October 26, 2009

New Announcements:

·         R-E-S-P-E-C-T … what does it mean to me?:  We will once again partner with our facilitator, Daniel Bruno, from Soul Shoppe this year in teaching our students the importance of character traits such as respect, responsibility, and caring. Skills such as problem solving, conflict management, and expressing our feelings equip us all to live a much more positive and productive life. We want our students to have these skills. In addition to our “Second Step” character curriculum that is taught periodically in class, Soul Shoppe will present workshops on specific character traits and skills three times this year. Teachers will also do facilitate follow-up lessons/activities throughout the year. Finally, as an entire school community we will positively praise our Disney students who successfully demonstrate our Megaskills (see below) with our WOW slips.

 

Disney’s Megaskills:

1.      Responsibility

2.      Respect

3.      Honesty

4.      Caring

5.      Teamwork                         

6.      Positive Attitude

7.      Focus

8.      Confidence

9.      Effort

 

This Monday, Soul Shoppe will conduct their workshop on “respect.” Our goal is to create a community of learning where each person is respected and honored.  The two tools Soul Shoppe introduces is the “Chair of Respect” and the “Balloon”. 

 

These tools help us get to the core of what Respect means in our school community. The “Chair of Respect” is a metaphor for making good choices to respect others.  The “Balloon” demonstrates how we can deal with feelings that we don’t know what to do with.  We encourage you to ask your child about the metaphors, and practice the tools with your child by using the bookmarks that they bring home after the workshop. These topics often make wonderful “dinner talks” or conversation topics while driving/walking your child to and from school.

 

If you would like to review more Soul Shoppe resources, visit the resource page on Soul Shoppe’s website.

 

 

·         Halloween Parade: this Friday, October 30, we will be on a early dismissal. Our schedule will be the same as our Wednesday bell schedule (dismissal at 1:53/1:55 for most). Starting at 1:25 pm, we will begin our all school parade around the field. The Cal High band will perform during our parade. The parade will be a fun time when costumes are appropriate. Costumes are NOT to be worn to school, as students will be given time to change into their costumes before the start of the parade. Costumes that are violent, gruesome, and/or overly scary are not to be worn. The parade will conclude by our dismissal time. Please consult your child’s classroom teacher for more details.

 

·         Lifetouch Picture Make-up Day: Our photographers from Lifetouch will be back on campus this Tuesday for picture make up. Say “cheese!”

 

 

Recurring Announcements:

·       PTA Cross County Partner School Program (October 12th to October 30^th):  We are once again collecting gently used jackets, umbrellas, mittens, NEW socks, scarves and warm hats this year to help our sister school, Fremont Elementary in Antioch  .  This year has been especially difficult for the children and families at our sister school so we are once again asking for your help. Also, many of the children have very little food at home so we are also collecting boxes of snacks such as granola bars (peanut free) and other packaged items that can be made into snack kits.  Look for the marked "We Care" containers around the school during the above dates.  Thank you for your generous support of this wonderful program.