other parents for advice on how to make your child feel comfortable and excited about learning.
• If your child must stay home due to illness, ask the teacher for resources and ideas to continue learning at home.
• If you are concerned that your child may have Covid-19, call your school for advice.

• Talk about how many bowls to put out for dinner.
• Have your child count similar items as you put away groceries.
• Have your child help measure ingredients for recipes.
• Give your child change to count out to pay for small purchases at the store; have older children calculate the change
• Ask your child to compare prices of items by asking things like, “Which can of beans costs more?”
• Allow your child to weigh the fresh produce; have older children calculate the price by multiplying the price per pound by the number of pounds.
• Read the days and dates on a calendar, talk about the number of days in the month, the number of days remaining until a special event, etc.
• When traveling, write numbers on a grid and have your child color in the box as they see the numbers on signs or license plates.

Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),

We are thrilled to let you know that we will continue to use the DESSA SEL Assessment Program with students this year. Over two decades of research has helped us understand the important roles social and emotional skills play in each child’s success in school, in the community, and, eventually, in higher education and the workplace. Skills such as demonstrating self-control, persisting at challenging tasks, making good decisions, and working well in groups are all necessary for being successful students and adults. The process by which students learn these and other similar skills is called social and emotional learning. To support our students in developing essential social and emotional skills that will help them become successful and responsible adults, we will be implementing a social and emotional learning program throughout our school.

As part of this program, our teachers will be using a tool called the Devereux Student Strength Assexrment, or DESSA, which was developed by the Devereux Center for Resilient Child This tool asks teachers to rate how often a student has demonstrated specific social and emotional skills in the past month.

Sample DESSA questions include:

• How often did the child keep trying when unsuccessful?

• How often did the child offer to help somebody?

• How often did the child get things done in a timely fashion?

• How often did the child work well in groups?

The purpose of the DESSA is to identify which social and emotional skills your child has already learned and what skills he or she might still need to develop. Our goal is to ensure that your child is continuously developing the social and emotional skills that they need for lifelong success. While the DESSA is just one component of our social and emotional learning program, we want to make sure that you are informed of our use of this instructional tool. We believe that the information gathered from the DESSA will be beneficial to your child’s overall success both inside and outside of the classroom.

Aperture Education publishes the DESSA. To view additional information about the DESSA, visit https://apertureed.com/dessa/

Sincerely,

Joe Fabiano, Counselor K-2

Julie Schaefer, Counselor 3-5

Linda Morgan, Counselor 6-8

Brianna Pumputis, Social Worker K-8